the "out of clownee experience"

headed to atlanta with some of the crew for

jump n' funk. pop life on wednesday was

enough ciaa for me. got an eye full and was

around some good folks plus had a table.

thank you carla. i'm over the hype of ciaa

though. like anything else, it is not for

everyone. it is what it is. the title of this post

clearly describes what i feel about ciaa. i hope

whoever cannot make it to saturday's festivities

has a good and safe weekend. keeping somewhat

relative to the theme of jump n' funk, here's some

ride music for those who will be absent. peace.

The IllumineMinded Ones

Been working on this for a second on the side. Its a little something giving up some props to people who are, or are going to make a difference in this world we live in. The difference can come through activism, artistry, or just being a cool ass muthaf&*ka. Most of these folks I've met. Others, I'd like to meet someday. Its a little I like to call, The IllumineMinded Ones. Enjoy!

Who: Nadia Pillay

What: An actor/yoga instructor by trade. She has been ever since we’ve met. Outspoken about what she feels passionate about (especially when it comes to acting and yoga), and is blessed with one of the most diverse minds I’ve ever met.

Why: One word; radiance.

When: I first met Nadia at the end of the millennium, at Vassar College 1999. A then buddy, Master Million (we’ll keep his name under wraps just in case), had met her at a party they were having somewhere on campus. Water B, and I were getting ready to host another episode of our weekly radio show, The Backwoodz, on WVKR. Master Million was a student and was attending some summer classes when he met Nadia, and some other girl, at a party they were attending. They were part of some acting troupe “summer camp thing”, and were at Vassar for a few weeks. Trying to “get in”, he suggested Nadia and her friend come to the “radio station” where his boys were having a show. They came through, and enjoyed the music that was going on in the studio. One week, turned into two, and then Nadia asked if we minded if she swung by to hang out while we broadcasts. A few more weeks and some good conversation (maybe a spliff or 15) later, a great friendship was born which has lasted ever since. She later acquired the nickname, Breeze, from Water B because in his words; “Every time she comes in the room, its like a fresh breeze”.

One of the lasting conversations I can remember with her, involved a documentary that she wanted to do about the women of South Africa who have to endure the hardships of the incessant threat of rape. Being from South Africa, this struck home from her and while her plans may have been “back burnered” a bit, I don’t think they have completely dissolved. Time will tell.

A breeze that emits: “I AM AN ACTOR...i was born and raised on the STAGE not realizing from a young age I always made the world my own stage. I do it so i dont have to take myself seriously...i do it because i am extraordinarily fascinated by the human conditioning....therefore as an ACTOR it is my job to

"enlighten the human condition"

Yes, yes, yes my name will be in lights..but behold the name will live in infamy

I am African..with no classification beyond that

I believe we are all connected so get off DAT BULLSHIT!!!

and I have an appetite to KNOW people!”

mS

fresh

saw this a while back....thought it was pretty dope. just

saw a "live" version while i was online and was reminded

of the original which i think is actually better. here it is...

peace.

Neurosonics Audiomedical Laboratories from Hatem Zekri on Vimeo.

Real Hip Hop....

...always happens within the cypher... peAce to this

Death of the Doctrine?!! C'mon SUN!!!!

Okay so one of my favorite blogs..... fuck it, my favorite blog, has just released an alarming statement!! It's shutting down! Illdoctrine.com, one of the sickest video blogs has called it quits. For those who don't know Illdoctrine.com, at least as it comes across to me, is the view of the world through the eyes of the Hip Hop generation that I came up in. It is run by a pretty down to earth cat (as far as I can tell through his blogs, which consequently don't mean shit as far as his true person goes) named J Smooth. And while I don't fully agree with the reasoning behind this pretty drastic action to call it quits, I can understand where J Smooth is coming from. He claimed that February 12, 2010 was the final resting day for Rap Music, which was "battling a long illness". And he didn't mean "ill" in the good way either. Who was the killer? Who was the one who finally pulled the plug on the life support that was keeping Rap music alive? Well, I'll let you watch for yourselves..

