come on y’all, get live, get down

my mans Ahmed also put this up. 

Common (Sense)

a few weeks ago, I was listening to Finding Forever for the first time.

*DISCLAIMER* as with any and everything you read on here, if it’s not a fact, i.e. Ghostface loves wallabees, it’s an opinion. what you do with it is your business, what i think is what i think and every one is entitled to make up their own reality. if you’re still confused, please refer to House Shoes’ blog.

A moment that would be at home in any Spielberg-ian story: the first memory I have of an MC named Common was this low-budget, poorly shot video that barely held my attention, until the last line of the song…”cuz who I’m talking bout y’all is hip hop”

daaaaaaaaaamn, the memory of that still gives me chills. Soon enough, like countless others, Resurrection was practically stapled to my boom box and Common was the best MC my friends had never heard of.

‘I’m Nestle when it’s crunch time’

This was late in the 1-9-9-9, and soon enough The Light dropped, and soon enough, it became my song for the remainder of the school year. I went back and got all the albums I had missed, and bought every new one that came out since. With every listen, with every spin, this dude just got better and better. The hard shit, the introspection, the wordplay, it all hit me like a fuckin’ train. I loved the boom-bap of the NO I.D. era, but Common’s Soulquarian phase holds the highest regard in my mind. This seemed to be when all stars aligned. Radio and the mainstream finally looked Common’s way (The Light’s grammy), the sales came in (700K), the artistry and innovation was there as well as the progression.

Now I’m listening to Finding Forever and I’m feeling like a kid that just pulled the fake beard off his dad on Christmas morning. There where hints of this on Be, but I don’t think anyone could have really seen this coming; complacency. The biggest monkey wrench is that the music isn’t bad, Finding Forever easily trumps 90% of any major label hip hop efforts thus far in 2007. Common never stopped making good music, but something seemed to happen since he dipped into the mainstream. The intensity, the rawness that Com would display, even on his softer tracks, seems dulled. There’s a general theory that after the reluctance with which Electric Circus was met, Common shied away from experimentation, and as much as I don’t believe internet-talk, this seems like a plausible explanation.

?uestlove posted on a OkayPlayer message board, in regards to the newest Common album, that there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with coasting, and that just added a little more pressure to the nails in the coffin. I don’t think an artists should stay always stay in one lane and never progress; the reason I loved Common’s music so much is because it was never the same record after record. I even like the dreaded Electric Circus (that shit is a prime example of ‘ahead of it’s time’). But now it’s becoming hard to find reasons to keep Common on that pedestal, but maybe it’s my fault for putting him up there to begin with.

After all the shit talking, Common still has cemented his legacy as a legend. How many artists have purists’ respect for a 1994 record, an impressive catalog with one of the greatest innovators of their genre (Jay Dee you dummies), multiple classics, and are at the peak of their mainstream career?

*bonuses

Common – Car Horn (Madlib remix)

Bilal – Reminisce w/ Mos Def & Common

Common – Sum Shit I Wrote

Common – Soul By The Pound (remix)

Common – 1-9-9-9 remix w/ Sadat X

my Chi town connect informs me: ‘ yo the county is the prison in chicago…..if you are a neutron that means you dont belong to any gang…’

bong bong to the moon!

ignore that wack ass advertisement at the end.

cuz i’m able, to rock a crowd without a cable, or a cuban link and…

‘heyyo, Lincoln wasn’t Cuban!’

i’m not a DJ. Blueprint is tho, and he asked me to make him a mix for his site, so after he gave me an elbow of that ‘dro, I gave him these 11 gems, which he mixed.

1. Track 05 – Gaslamp Killer aka DJ Willow
2. Murder, Murder – Eminem
3. Still Gettin’ My Dick Sucked – DJ Paul
4. Now You’re Gone – Supreeme
5. Whoop! Whoop! – Kam
6. untitled – E-Stouff
7. The Number One – Atmosphere
8. Raw Shit – illa Jay
9. Weekend Girl – Cam’ron
10. Sun In My Face – Blu and Miguel Sanchez
11. Me and the Biz – Masta Ace and Biz Markie

CDRexThisIsTomorrowMIX

or if you just want it track by track 

the soul reach high planes, could even reach soul train

but Don don’t like rap, so that won’t happen.

