Rhap Session: Blu

Los Angeles' Blu is one of the most promising young emcees on the West Coast indie hip-hop scene. Over a 14-month span from 2007 to 2008, he released three full-length projects -- each under a different moniker and each featuring, exclusively, a different producer. The first, and most widely praised, was his collaboration with L.A. producer Exile, Below the Heavens. Exile's work recalled the jazzy, lo-fi hip-hop of early Rawkus Records, while Blu's rhymes were introspective, personal and confessional.  But unlike emo-rappers, Blu rarely cast himself as the victim, preferring to relate his life in events and not emotions. It's the same formula formerly used by Common and Talib Kweli, and comparisons were even drawn to Nas' seminal debut album, Illmatic.

Blu followed this up in 2008 with an album from his group C.R.A.C., which included up-and-coming producer Ta'Raach. The Piece Talks ditched the raw hip-hop palette of Heavens in favor of forays into psych, soul, electro, rock and all points in between. Next, Blu formed Johnson and Jonson with producer Mainframe. The self-titled album, released last month, once again pushed the creative envelope, though it was more playful and ostensibly less experimental. For this exclusive Rhap Session, Blu discusses his sudden ascent, the Johnson and Jonson album and his future plans.

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]

On the creation of his string of breakout albums
I got to a point where I wasn’t trying to make music. I just wrote. It was like, "You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to imitate this style. Be comfortable in your own skin." During that time period, I got three records done. I got a rock record done, too, but it’s not that dope.

I tried to do all the albums in a year, but I missed it by a month. I tired to do it in ’06, but it started in ’07. We’re hella grateful. It’s been a long time coming. C.R.A.C. was ‘05, Blu and Exile was [recorded] all through that period and was finished in ‘06. The same with Johnson and Jonson. We pulled songs from the vault, and hopefully, fools haven’t heard every one of them. The first verse on the album was the first one I ever laid out when I was 21. That was the verse I was trying to get on Below the Heavens. And, at the last minute, it popped up for the intro.

These records are like time capsules; C.R.A.C. was a view of seven days in ’05.  We spent other days mixing and fine-tuning it. But those seven days of creation and the friendship that developed from that is what that record meant to me. C.R.A.C. is no rules. C.R.A.C. is C.R.A.C.

Exile was like three years of going in and trying to create this record we wanted to create. But whatever we put in has come back, and that record has done so well for us because of what we put into it.

On Johnson and Jonson
Johnson and Jonson is the last piece [in the trilogy]. It’s my favorite piece because it was from one of the best times in my life. We were in Long Beach when nothing was really popping in Long Beach. It was just beautiful scenery. We were right there on the Beach all the time. There were little clubs popping and cool people. It was an ill vibe. It kept us focused. That whole sound on Johnson and Jonson is Long Beach to me.

For Johnson and Jonson, we were thinking of it as a mixtape. We didn’t want to rap over other people’s beats, but we approached it with that mindset. We rapped 36 bars over a soul loop, and that’s the first single. It was supposed to be a white label record. John [Johnson and Jonson producer Mainframe] signed me to Sound in Color to do Below the Heavens with Exile, and we were going to release them at the same time.

On the influences and inspirations for Johnson and Johnson
I started with DMX, Common, Inspectah Deck and Planet Asia. Asia’s first EP is one of my top five hip-hop albums. “Cali Breeze,” “Moonlight Melodic Rush,” “On the Corner” intro and outro. I wasn’t around back then, but I happened to go back and listen to all of this. But for Johnon and Jonson, I was into De La heavy, and I was into Snoop because I was in Long Beach. But more so De La. I was a little more abstract than I usually am, but I still didn’t go too far left. I love Posdunus. He’s ill with that sh*t.

Mainframe is from Oxnard, [California] yo. Stones Throw, Madlib.  If you ask heads out there, the Oxnard heads, all Madlib’s fans, they knew Mainframe as a rapper. He has crazy digs. He was one of the craziest [crate] diggers I’ve ever known. I wasn't around for [the California DJ movement], but Mainframe was killing it then. When he finally got to L.A., he was smashing it.

On future projects

It’s hard because people want a certain sound. They get used to this and they want that. We tried to separate it. We wanted each of them to grow individually as their own, develop their own fan base. C.R.A.C. is going to have another record. Exile and I are doing another record. Jon and I have other records. We’re trying to put all of those out in the span of now because we have so much.

Me and Exile are going to have to top the last record. We’re not going to rush that. We have ideas though. We wanted to hit you with a 10-joint record. We’re going to take 10 classic hip-hop records – he picks five and I pick five – and we’re going to redo them. It could be samples, lyrics or just a title, or even an interpretation. It’s a good concept to roll with.

On the idea of combining all styles for a single release
That’s what we’re working on. I wasn’t ready for that record. It took me this record to show myself what I was capable of. When I was creating these records, I knew that these records weren’t that record. At different points, these were all my favorite records, but I always feel like I still haven’t created that record. I’m trying to get to where I take all three of these sounds and mesh them together. That’s going to happen at the top of the year. I have about three more releases [for ‘08], and then we’re going to start fresh.

On his Rhapsody exclusive track “La La Land” with Pacific Division
This is "La La Land." This is with B-Young from Pacific Division. That’s my cousin. We have songs from everyone from Pac. A lot of emcees laid down verses during the J and J period. That’s what [unofficial Johnson and Jonson release] Powders and Oils was intended to be: outtakes and guest verses. “La La Land” is a quick splash where B-Young does his thing.  I’m on the hook and Mainframe is on production.