Black Radio III (Loma Vista Recordings)
Robert Glasper
Released February 2022
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2022
Grammy Award for Best R&B Album 2023
Grammy Nominee for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical 2023
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About:
2022 not only marks the 10 year anniversary of Robert Glasper’s era-defining, Grammy-winning album Black Radio but also Glasper’s solo return as he today releases the highly anticipated third installment, Black Radio III. Glasper’s contribution to music and culture spans over two decades, forming an exceptional legacy that permeates throughout contemporary art and advocacy. A project brought together by both new and old friends further proves Glasper to be one of the most respected collaborators of his generation and Black Radio III to be a masterclass in hip-hop, R&B and jazz fusion that will sonically define the next decade.
Like its predecessors, the new studio album celebrates Black joy, love and resilience and features the Grammy-winning single “Better Than I Imagined” with H.E.R and Meshell Ndgeocello. Killer Mike, BJ The Chicago Kid, and Big K.R.I.T. unify in “Black Superhero”, a track that lifts up real-life Black heroes, while Lalah Hathaway and Common put a fresh spin on “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, a nod to the Tears For Fears classic. Glasper also creates space on BRIII for songs like Q-Tip and Esperanza Spalding’s versatile and driving “While We Speak” and “Over”, Yebba’s sweet-winded plea to a fleeting love. Black Radio III’s guests also include Jennifer Hudson, Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons, India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild, PJ Morton and more. Since announcing the album in early 2022, Glasper has joined Trevor Noah for an interview and performance of “Heaven’s Here” with Ant Clemons on The Daily Show and was backed by The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a special MLK Day performance of “In Tune” and “Black Superhero” featuring Rapsody, DJ Jazzy Jeff, BJ The Chicago Kid and Amir Sulaiman.
Glasper has also partnered with Record Store Day and FAMS, the coalition of Black-owned independent US record stores, as an ambassador for A Day of Action, Sunday February 27th. Accounting for less than 2% of all indie owned stores, today an estimated 30 Black-owned independent record stores still exist nationwide. While the industry annually comes together to encourage purchasing physical product to support a struggling sector of music retail, never before has the spotlight been put on the few remaining Black-owned independent stores. As Black History Month comes to a close, A Day of Action is a call to consciousness for consumers to support Black-owned independent record stores.
The 4x Grammy and Emmy winning artist, composer and producer made history a decade ago with the release of Black Radio as the first album to debut in the top 10 of 4 different genre charts simultaneously: Hip Hop, R&B, Urban Contemporary, Jazz and Contemporary Jazz, as did the follow-up album Black Radio 2. The ongoing Black Radio brand has become synonymous with Black music culture and has placed Glasper alongside some of music’s most legendary- from early days with J Dilla, Bilal and Yasiin Bey to playing alongside Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Herbie Hancock, Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Jill Scott, Brandy and more.
Track Listing:
1. In Tune (Robert Glasper / Amir Sulaiman) 03:18
2. Black Superhero (Robert Glasper / BJ the Chicago Kid / Michael Render / Justin Scott) 05:55
3. Shine (Daniel Farris / Robert Glasper / Tiffany Gouché / Justin Tyson) 06:28
4. Why We Speak (Kamaal Fareed / Robert Glasper / Esperanza Spalding / Burniss Travis) 06:19
5. Over (Robert Glasper / Abbey Smith) 04:55
6. Better than I Imagined (Robert Glasper / Meshell Ndegeocello / Gabriella Wilson) 04:51
7. Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Chris Hughes / Roland Orzabal / Ian Stanley) 05:41
8. Everybody Love (Robert Glasper / Taalib Johnson / Alexander Lloyd / Kelvin Mercer) 05:03
9. It Don’t Matter (Chris Dave / Robert Glasper / Gregory Porter / Justin Tyson / Ledisi Young) 05:27
10. Heaven’s Here (Ant Clemons / Bryan-Michael Cox / Robert Glasper) 03:56
11. Out of My Hands (Brittany Barber / Robert Glasper / Jennifer Hudson) 05:35
12. Forever (Robert Glasper / PJ Morton / India Arie Simpson) 05:45
13. Bright Lights (Robert Glasper / Tyrone Griffin) 04:02
Personnel:
Robert Glasper: keyboards (1, 2, 4-13), piano (3), drums (3)
