Compared to Blu, who was coming off his indie release California Soul and building his name in rap ba>le circles, Exile had already established himself with producTon credits on projects by Jurassic 5, Kardinal Offishall, Mobb Deep, among others. According to Exile, he was introduced to Blu through Aloe Blacc, who was the vocalist behind their group Emanon. “Aloe had actually met him first and Aloe had brought me over to see him perform,” Exile says of seeing Blu perform in L.A. in 2003. “It was just this hungry [MC], happy to be rocking on stage, and he was 
killing it.”

Exile was so impressed by his performance that he wanted him to join Emanon as a hypeman, where he let Blu perform some of his solo work. At the Tme, Exile was also working on his Dirty Science compilaTon album. He recruited Blu as one of the featured rappers, giving him a batch of beats to rhyme over. Blu, who was already a fan of Emanon, liked that Exile’s sound was so sample-driven – a hallmark of hip-hop’s golden era. The pair got into the studio to create “Party of Two” (their first collaboraTon), “Maintain i. Miguel” and “The Narrow Path.” Their good chemistry sparked the idea to make a full-length album together. “Aier that day, we knew we wanted to make an album with each other,” he says. “I remember being in the car aier our session and just talking for a long Tme about the album and what we wanted it to be.” 

From then on, Below the Heavens slowly earned its reputaTon as a milestone for West Coast underground hip-hop, as it earned it’s spot on the greatest west coast Hip Hop albums of all Tme from , Rolling Stone, LA weekly and more, as well as delivering a pure and authenTc experience for the Okayplayer heads. Although Sound in Color only pressed 3,000 copies back then and Below the Heavens suffered a premature leak online, the rarity of the physical CD added to the mythology of why people needed to cop and listen or face fear of missing out. Blu had a knack for grappling with his everyman struggles and conveying them in relatable detail, using Exile’s instrumentals as a vehicle for his emoTons. When he touched on thoughts of hopelessness, frustraTon, love, or spiritual enlightenment, people certainly adored it because he was being so honest. 

“People loved those personal stories, all the braggadocio over soul samples, all the sincerity. No one looked at me as if I made a bad decision for making an underground record as opposed to something that could gain commercial success,” Blu said in an interview. “You feel the culture in the record … the nostalgia that makes you reminisce on those classic records. Sample staTc, drum breaks, raw lyricism and actual content — all for the West Coast.” 

During subsequent years, Blu would go on to land a spot on the 2009 XXL Freshman Class alongside rappers such as Wale, Kid Cudi, B.o.B, and Charles Hamilton, largely based on the success of Below the Heavens. Blu and Exile would reunite in 2012 for Give Me My Flowers While I Can STll Smell Them that imbued the rapper’s mulT-syllable style and the producer’s contemporary sound. Outside of their collaboraTve work, they have had fruipul solo careers too. Blu would drop countless mixtapes and EPs and conTnue to make one-producer albums with Bombay, Madlib, and No>z. Exile Went on to produce another classic for another XXL Alumni with Fashawn’s Debut boy meets world, as well as a ground breaking instrumental project I EXILE RADIO, as well his work with Big Sean, which Khalifa Snoop Dogg, and producing more albums for his arTst such as the album black beans by Choosey. 

2020 marked eight years since their last full length released in 2012, but in an effort to make up for lost Tme they are releasing a double album enTtled “Miles” This 20 track album, released through Dirty Science  Records, includes features from Blu‘s childhood friend, and now plaTnum recording arTst Miguel, as well as Exile’s childhood friend Aloe Blacc, along with new emerging arTsts: The Last, Arpul Dodger, Choosey and more, they ready  to prove they haven’t missed a beat.

Miles: From the Interlude called life is slated for an July 17th release. “We planted the seeds of creaTvity and grew about 40 plants,” Exile says of the release. “We picked the ones that we thought were the best for an album, but that didn’t mean that the other flowers weren’t beauTful.”

3 years since their release of “Miles”  they are set to release their 4th full length album in 2024. 
The Ttle will remain with them, unTl released publicly.