It feels like I've been hearing Black Collar Biz talk about High Grade Artistry for the last two years... and that's probably because this has been in the incubator for two years. I'd recently spoken with him about the #HGA trek, and our conversation ended up on Art All Night Trenton's Blogs All Night tumblr, which I've been maintaining. If you missed this weekend's Art All Night Trenton, you also missed the High Grade Artistry release party, with Collar and crew rocking to a massive audience on the outdoor stage Saturday night. Physical copies of this 19-track opus were on sale there, and today we have the full project available in digital format.
And it's a gem.
Collar fans should already be up on tracks like "Nike" and "Crazy Generation," as well as jawns like "Stay The Same" and "Broken Homes," which has been a part of his live shows and overall batch of material for a bit. High Grade Artistry, though? So many gems in here. Give it a listen down below, and if you like it, plunk down the $7 and you can own it.
I see that Rich Quick finally got some love that the crew had been waiting for. I know why, but it's good to see that it happened regardless. Look at J57 up in that picture, cheesing while he brown bagging. This shit is fresh, and free. Rich and Archie killed this track, which got recorded at Bucktown USA by General Steele himself. #JERSEY
Save the date on this one. There's no space for additional writers, nor are the musical acts announced, but this is ALWAYS a great open-air event in my city. Hit up the Facebook page for more details.
Latest cut from High Grade Artistry, which will be out sooner than you realize. I was actually building with Collar recently, and he played this one for me. So goddamn beautiful. Over some lush, jazzy Bonobo production. You should be ready, but I'm assuming you aren't.