In Hip Hop, you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel to create great material. Blu proves that with his latest effort, Titans in the Flesh. Once again teaming up with Nottz, an incredible producer from 9th Wonder’s beat squad, The Soul Council.
The duo released an EP together in 2013 titled God’s In The Spirit, showcasing Blu’s unorthodox flow styles wrapped in Nottz’ beats, which left listeners with more to be desired by the pair. Blu told The Source about the experience of producing music together.
“I enjoy working with Nottz because he makes me a better emcee. Also, his soundscapes cover such huge fields, giving the emcee a great colorful canvas to work his imagery with,” says Blu about the producer. “I feel like I am stomping my lyrics into songs, not skipping around or walking through what I’m looking to say. And Nottz is one of the greatest of all time, who wouldn’t want to work with that!”
This effort offers bigger production with more vicious rhymes, a whole ‘other gear from their first collab. Blu continues to offer a unique blend of consciousness and rhymes patterns that fall in line with modern day styles.
One of the standout tracks is “The Man,” which Blu tells us he specifically enjoyed making the most. “They [Exile and Nottz] all had creative strong points and huge imaginary fields of creativity, but the idea of building the ‘most incontestable man’ and put him in battle, took the cake.”
Blu is especially proud of the concepts delivered in the project; for example, “Atlantis” is a song about America—a vague but introspective description about the life found on the “lost land.”
Consistent with releasing work since 2007’s Below The Heaven, Blu dropped most recently with 2015’s collaboration project with Madlib and MED, Bad Neighbor. Titans features Bishop Lamont, Mickey Factz and long-time collaborator Exile.
Available now on iTunes or Google Play for pre-order until July 15th.
Tracklist:
01. The Truth (feat. Shateish)
02. Heaven on Earth
03. Giant Steps (feat. Bishop Lamont, Torae, Skyzoo & DJ Revolution)
04. To the East (feat. Definite Mass, TriState, Mickey Factz & Johaz)
05. The Man (feat. Exile & Nottz)
06. Atlantis
07. Atlantis (feat. Akie Bermiss) [J57 Remix]