I recently discovered the song Come Around by The Foreign Exchange while fishing around iTunes, and was immediately hooked. I still can't stop repeat-playing this masterpiece of spaced out melody and hip hop beats accompanied by plaintive, yet soulfully sure vocals and tight bassline which sent my head into non-stop rythmic nodding. This is true ear candy for the grown and sexy set, ya heard? And if you're tired of the Top 40 auto-tuned hip-pop template currently in heavy rotation, here's a much-needed break. As I gleaned the info on their Wiki page, I was surprised to find out that the group is actually a duo, American rapper Phonte Coleman and Dutch producer Nicolay, who decided to collaborate after meeting on the message boards on Okayplayer.com , and thus began to swap music without ever having met in person(!), resulting in two albums of superior music in the vein of The Roots, Dwele and D'Angelo. I was also surprised to learn that the song was from their first album, Connected which was released in 2004! How did this gem get by me? Or by the masses, for that matter? This just further confirms the sorry state of radio today, and the garbage they rotate on an infinite loop that's supposed to pass for "true Hip Hop", and crammed down the throats of young urban audiences who, at this point, are probably inured to anything resembling quality when it comes to music nowadays. It's akin to a bird eating a worm and regurgitating it to feed its young. I mean, at the very least, is it too much to ask for some modicum of variety?
The good news is that they released another album, Leave It All Behind, in 2008. Click here to download the album sampler which includes the tracks, Take Off The Blues, All Or Nothing, Something To Behold, If This Is Love, and If She Breaks Your Heart.
PHOTO SOURCE: The Foreign Exchance Main Website
COME AROUND from CONNECTED
RAW LIFE from CONNECTED
SINCERE from CONNECTED
DAYKEEPER featuring MUHSINAH from LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND
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