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Black Radio 2

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Black Radio 2
Studio album by
Robert Glasper Experiment
ReleasedOctober 29, 2013 (2013-10-29)
Recorded2013
StudioMain
Vocal recordings
  • ADBP Studios (Detroit, MI)
  • Fever Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Brooklyn Recording (Brooklyn, NY)
  • Arts & Crafts Studios (New York, NY)
  • The Dogghouse (Los Angeles, CA)
  • The Attic Recording (Chicago, IL)
Genre
Length59:36
LabelBlue Note
ProducerRobert Glasper
Robert Glasper Experiment chronology
Black Radio
(2012) 		Black Radio 2
(2013) 		ArtScience
(2016)
Robert Glasper chronology
Black Radio
(2012) 		Black Radio 2
(2013) 		Covered: Recorded Live at Capitol Studios
(2015)

Black Radio 2 is the sixth studio album by American musician Robert Glasper. It was released on October 29, 2013 via Blue Note Records as the sequel to the Robert Glasper Experiment's 2012 Black Radio marking his second album with the band.

The album was mainly recorded at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, while several vocal recording sessions took place at ADBP Studios in Detroit, Fever Recording Studios and The Dogghouse in Los Angeles, Brooklyn Recording and Arts & Crafts Studios in New York, and The Attic Recording in Chicago. Production was handled by Glasper himself, with co-producers Eli Wolf, who also served as executive producer together with Nicole Hegeman, and Terrace Martin.

It features guest appearances from Anthony Hamilton, Brandy, Common, Dwele, Emeli Sandé, Faith Evans, Jill Scott, Lalah Hathaway, Luke James, Lupe Fiasco, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Marsha Ambrosius, Norah Jones, Patrick Stump and Snoop Dogg, as well as Bilal, Eric Roberson, Jazmine Sullivan, Jean Grae and Macy Gray appeared on a deluxe version of the album.

At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards held in 2015, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, but lost to Toni Braxton and Babyface's Love, Marriage & Divorce. The album's cut "Jesus Children" has won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance.

Its sequel, Black Radio III, was released on February 25, 2022 via Loma Vista Recordings.

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Clash7/10[3]
Evening Standard[4]
Exclaim!8/10[5]
Financial Times[6]
Los Angeles Times[7]
PopMatters8/10[8]
Record Collector[9]
The Guardian[10]
The Line of Best Fit4/10[11]

Black Radio 2 was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on eleven reviews.[1]

AllMusic's Thom Jurek praised the album, saying "while it's true that it possesses fewer standout performances, it's wholly consistent, and on some level, it's braver for relying on original material to carry it. It requires more listening to appreciate fully. Taken as a whole, however, it serves and fulfills the role of a sequel: the album deepens the band's music-making aesthetic, and further establishes their sound not only as a signature, but even, perhaps, as its own genre".[2] Chaka V. Grier of Exclaim! suggested: "Black Radio 2 will leave fans hungry for Black Radio 3".[5] Chris Barton of Los Angeles Times resumed: "this is an R&B record, and a solid one".[7] Will Layman of PopMatters stated: "song for song, it's also a more consistently terrific album to listen to, with the flow of catchy pop material undeniable and just enough edge in the form of hip-hop influence".[8] Marcus J. Moore of Clash called it "a good, albeit safe recording".[3]

In mixed reviews, Paul Bowler of Record Collector wrote: "what began as a series of bold experimentations dressed in a warm fuzzy melding of genres feels half-baked second time around".[9] Robbie Wojciechowski of The Line of Best Fit found the album "just falls short of being anything more than generic sounding pop, produced by a jazz trio tinted by success".[11]

Commercial performance

[edit]

In the United States, the album reached at number 16 on the Billboard 200, topped both the Jazz Albums and the Contemporary Jazz Albums, number 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 2 on the Top R&B Albums charts. It also peaked at number 86 on the UK Albums Chart and number 5 on the Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts in the United Kingdom, number 22 in Japan, number 87 in South Korea and number 186 in France.

The song "Calls" made it to No. 18 on the US Adult R&B Airplay. The song "Somebody Else" reached No. 48 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and No. 15 on the Adult R&B Airplay in the US. The song "I Stand Alone" peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Baby Tonight (Black Radio 2 Theme) / Mic Check 2"
4:23
2."I Stand Alone" (featuring Common and Patrick Stump)
4:53
3."What Are We Doing" (featuring Brandy)
3:34
4."Calls" (featuring Jill Scott)
5:42
5."Worries" (featuring Dwele)
3:37
6."Trust" (featuring Marsha Ambrosius)
7:29
7."Yet to Find" (featuring Anthony Hamilton)
4:40
8."You Own Me" (featuring Faith Evans)
  • Glasper
  • Arita Lockett
  • Muhammad Ayers
4:25
9."Let It Ride" (featuring Norah Jones)
  • Glasper
  • Muhsinah Abdul-Karim
7:07
10."Persevere" (featuring Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco and Luke James)
4:35
11."Somebody Else" (featuring Emeli Sandé)
3:43
12."Jesus Children" (featuring Lalah Hathaway and Malcolm-Jamal Warner)Stevland Hardaway Morris5:28
Total length:59:36
Deluxe Version
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Big Girl Body" (featuring Eric Roberson)
5:05
14."You're My Everything" (featuring Bilal and Jazmine Sullivan)
  • Glasper
  • Ayers
4:19
15."I Don't Even Care" (featuring Macy Gray and Jean Grae)
3:32
16."Lovely Day"
5:07
Japanese Deluxe Version
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
17."Trust (Alternate Version)" (featuring Marsha Ambrosius and Common)
  • Glasper
  • Ambrosius
6:01

