When I make music I do it because I have to. It’s cathartic. It’s my way of expression and release. Something really moves me and it’s the only way I can cope / vent / deal / explode and get it out of my system. Like many people I came up with a lot of adversity and music became my outlet to channel all of that energy in a less destructive way. Because of that, my writing process has always been strange. Something moves me and I will be up until 6AM still writing even though I have work in an hour because I just can’t stop writing! However, just sit me down in a studio and tell me to write to a beat and the results suck. It’s in-organic. It’s not how MY creative process works.

That being the case my music has always been like a Polaroid to me. An EXACT snapshot in time of a specific emotional and mental state. I get in the lab and painfully, meticulously craft a song so that it feels and captures exactly what I am trying to express right then. When it’s done? Great! I’ve encapsulated the thoughts/emotion, thrown it in a time capsule and I’m done with it. Someday I may dig it up and share the time capsule with people so they can understand and feel what I felt because that carefully crafted song does that so perfectly for me. My goal is to share the emotion, the feeling, the ideas. I want that piece of recording to stand by itself, without me, a totally autonomous piece of raw emotion and expression that can be unleashed when you take the lid off the box.

I know I’m probably late on this; but I saw a dude line his DS to his computer and use this to lay cuts yesterday and it blew my mind. There’s alot of digi scratching emulators out there but unless you had the dough for CD turntables you couldn’t really have a tactile touch kind of feel to it. The way this program (Protein DScratch) works you DO have that touch sensitivity and the end results sounded real dope!

I’m geeking on this probably because it’s combining two of my most favorite things in the world (Hip-Hop + Video Games)

Some people and purists probably hate on this stuff a bit and I can see why, but really … taking what you got around you and freaking stuff you aren’t supposed to in order to make new sounds is pretty much the genesis of hip-hop.

(…resisting the urge to go buy a DS now)

It’s Here …

For everyone who’s been with me for a while you know I’m the biggest procrastinator there is. (Seriously) I lose focus and end up having a million half done projects before I finish one in it’s entirety. I don’t know why that is … music is just organic to me and I have to ride the wave. When it’s forced, it becomes a chore, dis-ingenious and I do something else. When I do music it’s cathartic and a genuine expression I wanna get out. Something triggers it and it’s how I have to express myself.

Anyway, I’ve been sitting on all kinds of material for like 10 years (10 YEARS!?) and only a handful of them have actually been heard. I get picky, I hate my own shit and try to work on something new. Hell, I could count on one hand how many people have actually heard most of my material. I’m like Worcester’s hip-hop enigmatic phantom …. you know I exist but there’s scant evidence of it. Holy shit … I’m approaching Axel Rose type madness here!!!

That’s why I had to throw this picture up and show you actual evidence.

raw footage

It’s like catching a flick of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster …

Insomniaddict – Sep/Oct 2009

Some video footage of Friday’s set @ The Lucky Dog

Dope Wortown / Hip-hop cultural blog “Hulk Hate Time Travel” checks in with a report from Fridays show at the Lucky Dog.

Big ups to Brother Menelik Ebna la-Hakim and the crew for coming through. I have to warn you, their blog is crazy addictive and whenever I click through I lose track of time.

Show pics and synopsis after the break:

HHTT @ Lucky Dog May 8th (Worcester)

Some work put in this week getting ready for Friday night’s show @ The Luck Dog.

Shogun stomps fools

Weekend highlights included getting 2 new mixes done for “Insomniaddict” ( 12 of 17 done, 71% finished ) and watching SHOGUN finally show up in the cage and knock Chuck into retirement. Don’t get me wrong, I respect Chuck for what he’s done in the UFC but Shogun was nasty when he was on in Japan. Man, I miss PRIDE… those productions were sick. If you’re a fan of MMA and haven’t had a chance to check it out I highly recommend renting or checking some DVDs. The Grand Prix are a good place to start. R.I.P. PRIDE … the illest fight org. Anyway back to music. I saw this a few weeks back and said WTF?! I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

Soulja Boy and Fabolous April 29 2009 K.A. Promotions presents Soulja Boy, Fabolous, Red Café, and NyneWest Performing LIVE at The Hanover Theatre! This show promises to be one of the greatest hip-hop performances ever to hit Worcester, MA. Ticket prices: $25-$43; Meet & Greet Passes Available

??? The HANOVER THEATER is a local theater that brings in plays, broadway shows and occasional one off gigs of more diverse nature. Though they have occasional offerings outside the norm; their objective is to bring the “arts” to the city. Now, I understand wanting to expose various arts to it’s patrons and give platforms for things outside the norm…. but I have to wonder what went into the thought process in booking SOULJA BOY as the first headlining hip-hop show at the theater. Do they believe SOULJA BOY is indicative of modern hip-hop artistry? If you would have told me this would happen speculatively; I would have said you were trippin’. Curious to me… but either way I’m hoping this OPENS the doors to more opportunities to see Hip-Hop at the Hanover (not the opposite).

So I just got a new mix back the other night (“Sex is a Weapon”) and it was super dope. The original rough had a pretty nasty vibe but the new mix really made it extra menacing. Seriously – listening makes me want to punch a penguin square in the beak! 10 songs done, 7 more to go and we’re off to get “Insomniaddict” pressed up.

Mixing is a funny thing the way it influences how you hear things. A lot of modern hip-hop is real pristine, clear, and clean. Early 90’s stuff was pretty warm and gritty. You wouldn’t want to hear 36 Chambers mixed like a T-Pain joint … it would lose a lot of it’s character. (plus I might kill myself)

Since most of my music was recorded guerilla style in my own bunker; we’re mixing it proper with a dirty, grimy type mix. I like to think of it in terms of a painting. You could have an ill piece; but the frame that you put it in can play a big role in how it ultimately is perceived.

Well mixing is the “frame”.
And I’m going with this model for my music:

Yup – redesign is finally LIVE!

New look and theme goes with the ill artwork for the LP which is just around the corner. ( No, seriously! ) The old site wasn’t cutting it anymore, plus I had been wanting to add more features and ways to interact with heads. The old site was lame static info … zzzZZZZzzz … a sleep inducing snorefest. By namesake I can’t let that happen, so I cheff’d this up to try and do it justice.

Remember the old Coes Knife Company building before they built the park? Abandoned, overgrown, and invasive to the environment around it. Had that strange crumbly giant red rock cliff that was probably the result of some chemical dumping. The site almost seemed like an industrial crime scene. It compelled you to explore it. You knew you probably shouldn’t be there, and you were probably being exposed to remnants of toxic waste. But you just had to check it out anyway.

Yeah … this site is like that.