2pac – Hard On A Nigga

i’ll be the first to say i don’t play 2pac often. it’s not that he’s not a great MC, because he is. i think it has more to do with still being undecided about how much of the hype is real. i’ll elaborate.

the ‘greatest rapper of all time’ stigma that is attached to 2pac is a big reason as to why i don’t visit his catalogue often. the argument that his words had any more poetry or power than anyone else’s just makes me bring up a mental list of MC’s that amaze me more than him. what people fail to recognize is the context in which 2pac existed.

he became popular during the height of gangsta-rap notoriety. he came from an extreme political background. he was an extremely talented writer with a Chuck D and MLK-like delivery. he was probably the last rapper of such fame to live so dangerously (before the major label hip hop world turned into some strictly business shit, i.e. fake beefs and shit…but that’s later). he was assasinated.

2pac became the hip hop equivalent of Jesus. anyone doubting can just look at their younger brother or cousin’s tall-T’s, your favorite rappers favorite comparison, the media or even tattoos. he also became a great case study for intellectuals on the nihilistic and suicidal nature of hip hop and it got to the point where any ‘best of’ hip hop discussion had to have Mr. Shakur’s name.

so my view on him teeters between feeling he’s singled-out and overhyped to being reminded of his actual talent, beyond the myths.

anyways, i still think he had the rare ability to capture sentiments in a very sincere-sounding way that still had mass appeal. in this song in particular he destroys the Led Zeppelin sample. this song, i like.

Guilty Simpson – Get ‘em w/ Mr. Porter & Jay Electronica

two favorites, Guilty and Jay. i can remember thinking this combination would be devasting and then finding out it had already happened. not one of them dissapoints, even Mr. Porter who I’m assuming did the production, but I’m not sure.

P.S. you might have noticed that those two songs have been posted on this site a whiiiile ago. those links weren’t immortal like these new ones, so from time to time i might be re-upping old tracks with new links.

from beats to flicks

Keith Murray – The Rhyme (Jay Dee remix)

the thing i like about keith murray is that you can feel he enjoys every bar he’s rapping. he might be stuck on that ‘rapping about rapping’ shit, but ain’t nothing wrong with that as long as it’s dope. the jay dee beat on this shit matches his playful intensity perfectly.

De La Soul – Pass The Plugs

one of my favorite songs off one of the dopest albums (that i still don’t totally get). de la is probably the smartest group in hip hop, and in that they’ve never missed a step.

hear them gun cries over your ending, 21 pistol salute

running circles round haters with them digital loops

Ta’Raach – Big Bang Theory

off the very underrated The Fevers LP, Ta’Raach is a lyricst, beatmaker and overall Detroit artist. this is a favorite off the LP, just listen. i’m not feeling very wordy tonight, and I didn’t feel the urge to put any new shit up till I heard this track again, and the Ras G and Black Monk beats just sealed the shit.

Ras G – Tha Message

Rastafari from LA. on some other shit, I guess you can now add ‘post-Dilla’ to hip hop termanology.

Black Monk – Hummin’ In The Sun

like i said, i’m not feeling very wordy, but this is up for a reason. on the same boat as Ras, well not really, more like in the same body of water, but navigating completely different.

Jay Electronica – Walk With It ft. Lil Flip…yes, THAT Lil’ Flip

judge for yourself.

Jay Electronica – ESOTSM

most probably have this sandwiched between a set of Just Blaze and Erykah Badu commentaries and two or three other verses, otherwise known as Act I. stay on the lookout for Act II and III.

DJ Paul – Still Gettin’ My Dick Sucked

if you’re of the faint of heart, overtly-sensitive, or just a pussy, you probably won’t like this. DJ Paul and the entirety of Three Six Mafia have a knack for creating soul out of gutter-ass shit, and this is a prime example. i love this song.

“off the wham I told you, ho, bitch you ain’t nothin but shit to me,

a good dicksuck to me, a buck to me, but now you history”

if the world is foul and you thinkin foul is how you got to live

then from the get your ass was foul and foul just, is how you is

Atmosphere – God’s Bathroom Floor

Atmosphere – Number One

Atmosphere’s shit always resonated as quintessentially hip hop. even through their more abstract shit, the first song, to their more quote-unquote emo shit, the last, they’re delivery and approach always made sense to me. hip hop doesn’t need any more boom-bap revivals, it needs people to push it and make things uncomfortable, otherwise it’ll just be another genre of music.

