"Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I'm not perfect - and I don't live to be. But before you start pointing fingers, make sure your hands are clean." ~ Bob Marley
Saturday, September 11th I hit the TLA w/ my ace, Chantelle. Little Brother performed with DICERAW, The Money Making Jam Boyz (Slim, Truck & Dice were present - The Roots Crew represented!), Mars Co-Op, DJ Phsh & DJ Statik were on the wheels, Joe Scudda & Chaundon rocked...it was an EPIC show & great night for hip hop in Philly.
Phonte & DICERAW
I shot the show for two.one.five. magazine, you can check their site out HERE. Special thanks to Kim, Chris & the guru Tayyib - that man does great things for this City. #getfamiliar #support
Phonte, Tayyib, Pooh
All of the photos are also over on my Flickr. Check em out, bookmark my page :)
Joe Scudda & Big Dho
I had a blast, it was great seeing the fellas again...the only thing that sucks about being the photographer is you're in NONE of the shots :( No matter, I will never forget that night. And S-O LB's manager, Big Dho, love that dude right there! Follow him on Twitter, hilarity!
Chantelle & Dunny
This is LB's last tour, so if you don't catch them this time around, you may never see them perform live. Sad but true, LB is no more. #goodtimes
The day after my birthday, VA's own The Clipse came to Philly. Unless you've been living under a rock, you would know that their new album "Til The Casket Drops" was released 12.08.09. It's in stores now, cop that! And again, this is NOT a music blog. I can't keep you folks up w/ ALL the good music being released...there are music blogs, magazines & shows for that. But I do what I can :)
I headed down to UBIQ on 15th & Walnut w/ Ashley. I 'met' Malice on Twitter long before they came to Philly, and I looked forward to finally getting to meet him in person. Malice & Pusha T graciously signed autographs and posed for pics w/ fans. Freeway* came through, free Heineken for everyone, my homie DJ Ambush was on the wheels, I ran into a few friends and scenesters, I met The Clipse...all was good.
Here are some of the flics I shot @ UBIQ:
After the in-store me & Ash headed over to Byblos, a Greek spot on 18th St, to have birthday dinner and share cherry hookah. An evening well spent. Good music, good food, food people. My entire birthday week was awesome.
* Freeway's new jawn - "The Stimulus Package" - drops 02.16.10 Be on the lookout for that. He's gonna be performing in Philly @ The Troc on 02.15.10 as well. Where else would he release him album but PHILLY?! P.S.P. - Philly Support Philly (c) DJ NoPhrillz
Of course this was another two.one.five mag event. The 2nd Heineken Green Room Party I've attended thus far. Keep up w/ all the beautiful people and dope events over on their site.
January: New Year's I was w/ 'Boocifer'. We met up w/ his friends in U City, had drinks & left out to hit 'our spot'. We rolled out to Lemon Hill, but it was crowded and there were cars everywhere. We wanted some privacy but needed to be able to see the fireworks happening at Penn's Landing. And we were literally rollin'...if you know what I mean. So we hit the Plat, "...a place called the Plateau, that's where everybody go..." Well that's "Summertime"...this was New Year's Eve. And it was freezing! We sat in the truck and listened to Jimi Hendrix bring crazy, ecstatic life to 'Experience Hendrix' over & over. We had a great view of the fireworks, it was a great night. Magic. *That* inspired *this*... listen to Jimi. (R.I.P.)
February: 06 February 2009. Robert Nesta Marleywas born February 6, 1945 in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. The entire country of Jamaica celebrates Bob Marley Day every February 6th all over the island. I had been to Jamaica before, but never to Nine Mile and never on Bob's birthday. I made up my mind that my trip to Jamaica this year would be in February and it had to be with 'Boocifer'. We arrived on the 5th and took a jeep safari to Nine Mile the following day. We planned to spend the entire day @ the Marley compound (where Bob was born & buried) and hang out off-resort. This was one of the most emotionally bonding experiences I've ever had in life. It was a truly dope, truly deep and truly defining day for me. I may re-post my Nine Mile blog for a more detailed description of the events & the encounters...it's sitting in 'edit' status being that some of what went down there is very personal and I'm not sure if I'm ready for all that out here on the innanets. #imjussayin. Know this: Bob Lives.
