For years, Datin’s The New Ark has been hinted at, teased, and half-jokingly talked about since back in 2016. Every time Rapzilla checked in, the answer was the same: “It’s coming.” Now, after more than a decade of rewrites, revisions, and spiritual wrestling, The New Ark finally has a release date, February 27th.
The New Ark Live
Datin’s The New Ark was previewed at Church City USA in Queens, NY. The rapper Richie Righteous is the pastor of the church. The room was filled with CHH peers, old friends, and family.
It was there that the Menace Movement owner gave out inside details of the project.
The seed was planted in 2010, when Datin walked out of a Broadway theater after seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights.” He started sketching out a three‑act hip-hop musical set in Newark, the city that raised him. Skits, transitions, recurring motifs, everything flowing.
Then he started hoarding beats.
One day, Datin walked through Newark with headphones on, testing every instrumental against the backdrop of the city. If a beat didn’t feel like Newark, it was cut. He built and rebuilt the tracklist until he landed on 26 records, with 18 making the final cut.
Almost everything he released in the last decade, he considers a “distraction.” Good music, sure. But not this. He has multiple versions of The New Ark, but he kept pushing, kept adding, kept sharpening.
In Datin’s Words
“For the past 15 years, this album has taken different twists, turns, and gone through different variations, but I can FINALLY say that it is done,” Datin wrote in his announcement. “It took a long time, but I can see the hand of God in the delay.”
It’s true. In the time he’s been crafting this project, he’s lived more life, released more music, and even helped write for another musical. All of it fed back into The New Ark.
“I’ve prayed, shed so many tears, and sought the Lord ferociously during the creation of this album,” he said. “Seeing it finally being fleshed out feels like such an accomplishment. This will be my best work by leaps and bounds.”