Jay Electronica – Retro Electro

Joseph Stalin and Bone Crusher all sewn together seamlessly within a bar. also, this seems to be off a DJ Clue mixtape from 2004, which just throws more monkey wrenches into the question of “what quasar did this motherfucker Jay Electronica come from?”

Kanye West – Homecoming or Home, either way, it’s tight.

Reflection Eternal – 2000 Seasons

“i’m not a human being gettin on some spiritual shit, a spiritual being manifested as a human, that’s it”

is one of the hardest opening lines to a verse i’ve ever heard.

the book.

Reflection Eternal – Train of Thought

talk is, kweli and hi-tek didn’t feel this song fit in the Train of Thought album, which is kind of a shame but i would never want to tell an artist how to present their work. still, this song carries one of the better hooks kweli has come up with in my opinion and just overall is a good embodiment of the attitude and perspective that kweli, mos, common and the rest of the late-90’s indie boom generation were injecting into the underground.

btw, this is NOT a ‘kweli was better when…’ post, that’s bullshit. artists and people grow, and if you ever supported them for their manner of self-expression, it’s pretty ass-backward to then try to dictate how that art should be expressed, lest you be a hypocrite. if you don’t like it, you don’t like it.

…it’s that Fat Pat, where them haters at? where them haters at?”

Lil Troy – Wanna Be a Baller ft. Yungstar, Fat Pat & Lil Will

when i heard this at 13, i thought this was west coast shit.

URBAN SAMURAI PRESENTS: Happy Birthday Andres!

On another note, yo what up? I’m Aaron, one of the two creative thinkers of Urban Samurai. Andres was kind enough to allow me to make a guest post every now and then so I would like to use this opportunity to introduce you to Brothaz Bent.

Brothaz Bent is a hip-hop group from LA. They just dropped their debut album titled “Up From The Desert.” This shit is real. I haven’t been this excited about a album in a while.

I actually went to high school with two of the guys. I remember them working at it already back then so its cool to see that they stuck with it and are now doing their shit. And doing it well in my opinion.
Their rhymes are clever and the lyrics paint a true picture of LA lifestyle and culture. The beats, produced by one of the MCs, range from raw and gutter to cool and jazzy. Check it out and any feedback is welcome.

New World Approaching

Blu

thanks to Jon Kim

and to ThaHipHop for putting this up 

Blu: this is Blu

Hey Blu, what’s up man?

Blu: chillin’, chillin’

Allright, we’ll I guess we can just go ahead and start this, you wanna introduce yourself?

Blu: my name is Blu, latin women call me azulito, um, my mom calls me Jon and my grandma calls me JB.

What was that first thing you said, azulito?

Blu: yeah, latin women call me azulito.

What’s that from, what’s the story behind that?

Blu: um, it just stands for little blue

Oh okay, ohhh! (over-pronunciating) Azulito, okay, okay, I wasn’t hearing it right.

Blu: my accent is bad

That’s fine, dont worry about it, I’ve definetly heard worse. Let me know, what’s your background in hip hop. I think I read somewhere that your dad actually introduced you to a few things back when you were young

Blu: yeah, my moms, she didn’t let me listen to hip hop, so my dad bought me, when I would visit my dad, my first tape was LL’s Bad, then when I went back to my moms she took that shit from me. My dad was mostly on west coast shit though, as I got older, that’s when I got into other shit. Hello? Hello?

Yeah, I’m here.

Blu: Dru Down. Is Dru Down mack of the year?

Dru Down! Oh shit.

Blu: yeah, Dru Down, shit like that.

Where did you go after that, hip hop wise? Cuz I know you got the other end of stuff too….

Blu: well then I moved in with my pops, then the first CD I ever bought, actually my step-mom bought me, Will Smith Big Willie Style, Ma$e’s first album and, what was that one….oh yeah, The Firm. Those were like my first three CD’s right there that I really listened to, as far as full hip hop albums. Then it went from DMX to all the Bay shit, then Redman, which got me into Canibus, which got me into Common, where I felt more like… that was like comfort. I felt more personal with that, so I was like, that’s my shit. Then went into Mos Def, you know how it go.

