“Leaving Earth” is more than an album—it’s an immersive experience. DJ Unknown has teamed up with Trinumedia to merge CGI visuals and animation with the music, crafting a sci-fi space opera that tells the story of leaving a dystopian Earth in search of meaning. This multimedia collaboration brings the album’s futuristic themes to life in a bold, cinematic way.
DJ Unknown’s distinctive style—described as “soulful and harmonious” (DJBooth.net) and packed with “pulsing, percussive dub reggae/rap headbangers” (NOW Magazine)—has earned critical acclaim from outlets like The Source and HipHopCanada. He has played at top-tier festivals, including NXNE and Wakestock, and opened for major acts like Brother Ali, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and De La Soul.
With “Leaving Earth,” DJ Unknown is set to captivate audiences through a visionary fusion of music, visuals, and storytelling, marking a new chapter in his already storied career.
“In general, I started this record as an attempt to pay homage to Dj Shadow’s classic album “Entroducing.”
I spent 6 months listening to records and cataloguing samples, as I wanted to produce a full length, sample based album that had many moods and arrangements.
After 6 months of digging in the crates, I started working on the songs. I produced 3 beats over a weekend that were mostly one section loops, and that’s when I got stuck. All the samples I catalogued still sounded dope on their own, but I had trouble visualising how to string any of them together within a single song to create different arrangements.
One weekend, after sitting on those beats for about a week, I decided to take a fresh approach that I hadnt done before. I loaded up an electric guitar VST and jammed some guitar riffs on some open drums on song 1 (Farewell). What happened next caught me off guard, as I these riffs that just started pouring out of me.
Over the course of the next 2 weeks I wrote the ENTIRE Leaving Earth album using a blend of samples and VST instruments.
It was a true moment of inspiration, all the music I loved outside of hip hop was pouring through me and manifesting in this album. All the while, I started forming this story narrative about a DJ who feels trapped on earth, and longs to leave the planet to explore the wonders of the universe.
I had the whole album done, and started playing it for my band mates – and their response was universal “This music is fantastic dude, but you gotta let us play the rock arrangements as a band”
And thus, the final interaction of this album was born – a hybrid of sample based hip hop with live band hard rock, with a DJ as the lead. I am not sure there’s anything really like it out there, but in spirit, I think its still a direct descendent of Entroducing.”
Leaving Earth is out now
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