Blu Vanity

A bit of history: In early 2009 the Los Angeles MC Blu seemed poised to be on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream. His debut, Below The Heavens, made the world of hip hop take notice. His personal narratives and sublime lyricism had fans calling him the next Common or Mos Def.

But Blu didn't quite see it that way. While it didn't really seem so strange at the time, his two projects after BTH started to hint at an experimental urge that was beginning to boil within the MC. The Piece Talks with Ta'Raach was more like De La Soul Is Dead and his Johnson & Johnson project with Mainframe was a throwback to cratediggin' and loops.

Then, just as he announced he had signed a contract with Warner Bros. for his major label debut album, Blu quietly dropped a completely self-produced album (save for one song), HerFavoriteColo(u)r, on his MySpace. Fans were as puzzled as they were pleased with the roughly mixed concept album centered around finding and losing love.

In the next two years, the musical output from Blu came at a snail's pace with his Warner Bros. debut constantly touted as "coming soon." Rumors of eccentric behavior did little to quell the public's curiosity. Then, music began to eek out from young Johnson Barnes, now revealing himself to be deeply entrenched in a sound heavily influenced by the electro beat scene of Southern California.

Now, it seems he is readying to re-introduce himself to the public, and as part of that, Nature Sounds has re-mastered his 2009 Valentine's Day project, finally offering the album in a mud-free mix.

The actual album itself has aged beautifully. The production is spliced with dialogue from Rushmore, Punchdrunk Love, Closer, The Brown Bunny, and other films where love is complicated and messy. Blu's lyrics are dense, vivid and abstract, foregoing the "sad-fi, rapid-fire soul stuff [he] used to hit 'em off with," and instead choosing a stream of consciousness style that doesn't always make linear sense: "Fuck a rapper I'm an actor in a film called, 'Leave Me The Fuck Alone 'Till I Find A Real Job.'"

There is still cohesion and direction to songs. "Amnesia" is a bittersweet reflection of losing love while "Vanity" finds Blu in a more playful mood. "Celln'L's" has the MC defiantly singing instead of rapping, almost sounding like he slipped in a Weezer song in the middle of his album.

Though the album was not completely understood or entirely well-received in 2009, this reissue asks us to revisit the project. What we find is that while Blu might not necessarily make music his fans want, he is always pushing himself and his craft forward. A natural musician, Blu's HerFavoriteColo(u)r is a win.