Single: Blu and Exile – “Christmas Missed Us”

11.9.2017

Critical Praise

“The contemplative beauty of Exile’s beats fits Blu’s soul-searching perfectly on Below the Heavens.” – Pitchfork

“Blu and Exile’s Underground Classic Below the Heavens Changed West Coast Hip-Hop” – L.A. Weekly

“[Below The Heavens’] timeless production, raw vulnerability, and obscure mythology make the 2007 album a quiet classic.” – Noisey

The Single:

With incisive rhymes and gorgeously dusty soul-sampling beats, the rapper/producer duo Blu and Exile specialize in thought-provoking, head-nodding underground classics. Commenting the inevitable disappointment of the holiday season in poor neighborhoods, Blu & Exile share “Christmas Missed Us.” Foregoing traditional holiday sounds in favor of boom-bap drums and spindly guitar harmonics, “Christmas Missed Us” is a bittersweet rumination on how the celebration of Jesus’s birthday warped into a display of wealth inequality, portraying Santa Claus in a humorous light. Recorded in collaboration with Amazon Music, “Christmas Missed Us” will appear exclusively on Christmas Soul, a holiday-themed Amazon playlist with covers and originals from the likes of Open Mike Eagle, Nicole Atkins and others. “Christmas Missed Us” is a comforting follow-up to e In The Beginning: Before The Heavens, a new collection of unearthed gems from the sessions of the duo’s cult-classic Below The Heavens album.

“There is so much to pull from surrounding the celebration of the most popular man in world history,” Blu explained to XXL. “I just tried my best to say as much as I could as if it was my only chance to be heard.”

Emerging from a fertile Los Angeles underground scene in 2007, Blu and Exile’s Below The Heavens was an instant cult classic, showcasing Blu’s incisive and thoughtful bars over Exile’s dusty-yet-beautiful soul-sampling instrumentals. Premiered with an interview by Billboard, In The Beginning: Before The Heavens is a rare time capsule that sounds just as fresh now as in 2007, providing manna for fans of underground hip-hop on both coasts. Featuring appearances from Aloe Blacc, Co$$, Donel Smokes, Blame One, Dr. Oop, and more, In The Beginning: Before The Heavens arrives via Dirty Science/Fat Beats. In 2017, the duo reunited for the nationwide headlining Below The Heavens 10th Anniversary tour. “We planted the seeds of creativity and grew about 40 plants,” Exile says of In The Beginning: Before The Heavens. “We picked the ones that we thought were the best for an album, but that didn’t mean that the other flowers weren’t beautiful. I’m super happy to re-release [In The Beginning] to people and have it actually get some attention that it definitely deserves. It’s amazing.”

Listen to “Christmas Missed Us: https://soundcloud.com/amazon-music/blu-and-exile-blue-xmas

Listen to In The Beginning: Before The Heavens:

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dirty-science/sets/blu-exile-in-the-beginning-before-the-heavens
Bandcamp: https://bluandexile.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-beginning-before-the-heavens
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-the-beginning-before-the-heavens/id1283440313

Buy a physical copy of In The Beginning: Before The Heavens: https://www.fatbeats.com/collections/blu-exile-in-the-beginning-before-the-heavens

In The Beginning: Before The Heavens tracklist
01 Soul Provider
02 Another Day
03 Constellations
04 All These Ladies featuring Dr Oop
05 Party Of Two
06 Back To Basic’s
07 On The Radio
08 You’re Gonna Die Someday
09 Life Is A Gamble featuring Donel Smokes, Trek Life & Co$$
10 Things We Say featuring Aloe Blacc
11 Hot For Yall featuring Donel Smokes
12 Hard Workers featuring Blame One
13 Sold The Soul
14 Stress Off The Chest

Please contact Michelle or Isabel for more info.

The Background

In 2007, the same year that Kanye vs. 50 Cent in an album sales battle dominated headlines in the mainstream, Blu and Exile were carving their own path with an instant classic. The rapper and DJ/producer duo released Below the Heavens: In Hell Happy With Your New Imaginary Friend on July 17. Featuring soul-infused production with the raw vulnerability of Blu’s rhymes, the album began to receive rave reviews by hip-hop tastemakers and underground enthusiasts. In a review penned by 2DopeBoys’ Shake for HipHopDX, he gave it a 4/5 and noted that Blu is an “an extremely talented lyricist; clever rhymes, technically sound, intensely personal and witty.” Below the Heavens impacted everyone in some way, as it would later end up on many critics’ year-end lists from all over the internet.

2017 marks the 10-year anniversary of Below the Heavens. One of the interesting tidbits about the album is Blu and Exile made over 40 songs, with only 15 of them making the final cut. Now, the duo is reuniting for their third release, In the Beginning: Before the Heavens, a collection of the best tracks from the original sessions. “I’m super happy to re-release it to people and have it actually get some attention that it definitely deserves,” Exile says. “It’s amazing.”