Blu and Exile: Below The Heavens

There are few artist that have made an appearance into the Rap game so monumentally profound as Blu and Exile's Below The Heavens. Both hailing from SoCal, this duo came in contact after the years that Blu spent as a hype man for Exile's group Emanon. Growing up in the West coast and with a Reverend as a father, Blu was largely influenced by gospel as well as the early gansta rap that enveloped LA, but as he grew older his larger influences became East coast icons like Common and Mos Def. He mentions a major turning point in how he viewed Hip Hop and how he approached writing when he first heard "I Used to Love H.e.r." by Common. The prose, flow and story telling fashion that was so evident in the most of these East Coast emcees revolutionized Blu's view of his relationship with the pen; he now was to use it as an extension of himself, divulging his deepest woes unto the listeners ears.



Below The Heavens is a masterful example of Blu's efforts to convey his most intimate feeling to the crowd. Blu gets so personal that you have no choice but to relate to what he speaks. An almost perfectly flowing album, except for one song "Juice and Drank", Exile provides a smooth production with a combination of soulful beats matched with a hard hitting snare. (Below is all of Exiles samples; They include samples from Joni Mitchell, Smokey Robinson, Johnny Mathis as well as several from Nas, to which whom Blu has been often compared to or titled as our modern day reincarnation of someone of a parallel lyrical potency).

Blu's style perfectly syncs with Exiles productions; though he touches on topics from living on his own, the struggle of the inner city, teen pregnancy and parenthood, heaven and hell, his low income and how that affects his relationships with women, he does so in a mature and observant manner. The soulful samples resemble his deep topics, yet his flow and prose are as hard hitting as the snare itself.
Blu seeks to tear down the confines that the rap industry has set up, he constantly alludes to his lack of wealth yet he remains rich in vocabulary like in his song "First things First". 

 Women be mentioning ya' whips and your chains
So i flip it like slaves come with whips and chains, we gotta liberate
But before i could mention my name
They be talking to the nigga with the keys to the range
And i cant even compete with these ballers trying to get at you
Cuz i aint even got enough cheese to try to match dude
Nor do i got a flat to bring you back to
But, i can roll up a blunt and try to relax you

He doesnt try to shroud the fact that he has no money, he openly accepts it as a reality of life; in this he sets himself apart from most artist trying to make a name for themselves. He spits about his lack of but not his aims to increase his money, he chooses instead to dedicate his time on the track to speaking on subject that affect or have affected him or those closest to him in growing. He knows women don't exactly look for that yet his focus isnt to get women, he doesn't 'bust rhymes to bust nuts, [he] bust over beat breaks.'

One of the songs that most display Blu's intimacy on the mic and beautifully add his element of growth is "Show me the Good Life". He imagines life if he were to have an unexpected child at his age of 22. Having grown up in the inner city, Blu undoubtedly knew many people that suffered through this harsh reality, and in his song he aims to place himself in their shoes.

I got dreams i aint reach yet, ends that aint meet yet
And when it comes to being a man, shit im barely getting my feet wet
Trying to hit reset, knee deep in debt
Trying to figure how you feed a mouth that aint got teeth yet
How the hell am i gonna show a child to be man
When im twenty two without a clue on how to take a stand
Against the system when its just us
Wanna show him justice, but last year i was just in cuffs
The fuck am i supposed to do when he's telling me dad i need some food
Im looking down at my stomach and mines is rumbling too

And later he goes on to say: 

Fuck jewels I think my soul glows bright enough
And fuck whips I learn more when I ride the bus
And fuck it’s bad enough that we fight for bucks
And fuck hoes cause in the end I need a wife to love
Plus heaven is the life for us so God...

He constantly denounces the fact that he needs money, his only concern is learning and improving upon his rapping. though this may not seem like a plausible life plan, his message is consistent with the rest of his album. This is what he ultimately wants; his dreams may not equate his reality but the fact is that he is more fervently pursuing his ambition and speaks of it with such eloquence that when it reaches the ears of the listeners, we have no choice but to sit back and admire.

His vivid imagery is unparalleled by most up and comers. He has a level of ease on the mic that only veterans posses; for that reason is his debut album so widely renown and placed amongst some of the greatest Hip Hop Albums ever made.