Flying Lotus Pays Tribute to Ras G with New Song "Black Heaven"
Infinite airhorns.
Last night, Flying Lotus put one up for his dear friend and BRAINFEEDER co-founder, Ras G, who died earlier this week of unknown causes at just 40 years old.
PLAYLIST: Spiritual Funk and High-Altitude Jazz to Calm a Bewildered Mind
On Gilles Peterson's BBC Radio 6 show, FlyLo beamed in to share his last memories of "an ally in sonic warfare." The producer recalled a recent trip to Ras' LA studio, Spacebase, that resulted in a new collaborative track and a refined concept for an upcoming film project Ras had dubbed Black Heaven. To commemorate his fellow Beat Scene pioneer, Flying Lotus has shared the track from their session along with his remembrances from the broadcast.
PLAYLIST: Okayplayer's Songs of Summer 2019
Hear Flying Lotus' "Black Heaven" below. Scroll on to read the full transcription via Pitchfork.
"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, 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!"