One For The Weekend: Madlib with Your Old Droog & Black Thought

Madlib follows up his "DBZ" collaboration with Brooklyn's Your Old Droog with "Reekyod" featuring a cameo by Black Thought.

Black Thought joins El Michels Affair for new collaborative album Glorious Game

Black Thought's new Glorious Game album with El Michels Affair is due April 14 from Big Crown. Check out "Grateful" below.

Here's the scoop...

When Leon Michels and El Michels Affair released their first record, Sounding Out The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels and his then-introduced, now-patented “cinematic soul” sound. Now, four EMA studio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later—all while producing for some of the biggest names in the industry—Michels has trademarked his sound, with each project taking audiences somewhere new and pushing the boundaries of what he is known for. The man is a river, not a lake and this time he takes his golden touch into the realm of hip-hop laying down a musical bed for one of the greatest to ever rhyme into a microphone: Black Thought of The Roots crew. 

Releasing on Big Crown Records, the LP is called Glorious Game and it is a remarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides his bottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some of the more personal and transparent verses we’ve ever heard from him. Michels and Black Thought have been in each other’s orbit for a while now. The two first met in the 2000s when Thought was first getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. “Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite,” recalling the funk and soul group Michels was a founding member of back in 2007. Fast forward a few years and musicians from that collective—Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax —are now full time players with The Roots. This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few fundraising events around NYC and Philly together. “Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time,” Michels explains. “Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy.”  

Being that Black Thought is the co-founder and emcee for, hands down, the best live-band group in hip-hop. Michels took a decidedly different approach to this project and instead of sending recorded tracks of live compositions, he pulled out the sampler and sampled himself and some records from his collection. “I’m a big fan of soul music,” as if Michels has to remind us. “And part of hip-hop’s appeal to me has always been the sample-based production” For Glorious Game, Michels would make wholly composed and recorded soul songs in his studio, sample himself, then chop and/or loop up his sounds and create instrumentals for Black Thought. On some tracks he took a more traditional hip-hop approach, starting from samples of other people’s music but then adding live instrumentation on top. But for the most part, it’s him reinterpreting his own compositions into something new. 

The result is an organic feel of loop-based tracks that breathe and fluctuate enough for Black Thought to flex on. “What I write about is determined by the equation of the producer’s energy and my energy,” Black Thought says. “It’s about where we meet.” So armed with Michels sampled and re-sampled soul cinematics, Black Thought rhymes through personal memories and distinctive perspectives, all dripping with visuals. 

The first single titled “Grateful”—a thick, low-end banger with a haunting flute line—gives you a nice intro into how the record will go. Black Thought’s verses lay heavy in the way we’ve come to love: cadences that walk a line between street teacher and poet, explanation and experience, as he pays homage to what’s come before him and how it’s made him”. The title track “Glorious Game” with its unhurried bassline and bouncing drum track finds Black Thought rhyming double-time about the trials of fame and respect but also speaking to his gifts and his well established place in hip-hop. On “The Weather”, he paints a vivid portrait of growing up in Philly. You can almost see his Grandma’s house in your mind as he rides the tempo changes of the track flanked by ghostly background vocals. 

“To me,” Black Thought says about Glorious Game, “these songs are like scenes from a film that is my life. That’s the way it evolved.” And with his pure lyrical skill on full display and Michels’ custom-made approach to making beats, this record is a bit of a rarity in today’s hip-hop atmosphere: there are no flashy guest features and no attempts to be on trend. “This is an effing rap record. He’s a storyteller; the point is to listen to the story. It’s not a verse-chorus, verse-chorus approach. Listen to what he has to say and the way he has to say it.” 

Pre-order the forthcoming El Michels Affair & Black Thought album Glorious Game (our April 14th) right here. Listen to "Grateful" below. 

 

Dangermouse reconnects with Black Thought for Cheat Codes album

Check out "Belize" feat. MF DOOM off the new Cheat Codes album from Dangermouse and Black Thought. 

Watch Common perform "When We Move" with Seun Kuti & The Roots

Common performed "When We Move" – off his forthcoming album A Beautiful Revolution, Pt. 2 – on the Tonight Show last night. 

