{"id":210450,"date":"2025-06-02T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/?p=210450"},"modified":"2025-06-01T15:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T13:34:11","slug":"grand-agent-by-design-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/grand-agent-by-design-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Agent &#8211;  By Design 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"210451\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/grand-agent-by-design-2\/grandagent\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grandAgent.webp?fit=500%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,500\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"grandAgent\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grandAgent.webp?fit=500%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grandAgent.webp?fit=500%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grandAgent.webp?resize=500%2C500&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-210451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grandAgent.webp?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grandAgent.webp?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After more than two decades, hip-hop veteran Grand Agent returns with the powerhouse sequel to his groundbreaking debut, By Design. The much-anticipated follow-up, By Design 2  isn\u2019t just an album\u2014it\u2019s a call to action for the hip-hop community, shaped by Grand Agent\u2019s relentless work with PHILLY TRUCE.<br \/>\nFeaturing an all-star lineup that includes Grand Puba (Brand Nubian), Cee Knowledge (Digable Planets), Tajai (Souls of Mischief\/Hieroglyphics), MC Breeze (Joey B. Ellis), Culture Freedom (Poor Righteous Teachers), and Planet Asia, the album transcends underground purism, delivering a message that resonates with the entire hip-hop culture.<\/p>\n<p>The production on By Design 2 is as diverse as its message. Longtime collaborators Tribeca, Prickly Pear, and Bjorn Von Kalt make their return, but the real sonic evolution comes from teaming up with LE Square, a Philly production legend known for inspiring his little cousin Pharell, and his work with Gillie Da Kid, and Sabbath, Grand Agent\u2019s son. The result is a richly layered album that effortlessly blends soulful boom-bap with pop-leaning anthems.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"450\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/playlists\/2018519130&#038;color=%23121112&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/grandagent\" title=\"Grand Agent\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">Grand Agent<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/grandagent\/sets\/by-design-2-1\" title=\"By Design 2\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">By Design 2<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After more than two decades, hip-hop veteran Grand Agent returns with the powerhouse sequel to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG6fW-SKm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}