Baltimore’s own NERU THEE FOURTH FUGEE is stepping into a new dimension. The multi-hyphenate lyricist, composer, and producer has announced her long-awaited sophomore album, 4TH CHAMBER, presented by Wu-Tang Clan legend Killah Priest, out on November 7. Far more than just an album, 4th Chamber is a multi-disciplinary movement — a fusion of music, visual art, performance, and community action, rooted in themes of self-mastery, esoteric knowledge, and cosmic identity.
Drawing inspiration from Wu-Tang’s 36 Chambers, Neru reimagines the idea of “chambers” as levels of wisdom unlocked through life, bridging Baltimore grit with Afrofuturist imagination. The campaign spans a new album, a public mural installation in Baltimore, a mini-documentary with Imani Network, and a nationwide ‘4th Chamber’ tour, combining live shows with workshops and cultural activations across the U.S.
Musically, 4th Chamber feels like a time capsule cracked open at just the right moment. Some tracks were crafted in the last year; others trace back nearly a decade — prophetic sketches that mirror Neru’s evolution. With mentorship from Killah Priest and early nods from Ab-Soul, she threads spiritual inquiry through a genre-bending soundscape that weaves hip-hop, neo-soul, trip-hop, funk, ambient, and left-field electronica into trance-like harmonies. Written, arranged, and composed by Neru, and executive produced by The Boondocks’ Metaphor The Great, the album features BbyMutha, Snypa B, Sekou Tha MaddMann, Crip Jesus, and Killah Priest himself.
From the meditative opener “Entro: Thee Council” to the cinematic depths of “Trinity” and the hallucinatory textures of “Depthz”, Neru builds a world where mysticism meets modernity. Highlights like “SNL (Shrooms & Lobster)” (with Sekou Tha MaddMann) and “End Daze” (with BbyMutha) spark with wit, confidence, and cosmic swagger, while the album’s gravitational center, “4th Chamber” featuring Killah Priest, links past and future through a powerful lineage of metaphysical hip-hop. Tracks like “He/La (Healer)”, inspired by Henrietta Lacks, and “Perfect Place”, a luminous closer, showcase Neru’s ability to transform historical and spiritual ideas into soundscapes of both vulnerability and strength.
But 4th Chamber isn’t just about sound — it’s about community activation. To mark the release, Neru is unveiling a large-scale mural in Baltimore, created with three youth artists from underserved neighborhoods, in collaboration with Media Rhythm Institute and 901Arts. Her December ‘4th Chamber’ tour stretches across Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and beyond, pairing live performances with artist showcases, youth workshops, and pop-up marketplaces for independent creatives.
Born and raised in Baltimore, Neru Thee Fourth Fugee has long defied easy categorization. Her sound — an intoxicating blend of hip-hop, neo-soul, and psychedelia — first emerged on her double EP Enlightenment Era and deepened with her debut The Almanac. Since then, she’s shared stages with The Roots, Danny Brown, JPEGMAFIA, Princess Nokia, and Raheem DeVaughn, while earning praise from Billboard, COLORS, Sway’s Universe, Pigeons & Planes, Complex, and BrooklynVegan.
Beyond the music, Neru’s impact runs deep. As founder of the AstroKnot Collective and curator of Thee Portal, a Baltimore art space that supported over 300 local creatives, she’s spent years merging artistry with action.
Now, with 4th Chamber, Neru Thee Fourth Fugee crystallizes her philosophy into sound — a self-knowledge ritual you can move to, a blueprint for community, and a cosmic continuation of the Wu legacy seen through her uniquely Baltimore-born, future-facing lens.
