I can’t remember the last time I put out a beat, I have to say it’s been a while. I’m sort of going through a creative block on all fronts. I can’t make music, I can’t work on my EP and I’m not able to complete other little projects that I have on the go. I started wondering what could cause a creative block. I mean think about it, let’s just say for arguments sake that there is a person that cranks out ideas like mad? Some ideas may not work out whereas others do, but what if you can’t come up with anything? You’re whole creative process stifled because your brain isn’t working or you think your brain isn’t working. I tend to think that but then I’m always reminded that if my brain wasn’t working I’d be dead (way to be a smartass). So then, why do I suffer from creative block? I’m able to process other thoughts that are obviously not creative at all but I still haven’t been able to ascertain why I’m in such a rut beat wise. I’m able to come up with wicked ideas for song ideas but when it comes to making a beat it just seems that there’s more to it that I’m just not able to comprehend. The last beat that I made was a while ago; I’m talking December 2008. I’ve been working on other stuff but nothing good enough to showcase because I don’t feel that sense of completion. When I worked on those other beats I could feel to myself that the beat was done, but I’m trying a lot of new things and trying to mix it in with some of the old tricks that I learned along the way. I don’t have a year under my belt yet but I think that I’m more suited for just rhyming. I mean I don’t think I can make a quality beat anymore. This shit is infuriating.

The only thing that I can do to make things work out for me is to keep working and hopefully if I put enough time and effort into my beats as I do with my lyrics I could be putting together projects in no time. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m aiming to have my lyrical abilities and my beat making abilities work hand in hand. As it stands right now my lyrics are a lot better than my beats are. I know that this won’t be attainable overnight but I feel as if I have to try in order to prove to myself that making beats is worth pursuing and I feel it is or else I wouldn’t be doing this. There are a lot of things that influence me when I make music and I have to say as of late that I’ve been listening to a lot of non hip hop trying to get myself some variety in some of my beats. The other day I was chillin’ with the Hussdiesel and he heard some of my works in progress. He told me that a tight drumbeat basically makes your entire song. And I agree with that, it’s hard to make a beat but when you have the right drum line to go along with it you can’t go wrong at all. I have to say that the nine beats that I have made so far have pretty good drum lines and they’re some pretty tight tracks that I can bob my head to. At the same time I have been doing a lot of research on different synths trying to improve my skills. Also when I make beats it doesn’t hurt to have a few samples in there too. I think that’s why I like a lot of J.Dilla because he takes a sample and flips it to make something so amazing and different and by the way that he flips these samples makes him so versatile with his music, plus he was an underrated Emcee. In the last year I have had the privilege of listening to J.Dilla and at first I was only listening to his instrumentals, which are hot to this day. But when I heard the dude kill the mic I was like holy shit, I didn’t know he was this good. I listened to his album Welcome to Detroit and his lyrics are friggin’ tight. Plus there are a lot of Emcees that I listen to that have amazing lyrical talents such as Talib Kweli, Mos Def, The Roots, Sean Price, J.Dilla Obviously, Wu Tang, Mad lib, K-OS, and there’s so much more but I can’t think of any others at this point in time.

The reason for writing this post is just to let people know first off, shit is slow right now and I’m looking to find a way to speed things up. But I think that may be my problem. The fact that I want to complete something so bad is because honestly I feel like I’ve gone through life without really accomplishing anything and with me aiming to keep my skills up so that I can be on the same level as other music producers or be on the same page as my producer who is helping pump out my EP. I guess the bottom line is, I feel like I’m slowing everyone down with my lack of knowledge not being able to contribute as much as everyone else is. That’s why I feel like I’m slowing down Kawlinz as well because of the lack of knowledge. He has fifteen plus years under his belt in making music. The thing is that for my EP I have the songs written and ready to record and I have all the necessary things that I need to record but I just can’t do it because I feel like I can do something more than what I’m doing but I’m not sure what to do. Does that make sense people? So I’m thinking to myself to just record the vocals and hopefully the ideas for the EP will come to me. It’s more than just recording your vocals and mastering them and doing all the necessary things to make your track the best that you can make it; it’s also the setup, the way that the songs are arranged and how one track can coincide with another. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m trying to make my EP as smooth and unique as possible, which is easier said than done. Anyway, I’ leave it at that for now, I could go on and on about how I’m not feeling creative but then people wouldn’t want to hear my EP and that’s the last thing I want to happen. So with that being said I’m going to try and get back into the thick of things and get this EP out of the way and get back to working with Kawlinz on the NKC album. This shit needs to get done and released. Peace.

