FEATURED

Hello, Mellow, I know it's hard to love an ordinary fellow muses Blu, on the track "Melo" off of the mixtape Her Favorite Colo(u)r, dropped earlier this week. A leader in the reemergence of the Los Angeles underground hip-hop scene, Blu is hardly ordinary and extremely easy to love. Colo(u)r is a gem in the landscape of cluttered and over-produced internet mixtapes: simple, relaxed, and completely lacking in gunshots and sirens. It mixes samples ranging from the classic to the recent (including Billie Holiday, and a sequence from the 2004 movie "Closer") with Blu's meandering, laid-back flow reminiscent of Phife from the Tribe. The feel created is that of a sort of next generation Jazz rap; not quite as organic or ethereal, but just as poetic and honest. Blu's earlier work, on his debut album Below the Heavens, and his collaborations with Producer Mainframe under the name Johnson and Johnson, has shown Blu to be introspective and intelligent. His lyrics reflect a genuine concern for the state of the world, particularly the working youth. On top of that, he's local. Her Favorite Colo(u)r showcases Blu's growing talent and his maturity, still with the same flair for simple wisdom and multi-syllable rhymes. See I'm not the same as Lil' Wayne pleads Blu in the first verse of the songe "Untitled(LovedU)2".  In a world where autotune dominates (and in light of the release of "Prom Queen") I think we can all be grateful for that.