Carte Blanche

Description

"For fans, old and new, they can expect to be re-introduced to raw, authentic, classic Detroit hip-hop from beginning to end." - Phat Kat on the "Carte Blanche" Deluxe Edition Reissue.Phat Kat's phenomenal sophomore solo album, "Carte Blanche," first released in 2007 via Look Records, is the sound of Detroit. It’s gritty, soulful, and raw—three key ingredients in bringing the ambiance of the blue-collar city to life in musical form. It’s also a modern classic that benefits from the deluxe edition reissue it deserves. Below System Records is adding two rare bonus tracks produced by Detroit legend, J Dilla.Anyone familiar with Kat or Dilla’s work knows the two shared a special bond. In fact, Dilla would often reach out to the gruff-voiced master of ceremonies whenever he was looking to create a particularly difficult track. This friendship led them to form the group 1st Down, and the two bonus cuts on this reissue, "World Premiere" and "It Don't Get No Liver Than This (feat. La Peace)," which were recorded in 1996 and ’97, respectively.Though 1st Down never took off due to label issues, Kat and Dilla remained close and recorded a number of underground classics. These include several joints off of “Carte Blanche,” such as the soulful “Don’t Nobody Care About Us,” “Game Time,” and “Cold Steel” featuring Elzhi. It’s actually that latter cut that Kat picks as his favorite track off the record."If I had to pick one, it'd be 'Cold Steel' because it makes you want to wild out as soon as the beat drops,” he says, adding that it was the first time he picked a Dilla beat to rap over. "He'd never let me rock over beat tape beats – he used to say 'Nah Kat, just write to 'em because I'm going to make all your stuff from scratch.”The album also features collaborations with other Detroit rap heavyweights, such as Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, Nick Speed, and T3 & Young RJ (of Slum Village). With Kat as the host, they were able to not only capture the sound of the Motor City in 2007 (when the album was initially released), but also solidify its place in the greater hip-hop canon as we know it today.