From that, how soon did you start your own shit, not professionally, but when did you start to try to have a hand at it yourself?

Blu: I started after It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot by DMX

Okay, so that’s like ’97, ’98?

Blu: I think so, ’98 maybe. Right after I got that I wrote my first rap, that was my first rap I wrote myself, my cousin wrote my raps when I was like 12. So DMX, I got that then I started writing, then by the time I got to Common I was like, that’s when I started. I was actually just freestlyin’ too though, even when I first started writing, I didn’t have that many raps, I was always into freestlyin’. So after high school I really started to put the pen down…or, nah, yeah, yeah, after high school.

It’s funny you mention Common because when I got the advance to your Below the Heavens, and I’ve been playing and playing it for people I’ve been telling them that it reminds me of Resurrection because…

Blu: Damn!

Nah, forreal, watch, and I’ll tell you why…

Blu: yo, yo, he said it reminds him of Resurrection, that’s an ill one.

You know how Resurrection is like, most of the joints on Resurrection are upbeat, kinda boom-bappy, head-noddy type stuff, but he’s talking about older shit, like reminiscent…

Blu: hello? Yo this shit just broke up majorly, I dunno…

I’ll call you back

• I call back a few minutes later*

Blu: Yo

Hello?

Blu: yeah

Do you hear me better now?

Blu: everything is crystal clear.

I was saying how your shit reminds me of Resurrection because Resurrection, even though it doesn’t sound like it at first, it has alot of like reminiscent themes to it, he’s talking alot about stuff he used to do and stuff, and I get alot of the same feelings from your album. Was that a conscious thing for you to be kind of on that reminiscent tip?

Blu: that was actually like the first album that changed my shit, changed my life. So I think it was probably just natural for me to just…know what I mean? We were more actually on the Reflection Eternal tip, me and Ex, we was like, when we first met we were like, lets drop shit like that for the west coast. It seems natural now that I think about it…I heard ‘I Used to Love H.E.R.’ after It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, and that changed my life when I heard it, that’s how the shit went. You know what I mean?

Yeah. When you started off making Below The Heavens, did you have an idea of what you wanted it to sound like, or what you wanted to talk about?

Blu: I think I always knew what I wanted to talk about, I always just knew that there were certain things I wanted to say or certain ways I wanted to say things. Exile brought the whole sound though, when I heard his shit I was like, damn. The whole sound I have to give to him, that record was like journals to me, know what I mean? Other than the music it was just like journals, it was more personal, it wasn’t like songs, I mean they’re dope, classic hip hop songs or I would hope

Laughs

Blu: Know what I’m saying?

Yeah, alot of it does have that personal feel to it. Would Exile then decide how it would sound, or were you picking the beats, or was it a collaboration?

Blu: Exile wouldn’t give me his dope beats, but other than that…

Laughs

Blu: this fool just burned the illest beat disc, I just got the illest beat disc from this fool. I would just sit there writing joints, I would kick to them. I would go to his house with the song written and next thing you know we were cutting it to a CD just made. There’s rhymes actually off the record where he would be making the beat and I was just writing right there, or I would pull a sample, like I would be looking through his records, pull some shit, and he’d just make something out of it right there, boom, and I would take that home. There’s all kinds of different ways, man.

How long have you guys been working on this? Listening to the album, at different points you say you’re 21, you say you’re 22.

Blu: I started this when I was 21, I wrote some of the raps when I was 20 though. I might have a rap when I was 19 on that bitch somewhere…

Damn

Blu: I mean, not 19, probably 20, I’m tripping. Wait, 20 was Soul Provider…yeah probably 19, maybe Dancing In The Rain I was probably 19 or something. Nah, I was 20.

Laughs

Blu: All that shit, like I said, it’s like journals.

What was the last record you cut for it?

Blu: the last song was No Greater Love.

Oh shit! Heyyo, that’s my favorite shit on the album.

Blu: that’s your favorite?

Definetly, definetly. That one and the one where you say, “ and I was a fan of Jordan way before I knew Bryant.” Those two.

Blu: oh damn, the In Rememberance… That’s dope man. That’s Exile’s two favorites.

Yeah?

Blu: that’s what he just said right now, it changes every week though.

How did you first hook up with Exile?

