Category: West Coast

Interview: Blu on his new album with Oh No

GingerSlim speaks to indy rap icon Blu about his excellent new album with Oh No, A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer Night.

You’ve teamed up with Oh No for this latest project. How did the collaboration come about initially?

When I first got signed to Sound In Color records back in 2005, I initially reached out to Oh No after seeing him battle Exile at the Rootdown, but I eventually decided to have Exile produce my first album which would become Below The Heavens. So me and Oh No have been contemplating putting out music together for a long time and this we felt was a perfect time to hit the people with a full length release from the both of us.

Is there much of a different dynamic working with someone of his calibre?

Oh No is fast bro, he has a very extensive arsenal of heat and he stays on top of his craft. So working with him is very easy for me because I tend to work fast as well.

As with a lot of your music, it’s a very LA-centric album. Is there any sort of concept beyond the obvious LA theme?

No, not really, it’s more so just writing from reality or experience. So growing up in L.A. and living daily in L.A. are obvious reasons why we create music from an L.A. point of view. “L.A. IS RED HOT”.

When we spoke last year you told me you were sitting on a crazy amount of albums and working on more new material. I was wondering if you always feel an internal desire to be creative? Do you always feel the need to be writing?

Not lately, now that I am sitting on so much material. I can kick back for once and not feel any pressures to write or create. I can for once just enjoy the music I have created.

Once again you’ve got a great selection of guests on the album, with a good mix of lesser known and more established artists. Do the names come to you as you’re writing the songs, or do you have an idea of who you want involved beforehand?

I know so many great artists, it’s really just overtime I meet an open artist who is ready and willing to create, we link up and actually create. As oppose to acting like you are willing to create and never really do. But when it comes to albums, I do try to carefully select my features, and that is a blessing.

You’ve already worked with some of the best names in hip-hop, including projects with both Oh No and Madlib. What’s next for you? Is there anyone else left on your wishlist?

Premier, and Pete Rock. Prince Paul. Fred Wreck. RZA. All kinds of people I would love to work with. On top of that list would have been J Dilla without a doubt.

Now religion isn’t something you ever really talk about in detail in your writing, but I always get the sense of some sort of spirituality in your mindset. Is there anything in particular you subscribe to in that respect?

My grandfather, who is very religious, always told me to write positive thoughts and not to project any negativity, and I try to do that in my music.

Do you spend much time listening to all the new hip-hop surfacing at the moment? If so do you have any particular favorites out there?

No, I listen to older 80s and 90s hip-hop. I tend to think it carries a lot more substance and it shares an experience long silenced and finally voiced by a people finally given a chance to express themselves, when before there weren’t any opportunities for so many people, all over the world.

I remember in an old interview you said you were getting more into reading and studying. Is that something that you’re still focused on and is there any area of study that you’re specifically drawn to?

I love history. I have actually just finished reading the Bible. The most intriguing book I have read in my life so far !

What’s next for Blu?

Releasing all these albums I am sitting on and hopefully getting into film somehow.

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A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer Night is out now on Nature Sounds. Get it here. Follow Blu on Twitter and Instagram.

Gingerslim has been a hip-hop fan since 1994 and has written for various blogs and websites since around 2006. During that time he has contributed to style43, Think Zebra, Headsknow and Front Magazine. His main interests in rap are UK hip-hop and the underground movement in America, with a focus on Rhymesayers Entertainment and the once mighty Def Jux label. He lives in Bristol and has a beard. All other details are sketchy at best. Follow him here. 

Album Review: Royce da 5’9″ and DJ Premier’s PRhyme

Prhyme-DJ Premier and Royce da 5’9″ have been steady working together since 2002’s Rock City, an album that featured the certified banger Boom. There have been hits and misses since, but when they announced a few months back that a full length collabo was in the works, it got everyone’s attention. After weeks of teasers and videos, the PRhyme album is now finally here, and its dope.

What hits you straight away is the production, and how Premier has managed to adapt to rappers with a style not typical of the artists he tends to work with. He’s produced for a range of different artists before of course, from west coast groups like Compton’s Most Wanted, to southern acts like Bun B and Ludacris, but the beats for those still had that classic Primo sound. What impresses most here is how easily the music changes to suit an eclectic mix of unique artists that includes Mac Miller (on Dat Sound Good), and Killer Mike and Schoolboy Q (on Underground Kings).

In fact, the entire album is a bit of a change of pace for Premier. There are still classic bangers, like U Looz and Courtesy, but also rich compositions that you wouldn’t necessarily know were Primo beats if you heard them out of context. It’s a refreshing new direction for a producer who, while unquestionably one of the greatest of all time, does tend to get stuck in their own signature sound. This is new-era DJ Premier, holding his own amongst the modern beat makers, with a little help along the way from Adrian Younge.

As for Royce, he’s stepped his game up, with the same sense of purpose and aggression we saw glimpses of on 2011’s solo album Success is Certain, and on his Bad Meets Evil side project with Eminem.

Other standouts include the Common-featuring Wishin, and To Me, To You, where PRhyme team up with the over-hyped but always-impressive Jay Electronica.

There’s a moment on U Looz when Royce points out how stupid it would be to suggest that by joining forces with DJ Premier, he’s trying to be the new Guru. The Gang Starr days are long gone for sure, but PRhyme is shaping up to be a group that over time could well end up achieving similar levels of critical acclaim.

PRhyme is set for release December 9.

Elmo and Ice Cube: Together at last

Screen Shot 2014-11-02 at 10.52.08You’re a fool if you think Elmo is just for the kids. The furry red monster has been meeting the biggest names in showbiz and music for decades, and each time the writers and puppeteers make things entertaining for the little ones, while also making sure there are lots of clever references that only adults would understand.

Elmo’s latest guest is Ice Cube. Ice. Cube. Mr NWA and AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. On Elmo. As you can imagine, the outcome is pretty special. Cube is there to teach Sesame Street’s finest what the word ‘astound’ means, and does so with some magic tricks that make Elmo lose his shit.

It’s one of the funniest clips we’ve seen in a long, long time, and just shows how incredible Ice Cube’s career has been. Being down for the kids is a great look for the West Coast legend, and good for hip-hop too. Watch the madness below.