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Cosmos Ray

@cosmosray

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🎧 The More We Live — out now
🎥 The “When You’re Gone” video just dropped
💜 Listen & watch here ⬇️
#themorewelive

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🚨 NEW VIDEO DROP 🚨
Hey y’all — I just dropped the video for “When You’re Gone (conversations with my selves)”.
This song is basically me trying to keep it together while my brain is having a roundtable discussion without me. 😅
Check it out at the link in the bio! Thanks 💜

#CosmosRay #WhenYoureGone #NewVideo #MentalHealth #love taken in Chicago, Illinois by @cosmosray

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8 months ago

🎥NEW VIDEO ALERT 🚨: PARANOIA (Official Video) is out now.

This is a love letter to courage, for ALL of US, in a hyper-surveilled world. Hard-hitting 808s and a call to shine your light and refuse fear.

Check It!

👀Watch now: Link in Bio! 💗

#CosmosRay #Paranoia #TheMoreWeLive #808s by @cosmosray

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a year ago

🕊✨ OUT NOW: “Free 2 Birds” (Official Video) ✨🕊

🎥 Watch the full video at link in bio

This track invites you to:

🌌 Love who you are, even when you go through changes

⭐ Feel like a star, even when you don’t shine in all places

⸻

Please share, comment, like, and subscribe!

#Free2Birds #CosmosRay #NewMusicVideo #PsychedelicSoul #SelfLoveAnthem #TheMoreWeLive #prince #talkingheads taken in Bronzeville neighborhhood, Chicago by @cosmosray

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a year ago

After years steeped in Chicago’s legendary music scene — as a frontman, a collaborator, and a sonic curator — Cosmos Ray (@cosmosray) emerges fully formed with his powerful debut solo album, “The More We Live.”

“’The More We Live’ is a melting pot of the cerebral and the soulful, somehow managing to be both ahead of its time and timeless.” - EARMILK

A 19-track journey both intimate and expansive, the record is a fearless exploration of love, loss, identity, and transformation. Fusing the grit of hip-hop with the spaciousness of ambient electronica, the pulse of reggae, and the emotional texture of soul and rock, Cosmos Ray creates a world entirely his own — one that critics and fans alike are already likening to Andre 3000, TV on the Radio, Trent Reznor, Massive Attack, and Portishead.

At its core, “The More We Live” is a record about remembering: what it means to be human, to grieve and grow, to heal and unmask. Anchored by a sequence of six reflective segues titled “Recall,” this debut isn’t just an album — it’s a ritual.

On the release, Cosmos Ray shares, “The More We Live is a letter from a distant land — written after loss, shaped by years of quiet creation, and driven by a need to finally let my voice be heard. It’s a reflection on the contradictions of being human — the fear and love, the doubt and surrender — and an intentional step outside the boundaries I’ve lived in musically. This album is a reckoning, a healing, and ultimately a call to love more boldly.”

“The More We Live” by Cosmos Ray was serviced to global radio promotion on 7/22/25 and debuted at #190 on the NACC Top 200 Chart on 8/5/25!

The album is currently available for purchase on Cosmos Ray’s Bandcamp page + on your streaming platform of preference!

#Radio #CollegeRadio #CommunityRadio #PublicRadio #LocalRadio #Indie #Music #IndieMusic #NewMusic #MusicPromotion #MusicIndustry #MusicLovers #Musician #Andre3000 #TVOnTheRadio #TrentReznor #TrendingNow #MusicDiscovery #UndergroundMusic #MassiveAttack #Portishead #ILoveMusic #FYP #Explore #Chicago by @cosmosray

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a year ago

🎥 NEW VIDEO JUST DROPPED
Heavy (the blame is) → link in bio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgvEWCVbzv8

Breakup anthems don’t always have to shout.
Sometimes they just sit in your chest and hum.

“Heavy (the blame is)” is for the ones tired of pointing fingers. It’s a slow-burn new wavy, soul-funk confession — hypnotic, moody, and emotionally loaded. Think Depeche Mode meets quiet storm energy.

The video leans into that weight. Stillness. Repetition. Grief. Power.
Minimal on purpose. It lets the ache breathe.

💜 If it moves you, share it.
📀 And if you haven’t yet — the full album The More We Live is out now on all platforms. Links in bio.

Much love and gratitude💗

#TheMoreWeLive #HeavyTheBlameIs #NewVideo #CosmosRay #SoulFunk #AltRnB #BreakupAnthem #VisualMood taken in South Side, Chicago by @cosmosray

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a year ago

The More We Live is out today. 💜

This one is for Kai — thank you for showing me that music can be a form of love. Your spirit echoes in every note.

This is my debut solo album — and honestly, the first time I’ve let my voice stand completely on its own. I’ve always thrived in collaboration, and for years I kept solo work in the background. But when my father passed in January 2024 — my first music teacher — something shifted. I knew it was time.