This is one of those things that have been bothering me for years and now I have to bring this shit to the light. People don’t really seem to wonder about the state of hip-hop these days. And really, that shit should be on the minds of every hip-hop fan there is. Or maybe it’s due to the fact that there are fans in hip hop but they have been poorly misguided. The other day I was hanging out with some friends and one of them asked my why I don’t act like the rappers on TV talking about how much money they make from or talking about how much of a Gangsta they are. I was like what the fuck!!! I’m nothing like that, I don’t talk about money because I’m broke and if I did have money I wouldn’t fuckin’ write about it in a rhyme, that’s fucking gay man. I mean I see all these rappers on BET and these dudes just talk about their grills, cars, money, basically talking about how rich they are. And I’m like okay fine, you can show that shit on TV, I don’t watch TV assholes so I don’t have to see that gay shit in the first place. I like wicked hip-hop when the shit was still considered an art back in the day instead of being a weak fad.

The funny thing is the fact that some of these so-called hardcore thug artists make up that they’re actually thugs, which I think, is really funny to me. I mean do you really think that you’ll get a better fan base because you tell them that you’ve spent time in jail? Does it really matter that much for you to sell records that you can’t be yourself? I just find that hip-hop is way too materialistic and I hate it for that. What happened to the four elements? It’s not even about that anymore. I’m not claiming to be professional on this but I think most people can plainly see that the state of hip-hop is crumbling. There is no other way for me to say it any clearer than that. I don’t listen to any of the new stuff cause to me the beats are either to shitty or the rapper is or its both. Honestly you couldn’t pay me to listen to that shit, even if it was a job or something like that I wouldn’t apply because I would be subjecting myself to shit music. Also I’m not trying to say that I’m better than anyone that’s not what I’m trying to say at all. The purpose for this post is to let people know how I feel about hip-hop. I love it and would like to see it last forever the way it was not the way that it is now. I’ll materialistic too, I’ll admit that but the difference between me and those rappers out there; is that I don’t have to show off all the shit that I own or claim to own. The only materialistic thing that I’m going to talk about is smoking weed and the reason for that is simply because I love smoking the shit. That’s it, there’s nothing else to it. What enjoyments are people going to get from me rapping about how much things I have or what I’ve done to get into prison? I haven’t even been to prison and I don’t want to entertain the thought obviously I don’t want to be anyone’s bitch.

All I’m saying is that the game ain’t the same anymore and I know that the world in constantly changing but you can’t change hip hop. Without the four elements it’s just pop music for thugs to me. I’m not feeling pop music for thugs so I’m going to listen to the good shit that made hip hop what it was and not what it is now. We need to get back to that. If it continues like this the game will be forever changed and the game will be another piece of eye candy for the current hip-hop fan.

Yo, I just wanted to wish a happy 420 to all who love weed and smoke it. Also I would like to give a shout out to my man Bill NY, it’s his birthday today and I hope he’s having a good one. Just to let everyone know I’ve been smoking all-day and working on the EP. The stuff is coming together. Peeps bear with me, the EP is coming not sure when it is going to drop but I’m not going to stop working on it until it’s done.

Anyway Happy 420 Everyone, Hey, hey, hey, hey…………………………….. Smoke Weed Everyday!

So this post is basically about what’s been going on in the last few months. In November of 2008 I was laid off from my job and I immediately was looking for another one trying to make some income. But with all the free time that I was possibly going to have I decided that the music was the most important thing to me besides working. But having no job and no way to support myself is pretty depressing. I mentioned in a few post before that I was working on an EP called Awaken. I was working on this basically to keep my skills sharp and to try and improve my rhyme skills. With the help of Resin Nate we are trying to finally put this thing together and get it out to the people. I also mentioned before that this EP was going to be seven songs that I wrote; I have made some drastic changes to that. I now only have five songs on there but I’ll have extras and interludes in between tracks.

