Robert Glasper
Black Radio III
Loma Vista
Listen Below
“When we're on keys / We can unlock things / Souls freed otherwise held hostage / On the ebony and ivory / With the heart of a Gnostic / But hands of a locksmith / …But once we’re in tune / Oh, we can conduct the cosmos!”
Amir Sulaiman delivers these words with searing intensity on “In Tune,” a 3-minute introductory poem rife with meaning and meter. That intro then steamrolls into “Black Superhero” featuring BJ the Chicago Kid, Big K.R.I.T., and Killer Mike. The former is hallowed and prophetic; the latter parades in self-assurance. Together, they speak to a heated core experience that erupts to form Robert Glasper’s Black Radio III, an all-star, helical journey fusing R&B, jazz, and hip-hop.
If unfamiliar, the series began with Black Radio (2012), a jazz album that the group billed as the Robert Glasper Experiment recorded for Blue Note Records. Drawing on his cache as an in-demand musician, Glasper caulked every crevice with neo-soul and hip-hop guests like Erykah Badu, Bilal, We Are King, and Yasiin Bey. He repeated the feat with Black Radio 2 (2013), both times capturing GRAMMY wins in R&B categories, a rarity for jazz.
Glasper, now signed solo to Loma Vista Records, has dissolved the RGE band. Former members Derrick Hodge (bass) and Chris Dave (drums) still appear on Black Radio III alongside legendary musicians Pino Palladino, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Terrace Martin, Cory Henry, and Isaiah Sharkey. Recorded largely in remote isolation during the pandemic, Glasper handled production with help from Martin, Jahi Sundance, and hitmaker Bryan-Michael Cox. This is the sequel fans have waited a decade for.
“Originally, I wasn’t going to do one,” Glasper explained to Vinyl Me Please. “I did [Black Radio 1 and 2] and just kind of moved on to doing other projects and stuff. But throughout the years, all my fans have been asking me about doing another Black Radio… people just really wanted that sound again.”
And why wouldn’t they? BR3’s tones are atmospheric, its textures thick, dark, and molasses-sweet. Apart from Glasper’s status as a modern jazz giant, he has the magical ability to get his calls returned. There’s hardly a luminary he can’t attract and the brilliance of his records is the expert matching of talent to complementary soundscapes. With more cohesion than its 2013 predecessor, and more conviction than the 2012 original, Black Radio III might be the best entry yet.
Typically, the way it works is: release the album first and then win awards. Glasper reversed the process with the erotic thrum of “Better Than I Imagined,” a then-standalone track joining the smoky undertones of H.E.R. to the androgynous sensuality that Meshell Ndegeocello effortlessly drips with. Released in August 2020 well in advance of any announced album, it managed to snatch a GRAMMY away from all competition—including Beyoncé almighty—for Best R&B Song in 2021.
The next single surfacing in October 2021 was the unsinkably optimistic “Shine” with singer-producer Tiffany Gouche and her blood cousin, GRAMMY-nominated rapper D Smoke. This family affair is bustling with good vibes, twittering drums, and a heavy dose of love and affection for Ms. Lauryn Hill.
Love is in no short supply on Black Radio III; there’s literally some for everybody. On the house-grounded groove of “Everybody Love,” Musiq Soulchild shows off spectacular jazz phrasing. During the bridge, Posdnuos of De La Soul clicks into the rhythmic percussion to call for the integration of self like worshippers clasping hands in prayer.
The theme continues through a pair of male-female duets. Gregory Porter and Ledisi represent classic soul on “It Don’t Matter,” as well as India.Arie and PJ Morton whose timbres marry well on the daydreaming, piano-and-drum-led ballad “Forever.”
The hope glowing there also seems to warm Glasper’s Yebba collaboration “Over.” His swirling keyboard work complements her breathy delivery. Overall, its uptempo lilt presents a sunny counterpoint to the complex austerity of her debut Dawn (2021).
Continuing the cavalcade of elite guests, Q-Tip and Esperanza Spalding conjure Congo Square on “Why We Speak.” The two wax poetic (and multilingual) on maintaining identity in a melting pot culture (“While we speak the English / While we speak the French / While we speak the Spanish / And bargain with the vendors / Not to sell our souls / Remember how to speak how we speak”). For his part, Q-Tip alternates song with speech, lending counterbalance to a colorful performance that reunites the artists for the first time since “City of Roses” from Spalding’s fêted Radio Music Society (2012).
Black Radio projects are incomplete without Lalah Hathaway’s sultry alto. She is to the franchise what The Oracle is to The Matrix. Her purpose is to unbalance the equations of familiar tunes like Sade’s “Cherish The Day,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America.” On this third installment, she and Glasper artfully reorient Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” into a musical Picasso. Its familiar ‘80s road-trip gallop is now a heady, downtempo mirage with swaggered rhymes from Oscar-winner Common.
So much can be said of Black Radio III. Its tracks are often chased by reprises and remixed addendums like post-credits scenes in a Marvel film. There are also featured appearances from Ant Clemons, Ty Dolla $ign, and Jennifer Hudson, and Glasper has hinted of a deluxe version coming. For all that can be said, more is to be felt. As preached on the record’s introduction, “We don’t play music. We pray music.” If that doesn’t resonate immediately, just one listen will justify the hype. Glasper is who he is for a reason. He knows how to turn hearers into believers.
Notable Tracks: “Better Than I Imagined” | “Everybody Love” | “Over” | “Why We Speak”
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