thaFormula.com - How much of an influence has Exile had on your music and did you feel the chemistry the first time you guys recorded together?

Blu - Exile? Majorly man. Especially now where I'm trying to get more on the production tip, this fool showed me so much shit man it's just like I don't know. Even just like man, our experiences as we were doing the album were such a dope learning experience. A lot of good times and shit like that. He put me up on a lot of dope Hip-Hop shit that I wasn't up on, showed me a lot of shit but really just opened up a lot of doors. The very first time we recorded we decided we were gonna do an album after that. The first song was "Party of 2." Actually we went there to record a totally different joint and as we went up there he was playing beats and I was just busting raps and we was like "let's do this one" and we just laid that shit. After the session the song went well and there was just something I was missing at the time. Like I had a lot of producers I was working with but it didn't have that Hip-Hop feel that I was a fan of or that I was influenced by. It was more so cats influenced by Just Blaze. Like I had a lot of like really loud and crazy big sample beats at the time. Then I ran into Exile and all those beats were just like perfect. I was like "yo man, what the fuck? How can I get them? What's up with this?" And we just started working man. I'm glad he was feeling my shit and we just took it from there.

thaFormula.com - Why do you think the Exile seems to bring out the best in you and do you feel like his production is tailor made for you?

Blu - I think Exiles production is tailor made for good Hip-Hop period. I know a lot of other dope artists that do dope shit over Exiles shit. I'm not gonna put him right there now, but its like Primo (DJ premier). You got Primo working with all kinds of different cats. It's like of course he has the whole Gangstarr shit and it was like tailor made for Guru you would think until you hear Jeru on that muthafucka or you hear Jay-Z or Biggie on that shit and it's like damn. I think he is killing it.

thaFormula.com - Do you feel it is a lot harder in L.A. if you are not on that gangsta shit?

Blu - Hell nah man. I think it's tough if you are trying to compete with Game. If you are trying to get Game's success or shit like that or you are trying to sign to Dre or some shit. Dre works with all G ass gangsta rapping fools from L.A. so I wouldn't expect Dre to holla at me and boom I just blow up because if Dre touches anything in L.A. it's gonna crack off, but that's not the case for everybody. So I don't think it's hard you just have to grind. That's wherever you go and then you got certain people that lookout or certain people that god just gives them that opportunity or certain people that just make their own opportunity or open their own doors. You just got fools that just go harder. I don't think none of this shit is hard

thaFormula.com - With this being something you do full time, how hard is it for you to maintain and have you gone through a lot of hard times doing this?

Blu - I have been going through hard times my whole life so it's nothing new just because I'm rapping. I don't mind struggling if I'm in a brand new state or country or some shit. I'm just enjoying my life and traveling. There is always gonna be hard times you just got to make the best out of whatever you doing. You're gonna have hard times working at a job, period. That don't mean your job is hard.

thaFormula.com - What are your goals today in this industry compared to what they may have been a few years ago when things had yet to fall apart?

Blu - It's like a love/hate thing with the industry now as far as where it's going. It's not the same as back in the day to where you could just get on, and get a fat ass check. It's like a different stage of the game now, but I love it because the shit is coming back to the artists and it's not given to you like it used to be. You got all kinds of muthafuckas getting put on just because they took that step or they did whatever the fuck was needed, but now it's like you got to do this shit yourself basically. That's what it's getting to. It's a lot of shit out there to help you digitally and shit, but you've got a lot of majors now expecting you to have a lot of your own shit taken care of when you holla at them and I think that's a good thing. That's what most of these muthafuckas been needing. I think the game wouldn't have been as flooded as it is had it been like that before. But shit was made so damn easy and muthafuckas was just blowing out cake to anybody who could rap. But as far as my goals, yeah I used to wanna be on like some Redman shit. My shit will just drop, I don't need to go platinum but as long as niggaz everywhere respect my shit I'm cool with that. That was like my whole goal back in the days. Now my goal is to just put out as much good music as I can. No matter what it takes, if I'm doing it myself, if the label is pushing it or whatever man. It's just more so my love for that.

thaFormula.com - The "Blue & Exile" record has gotten some good feedback from people. How have things been so far with the new album?

Blu - It's been the biggest shock and the biggest blessing ever man. The record has not even dropped and the things it's done for me, I didn't think shit was gonna go down that butter man. Shit is just going down so butter smooth man. Things are just coming together based off the genuine love for the music man. The music is just moving itself man and I really thank god for that daily.

thaFormula.com - What exactly has it done for you that has boosted your confidence and your future goals in this game?

Blu - Love, respect and checks. I've been on a few tours. Just recently I went on a national tour with Strange Fruit Project and Lifesavas. I wasn't even on the bill. I just hopped on to open up like a 15-minute set and they cut their set short so I could rock with them. But I hopped on the road and in almost every single city somebody had the CD burned or whatever or just knew that I was gonna be there. Shit was crazy. I was just like "what the fuck?" Muthafuckas was coming out to support all over the nation man. Like I know niggaz in Gainesville who had albums of mine niggaz is not even supposed to know about. It was just like "damn this shit is real" and then just the level of respect I'm getting right now is ridiculous. That shit is crazy. Then the checks man, I love the checks. I'm glad I'm making a living off of this.

thaFormula.com - Did you originally plan to record the "Below The Heavens" album with Exile?

Blu - Well me and Exile planned on doing an album but when I first signed to Sound In Color it was gonna be a mixed production record and as we started working on it I wasn't really feeling where it was going and I talked to them about going back to my original idea which was doing the album with Exile. I talked to Ex about it and he was down and we just got in the lab. First cut was "I am Blu" and we just kept pushing from there.

thaFormula.com - What is the biggest difference between recording an album with various producers as opposed to just working with one producer?

Blu - Because it becomes not just your album but it becomes the producers album. You guys are making that shit together. It's not just your decision. You guys have got to come to that medium and that shit went well. We just was going back and forth. I was trying to make dope versus to impress him and he was trying to make dope beats to impress me. When me and Exile came together we were just trying to make fools feel this shit and I think back in the days it was just about making it to make people feel it. I think recently a lot of cats are like "well we just want to make a hit" or "we just want to do this and that and that." But I think it's getting back now to dope albums. You've got fools that have these wack ass albums coming out and then you have (Jay) Dilla doing "Like Water For Chocolate" and muthafuckas will start changing their whole outlook. So it's definitely gonna be things that will bring it back. It's never gonna be the same. But hopefully this shit will just come back up something stupid.

thaFormula.com - So for those that don't know, let's give a quick break down of what this album is like sound wise. What's the vibe and feel of this album?

Blu - Sound wise it's soulful. It's feel good Hip-Hop. It's honest and as far as production and the whole sound it feels good. The whole shit just feels right. I'm totally secure with where it is now and how it was put together and how it ended up. It took us a while to come up with that ending and to really just finish it. We kept doing tracks and doing tracks and wanting to add more shit, but once it was done it felt good, it felt right so I was straight, but me personally I would make it shorter. I would cut like 2 joints and I think that would make it more classic but I think it feels right and it flows from beginning to end and hopefully other people feel the same way about it. August 14th is the date. Its been pushed back for a while but I feel like it's the best time to release it because fools are feeling it right now or they getting a ear of what's going on. I hope this shit goes Gold (Laughs), other than that it's doing what I hoped it would do.

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