Fresh off the tremendous success of As I Am, his latest collaboration with longtime business partner Alicia Keys, multi-platinum producer Kerry “Krucial” Brothers is embarking on a project that is certain to draw attention.
Krucial has partnered with renowned “sacred” steel guitarist Robert Randolph, to create a new heavier sound for Randolph’s fourth album with his group, The Family Band.
“I’m excited to be working with Robert Randolph because people have pegged me as just being an R&B producer,” Krucial told AllHIpHop.com. “This gives me a chance to just branch off and show people that I just do music in general. His style is definitely different from what people would expect me to be dealing with.”
Randolph and Brothers were brought together by senior EMI Music Publishing exec Evan Lamberg, who thought they would work well together.
Both artists were open to the idea, approaching the situation with mutual admiration and respect.
"Between all the rootsy stuff; me growing up in Newark, listening to Hip-Hop, R&B and Gospel; and then getting off into Rock ’n’ Roll…we can wield all these ideas and bring it together," Randolph told AllHipHop.com. "Each song has different elements, but all of ‘em got that thump on the bottom. When this thing hits, a lot of people are gonna be surprised and stunned at what we came up with."
Their professional backgrounds wouldn’t automatically suggest much musical common ground.
Krucial has crafted songs for the likes of Alicia Keys, Rakim, Nas, and Angie Stone; Randolph, on the other hand, has toured with Eric Clapton and the Dave Matthews and appeared on tracks alongside Carlos Santana and Los Lobos.
“I knew he was a genius on the steel guitar,” says Krucial of Randolph. “I saw him [perform] at the [2003] Grammy’s and I was like, ‘Yo, I need to get in the studio with him.’ I’m into real music and he’s a real musician. He really just brings it out and puts that emotion into everything he does.“
This variety in experience, coupled with similar musical upbringings has made for what Randolph calls “this great beautiful pan of lasagna that’s the new Krucial/Randolph thing.”
With their new partnership nearly a year old and the new Robert Randolph and the Family Band album nearing completion, Krucial says the pair will continue to collaborate as songwriters on future projects, including a song on Anthony Hamilton’s forth coming album The Life of a Southern Gentleman.
The new projects also signals an evolution of sorts for Krucial, although he has no intentions abandoning the sound he and Alicia Keys have perfected, to the tune of over 25 million albums sold worldwide.
“I idolize people in the industry like a Quincy Jones and a Rick Rubin, where they not only worked with different artists, but they worked with different genres. And that’s the path that I’m walking in. I don’t worry about people putting me in a box, because the box is still open until I’m gone. Then you can close it.”
