In 2007, after releasing the nearly flawless Below The Heavens, Blu was crowned the next savior of the west coast. This type of thing happens about once every couple years. Whenever some random rapper appears with an extraordinary album, they're automatically proclaimed the next big thing. Over the past few years we've seen it happen to the like of Lupe Fiasco, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, ect. Most of these guys fail to reach the unobtainable heights set for them, but they always seem to linger around for a while. None of those rappers have had their presence felt less than Blu. His original intentions will likely never reach the public eye, but it seemed as if he did everything in his power not to blow up. There's always the initial denial towards the call of fame, but Blu has been denying that call for the better part of seven years now, and the end doesn't seem to be in sight.
After the release of Below The Heavens, he dropped a rapper/producer collaboration with producer Mainframe entitled Johnson&Jonson. It was a good album, one that felt like a natural lyrical progression, but most fans treated it as a side project that served as more of an appetizer in preparation for the long awaited major label debut. He was signed to Warner Brothers with the intent of releasing an album called NoYork!, but the folks at the label were disgusted with Blu's work and put yet another delay on his follow up. In the mean time, Blu had the itch to release something and that something came in the form theGODleeBarnesLP, a single 70 minute mp3 file with absolute dog shit quality. That was especially frustrating considering the actual music was extremely impressive and I still consider it to be his second best body of work.
The general sense of confusion was only heightened when it came to light that the terrible quality was something that Blu did completely on purpose. The effect is something he calls "lo-fi", and it played a big role in his ultra odd 2011. After the official release of HerFavoriteColo(u)r, a thirty minute love mixtape built around obscure movie clips, he dropped a twenty minute tape called j e s u s with even worse audio quality and Blu barely even rapping. Fans frustration peaked with the release of Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them, a reunion producer Exile, the man behind the boards during Below The Heavens. The problem, though, was, you guessed it, terrible quality. No one knows why Blu was doing this and his fanbase was slowly dwindling, but he just didn't give shit.
But back to that NoYork! album. Blu clearly had a love for the album, but Warner Brothers wasn't budging, so he took it upon himself to simply hand the album out at one of his live shows. This of course led to the immediate extermination of Blu's contract, which probably worked out best for everyone involved, as there are just some artists meant to work independently. Once released to the public, it was evident that Warner Brothers' hesitation was justified. It featured seventeen of the most inaccessible and experimental tracks I've ever heard, and even though appreciate the album, it spelled nothing but commercial disaster. Still, one has to respect Blu's dedication to his music and unwillingness to make adjustments.
And that brings us 2014, where Blu has released a double disc album entitled Good To Be Home, fully produced by Bombay. I hope my absurdly long introduction has built up some type of anticipation, but in all honesty, the preceding paragraphs are just my excuse for never having to actually write about any of those projects. Back to the point, double disc albums are some of my least favorite things in hip hop. Of the top of my head I can only think of three, maybe four, that I even enjoy. I've always seen them as a cheap way to fulfill label obligations (they count as two LPs on contracts), but seeing as Blu is now independent, I'm at a loss for why this is happening, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dying to find out.
Disc 1
1. Home
Quality is still ass, no surprise, but this is everything I want in a Blu intro. Soulful samples, somewhat catchy hook, and Blu is spitting his fucking ass off. He doesn't go for the one verse wonder, which almost always make its way onto intros, but instead opts for three verses, all of which sound excellent. Say what you want about Blu the person, but there is simply no knocking his rapping ability.
2. The Return
The second actual single from Good To Be Home is a catchy Bombay produced number that will easily make you forget your initial hesitations of listening to this project. Our host throws in the usual G shit (buying chains, causing trouble in the hood, selling drugs), but the thing is, that's not usual at all for Blu. I knew Blu was from L.A., but I always imagined his as the guy that stayed in reading books all day, so it was extremely interesting to hear that he did indeed participate in hoodlum shit. Bombay's instrumental has an effect similar to when you repeatedly push your earlobe into your ear hole, which sounds off putting, but the finished product sounds really damn good. Easily one of the best songs Blu's ever recorded.
3. Back Home Again
An instrumental interlude to really, really emphasize how much he's returned home.
4. Boys N The Hood (Feat. Fashawn, Like, & BeYoung)
The song title makes the first three out of four thousand and seventy eight features actually feel justified. Bombay's beat is serviceable, and it was good hearing from Fashawn again, but these other two features ruin it. Not to be mean, but Blu is on fire right now, and the last thing in the entire world I want to hear right now is performances from two guys named Like and BeYoung. This shit was all kinds of average.
