Flying Lotus Shares New Song “Black Heaven” in Tribute to Ras G: Listen
Yesterday (August 3), Gilles Peterson paid tribute to the late Ras G on his BBC Radio 6 Music show. On the episode, titled “Celebrating Ras G,” Peterson played music by Ras G and his peers. At one point, Flying Lotus joined the program to talk about his late friend and collaborator. He also played a new song called “Black Heaven” that he says he recorded with Ras G the last time that he saw him. Listen to “Black Heaven” and find FlyLo’s remarks below.
Check out the full episode at the BBC Radio 6 Music website. FlyLo joins the program around the 2:18:34 mark.
Ras G died on Monday, July 29 at the age of 40. Following Ras G’s death, Flying Lotus tweeted, “Ras_G has left the planet, far beyond the galaxy. Show us the way to the cosmos my friend. I will love you forever. Thank you for your time on earth.”
In a recent phone interview with The New York Times, FlyLo said, “I always felt like Ras G was decades older than me.” He continued, “I felt like he had already lived another life before this one.”
Flying Lotus on Gilles Peterson’s “Celebrating Ras G”:
Hey, what’s up, this is Flying Lotus, and I am here to pay tribute to a dear friend, an ally in the sonic warfare, my man Ras G. Rest in Peace. It’s so crazy to even say those words. He’s one of those people that I just thought would be here forever. But, thankfully, we have his music that will be here forever, and his influence will live on in me and everyone else who was inspired by him.
The last time I saw G was really special to me, and there was something about the timing I just felt was really urgent to go see him. And partially because I had this idea in my brain that’s been kinda brewing for the past couple years. I had this idea for a movie, and I really wanted Ras G to be a consultant on it because of some of the subject matter in the film. So, I went to go see him and I told him a bunch about this idea that I had, and he started kicking over some cool ideas, and we started just going back and forth about it. It was really, really cool. He even gave me the title for it, in the end, called Black Heaven. And, I thought, That’s a great title. I wish I could tell y’all what the movie’s actually about. You know, I’m more inspired now than ever to write it and to finish it and to make sure it exists.
Also, that same night at Spacebase [Ras G’s home studio in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles], we started messing around with some music, and I pulled out my little keyboard from my backpack and I just started playing some stuff and told him to record it. And he was saying, you know, “We don’t even need to record no drums. You just play that stuff. It sounds like movie scenes. It sounds like scenes in your mind. What does this scene sound like to you?” I just kept playing, and then he started recording. The next day, he sent me something back, and it was titled “Black Heaven.” And, I think we’ll just play it right now.
Much love to y’all from Los Angeles. This is Flying Lotus with Gilles Peterson, here paying tribute to our brother Ras G. Ras Genius!
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
