With a vast array of sounds anchored by his emphasis on thoughtful, personal lyricism, Wrekonize’s latest solo journey– his second while signed to Strange Music– stands firmly on it’s own merits.

That being said, to get the most out of your Into The Further experience when it hits shelves (and music libraries) this Friday, it’s important to know the albums roots and inspirations.

In 2013, Wrekonize made his Strange Music solo debut with The War Within. The diverse effort centered around a therapy session, creating an engaging and unique concept that packaged efforts like “Galil” and “Haunted.”

Conceptual albums are often difficult to execute. Creating a narrative without sacrificing the quality and flow of an album is difficult to balance and it takes a certain vision to see the direction of an album before you begin on it.

And that’s just for one album!

Wrekonize’s new album Into The Further will carry the therapy-driven concept and set up a third, and final installment!

In a fascinating look at the creative process of a creative artist, Wrekonize talked with us about how (and why) he decided to build a multi-album narrative, how the new album will both reach back yet break new ground, and plans for the saga’s future.

What is the inspiration behind Into The Further?

Into The Further is basically a continuation of The War Within. Starting off with this psychotherapy session and being put under– taking a trip into the subconscious. Into The Further is a return to that. How do we go even further, even deeper and bring out more meaning than we did in the first journey?

Anyone who has heard my mixtapes knows when I start a project I like to build projects in segments so trilogies are a good way to round it out. I feel like this is the second step in what could be a trilogy.

Did you know you wanted to build a conceptual trilogy when you started? 

No. Not really [laughs] I’m not really methodical like that, but I like things to shape up neatly against each other; I think thats why I do things that continue in some fashion project to project.

When I did The War Within I didn’t plan for it continue but when I started drawing up the second album I thought it would be cool to revisit that. I also got the idea from fans because a lot of people, when they were talking about my next album, were calling it “War Within 2” so if they want War Within 2 lets give them War Within 2.

How are the albums similar?

In hip-hop, coming up, I found it very uncomfortable to be myself. There’s a racial thing, there’s a background thing, and we’re in Miami, like we are the South but we’re not the south–What is our identity? It’s a hard thing to figure out, so I’m always on a mission to find myself. I feel like on The War Within I was able to show the spectrum of who I am and the same goes for Into The Further.

I’m not trying to go out and make an album that’s an industry standard, it’s more like “this is who I am”

What makes Into The Further different from The War Within?

Because I only get to work on solo material every few years, I feel like I’m still trying to find myself as a solo artist even though I’ve been doing it for so long. Into The Further was another chance to find myself a little more. It feels like it’s a more cohesive vision.

The War Within was my first officially distributed album with Strange so I was so excited. Like “let’s do this kind of song, and this kind of song, and this kind of song!” There were a lot of different sounds going on. This album, I got the first one out of my system so it feels more focused.

From start to finish it feels like one vision.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER INTO THE FURTHER NOW!