Phonte - No News is Good News [2LP]

Double vinyl LP pressing. In 2011, when singer/rapper/songwriter Phonte of The Foreign Exchange (+FE) fame released the critically-acclaimed, Top 10 Rap/Hip Hop Album, Charity Starts at Home, it was an impactful reminder that Phonte was more than just the occasionally comical, often reflective crooner of +FE; much more. Announced almost two years ago, No News Is Good News was in the incubator for some time, despite Phonte believing this project wouldn't have the long, two-year creative and production process that birthed CSAH. Helping him cultivate his new baby is a bevy of talent in front of and behind the scenes, including but not limited to: featured artists Eric "Erro" Roberson and Midwest rapper Freddie Gibbs, long-time +FE collaborator Lorenzo "Zo!" Ferguson, Devonne Harris erro duet album with Erro), progressive trumpeter Josef Leimberg of 2016's Astral Progressions fame, Terrell Wallace (Gilles Peterson, Tall Black Guy), and a host of relative newcomers. With this solid creative team, the project joins veteran projects like Jay-Z's 4:44 in confidently answering the prevailing pop culture question what does a rapper over age 40 write about and does it follow trends? Like Jay-Z and producer No-I.D., Phonte partially answers by surrounding several songs with strong R&B and soul elements in-line with the classic hip hop of the '90s, if with the contemporary blueprint that made +FE an act that seemingly goes from strength to strength with every album.