Flatbush Zombies only gave fans a short warning before dropping their six-track EP Now, More Than Ever last June. After sharing the project, Flatbush Zombies dropped yet another single, “Afterlife,” with a beat produced by James Blake. While Blake’s collaboration with the group seems out of left field, the musician actually has quite a close relationship with the group.
In a recent interview with Complex‘s Pigeons & Planes, Flatbush members revealed they are working on an upcoming full-length release produced by Blake. Erick Arc Elliott spoke highly of the musician, calling him “a spiritual guiding being:”
“The first thing I’m going to say is that James Blake is not a human being. He’s an entity. He’s a spiritual guiding being. He’s one of my closest friends, man. More than music, this guy introduced me to so much about myself and how to really improve as a producer. It’s a certain level of respect and courtesy that you show and give to people, especially him coming into our situation, where I’m the sole producer. He didn’t want to stray us to anything that we weren’t comfortable with, but also he wanted to put us in a new place.
I’m looking for someone who’s not scared to take the risk, and also passionate about his shit enough to be like, ‘Yo, here’s what I think you should do.’ The respect for the music and the love for the music makes me automatically open my ears to say, ‘What you got?’ This was about two years ago, we met each other. Ever since then, I feel like I’ve reached new heights of production. […] James gave me the chance to develop as a lyricist and a writer.”
Read the full Flatbush Zombies interview here.
Now, More Than Ever is out now via Glorious Dead. Get it here.