Blu: I was working with a group called Science Project and Science Project had a song with Aloe Blacc, and we were all staying in Long Beach in the same apartment building. It was like a buncha musicians, rapper and shit, in this one spot in Long Beach, and one time we went through this little Mexican spot downtown with Aloe and I met Aloe there. We were just choppin’ it up and shit, talking about Elzhi, and then I heard him rap on my boys shit and I was like ‘damn, this nigga’s shit is dope. Then he had heard some shit by me, and he was like ‘yo man, come to the show.’ He brought Exile and I met Exile at that show, and he told me was putting togethere this compilation he was trying to get me on and the next week we were cutting Party of Two.

Damn. So talking about the people that you’ve been around like Aloe and Ca$hius King, how does that all play out? Do you guys all kind of influence each other or…

Blu: you said Ca$hius King?

Yeah, just all the …

Blu: he’s like a major influence. I think he got the hottest shit right now, I don’t think y’all ready. That’s my major rap inspiration right now.

Ca$hius King?

Blu: yup, he got that hunger, that hunger is ridiculous.

Can you tell us a little bit about the people that you run with because people might not really be up on Ca$hius King and all them.

Blu: he was part of my old crew back in the days, it was like me and him were the only ones that really stuck together and kept making music. I also run with Ta’raach, we got a crew C.R.A.C. Knuckles, I got my homeboy Jon Ox from Oxnard, Mainframe, we got the group Johnson & Johnson. I got this crew, my first rap group in High School had my boy Ty, who used to rap with me, but now he play keys. (call starts breaking up)

Hello? I can’t hear you too well, speak again…dammit.

Blu: hello?

Hello?

Blu: yo.

Can you hear me?

Blu: there we go. That shit was crazy.

The last thing you were talking about was your homie from high school that plays the keys now, what was his name again?

Blu: that’s P Nasty, he play keys, and my boy Timmy Too Long, he play the drums, he’s from Dirty Blonde. My homey Filthy Firm is the filmant…what is it, he’s the filmographer of the crew. We’ve been running for a long time, we just made the crew though, Bridgetown Steel. My homeboy Basic, he’s like a ill ass photographer, graphic designer, he works for Sade and shit. Miguel Sanchez, he hold it down on the vocals on the album. Look out for that nigga’s shit, that nigga’s movin’. Shit is moving, L.A. is everywhere, everywhere you turn.

To get into specifics about some of those projects you were talking about, what can you tell me about the C.R.A.C. Knuckles (note: apparently I misspronounce this) that you guys are doing?

Blu: It’s C.R.A.C. man.

Whassup?

Blu: it’s C.R.A.C.

Wha? I thought it was C-R-A-C.

Blu: yeah but you pronounced it Crass Knuckles, that’s not how it is.

My bad.

Blu: it’s all good, just trying to help you out. Nony is actually the new member of that crew now, the new shit we bout to work on is going to be something stupid. Me and Ta’raach hooked up and did an album in 7 days, and got evicted.

Laughs

we just did an album in 7 days, had to bounce out on some shit, threw a cover on that shit and sold it on tour, like last summer. Now we getting up, we’re working on some shit, Nony’s in the crew. Nony’s the piece we were always missing, so when she came through it just made shit bananas.

What about Johnson & Johnson?

Blu: my boy Mainframe is the busiest motherfucker on the planet, he got a billion and one thing on his plate, I woudln’t even know where to start with this fool. With our project, we did it at the same time that we did Below The Heavens, I would just go to Mainframe’s spot and he would throw on loops, man. We’d just be rapping to loops and we’d just start looping them up on a computer and laying the raps. We came up with a name for it, it was originally just a mixtape idea. That’s Johnson & Johnson.

Now onto another thing you’ve done that I hold in high regard, the joint you did on the Dilla beat, how did that come about?

Blu: lemme see…how did Dilla come about. You’re talking about the Sun In My Face joint?

Yeah, that’s the beat from the Jay Love Japan shit right?

Blu: right, right. That’s really only the one, alot of people get me confused with the Blu from The Clapper (off Welcome 2 Detroit).

No, no, no, I wasn’t talking about that.

