Blu & Evidence pulled up to Genius to discuss their song “The Land.” The track was produced by Evidence and is off their album Los Angeles. On today’s episode of Verified, the duo dissect the lyrics and wordplay of their song, how it complements the production, their inspirations, and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00I felt like I had something to prove.
00:01Ed was providing the fire, so I had to step it up and provide the fire as well.
00:05You know what I mean?
00:06It's crazy because we're in 2024, where the idea of a full, well-rounded song is not
00:13a necessity.
00:14We could put out heat, one verse joint, cut it, and that's enough content to keep people
00:19happy for however long.
00:21He's coming in here writing, for lack of a better term, Tupac kind of records with a
00:27dialed-in chorus, saying the line of the chorus every four times, filling it in, doing
00:31not the standards, but songwriting.
00:41For the land, I think the beat was originally called Gremlin.
00:44You know what I'm saying?
00:44It reminded me of that, but then it was obviously super Muggs-inspired.
00:49You know, with the...
00:50Felt like I could have wrote five verses to this beat.
00:52You know what I mean?
00:52It's so crazy.
00:53So crazy, dude.
00:55That sound reminded me of that early Cypress Hill, you know what I mean?
00:57And those anthems.
00:58So I wanted to craft something more anthemic for Los Angeles.
01:15For me, this was the banger of the album.
01:18So I wanted it to be definitive, you know what I mean?
01:21Of the whole record.
01:22When I started crafting the idea of Los Angeles, I needed the Los Angeles song.
01:28You know what I mean?
01:28And I was like, the land, man.
01:30You know what I mean?
01:30It just fell into my hands.
01:32I was playing off the narratives from different songs, and this became that pivotal song.
01:37You know what I mean?
01:38That definitive joint.
01:53You feel that vibe growing up in LA from different people.
01:57You know what I'm saying?
01:58You just get that vibe.
01:59Like, damn, this fool could kill somebody right now.
02:01You know what I'm saying?
02:02When I first heard that song, how I could just kill a man was killer.
02:06That killer instinct was put in the song and given to the world right there.
02:10You know what I'm saying?
02:11I can relate to it.
02:12You know what I mean?
02:13It was relative to me.
02:14You know what I mean?
02:15Like, okay, that's like such and such.
02:16Or sometimes pops be acting like that.
02:18Or the cousins be getting down, talking about this shit.
02:21You know what I'm saying?
02:22That beat is just one of the best, you know, to me.
02:24It's just too unorthodox.
02:26The breakdown is not in the same time rhythm or a different tempo.
02:30At that time, that meant that there was no pro tools.
02:32I mean, you were cutting tape and just being a fucking...
02:35You were high as fuck making that.
02:37There was no other way around it.
02:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:38High as fuck.
02:39Yeah.
02:49You want to be colorblind, but you can't be colorblind in LA.
02:52You got to be aware of your colors.
02:54You got to be aware of your surroundings.
02:56You know what I mean?
02:56Check in what they say when you get to the land.
02:58It could definitely go down.
03:00That's also the energy.
03:01You could wear whatever color, but then...
03:02Depends on the area you're in.
03:04You could be wearing your shit and then get Ubered down to the wrong street.
03:08Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:09Damn, I got to get out of here.
03:11And then that happens.
03:22Living here isn't bad.
03:23It's the best place to live in the world.
03:25You know what I'm saying?
03:26In many ways.
03:27You know, the best weather, best women, best trees.
03:30You know what I'm saying?
03:31Big West.
03:32But you could be in Hollywood and it could go down.
03:39Uncle Sam is like America's mascot.
03:41If you out here flashing Uncle Sam's bread.
03:43If you out here flashing them dollars, man.
03:45You may get got.
03:46You most likely will get got.
03:48You know what I'm saying?
03:49So you got to watch your surroundings.
03:50Have a back catcher.
03:51You know what I mean?
03:57I seen a civil war outside of my dad's pad.
04:00That's like the red and blue color.
04:02That's the red and blue color.
04:03That's the red and blue color.
04:04That's the red and blue color.
04:06That's the red and blue color.
04:07The red and blue coats in a civil war.
04:09You know what I'm saying?
04:10You see that just, you know, walking outside.
04:12You know what I mean?
04:12Damn, I didn't even connect that.
04:14I didn't even connect that.
04:15You know what I mean?
04:16Oh, what?
04:18Yep, the red and blue coats, man.
04:36Come on.
04:37Come on.
04:51Nia is another way of saying the homie.
04:55And it's a breakdown of the word California.
04:58It's really they looking for California, which is the land.
05:08I was just playing on a pyramid of Giza.
05:21You know what I mean?
05:21Because of how it's spelled, you could look at it like Giza.
05:25In Egypt, you got the pyramids in the middle of the city.
05:28You know what I mean?
05:29In the middle of the whole city.
05:30In LA, we got a small ass downtown in the middle of this huge metropolitan area.
05:35You know what I mean?
05:37I had to shout out the Mount Rushmore of the West.
05:48You know what I mean?
05:49But I had put it in a particular order.
05:50Ice Cube, Ice T with the Ices.
05:53Ice T, King T with the Ts.
05:55Snoop Dogg, Too Short with, you know, Short being also known as Short Dog.
06:00You know what I mean?
06:01Too Short and the Tupac, the Twos.
06:03So it's like the Ice, the Ts, the Dogs and the Twos connecting.
06:20Picture Crips and the Bloods killing each other.
06:22You know what I mean?
06:23You picture that when you think of LA, but the pigs still kill Moe.
06:26You don't really equate that.
06:28You know what I'm saying?
06:29It goes down out here, but it really goes down too
06:32when you fucking with the police.
06:46All the picture references was definitely a homage to the bigger picture.
06:50I started to label Bigger Picture in 2021.
06:53You know, and the first record was Planet Asia, Rule of Thirds.
06:57And then I did Damo Genesis intros and interludes.
07:01And then third is Los Angeles.
07:03For me, I was born and raised in South Central.
07:06I felt Los Angeles was one of the biggest things in common.
07:10Me and Ev have in common was Los Angeles.
07:12You wake up every day, you in LA, man.
07:14That's another story to tell about your surroundings.
07:17You know, when you're 40 years old, you've been in the same place.
07:20You got a lot to say about the city.
07:23I learned a lot today.
07:26That's crazy.
07:27Just another, I mean, I expect it.
07:29But I was actually iller than I thought.
07:32Good luck, show.
07:33My man.