Quinton Barnes Announces Seventh Album THE KIDS KILLED FREE JAZZ
The album, due February 12 via Black Rave Records, is built from recordings of eight Canadian experimental musicians.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Hip-Hop and Rap
Quinton Barnes has announced his seventh album, THE KIDS KILLED FREE JAZZ, which is due February 12 and released through Black Rave Records. The record contains eleven tracks across three acts.
Why it matters
The project draws on Canada's experimental music community, with eight musicians recorded separately and their performances reworked into hip-hop and electronic material. It offers international listeners a look at how independent experimental scenes can feed into rap production.
The album contains eleven tracks across three acts and marks Barnes's seventh studio release. Eight musicians were recorded separately before their material was chopped and arranged into the final hip-hop and electronic tracks.
The players
Quinton Barnes
Barnes is a hip-hop artist whose seventh album, THE KIDS KILLED FREE JAZZ, blends experimental recordings with rap and electronic production.
Black Rave Records
Black Rave Records is the independent label releasing Barnes's seventh album.
The details
Barnes recorded eight members of Canada's experimental music community separately, then chopped and arranged those recordings into hip-hop and electronic tracks. The result is an eleven-track album structured across three acts, released via Black Rave Records.
Timeline
November 4, 2026: Barnes publicly announced the album.
February 12, 2027: THE KIDS KILLED FREE JAZZ is scheduled for release.
Industry Dynamics
The project extends hip-hop's chopping-and-rearranging tradition, long associated with producers like the Bomb Squad on Public Enemy's 1988 album, by sourcing its raw material from live performances rather than existing records. Its use of experimental Canadian musicians points to a crossover between rap production and independent experimental scenes.
THE KIDS KILLED FREE JAZZ is set for release on February 12 through Black Rave Records, so listeners can access it on that date. The eleven-track, three-act structure means the album can be heard as a single continuous listen.
The takeaway
Barnes's approach shows how recordings of live musicians can be reshaped into hip-hop and electronic tracks, offering a model for artists who want to draw on experimental scenes beyond their own genre.
What happens next
The album is scheduled for release on February 12, 2027, when listeners can hear how the chopped and rearranged recordings sound in full.
Further reading
For more on how producers across the genre reshape recorded material, explore our Hip-Hop and Rap coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Exclaim.
