Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio (Deluxe Edition) (2022)

10 years ago in 2012, Robert Glasper changed the game. After several acclaimed Blue Note albums with his acoustic trio (Canvas, In My Element) that solidified his Jazz cred while hinting at his Hip-Hop leanings, the visionary pianist went all in with Black Radio, an album that laid out a new paradigm for creative music, reaching beyond entrenched genre boundaries to create a singular vision that drew from all reaches of contemporary black music and beyond. Featuring Glasper’s Experiment band with Casey Benjamin on sax/vocoder, Derrick Hodge on bass & Chris Dave on drums, the album boasted a rollcall of special guests including Erykah Badu, Lalah Hathaway, Bilal, Lupe Fiasco, Ledisi, KING, Chrisette Michele, Musiq Soulchild, Meshell Ndegeocello, Stokley, and yasiin bey.

Black Radio drew unanimous acclaim from critics who praised the album as “a blueprint forward” (Rolling Stone), “an impressive swirl of funk, hip-hop, R&B, soul, and of course jazz” (Complex), and “hazily soulful” (New York Times). The Los Angeles Times lauded the album’s “rich musical interplay and a fearless, uncompromising spirit” while describing the Experiment as “a group that lets the keyboardist’s interest in hip-hop, soul and rock run wild with no regard for musical borders.” Black Radio would go on to debut on 4 different Billboard charts reaching #1 Jazz, #4 R&B/Hip-Hop, and #15 on the Top 200. The cherry on top came in February 2013 at the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards when Black Radio was awarded Best R&B Album.

On November 11, Blue Note will release a special 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition which presents the full Black Radio experience by expanding it to a 3-LP set and 2-CD set that include the original album plus 3 additional bonus tracks previously unreleased on vinyl, as well as the remix EP Black Radio Recovered which featured additional contributions from ?uestlove and The Roots, Solange, Phonte, 9th Wonder, Pete Rock, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and more. The 3-LP and 2-CD sets are available for pre-order now and come with a booklet featuring new liner notes by Glasper and rare studio photos.

“Making the album grew out of a desire to put my life on wax. A black box of music that just tells the truth, tells the story. That’s something you can’t destroy: the truth. It’s indestructible,” writes Glasper in the liner notes. “How Black Radio 1 hit also says something. Like, it was needed. It was missing – and then we made that record and, boom, it was there, and it was a whole thing. And it’s still evolving. Black Radio is basically the spinal cord of my work. It’s at the center of what I do. It’s who I am.”