my nephew is here!

My little bro's 1st born child, a son, made his debut today.  He was born @ 10:14 pm on 11/28.

His name is Jackson Thomas....and I am in love.



I took this pic w/ my Blackberry.  This was the 1st time his Mommy saw him.  So precious.  More pics & blog to follow soon, I am exhausted.  He was worth the wait!

Stweets is watchin'...(oh and it's Thanksgiving)...some DMV Dopeness too

So I'm in my sister's den.  Been lurking on & off Twitter since I got here a few hours ago.  Spent some time w/ my nieces (7 & 13) and a neighbor kid (13) on the Wii...I suck @ shooting games.  I have been to a shooting range on many occasions and can properly shoot a firearm unassisted.  Weird.

So I've been aware that Lupe was droppin' a mixtape @ midnight.  Twitter is like the instantaneous 'grapevine'.  The real time, real public, real real chatroom, 24/7, 365.  Lupe doesn't tweet much, so when he does I pay attention.  Got an hour #latepass though since I was all caught up in family fukkery, shout-out @f_deville, he sent me the link.  (He's also a dope emcee, check him out HERE & follow him on Twitter.  He's from DMV.)

Here is Lupe's just released mixtape:  "Enemy Of The State: A Love Story"



He also released THIS, it's the "Angels Remix feat. Lupe Fiasco".  SO dope.  The beat is crazy.  He remixed Diddy's song and sent to him on Twitter.  I love modern technology, LOL.

Through Twitter I also discovered Black Star was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Mos & Talib jammed w/ The Roots (you all DO know The Roots is the house band for Jimmy Fallon, right?!  If not, get from under the rock you've been living and #getfamiliar !)  backed by Dirty Projectors (sidebar:  never heard of 'em but I'm on it...coming soon).  @jose3030** followed right up and tweeted THIS LAINK, you can check the performance there.



Jimmy also had Jamie Kennedy on (The Roots played The Fresh Prince's theme song as his walk-on music, #215 stand up!)...and Padma Lashki was glowing & gorgeous, 7 months pregnant.  I don't get to catch his show much b/c it's on so late, but @jose3030** always has the highlights and I catch clips online.

**If you don't follow him already on Twitter, do so.  Cool dude from the DMV.  He also has a dope site you can check out HERE.  This dude gets it in.

Download the links.

Check out the sites, the DMV dopeness. 

I am putting you ON.

I'm anxious to see my family tomorrow (later on this afternoon, it's nearly 3 am)...Thanksgiving is always a good time.  Mi Madre turns 50 on Friday.  My bro's 1st baby is due this weekend.  There's a lot going on for me right now. 

But tonight I am THANKFUL for hip hop...I needed this.... d(-_*)b

UPDATE: the official split-files version & track list for Lupe's "Enemy Of The State: A Love Story"

01 Intro
02 The National Anthem (Radiohead)
03 All The Way Turnt Up (Travis Porter)
04 Fireman (Lil Wayne)
05 L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto Interlude
06 Angels (Remix) (Dirty Money)
07 So Ghetto (Jay-Z)
08 Say Something (Timbaland)
09 Thank You (Jay-Z)
10 The One (Slaughterhouse)
11 Popular Demand (Clipse)
12 HP Skit

"Indian Summer" ~ dumhi

My boy, Haj, and his peoples dumhi dropped their new album INDIAN SUMMER October 15th.  You can cop it HERE.

I went to their release party @ The Kyber and hung out @ Haj's afterwards.  Always a good time in South Philly.  Caught up w/ old friends and made some new ones.  Good times.

James was in the building doing his damn thing.  You can find his photos from the evening's events HERE.
Check him out ~ I love what this man does (even though he cheats at Uno!).  Look in the background of photo #33, yeah that's me!  And check the t-shirt I have on too, LOL. 

Lyrics and Vocals by:

Flud
Jermiside
ShamelessPlug

MashComp

Vex
Al Mighty (MAGr)
Che Grand
Donwill (Tanya Morgan)
Random
JohnBAP
Dn3

 All songs produced by Haj of Dumhi unless otherwise noted.

Additional Production: Roger Riddle (Bridges) Dn3 (Effortless)

Additional Guitar: Marco Hill (Black Roses)

Additional Engineering: iPL 

Artwork and Design: Objektiv1        

Cop the album, FOLLOW them on Twitter, SUPPORT dope hip hop & talented musicians. 

*Shout-out Big O for stripping hosting and providing the fukkery of the night.  Good times.   