Now if you stomached all the way through that, then you get props enough. I won't get too deep into my personal politics on why I don't agree with this video, or why I think it completely, unequivocally, and utterly sucks asshole. I think the video did enough to explain that to you itself. I do have some questions though.

In this world of non-original thought, and TV diner music, you'd think that if the creative "moguls" of the music industry could somehow, someway manage to bring themselves together, that they would actually do something like, CREATE?! Instead, they all sharpened up their vamp teeth, and gorged on the carcass that was the first "We Are the World Song".

Old and stinky as it was, it could have been resurrected with something fresh and new. But alas, this was not the case. It goes to show you how important these people TRULY thing creation is. Not too important at all anymore. When the first "We Are The World" burst on the scene in 1985, it was like nothing that anyone ever saw before. I remember, I was there! And while I didn't blast the song out of my then boom box, I understood the importance of what they were trying to do, and the message they were trying to send. I don't get that from this in the slightest bit. They don't sell it I suppose.

First off, Tony Bennett? REALLY?! And then we have the popcorn stars like Hannah Montana herself, and that little Jordan kid singing his little heart out through Auto-tune. And what in GOD's name is with the AUTO-TUNE?! REALLY?! And the fact that Little Weasel was in the song just added to its suck power. With the exception of Mary J. Blige, Celine Dione, Josh Groban, and MAYBE Busta Rhymes (for a few underrated and dare i say, classic albums), I respected just about none of the "artists" up there as true artists. They were all vampires! It was like that vampire rave in the movie Blade! And they were ALL there! Janet, Fergie, Jaime! And Jaime even tried to sing like FUCKING RAY CHARLES in the song!! Let it go man!! It wasn't THAT landmark of a performance! As far as I'm concerned, Don Cheadle should have won for Hotel Rwanda anyway!

I suppose the point of the whole thing is that there should be a "We Are The World" every year from these people. Africa hasn't gotten any better. With all the money Akon's ass (Senegalese) has made, HE ALONE should have come up with another "We Are The World" for atrocities that are happening RIGHT now in, "pick a spot" West Africa. And now that they see a GOLDEN, and FRESH opportunity to sing about the new "tragedy which has befallen poor people" in the world, Haiti, they couldn't help but to jump at it. And jump they did, with both feet, ass, head and arms! I'm glad the Wu Tang didn't show up, cause I'd be where J Smooth is myself right now. Not that they are single handedly (any of them for that matter) holding Rap up on their shoulders or anything. It would have just crushed the last bits of memories that still exist in ye old cerebral cortex. But I digress. I'm gonna miss ill doctrine if it is truly gone. Props to my boy Devin who put me on late in 08. And to commemorate a bit, I'm gonna post a few of my favorite doctrines to show my appreciation.. Props J! And in the famous words of "Craig" from that old Negro Spiritual film, Friday; "Hey! COME BACK"!

Mini Docrtine on Haiti 1/15/10


Ten Other Things Dr. Martin Luther Jr. Said 1/18/10


East Coast Cats and Christopher Street Boys 10/28/09


Joe Budden, Raekwon, and American Civility 8/12/09


Beyond Chris Brown and Rhianna 2/14/09

And don't forget to continue to give what you can to relief for Haiti.

