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James Blake: how the producer became black America's favourite Brit | Musique Non Stop

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Tuesday, February 5, 2019

James Blake: how the producer became black America's favourite Brit

His collaborations with Travis Scott follow those with Beyoncé. How did the DJ from Enfield become so well-connected?

For an artist whose sound is steeped in isolation, cutting a forlorn figure on icy electronic laments that shiver with loneliness, James Blake arrives at his latest album Assume Form as one of the best connected people in popular music.

At some point over the last decade, while journeying from the fringes of London’s dubstep scene to the epicentre of American rap and pop, it became easier to list superstars the acclaimed producer-songwriter hasn’t worked with. Beyoncé recruited him for Lemonade. Frank Ocean called on him for Blonde. Drake has sampled him and Kanye West declared him “Kanye’s favourite artist” before a few ultimately ill-fated 2014 writing sessions together. Bon Iver, Chance the Rapper and Jay-Z are other studio sparring partners. Blake is up for two Grammy awards in rap categories this year, alongside rappers Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Future for their track King’s Dead, taken from the Black Panther soundtrack.

Related: James Blake: Assume Form review – lovestruck producer turns dark into light | Alexis Petridis' album of the week

Related: James Blake: Assume Form review – a big, glitchy, swooning, hyper-modern declaration of love

Related: James Blake speaks out about struggle with depression

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by Al Horner via Electronic music | The Guardian

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