A Gift For You From Josh Milan and Friends

Josh Milan’s talents are unparalleled. He’s a songbird whose voice can inspire people to tears, and he’s garnered more songwriting and production hits than one could possibly imagine. His label Honeycomb Music is his platform to produce songs with real musicians.

In honor or Black History Month, he is giving away 18 songs involving him and other profile artists such as Dawn Tallman, Tracy Brathwaite and the Wayouts. And this is why:

Direct link to album & liner notes

Booklet with more info, photographs and resources (Check it out!)

Eric Garner, Michael Brown, incidents like these that remind us that no matter how far it seems you’ve come, another setback comes along. Was it these incidents that motivated you to create this album?

[quote align=”right” color=”#999999″] Injustices are committed by law enforcement all of the time. So these incidents don’t surprise me. What motivated me to do this was the lack of celebration during Black History Month in America, or at least where I live. My alarm goes off when I look at my (black) people. I think there’s a serious lack of pride. [/quote]

Not at all. It’s sad to say, but these are only two incidents that we know about. But injustices are committed by law enforcement all of the time. So these incidents don’t surprise me. What motivated me to do this was the lack of celebration during Black History Month in America, or at least where I live. My alarm goes off when I look at my (black) people. I think there’s a serious lack of pride. This album is an attempt to instill some of that pride, awareness, and fortitude we once had as a people. I think if the people are reminded of their history, accomplishments and contributions, pride and inspiration will be planted in their hearts and minds.

The first thing I felt when I looked at your liner notes was the sense of urgency it had. As if something spurred you in such a way that this had to be done. How long had you been planning this project? 18 songs and all for a free download!

Uh oh.. Here’s where I get in trouble. 

This project is something that has been on somewhat of a bucket list for me. I really didn’t start on the project until it was too late. I’d say late December. We really should have been on this on August. Projects like this deserve really strategic planning. Appearances, media and other events related to this project could have been planned. I wasn’t going to do it. But I changed my mind at the last second. I had so many ideas. But I’m extremely pleased with the way it all turned out. 

So how long did it take you to do this album from start to finish…that’s quite a cast of players you have involved! How did you choose them?

This project took a little over a month and a half. Very quick. A lot of the artists heard that I was doing something and offered their talent to the project. Aaliah Burney’s mother Latrechia Peteet (a singer on this project) called and said that her daughter is an amazing poet. And after hearing her poem I knew that she was a perfect fit. So everyone kinda just fell in my lap that way. 

I felt a lot of emotion when I listened to this. I felt pain, pride and hope…you should think about giving these songs to choreographers, these are a dancer’s dream tools!

I’d love to see EVERYONE use this project for something whether it be dance or movies. What’s unfortunate and a common problem for small labels like Honeycomb is muscle. And finances. I would have liked to have shot a video for the entire project. And maybe a college tour. But for now I’m happy with friends and family (like yourself) helping me pass this music to as many people that would listen. 

So from here on….can we look forward to surprise gifts like this? I’ve seen a lot of major artists doing the same…giving some of their favorite works for free because they would rather get it out there.

We do it because we believe in giving back. Our first free release was The Christmas Project two years ago. And then we released Raw Honey, a full length poetry album last year. And now this. I think we’ll do this once a year. And we enjoy it. 

What’s next for Honeycomb?

There’s quite a bit happening. I’m working with Dawn Williams, Taihisha Grant, Latrechia Peteet, Lamone Andrews and plenty of other amazing vocalists, all of which have hits in the industry. We’re experimenting with a production style that sounds live and somewhat less electronic. We’re moving towards true independence in terms of sales. 

Eventually, I’d like to sell ALL of our music from our site. We also plan to get more into merchandising this year. This April we will be 5 years old and we plan to celebrate showcasing most of the artists that released music on Honeycomb. So we’re busy!