Killer Mike, Q-Tip, Common, India.Arie join Robert Glasper for Black Radio III

Robert Glasper previewed Black Radio III with appearances on The Late Show and The Daily Show. Watch 'em both below.

Here's the scoop...

This year not only marks the 10th anniversary of Robert Glasper’s era-defining, Grammy-winning album Black Radio but also Glasper’s solo return as he releases the highly anticipated third instalment, Black Radio III. Glasper’s contribution to music and culture spans over two decades, forming an exceptional legacy that permeates throughout contemporary art and advocacy. A project brought together by both new and old friends further proves Glasper to be one of the most respected collaborators of his generation and Black Radio III to be a masterclass in hip-hop, R&B and jazz fusion that will sonically define the next decade.

Like its predecessors, the new studio album celebrates Black joy, love and resilience and features the Grammy-winning single “Better Than I Imagined” with H.E.R and Meshell Ndgeocello. Killer Mike, BJ The Chicago Kid, and Big K.R.I.T. unify in “Black Superhero”, a track that lifts up real-life Black heroes, while Lalah Hathaway and Common update Tears For Fears' “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” Glasper also creates space on BRIII for songs like Q-Tip and Esperanza Spalding’s driving “While We Speak” and “Over”, Yebba’s sweet plea to a fleeting love. Black Radio III’s guests also include De La Soul's Posdnuos, Jennifer Hudson, Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons, India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild and more. 

Glasper was backed by The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a special MLK Day performance of “In Tune” and “Black Superhero” featuring Rapsody, DJ Jazzy Jeff, BJ The Chicago Kid and Amir Sulaiman. Watch it below. 

Glasper has also partnered with Record Store Day and FAMS, the coalition of Black-owned independent US record stores, as an ambassador for A Day of Action, Sunday February 27th. Accounting for less than 2% of all indie owned stores, today an estimated 30 Black-owned independent record stores still exist nationwide. While the industry annually comes together to encourage purchasing physical product to support a struggling sector of music retail, never before has the spotlight been put on the few remaining Black-owned independent stores. As Black History Month comes to a close, A Day of Action is a call to consciousness for consumers to support Black-owned independent record stores- more information can be found at https://blackownedrecordstores.com.

Black Radio lll is available now on all formats - digital, CD, and 2xLP vinyl (exclusive to Glasper’s webstore) via Loma Vista Recordings. Get it right here. Watch Robert Glasper's recent appearance on the Tonight Show and a fan shot performance following the Black Radio III tracklist below. 

ROBERT GLASPER – BLACK RADIO lll 
1. In Tune [featuring Amir Sulaiman]
2. Black Superhero [featuring Killer Mike + BJ The Chicago Kid + Big K.R.I.T.]
3. Shine [featuring D Smoke + Tiffany Gouché]
4. Why We Speak [featuring Q-Tip + Esperanza Spalding]
5. Over [featuring Yebba]
6. Better Than I Imagined [featuring H.E.R. + Meshell Ndegeocello]
7. Everybody Wants To Rule the World [featuring Lalah Hathaway + Common]
8. Everybody Love [featuring Musiq Soulchild + Posdnuos]
9. It Don't Matter [featuring Gregory Porter + Ledisi]
10. Heaven's Here [featuring Ant Clemons]
11. Out of My Hands [featuring Jennifer Hudson]
12. Forever [featuring PJ Morton + India.Arie]
13. Bright Lights [with Ty Dolla $ign]

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

Robert Glasper @ Wrongbar, Monday