Note: website and other folder assets still under construction with placeholders. Read further for access to audio
This is a collaborative album project between Seattle hip-hop artists Prometheus Brown (aka Geo - Beatrock Music, Blue Scholars) (emcee) and Gabriel Teodros (aka GT - Abyssinian Creole, Copperwire) (producer). Production, writing and recording began in October 2024. Among 12 completed demo tracks, 8 candidate songs were selected and sequenced for October 2025 mixing and mastering (remaining songs are under consideration for a future Empire Way, Vol. 2 release).
This repository was created in January 2026 to retroactively track previous changes from October 2024-present, as well as to track future changes for transparent creative evolution. It also serves as an experiment in using Git not only to document process and track iterative changes, but to use the platform itself as an alternative method of album "release" that subverts the current online-artist's dependency on big tech streaming platforms and social media content creation.
This repository houses all creative assets for [Empire Way, Vol. 1], including:
- Lyrics and their evolution
- Demo versions and iterations
- Production notes and decisions
- Final masters for streaming and physical release
- Web interface for public exploration
"Art is never finished, only abandoned" is a quote often attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. Rather than wait until a finished, polished product is ready for release, we present this project in an iterative and evolutionary form, even open to changes after it is "done." It is from this viewpoint, along with a belief that we must master techonology before it masters us, that we imagine this project as if its trajectory more resembled the software release life cycle than a traditional music "album" cycle where a final commodified product is frozen in time upon its release. Furthermore, we are invoking the spirit of transparency and human collaboration at the heart of the open source ethos underprinning the very technology that has been co-opted for sales and surveillance.
We also hope to iterate the structure of this repository itself as a potential template which other artists can fork and customize--collaborating, documenting and sharing their projects as they evolve. We imagine a multitude of unique, user-generated UX/UI forms of interacting with art which can be built and experienced from this space, where democratized technology can be used to create autonomous innovative spaces for artist-audience connection, decoupling from the extractive, enshittified slop vortexes that surround us.
The April 20, 2026 V1 GitHub release of Empire Way, Vol. 1 is currently available for streaming on the [untitled] platform. Access to the [untitled] streaming link is limited to 100 users--the URL will be de-activated after 100 users have accessed and saved the project to their own collection in the [untitled] app.
Empire Way, Vol. 1 (V1) is a gamma release. Sharing the project in its current form provides a framework for feedback and additional changes for future iterations building toward a final release candidate version. See roadmap below for proposed timeline of future iterations.
A planned, updated Q2 2026 release (V2) will be rolled out to alternative platforms outside of the big music streaming platform ecosystem. Candidate platforms for release include:
A dedicated web app built from this repository is currently planned for, which will house all current and future versions of the project, and a user-friendly interface for audience to interact with aspects of the production.
A traditional album release (V3) slated for Q3 2026, will follow V2, beginning with a release date announcement and pre-orders for digital and physical copies available on Bandcamp.
We are currently weighing options on whether or not to fully release V3 to big streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal etc.) and are open to feedback.
-
Q3 2024 -
Project begins -
Q4 2025 -
Mixing and Mastering for V1 release -
Q1 2026 -
GitHub repository and album project template created -
Q2 2026 -
Gamma (V1, digital release - limited) -
Q3 2026 - Stable Release (V2, digital release - public)
-
Q4 2026 - Gold Master (V3, published release, digital/physical - public)
-
October 2024-July 2025 - Pre-Alpha, beatmaking, songwriting, demo recording (private)
-
July 2025 - Alpha on [untitled] - mix drafts, arrangements, pre-production - (private)
-
October 15, 2025 - Beta/V0 - mixed by GT, unmastered (private)
-
October 16, 2025 - Gamma/V1 - mastered by Dume41 (public-limited)
album-name/
├── tracks/ # Individual song folders
├── audio/ # Current song versions, demos, instrumentals
├── images/ # Album art, single covers, promotional images
├── liner-notes/ # Album credits, thank yous, stories
├── production/ # Session files, stems (private)
├── docs/ # Production notes, mixing decisions
├── web/ # Public-facing website
└── releases/ # Final masters
- This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
- Artist: Prometheus Brown
- Producer: Gabriel Teodros
- Mixing: Gabriel Teodros
- Mastering: Dume41
- Artwork: Leeann Alguire
Last Updated: April 20, 2026 Status: In Production, Gamma
