When Aloe Blacc was crafting Lift Your Spirit, the rapper-singer says he wanted to compete with work that was on the radio without compromising his lyrical output. 

“I want to make songs that give me a chance to be creative and artistic in the way I write my lyrics and present my vocal, but from a production standpoint, it has to be competitive with other stuff that’s on the radio,” Aloe Blacc says in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Otherwise, radio won’t play it…This album is what I think will work for the level that I’m at now.” 

Blacc, who is one half of Emanon with Exile, says his Rap roots continue impacting his work as a singer-songwriter-performer. 

AD

AD LOADING...

“I leave the slower, quieter songs off the set list in a concert,” he said. “I envy artists who are able to have a dynamic show that goes from high highs to low lows and back up. But I spent long enough in hip-hop that it feels weird to bring the energy down.”

Aloe Blacc’s Lift Your Spirit earned a 3 out of 5 in its HipHopDX review. 

Lift Your Spirit is feel-good music, mostly on Blacc’s terms,” HipHopDX said at the time of the album’s review. “He assures just as much in ‘The Man,’ glittering retro soul that references Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ and flaunts his Hip Hop savvy at the hook: ‘Go ahead and tell everybody / I’m the man, I’m the man, I’m the man.'” 

RELATED: Aloe Blacc – Lift Your Spirit[Review]