It’s not like I hadn’t heard of Aloe Blacc before, but for some reason or another I never took out the time to listen to his music. I’ve heard him described as a singer, a rapper, and a musician. And from what I’ve heard so far he seems to do all three of those things fairly well. Recently, it seems like quite a bit of his material has made it to my iPod, thus the reason for this edition of iPod Hustle. Let’s catch up together…
Download: Aloe Blacc feat. The Grand Scheme – “Billy Jean”
Yea, Chris Breezy may have the Michael Jackson’s tribute performances on lock, but for covers of actually songs my money is on Aloe. Need proof? Check out his rendition of “Billy Jean”. Of course this doesn’t top MJ’s version, but I think he makes the song his own (Plus you can make out the words easier. No diss to Mike.)
Download: Aloe Blacc – “Femme Fatale”
Produced by Truth & Soul
For the second single to his upcoming album Good Things (Dropping in September), Aloe covers Velvet Underground’s classic with great results. This track reminds of something that would be produced from Aloe Blacc’s Stones Throw labelmate Mayer Hawthorne. Real soulful stuff.
Download: Aloe Blacc – “I Need A Dollar”
Produced by Truth & Soul
This is probably the most know song by Aloe seeing that it also serves as the theme music to the HBO series How To Make It In America. When I first heard I would have bet money this was a unearthed gem from the 60’s. Naw, this just shows how talented this brother is.