March: Wow. This inspired "215's & Heartbreaks" (shout-out Regular Ass Ron, I promise Imma post it in the New Year...I'm almost ready, homie). I dumped 'Boocifer' after nine years of friendship, over three years of a relationship...it was the hardest and most disappointing thing I've ever had to do. So to call this a 'memory' would be an understatement. This 'memory' deserves it's own explanation, and it has one: 215's & Heartbreaks. I have had it sitting in here for months and every time I log in and glance at it, I read it, tweek it, read it again...I'm just not ready to share all that w/ the world yet. It's personal. It's private. Painful. And I am not proud.
I miss intimacy, but I love my space.
I love my anonymity, but I miss the familiarity...
I love the freedom I have experienced; 'single' opportunities that would not have been available had I been 'in a relationship' (lines *read* lines). But it's just not the same. I have to convince myself I'm better off, and that's not always easy, yet at the end of the day I know I made the best decision and I have no regrets.
"I gather up
each sound
you left behind
and stretch them
on our bed.
each nite
I breathe you
and become high."
poem #3 sonia sanchez
My love jones. That chapter of the book is finished now but w/ kind regard and great memories. It was very real and very valid. I have NO regrets.
April: Cali, New Mexico, Texas...I have such great people in my life. Moni Beth is one of them. Monika is from PA but moved out West over 10 years ago. She is about 9 years older than me and a longtime family friend. Monika was my gymnastics instructor when I was a young jawn. She taught me and my sister, Hezz, how to walk the balance beam and do back flips. She has modeled, worked for MTV, talked my ears off for hours countless times..she was really there for me through the break-up. I hadn't seen her since she was in Philly when her Dad died a few years ago, so we made arrangements for me to fly out West; spend a week out there in the desert relaxing and getting my mind right. Monika is no square, but she doesn't rasta either...if I was gonna be in Cali on 4/20, there was NO way I was NOT gonna get my rasta on while I was out there (she calls it my "Jamaican jumpoff", *smmfh*). And jumpoff I did. It was a beautiful, much needed, emotionally healing experience. I have mad files of photos we snapped and a journal I kept while I was out there. I'll post the photos for sure one day. The journal may never reach another person's eyes ever. That's probably what is best. Sangria, Native American reservations, dead snakes, authentic Mexican spots, ladies only clubs, steam rollers & vaporizers...good times.
THIS video dropped on 4/20, while I was out West. I blogged about this group, this video...I cannot say enough about The Foreign Exchange. If you don't know, #getfamiliar. A dope dude from Philly by the name of Matt Koza directed this. Some of my friends are in this video as well. THIS album, Leave It All Behind, helped me through some rough shit. They are now Grammy nominated. Love you guys. I left the West Coast on 4/21, my little bro's birthday. I text Bud that morning while I was on my way to the airport to wish him a Happy Birthday. He text me back to thank me and confirmed what I had known all along - Foxanne was pregnant and they were having a baby. I was pissed I had to find out like that, especially when I had asked him not long before that if she was pregnant?! Regardless, my little brother is now a daddy. Life is moving so ef'n fast.
May: Tanya Morgan. Wrote all about it HERE. Good times. #getfamiliar
June: 06.06.09 The 2nd Annual Roots Picnic. Epic. It went down, I was there. I went with three of my homies: Anwar, Malik and Manetane. WrittenHouse performed, PE, Santigold, The Black Keys...we were VERY close to the stage & Black Thought - *sigh* the lieutenant was definitely FRESH. Finally had a face-to-face w/ the homie @Carolinaware *hugs* Mark. Check his blog out HERE...he is so dope. Ran into Al, Tanya Morgan's manager, and his peoples. Pooh of Little Brother was in attendance. Met Asher Roth (he was wearing a Celtics jersey, my squad!). Kid Cudi flipped out on the crowd in one of the performance tents. Amanda Diva was doin' her damn thing. It was a great day for hip hop, art and good people.
