The Urban Renewal Project has recently unveiled their album ‘Love Glory Duty Death,’ marking a significant comeback following the pandemic, during which they gathered numerous captivating anecdotes from the album's extensive six-year creation journey.
In the early 2010s, R.W. Enoch, Jr., an East Coast native, moved to Los Angeles with two primary objectives: to form new friendships and nurture his passion for music as a pianist and saxophonist. These aspirations connected him with numerous talented artists in the area, including rapper Elmer Demond, singer Alex Nester, and several trumpet, trombone, bass, and saxophone players among others. Together, they formed a lively big band named The Urban Renewal Project. Over the 2010s, they released three albums: Go Big or Go Home (2012), Local Legend (2014), and 21st Century Ghost (2017) before taking time off to regroup after the pandemic and to welcome a few new key members, including versatile rapper Slim Da Reazon.
Their fourth album, ‘Love Glory Duty Death,’ was released on October 24 and epitomizes the band at their most ambitious yet, featuring politically charged lyrics and a mix of multiple genres—most notably jazz, soul, and hip-hop—into a unified artistic statement. R.W. Enoch, Jr., the band leader and tenor saxophonist of The Urban Renewal Project, along with Matthew “Slim Da Reazon” Parm, the group’s primary lyricist and emcee, shared their views on the group’s current status in an interview conducted on the album's release day.
— —
:: stream/purchase Love Glory Duty Death here ::
:: connect with The Urban Renewal Project here ::
— —
A CONVERSATION WITH THE URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Atwood Magazine: Let’s begin with the band's history. Can you highlight some pivotal moments that have shaped The Urban Renewal Project into what it is today?
R.W. Enoch, Jr.: We’ve been making music for 15 years. This is our fourth album, which took us seven years to complete. Our third album was released in 2017, and we began this project before the pandemic started.
Slim Da Reazon: The group has been together for 15 years, and I joined seven years ago as an additional MC. This is my first album with the band. We had a draft of what could have been the album before the pandemic, but it prompted us to reassess what we wanted to say—not just to ourselves, but to the industry. The first one or two songs we worked on during the mid-pandemic and post-pandemic phase led us to rethink the album’s concept. What we ultimately have reflects our appreciation for the music that emerged during the pandemic and the state of the world during that time.
Enoch: People often ask about our band and what songs to check out to understand our sound. I realized I wanted to create an album that I would be proud to present as a true introduction to our music—a standard much higher than what we set previously. We have a track called “Rush,” which we rewrote four times, and another called “Baroque,” which we recorded twice in different keys to fit better. These kinds of time-consuming efforts—often avoided by artists—we embraced, and I believe that's the essence of the statement we released today.
It’s the big release day—congratulations! The album is being promoted as a blending point for various genres, particularly hip-hop, jazz, and soul. These genres have shared connections for decades, dating back to groups like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. What do you think draws these genres together so strongly, and how does your album affirm that this interconnection remains vibrant and flourishing in 2025?
Enoch: We admire those artists you mentioned; we've even covered A Tribe Called Quest during our performances. What sets us apart is our approach—while ATCQ relied on sampling, we bring a full ensemble of musicians into the studio to create something new that captures the essence of sampled hip-hop but with live instrumentation. We do this in honor of hip-hop's history as well as the musical styles it has sampled from, mainly soul and jazz. Many influential early rappers grew up listening to their parents’ soul records, which inspired them to mix those sounds with their verses. Our aim is to capture that same vibe but through a live band.
Slim: I completely agree. As R.W. mentioned, [our music] pays homage to what has preceded us, forming a lineage. It all began with jazz, which evolved into soul, and now hip-hop is essentially a fusion and reinvention of those styles, infused with poetry. It’s about recognizing the connection between jazz, soul, and hip-hop, while distinguishing ourselves by performing it all live. Instead of sourcing samples from outside, we
Just after earning three Grammy nominations last month, Wet Leg has released the new video for 'pokemon’ today. Wet Leg consists of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers.
With a bold determination to explore various genres and time periods, Nourished By Time has created a sound that is both timeless and distinctly contemporary. In his latest album 'The Passionate Ones', songwriter and producer Marcus Brown builds upon his 2023 debut with assurance, weaving a complex narrative of political disillusionment, ambition, and – importantly – hope.
Keyboardist Christian Madden has shared his thoughts on the record-breaking Oasis tour, highlighting the top city they performed in. The keyboard player
Nashville’s The Quarantined transforms personal trauma and disorder into a powerful, impactful modern rock statement on survival and self-reflection with their newest EP, ‘Aversion to Normalcy.’
‘Memento Mori: Mexico City’ serves as the counterpart to Fernando Frias’s ‘Depeche Mode: M’, an artistic project that delves into the music of Depeche.
Mon Rovîa displays his most intense and compassionate side in “Heavy Foot,” a heartfelt, rhythmic protest anthem that channels anger, sorrow, and daily injustices into a collective act of healing. Grounded in his Afro Appalachian style and the personal narrative that informs his upcoming debut album ‘Bloodline,’ it highlights why the Liberia-born, Tennessee-based singer/songwriter is an essential artist to watch in 2026—bringing memory, identity, and accountability into modern folk with bold clarity and emotion.
The Urban Renewal Project has recently wrapped up their post-pandemic comeback with the launch of ‘Love Glory Duty Death,’ and they have a wealth of fascinating stories to tell about the album's intricate six-year production journey.