Trying to walk on long-lost paths of triumph is something that can go deliciously wrong. Maybe that is one of the reason why Blu and Exile – who more or less accidentally became one of the spearheads of Indie-Rap due to their record »Below The Heavens« last year – put an unmastered demo of their reunion-record »Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them« online. More or less accidentally. In comparison to other classic MC/producer-duos in history, Blu and Exile have never understood their project as a closed band-formation; instead, they have used the opportunities to establish themselves as individual artists through pretty weighty solo-outputs. Hence, »Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them« is much more »Below The Heavens 2.0« than »Below The Heavens 2«. Even though the conventionality of exile beats – a jerky drum-bap and some animated sample-polishing – sometimes restrains Blu from following his more and more abstract ideas, this down-to-earth surrounding of soul and jazz actually seems to underline his talents. Among those are his easy-going flow and the lyrical understatement of a 20-something-years old, which make lines like »They say the limit is the sky, but I’m sick of getting high / I don’t want to have to die, just to feel like I’m alive« sound more like an epiphany than forced profundity. Solo, Blu is still allowed to vehemently work against the expectations put into him and to still upload unfinished sketches of multi-instrument-sessions in .zip-folders. As long as, on the other hand, we get an album like »Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them«. Because sometimes, trying to walk on long-lost paths of triumph can be a remedy.
Doechii
Alligator Bites Never Heal
Top Dawg Entertainment