Ever since the release of his debut album “Below The Heavens” back in 2007, Blu has been one of the premier west coast MC’s. He took the experimental approach with “York!,” using a more digital hip-hop sound. It’s not the Blu that we all may be used to. People are used to his mellow, boom bap approach. “York!” is more techno, and synth heavy. It sounds like hip-hop from the future. What’s crazy about this album is that Blu originally released it back in 2011, but had no label backing. It was also originally titled “No York!.” Here we are now, with a new title, less tracks, and a label.

The album began with “Doin’ Nothin’,” which is a Flying Lotus produced track. He brought along U-God of the Wu Tang Clan to assist him on that one. This collaboration was magical! “York!” continued with “Everything’s OK,” which featured Jack Davey, an up-and-coming songstress. It was a track that described the feeling of wanting it all.  “Never Be The Same” was a song referring to society and how it will never be the same, whether it be hip-hop, TV, or news. Blu always finds clever ways to speak on subjects that are rarely touched on by rappers. “SLNGBNGrs” is a very interesting beat. The production on that song sounded as if you were in an arcade playing pacman. 

It’s good to see that Blu reached out to long time collaborator Exile for the track “Tags.” Honestly, what would a Blu album be without a beat from Exile? It wouldn’t be right at all.

The last quarter of the album sounds like traditional Blu music, with tracks such as “Down To Earth,” and “My Sunshine.” This is the less experimental part of the project. One song that did stand out to me was “Keep Pushinn,” which was produced by Philadelphia beatsmith Knxwledge. It consists of a very jazzy loop that’s slowed down. He ended “York!” with the same beat that he started the album with. This time, he changed up the formula, wrote a new verse and added features from Pac Div, El Prez, U-N-I, J. Davey, and Tiron & Ayomari.

Overall, Blu put together a solid project. Usually when artists start to experiment with different types of beats and music, it doesn’t come out right. But Blu’s experiment came out perfect. This will be an album that will be remembered down the line.

• Jeff Lockhart