DX: You mentioned making a trip overseas to Europe. How was that experience for you?
Blu: That first time over there was ridiculous! I didn’t know what I was getting into. It was a lot of love there. We went there last September for the Below the Heavens Tour and it was overwhelming how many people were up on the record and how long they had been on the record. The record had been out for like a week, two weeks and people knew the lyrics to almost all the songs at almost every show. So I was stoked because it doesn’t go down like that here. I got heads in L.A. that know the shit but that’s home-base. It’s different now because it’s been out for awhile but it hadn’t been then. Europe was just...dope. We’re going to be back there with C.R.A.C. next May to takeover Europe.

DX: So I hear you been producing tracks lately. You have another project named A Day Late and a Dollar Short with an emcee out of Brooklyn named Sene. Can you tell me about that?
Blu: That’s something I always wanted to do, well, not actually always. I actually never wanted to produce. [Laughs] Exile always told me I should produce and Ta’Raach told me I was dope at it. I would always pull out samples and be like, "You should chop this," or whatever. I never really took into consideration that I learned a lot from watching them produce. I just started making beats and at the time, I was like I’m not going to give away any of these beats. I’m just going to bust over them myself for fun. There’s certain beats that I make that I don’t really want to rap to but I want to hear raps over them. I feel like my production is way throwback. Its feel good Hip Hop and that’s my favorite type of Hip Hop like Native Tongues. But with production, I was just kind of chilling having fun. I got into looping when I was doing Johnson and Jonson and that stuck with me. With Sene…we would always hook up and do different collabs on the side for different labels. We would do shows together and kick it and what have you. I started playing him some beats and he was like, "Man, you chop beats?” and I was like yeah. He told me that it was iller than some of the stuff he was messing with. So we started working. We got like 12 songs already. So we’re going to take the best 6 and drop an EP and eventually put out a full length. I don’t want to promise a LP that’s fully produced by me, but we’ll always collab for work but until then the EP is coming soon, A Day Late and a Dollar Short. It’s pretty dope man. I like it.

DX: You’ve been putting out music nonstop for a minute. How do you continue to find the motivation to write?
Blu: I’ve created so much music…and now that the demand is up, it’s given me the opportunity to put it all out. Below the Heavens and C.R.A.C. [The Piece Talks] were done in 2005. Johnson & Jonson [Powder and Oils] was done in 2006. That’ll be coming out later this summer. I did a Rock album last year. That may or may not be coming out. [Laughs] There’s more C.R.A.C. songs. We plan on doing another record together. I got a new single with Exile coming out this month just for people who want hear more of me and Exile. I wanted to put out a 12”. We don’t have that much vinyl out. I wanted to give the deejays something. I just love making music. I don’t really give a fuck about like...The industry is so open now you can just do whatever you want. That’s the illest thing about being an artist in 2008. If you want to be an artist you can literally wake up and be an artist. There’s so many ways to get exposure nowadays that you don’t really need labels. They help out but you can do a lot on your own. And there’s an ear for anything you create. There’s so much music that’s out there somebody is going to like it. Someone’s going to hear your music and be like, "That’s the shit I’m fucking with right there." The game in 2008 is not perfect and people complain and complain about how wack music is, but there’s so much dope shit out there if you just turn the radio and TV off. I find ill shit all the fucking time and I’m like there’s way too much music out there.

DX: Does the success you’ve achieved thus far seem surreal and how do you stay grounded?
Blu: It really started fucking me up in January. I was really getting overwhelmed. There were a lot of people that I looked up to that had heard of me and respected me and wanted to work [together]. That was…like whoa. I didn’t feel as if I was ready yet. I was like damn just let me build up my craft before I jump on a track with Elzhi or Talib Kweli. I’m just grateful. You gotta do it now or never. Now I’m like fuck it. I’m just gon’ work with whoever’s down to work. I was surprised man that the people took to it so well and now I’m surprised that the industry, from the artists to the labels, was really feeling it. It’s dope because I made that shit for myself. I didn’t think that anybody was going to hear it like that but it worked out pretty well. Continued on page 4 »