Marcus Strickland: bass clarinet (1)
Derrick Hodge: bass (1, 2, 6-8, 10, 11)
Amir Sulaiman: vocals (1)
Keyon Harrold: trumpet (1, 3)
Chris Dave: drums (2, 9)
BJ The Chicago Kid: vocals (2)
Big K.R.I.T.: vocals (2)
Killer Mike: vocals (2)
DJ Jazzy Jeff: turntables (2)
Lisa Harris: vocals (2)
Josephine Hodge: vocals (2)
Riley Glasper: vocals (2)
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah: vocals (2)
Burniss Travis II: bass (3, 4, 5, 7)
D Smoke: vocals (3)
Tiffany Gouché: vocals (3)
Isaiah Sharkey: guitar (3, 4, 5, 7, 8)
Justin Tyson: keyboards (3), drums (4-7, 10-13)
Terrace Martin: saxophone (3), synth (11)
Jahi Sundance: turntables (3, 5-8, 10)
Esperanza Spalding: vocals (4)
Q-Tip: vocals (4)
Yebba: vocals (5)
H.E.R.: vocals (6)
Meshell Ndegeocello: vocals (6)
Common: vocals (7)
Lalah Hathaway: vocals (7)
Musiq Soulchild: vocals (8)
Posdnuos: vocals (8)
Additional Programming by Jay Cooper (8)
Pino Palladino: bass (9)
Gregory Porter: vocals (9)
Ledisi: vocals (9)
Marlon Williams: guitar (9, 11)
Ant Clemons: vocals (10)
Bryan-Michael Cox: synth (10)
Jennifer Hudson: vocals (11)
Thaddaeus Tribbett: bass (12)
PJ Morton: keyboards (12), vocals (12)
India.Arie: vocals (12)
Cory Henry: organ (12)
Ty Dolla $ign: vocals (13)
Recorded AatGM Studios; Night Night Studios; Creation Station; Woodworks Records; The AbLab; Henson Recording Studios; Layers Studios; Vocal Throne Studios; Gumbo Studios
Producer: Robert Glasper
Recorded and Mixed by Qmillion
Mastered by Chris Athens
Lacquer Cut by CM
Photography by Mancy Gant
Art Direction: Christopher Leckie
Executive-Producer: Ryan Whalley, Vincent Bennett
Review:
In almost equal measure, Black Radio III is both different from and similar to Robert Glasper’s first two natural syntheses of R&B, jazz, and hip-hop carried out with his fluctuating gang of singers, rappers, and instrumentalists. It’s as much an extension of Glasper’s activity since 2016’s ArtScience — what stands in 2022 as the last Robert Glasper Experiment session — part of a sequence that follows August Greene, Collagically Speaking, Fuck Yo Feelings, Dinner Party, a bunch of soundtracks, and dozens of concomitant recordings the keyboardist augmented as a collaborator. The change most evident from the outset is that Black Radio III is not credited to Robert Glasper Experiment. Derrick Hodge is the bassist on more than half of the cuts, and fellow band vet Chris Dave drums on two of them, but Glasper in the rhythm section is often flanked by other familiar associates such as Burniss Travis II and Justin Tyson. The additional musicians enhancing the shared complex simplicity of the principal players are greater in number, ranging from turntablists Jahi Sundance and DJ Jazzy Jeff to guitarist Isaiah Sharkey. Also unlike the first two volumes, this was over a year in the making and enabled by remote contributions, rather than knocked out within a week with everybody in a room. In one way or another, each selection is either a love song in the traditional sense or at least filled with love. Interpersonal ballads are most common. “Better Than I Imagined,” a Grammy-winning 2020 single, is a meeting between a distressed H.E.R. and seductive Meshell Ndegeocello that smolders. Jennifer Hudson struts and shrugs through “Out of My Hands,” a midtempo thumper (co-produced by Terrace Martin) that rates with her “Spotlight” and “Angel.” Ledisi and Gregory Porter make the best match of all on the quiet fire of “It Don’t Matter,” harmonizing as Glasper takes a lilting rare solo. No more than a foot behind them are the vocal duo that bobs through “Why We Speak,” a bolt of sunshine. Glasper’s stink face-inducing electric lines set up luminous Esperanza Spalding, singing mostly in French with a dizzying mix of percussive and elongated notes — reminding “not to sell our soul” — and Q-Tip somehow finds a seam to further brighten the song without getting in the way. There are also some harder-hitting moments, such as a poignant opening with unwavering Amir Sulaiman poetry leading to a pro-Black summit with Killer Mike, BJ the Chicago Kid, and Big K.R.I.T. The unexpected touches, such as Glasper’s own drunk-funk drums on “Shine” and the Theo Parrish-like beatdown house gait of “Everybody Love” (featuring Musiq Soulchild and Posdnous), are as welcome as the familiar ones. Speaking of which, the Lalah Hathaway-fronted cover here is a slow-swaying update of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” that would have made for an apt finale. Instead, it’s smack in the middle, and no less effective for it.
Andy Kellman (AllMusic)
