Loading AI tools
2013 studio album by Robert Glasper Experiment From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black Radio 2 is the sixth studio album by American musician Robert Glasper. It was released on October 29, 2013 via Blue Note Records as the sequel to the Robert Glasper Experiment's 2012 Black Radio marking his second album with the band.
| Black Radio 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by Robert Glasper Experiment | ||||
| Released | October 29, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2013 | |||
| Studio | Main
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 59:36 | |||
| Label | Blue Note | |||
| Producer | Robert Glasper | |||
| Robert Glasper Experiment chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Robert Glasper chronology | ||||
| ||||
The album was mainly recorded at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, while several vocal recording sessions took place at ADBP Studios in Detroit, Fever Recording Studios and The Dogghouse in Los Angeles, Brooklyn Recording and Arts & Crafts Studios in New York, and The Attic Recording in Chicago. Production was handled by Glasper himself, with co-producers Eli Wolf, who also served as executive producer together with Nicole Hegeman, and Terrace Martin.
It features guest appearances from Anthony Hamilton, Brandy, Common, Dwele, Emeli Sandé, Faith Evans, Jill Scott, Lalah Hathaway, Luke James, Lupe Fiasco, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Marsha Ambrosius, Norah Jones, Patrick Stump and Snoop Dogg, as well as Bilal, Eric Roberson, Jazmine Sullivan, Jean Grae and Macy Gray appeared on a deluxe version of the album.
At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards held in 2015, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, but lost to Toni Braxton and Babyface's Love, Marriage & Divorce. The album's cut "Jesus Children" has won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance.
Its sequel, Black Radio III, was released on February 25, 2022 via Loma Vista Recordings.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 71/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Clash | 7/10[3] |
| Evening Standard | [4] |
| Exclaim! | 8/10[5] |
| Financial Times | [6] |
| Los Angeles Times | [7] |
| PopMatters | 8/10[8] |
| Record Collector | [9] |
| The Guardian | [10] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 4/10[11] |
Black Radio 2 was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on eleven reviews.[1]
AllMusic's Thom Jurek praised the album, saying "while it's true that it possesses fewer standout performances, it's wholly consistent, and on some level, it's braver for relying on original material to carry it. It requires more listening to appreciate fully. Taken as a whole, however, it serves and fulfills the role of a sequel: the album deepens the band's music-making aesthetic, and further establishes their sound not only as a signature, but even, perhaps, as its own genre".[2] Chaka V. Grier of Exclaim! suggested: "Black Radio 2 will leave fans hungry for Black Radio 3".[5] Chris Barton of Los Angeles Times resumed: "this is an R&B record, and a solid one".[7] Will Layman of PopMatters stated: "song for song, it's also a more consistently terrific album to listen to, with the flow of catchy pop material undeniable and just enough edge in the form of hip-hop influence".[8] Marcus J. Moore of Clash called it "a good, albeit safe recording".[3]
In mixed reviews, Paul Bowler of Record Collector wrote: "what began as a series of bold experimentations dressed in a warm fuzzy melding of genres feels half-baked second time around".[9] Robbie Wojciechowski of The Line of Best Fit found the album "just falls short of being anything more than generic sounding pop, produced by a jazz trio tinted by success".[11]
In the United States, the album reached at number 16 on the Billboard 200, topped both the Jazz Albums and the Contemporary Jazz Albums, number 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 2 on the Top R&B Albums charts. It also peaked at number 86 on the UK Albums Chart and number 5 on the Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts in the United Kingdom, number 22 in Japan, number 87 in South Korea and number 186 in France.
The song "Calls" made it to No. 18 on the US Adult R&B Airplay. The song "Somebody Else" reached No. 48 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and No. 15 on the Adult R&B Airplay in the US. The song "I Stand Alone" peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Baby Tonight (Black Radio 2 Theme) / Mic Check 2" | 4:23 | |
| 2. | "I Stand Alone" (featuring Common and Patrick Stump) |
| 4:53 |
| 3. | "What Are We Doing" (featuring Brandy) |
| 3:34 |
| 4. | "Calls" (featuring Jill Scott) |
| 5:42 |
| 5. | "Worries" (featuring Dwele) |
| 3:37 |
| 6. | "Trust" (featuring Marsha Ambrosius) |
| 7:29 |
| 7. | "Yet to Find" (featuring Anthony Hamilton) |
| 4:40 |
| 8. | "You Own Me" (featuring Faith Evans) |
| 4:25 |
| 9. | "Let It Ride" (featuring Norah Jones) |
| 7:07 |
| 10. | "Persevere" (featuring Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco and Luke James) |
| 4:35 |
| 11. | "Somebody Else" (featuring Emeli Sandé) |
| 3:43 |
| 12. | "Jesus Children" (featuring Lalah Hathaway and Malcolm-Jamal Warner) | Stevland Hardaway Morris | 5:28 |
| Total length: | 59:36 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Big Girl Body" (featuring Eric Roberson) |
| 5:05 |
| 14. | "You're My Everything" (featuring Bilal and Jazmine Sullivan) |
| 4:19 |
| 15. | "I Don't Even Care" (featuring Macy Gray and Jean Grae) | 3:32 | |
| 16. | "Lovely Day" | 5:07 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17. | "Trust (Alternate Version)" (featuring Marsha Ambrosius and Common) |
| 6:01 |
| Chart (2013) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| French Albums (SNEP)[12] | 186 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[13] | 22 |
| South Korean Albums (Circle)[14] [15] | 87 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[16] | 86 |
| UK R&B Albums (OCC)[17] | 5 |
| US Billboard 200[18] | 16 |
| US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)[19] | 1 |
| US Top Contemporary Jazz Albums (Billboard)[20] | 1 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[21] | 3 |
| US Top R&B Albums (Billboard)[22] | 2 |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
