Older hip-hop album shows self-journeys can be blue — and that’s OK

Where do you even begin? This particular album spins in my mind like a turntable.

Growing up, “Below the Heavens” was like a best friend to me whenever I needed one, like when I would walk to the bus in the morning during my high school days. A teen — similar to a Holden Caulfield — trying to make sense of his surroundings. Even now, I’m sure some of us have lived life twice, and yet, we’re still trying to make sense of things. “It’s a blue world out there, Charlie Brown.” Yeah, tell me about it. With a new year right at our ears, we’re hoping to tune into something good.

The Indie Classic

This year, come July 17, will be 18 years since the indie classic “Below the Heavens” by hip-hop duo Blu & Exile was released. The musicians, albeit from California, still provide sounds/ lyrics that are still relevant to someone on the East Coast or for this writer — South Texas. The probability of the modern listener hearing about this album is slim to none.As an independent (indie) release, and being crafted by an “unknown producer” and “anonymous MC” as Pitchfork puts it, this is still an album that gets tossed around in the hip-hop landscape — more so the underground. That’s the thing with music: Commercial releases will get millions of listeners, but true, low profile albums like this still get talked about for years to come. The “anonymous MC” in this case, Johnson Barnes — more known by his rapper name “Blu” — takes the listener on a spiritual journey mixed with religious undertones without being preachy or winey about the obstacles he overcame while growing up. While Aleksander Manfredi — more known by his stage name “Exile” — helps the then-young Blu wax poetic and tell his story in a format that is similar to a one-on-one conversation you have with a friend with instrumentals that are catered to the rapper.

Albums with one rapper and one producer weren’t anything new at the time — Erik B & Rakim, as well as Gang Starr come to mind. If you want some more popular names, Jay-Z and Kanye West once had an album together.

In the modern landscape, these type of albums seem to be making a comeback. What they essentially are is one musician makes the instrumentals for the one rapper to glide their words over. It’s not like big commercial projects where there’s an overabundance of writers and producers putting their hands on everything.

The Three-Part Journey

Fifteen tracks. That’s all that was needed. Right from the start, looking at the tracklist and the cover, any newcomer can get a hint of what the album is about. A young man smiling wide with clouds behind him — something similar you see in an obituary or at a funeral service, but this album essentially is a coming-of-age work or an attempt to see life in a new, maturer lens.

The braggadocious but hard-hitting “My World Is…” gives the listener a glimpse but solid introduction of who Blu is and what the album is going to be about. Making it known that it’s “Blu” and not “Blue” — the rapper also paints a gritty picture of how his hometown is. Listeners may be put off to hear racial slurs and profanity spread throughout the verses, but Blu makes it a point to show his faith by stating that he’s a “product of a God-fearing pastor” or that he's a rival to the devil.

This touches some themes throughout the album: the importance of someone’s name and how it’s spelled, as well as having confidence in your craft. More importantly, how having faith — albeit something that can’t be seen, is something that is always held.

The next four tracks touch on how Blu is trying to make a difference in not only the world but trying to make change with his writing. “The Narrow Path” paints how the world is unforgiving and how getting by in life isn’t exactly living. Blu then gets reminiscent and speaks on his life through different stages with “In Remembrance of Me” — from childhood to adulthood.

Something that I’m sure most of us do when the new year comes around.

Tracks six through 10 have similar notions but different messages for the listener. “Blu Collar Workers” is clearly supposed to be the song that was to get radio play, with a music video to accompany it if you look it up. The message is one that we all can relate to — getting up to go to work just to make ends meet. As upbeat as the track is, the album then takes a flip with “Dancing in the Rain,” in which Blu speaks on how problems will be problems, yet when it rains, we just have to learn to dance and move forward.

Afterward, the love songs hit the album but it’s nothing like you hear on the radio today or then in the 2000s. Instead, we have a young man falling in love with someone and doing something that all men need to learn how to do: Show love to their woman.

No “player” talk on these tracks, as Blu ends the second part of the album with “Show Me The Good Life.” Here, he questions, “what if he has a child that he’s not ready for?” Arist Aloe Blacc, known for “The Man”, has a verse and tackles themes of fatherhood. More so, how do you be a man when you don't have one in the household.

The last five songs wrap up the album with Blu showcasing his lyrical stamina and proficiency on “Simply Amazin’” — with lines portraying how just as God works in mysterious ways, Blu’s lyrics sway listeners for the better. But in similar fashion to the second part, the album takes a flip with “Cold Hearted.” The hymnlike chorus on how “Life is cold, cold is pain” paints the mindset of how Blu’s childhood left a scar on him.

No matter how many years pass, our childhood still stays with us. However, similar to the end of “Cold Hearted,” the chorus shows that better days are ahead.

“The World Is…” then has Blu talking about how he’s trying to get into that place with the holy gates — somewhere that his grandfather told him about. “I Am…” gives a final conclusion to the album — in which Blu does what he does best: rap about who he is.

On that final track, he perfectly captures that despite the world/his world being blue, he in fact will be blue along with it while staying true to his individuality. Dreaming for a better life, Blu still makes music and he even makes references to this particular project in his latest work.

To keep growing on your self-journey, one must remind themselves where they came from. It’s not always easy though. Sometimes, one might ask themselves a simple question.

“Where do you even begin?”

Editor’s note: The album does have strong language throughout (racial slurs, derogatory names). In addition, some of the imagery may be unsettling for some listeners.

The album can be found on most streaming services, such as Spotify or Apple Music.

Any recommendations?

I love diving into new music — whether it’s classics from the past or some new joints from today. If you have an album that you resonate with and can’t get enough of, send a recommendation to me at The Advance’s email at advancenewspaper@gmail. com.

Can’t wait to see what y’all vibe to. Keep on listening.