5. Whip Creme (Part One) (Feat. Definite, Big Dame, Coss, & Swt Pea)
Man, this shit is so goddamn frustrating. Just the last song had completely normal sounding quality, but now were back to sounding like was recorded under water in a submarine. I swear I'm about to start a Kickstarter campaign so I can take this fucking album and master it myself, that's how distracting it is. What makes the whole thing worse is how fucking good this song is. Take all the negatives I said about the last track and completely reverse them because everyone one here annihilates their verse. I'm not even sure who half of them are, but they all fit is perfectly on this ode to their cars. None of them are touching Blu, though. This is probably the best rapping I've heard from him since his Below The Heavens days, and Bombay's production more than complements him. I can't really put my finger on the sound he's going for, as there's an obvious influence from Blu's previous work, but the grimy feel separates it from anything else he's done. Anyhow, this is one of the most Los Angeles sounding songs I've heard in quite some time, and in 2014 that's an impressive feat because lets be honest with ourselves, the west coast is fucking running things right now. It would just help if the song was, you know, mastered.
6. The West
Continuing with the theme of the last song, the first single is a dedication to the western region of the United States, but I'm sure you already new that from reading the title. I've gotta say, this didn't really have me jumping out of my seat in anticipation when I first heard it. The only thing that actually stuck in my mind is that Blu is 6'4", which he mentioned after paying homage to Skee Lo's Grammy award winning single "I Wish". Yeah, that one. I'm always amazed by the relative lack of height in most rappers and Blu certainly reads as someone the would be closer to towards the 5'10" range. I'm putting a new meaning to getting off topic, though, so I'll let you know that the song is merely average, even though I am consistently enjoying his hometown anecdotes.
7. 50z
Much more intriguing than the last song. Even though the hook is simply lazy writing, I ending up enjoy this song a hell of a lot, mostly in part to Bombay's outstanding instrumental. This is one of the rare cases where I honestly prefer the lo fi effect (although on this album it simply sounds low budgeted, but I'm sure that was Blu's goal), as it adds a surreal feeling to the already mellow beat. Blu remains the reason why this project is holding up, though. His lyrics certainly don't sound like something that would come out the mouth of the rapper everyone fell in love with in 2007, but I say that as more of a complement than it initially sounds. Nothing worse than a rapper consistently regurgitating himself.
8. The LA (Feat. Secret Service Age)
Nah, this just felt unnecessary. Blu allows his weed carriers and subordinates to run amok over a rather shitty Bombay beat. Emphasis on the word "shitty". One can guess as to how excellent this minor posse cut sounds after quality of the previous few songs. C'mon Blu, we all know how hard it is to say no to friends, but there comes a time when you just have to let them know that they're not all that good at rapping.
9. Summer Time (Feat. Bombay & Arima Eddra)
And then Blu throws the audience for another loop, recruiting his producer to actually spit a verse. Let's just say his rhyming ability isn't exactly on par with his work behind the boards. Especially on this song. Its one of the best instrumentals on the album thus far, and even though Blu has two verses, you'll walk away feeling robbed, as its obvious that the song could have been much better had out host taken care of the other two verses. This still fits well within the theme of the album, though, and I suppose it works especially well during this time of year.
10. The Summer / Angel Dust (Feat. LMNO, 2Mex, & Imani)
I guess to play into the idea that Good To Be Home actually contains two LPs, the first disc ends with a pleasant enough instrumental interlude before going into a minute of complete silence, which I'm sure will look great on your hard-drive's memory capacity. But after that nonsense, were lead into a track referencing the wonders of PCP, one of my favorite drugs to hear rapped about. This track is most notable for the feature of Imani from the Pharcyde (I honestly wasn't sure if any of those guys were still alive), but also because of its smoothness. This is simply some fly ass shit that I would love to be able to hear without the two and a half minutes of bullshit. If anyone has an actual version of this song, feel free to let me know. Frustrating, but I still found this to be enjoyable. So there.
Disc 2
11. Rap Dope
Well, no crazy change in lyrical content or instrumentation from the first disc, but that doesn't stop "Rap Dope" from being one of the best songs on the album. Blu's ability to describe his city and make you visualize it seems to have only improved, but I also enjoy the way Bombay's instrumental progresses along throughout the song. This was a pretty solid ass way to kick off the second half of the album.
12. Dre Day
As the title would indicate, "Dre Day" pays homage to his west coast forefathers. He even throws in a line from Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day", a song which's popularity still amazes me (great song, but not exactly as family friendly as most people would like to remember) I'm kind of pissed that this wasn't longer, though, which I guess is a good thing, but I wouldn't have even minded if Blu would have just let the beat ride out for another minute.
13. Red & Gold (Feat. Prodigy, Mitchy Slick, & Phil Da Agony)
Blu separates the Mobb Deep duo, opting for Prodigy to spit a verse that I quite enjoyed and consider to be superior to the other features and even our host. It always warms my heart to see Prodigy to succeed. Before he experienced one of the most bizarre musical declines in rap history, he was an unquestioned top five rapper, which is largely forgotten today, but as shown on here, he still has something left in the tank, so nice job, P. The other two features fucking suck, though, and Bombay's work was rather meh. Not great, but you'll probably let it play all the way through.
