Los Angeles-based artist Tanna Leone, who joined Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s pgLang and signed to Def Jam in March, has dropped a woozy new track titled “Picasso.”
The song finds Leone speaking to his critics through a haze of Auto-Tuned warbling. “Picasso” serves as the lead single off Leone’s upcoming debut Sleepy Soldier, which drops April 28 via pgLang/Def Jam Recordings.
“I was in a darker, angrier place in my life and I needed to send a message to everyone listening,” Leone said of the new track in a press release. “Being tired of where I was; I needed to express my frustrations while speaking my truth.”
Tanna Leone added that his album Sleepy Soldier “represents a person at war with themself and the world. Even when they’re tired, they have to keep going because they know their purpose is bigger in the battle.”
He continued, “Everything I’m talking about is a reflection of recent life moments and a small number of past experiences but I’m ultimately expressing my human experience. When it’s all said and done, we experience the same emotions, and similar experiences that make us one, and that’s the mold I wanted to create on this project. This is human music.”
“Picasso” arrives after Tanna Leone dropped off his two non-album singles “With the Villains” and “Lucky” last month. The former received a swanky noir music video treatment directed by Neal Farmer.
Leone was the second act to partner with pgLang following Baby Keem last summer. Kendrick co-founded pgLang with Free and announced the company in March 2020, and Free said in a statement they’re excited to see what Tanna Leone can do.
“Tanna is a rare opportunity to disrupt,” Dave Free wrote. “We’re excited to partner with my young n***a.”
Tanna Leone is also currently a special guest on Baby Keem’s Melodic Blue Tour, which will make stops in New York, Atlanta, New Orleans, and finish up at Coachella on April 22.
Check out “Picasso” below.