DJ Jazzy Jeff's "He's the King, I'm the DJ" mixtape from UNDRCRWN

Got this link from Twitter.  Downloaded & listening to NOW.  Dope dope dope.  Get yours.  UNDRCRWN is the bomb...now if they'd only come out w/ some gear for chicks, in GREEN, like now.  

#random: "Zombies" in Grand Central Station 10.24.09

Ashley and I left lunch in Times Square and we headed to Grand Central Station to catch our train back to Philadelphia. As we entered the station, I noticed all these camera and flashing lights. Here comes this big procession of zombies, some of the costumes were VERY creative. I filmed a lot of it, they smelled really bad too...like the fake blood & makeup/latex smell. It was strange. Sooooo random and funny as hell! 

I posted it on YouTube and some dude commented on the page:  "lol my brother and his friends were here :D i wish i was :["  I got a lot of hits already, wild!  Just thought I'd share w/ everyone.  This could ONLY happen to me, ONLY in New York.  Listen to my commentary, HILL-LARRY-US. 





Ash also has a vid she filmed and posted on her blog, check it out HERE.  Good times in NYC. 

;€ #imjussayin...

I'm packing to go to NYC tomorrow. Yeah, I'm going to NYC w/ Ashley after work tomorrow. We're going to see The Foreign Exchange @ BB King's. I'm on the guest list, I'm kinda excited about this. Plus we got a room, we're staying overnight. We're gonna spend the day in NYC Saturday, eat at some great restaurant, look around, people watch...maybe I'll take some photos? Who knows.

I have the "Leave It All Behind" album playing. I'm kinda nice. I had 2 mixed drinks @ dinner @ Nay's tonite. It's people like her and nights like this that remind me there is better out here to be had, nothing is hopeless...sometimes it takes living w/out something to really appreciate having it in the first place...something like that?  

Everytime I hear this song I think about ;€ (no one knows what/who ;€ is).  I can't say enough about this group.  The Foreign Exchange.  My blog is not a music/hip hop blog.  It's for me, about me, by me.  If that happens to be music @ that moment, then that's what we have here.  Music is such a big part of my life; it's hard not to relate it in everything I do and feel.

I'll have more to write about after the show tomorrow.  In the meantime, here are the lyrics and the video...get familiar.

I can’t sleep at night
Cause they won’t see me
Running from the daylight
To where she keeps me

And when the sun rises, she watches over me

Waiting for the daylight
Cause then she’ll keep me
In the safety of her arms
She never leaves me

And when the sun rises, she watches over me

He tells me all his secrets
He thinks nobody knows
We lay together in daylight
I love him so

And when the sun rises, he watches over me

It’s not like it was before
And she can’t keep me anymore
She loves me…

Why don’t you stay here with me
I pray that our morning won’t leave
Let me keep you, then you’ll see
Don’t hide the truth from yourself
It’s you that I’ll love and protect
Let me keep you here with me

*This is what I would tell you if I could talk to you right now. Pay attention.

I am owed nothing and I deserve everything.*

"I Wanna Know" ~ The Foreign Exchange Video/Shoot

Here it is, I am in this video!  Look closely @ the 2:55-59 mark, HA!  You can see me & Jesse behind the chick who kissed Phonte (sidebar: she was from NJ and we were talking to her outside before the scenes were shot. She had NO clue who Phonte, Little Brother or The Foreign Exchange were! She was a friend of a friend and was invited to be in the video.).  This scene was shot in and outside of a.k.a. music (27 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia)...and heavily edited :(

A lot of my homies came out to be in the video or were there for the wrap afterwards:  Tayyib, Hezekiah, Sonny James, Mikey McFly, DJ Aura, Young H and I probably forgot a few.  I also got to meet a lot of cool new people:  Milosz, Noah, Julia, Matt and the shoot photographer, Stephen Stewart.  You can view stills from the video shoot HERE, on Stephen's site. 

Here is one he sent me of me & Jesse outside talking to Phonte.



It was cool seeing how the video process works, meeting Nicolay and his wife Aimee (if you go to her Twitter page, note her default flic is the one I took of her & Tayyib, HA!), talking to Muhsinah, kickin' it w/ Phonte again and just being a part of this dope project.  I bought the ONLY copy of the album in the store, so in the video when they are all signing the CD, that is my copy.  I even got the director, Matt Koza, to sign the CD.

I took a few flics of my own afterwards.  Check 'em out.

"House Of Cards" video ~ The Foreign Exchange

This is 1 of 2 videos The Foreign Exchange shot in Philly recently. "House Of Cards" is on their new album: "Leave It All Behind".  This is not the video I am gonna be in, but a few of my peoples are in here (shout-out Cha-ka, Zarinah & Shawanda).

