& Afro-Disco Makossa: The Dance Floor Record He’s Always Wanted to Spin & More.

Music never arrives without a history. It carries places, technologies, memories and the fingerprints of those who came before.

For our August cover story, Afros in tha City sits down with Adrian Younge to explore the sounds, relationships and creative philosophy behind Afro-Disco Makossa—a record born from his long-held desire to create music for the dance floor without surrendering the depth, musicianship or historical consciousness that defines his work.

Drawing from makossa, soul, funk and disco, the album does not treat these traditions as relics to be reproduced. Younge approaches them as living languages: sounds capable of holding their histories while continuing to move, transform and speak to the present. The result is music designed for movement, connection and deep listening—a record that looks backward only to understand where it might travel next.

But this conversation extends far beyond one album.

Younge reflects on the trust that can only be built through consistency, his enduring creative partnership with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and the ecosystem they have created through Jazz Is Dead. Rather than positioning legendary musicians as figures frozen in the past, the platform invites living artists to continue creating, experimenting and adding new chapters to their own stories.

He also speaks about attending law school because he wanted to become what he calls “an educated artist”—someone equipped to understand contracts, intellectual property, ownership and the structures surrounding the work. His independence is not simply an aesthetic or an industry label. It is knowledge, preparation, discipline and the infrastructure required to protect a creative life.

That philosophy carries particular weight for an independent publication like ours. Building outside traditional systems requires more than vision. It requires learning how the machinery works, deciding what must remain yours and creating an ecosystem capable of supporting the work long after the excitement of an idea has passed.

Throughout the conversation, Younge retains the curiosity that first led him toward music. “We’re just bigger kids,” he says—a reminder that serious artistic practice does not require abandoning wonder. Growth can mean becoming more skilled, more informed and more intentional while remaining open enough to keep discovering.

This is a cover story about a dance-floor record, but it is also about something larger: how artists honour history without becoming trapped inside it, how independence is built rather than declared, and how curiosity keeps the conversation moving forward.

Adrian Younge covers the August issue of Afros in tha City.

Read “Afro-Disco Makossa: The Dance Floor Record He’s Always Wanted to Spin” at afrosinthacity.com and in our print publication.

Stories Shaping Culture.