Blu has based a good portion of his discography of putting together projects with a single producer. Below The Heavens with Exile (we all know that one), Madlib produced all of Bad Neighbor and its preceeding EP and even this year, the Cali rapper joined with Nottz (again) for Titans In The Flesh.
His newest collaboration, though, will bring him together with Fa†e — a fellow Cali native whose sound strays away from the dusty, soul-based production we’ve seen on the aforementioned.
The first single from their album, Open Your Optics To Optimism, highlights that, with sounds sucked out of a vacuum in space setting the backdrop alongside calming drums. Blu has an inquisitive and learned tone in his lyrics, seemingly questioning what it means to be human, exactly.
An addition from Versis and a hook from Dolphin (“We are water by nature, so our physical came to be”) bring the themes together as they all try and connect the dots of what humans’ purpose on Earth is dating back to ancient times.
Blu has worked with Fa†e before on the producer’s debut album, The Night Bus Home, and on his album under the O†ion moniker (which, yes, probably inspired the name of the song).
You can pre-order Open Your Optics To Optimism — out September 28 via EveryDejaVu — on Bandcamp. In addition to the two here, the album will feature Open Mike Eagle, Milo, Choker, Khary (on a bonus song) and more.
Listen to “Otionography” below.
