Bilal, Common, Questlove, and Robert Glasper have all joined forces to release a new live album called Live at Glasshaus, with the supergroup having already dropped a their first single.
According to a press release, the album will drop on June 14, and celebrates what their team is calling “a mid-career retrospective” of Bilal’s musical journey. Burniss Travis will also be joining the supergroup on some songs, as well.
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The album will be part of June’s Black Music Month celebration. The project was recorded, filmed, and livestreamed from Glasshaus in Brooklyn, NY.
Check out the first single, “Something to Hold,” which arrived Friday (May 10).
While this is the first time Questlove will be joining the supergroup, Common, Bilal, and Robert Glasper have performed together before.
Back in 2016, before Tiny Desk concerts became a cultural juggernaut, the trio performed one such concert at The White House.
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There, they performed the Common classic “I Used to Love H.E.R.” as well as three new songs: “Letter to the Free,” “The Day the Women Took Over,” and “A Little Chicago Boy.”
“The Day the Women Took Over,” in particular, paints a poignant picture of what the world would look like if women were in charge of the world, with Common rapping, “Hoods feel safer/families feel closer/we all drunk in love/we don’t need to be sober…chivalry is no longer lifeless/we opening doors and pulling out chairs again…more love songs on the radio/respect for the ladies/you can hear it in the flow.”
Shortly after the concert, Common dropped the visuals for “Letter to the Free.”
The song addresses the prison system and racism in America. In the black and white video for the song, Bilal, Karriem Riggins, Robert Glasper, and Andra Day join Common in a stripped-down, nearly empty warehouse to sing and play their hearts out.
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The video is directed and shot by Bradford Young, who is known for his cinematography on Selma and A Most Violent Year. “Letter to the Free” is also featured in Ava DuVernay’s Netflix documentary 13th, which is about the mass incarceration of African Americans following the abolishing of slavery.
All three new tracks performed at the Tiny Desk concert were taken from Common’s Black America Again.
