Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them

by Blu & Exile

Blu and Exile are fantastic collaborators.  Their first album together, Below the Heavens, was an instant underground classic, and neither of them have done as well on their own or with other artists since.  Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them has them working together again, with Exile producing and Blu providing some amazing lyrics.

This album shows that both artists have grown in the years since they first worked together.  Lyrically, Blu is a monster, best shown on tracks like 'A Man' and 'Maybe One Day', where his laid-back, laconic flow serves him particularly well.  Exile, meanwhile, has gotten both richer and a little weirder in his sound.  He often uses cartoonish or childish samples on one track (like 'Good Morning Neighbour', which samples Mister Rogers), and then gives us lush pianos and a Tom Waits sample on another (the sublime 'Seasons').

There are guest appearances by other Exile collaborators like Johaz (of Dag Savage) and Fashawn, as well as Homeboy Sandman and Black Spade.  Many tracks feature flutes by Randal Fisher, which helps add to the general wealth of sound.

I'm not sure if this album is going to capture new listeners the way Below the Heavens did, but it's definitely one to return to time and again.

In Search of Stoney Jackson

by Strong Arm Steady

I've never had much interest in Strong Arm Steady, thinking of them as the type of group that show up on mixtapes with artists I like and I can't tell why, and generally as trying to ride Talib Kweli's coattails since he signed them to Blacksmith a few years ago. Sure, they can sound good when featured on a song or two, but they weren't the type of artists I thought could pull off a whole album. Then I saw that their album was going to exclusively feature Madlib production, so of course I bought it...

And I was more or less right - the actual group (Krondon, Phil da Agony, and according to Wikipedia someone named Mitchy Slick) are not particularly interesting when they are rapping on their own. Their subject matter never strays far from weed it seems, although they do manage to sound consistent and let provide a decent enough use of Madlib's very cool beats.

What saves this album (beyond some great Madlib production of course) are guest appearances by Phonte (it's not a good sign when you have a guest on your first track), Talib Kweli, Evidence, Oh No, Fashawn, Guilty Simpson, and enough appearance by Planet Asia he must wonder if he really did leave the group. There are other guests too; in fact, it looks like there are only four tracks where SAS is on their own, which doesn't seem like a sign of confidence in an artist.

This is a decent album, don't get me wrong. It's just not very memorable...

Boy Meets World

by Fashawn
Exile's been doing some great work lately. His album with Blu a couple years back was an instant classic, and his 'Radio' disk was one of my favorites of 2009. Now he's hooked up with Fashawn, a young rapper from Fresno, California, and produced another excellent album.

Fashawn is another rapper, like Brother Ali, who comes across as a nice guy. He fills his album with a realistic, yet ultimately optimistic, world-view, not shying away from the struggles he's faced in life, but also choosing (at least I presume) to not exaggerate them for commercial gain and notoriety. He clearly believes in the value of working hard, and applies this earnestness to every facet of the album, making it a debut of high quality and consistency.

High points on this album include 'Freedom', which samples Talib Kweli for an effective hook; 'Hey Young World', with Aloe Blacc helping out on an old standard; 'Life as a Shorty', and the sing-alongable 'Sunny CA'. Blu steps in and helps out with 'Samsonite Man', a song about travelling, and Exile even steps to the mic with 'Bo Jackson'. 'Boy Meets World', the title track, brings the album to a close with some lovely a capella singing.

This is one artist to watch for the next decade.