2-wheel tunin'...

since i'm back on my physical jawn i'm rockin' the 2-wheel as part of the exercise routine. i got the idea today to blaze a single LP while i'm riding & not to begin the return trip until the 1st track on the album came back up. along w/this i thought it might be interesting to stop here & there to capture an image or few.

this trip's LP:

Manu DiBango - Soul Makossa

this trip's images:

  

some sounds from this trip:



i had fun doing this, so there should be more of these in the future!

get at me...

PEACE

...be calm...

motivations...

the 1st DJ i ever remember meeting in person was the son of 1 of my egg donor's friends. i was about 10/11 years physical. the friend worked for a major label at the time. i don't remember exactly what the friend's position was, but i do know that she got tickets to shows for artists like Gladys Knight.

this friend had plenty of music (vinyl) at her crib too. that may be the 1st place i ever got my hands on Zapp's 1st album. before i got into hip-hop i would have to say funk was my favorite style of music. even now, if i'm not listening to hip-hop or house music, more than likely i'm blasting some funk vibes.

fortunately for me the egg donor spent a decent amount of time around this particular friend. i used to go to her house & play w/her younger son. the DJ son was at least 10-15 years older than either of us, so i didn't really spend too much time around dude. all i really remember is that he had a station wagon & would load his gear into it to do gigs.

i remember being extremely fascinated w/the idea of playing music for other humans & watching them enjoy it. this is something i continue to find exciting, but i'm still probably a little too selfish as a selector. combine that w/the fact that my DJ skills are lacking due to minimal if any practice & the likelihood of actually catching me enjoying this activity in the immediate future is somewhat slim...

in some ways i suppose that's kind of a lie though. it doesnt seem really useful to have access to all these amazing creations & not be sharing them w/others.

the work continues...

ABB & KIM...

PEACE
...be calm...

#soundcloudsaturday #scs #BLAM

when i say ABB, KIM, & BLAM, it's not because it sounds cool, clever, catchy, or whatever...

it is meant.

about 5-6 years ago i was extremely frustrated w/what i was being presented w/on the audio tip by mainstream media. it might be safe to say i was beyond frustrated...

heated maybe?

bent?

wigged?

you get the idea...

it seems like a lot of humans presented w/this type of situation just start complaining & developing bitter sentiments. i did it myself for a bit. it wasn't enough for me to survive on. in my mind i knew that hip-hop was more than what was on the radio being mercilessly rebranded as practically indistinguishable from R&B. in essence to mesh hip-hop w/R&B the way it has been attempted over the last decade or so is yet another act of disrespect toward hip-hop culture.

this is unacceptable...

what i'm doing now is a part of what i feel is a viable solution to the above problem. it's is important to note that i don't maintain all these different sites for self. i don't do it just to promote self. i do it as a means to build/network w/other creatives. over the years in the streets i've met many, many MC's, who no 1 will ever hear rhyme, smash crazy freestyles &/or writtens. these experiences led me to the question of why there is no outlet for these people.

i decided that as a professional communicator & student of mass communications that i would do something to create an outlet for what i knew was still being made by those who continue to hold the culture close to heart. i came up w/a concept that is still active today & motivates much if not all of what i do online as a creative.

creating & moderating the hip-hop group on SoundCloud is a part of this overall plan. i am determined to do what i can to perpetuate creative expression, especially when it comes to hip-hop.

so, from this Saturday forward, i will be rocking #soundcloudsaturday #scs.

WTF is that?

#soundcloudsaturday #scs will be when i sit down & actively listen through the submissions to the hip-hop group to decide which 1's make the list. usually as i'm moderating tracks i post the 1's that hit me a certain way on facebook. now i'll be posting them to twitter as well.

as a part of my recent organization focused activities i felt like it was necessary to designate a moderating schedule. having to moderate close to 700 tracks is quite a feat. making this a weekly event will help keep that number down & i can also continue to encourage the over 1K members of the group to be more interactive as creatives & humans in general.

as the title blurb of this blog says:

welcome to the journey if you choose to get down!

PEACE
...be calm...

a day in the ear III (organize to realize)...

for the past few days i have been doing some much needed organization. my living/work environment has been organizationally corrupt for a bit too long. it didn't used to be like this. w/o going into the details of the why, i have resolved to get things as straight as possible.

IMHO it's getting in the way of my earning endeavors. obviously that's not acceptable. since i was essentially trained as a young human to work w/music playing in the background, i decided to get it in w/some classically dope James Brown sounds.

these jawns are Now On Blast (NOB) indefinitely to coincide w/the organizational activities...

