If you’ve casually scrolled through Omari Hardwick‘s Instagram page, you’ll notice the actor has been spending time in music studios. The talent who was a poet before becoming a mainstream star, is going back to his first love with an album due this year.
In January Vibe reported that the Georgia native plans to release his sophomore effort Later Decatur, in homage to a man never saying goodbye to his home, but eagerly looking forward to his future.
“As a poet, I would always hear emcees come up to me and say, ‘Yo, you should rap,’ and I was like, ‘No.’ You know, the label was tough for me,” Hardwick said. “I’m a poet. I was proud of that distinction between the two, not wanting to be the other. So, I think just in terms of what God’s call for me was, I think I was to pop in a world of visibility as an actor prior to audibility as a musician.”
While little else has been revealed about the album, a source to ESSENCE can confirm that the project is in the works and has been executive produced by R&B singer Eric Roberson, singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq, and jazz musician, Robert Glasper.
Roberson is a Grammy-nominated artist who’s worked with Jill Scott, Bilal, Marsha Ambrosius, Musiq Soulchild and a plethora of artists for over two decades. Glasper is a Grammy award-winning jazz musician and producer who was the music supervision for Miles Ahead, Miles Davis’ biopic. Glasper also has worked with Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Common, The Roots, Kanye West, Mos Def, Q-Tip and countless other artists.
No word on when Hardwick’s album will drop, but with his hit Starz’s show Power is returning June 25, we can only hope for some of his music to be played on the show.