When New Times caught up with (sort of) Fort Lauderdale-based rapper Bleubird, the animal-loving road dog was getting ready to release his U.S. debut album, Cannonball!!!
We say "sort of" Fort Lauderdale-based, because, as Betsey Denberg's feature story recounted, Bleubird, born Jacques Bruna, may not actually be here at any given moment. He's more likely to be criss-crossing the country in his RV, dubbed the Freeebird, or, now, overseas.
Cannonball!!! was released finally this week via the label Fake Four, and Bruna's already gone, this time hitting Europe hard for an extensive tour in support of the disc. Just a few months ago, he was in Tokyo, playing shows between tweeting photos from cat cafes. It helps that he's found fast musical friends in similarly minded rappers like Minnesota-based Astronautalis. The latter is part of the rapidly rising Doomtree collective, the twin cities' weirder continuation of the area's wordy underground hip-hop tradition cemented by Rhymesayers.
Fans of those acts will find much to love in Bleubird's new official single from Cannonball!!!, a genre-bender called "Time4Real." The vocals -- spitfire raps that actually seem to take more from a Southern tradition -- technically make this a hip-hop song.
That is about where the stylistic conventions end though. The track itself is more of atmospheric, orchestral piece of mood music that creates a sense of impending doom and regret. That's only aided by the sadly sung hooks, and a call-and-response style between Bleubird and guest Ceschi (who's also a co-founder of Fake Four). With their verbal back-and-forth, the effect is of a man conversing with himself about his own mistakes.
Stream and download the track below.
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