Blu's long shelved sixth album on wax for the first time! The LA based MC is no stranger to unconventional approaches and experimentation. No York (aka York) is his most ambitious project to date. Blu tapped into the LA beat scene and ended up mixing his classic lyricism with the west coast's penchant for new forms and shapes. Many of the left coast producers you would expect showed up for the task. There's heaters from FlyLo and Samiyam, out there ish from Daedelus, and live, funky beats courtesy of Shafiq Husayn. There are some unexpected appearances as far as guest spots go. Things get real from the start with the opening track featuring U-God of the Wu-Tang Clan! We also get vocals from acts as diverse as Tiombe Lockhart and Sa-Ra Creative Partners. Not to mention beats from Madlib and frequent Blu collaborator Exile, as well. The album originally dropped in 2011, but has not seen an official vinyl release until now. NewWorldColor has pulled out all the stops for this one. From the Tsunehisa Kimura cover art depicting New York City in an apocalyptic flood (which Cut Copy used on their Zonoscope LP, but we can pretend that did not happen), to the four separate LPs all housed in their own color coded sleeve, to the book bound multi-page gatefold sleeve, these dudes did not half step! High quality all around. Includes 3 bonus tracks not on the original CD.

• music label: NewWorldColor 2013

reviewed by Kool Moby 09/2013