Reader Review: Blu & Exile - Miles: From an Interlude Called Life (July 17, 2020)

 

(Hello! The rumors are true – I still run Reader Reviews on HHID, so if you’re interested in seeing your opinions take up an entire post, as opposed to just leaving a comment, hit me up at the email addy in the sidebar and pitch me what you’ve got. Until then, today Justa returns, having been inspired by the newest Blu & Exile album, the very very lengthy Miles: From an Interlude Called Life. Leave him some notes below!)

 

It's been five years since this not-so-frequent guest last contributed to the wonderful project that Max has started (not that the two readers on here even care), and wow, life has changed. Who knew that 2020 would find me sitting alone in an apartment reviewing another Blu album? Some (read: no one) might may have wondered where the hell have I've been or what I've been up to. As important of a question that is, I'm more excited that Max has continued fighting the good fight and has even added a podcast and a Patreon to his arsenal. (Welcome to 2020, where we must remind people to buy things all the time. Ah, glorious capitalism. Seriously, though, you need to check those projects out if you haven’t already.)

Anyways, last time I checked, hip hop still isn't dead (see what I did there): Disney+ currently offers a certain popular Broadway musical, one with people “rapping" and dancing dressed up as colonial settlers that has captured the imagination in America; everyone with a mic and a Soundcloud account is rapping; Common is the face of Microsoft; and Tik Tok, Instagram and Snapchat has taken up the media real estate that radio and BET, VH1, and MTV (the three channels that, at one point, played music videos non-stop) once occupied; and yet its heart and soul lives on… somewhere. That “somewhere”, for the purposes of this review, is Los Angeles, California, home to musicians Blu & Exile.

Back in 2007 (I think a certain blog focused on rap reviews started around this time too – coincidence?), rapper Johnson “Blu” Barnes and producer Aleksander “Exile” Manfredi teamed up to release an at-the-time little-known album entitled Below the Heavens, which, with the help of a prime feature on the main Myspace music page (or whatever they called that weekly “what to listen to” thing on there) and message boards, was embraced by a worldwide audience larger than either could have ever imagined. The duo’s humble goal, as friends making music for fun, was to fill a whole album with personal insights and selected sounds that someone outside of their immediate circle of friends would find dope, even if it was just one person. Below the Heavens, as a result, was, in my opinion, creativity in its purest form.

Today, that creativity is often bastardized by those who try to think the "hustle culture" mindset is still a thing. Instead, maybe we should take some time to smell the roses, or more specifically, the flowers that Blu & Exile gave us on their 2012 follow-up project, Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them, which didn’t quite enjoy the acclaim or the fanfare of their debut. But who among us is the same type of “cute” at the age of five as they were when they were one, feel me?

Their third full-length release, 2020’s Miles: From an Interlude Called Life, likely has many fans interested to see what creativity spark remains between these two almost 8 years after their last team-up (not counting the collection of Below the Heavens leftovers In The Beginning: Before the Heavens, released three years ago). This “hustle” mentality can sometimes cause us to forget about how much fun can be had when artists are allowed to thrive within their creative space. That being said, it's about time we see what this (really long – like “the length of an independent film”-long) album is all about.

1. BLUE
Look Max, no skits! (I remember you tend to enjoy when an album doesn't begin with the overused De La staple.) On the album opener, Blu raps about a bunch of stuff that happens to be “Blue”: it shouldn't take a genius to understand the intention here. When I was growing-up, the U.S Army had a commercial campaign featuring an 80's power ballad theme song that commanded you to "Be all that You Can BE in the ARRRRMMMY" over and over again. That jingle never lead to any further exploration on my part, though. Also, my childhood nickname was "Peanut," which I wasn't a huge fan of being that it related to my head shape. There's a dope line where Blu spits, "I don't see the glass half full, I see the whole pitcher,” which, the more I hear it, the more I want to rewrite most of this paragraph, but there are nineteen other tracks here that I need to tend to, so let’s move forward.

2. WHEN THE GODS MEET (FEAT. ISHE)
We jump into a barbershop quartet-type sample freshly flipped by Exile. This bright sound is the perfect backdrop for an interesting set of creation myths, both micro and macro, as spun through the raps of Blu. After people tired of calling me “Peanut”, I then inherited the name “Charcoal”, which was short- lived, which then changed to “Justajust” after a local hip hop radio host named Jigga-Juice (the 1990's were wild, y'all!) asked what my name was my junior year of high school and I came up with that on sight. My story may not be quite as creative as this song, but nonetheless its legacy has outlasted most of the other nicknames I've carried through this life.

