Dean Atta Is The Gil Scott-Heron Of His Generation

Winner of Black LGBT Community Award for Arts and Spirit of London Award for Achievement through the Arts, Atta was invited to 10 Downing Street to meet former PM Gordon Brown and City Hall to meet Mayor Boris Johnson. Atta has appeared on prime time Channel 4 in a ‘3 Minute Wonder’ in which he proudly declared himself as ‘Young Black & Gay’.

Following Dean Atta’s highly acclaimed music debut, the stunning 5-track EP 'Reason & Rhyme', described by this Award-Winning Spoken Word Artist as “an eclectic jigsaw of words and sounds”, Atta now finally shares the 'Missing Piece' of the puzzle. The eagerly anticipated debut album 'Missing Piece' is available as a Free Download on Monday 4 October via Atta’s website.

Recorded in several home studios and featuring a number of up-and-coming producing talents and Atta’s most frank and poignant lyrics to date. He tells us: “These are some homemade home truths I put together with my friends at their houses for you to listen to in the comfort of your own… ‘Missing Piece’ is a lyrical rollercoaster of love, sex, conscience and consequence, riding a variety of musical styles, from acoustic guitar and classical piano to hip hop and dance beats, with beautiful samples on ‘Ascension’ and ‘Key to the City’ by two massive inspirations of mine – Lauryn Hill and Stevie Wonder…"

Dean Atta"When we released 'Reason & Rhyme' I thought I would get compared to Benjamin Zephaniah, as usual, but when Charlie Dark wrote that quote about me being the Gil Scott-Heron of my generation I was so flattered and amazed! And then when Benjamin Zephaniah got his copy and gave me such positive feedback I was certain I had to carry on making music. This album is a direct result of all that encouragement”.

“I don’t have any favourite tracks on this album because I love each and every one of the 10 (and the bonus track) equally because they all convey their own unique message, which is why I have chosen to release this album as a free download because these messages need to be heard. I strongly recommend you also download my EP ‘Reason & Rhyme’  – that’s free as well”, Says Atta.

“A lot of people focus in on ‘Morning Sex’ because there’s a video out for it but hopefully with this album people will hear that I’ve got a lot more to say than the F-word. I’m not your average rapper but I’m not your average poet either”
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‘Missing Piece’ is a bold and significant step in Atta's journey as a songwriter and storyteller, with tracks about family life, pressures felt by young adults in inner city London, standing up for who you are and what you believe in, making love, falling in and out love and finally the still somewhat taboo issue of mental health. “It’s like an abridged audio diary of the past year of my life…”

Tunnel Vision’ produced by Birmingham’s KD was recently previewed by Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music. Tom describes this track as "bittersweet and absolutely gorgeous". Both ‘Young Black & Gay’ and ‘Tunnel Vision’ feature on the album. Find previews of these and more on Atta’s SoundCloud account: http://soundcloud.com/deanatta

Missing Piece Track List:

01. Mother Tongue (Produced by Michael Antoniou)
02. Fatherless Nation (Produced by Richard Hale aka DJ Halo)
03. Ascension (Produced by Richard Hale aka DJ Halo)
04. Key to the City (Produced by Gus Miller for Simple Beats)
05. Revolution (Produced by Richard Hale aka DJ Halo)
06. Young Black & Gay
07. Morning Sex (Produced by Dean Anthoni aka Whodini)
08. Tunnel Vision (Produced by KD)
09. I'm Cool (Produced by Richard Hale aka DJ Halo)
10. Therapy (featuring Red Cable Sunday)

BONUS TRACK – Sunday Smiles

Videos for Poems On Album:

‘Morning Sex’ [Explicit]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku4-D0OqoaY
‘Revolution’ [Clean]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqv6oU2wBJg
‘Fatherless Nation’ [Clean]: http://vimeo.com/14634226

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