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A TAV Curator’s Pick.

Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Blu & Exile. The album was originally released in 2011 via Bandcamp. Recording sessions took place over the course of 2009, however the duo decided to keep the release on hold due to bad audio quality and officially re-released the album on September 4, 2012 with a new updated track listing. The album features guest contributions from Fashawn, Homeboy Sandman, Johaz of Dag Savage, Black Spade of Hawthorne Headhunters, and ADAD.

The album was highly sought after within hip hop circles, especially following the success of Blu & Exile's debut Below the Heavens. Upon its release, it received acclaim, however there were several complaints from journalists and fans alike regarding the audio quality of the album. In an attempt to quell fans' frustrations both Blu and Exile released an official high-quality version in 2012. – Wiki

“His blurry, blunted style of lyricism ... lauded on NoYork! is very present here, so it feels more prescient to discuss how that works when its setting is a little less abstracted. Exile has grown a lot as a producer over this half-decade (someday, someone will figure out what version of “Moody’s Mood for Love” he mangled into another kind of beauty on the instrumental opener) but he mostly gives Exile the same jazz-inflected bop that initially made Blu feel like such an old soul. His work here isn’t a nostalgic product, though: “Ease Your Mind” cracks the album proper open with a psychedelic, sort-of acoustic Brazilian-type beach jam over which Blu raps about sex, accepting one’s self-image and bong relaxation. If that’s not your preferred flavor of normal-weird, he’ll sample Mr. Robinson’s theme, Pusha T, Biggie Smalls and Tom Waits later on… he’ll have you covered somewhere, if not everywhere. – PopMatters

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