Doctors Without Borders

American Red Cross

Google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/

Peace,

mS

crossed my mind

being that its february and black history month,

i find myself thinking of the bullshit of it all. i find it

utter fucking ridiculous that the education and

recognition of anyone's history, culture and heritage

be relegated to a fucking month. the problem is we

are all too lazy. is not life a continuous journey of

knowledge and education? i don't know of anyone

that knows everything. as long as we are breathing

should we not be learning? perhaps learning about

one another's culture? i feel like most problems big

and small stem from lack of understanding. even a

lack of desire to understand. thus ignorance. i'm at

fault as much as anyone. therefore i need to tighten

up as well. let us stop assuming and start trying to

understand. i think it only benefits us all. fuck being

idealistic, be a human being. all that other dumb shit

is played out. just be "professional" in life. peace to

everyone who understands what i mean. fuck you if

you don't. peace.

inspiration

full cg animated piece showing architectural beauty blending

the surreal as well as the abstract. another great example

of sound and visuals complimenting one another. i suggest

you watch this on full screen if you have high def capabilities.

beautifully done. eyegasm ha ha! enjoy and as always....peace.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

sight & sound

mario basanov & vidis featuring jazzu-i'll be gone

i always liked unconventional music videos. sometimes

i feel it can better compliment the song when the artist's

face is not seen. plus the creative envelope can pushed.

enjoy. peace.

I'll be gone from KORB on Vimeo.

"the new guy"

gil is back after 15 years with his new album

i'm new here. the title is appropriately fitting

considering the landscape of music today, the

era from which he is from, the type of artist

that he is and the message that he brings. dude

hasn't lost a step. i like the minimalistic use of

production here. maintaining the soul while

embracing the new progressive electronic

sounds. respect to the poet. the album can be

heard below in its entirety. enjoy. peace

Shmammy

I didn't watch the Grammy Awards this year. No big surprise, because I don't think I've watched them in 10-plus years, if not more. I actually get kind of disgusted when I hear people discuss them (or most awards for that matter) as if... well, as if they really matter in the grand scheme of music anymore. I'd rather you tell me you watched it to see what clothes people were wearing or for the mind-blowing dialogue than because you love music. As if having a Grammy legitimizes someone's music ANYWAY. I know there are some people who were nominated who actually deserve awards for their music, but unfortunately the company they are nominated with makes it damn near impossible for them to win. When I hear someone say, "I can't believe -insert multi-award-winning-bullshit-artist here- won for that single/album!" - my response is "Why don't you believe it? How is it any different from last year? Or the year before that? Or the year before that?!"

I'm almost to the point where winning a Grammy is a bad thing. I normally scan the list of nominees when announced just to see if anything's changed. Occasionally, I'll get a pleasant surprise in the nominees...One of my favorite groups, The Foreign Exchange, was nominated this year... they didn't win, but I was surprised they got a nod period. One of my favorite singers Alice Smith, was nominated in 2007. Another favorite, Janelle Monae, was nominated last year. So, greatness does slip though... but for the most part... no dice. Because I'm a woman who loves good music, I'm usually most disappointed by the Female categories, more often than not, specifically the R&B categories (I won't even touch Hip Hop),  I see the same people year after year win the same awards...

So... here are some female artists who possibly may not EVER win a Grammy or have record-breaking album sales, but would in a parallel universe in which people had better taste:

Joy Jones, whose album Godchild was one of my favorites from '09...

Alice Smith, whose voice makes sounds that never cease to amaze me... new song from new album dropping this year...

Sarah Anne Webb, former member of UK group D-Influence...

And I heart heart heart Nikki Jean... swoon...

Georgia Anne Muldrow is a producing, singing goddess...

Janelle Monae...

There's more, but I'll save them for another day :) Happy listening.

sound discovery
i recently stumbled upon this artist browsing the net. his

name is jose james of brownswood recordings. the label

founded by worldwide music ambassador gilles peterson.

i'm actually late getting hip to dude. his debut the dreamer

came out in 08'. unlike many of the so called "soul/r&b

singers" of today you feel the soul in james' voice and delivery.

i respect the versatility in his sound. from jazz to soul to hip

hop to future soul and everything in between. it sounds

organic and not forced. he's collaborated with artists diverse

as basement jaxx and jazzanova. his sophomore release

blackmagic was just released. it contains code produced by

flying lotus of which the video is of below. friends we love

made this simple but dope video. so turn down the lights

and enjoy ha ha! peace.