I went through over 100 songs I’d written across more than a decade, and then started writing some new ones. Slowly, a story began to reveal itself — a concept album rooted in paradox: love & fear, faith & doubt, sinner & saint. I didn’t try to force genres or structures. I just followed the feeling. The result is raw, layered, atmospheric, sometimes messy — just like being human.

This record is my healing. My reckoning. My homecoming.

To everyone who helped bring it to life — @rollinwearyrecording @danzornengineer @gorgechon @dougbistrow — thank you for pouring your gifts into this with me. 🙏

To you reading this — thank you for being here. This album is yours now.

Listen to The More We Live on all platforms 🎧
(link in bio)

#TheMoreWeLive #AlbumRelease #CosmosRay #NewMusic #DebutAlbum #NowStreaming #chicago #love taken in Bronzeville, Chicago by @cosmosray

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a year ago

🎧 NEW MUSIC ALERT 🎧
I’ve been sowing sonic seeds, and they’re finally starting to bloom.

My debut album The More We Live drops next Friday (5/16), but today, I’m sharing the first single with you:

🔥 “Heavy (the blame is)” — out now.
Hit the link in my bio to listen.

This one’s about relationships that start to wither — when we stop talking and start pointing fingers. It’s a slow burn, a nod to Depeche Mode with a splash of new jack swing.

Sometimes pain doesn’t scream — it just sits in your chest like a stone.
The blame game is real.

Thanks for listening and feeling with me.
Much love 💜

#NewMusic #HeavyTheBlameIs #TheMoreWeLive #CosmosRay #AltRnB #SoulVibes #DepecheModeInspired #ChicagoMusic #IndieArtist taken in Bronzeville, Chicago by @cosmosray

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a year ago

Amazing People,

I’ve been taught and have owned the truth that gratitude is one of the foundations of Love and Life. That gratitude expressed can move mountains.

I want to express my gratitude and love to the beautiful and robust community of Charleston, West Virginia! Thank you to all the friends and family who traveled far and wide to be in Charleston to celebrate Kai and support our family.

You showed up for Kai Haynes’ Celebration of Life on Friday night. It was such a love-filled event. Everyone I spoke to shared how much my father meant to them and why they had to come and celebrate him. It is inspiring to see such a strong community.

Because of this powerful community energy, we were able to reach our fundraising goal on Friday night at Kai’s event! Thank you so much!

A special shout out to Bob Thompson, Ammed Solomon, Steve Payne, Nils Haynes, and the Haynes, Boekell, Golden, and Stover families. Your contributions and efforts were instrumental in making the event a success. Thank you to all the musicians from the Bob Thompson Unit, the Voodoo Katz, and The New Old Souls for sharing your love, time, and musical gifts with us to honor Kai!

I’ve left the GoFundMe link open for anyone to use or share. We’ll keep it open until we move funds to the final home for the Kai Haynes Music Scholarship. I’ll share more updates soon so everyone can know when and how funds will be used. Feel free to send me any questions.

Once again, thank you so much to each of you! Your love and admiration for Kai speak volumes.

If you have any pictures or videos of the event, please share them on the Kai Haynes: A Celebration of Life event page on Facebook or send them via email to for.kai.haynes@gmail.com

With love and gratitude, I thank you all! ❤ taken in Charleston, West Virginia by @cosmosray

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2 years ago

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3 years ago

Let your hair hang down,
Like there’s no one around,
Nothing ever is lost,
Reconnect to our source…

When you feel it,
Shine so bright…

Everybody want to change their ways,
Sometimes we sit and wait around for days,
The mind want to go to sleep,
The heart a beat,
The heart a beat,
Aha ah. 💜 taken in Bronzeville by @cosmosray

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3 years ago

For Kai…
Beautiful People! My father, Kai Haynes, left his body and crossed over that sacred river to join the ancestors this morning in his beloved birthplace and hometown, Charleston, West Virginia. Kai Edward Haynes had almost completed 74 hallowed circles with mother Earth around that morning star.

It is impossible to speak about him without talking about music. It was his life and one of his greatest loves. He was forever drawn to artistic excellence, especially that of the musical canon. He was keenly aware of his place in that legacy, especially amongst the Black american musical heritage.

He also was my first and most enduring musical maestro. We used to talk for hours about albums, players and composers. Recently we had been debating about whether Bird and the boppers played the way they did so that no one could imitate them or because they were trying to express themselves at the highest level. Probably a little bit of both.

I want to thank all of the people who have sent their love and prayers to our family and me! As I sat with him over the last two weeks countless people who loved him reached out via phone, text and social media. Scores of people stopped by the hospital and hospice to kiss him and whisper their final and fond adieus. Though it was a grueling two weeks I tried to remain as present as possible and feel all that I could feel of the colors that make up the emotional rainbow.

What struck me most in these testimonies from those that love him is that literally everyone said he was one of the kindest and most joyful people they had ever known. That they had never experienced him gossiping, talking negatively about another or judging anyone. They said he epitomized class. If you knew him you also know he had a one of a kind laugh and smile.

Cont’d in comments taken in Charleston, West Virginia by @cosmosray

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