Due to the over saturation of music and artist in this capitalistic society, there are rare opportunities for me to find albums that not only sound good, but have a spiritual effect on me. I know those albums when I hear them because they ignite creativity. I have been in search for an album that is genuine and uncontaminated by the industry. Not influenced by the drive for mainstream, just pure unadulterated TRUTH! Over the past two weeks, I have found two albums that do just that. Allow me to share.
Robert Glasper, 32 year old Houston native is far from a rookie to the scene. The Urban "Thelonius Monk" combines jazz stylings with a new soulful hip hop vibe that is sure to re freshen the genres. His roots extend to artist such as Kanye West, Bilal, ?uestlove, Q-Tip and a host of others. His new release, "Black Radio," is nothing short of a Groove. The album has an Allstar Soul cast featuring: Erykah Badu, Bilal, Lupe Fiasco, Lalah Hathaway, Shafiq Husayn (Sa-Ra), KING, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele, Musiq Soulchild, Meshell Ndegeocello, Stokley Williams (Mint Condition), and yasiin bey. Its an album that you can play from top to bottom. I threatened to whip @lalahhathaway with my mamma's belt last week for her rendition of Sade's "Cherish the Day." Check it out here, then go get the album.
A couple of weeks ago, my good friend Gerrond told me to check out Ole Borud because it would change my life. So I go to my Spotify (best place to sample albums before you buy) and pull up Borud's newest release "Keep Moving," and guess what...IT CHANGED MY LIFE! He's like an inspirational Jamiroquai . I only intended on listening to one or two songs, and it turned into about 45 minutes of rewinding and pulling up previous works. I couldn't help but wonder "where in the hell have I been" to miss all of this. It wasn't until halfway through listening that I realized I was listening to an inspirational artist. Its sonic, it's funky, it's groovy, it's spiritual, its everything. Here are a couple of my favs.
Music Lives...
