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El Michels Affair & Black Thought // Glorious Game LP [COLOR]

El Michels Affair & Black Thought // Glorious Game LP [COLOR]

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A joint record released by New York's hip-hop band El Michels Affair and Black Thought in June 2023 from New York's Big Crown.

Contains 12 soulful and jazzy hip-hop tracks.It's a green board.

Labels and other worksplease use this form. ///Click here to see more Big Crown Records releases available at Tobira.

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12" 'Sky High' indigo colored vinyl. 

Text excerpt by Big Crown Records:

"...Releasing on Big Crown Records, the LP is called Glorious Game and it is a remarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides his bottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some of the more personal and transparent verses we've ever heard from him. Michels and Black Thought have been in each other's orbit for a while now. The two first met in the 2000s when Thought was first getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. "Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite," recalling the funk and soul group Michels was a founding member of back in 2007. Fast forward a few years and musicians from that collective—Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax—are now full time players with The Roots. This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few funding events around NYC and Philly together. "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time," Michels explains "Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy."

Being that Black Thought is the co-founder and emcee for, hands down, the best live-band group in hip-hop. Michels took a decidedly different approach to this project and instead of sending recorded tracks of live compositions, he pulled out the sampler and sampled himself and some records from his collection. "I'm a big fan of soul music," as if Michels has to remind us. "And part of hip-hop's appeal to me has always been the sample-based production" For Glorious Game, Michels would make wholly composed and recorded soul songs in his studio, sample himself, then chop and/or loop up his sounds and create instrumentals for Black Thought. On some tracks he took a more traditional hip-hop approach, starting from samples of other people's music but then adding live instrumentation on top.

The result is an organic feel of loop-based tracks that breathe and fluctuate enough for Black Thought to flex on. "What I write about is determined by the equation of the producer's energy and my energy," Black Thought says. "It's about where we meet." So armed with Michels sampled and re-sampled soul cinematics, Black Thought rhymes through personal memories and distinctive perspectives, all dripping with visuals... " 

Artist : El Michels Affair & Black Thought

Label: Big Crown Records

A joint record released by New York's hip-hop band El Michels Affair and Black Thought in June 2023 from New York's Big Crown.

Contains 12 soulful and jazzy hip-hop tracks.It's a green board.

Labels and other worksplease use this form. ///Click here to see more Big Crown Records releases available at Tobira.

----------------------

12" 'Sky High' indigo colored vinyl. 

Text excerpt by Big Crown Records:

"...Releasing on Big Crown Records, the LP is called Glorious Game and it is a remarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides his bottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some of the more personal and transparent verses we've ever heard from him. Michels and Black Thought have been in each other's orbit for a while now. The two first met in the 2000s when Thought was first getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. "Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite," recalling the funk and soul group Michels was a founding member of back in 2007. Fast forward a few years and musicians from that collective—Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax—are now full time players with The Roots. This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few funding events around NYC and Philly together. "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time," Michels explains "Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy."

Being that Black Thought is the co-founder and emcee for, hands down, the best live-band group in hip-hop. Michels took a decidedly different approach to this project and instead of sending recorded tracks of live compositions, he pulled out the sampler and sampled himself and some records from his collection. "I'm a big fan of soul music," as if Michels has to remind us. "And part of hip-hop's appeal to me has always been the sample-based production" For Glorious Game, Michels would make wholly composed and recorded soul songs in his studio, sample himself, then chop and/or loop up his sounds and create instrumentals for Black Thought. On some tracks he took a more traditional hip-hop approach, starting from samples of other people's music but then adding live instrumentation on top.

The result is an organic feel of loop-based tracks that breathe and fluctuate enough for Black Thought to flex on. "What I write about is determined by the equation of the producer's energy and my energy," Black Thought says. "It's about where we meet." So armed with Michels sampled and re-sampled soul cinematics, Black Thought rhymes through personal memories and distinctive perspectives, all dripping with visuals... " 

Artist : El Michels Affair & Black Thought

Label: Big Crown Records