We started this podcast and blog on December 10th<\/span>, 2010. I\u2019m pretty sure by December 13th<\/span>, we knew it wasn\u2019t just going to be about movies. This has only been further proven by our seemingly monthly podcasts about sports and my apparent desire to write about music way more than makes sense. Which, by the way, I\u2019m about to do again.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t get as excited about media as I used to. Now I just tend to want to sit around and talk about something I really liked, as opposed to just grabbing a person\u2019s arm and yelling, \u201cHOW FUCKING GOOD WAS THAT?!!?\u201d I also don\u2019t care as much about hip-hop as I used to. Maybe this is because there is less good hip-hop out there, which is a likely reason that also seems like a pretty big cop out. More likely, I just don\u2019t look as hard for new hip-hop music anymore, or I simply care less about hip-hop. My music interests have widened, and while I never listened to hip-hop exclusively, the percentage is far lower than it once was. Whereas high school seemed to involve a lot of tracking down what hip-hop I should know, classic and otherwise, I am now content to wait and see what pops up on message boards I follow*. All of that being said, nothing excites me more than hearing a really good hip-hop record for the first time. This past fall, I listened to a J. Cole mixtape for the first time, and got so excited that I ended up staying up much later than made sense to listen to the whole thing. And while I don\u2019t feel as passionately about Cole now as I did on first listen, I still feel like everything is in its right place when I listen to Blu & Exile\u2019s Below the Heavens.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is unlikely that you have heard Blu rap, except for perhaps his verses on The Roots\u2019 last record, How I Got Over*. With producer\/DJ partner Exile, the pair put together an album that sounds cohesive (a hip-hop rarity), with consistently great beats, and interesting rhymes. Using beats composed mostly of samples and cuts, Exile provides a perfect backdrop for what Blu is saying. And what Blu says is pretty incredible.<\/p>\n *Blu\u2019s verses on Radio Daze<\/a> and The Day<\/a> are spectacular, even for him.<\/em><\/p>\n I love the beats on this album, but to say that the lyrics aren\u2019t the best part of Below the Heavens is objectively false. Blu is clearly technically talented: his flows are often extremely precise while still feeling casual, and he puts as many rhymes as possible in his lines. There are few rappers that I feel like I can identify with, and while I can\u2019t identify with everything Blu says (I don\u2019t have a kid, I\u2019m not black, etc), there is plenty in here that I just haven\u2019t heard a lot of rappers talking about. Blu is interested in aging, his past, and being happy without needing a whole lot of materialism in his life*. He doesn\u2019t feel like a rapper as much as he feels like a person who happens to rap, which is shockingly rare. Blu isn\u2019t moving through life with the goal of being popular or making money**, he\u2019s moving through life while thinking about what is passing by him. Pretty much everything I love about him can be picked out from a line on Show Me the Good Life: \u201cFuck whips, I learn more when I ride the bus.\u201d He doesn\u2019t necessarily subscribe to what rappers, or people in general, feel is the proper way to think; Blu is just sort of interested in what works for him. And while the album isn\u2019t perfect (Juicen\u2019 Dranks is the obligatory not-great track that seems to appear on every great album), it\u2019s as close to perfect as music can get.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/themacguffinmen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/blu_.jpg\" "\\"blu_\\"")
<\/a>*Of course, that I have now heard every hip-hop record that is generally recognized as a classic doesn\u2019t help. Once you can\u2019t go back anymore, you basically have to wait for new stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n