For a hot minute earlier this summer, Leon Bridges was making moves all over the place. It seemed like, for a while, not a day would go by without another song from Bridges’ upcoming album being released. As a fan, this made me nervous – maybe releasing almost half of his album ahead of time was an ill-fated move. But that’s all in the past now. Coming Home was released in June and easily lived up to the hype. It was fresh.
Speaking of fresh, this week got significantly more so with the release of Coming Home to Texas, a Leon Bridges mixtape assembled by Brooklyn DJ and NBA Live 16 curator MICK (formerly Mick Boogie). The mixtape features seven songs from Coming Home with Bridges’ original grooves and silky smooth vocals tossed with classic hip-hop from Houston and verses by rappers like Bun B and Slim Thug. A highlight is the re-working of Coming Home’s closing track, “River,” accompanied by a nasty breakbeat and shards of organ.
MICK is a big fan of Bridges’ and discusses his love of the up-and-coming soul singer on his website.
Leon is, to me, the new artist of the year. The guy who is going to win all the Grammys. The guy you’re going to hear in all the TV commercials. An icon in the making. His album has such a iconic soul foundation… and is widely considered a classic.
As for the thinking behind the project, MICK strove to marry the timelessness of Bridges with vintage elements of hip-hop.
I thought it would be interesting to update the formula slightly, and make it more contemporary but still timeless. So I dug in the crates and re-conceptualized various Texas hip-hop and soul classics into new updated textures for Leon to sing on. Think legends like UGK, Scarface and DJ Screw. It’s truly crazy… and the best thing I have ever done.
Coming Home to Texas is available for download here, or you can check it out below.
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(Via the Key)