14. Child Support
I was listening to this song thinking to myself that it had an odd Ghostface influence in the instrumental, maybe it could have been on Ironman, but I was shocked when Pretty Toney's voice actually popped up on the hook in the form of a sample. Something about him yelling "Who wanna battle the Don?!?) sounds so right here and I have no idea why. That the only reason I'd ever return to this track, though.
15. Well Fare (Feat. Thurz & Casey Veggies)
I liked what he did there with the titles of this and the last song, but this is ultimately just as average as its predecessor. Blu's story is interesting enough, but the Bombay production doesn't really work. There's just so many of these type of beats a man can hear without it becoming more than a little redundant. You know, there's kind of a reason that double albums are kept at a minimum nowadays. At least some of these features are spicing things up a little, though I still prefer Blu to all of them.
16. He Man
And just like that we're back on track. Bombay's instrumental has an odd mystic to it, making its an obvious detour from the production I was just complaining about, Blu achieves the rare feat of depicting an accurate viewpoint of female interaction, something our genre at hand severely lacks. You can really feel the struggle and sincerity in Blu's voice while he asks for his girl to take him back. This is kind of what a Drake song would sound like if Drake was a better rapper. Sorry for that, but that's honest to God what I thought of while listening to "He Man". I'm not just constantly out to throw slander at Aubrey, although I'll admit it can be very fun at times. Anyways, Blu's plead to this girl could very easily be interpreted as a metaphor for his relationship with hip hop, with lines like "I get it, you fell in love with my potential". Yeah, I don't care what Blu was thinking while writing this, I'm running with my idea.
17. Brown Sugar (Feat. MED & Oh No)
This song is alright, but I have not a single thing to say about it.
18. Bobby Brown (Feat. Clutch, Mic Holden, & Definite)
In a bit of underground synergy (I'll admit that I had to look these guys up because I had no clue who any of these motherfuckers are), Good To Be Home features yet another posse cut with Blu very charitably giving shine to some of the most unheralded rappers possible, which was nice of him, since these guys are a hell of a lot better at rapping than some of the more high profile features we've sat through. As such, I might end up checking these guys out, which is the ultimate achievement when throwing your buddies on your song. Bombay's production is oddly epic in scope (at least compared to the rest of the album), which was a nice touch, but Clutch, Mic Holden, and Definite are the stars of the show. Me personally, I would have enjoyed some type of hook, as this acts as more of a Slaughterhouse type rhyme fest rather than an actual composition, but I'm not going to complain all that much because with a guest list of completely unknown rappers, this could have been much worse. One more thing: since these three delivered the most impressive guest verses, all this song does is prove that being good at rapping means absolutely nothing in terms of having success. Yeah, I said it.
19. Can't Stop, Won't Stop (Feat. Alchemist, Evidence, Planet Asia, Chace Infinite, & Krondon)
I guess all these guest features scattered throughout the album have been leading up to this, a massive posse cut featuring people you might actually know. I'm still impressed by Alchemist's improved mic skills, and of course Evidence provides a solid verse over a beat that would easily fit onto their Lord Steppington project from earlier this year. Blu injects some much-needed life after the monotonous voices of the first two features, but the whole thing is nearly derailed by the final guest. Seriously, what in the fuck is a Krondon? He completely negates what I just wrote about unheralded guests and proves that sometimes there's a reason rappers are left underground, but despite all of that, this was still pretty good.
20. The West (Part Two)
Basically the same formula as the end of disc one, except there's no track attached onto this instrumental. As it is, its pleasant enough (which is exactly how I described the last short instrumental) and offers a smoother exit than "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" would have been.
Rating: 3.5/5
Good To Be Home is much longer than necessary: any earnest attempt to package two albums worth of material on one project in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience is eradicated by Blu's inability to self-edit, similar to my own tendency to let these reviews ramble on when we all know they could be much tighter. The audio quality is terrible (I'm begging someone to find me a mastered version of this album), the features derail a few of these songs, and even though Bombay has some great beats, his production is nothing groundbreaking, but here's the thing: Blu is still an incredible rapper, probably one of the fifteen most talented rappers in the world. On Good To Be Home, he's on top of his game, crafting some of his most captivating performances since his career started, while shining a light on a part of his personality that most people thought they'd never see. He reveals what it was like for him growing up in Los Angeles, and the album as a whole is truly an ode to the city. It's obviously a summer album meant to be listened to during the day, preferably in the car. That's quite a contrast for a rapper who's best and most widely known album is considered the quintessential headphone album. Regardless of the final product, one has to respect Blu's artistic evolution and unwillingness to regurgitate himself. Good To Be Home isn't perfect by any means, and your level of enjoyment may greatly vary from mine because I've been able to witness his entire career pan out, but I found most of this to actually be pretty good.