Blue Sky Black Death

Blue Sky Black Death
cover of Late Night Cinema
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California
Genres	Instrumental, Hip-hop, Alternative hip hop, Trip hop
Occupations	Producers
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Fake Four Inc Babygrande Records Mush Records
Associated acts	Hell Razah Holocaust Jean Grae Gutta Slow Burning Lights Deadpan Darling Yes Alexander
Website	Official site
Members
Kingston Young God
Notable instruments
Guitar, Keyboard, Synthesizer

Blue Sky Black Death (abbreviated BSBD) is a production duo based in Seattle, Washington. The duo consists of Kingston (full name Kingston Maguire) and Young God (real name Ian Taggart). They are known principally for their hip hop and instrumental music, made with a mix of live instrumentation and sampling. Their name is "a skydiving phrase alluding to beauty and death".

History

Kingston and Young God met and began collaborating on music in 2003. Young God, working under the name Rev.Left, began creating beats to rap over, but abandoned rapping and started producing exclusively around 2000. Kingston, working under the name Orphan, began his solo producing career collaborating with rapper Noah23 and the Plague Language collective (to which Young God also contributed production). Kingston produced the entirety of Noah23's 1999 debut album Cytoplasm Pixel, and the two collaborated closely until 2004's Jupiter Sajitarius, after which they parted ways. That same year Kingston worked on projects for Virtuoso's Omnipotent Records. He contributed a number of tracks to Jus Allah's scheduled Omnipotent debut All Fates Have Changed, but the album was shelved. The tracks "Vengeance" and "Drill Sergeant" were later released on BSBD's Dirtnap mixtape, and a number of other beats recorded for the album were bootlegged on The Devil'z Rejects album Necronomicon. One Kingston beat ("Supreme (Black God's Remix)") was included on the Babygrande Records release of All Fates Have Changed in 2005.

The duo, collaborating initially under the name Torso, signed their first record deal with Mush Records in August 2005 to release the label's first double-disc album. During the album's production, the duo settled on their current name. Their debut, A Heap of Broken Images, was released on June 23, 2006. The first disc featured twelve instrumental tracks with heavy live-instrumentation, while the second disc featured nine rap collaborations made with traditional Hip Hop sampling, and a closing instrumental. The guests included Rob Sonic, Mike Ladd, Jus Allah (of Jedi Mind Tricks), Sabac Red (formerly of Non Phixion), Wise Intelligent (of Poor Righteous Teachers), A-Plus and Pep Love (of Hieroglyphics), Chief Kamachi (of Army of the Pharaohs), Mikah 9 (formerly of Freestyle Fellowship), Virtuoso (formerly of Army of the Pharaohs), Awol One and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate Holocaust. The album received acclaim from various sources, including URB, Vapors, Word, Mean Street, UK Hip Hop and Allmusic, and landed the duo on URB's 'Next 100'.

The album's acclaimed production led to the duo landing a record deal with popular independent rap label Babygrande Records later in 2006. Their first release on the label was a full-length collaboration with Holocaust, titled Blue Sky Black Death presents: The Holocaust, released on September 5. Holocaust provided all the album's vocals with no guest appearances, and BSBD provided production for every track. The album included the duo's first 12" single "The Ocean" b/w "No Image". The duo's next album was a collaboration with another Wu-Tang affiliate, Sunz of Man and Black Market Militia member Hell Razah. Their album Razah's Ladder was released on October 23, 2007. Unlike The Holocaust, the album included outside guest appearances, featuring Crooked I, Shabazz the Disciple, Ill Bill, Sabac Red and Prodigal Sunn. The duo strayed from the dark soundscapes featured on The Holocaust, instead providing a soulful backdrop for Razah. Shortly before the release of Razah's Ladder, the duo released their first mixtape, titled Dirtnap, featuring various unreleased collaborations and two instrumentals from their forthcoming album.