Blu: ok, word, word. The Sun In My Face joint… how did that go down. I met Dilla a few times through John, this was at the time when he was working on a record with John, he was actually working more on The Shining at the time, and I met him a few times and then I had to just, you know, express to him, he’s a real humble dude so most of the time I let him be at peace or what have you. Around the third time I seen him I said, yo man, I’d really like to get up and work with you and da-da-da-da, and he was like, yo man, no problem, we chopped it up right there. Then John was working on a record, he had brought alotta instrumentals, and me and Miguel were in the lab and we laced one, we laced Sun In My Face, and he played it for Dills and his mom, they gave us the okay for the record. We was cool with that, seen him a couple of times after that. The last time I seen him was right before he left to Europe, that night, the last time he went to Europe.

What does it mean to you to work with somebody like Dilla? Just because, personally to me, that’s like one of the illest…

Blu: Now, I don’t say I’ve worked with Dilla yet, youknowhati’msayin.

I see what you mean.

Blu: I think what I’ve learned from Dilla from being around him, not being around him like that because I wasn’t around him like that, but just from when I was around him, and what I picked up from him and his whole aura, I learned so much from him…knowwhatimean? Being a fan of his shit, we didn’t get in the studio, that’s what I always wanted to do. Rest in piece. One day, when we get up there, me and Dilla’ll pump out an album.

That would be dope. Real quick, what are your top 5 Dilla beats?

Blu: whisltes beats or songs?

Beats

Blu: damn, you said beats. See I got so many beat discs in my head, he got his one, it’s so ridiculous, I heard (unintelligble) rap over it one time, i forgot what the vocal sample say, and then in the middle of the verse this fool cuts up Funky Worm, man that shit is bananas. Then at the beginning he cuts uh, what’d he say, ‘I am the nicest…eva.’ Then of course the Q Tip Lets Ride beat, that beat to me is the shit, that one beat is my whole shit, that’s like Blu. What else? Nag Champa is…

Oooh!

Blu: that changed me as a person. Let’s see, I dunno if i’d say…nah, there’s so many dog!

I know, I know.

Blu: there’s so many beats.

Moving away from that really quick, earlier you were telling me how L.A. has some some shit, and I definetly agree, L.A. has some shit. But how does it feel to hear L.A. say that you have some shit, have Flying Lotus say that you’re his favorite rapper out right now and Rhettmatic say you’re the voice of L.A (source).

Blu: I appreciate that, I look at these niggas like, damn, thats dope. If they looking at me like that, that’s whassup. That’s just what I think L.A. is right now, everywhere you turn, it’s dope. People like Pac, those fools, seen those fools last night.

Wait, who?

Blu: Pac. Division.

Ohh okay.

Blu: them niggas ripped last night homey.

Where at?

Blu: at The Rocks. Top of The Rocks.

Yeah man, I can’t wait to get back down to fuckin SoCal.

Blu: Where you at?

Right now I’m in M*****, it’s dead in the middle of the state, in a little valley. I was telling John over IM, I actually go to school in San Diego. L.A. and San Diego are just right there, so it’s nothing really.

Blu: you got a little drive right there?

Yeah, from where I’m at right now to San Diego it’s like seven hours.

Blu: shit. That’s like further than Frisco to L.A.

It’s like Frisco to L.A. because I’m like 2 hours from Frisco. Anyways, damn, I forgot what I was gonna say. About your own shit; when you go home and you’re done with your shit and you’re listening to your stuff, what do you think of your own shit? That’s kinda tricky…

Blu: right now currently or the shit that everyone else is listening to from me? You talking about Below The Heavens or my shit right now?

I’m just talking about you yourself as a rapper.

Blu: Damn, I dunno, I be over shit quick. I have so many motherfuckin’ songs, I’ll feel it and I’ll sit with them for like, a month and I’ll just love the shit out of a song then by the next month I got another favorite song.

Is it that way with Below The Heavens? Are you kinda over that?

Blu: sometimes I be over it. There are joints I’ll never be over on Below The Heavens, like Cold Hearted and Soul Amazin’. Those are my joints right there like aaaah, like that’s my shits.

Good thing you said Soul Amazin’, because I reminded me how I wanted to mention that your record is bringing back, well not bringing back because people still do it, but putting some emphasis back on scratches in the records. Like that M.O.P. on that Soul Amazin’.

