Navy Blue Breaks Down Each Track From ‘Sir Render’

The West Coast rapper and producer closes out a trilogy with a prequel. Check out what he had to say about every song from his latest project.

Sage Elsesser aka Navy Blue, continues to be one of the more interesting artists in the game.

The California native is not only a rapper, producer, pro skater and model, he’s also cousins with James Earl Jones, and his late family member’s iconic voice is featured throughout this project as Navy used clips of his narration of Richard Wright’s classic Native Son.

When asked if the classic 1940 novel inspired his tenth studio album and the third in his “Knighthood” trilogy, he said it was more about the gravitas of Jones’ narration.

Sir Render isn’t the typical installment in a trilogy. The 15-track tape is actually a prequel to the two previous albums Memoirs of Armour and The Sword & The Soaring.

To explain this unique way of presenting a story, Sage uses the Game of Thrones universe as an example. “Game of Thrones is the main [anchor TV show],” he explains.

Sir Render features the talented rapper and producer Mike Shabb out of Montréal, dynamic duo Armand Hammer, Navy’s right hand in Earl Sweatshirt and his mentor the late, great Brooklyn rapper and producer Ka.

The production credits are also a family affair, including Jason Wool, The Alchemist, Vertiqua, the aforementioned Shabb, Mario Luciano, QThree, Bori, Malik Abdul-Rahmaan, Shungu, and of course, Navy Blue himself.

This record has layers to it, and the only way to peel them back is to listen intently and let the music take you into the world the West Coast MC first introduced with Memoirs in Armour.

You’ll have visions of knights in battle, and the sound of swords sheathing, as Navy gives the listeners some of his best raps and storytelling yet.

Billboard sat down with the rapper to talk about each track on the new project. Check out Navy Blue’s Sir Render track-by-track breakdown below.

The music video for Sir Render’s intro track “Commencement” was you at the Arsenal championship parade. Why did you choose to go that route for this particular song.

Well, the honest answer is, I was going to London for the parade — and a producer I’m working with, Nick, was like, “Well, if you’re already going, should we just get some content out of it?” And he pitched the idea, and initially after he ran it by me, I said “no,” because I didn’t feel like it was exemplary of what the album was about.

I wanted to lead with “Sir Render,” but he was just like, “Yo, why not highlight a moment in history?” And it was just kinda like blind faith, like, “All right, I’ll give it a shot.” He set it all up, and I’m glad I did it now.

It’s one of those things where I’ll look back and be happy that it exists.

It made sense after I went back and watched it after listening to the album.

The first lyrics on “Commencement” are, “I simply couldn’t fathom what it’d take.” And it’s just kind of like years and years of putting pain in and struggling, and then to be able to reflect on my life, where I’m from, where I’m at now, with the perspective that I’ve gained through that, so it felt perfect.

When I was in the parade and I was seeing it all happening around me, I was like, “Oh, this is perfect.” It’s celebratory. Now the story begins. As an Arsenal fan its like, now the bar has been set.

Let’s go win another one, and another one and another.

Did you recently find out that James Earl Jones is your cousin.

He’s always been part of our family.

And you’re using clips of him narrating Richard Wright’s Native Son throughout the project. Why did you choose to go that route.

Well, beyond him being a relative, he arguably has the most iconic voice. He comes from a theater lineage and when he’s on stage it’s like his second home. I had the privilege of seeing him on Broadway about 15 years ago.

Do you remember what what play was? At first, I thought he was reading Othello, because it sounded like a play and then you have these themes of knighthood.

I forget what play it was, but that’s pretty much where it started. I was trying to find recordings of Othello, and a lot of the monologues from Othello didn’t really fit.

If a song is a minute and 30 seconds long, people generally are like, “Oh, we need to put a little clip at the end of someone saying something.” It’s kind of the formula, but for me, I’m really intentional about the voices that I use and the people whose voices I use.

There’s another man named Martin Prechtel who I’ve used on pretty much all of my albums from Song of Sage onward, and I’d always collected certain clips of James Earl, and when I found these, they just felt right, especially because I had read Native Son when I was 13, I’d say.

And what the book is about is so much different than what Sir Render is about. I said in other interviews, the thing that I identified most with is that the main character has had an experience that’s changed him forever, and his whole reality has become entirely skewed.

Sir Render is an album about reflecting on a time when my world was upside down, but through the lens of a narrator. You know when you’re watching a movie and you get the opening scene and it’s a baby being born and then there’s a distant voice.

Someone comes in there like, “He’s born under a full moon,” and the story begins. So, I was imagining speaking from the perspective of a narrator. “Commencement” is one of those songs where even my performance is really laid back and spoken really straightforward because I was inspired by narration.

I was read somewhere that it took you five years to make this and that you were working on this before Memoirs in Armour and The Sword & The Soaring, so it’s essentially a prequel.

I wouldn’t say I was working on this for five years. I worked on it for about two and a half years. Three maybe at most, and completed it and just left it because it was supposed to be the next album.

I had the closing chapter of my book an instead of just having that stand on its own, I have this be the moment, the pinnacle where you’re like, “Oh, okay.” So, it’s Memoirs in Armour, which was me imagining you seeing armor, you know, and then you’re seeing the tools that are used with The Sword & The Soaring and then Sir Render is the person beneath the armor and the person wielding the sword.

But yeah, sorry, to answer your question because you asked me about Jason Wool. I love Jason Wool and working with him. He’s a piano technician by trade. That’s what he does.

But I built a really special relationship with him. There’s those kind of relationships when you work with certain people. I’ve broke bread with Jason. I’ve traveled to Portland to spend time with him and Mario [Luciano], and make music and nerd out on a bunch of music that we’re into.

Jason has become one of those like friends that, you know, once you connect, the music is easy.