Anyway, on with the story; In preparation for the release I was also working with J on a little performance at one of his art shows, he thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of the little rut I’ve been in. So what else was there for me to do, I decided that I was going to go full throttle with it and I needed to start recording. I have a USB microphone and from what I read on the net this mic is very good for studio recording and the plan was that I would record in my closet. Now I tried that once and it was figgin’ hot as hell in there. But I still kept going. I listened back to what I recorded and I was not happy with the end result. I felt that I was screaming too much just to be heard and was really concentrating on my flow. At that point I decided that I needed some stuff for the mic. I remembered that for the particular mic that I have it also has a mount that you can attach to your microphone so that I didn’t have to hold it in my hand. Now here comes the annoying part; I saw the mount on Amazon.com and tried to purchase the item off the net and it seems that at Amazon.com you can only get certain things shipped to Canada, like DVD’s, books, Music CD’s which I think is the most dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. So then I went to Amazon.ca thinking that it was the same as Amazon.com and I would be able to get my equipment and it turns out that Amazon.ca doesn’t sell music equipment, which I also think is so fucking retarded. So then I went to various music stores to see if I could get the mount in their stores and this is even more stupid than Amazon.com. It seems that the mount is not sold in any music store in Toronto which I still don’t understand because I was able to buy the mic here in Toronto and If I’m able to get the mic in Toronto why the hell can’t I get the accessories that go with the mic as well? It was really pissing me off and I didn’t know what to do. Then J saved my ass, and he’s been doing a lot of that lately. He found me a music site in Edmonton that sells the mount that I was looking for. I couldn’t believe it. The name of the site is called Axemusic.com. I recommend anyone that is looking for music equipment to go to this site because they have everything. Plus I didn’t have a problem with it being delivered unlike Fed ex (they can suck my big black dick, they fucking suck and don’t know their heads from their asses. Those guys don’t even deserve to be in business as far as I’m concerned).

So now that I have the mount I’m ready to get to work. The EP is coming soon and as for a performance that will be coming soon as well. I’m really looking forward to finally putting this out. I’ve been working on these rhymes since August 2008 and I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here are the names of the tracks that are going to be on the EP.

Origins
Black Spider-Man
Insomnia
Battlefield
Random Shit

There will be interludes also on the CD but I’m they’re not that important to tell you about, plus I always like to surprise people. I’m looking to release this in the next upcoming weeks not sure on a date yet that will probably be decided in the next couple of weeks. Hold tight people it’s coming!!!!

What it is yall?

quick update post here, just wanted to leave a list of links where people can at some of my stuff if they wanted to.

Myspace —> most current stuff here
Youtube —> current/semi current stuff here
The 61 —> OLD!

that’s it for now.

note, i usually post beats with acapellas on them, basically my way of tagging. as im not a fan of the traditional way of tagging — with someone screaming a name out or something every other bar or whatever.
however the stuff on my 61 page are straight instrumentals with no tags, but then again its old stuff and i feel i’ve progressed stylistically since then.

anyhow, whats good with the fam?

Kawl - summers coming! am i gonna have an NKC album to jam?????? lol.
Heard your down to collab some stuff as well, lemme know what you got in mind, im with it.

Hype - you recording yet?! beats be getttin dustier by the day lol.
pc issues have been solved finally, so im back in action. need to hit you up for some Reason tutorials.

I have a few items of information that may be of interest to those following our illustrious music career. I’ve been up all night working on a tune, just churning out a bunch of synths until I found myself with a few quite different sounding textures that still worked when played together. I didn’t notice the time until the sun started coming in from my window that, hey, it’s the morning. It was well worth it, I think this is the most addictive beat I’ve made yet. Mostly it’s a the bassline, and how dirty the drums sound with such a hot bassline. Definitely some more experimental sounds in there as well, but definitely not a dark song at all. I’ve gotta run this by Hype, but I think this could be the beat we’ll use for Layin Shit Down.

Hype and I are going to be recording today, we’ll more than likely be doing some scratch vocals to a few songs, and we’ll also be finishing up a very minor part in Tha Chambers. We’ve finished Murderous Intent, and this evening after fix Tha Chambers, it gets sent out to a very exclusive preview network (don’t worry, you’re on it this time Nate - my bad). If you want to be on the network, just message us on this site or facebook. I’ll open 9 extra spots, which will probably take a few months to fill. Once we get feedback on the track, we’ll see which one our peoples want us to release, and which one to keep back. We can’t give all the tracks away, but we think giving between 1/3 - 1/2 of them out on the web is good, and keeping the rest as 30 second previews, that hopefully you people can buy.

So Hype came over on Wednesday to record a few tracks, which, in the past few weeks, we haven’t been able to do because of conflicting schedules. It feels good to get back to work though. We’d recorded the final sets of vocals for two songs: Murderous Intent and Tha Chambers. Murderous Intent will take a while, as the beat needs some touching up with another layer or two, as well as some work on the drums. The beat for Tha Chambers is done, as far as I’m aware, unless Peter wants to make anymore changes. He recently switched up the piano, which suits the song a lot better. The beat is smoother now, if that makes sense. Even though our lyrics are aggressive in this one, they really work a lot better on the new version. So, all I have to really do is mix the lyrics, link up a few effects with the backing vocals, get a wav version of the beat for re-encoding, and it’s pretty much a wrap - or rap.

We’ve also done the scratch vocals (again) to Thru Time and Space. We’ve done scratch vocals… I think twice before for this song, but it’s not a song we often rehearse, so the scratch vocals initially didn’t serve their intended purpose of hearing the flow of the song. We nailed it this time, obviously a good thing for us, but the backing is a far ways away from being completed.