The Roots' new album How I Got Over should be out in the new year. It was set to drop in September '09, but it got pushed back. You can keep up w/ all things Roots and read ?uestlove's blog over on #thatsite aka okayplayer.com In the meantime, enjoy this: (props to www.onsmash.com, where I lifted the video from)
Also notable as a June #09Memory - the King, the Legend, the Idol, the Icon, the Superstar who was Michael Joseph Jackson died June 25, 2009.
I sat at work and bawled my eyes out watching his funeral on CNN along w/ the rest of the world. I will never forget listening to Motown and The Jackson 5 as a young jawn - my Mom used to blast MJ & his brothers every weekend when I was growing up. I'll never forget watching the Thriller video for the 1st time w/ my sisters and my Uncle Steve being amazed and afraid all at the same time. And then begging my Mom for the Thriller coat in the video, which I received and am still looking for the pictures of (my parents moved a few years ago and every time I bring it up my Mom breathes all hard at the thought of going into the attic or into storage to look for old photos). I remember the 1st cassette I ever received was MJ's Thriller; playing it repeatedly & pausing it to write the lyrics down. He sang and we all listened, loved even those that hurt him, danced and we all imitated and made his own private Heaven while he was here in Earth. He was an inspiration to many and will be missed by all.
The text portrait above was created by RALPH UELTZHOEFFER. To read what the content of the portrait says, click HERE. It's very interesting. He's created these portraits for quite a few celebrities, most still living. Spike Lee directed this video, props once again to www.onsmash.com This video is ill.
July: 24 July 2009. EASILY one of the best nights of my life!
THANK YOU Denaya and Shamara. I will NEVER forget that night. I have seen The Roots live 13 times and attended both picnics. Everyone who knows me knows I am the biggest Roots 'Stan' EVER...this was the best show thus far. Aside from the rowdy white boys who kept bumpin' me and spilling beer all over the place...I had thee best view and thee best seat ever. Aside from being on stage? But check out my prior posts for details, I've included the flics again.
#CMONSON - just LOOK at this man. *sigh*
R.I.PTitus "Baatin" Glover (March 8, 1974–July 31, 2009) There is a great write-up along w/ videos, photos and links HERE. If you don't know who Baatin is, you need to step-up your music game. Seriously.
August: 08.15.09 SUMMER ADRENALINE ISSUE LAUNCH PARTY
Check out the details HERE. I did a write-up of the day on a previous post. Here's some footage I got after the show of Kush clowning around. Good times.
*Shout-out Princess Z...it's always a good time when you're around, Zarinah. xo All my hip hop heads check out her radio show every Sunday and her music HERE. She's dope.
R.I.P.Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein (March 30, 1973 – August 28, 2009) There was a memorial fund established after his death on his website to help those struggling w/ addiction. It was a passion and a cause that DJ AM dealt w/ personally and he was in the process of helping others at the time of his death. You can learn more about that HERE.
September: 09.12.09 WrittenHouse & MURS @ North Star w/ Ashley. I heart this chick: for her taste in music - she burned me ALL of the Wale mixtapes, her maturity, her BLOG, her advice and her good sense. Good times.
I have blogged about WrittenHouse before, I know those of you who follow me on Twitter see me tweeting about them and to them...I cannot convey enough through words or photos how DOPE these dudes are. Truly talented brothas doing something different. If you have the opportunity to check out one of their shows live, DO SO. Follow them on Twitter, become a fan on their Facebook page, download their mixtape Sunshine Philadelphia Vol 2: The WrittenHouse Effect HERE, #getfamiliar.
The hype man, Sleeves, was absent and missed during the show, but Dame did his best to fill-in. Here's a dope interview/vid the homies did w/ this chick Krissy Carlson (formerly known as Cosmik Krissy) out of Providence, R.I. This was filmed outside of The North Star Bar in North Philly.