Blu: right, right. It’s Ex, man. I be beggin’ this fool for scratches. This fool will make a beat and just be cuttin’ to it right there.

So all the scratch ideas on Below The Heaven are Exile’s.

Blu: yeah, all the scratches.

Now the album is gonna be out as Blu & Exile’s Below The Heavens. Nobody really does that, why did you guys decide to have it be like, nah it’s not gonna just say Blu, it’s gonna say Blu & Exile.

Blu: because we did the record together, man. I dunno, it just didn’t feel right, like unconsciounsly selfish if I was just to make it my solo record. It was just as much his as it is mine. Everything was agreed upon, youknowhati’msayin?

Yeah, dope, dope. I was telling somebody about it the other day, how people don’t really acknowledge producers like that anymore.

Blu: Pete Rock and CL Smooth did it.

Yeah, but when was the last time that happened, like ’96?

Blu: to me it’s still Hip Hop, no matter when it happened though.

Getting back to the subject matter of the album, you do get real personal with it. Did you ever have any kind of aprehensions to getting so personal, talking about having kids at an early age and all that stuff?

Blu: I don’t even have kids man.

You forreal?

Blu: yeah, I don’t have kids.

awkward silence

Blu: you talking about that song Good Life?

Yeah, I thought that…damn, allright then.

Blu: yeah, just listen to it. I’m talking about what went through my mind as my girl gave me a call, like, I missed that time of the month, shit’s gonna go down. I’m just running through in my mind what I would tell my son. I’m trying to make that decision in my mind. It’s hard because the first line is the whole setting, everything else is like, my mind, what I’m thinking.

That’s kinda ill. Hey you know you fooled a buncha people, because I’m up on a few message boards here and there and stuff, people been talking about the album and alot of people think that you have kids.

Blu: yeah, and I also did some freakin’ interview, and I was talking about my brothers and sisters and the dude said I had 11 kids! I was like what the hell was that all about?!

I saw that, and I was laughing because no one, because what are you right now, 24?

Blu: yeah, 24.

I was like, no one is 24 with 11 kids, I’m sorry.

Blu: I’d have to be out here some work! That’s some crazy shit.

Allright, getting back to this interview, what are you listening right now?

Blu: Amnesty, Flying Lotus, um…yo what are we bumping? Exile’s cassette album. What else? We be banging some shit, we got alot of shit that we ain’t supposed to have, but most of the shit is L.A. The Sa-Ra shit, Flying Lotus shit, J.Davey shit, and raps, I dunno, I think the last rap shit I really listened to was uh, what’s that Beastie Boys album? Miscommunication. That’s like the last rap album I fucked with.

Back to the album, I saw what was supposedly the official tracklisting and I saw somethings were changed up a bit. Some tracks were positioned differently, some were off that were on the advance, was there a reason for that?

Blu: I seen that shit on Okayplayer that said, new tracklisting. So I clicked on that shit, and that original tracklisting, was never a tracklisting, I never seen that shit in my life, we never burned a CD like that. I always had my shit like My World Is…first, always had thought Soul Amazin’ should be early in the album. I dunno what that original tracklisting shit is, niggas have songs they ain’t supposed to have, but it’s all good. I saw niggas getting mad like, why you change the list? I dunno if I can get used to it.

So like, for example, Life’s a Gamble, was that never planned to be on the album.

Blu: nah, I mean it was when we first cut it, but nah. If somebody had the version with that, that was supposed to be a B side. Somebody got the masters or something, I think all the masters were just burnt randomly on a disc. We were gonna put Life’s a Gamble as a B side of a single and Party of Two was a B side. So those were probably all on that disc, so folks thought that was the album.
How do you see your career a year from now? What do you hope will happen when this album finally comes out in August?

Blu: shit, I hope everybody buy it. And as far as a year from now? As far as the album a year from now?

Nah, you’re career.

Blu: I hope all this shit that I got right now under my belt, I hope all this shit is out. So a year from now I hope yall got like six albums from me. That would be nice.

Well, that’s pretty much all I had to talk about, is there anything else you wanted to say?

Blu: Hold up…* I like beer, give me food. Tapas, tapas*

Laughs

Can I talk to Exile for a quick second?

Blu: hold up, allright.

Exile: Hello?

Hello?

Exile: yeah, what’s going on?

Hey Exile, whassup man?

