CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP
Los Angeles storyteller Blu ’s enormous drive has yielded an equally immense amount of work for the young rapper who once considered early retirement.
by David Ma photography by Gustav Images
ask the best, man.That’s a dream come true.” Blu’s also sought and received production from Flying Lotus, Nottz, Daedelus, and Madlib through the years. In 2009—in addition to an already rapidly growing oeuvre—he released two instrumental beat tapes, which were his first foray behind the boards. Also, And IfYou See the E Drop ’Em was released in 2011, his first all-instrumental full-length. He also made beats for three of his albums on the Nature Sounds imprint the same year. This year, he extends his prolific streak with an eighth full-length LP, a very fitting but unsurprising double album, Good to Be Home —an uncomplicated celebration of L.A. music culture. “Cruising down Weston with them colorful hats / Gold and that black, such a lovable match / The rap Huxstable, comfy like bubbles in baths,” raps Blu on “The West,” the lead single. It’s a homecoming of sorts for the 2009 XXL “Freshmen” alum who blew up, toured incessantly, and was dropped by Warner Brothers over an album titled NoYork! “The album is basically a love story between a kid and his city,” he says. That talk of retirement at age thirty never materialized;he recently turned thirty- one.The rapid rate at which his catalog has grown is equaled only by his staggering drive. On the subject of retirement, the young workhorse says,“These last few years, I have gotten so much love and invites to work and create that I can’t stop. [One of the songs] on the new record is coincidentally called ‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.’ We just getting started.” .
“He had the jewels for me to create and get out everything I needed to express on that debut.” Exile, whose career started with Aloe Blacc as part of Emanon, has built an immensely thick résumé, helming tracks for everyone from Mobb Deep to Snoop Dogg. Blu’s work ethic took shape when he started as a hype man for local crews after relocating to L.A. from San Pedro, California, where he spent his high school years. Blu was the stepson of a pastor whose household only listened to gospel, and rap was tersely restricted. Blu explains,“It wasn’t until I moved in with my [biological] father in L.A. that I began to buy hip-hop music.” He continues, “For years, I was a freestyle MC. My good friend convinced me to start actually writing and recording songs ...instead of battling every MC just for recognition. I remember he always said,‘Ain’t no money in freestyling, bro; it’s free.’ And then he also hipped me to OutKast’s Aquemini . I thank him to this day . ” After his aforementioned debut with Exile, he hit a stride, an enormous prolific spurt releasing two mixtapes, seven full- lengths, and eleven EPs, casting a wide net for producers as well as beat aesthetics. “Alchemist, man, ha ha , I can’t get out of his studio! His work ethic is actually crazier than mine, not to mention his clientele is one of the best in the game,” he explains. Having internalized healthy doses West Coast rappers like Ice Cube and Tha Alkaholiks as a youth, Blu recently worked with a revered East Coaster, Pete Rock himself. “I just got a beat from Pete , yo! We did a 12-inch. I just
For most rappers—even ones whose careers are in a rapidly decaying orbit—talk of retirement is mostly met with disbelief, perhaps even indifference. Like an aging boxer who can’t hang up his gloves, the tail end of many rap catalogs can be ugly. Meet Johnson Barnes, who goes by Blu, and whose career is in the ascendant— perhaps even at its peak. Not long ago, Barnes began toying with the notion of walking away from music by age thirty, citing industry woes, an emerging interest in film, and a sense that he reached his creative threshold.You can’t blame him for wanting to leave on a high note. Barnes was a breakout presence in the West Coast’s indie rap scene, with his 2007 debut, Below the Heavens , getting numerous nods on “best of” lists, as well as landing on L.A. Weekly’ s “Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time.” Independently released on Sound in Color and produced by Exile, the album’s beat palette was heavy on classic soul, mostly sliced into new yet recognizable bits. The familiarity, the touches of jazz, and its mid-tempo pace had both washes of melancholy and joie de vivre. It paird perfectly with Blu’s contemplative, sometimes very personal rhymes. “It was a huge blessing to get Exile to produce the entire record,” Blu says. “I had others in mind when we first started, but after Exile and I did one song together, I knew he was the perfect person.” The pair’s output would later combine for two more efforts, Maybe One Day , an EP out in 2012, and Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them , released the same year.
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