B-Side Wins Again: Liam Bailey feat. Lee 'Scratch' Perry

Hidden on the flipside of Liam Bailey's "Champion" remix is the wicked "Ugly Truth" with vocals from Lee 'Scratch' Perry.  

About Liam Bailey...

Back before the world knew of Liam Bailey's crooning, acoustic Reggae, or his comparisons to an Otis-Redding-type soul sound, or even the depth-of-texture his vocals provide the occasional UK Drum & Bass track—Liam was just another lad in Nottingham, England, being raised by a single mom with a heavy record collection. 

Being the son of an English mother and British Jamaican father who wasn't around, Liam will admit his childhood was fairly chaotic and filled with "all the cliches that happen when people start mixing up in the '80s in England." Those records he'd listen to, sitting cross-legged in front of the speakers, not only provided some solace for a young Liam then. With names like Bob Marley and Dillinger, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix on their dust jackets, those records would eventually carve into shape the singer/songwriter we know today. 

Fast-forward to 2005, Liam is in London and doing the whatever-gig-you-can-get musician hustle, ideally looking to land a record deal. And it was through this time that Liam first teamed up with Leon Michels, musician/producer luminary, and the co-founder of Brooklyn's own Big Crown Records.

In 2007, Liam's management introduced him to Sounding Out the City, the first record from Leon's El Michels Affair. It blew him away. Liam jumped at the chance to connect with them and collaborate on some writing sessions. Within a week, Liam flew out to New York, met and vibed with Leon and the group, and began writing and recording songs. "It was an amazing first trip to New York," Liam recalls of meeting Leon. "And I've been working with him ever since."

That trip helped kick off what was to follow next for Liam: a slew of record releases, label deals, and working with some wildly-notable mainstream producers. Even a just-famous Amy Winehouse heard one of Liam's apartment-made, lo-fi recordings through a friend and liked what she heard. Regardless of the audio quality, Liam's particular sound shone through—all guitar, warm-rough and genuine soul. She signed him to her label shortly after.


But, as the story can go with major labels, they already had an idea of the Liam they wanted to make, promote, and push. With the typical pay-day enticement, Liam did his best to fit into whatever shape they put him to. "'Maybe I can make it work,' that's what you're thinking," Liam remembers. "But, you quickly find out that you can't." The prospects of trying to maintain for these labels became quickly apparent: you may win, and then lose yourself—or you just lose.  

Still, Liam considers himself lucky. "I always knew that I wasn't defined by the deal that I was in," Liam reminisces. "I had this feeling that I'd just keep going..." Liam confirms it was this youthful arrogance that both contributed to those past prospects going pear-shaped, but then also helped him to save himself. "It taught me the value of listening to your instincts, the importance of believing in yourself—and not trying to find that self-empowerment through something you don't understand." 

But the work accomplished and captured from that 2007 NY trip continued to linger. The evident chemistry of Liam, Leon, and the group produced something else lasting from that 2007 NY trip: the 7-inch "When Will They Learn/I'm Gonna Miss You." Released five years after it was recorded, "When Will They Learn" was a near-instant roots classic and still bangs up club Reggae nights to this day. With a strong relationship established, Liam would regularly reconnect with Leon and collaborate. Finally, in 2019, the time was right to do a full-length album together. And this time, it would be free of any restricting major label presumptions and opinions. 

Liam Bailey – Ekundayo (Big Crown)

His debut album on Big Crown Records is called Ekundayo. And the word's meaning may be all you need to know to get to the essence of this project. It means "sorrow becomes joy" in Yoruba, a language spoken mostly in Western Africa. Liam's potently unique voice has always had to fight against label agendas to get through. Now, teaming back up with Leon and his production, that restraint has given way to a pure, liberating freedom that trusses up the entire record like a spine.  

"This is the record we always wanted to make," says Michels, nodding at those past projects, where they bottled a spark of lightning in a studio session. But then there always was the slightly deflating feeling of whether or not Liam's label situation at the time would like it. 

On the surface, Ekundayo is a weighty Reggae record, full of new and old textured riddims. But listen more in-depth, and you'll find subject matter that's more recognizable from a modern-day R&B record. 

