| For Miles and Beyond: An Interview With Blu & Exile | August 6, 2020 |
Psymun speaks to the beloved rap duo about jazz, hip-hop, production, and the influence of Miles Davis on their new collaborative album.
A few years ago, David Ma spoke to the Los Angeles rap stalwart about working with Exile, being into jazz, and label conflicts.
| “I’m Religious Without a Religion”: An Interview with Blu | October 24, 2016 |
Evan Gabriel talks with Blu about being starstruck, optimism, and pilgrimages.
| POTW Premiere: Blu & Versis’ “Otionography” | August 29, 2016 |
POTW premieres Blu's "Otionography" from his forthcoming Open Your Optics to Optimism.
| What A Country: The Soviet Tape — Beat Flips From USSR Samples feat. Blu, Open Mike Eagle & More | February 6, 2015 |
Art by USMC Archives Chris Daly is about four five seconds from Boris Spassky. Like most Americans who lived through the Cold War, I was under the impression that Mother Russia tapes beat listeners*. First Word Records’ own Fulgeance and DJ Scientist have proven just how wrong I was on their latest, “The Soviet Tape.” […]
| Blu’s New Clarity | March 14, 2014 |
Tosten Burks has a wallet as big as NBC’s Chris Wallace. No point recounting the overshroomed self-destruction that drowned the past several years of Blu’s post-Warner career in lo-fi isolationism. The past is the past and if you hated him for it, you’re probably justified, but you also missed out on some of his best music. […]
| The Corrections: A Second Look at Blu’s “Godlee Barnes LP” | February 21, 2014 |
Paul Thompson’s doctor is Bill Murray. The hero’s story seldom changes. Whether it’s Jean Valjean or Brett Favre in Wranglers, our heroes follow the same trajectory. You might not be able to rattle off the important steps of your favorite stories, but you know them when you see them: Leo entering the police academy in […]
| Separating the Bullshit from the Butter Soft Leather on the Fonz: The Enigma of Blu | October 16, 2012 |
Tosten Burks is about to ramble about Blu. Fresh off the release of his serenely, brutally vulnerable Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them, the Blu & Exile sequel that served as a reminder that Blu might still be the best rapper in the city, here’s a separate reminder that the overblunted […]
| Blu Kisses the Sky | May 25, 2012 |
Jonah Bromwich is zen. Sometimes I think it’s amazing that I’m still paying so much attention to Blu. He’s the most singularly frustrating artist I’ve ever been a fan of. He released two albums this year that were drowned in fuzz, and when I say drowned, I don’t mean the kind of fuzz that Douglas […]
| Blu and Sene Break Glass | March 14, 2012 |
If Jonah Bromwich plans to bank his shot in, he calls it as loud as possible. Lately, when you see the name Blu, you unfortunately expect to hear more crackle than lyrics. Dude just can’t get with any kind of decent sound quality –he just released two full albums of barely listenable music. That’s why, […]
