The Foreign Exchange

Talk about a great find. While you all are just becoming acquainted with the skills of Phonte and Little Brother... Just when you're thinking to yourself, "Damn, dude has skills." Then The Foreign Exchange summons from the underground to the Hip Hop world. The Foreign Exchange is a group composed of Phonte and Netherlands producer, Nicolay. The two started off by just exchanging music over message boards before ever meeting. Nicolay would put together the beat then send them to Phonte through instant messages, email, and traditional mail. Phonte would then spit to goods and send them back to be mastered. They didn't meet physically until they started touring for the first album (Connected). Talk about technology. Wow!

But wait... that's not the most surprising part. Many of you will cop the album looking to hear Phonte spitting crazy as usual, but you'd be hard pressed to find the same old Phonte. Dude is humming... harmonizing... SINGING. Without the T-Pain Tone either. Of course it wouldn't be the same without some spitting though.

Now they have completed their 2nd album together and not many people have been talking about it. It's a smooth jazz, hip hop feel that easily will be adopted by older heads. The 2nd album is called Leave It All Behind. Now the two can work in a much easier capacity as they both live in North Carolina now.

Listening to this album is like waking up on Sunday morning, and sitting on the porch on a warm sunny day. This is a testament to how creative and skilled these artists are today. Not many rappers are willing to take a risk such as this... let alone be successful at it. Shout out to Phonte and Nicolay for blessing us all with something fresh and organic. Get up on it people.

Keep Hip Hop Alive, One Bar at a Time.
Over and Out, DocBoone