Video: Blu and Exile – “Sold The Soul”

The Rapper-Producer Duo Shares the Introspective HipHopDX-premiered Video from In The Beginning: Before The Heavens

11.29.2017

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 Video:

Revered by underground heads all over the Hip-Hop globe, L.A. rapper-producer duo Blu and Exile specialize in head-nodding music with a message. Returning with another soul-speckled original, Blu and Exile share the lovingly animated “Sold The Soul” video. A charmingly dusty, piano-led boom-bap track, “Sold The Soul” concerns the conflict between commercial appeal and artistic vision. Creatively dramatizing the central battle between Blu and his soul with gothic animation, the “Sold The Soul” video is a cosmic delight, grounded by Blu’s lyrics, which appear onscreen throughout the video. Directed and animated by Justin Herman and premiered by HipHopDX, “Sold The Soul” is the latest release from 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.

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.”

Watch “Sold The Soul”: https://youtu.be/uCNlLjIsb7U

Check out the HipHopDX premiere: https://hiphopdx.com/videos/id.26360/title.dxclusive-blu-exile-enter-an-animated-world-in-sold-the-soul-video

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.”