The Payback

Black Caesar

Superbad

Hell

Say It Loud I'm Black And I'm Proud

Get On The Good Foot

this all relates to a book i copped a few years back & still have yet to finish reading. i stopped reading because i got to a section that stressed the need for organization in your work environment.

Cash Tracks: Compose, Produce, and Sell Your Original Soundtrack Music and Jingles

i am generally not 1 to lie to self, so i had to recognize the nature of my disorganization & how it was causing great harm. if i don't change my environment won't.

in essence i misjudged certain aspects of my personal environment & how they affected everything else i do. what i'm working w/now is a new approach to some long-standing issues. this approach is heavily organization oriented.

it's all part of the ABB & KIM movement. if you check any of the things i post on Twitter/Facebook you may have noticed i've been hashtagging #BLAM. like ABB it is a building expression. what does it mean?

• Building
• Like
• A
• Mafucka (or Mogul for the conservative heads)

as i tend to say, w/all sincerity, i am on a mission. i always have been. i can get a little distracted along the way, but i will persist in moving forward...

get at me...

#BLAM

PEACE

...be calm...

what a weekend!!!

why do i have so much love for the Illadellph?

because there are so many different things going on at any 1 time here. the diverse cultural events, eaterys, venues, & communities continue to fascinate me & make me proud to call this great city my home.

are there problems here?

sure!

but where on the planet are there NO problems?

exactly...

as w/all things in life it's a work in progress...

as for this weekend, i thought i was going to have to tap out, but i made it to the 3 events i planned to attend. i accepted the L for the events that i knew about but couldn't make it to.

i met some great people, checked out a new-to-me venue, & established some contacts w/other creative oriented humans that will hopefully lead to future building. it was just an overall solid 3-4 day period.

i have to give a mega holla to Grand Agent for taking the time to do an interview for the Refinery. i have to edit that & will post it up when it's together.

PEACE
...be calm...

why 2K?

did you know you can only follow 2K tweeple on Twitter?

i had no idea until i hit that wall!

DOH!

forgive me for having such varied/expansive interests...

the policy exists to curb spam. as a tech dude/consultant i find the spam implications are a perfectly legitimate concern. i actively use twitter for creative/business endeavors, i don't want to have to deal w/spammy tweeple &/or spammy bots. as w/most things there are always a few rottens willing to spoil it for the rest of us.

spammage is not necessary to get whatever it is you're doing out to the world. it's irritating at minimum & offensive in extreme cases. anything that remotely resembles spam gets chumped in my virtual travels. why use it?

so, now i have a mild dilemma. i have to unfollow some of the tweeple i followed early in my twitterage. unfortunately the current site interface does not allow you to just jump to the beginning of your follow list. you can only scroll through the list from new to old follows (LIFO). this seems to be very taxing on IE8. eventually the browser bogs down to the point where it has to be closed & restarted.

BLEECH!

i have yet to find a way to edit the follow list using Seesmic Desktop either. for now i have to be extremely selective about who i follow & continue to try to trim the follow list the hard way.

itiswatitis...

on a more + note, increasing the number of tweeple who follow is supposed to relax the restriction on the number of tweeple i follow. so the work will continue to gain follows. i'll continue to do it the organic way. no bots, no spam, no bull!

give a follow if you don't already...

Twitter: DFingas

#BLAM

for some more info on why the limit exists, peep these links:

Brent Csutoras: Twitter Limits Following to 2000

Google: follow limit on twitter

PEACE
...be calm...

a day in the ear II...

this weekend was kind of harsh in terms of missing some dope live events.

itiswatitis...

the good is the Illadelph shirts are now physical & available for sale, & i'm still able to put mega solid sounds in my ear!

watsinmyear...

Wood, Brass & Steel - Wood, Brass & Steel

Black Blood - Chicano

Horace Silver - It's Got to Be Funky

Chakachas - Jungle Fever

Ike Turner & His Kings Of Rhythm - A Black Man's Soul

Central Line - Central Line

Johnny Hammond - Gears

Harlem Underground Band - Harlem Underground

w/all that, i'm looking forward to this coming weekend. Thursday is DJ Too Tuff's Detonation Technics. Saturday is the 10th Annual BBoy BBQ. Sunday is Odunde! i have to make sure i sleep right the rest of this week!

i'm particularly excited about Odunde. i haven't been since the youngest of the godren was born the day before in '01!!!

get at me...

NOTE: all the album links are to Amazon except for the Black Blood album link which is to eBay.

PEACE

...be calm...