*Shout-out DJ Ambush, who calls me 'Double T'. He DJ'ed their set that night @ North Star. I got a lot of love for that dude right there. He's involved in a lot of hip hop projects around the City other than DJ'ing. Check out his Living Proof Radio show w/ the dude MARS every Thursday from 10pm-12am HERE and *FOLLOW* him on Twitter. xo Beezy.
October: 10.23.09 New York City w/ Ashley.
We had a helluva ordeal getting from Philly to NYC....and getting home. The rain. The hotel in Yonkas (EF YOU, Chaundon!). The cabs and the trains. I forgot my belt (ANY belt!) back in Philly and had to wear a dress that requires a belt w/out one! It was NOT funny @ the time, but it's funny now looking back. While we were there, we had a BALL. We watched the entire show front row, I snapped some flics and after the set we hung out w/ the crew.
I've blogged before about their Grammy nod; I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they win and get the recognition they deserve. SUPPORT great music and talented musicians. The members of The Foreign Exchange have an extended family w/ solo projects and other releases. Check my blog for those as well.
November: 28 November 2009. 10:14pm. My brother's son, Jackson Thomas, was born. Clearly the BEST day of 2009. He's healthy, he's adorable, he's perfect. I am in LOVE. And I call him "Jax".
December: 16 December 2009. Heineken Green Room Party.
I met Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, of the l.e.g.e.n.d.a.r.y. ROOTS Crew !!!
Do you want more?!!!??! If so, check out the flics and the blog HERE. Of course, it was written.
Shout-out Vickie...the lieutenant IS fresh, indeed. Thank you for sharing my joy w/ me, LOL. She is a dope photog and you can check her stuff out HERE.
I also need to shout-out my girl, @FreedomReeves. She is one of the most beautiful people (inside AND out) I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and honor of getting to know. We went to the party together, and she is my WITNESS I did not act a fool or show my ass. I love that woman, check out her site. Good times.
THIS is just my favorite Roots song EVER...
*EDITED b/c I SHOULD have included this prior to posting BUT...there are MANY people - both old & new friends I have had the pleasure of meeting, hanging out w/, learning from, buggin' out w/ - who encourage me to keep writing & keep sharing my thoughts and my experiences w/ y'all. There are too many to name them all, but I'd like to name one more who is consistent and ever present on my back and in my head pushing me to post my blogs...xo Sherm. You're the best, bew. As long as you keep reading, I'll keep writing.
Yoooooooooooo, two.one.five mag is having the Heineken Green Room @ Silk City on Wed. 16 Dec. 2009 from 9 pm - 2 am. Philly's own Black Thought will be performing w/ DJ Statik (aka Mr. Sonny James) on the wheels. Should be dope. I'll be there, EARLY!
Shout-out NOAH...thank you ;) *FOLLOW HIM* on Twitter, folks.
I hit up Johnny & Brenda's on a Monday night to catch-up w/ the chicas and check out Schoolly D & his live band. Ethel Cee had a set w/ DJ Ultraviolet; Selina performed w/ Schoolly D & his band.
Mr. Lif performed w/ Bahamadia & DJ Statik...there wasn't much of an audience, but we made the best of it and had some fun anyways.
I apologize in advance for the grainy photos during WrittenHouse's set. There was a fog machine going for some unknown reason and it was really in the mofo way...but after we cleared all that up I was able to get some good shots of the remainder of the show.
Had a lot of fun and met some great people. And the 'Green Room' was green fo sho...good times. Follow these talented musicians on Twitter, support their music and check out their sites. There are links on their names above.
Thank YOU, Ethel Cee and DJ Ultraviolet...great night for music & for a good cause. I had a ball! *FOLLOW* them on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, support talented musicians & dope hip hop.
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!
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.)
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
ev * o * lu * tion [ev-uh-loo-shuhn] noun
1. a gradual process in which something or someone changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. 2. a continuing process of change from one state or condition to another.