Exile: chilling, whatsup with you?

Nothing, nothing, just doing this interview.

Exile: doing an interview?

Yeah, yeah, doing this interview. I just had a quick question, you know how in Oslo, Shoes said you had a beat that was his favorite beat and it was in an interlude on the Blu album?

Exile: yeah, yeah.

What interlude is that, because I’ve been wondering that shit for awhile?

Exile: it’s just a beat I had.

Where it is on the album though?

Exile: um, hold on a lil’ bit… (background) I think they got the masters, but they didn’t get the interludes…it’s after No Greater Love.

Okay, oh shit, okay. I know now. No Greater Love is my shit.

Exile: did I meet you?

Yeah, I was the dude in Oslo there interviewing you guys and taking pictures and all kinds of shit.

Exile: that’s right.

I want to get your album on you and Blu’s album. Now that the whole thing is done, how do you look at it?

Exile: I look at it like we did what we had to do and I’m real happy with it. I just want to get it out to the ears that appreciate good music.

These beats are real different than the beats you had on Dirty Science. Where you pushing for a more soulful type of shit for this?

Exile: for Blu’s album?

Yeah.

Exile: really, I was just overall trying different things and I was just trying to give Blu a sound that complemented his sound, and the way the album came out is just that. I wasn’t necessarily going for soul-based samples, we did alot of songs and we picked out the best ones and they just happened to be…

The ones they were.

Exile: yeah, the ones they where.

Blu mentioned something about your cassette album a lil’ while ago, is that that radio album you where talking about the last time I saw you?

Exile: it’s actually gonna be called Normal Bias, it’s all recorded on cassette, on four-track cassette and it’s all me rapping.

Any idea when that’s gonna be out?

Exile: um, in the fall or winter, probably winter.

Is that gonna be on Sound In Color too?

Exile: no. I’m actually talking to people right now.

Is there anything else we should be on the lookout for you, as far as beats on anybody else’s projects or anything?

Exile: Emanon, new Emanon. I’m doing an album with Ca$his King called Top Dollars. I’m doing an album with Johas—

Yeah, Johas from Deep Rooted.

Exile: –forming this group together called Dax Savage. Blame, I got some tracks with Blame on his new album, and I have this instrumental album called Radio, hopefully coming out this winter as well, where evertyhing is sampled off the radio, the drums, the basslines, everything. All conceptualized off the radio.

Damn, so you’ve been keeping busy.

Exile: yeah, definetly.

Cool, well, thanks alot for letting me do this interview, hope you guys have a good show in San Diego.

Exile: thanks bro.

Peace

Exile: peace

do yourself a favor and wake up, Below The Heavens… is that shit.

my two favorite cuts:

No Greater Love

In Rememberance…

booking for Blu, contact JKim

using proper manners learned to handle anger

animal behavior later.

Bilal and The Witness Protection Program (?uestlove, James Poyser and co.) – Everything Is Everything

I was lucky enough to witness this Radiohead cover in person at Radio City Music Hall more than a year ago. it was half of Bilal’s set, the other half being the equally awesome song, ‘Sometimes,’ from his criminally slept on debut album, 1st Born Second. Drum Master ?uest admitted that with all the guests packed into the bill (Nas, Jigga, Comm, Mos, Kweli, Kane, Badu, Dave Chapelle, Slum, and others) Bilal was the one to give the man chills. that says alot.

ps. if youre doubting my recall ability as to what Ahmir Thompson said, don’t. i never post anything without being certain that i’m 100%, or at least believing i am.

Jay Electronica – Trolley Stop

Jay getting on some old-school (hate that term) shit. he attacks the playfullness with as much intensity as he gets on that aggressive tip on his other shit. and cuz i felt like spilling some more out, Jay Electronica – Spark ‘em Up (snippet?).

IAM – Demain C’est Loin (Tomorrow Is Far)

IAM once stood for Imperial Asiatic Men, but now the acronym carries enough weight by itself. they were introduced to me as pretty much being the Alpha of french Hip Hop, being around since the 80’s and still being relevant today.so much so that Nas apparently jacked them for his song, The Second Coming. gasp. that kind of steals Nas’ thunder because that was one of my favorite non-Illmatic tracks of his. oh well. they released a new album this april.

feedback is always welcome.