Sudan Archives

When Sudan Archives burst onto the scene in 2017 with Come Meh Way, she was a violinist and loop maker producing beats in her bedroom. While her debut album Athena drew inspiration from divine Black feminine power, on Natural Brown Prom Queen Sudan is in character as Britt, the girl next door from Cincinnati, Ohio who drives around the city with the top down and shows up to high-school prom in a pink furry bikini with her thong hanging out her denim skirt. Natural Brown Prom Queen is an epic record that is also her most personal, taking in race, womanhood, and the fiercely loyal, loving relationships at the heart of Sudan’s life with her family, friends, and partner. From first listen, it’s immediately apparent that Natural Brown Prom Queen is Sudan’s most ambitious work to date, spanning 18 tracks and nearly an hour of music – from the disco-influenced R&B of Home Maker to Afrocentric anthem Selfish Soul, hip-hop banger OMG Britt, the wild ride of NBPQ (Topless) and the ballad Homesick (Gorgeous & Arrogant). Fittingly for an album named for a homecoming event, Natural Brown Prom Queen is all about home: both Sudan’s adopted hometown of L.A. and Cincinnati, where she was raised. It’s intimate in all senses of the word, but the record is also about finding pleasure – after all, this is the artist who played violin upside-down on a pole in a music video. On Natural Brown Prom Queen, Sudan Archives invites you to join in and embrace shared joy. Don’t miss her live show which has been described as like a “powder keg that’s about to blow itself up.”