BEATROCK MUSIC

the list of people to thank runs too long for 2am. so, i'll just post it and say - thank you to everyone involved in the creation of the song, the video and promotion/publicity of the video and ep. thank you from the bottom of mine...

thank you all for the great response! the blogs, the fans, the fam and even the bloggers who normally don't fuck with me are showing great support for the video. so, thank you all.

anyway, i'm writing this post to let all the women who submitted personal videos for the original concept that i really appreciate it and i'm sorry that it didn't work out that way. originally, the entire video was going to have clips of women in their homes or out and about speaking on the topic... i got some really good submissions and it hurt me to have to drop the original concept. the reason we made the adjustment was because for every 1 great submission, we got 10 submissions that just didn't work. at the sake of offending some people, we got submissions of women dancing (in a not so flattering way) in their rooms, women singing karaoke-style to the song (i got 6 of those) and i literally had one woman submit a video of herself giggling for 3-minutes (sorry landie, i had to put it out there -- it was cute, but...). so, the pieces just didn't work for the length of the video.

again, thank you to all who submitted. especially, leilani (los angeles), ivy (hawaii), jasmin (san diego), kelly (san diego), jamie (new york) and mia (atlanta). i really loved your guys' submissions.

til' the next one!

i know this recap of recent shows is long overdue, but i've been pretty busy. here's the chronological order of things that have gone down since the end of march:

march26 - showbox in seattle with blue scholars
march 27 - pag asa in chicago
march 28 - showbox in seattle with blue scholars
april 2 - wow hall in eugene with grynch, macklemore and blue scholars
april 3 - hawthorne theatre in portland with grynch, macklemore and blue scholars
april 13 - slim's in san francisco with blue scholars
april 16 - viper room in hollywood with blue scholars
april 19 - the queen is dead music video

in between those dates i've been busy writing and recording for these projects that seem to have no end in sight. so, i write all this down not just to show you that i've been doing shit, but to gain some sympathy from y'all before i say this: i'm sorry. i've been slow to post and for that i apologize.

here go my updates with some pictures i stole from other folks. i'll post the official pics when the homegirl lauren gathers them all up and sends them my way. until then...

all of the shows in the northwest were amazing. every single one sold out! i had little to do with that fact, but that's not the point -- the sets with dj phatrick were some of our best to date. the audiences were all with us. grynch made it hard to hit the stage after he and nfared put it down! grynch is one of the next -- trust me! macklemore. hmmm... he's responsible for one of my favorite songs highlighting cultural pride, irish celebration. dj phatrick said, via twitter, that macklemore's set was the best live show he's seen in 7 years! i do not disagree! he and ryan lewis had me standing out in the crowd in admiration. of course, it goes without saying that the blue scholars were the top dogs of each of those nights. i've been fortunate enough to have been around these dudes and watch them grow as artists and performers. i, along with the thousands of others in attendance, were given samples of the material that may or may not make the next blue scholars album! the future of hip hop sounds like the new material prometheus brown and sabzi are piecing together... so, in summation, the northwest shows were perfect! from getting brick-sized brownies hurled at us onstage by fans to spending 3 hours in a vintage megastore, this tour that happened completely by accident was a great success and one that i'll remember for many years.




then we headed down south to california. san francisco is a place that consider my second home. suprisingly, i haven't performed there a lot in the past few months, so i was excited to get there and showcase some new material. sold out show again. dalorean and jern eye opened up the night with great sets before i hit the stage. i knew that whatever show followed the northwest was going to be lackluster in comparison -- gotdamn was i wrong. no disrespect to the northwest, but i was home this night. hella fam in the building and it was truly a party. thank you for all the love bay area!



