MODO-LIVE, Homstand & Urbain present...
Blu & Exile w/ Spark Houston
The rapper born Johnson Barnes and the DJ/producer born Aleksander Manfredi released Below the Heavens: In Hell Happy With Your New Imaginary Friend on July 17, 2007. 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. 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.
During subsequent years, Blu would go on to land a spot on the 2009 XXL Freshman Class alongside rappers such as Wale, Kid Cudi, B.o.B, and Charles Hamilton. Blu and Exile would reunite in 2012 for Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them that imbued the rapper’s multi-syllable style and the producer’s contemporary sound. Outside of their collaborative work, they have had fruitful solo careers too. Blu would drop countless mixtapes and EPs and continue to make one-producer albums with Bombay, Madlib, and Nottz. Exile went on to produce another classic for another XXL Alumni with Fashawn’s Debut boy meets world, as well as a ground breaking instrumental project I EXILE RADIO, and work with Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg.
2020 marked the release of a double album entitled “Miles”. They released their 4th full length album, “Love (the) Ominous World” in 2024.