3. TRUE & LIVIN’
“True & Livin’” was the title track from an EP Blu & Exile dropped last year, and it brings with it straightforward boom bap. The scratches, drums and such for this song remind me of the first time I listened to LL Cool J: I ran home to tell my mom about rap, which, her being from Brooklyn, she already had a clue about. So “Rappers Delight”, Kurtis Blow, and watching Yo! MTV Raps together was my introduction to what would become a cultural staple in my life. It really is that simple sometimes.

4. MILES DAVIS
Much like the famed jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who gives this song its title, throughout his career Blu has explored many styles and is, at this point of his time and as far as I’m concerned, one of the best doing it. This track is an excuse for Blu & Exile to prove to the listener that they can do jazzy hip hop better than most while still having some fun with the form. My mom used to tell me about going to see Miles Davis live, and he would occasionally play with his back to the crowd or even wear a mask, which fascinates me. The few times I’ve caught Blu at a live show over the years he wasn’t wearing any mask, though, I don’t really know where I am going with this, so...

5. THE FEELING (FEAT. JACINTO RHINES)
As time marches on, we will all undergo trials. Look no further than 2020, which is one of the most unsure times in human existence due to COVID-19 and what seems to be an inevitable collapse of society. Sometimes we continue on without fully understanding why we keep going, and sometimes we just don't feel anything. This is “The Feeling” this song communicates.

6. MUSIC IS MY EVERYTHING (FEAT. CHOOSEY & JIMETTA ROSE)
Listening to someone describe their first encounters with music is always interesting to me. Our lived experiences are both different and the same, a phenomenon you can hear this on the third verse of “Music Is My Everything”, where Choosey, a younger artist down with Blu & Exile (whose Below the Heavens he even lists as an major influence during his performance) treats hip hop as his own version of church services. MC Brains garners a name-drop, as do MC Breed and Eazy-E (if you know who they are without using Google, then you both get a gold star), which puts this song right up my alley, to say the least.

7. BRIGHT AS STARS (FEAT. ACEYALONE, IMAN OMARI, & ISHE)
There’s this great part during the hook where Blu, Exile, and anyone else who may have been in the studio at the time exuberantly repeat the words, "YOU MAY!”. This may seem fairly inconsequential upon your first listen, but it captures everything fun about this culture, and I always enjoy the way the simplest component of a song can be flipped into something fresh. This isn’t to say that the lyrics elsewhere aren’t as impressive: legendary Freestyle Fellowship member Aceyalone comes through with a dope verse on “Bright As Stars” which, if you know anything about the Los Angeles underground scene (you two should track down This Is The Life, a 2008 documentary about the Good Life Café from the then-unknown Figures of Speech rapper, journalist, and filmmaker Ava DuVernay (you may have heard of her since)) means everything (see also: the title of the previous song).

8. BLUE AS I CAN BE
We get a peek into the mind of Blu, hearing about what goes through his mind as he creates. But being that this is Blu we’re talking about, “Blue As I Can Be” is a collection of images, memories, and history wrapped up in his crazy delivery that lets you know why this duo is just so damn good at this music shit.

9. YOU AIN’T NEVER BEEN BLUE
This feels like it could have been written for any Charlie Brown TV special, one where Charlie Brown experiences a series of hardships the rest of the Peanuts gang just isn’t capable of fully understanding, not even his loyal dog Snoopy, who has his back at the end of the day but just cannot experience the constant state of melancholy Charles does. Most would refer to this as “depression” today.

10. MILES AWAY (FEAT. C.S. ARMSTRONG)
A couple of years ago I saw a play called Passover, which was about two Black men who were stuck in the ghetto exploring what it means to be Black in the inner-city while trying to escape that situation. To actually "make it out" of somewhere when provided with opportunities is one thing, but as we get older I think there is a tendency for some to stay stuck in a mental ghetto as well. Even if you're lucky enough to escape, your yesterdays can feel so distant even when you still have so far forward to traverse.