The duo's next release was their first all-instrumental project, Late Night Cinema, released on April 29, 2008. The dense instrumentals featured contributions from violinists, organists, trumpeters, synth players and vocalists, as well as guitar, keyboard and drum kit work from the producers themselves. The album received high acclaim from XLR8R, Music-Reviewer, PopMatters, SputnikMusic and RapReviews.com. RapReviews writer Pedro Hernandez stated "With this album, Blue Sky Black Death pushes the limits of what hip-hop music can be" and called it "essential listening". BSBD stayed active online throughout 2008, releasing two instrumental podcast blends titled Gifts in Jail Vol. 1 & Gifts in Jail Vol. 2, and a screwed version of Late Night Cinema titled Lean Night Cinema.

In June 2008, after an online petition from fans, Babygrande released the acclaimed instrumentals from The Holocaust on vinyl and CD. The pair then contributed twelve of thirteen tracks for Phoenix MC Gutta's debut album Heads Will Roll, released on Babygrande on September 2. On September 30, Babygrande released the album The Evil Jeanius, by pairing Jean Grae vocals with Blue Sky Black Death beats. November saw the duo's fifth-release of the year, Slow Burning Lights, an indie pop project with singer Yes Alexander (of The Casual Lust), which was recorded and completed two years before its release.

In 2011, BSBD released a new full length album, Noir.

Discography

Albums

Album information
A Heap of Broken Images Released: June 23, 2006 Label: Mush Records Singles:
The Holocaust (with Holocaust) Released: September 5, 2006 Label: Babygrande Records Singles: "The Ocean"/"No Image"
Razah's Ladder (with Hell Razah) Released: October 23, 2007 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
Late Night Cinema Released: April 29, 2008 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
The Holocaust Instrumentals Released: June 24, 2008 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
The Evil Jeanius (with Jean Grae) Released: September 30, 2008 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
Slow Burning Lights (with Yes Alexander) Released: November 11, 2008 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
The Evil Jeanius Instrumentals Released: March 17, 2009 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
The Razah's Ladder Instrumentals Released: April 14, 2009 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
The Indie Rock Essentials Released: September 1, 2009 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
Third Party (with Alexander Chen of Boy In Static and The Consulate General) Released: September 7, 2010 Label: Fake Four Inc Singles:
The Gutta Instrumentals Released: late 2010 Label: Babygrande Records Singles:
NOIR Released: April 26, 2011 Label: Fake Four Inc Singles:
Razah's Ladder 2 (with Hell Razah) Released: TBA Label: TBA Singles:

Mixes/Podcasts/Other

• 2007: Dirtnap Mixtape
• 2007: 07/10/15 URB.com (exclusive Podcast)
• 2008: Gifts in Jail, Vol. 1
• 2008: Gifts in Jail, Vol. 2
• 2008: Lean Night Cinema (Late Night Cinema "screwed")
• 2008: Heads Will Roll (Gutta album, BSBD produced all but one track)
• 2009: Recession Proof
• 2009: J(A)Y(Z)
• 2009: Lost and Unreleased
• 2011: Noir + Violet (Noir "screwed")

Production credits

• 2004: Jus Allah All Fates Have Changed (Unreleased version) ("Vengeance", "Drill Sergeant") (Kingston solo)
• 2005: Jus Allah All Fates Have Changed ("Black Godz (Remix)") (Kingston solo)
• 2007: Midaz Beast Wars ("Call the Police")
• 2007: Sabac Red The Collection Vol. 2 ("Engage My Words (Remix)", "The Ritual Part 1", "Darkness Deepens", "Anywhere", "Shift of the Earth")
• 2007: Ill Bill Black Metal ("Darkness Deepens")
• 2007: Juice The Death Certificate ("Halos (Remix)")
• 2008: T.H.U.G. Angelz Welcome to Red Hook Houses ("Audiobiography (Remix)")
• 2008: Ras Kass Institutionalized Volume 2 ("Elevate")
• 2008: Sabac Red The Ritual ("The Ritual", "Shift of the Earth", "Breaking Through", "Darkness Deepens")
• 2009: CunninLynguists Strange Journey Volume Two ("The Park (Fresh Air) [Remix]")
• 2010: Virtuoso The Final Conflict 2/3 of the album tracks
• 2011: Nacho Picasso For The Glory tracks 1-8 and 10-13, track 9 produced by Eric G and co-produced by Blue Sky Black Death
• 2012: Nacho Picasso Lord Of The Fly

External links

• Official site