An example of the former is the first single off the album. Sung to the most beautiful woman at the nightspot, "Champion" is a joyous anthem powered by a silly-thick Juno-bass throb and 808-proof drums. In short, "Champion" is dancehall-ready. But then there's a song like "Don't Blame NY." Moody and sparse with a somber drive, you might have to resist the urge to compare it to a Frank Ocean-ish type vibe. Liam's voice is in a different but fitting element here, showing stripped-back emotion and soulful restraint. And then, anyone who has lived and tried to thrive in New York won't have a hard time relating to the lyrics. 

Credit to Leon's hand, elements of Jamaican production are everywhere, peppered across the record. Like the pitch-perfect organ stabs that push through the authentically positive "White Light," or the muted, percussive guitar strums that chug along in the back of "Fight."


In the same vein of any fantastic singer/songwriter album, Ekundayo is a reflection of who Liam Bailey is, a portrait of him for us to consider and take in. And what we see is an artist growing into himself, taking on topics and approaches he never would think of just a few years ago. Some evidence: "Ugly Truth" is about reconnecting with his biological father, a subject he once thought would be too personal to address. Sometimes we can't express ourselves before we're ready to. 

The journey from conforming to major labels to this latest record has been a long one for Liam, and a bit of a struggle. But struggle may be the only way we truly grow and evolve. With a new clarity of purpose, sound, and life, Liam has found joy out of those struggles. And it's called Ekundayo. 

Watch Liam Bailey's recent Tiny Desk (Home) Concert for NPR right here. 

Black Thought vs. Syl Johnson

Black Thought from The Roots does a fine version of Syl Johnson's "Is It Because I'm Black" backed by Adrian Younge.

Freddie Gibbs goes fly fishing with champagne for new "Crime Pays" video

"Crime Pays" is off the forthcoming Freddie Gibbs & Madlib album Bandana out digitally June 28th followed by CD/LP release July 27th. 

You can pre-order Bandana right here. 

Hear Black Milk's No Poison No Paradise at The Drake, Wednesday

Black Milk discusses his new album via Skype at the Drake in advance of his Mod Club show Oct 15.

Known for his progressive and boundary-pushing style, Black Milk's anticipated new No Poison No Paradise finds the always on-point Detroit producer/MC going back to hip hop basics. While 2010's Album of the Year was an album of dense and heavily layered sounds, the new record will have a more stripped-down approach, relying on sample driven beats to support much more elaborate narratives. 

The decision to move operations from his D-town home base played an important role in his recent burst of activity which resulted in the Record Store Day release of his vinyl-only  instrumental set Synth Or Soul  – the first in a collaborative series of EPs with illustrator Upendo Taylor called Fuzz, Freqs, & Colors – and his forthcoming album (due October 15) both on his new Computer Ugly label. 

"Recording outside of Detroit for the first time put me in a place without instant access to a lot of the musicians, engineers, emcees and singers that I usually collaborate with," Black Milk explains, "just me in a room with my equipment and my thoughts." Although he did have a few guests drop by for a visit during the sessions, namely Dwele, Robert Glasper and Black Thought from The Roots. 

"I wanted to focus more on storytelling and having a collection of songs with subjects that tie into one another,"  he continues, suggesting  that No Poison No Paradise is very much a concept album which functions as a series of dream sequences drawn from the subconscious mind of the fictional character Sonny Jr. 

In the track Perfected On Puritan Ave. (below),  Sonny flashes back to a time when he and his childhood friend are playing basketball and aspiring to be NBA stars or rappers then flashes forward to find Sonny living some of his childhood dreams. Along the way, Black Milk also touches on the experiences of some of Sonny's peers, weaving and bobbing in a non-linear narrative. "Just like a dream, the scenes are always changing and sometimes feel random and inconsistent," he explains. "It's a mixture. Some songs and stories are told from Sonny's older self, some from his younger days, and some from a third person perspective." 

Though not a direct first person account of his own life, the themes Black Milk explores on No Poison No Paradise arose from the experiences he had growing up in a working-class Detroit neighborhood as well as the internal conflicts of maintaining inspiration and integrity as a musician.

For more information about the No Poison No Paradise listening party at the Drake Hotel on Wednesday (October 2) from 6 pm to 10 pm and/or to RSVP,  go here