Personnel

[edit]
  • Lonnie "Common" Lynn – vocals (tracks: 2, 17)
  • Patrick Stump – vocals (track 2)
  • Brandy Norwood – vocals (track 3)
  • Jill Scott – vocals (track 4)
  • Andwele "Dwele" Gardner – vocals & vocal engineering (track 5)
  • Marsha Ambrosius – vocals (tracks: 6, 17)
  • Anthony Hamilton – vocals (track 7)
  • Faith Evans – vocals (track 8)
  • Norah Jones – vocals (track 9)
  • Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus – vocals (track 10)
  • Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco – vocals (track 10)
  • Luke James – vocals (track 10)
  • Emeli Sandé – vocals (track 11)
  • Eulaulah "Lalah" Hathaway – vocals (track 12)
  • Malcolm-Jamal Warner – vocals (track 12)
  • Eric Roberson – vocals (track 13)
  • Bilal Sayeed Oliver – vocals (track 14)
  • Jazmine Sullivan – vocals (track 14)
  • Natalie "Macy Gray" McIntyre – vocals (track 15)
  • Tsidi "Jean Grae" Ibrahim – vocals (track 15)
  • Michael Eric Dyson – additional vocals (track 2)
  • John P. Kee – additional vocals (track 6)
  • Wayne Brady – additional vocals (track 10)
  • Jahi Sundance – turntables (tracks: 2, 12)
  • Eli Wolf – co-producer (track 9), executive producer, A&R
  • Terrace Martin – co-producer & vocal engineering (track 10)
  • Keith "Qmillion" Lewis – recording, mixing, engineering
  • Josh Mosser – vocal engineering (track 3)
  • Larry Whitt – vocal engineering (track 6)
  • Andy Taub – vocal engineering (tracks: 7, 9, 11)
  • Greg Magers – vocal engineering (track 10)
  • Anu~Sun – vocal engineering (track 10)
  • Marcus Johnson – engineering assistant
  • Chris Athens – mastering
  • Nicole Hegeman – executive producer, management
  • JC Pagán – creative director, design
  • Janette Beckman – photography
  • Don Q. Hannah – additional photography
  • Steve Cook – A&R
  • Vincent Bennett – management

Charts

[edit]
Chart (2013) Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[12] 186
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[13] 22
South Korean Albums (Circle)[14]
[15] 		87
UK Albums (OCC)[16] 86
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[17] 5
US Billboard 200[18] 16
US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)[19] 1
US Top Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)[20] 1
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[21] 3
US Top R&B Albums (Billboard)[22] 2

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Critic Reviews for Black Radio 2 - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Jurek, Thom. "Black Radio 2 - Robert Glasper Experiment, Robert Glasper". AllMusic. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Moore, Marcus J. (October 14, 2013). "Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio 2". CLASH. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  4. ^ Massarik, Jack (October 25, 2013). "Album reviews: October 2013". Evening Standard. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Grier, Chaka V. (July 7, 2020). "Robert Glasper Experiment | Exclaim!". Exclaim!. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  6. ^ Hobart, Mike (October 25, 2013). "Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio 2". Financial Times. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Barton, Chris (October 29, 2013). "Pop reviews: Robert Glasper's 'Black Radio 2' sequel mines solid-gold R&B". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Layman, Will (November 6, 2013). "Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio 2, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Bowler, Paul (October 29, 2013). "Black Radio 2 - Record Collector Magazine". Record Collector. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  10. ^ Macpherson, Alex (October 31, 2013). "Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio: Volume 2 – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Wojciechowski, Robbie (October 31, 2013). "Robert Glasper – Black Radio 2". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  12. ^ "Lescharts.com – Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio 2". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  13. ^ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2013-11-11" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  14. ^ "South Korea Circle Album Chart". On the page, select "2013-11-09" to obtain the corresponding chart. Circle Chart Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-11-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  17. ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  18. ^ "Robert Glasper Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  19. ^ "Robert Glasper Chart History (Top Jazz Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  20. ^ "Robert Glasper Chart History (Top Contemporary Jazz Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  21. ^ "Robert Glasper Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  22. ^ ""Robert Glasper Chart History (Top R&B Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
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