la la land. viper room. okay, since this memory is a little fresher in my mind, i can give a better recollection of the night. the scholars and i pulled up to the viper room parking lot right at 10pm. when we pulled up, the look of concern immediately took over. there were a bunch of bearded white guys rocking leather vests with "hell's angels" patches along the back of them... hmmm... we got inside and it was the same shit. a whole bunch of residual attica (the band headlining the early show) fans scattered inside the viper room. the viper room security announces that they are about to start letting the 'next' show in, so they wouldn't be allowing re-entry into the venue -- which immediately made us assume that they were letting the attica fans who wanted to stay and drink remain inside. not cool. i was supposed to go on at 10:30pm... 10:30pm came around and the stage wasn't clear, the white bikers were still milling around and no fans had gotten in yet. now i'm starting to trip. but, right at about 10:32pm, the venue turns the lights on and really start to herd all the "angels" out. whew. now we can start to focus. right at 11pm i hit the stage. the first song of the set is supposed to be real chill, but it was hard for me to contain myself. the crowd was right there with me and by the second song i was so hype that i ended up straining my voice from screaming over the crowd. hella fun and yes, the rumors are true, i was rocking a tight diamond supply company cardigan. this was the perfect way to end this series of shows with the northwest's finest! thank you, my fellow angelino's, for making it out and showing the scholars how we get down.



i want to really thank the blue scholars for allowing me to be a part of their movement. my brothers -- i truly believe in your music and know that greater things are coming your way. til' the next round...


also, i want to think my sidekick, dj phatrick for loyally rolling with me and complaining all the way! ha. can't do this shows correctly without you, brother. of course, kat carrido, the woman behind the business, was there with me all the way. thank you for your loyalty, hard work and support.

on to the next one.

i promise that i will give a recap of the entire series of shows that i've been doing with the blue scholars x macklemore x grynch as soon as we finish up in los angeles. but for now, don't miss these two shows coming up in the following weeks. trust me, you will not be disappointed! get more information about presale tickets, location and times at bluescholars.com.

unfortunately, this post is going to be short and definitely won't do justice to this past weekend's events. the fruition of both saturday and sunday will hopefully do a better job of showing appreciation for the work than this blog will.

saturday morning started at 9. my brother dre came over to the house so that we could begin filming for the music video for "sondalo." not a concept heavy video, but hopefully a content heavy video. we filmed the journey to and into the anti-war rally at hollywood boulevard and vine street in hollywood. once we got there and saw all of our friends, comrades and family massing up and getting ready for the mile long march toward highland avenue. the brothers and sisters of kabataang maka-bayan, pro-people youth los angeles put together a chariot that was to carry wendy in a barack obama mask, wearing a suit with all of the major american corporate sponsors logos attached and being pulled (via chains) by a representative of a few countries: haiti, palestine, philippines, etc. at the moment i don't have any pictures to show you, but we did hear that the image was blasted on some major new stations! and we had samurai flags on our backs! yes, samurai flags!!! the march started and ended with great energy and it really did a great job of showing the public that there is still a need for this rally. kmb san diego came out to lend a hand and march alongside us -- and we needed that strong 619 energy to keep us moving. at the ending point of the march, i hopped on stage to open the closing-rally of the march. i did two songs ("sondalo" and "chairman mao"). peace to gabnet, answer coalition and all the other organizations that came out in solidarity against a war that doesn't seem to have an end in sight... isulong!

after getting the very heavy chariot onto a vehicle and getting the whole squad out of dodge, we headed over to my house to barbecue, relax and just talk 'til sunset. it was a great way to end a great day.


the next morning started at 6am for me. i got up, got dressed and got out the door to get to the video shoot for "old man raps." another kid heroes/xylophone films music video! there isn't much more to say than, "amazing work!" i'm not going to give away the video's story, but i will say that the youth came out in full strength -- from san diego to the valley and everywhere in between. i can't wait to see the finished product.


that's it for me for now. got some shows lined up. dj phatrick and i are leaving for seattle on friday to perform for the blue scholars' sold out double feature show. then we leave the next morning for our show in chicago -- we also got a studio session with new york's own, rebel diaz while we're in the chi. then again, sunday morning, fly back to seattle to open up the encore show of the double feature show with the blue scholars and the homie macklemore. busy weekend... but i ain't complaining!


oh, don't forget to go to the armory website to get the exclusive line of collaboration shirts i did with them! you won't be disappointed! click here to see what i mean...