So, In spite of the lack of significant progress within the last year or so, we’re finally catching up. I’d say around six of the months wasn’t our fault. There was about half a year of time where we had no choice in the matter. The computer wasn’t recording properly, or the computer was being sent in for repairs, or our schedules were conflicting. The other part of that year, I have to honestly look back and say it’s my fault. Looking back, there’s no way that I can look at the slower than desired progress we’ve made, and come up with any other answer. Hype’s always been doing his part, when he’s here, he’s ready. Admittedly, for this album, I do have the bigger share of the work, but that’s not an excuse at all. Hype comes over once or twice a week for recording. I have the entire week to “catch up”, but I generally didn’t. I’d play TF2, or I’d go on youtube, or post on forums. The forums one I’ve already gotten a lot better at, I’d be posting 2-3 hours a day, getting into these huge discussions, and although they were very entertaining for me, they weren’t doing anything for our common goal.

I’ve given up quite a few vices in the past year. I use to be addicted to MSN messenger, now I rarely ever use it, maybe once every few months or so. I don’t watch a lot of TV, mostly just MMA and a DVD series with my girl. I’ve also recently stopped playing TF2 (for the most part, an hour every few weeks is all I allow myself), and really cut down on youtube. The only thing I really have left is google reader, which I still consider an essential. I keep up on lots of music blogs, and a lot of personal ones as well. The difference between a month ago and now is that I’m a lot more selective in what I read. I skim for a bit and if it’s interesting I’ll read the rest. I’ve realized that I don’t have to read everything.

The biggest change I’ve made - which was very recent, probably within the last few weeks - is that now I meditate. I know mediation is supposed to be spiritual and yadda yadda yadda, but my version just means I concentrate on my goals. I think of things that will help me reach my goals, and any thought that conflicts with that, I “throw it away”. It’s a nice exercise that helps me realize my desires and to go after them. I don’t burn candles or hum or anything like that, I just think. I do it in public even. Waiting for a bus, maybe I’ll take two to three minutes to think about things I can do to reach my goals, again just throwing the other thoughts away. All I can say is that it works. When it comes time at home to make a choice on what to do, I know what choice I’m making, because I’ve already done the work earlier in the day. I’ve already made the choice to work on a goal, all I have to do is follow through. Every time I’m faced with a choice between a goal and something that distracts me from a goal, from sheer repetition, I now choose the goal.

And you know what? It feels good.

The last few weeks have been very productive for me as well. Vince and myself have decided on a estimated date and since then we’ve been working hard to make sure we get it out there when it’s supposed to be out there. In the meantime I’ve been working with reason as I watched my boy Bill N.Y. put together a beat using the program. Also I’ve been working on my rhymes putting together a little EP a small six track album. I’m going to call it awaken and the reason for that is because I feel like I have woken up from a bad dream that was so real. Basically I’ve been writing a lot and I feel that I have stepped up my game and I’m ready to show some of it off to the people. Trust me the EP is coming soon. But that is not the reason for the post, like 5 said before I have been using reason to make beats. I’ve made three so far but my third beat is by far the best one to date. I call this beat “Simplicity” and I call it that because when I was making this beat Saturday night everything that I did when making this beat seemed so right to me. So I’m not going to keep everyone in suspense. Here is my beat a work in progress right now called “Simplicity“, enjoy.

what up peeps, first post on this joint- or any type of blog for that matter. watch me fuck it up >.>
lately I’ve been thinking about getting back into beat making again.. after my halfway attempt bout 8 years ago lmao. anyhow, things have been progressing nicely on that end, better than its ever been imo.
I’m little hyped about this right now as i feel like I’ve hit a ’sweet spot’ in terms of work flow, not necessarily sound but since I’ve made that little change to how i create i feel that improved as well.
enough talk though, I’m going to up load a joint i just did - let y’all see for yourselves.
btw i beez a sample heavy producer hehe.

whoever listens to this, speak on it. lemme know if its hot garbage or bumpin’ in your ipod worthy.

FEEL IT!!

in case your curious, here is the original clip that i sampled from. apparently its Swedish reggae.. go figure

Sample

back to the lab, Peace.

…And I’m having a hard time getting to sleep, so I decided to post. Shane was over today and we recorded the vocals for our track “This Is Total Take Your Soul Music”. This is going to be my most ambitious piece of production yet. It’s going to be the longest hip hop song I”ll have produced, and probably the most experimental beat I’ll have made to date. I’m planning on working on the beat a bit more tomorrow night, and hopefully I can get the instrumentation done on the second verse out of four.

Anyways, that’s a short post, but I’m definitely heading back to bed.