One of Los Angeles, California's most popular hip hop duos, Blu & Exile, return for their 4th discography. Their 2007 debut full-length Below the Heavens: In Hell Happy with your new imaginary friend Rightfully considered by many to be one of the best hip hop albums to come out in the last 15 years, getting a nod to “Radio” from Vince Staples' latest Def Jam Recordings album Dark Times a few months ago. They went on to release a follow-up in 2011 with Give me my flowers while I can smell them as well as the 2017 rarities collection In the Beginning: Before the Heavens & the previous LP in the B&E canon Miles: From an Interlude Called Life served as their last to be distributed by Fat Beats Records. 4 years later, Dirty Science Records is now joining forces with Soulspazm Records to help eradicate it Love (the) inauspicious world.
“Hello LA” starts out perfectly sampling soul music by talking about life in south central, while “Undisputed” goes the boom bap route organically taking a hardcore approach from a lyrical angle on top of that. “Smack” with Fashawn is that dusty jazz rap collaboration leaving the muhfuckas on the curb muttering their last words, but then “Homies” with Cashus King & Pistol McFly serves as a soulful dedication to the dogs and their crew.
Moving on from there with “Sugaz & Buttaz” we have Blu & Exile teaming up with Rae Khalil for a summery ballad about the lack of love from their respective partners in life just before “Gold” returns to boom bap refusing to take one broke after taking all his chains trying to stay flying. “Chucks” featuring Kurupt & KXNG CROOKED serves hard as an ode to Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers leading into “Suge” aggressively expressing his frustration with some of these dudes acting like bitches.
RBX's “Ominous World” finds them keeping it underground sonically taking us into the shadows of the trenches, while “Precipitation” brings another soul twist to the table that talks about the rain being good for health every now and then. The penultimate track “Valley of Kings” strips the drums down completely talking about the possibility of having to do it again and finally Emanon joins Blu & Exile for “Love is Blu” to end the 4th classic B&E album talking about love that's here over a jazzy boom bap beat.
Every project these 2 have done with each other remains special in their own different ways & Love (the) inauspicious world they've achieved this by brilliantly building on their soulful, reflective foundations with stunning musicianship and sharp songwriting that venture into new territory while embracing and refining what made them special. It's easily their most unique work to date as they've taken a different approach with direction, staying true to the culture their music has built with their fans.
Rating: 9/10