YOUNGE: ADRIAN YOUNGE’S SELF-TITLED MAGNUM OPUS

Younge is Adrian Younge’s magnum opus: a record that redefines what orchestral composition can mean for a new generation of jazz and hip hop. It is a bold, instrumental statement that positions Younge not only as a composer, but as an architect of a new musical language, one that looks backward and forward at the same time. 
 
The album is rooted in the lineage of composers who unknowingly laid the foundation for hip hop decades before it existed. Figures like Lalo Schifrin, David Axelrod, Ennio Morricone, Galt MacDermot, Bo Hansson, and later visionaries such as Portishead’s Geoff Barrow created cinematic, emotionally charged music that was often overlooked in its time. Their records would later be rediscovered by crate diggers and transformed by producers searching for sounds that felt timeless, dangerous, and unexplored. 

Hip hop expanded by inheriting this forgotten language. Through sampling, producers didn’t just borrow melodies; they absorbed orchestration, mood, tension, and storytelling from composers who were operating far outside the mainstream. In many ways, hip hop became the vehicle that preserved and amplified these ideas, introducing new generations to music that had always been ahead of its time. 
 
Younge is composed with that full historical awareness. It is orchestral music written from the perspective of today’s producers, music that anticipates reinterpretation, deconstruction, and reuse. Think of it as a 1970s soundtrack album imagined through modern ears: arrangements built around space, restraint, and texture; movements that feel cinematic yet modular; compositions that invite dialogue rather than demand finality. 
 
Geoff Barrow has spoken about soundtracks as self-contained musical worlds: records untethered from era or genre, capable of shaping culture quietly and profoundly. Younge exists squarely in that tradition. It is both homage and evolution, acknowledging the past while deliberately setting a new standard. 
 
Ultimately, Younge establishes a new blueprint for composers and producers around the world. It suggests a future where orchestral music and hip hop are not just collaborators, but the same language spoken across time. This is Adrian Younge defining the sound of what comes next: music that feels ancient, futuristic, and inevitable all at once. 

The first single “Portschute” was just released today! Check it out now.