The Witzard

James Blake 's music has always had an underlying, vaguely Hip-Hop feel to it; from his early Harmonimix tracks to his work with Grime rapper, Trim . But now, it seems like Blake is fully embracing his inner beatsmith on his upcoming sophomore album, Overgrown ... having worked with legendary Wu-Tang Clan emcee/producer RZA , sampling Big Boi for a bonus track , and most likely logging some studio time with Kendrick Lamar in the near future. James Blake recently linked up with former R&S Records manager, Dan Foat to form a new imprint, which has been dubbed 1-800-DINOSAUR . Overgrown hits shelves next week, April 8-9th and it will be their second (first major) release. James Blake lamented, "It was like sending it for mastering. It was like, 'Just see what comes back.' [RZA] really nailed it though. I mean, he's obviously a consummate professional. He also did it with such a level of intimacy and sensitivity that I got it back and I got shivers,...

James Blake is basically the "Iggy Pop" of imported First Wave Dubstep , before it got all sugar-coated and mainstream [corny]. While it's a little unclear as to when it was originally stripped down and mixed together, "Confidence Boost" is a James Blake Harmonimix of a track that was first released back on Soulfood, Vol. 2: Lyriks (2007). Blake has brutally remixed Grime emcee Trim 's hard-hitting composition into something completely different... Skrillex could definitely learn a few things! Although, Pitchfork went on to point out that this isn't just a mere remix, it's a newly-recorded, suped-up version. Let's just call it "Confidence Boost (2.0)," for argument's sake and man, this is a CRAZY/cool breed of Hip-Hop that's in a category all of it's own! James Blake is quite arguably the most Soulful white dude in contemporary music since Hall & Oates made their ever-lasting mark on Soft Rock back in the...