The video was shot in Philly by Philly's own, Matt Koza.  He's also working on a Little Brother doc coming soon, looking forward to that.  I'll update info on the blog as I know more...

I plan to attend one of their upcoming East Coast shows, none are scheduled in Philly as of yet. If you don't know about The Foreign Exchange, get familiar.

The Foreign Exchange & fam is:  Phonte, Nicolay, Muhsinah, Yahzarah, Carlitta Durand, Zo and Darien Brockington.

You can FOLLOW them on Twitter, subscribe to their videos and check out their site. Support great music & talented musicians!

9/11 - 8 years later...

Unless you're fortunate enough to be at the show at Madison Square Garden in NYC tonight, you are like me and most of the hip hop and cable-having world...we're tuned into the Jay-Z LIVE concert on Fuse right now.

The show is going down!  Hov is doing his thing.  John Mayer was rippin' the guitar solos, Pharrell is doing his collabo thing, Santigold represented...all is well for hip hop, Jigga and Roc Nation.  I think people are forgetting what this is all about:  100% of the proceeds from ticket sales and concert merchandise will go directly to the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund.

Community service is an important aspect of maintaining and sustaining our communities.  I have been a volunteer since I was young.  My parents instilled in me the importance of helping the less fortunate, to be grateful for my middle-class life, to be aware of what is going on in the world around me...and most importantly to value my time and spend it wisely.  From clothing & toy drives, to Girl Scouts, to tutoring kids in Math after-school at the Boys and Girls Club, to helping flood victims complete FEMA applications, to a runaway teen hotline, to a youth homeless shelter in Germantown, to the Northern Home for Children in Manayunk...community service gives me awesome personal satisfaction.

I have met so many like-minded people and beautiful souls through my years involved in various community service programs.  The experiences are priceless, the encounters numerous, the relationships irreplaceable.

Currently I am registered with Greater Philadelphia Cares.  This organization is involved in various programs all over Philadelphia - youth, inmate, elderly, immigration, athletics, arts & crats, etc.  Once registered they will send you a newsletter and email updates for upcoming events.  You contact the assigned project leader for the project you are interested in participating in, you show up, there - you volunteered.  It's THAT easy.  And so worth it.

Tayyib Smith, one of the founders of two.one.five magazine and the COO/founder of Little Giant Media Inc., contacted me a few weeks ago about a project he was involved with and interested in.  It's a great cause.  I wanted to use my small voice and my blogging abilities to spread the word and share with you all what is going down and how you can help out and be a part of it. 

The project is called United We Serve.



Per Tayyib, here is the plan:

The primary initiative of United We Serve is to “expand the impact of existing organizations by engaging new volunteers in their work and encourage volunteers to develop their own “do-it-yourself” projects”. In order to contribute to this initiative, video vignettes highlighting individuals and organizations that are making positive impacts in the Philadelphia region will be composed and distributed to various viral media outlets. Every day starting on September 1st and ending on the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance, an individual or organization will be highlighted. Each subject will be asked a series of three over-arching questions: 1) Why do you volunteer? 2) How has service brought about change in your life and the community? 3) How can someone get involved in your service project? This series will bring to light those that are agents of change in the Philadelphia area and inspire others to do the same in the region and throughout the country.

tayyib@215mag.com

Please contact Tayyib above if you have anything to contribute - if not your time, then your ideas, your exposure, your influence on others to expose this initiative and generate interest in community service and giving back to the communities we live in.

We elected a community organizer and very involved community servant in Barack Obama this year, folks.  It's time for everyone to do their part and get involved.  Don't talk about it, be about it.  You might be surprised at who you meet, what you know, what you learn and where you end up. 

two.one.five mag party follow-up ~ PIAZZA

WrittenHouse came through, did their damn thing; Lif got on-stage and so did Dice Raw; Elevator Fight performed...it was a dope day, dope music, dope people.

The weather was great, I took the train down to Northern Liberties. I got up w/ Zarinah, re-connected w/ Lif, Manetane & his son were there, photogs Mikey & James were out flic'n it up...good times. Tayyib & Matt were celebrating the launch of two.one.five mag - there were skaters & Red Bull everywhere! Had an adult shake @ PYT w/ Tommy, and lemon drops after the show w/ Kush.  Here are some flics I took w/ my POS camera. I love the one of CK (here's his link although he hasn't tweeted since May!) sitting on stage before the show...

Sidebar: for those of you not in the know - PYT is a DOPE spot & a great place to meet people - great food, adult milkshakes, very laid back atmosphere and beautiful people everywhere. Go have a burger or a beer w/ Tommy, GET FAMILIAR!