TAGS : darien brockington

There are not many albums that have dropped in the past few years that I have played as much as the Foreign Exchange’s Leave It All Behind. Sure, a big reason for that was I was going through a rough break-up and could easily relate to all of the sentiments expressed through the LP’s lyrics. But it went beyond mere relation to the emotions expressed both vocally and instrumentally. Phonte and Nicolay with the help of YahZarah, Darien Brockington, Muhsinah, and others created  what was, to be blunt, a beautifully crafted, nearly perfect R&B/soul album. And while the Grammy’s are kind of a crock, the awards committee still makes some fine choices now and then. Most notably, they nominated the Foreign Exchange’s “Daykeeper” for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. While they lost to Maxwell (who also deserved the nod), hopefully next year they will bring the gramophone trophy.

Hit the jump to watch a mini-documentary outlining just how the Foreign Exchange got to the Grammy’s along with an acoustic performance of “I Wanna Know” and “Daykeeper”.

The Foreign Exchange’s smooth, lush, and flat-out fantastic Leave It All Behind was easily one of 2008’s best records. It might have put someConnected fans off at first for the lack of rapping, but it quickly picked up critical and fan acclaim. And why not? Phonte’s crooning and songwriting proved he can basically do it all while Nicolay continued to pummel us all with gorgeous production. Here we have the album’s second single in “Take Off The Blues”, one of my favorite joints off Leave It All Behind. There’s also an added bonus, but I won’t spoil it for you. Just let us know what you think and be sure to hit up the Foreign Exchange on Twitter.