Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens

Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens (In Hell Happy With Your New Imaginary Friend)

 

As most probably intended, the first thing anybody will notice as they delve into Below the Heavens is the extremely beautiful album artwork. Like Common's upcoming Dilla influnced/tribute album, Finding Forever, Blu's album cover is so unconventional that it shouts out to even the most colorblind crate digger to scoop it up and give it a listen. Unfortunately it often occurs that the old proverb, "you can't judge a book by its cover" is often times true, but luckily for Blu and his DJ, Exile the album is almost as brilliant as it's cover. 

 

Dispelling the idea that all underground hip hop is supposed to be jazzy, intellectual, and conscious is Blu over a base & sample filled, "My World Is". If anybody didn't know what Blu looked like this track, which begins with a Young Jeezy like "yeauh", they'd be sure to take him for a Red Monkey rocking, Retro 1 stomping,  Bape sporting, New Era fitted wearing hustler type cat. I mean, that's not to say the song is bad by any means, it's just that compared to the rest of the material on Below the Heavens, this track shows a very rarely seen, grimy Blu. "Cold Hearted" (featuring Miguel Jontel) catches a more disturbed Blu as he discusses his childhood days when his pops (who by the way introduced him to hip hop) used to beat his mom and he was "cold hearted and young, a dumb kid with a gun..." The song, which uses a clever personification of hip-hop, also serves a purpose to call out all the "seed killers" (ie murderers) out there. "Blu Colla Worker", is a brilliantly up tempo joint in which Blu explains to a woman that she has to understand that sometimes he's got to not be with her to make his music because he's a "blu colla worker". The first single of the album, "The Narrow Path" is set over a melodic percussion set while Blu is

"Tryna tell my folks that flowin' ain't easy/Travelin' down this yellow brick road until it frees me/I need a pen, I need a pad, I need a place to go/to get this shit lifted off of my soul"

Of all my favorite joints on the album is "In Remembrance" which is laced on one of the most soulful samples I've heard in ages along with several cuts from old school joints like Pete Rock & CL Smooth's classic T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You) Blu spits verses about his childhood days and the way that they come to an end so quickly. Although looking back on better days can often be a sad event, Blu does so without the tears (even in mentioning his grandfather's death) by stating, "We came a long ass way." While the song can make anybody feel a bit wistful it's the type of song that can almost make bring up your best memories and etch a smile across your face.

As the grand finale of the album you have the eight minute, twenty for second long track "The World Is..." featuring The KoochieMonstars.  Like the previously review The World Is Ours by Ill Poetic, this track also uses the hook from Nas'  1994 classic, Illmatic, and just as in Poetic's attempt, Blu doesn't succeed in recreating the too well know lyrics, but thankfully Exile's production gives the track a feel as if this entire this is bigger than us all and saves the first quarter of the track until Blu jumps in and kicks knowledge about hell,

" Somebody once told me I was already in hell/Freedom's a state of mind and just the heart of me's in hell/ I freed my slave mind so a part of me's in hell/ So even when it's hard to breathe a part of me inhales."

The track eventually changes up paths and gets into a soulful jam session which takes Below the Heavens out on a soul lifting note.

Regardless of what your religion, by definition we're all below the heavens, and depending on our surroundings and our actions we can break or create our own hell. Through all of Blu's tales and stories, he breaks down for us how to flip the hell we were given and make it somewhere you can manage to enjoy.

10/10

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