There’s a certain magic that happens when sound meets swagger, when a riff can both wound and heal, when a voice drips with velvet gasoline. That’s where Leon Knight lives. He isn’t just revisiting the soul of the past; he’s reclaiming it, bending light through the prism of 2025 and letting the ghost of rock and roll’s origins dance in his distortion.

His new single, “Yes I Do” feature DE’WAYNE, is the latest spark in a movement he’s quietly building, a renaissance of Black rock and funk that breathes fire into something too long dimmed. Premiering with a swaggering On The Radar performance, the track lands like a thunderclap: loud, unfiltered, and impossibly groovy.

“‘Yes I Do’ is the ultimate sassy funk rock anthem,” Knight says. “It’s got everything I love: vintage drum machines, sassy synth lines, that classic rock and roll rhythm, and loud guitar solos. It’s us saying, ‘Yeah, we really live this sh*t.’”

From the first note, it’s clear: Knight isn’t following anyone’s script. His guitar doesn’t just sing, it testifies. The track fuses molten riffs, funk-soaked bass, and vocals that carry the pulse of rebellion. It’s both homage and revolution, echoing the ghosts of Prince, Hendrix, and the unsung pioneers who carved Blackness into rock’s DNA long before history tried to erase it.

But “Yes I Do” isn’t all nostalgia; it’s resurrection through modern fire. “It’s a canon event for me,” Knight explains, “because I’ve found a way to blend my vintage sonic influences while making a record that hits just as hard in the club as any modern rap record.”

It’s this duality – old soul, new engine – that makes Leon Knight so magnetic. He carries a grit of analog – the hum of fuzz pedals, slap bass, sweat-soaked drum machines – into a digital age that’s forgotten how to feel.

Rock and roll, as Knight reminds us, was born Black. Its pulse was rhythm and blues, its swagger borrowed from church choirs and juke joints. Knight’s mission isn’t nostalgia; it’s homecoming. Each chord in “Yes I Do” feels like a reclamation of joy and power, a grin in the face of an industry that once turned its back.

Since his debut record Can It Please Be Tomorrow? in 2023, which carried lightning bolts like “Hard Pass” and “Dirty Dancer,” Knight has carved a lane of his own: loud, lush, and unapologetically stylish. Dressed to the nines, armed with a guitar that seems to bleed light, he performs like the child of a glam rock god and a preacher, all grace and grit, all split jumps and mic twirls.

On stages, the rumors swirl. The word “king” gets whispered, not as flattery, but as recognition. The new King of Rock & Roll, they say, though Knight just smiles and plugs back in.

To listen to “Yes I Do” is to feel unshackled. There’s funk in its bones, gospel in its veins, rebellion in its grin. It’s a song that dares to groove in a world that forgot how. A celebration of Black’s artistry, it radiates freedom, style, and a fierce sense of ownership.

For Knight, every detail matters. From the analog crackle in his tone to the kaleidoscope of influences – Cat Daddy on bass, Powers pleasant in composition, DE’WAYNE matching energy beat for beat – the song arrives as a living statement. A declaration that Black rock isn’t gone; it just needed someone brave enough to turn the amps back on.

And now, with more music on the horizon and a movement blooming behind him, Leon Knight is just getting started.

Because rock and roll never died. It was simply waiting for some like him to say, “Yes I Do.”