11. TROUBLED WATER (FEAT. GAPPY RANKS)
Another excellent display of rapping and some much-needed energy eleven tracks into Miles: From an Interlude Called Life, which seems like miles away (see what I did there) from where we started. The music here is urgent and immediate. You thought you knew where this album was going, and then BAM! It's like watching the movie Hereditary for the first time (no spoilers for those who haven't seen it). This is that kind of energy.

12. ROOTS OF BLUE (FEAT. JACINTO RHINES)
Blu & Exile released “Roots of Blue” as a single earlier this year, which, looking at our current environment, is both perfect and crazy. A nine-minute track that goes all the way back to the first man created in African history and features discussion of migration patterns? What?! In our twenty-four hour news cycle where people can barely remember what happened in the morning by the time lunch hits, it's important to remember that a lot had to happen in our history as human beings for us to arrive at this point.

13. AFRICAN DREAM (FEAT. GAPPY RANKS & ALOE BLACC)
This track brings an instant smile each and every time I listen to it. The groove transports me to a joyful place, the opposite of that unofficial Charlie Brown theme music from earlier. It’s like walking around freed of all your anxieties and being greeted with pleasantness from everyone you encounter.

14. REQUIEM OF BLUE (FEAT. FASHAWN)
One of the things I've learned in my years of existence on this planet is to be at peace with where you're at and all that has come in your life every day you get the chance to wake up and live life.

15. THE AMERICAN DREAM (FEAT. MIGUEL & THE LAST ARTFUL, DODGR)
“The American Dream" is not limited to individual material success on this track. It's nice to hear that message in a musical genre that is mostly about encouraging you to just get yours.

16. DEAR LORD (FEAT. JIMETTA ROSE)
If Blu was God, we'd have Exile provide a funky gospel beat coupled with a beautiful hook by Jimetta Rose. We’d also have compassion for one another and a better relationship with the planet we call Earth. Which sounds like an idea I can get down with - who do I need to pray toward to make this happen?

17. TO THE FALL, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
The longer we walk this Earth, the longer the list of those that once shared the planet with us will grow. Blu name-checks a good chunk of that list, which includes the names of recent victims of police brutality.

Black Lives Matter!

18. ALL THE BLUES
Blu named his son Miles after Miles Davis, which he explains in heavy-handed detail on “All The Blues” after tearing through a quick Wikipedia entry about the life of the late jazz musician. (The name thing should have been obvious after looking at the album title, but sometimes artists like to make sure that there is no possible way their intent can be misconstrued.)

19. SPREAD SUNSHINE
"Blind Mice, holding a mic, don't know what it's like / ‘Til they become one with the light, spread like sunshine" – that’s such a dope line. How far would you go to make someone's day? Better yet, how far would you go just to be a better you than you were yesterday? If you're not looking forward, you'll never know how far you truly can go.

20. THE END (FEAT. DAG SAVAGE, CASHUS KING, & ADAD)
Alas, we have reached "The End"(see what I....think you two get the joke by now), and "The End" is a posse cut with the rest of the Dirty Science crew showing up to trade some apocalyptic bars, it seems. I guess if it’s truly the end, you’d want to spend those final moments with your day ones, right?

FINAL THOUGHTS: Honestly, “Whoever thought that hip hop would take it this far”? I’ve been listening to this genre for nearly thirty-five years now, and the fact that I can still find myself surprised by it amazes me. There is much to enjoy on Miles: From an Interlude Called Life: Exile’s carefully-layered production; the complex track-to-track overlapping themes that develop throughout the project; the perfectly-chosen guest features; Blu’s top-shelf bars; this one has it all. This album goes deep, y’all. With Miles: From an Interlude Called Life, Blu & Exile challenge each listener to look to the future while learning valuable lessons from the past, which the best art should do in some way, shape, or form, regardless of medium of choice.

BUY OR BURN? BUY this one (which I know the two of you probably won’t do, so stream the hell out of this instead), and pick up a copy for that friend of yours who keeps saying there’s no good music anymore. This album has great replay value: it was tough deciding what my favorite tracks were due to all the misses this listening experience didn’t have.

BEST TRACKS: “Blue As I Can Be”; “Music Is My Everything”; “Bright As The Stars”; “African Dream”; “Dear Lord”; “Spread Sunshine”; “The American Dream”

-Justa

(Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave some of your thoughts below.)