The Robert Glasper Experiment ft. Bilal

Real music is crash protected,” state the liner notes of Black Radio, a future landmark album by the Robert Glasper Experiment that boldly stakes out new musical territory and transcends any notion of genre, drawing from jazz, hip-hop, R&B and rock, but refusing to be pinned down by any one tag. Like an aircraft’s black box for which the album is titled, Black Radio holds the truth and is indestructible. Rapper Mos Def illuminates the metaphor on the title track: Big bird falling down on a mountain pass Only thing to survive the crash Black Radio You wanna fly free go far and fast Built to last We made this craft From Black Radio Robert Glasper has long kept one foot planted firmly in jazz and the other in hip-hop and R&B. He’s worked extensively with Q-Tip, playing keyboards on the rapper’s 2008 album The Renaissance and co-writing the album single “Life Is Better” which featured his label mate Norah Jones. Glasper also serves as the music director in Mos Def’s touring band, and has toured with the multi-platinum R&B singer Maxwell. The Los Angeles Times once wrote that “it's a short list of jazz pianists who have the wherewithal to drop a J Dilla r... more...