Blu Interview with Gowhere Hip Hop

admin posted Wed, 2011-03-02 22:26

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If you didn’t know, Blu was one of the rappers who made XXL’s Freshman class list in ’09 and is one of my favorite emcees in the game today. The fact i think he smashes his entire class lyrically and is still one of the most slept-on is an entirely different post. As i digress, I dropped by Jugrnaut for the Blu in-store event, last Sunday. Not surprisingly, there were many Chicagoans who came through to Jugrnaut to get autographs and show support to one of Cali’s best.

I had the opportunity to build with Blu for a quick minute as the event was winding down. Not one to ruin the groove, we took to the back room not to disturb the party. I just wanted to go to a quiet space where I could hear what Blu had to say and also get some decent soundbites. I’ll let you be the judge on how that worked out. Big shouts to the dude who kept opening the back door while the interview was going on. *Tiger fist*

As a bonus, I took the liberty to transcribe a few notable Blu quotes below from the interview. You’re welcome.

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Blu’s take on Chicago:

“Chicago usually always comes out and shows love. So its always good to be able to hit up Chicago with a bunch of new shit that the rest of the world hasn’t heard. I feel more comfortable coming out here premiering sh*t because Chicago shows so much love.”

Blu on Warner Music Group:

“Warner’s dope. We’re about to get ready to drop this No York album. We’re just starting to put the wheels in motion and get the relationship going between the label and the artist.”

Blu on his process of making music and touches on vulnerability in raps:

“Keep true to yourself! If it makes you vulnerable, it’s how you deal with your own vulnerability. If you feel like its out there like, ‘Ah shit!’ you just gotta man up to it. For me, its easy to let stuff off my chest, especially through music.”

Blu on the art of being an emcee and beatmaker:

“That’s a pretty difficult task to keep up, man. From the Diamond D’s to Pete Rock’s, Erick Sermon’s, Kanye definitely took it to another level. RZA…Big K.R.I.T. is holding it down. Rock Marciano. Madlib. Its some heads out there who got the bars. I definitely plan on returning to the production trying to keep both fields alive.”

Blu on his craft and reloading the chamber:

“We’ve just been crafting moreso. We dropped like seven albums, so after that we had to reload the chamber. This year we’re looking to drop like 3 projects by 2012. So lookout for that No York [LP] this summer. Lookout for some new Blu and Exile stuff and we got all kinda EP’s and mixtapes and stuff about to drop, so keep your ears open.”

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Much propers to Blu also for being a student of the game. It’s refreshing to hear artists discuss their influences and pay homage.

Without further adieu, check out my Blu interview as he also speaks on what makes a top-notch emcee, the difficulty of rhyming and beatmaking (he does both), and “dope-obscure-rapper” swag lol. Bloggers be quiet. He has quite a few upcoming projects on deckington. You gotta be patient with greatness. Be on the look out this summer for his new LP, No York, and also some new collabs. Groove!

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