Blu imagines what Jesus would do if he came back to the West Coast. That is the whole concept and it works.
"Jesus" is the closing track off LA, the collaborative album between Los Angeles lyricist Blu and Oakland producer Sndtrak, out now via Nature Sounds. The New High Filmz-directed video opens with Blu reading his Bible and praying in front of a mirror, then getting dressed the rest of the way in his gold Jesus piece with matching watch and pinky ring. His homies chill with him as he raps about what a West Coast messiah would actually look like. Sndtrak stands nearby with a 40 of Old English. The imagery is deliberate, grounded, no Hollywood gloss.
Sndtrak joins an impressive list of producers who have handled full projects for Blu: Exile, Madlib, Nottz, Evidence, Oh No. That is elite company and the Oakland beatsmith earns his place. On "Jesus" he blends trunk-rattling bass with haunting gospel melodies, the same sonic mastery he has displayed producing for Rapsody, Larry June and Smif-N-Wessun. The gospel textures under a track called "Jesus" are not an accident. Everything about this record is intentional.
We covered the title track "LA" a few weeks back. The full album lands exactly where that single promised: Blu embodying the full spectrum of Los Angeles hip-hop, from G-funk legacy to underground lyricism, with features from Volume 10, Thurz, MED, Iman Omari, Trizz, ICECOLDBISHOP, Like of Pac Div and Propaganda. Blu remains one of the most proficient MCs alive, and LA is a reminder of why that reputation has held for nearly two decades.
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