GUSU #3: Hip Hop Kemp

(Notes: check out the video highlight reel I cut in the previous entry for the A/V experience. And also check out the amazing Kemp pics by Farbeon (http://www.myspace.com/farbeon) and Lokey Photography (http://www.myspace.com/lokeyphotography) They are simply bananas.)

The key prefix here is “RE-:” REmembering, REcapping, REflecting, REvisiting, REliving, REconnecting, REcollecting, REviewing and REfreshing. It’s REally wild to REcall how much has happened in the span of 2 weeks, let alone an entire month, and hard to separate days from nights and shows from shows, but that’s why I take life notes and blog chronologically. So take it back to the Czech REpublic for Hip Hop Kemp…

Hip Hop Kemp is the second largest Hip Hop festival on continental Europe (and vying to be the first). A 3-day all-element extravaganza on an old air force base in the Czech, outside of a lovely town called Hradec Kralove. Last year, Farbeon and I painted the festival Brooklyn with Baba Israel, Yako 400 and the Beatburger Band. We vowed to come back large in 2009 and rock it super official (check the “Summer Breaks Hip Hop Kemp” video on youtube for last year’s take). So this year we came back wth J-Live and Truemaster, a hotel room, transportation and momentum.





We arrived in Hradec Kralove after 3 hours sleep and a 6-hour train from Leipzig. We were greeted at the rail station by a driver with a sign for all of us, and were quickly buzzed to the luxurious Hotel Podvice. Leather couches, flat screen TV, a bed for everyone… this was living! I had an extreme super-rap-fan moment within 15 minutes of checking in: out in the hallway, I bumped into our nextdoor neighbor and introduced myself. He was like, “Peace, my name is Chee,” and I was like, “cool.” And his voice echoed in my head for a moment and I was like, “oh, as in SONNY CHEEBA from CAMP LO” and my college freshman self had a mild heart attack. This was obviously going to be a fantastic experience.

J-Live was rocking the mainstage at 7pm on Friday night, and 3rd Party was rocking the Music City hangar at 12:30am, so we headed out to the festival for soundcheck. Lamping backstage we bumped into Blu & Exile, B.O.B., Reef the Lost Cause, Torae, German DJ Marc Hype, Maria Kapix, Le Bob, John Robinson, DJ That Fucking Sara, Qwazzar from Typical Cats, Alesh One, Lokey Photography, Ghonzales, The Berlinutz… a nice mix of Hip Hop luminaries and our European extended family. It was pretty humbling and amazing to see J-Live reconnect with the circuit of underground heroes, here in the middle of Central Europe. Wild to think that you’ve got to some halfway around the world to catch up with peoples from back in the day.

By 5pm, the mainstage crowd was about 1,000 deep. Blu & Exile rocked a butter set. “Below the Heavens” has obviously made tracks around the globe. We got to catch up with Exile and reminisce over rocking The Pussycat Lounge in NYC with Aloe Blacc back in 2005 (hard to forget playing a strip club/music venue to a crowd of 10 people). On stage, this guy freaks the MPC like very few. He plays the pads with one hand and it sounds like a DJ rocking doubles, cutting and scratching while being backed by a band. Unbelievable skills flex. Blu has a real easy vibe on stage and works the mellow jams to perfection. Great performance, up and down.






J-Live was rocking after Blu & Exile. By the time Justice hit the stage the crowd was 1,500 deep. J had Truemaster on the wheels and Hired Gun to help hype. He was going to rock a self-proclaimed“competition set” (raising the bar and making it hard for the next acts to follow). The man has endless classic records, which makes it easy to pack them a 40-minute set with sing-a-long gems. Words can’t really capture the frenzy he had the crowd in, but fortunately I’ve got it on video. It was really heart-warming to see HG rock the hype-man role (perfectly suited for his raucous stage style) and to have J & True drop “Get Up Stand Up” and give 3rd Party a shout.







We had a few hours to kill before our set time. As big and dope as this festival is, it is quite a logistical spiderweb. We had a hell of a time getting fed, getting our meal stipend, really getting any kind of info… note to artists: make sure you advocate for your damn selves! Farbeon is the man when it comes to looking out for us, and delivering straight-talk in a most admirable way.

Now, the hitch in all of this was that we were scheduled to play directly after Method Man finished headlining the mainstage. In a perfect world, he would wrap up, the crowd would roll to the Hangar and we’d rock a packed house. In the Hip Hop world, we knew Meth would start late, finish late, and we’d be left rocking to a smaller crowd. It’s a Hip Hop world baby. So, we delayed for a bit and started to rock to a thin crowd, but with all of our dear friends in attendance. Method Man hadn’t even started on the mainstage yet, meaning folks waiting to see him could have caught us, but hey, it is what it is. We rocked a super-tight 30 minute set with J-Live in the front row holding down the crowd, along with Maria Kapix, Maria from Dresden, Le Bob, Ghonza, Marc Hype, K984, Alesh Uno, John Robinson and a bunch of heads we’d get to meet later. Truemaster held us down airtight on the decks, and as we blazed through the set, the crowd doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size. By the end, we had built a very nice sized audience, which unfortunately was catching the last 10 minutes of our show. As we closed with a freestyle, the “More! More! More!” chants came out of the crowd, now really filling in. The stage manager gave us the emphatic thumbs up to rock for another 15 minutes. Having only planned a 30-minute set, we had Truemaster drop instrumentals and we freestyled/jammed for 15 more minutes, working the crowd and still leaving them wanting more. Every show we’ve done on this tour has finished with a bigger crowd than it started with; I can’t be mad at that.


(Unfortunately, Truemaster's camera had all the photos of this set and the flash memory card died. Lost to the rap g-ds...)


We stuck around for a bit Friday night and caught a late-night set from Berlin super-emcee Amewu with DJ Werd. I was totally entranced by this cat’s flow and breath control. Simply astonishing (more on the Berlin EOW fam later). We called it a night after an epic Friday and headed back to the hotel. We all slept until after 2pm on Saturday, caught a late lunch courtesy of J, and got geared up to head back to Kemp for the closing night. We kicked it at a restaurant in the Centrum, getting busy on Pilsner and Becherovka before finally heading back to the Festival at 6pm or so.




While we were gone, our main homegirl Maria Kapix had worked some magic. Peoples were really feeling our set from the previous night, and feeling bad that we didn’t get to rock the whole set for a bigger crowd, so Maria worked it out for us to do a special guest set with Marc Hype and Jim Dunloop at the closing party for Kemp, also their record release party (this woman is unrivaled in generosity, warmth, and hospitialty). So after all of it, we were going to be doing another full set at 4am to wrap up the whole jam. We spent the evening checking out Devin the Dude, Killa Kella, wildin’ out to Camp Lo, and trying to maintain till 4am. We ended up going back to the hotel for a couple of hours to chill before coming back to rock. Yes, we passed up seeing La Coka Nostra to kick it in the hotel room freestyling with J-Live and catch laughing fits. Good trade☺





We got back as the mainstage was shutting down and the closing party with Marc Hype, Jim Dunloop and Lady Daisy was jumping off. Marc is a siiiiiick DJ (former German DMC & ITF champ, ITF World Finalist), and Jim crushes the keys. They put on a tremendous dance party, lacing irresistible uptempo funk/breakbeat joints. Lady Daisy guested on the vocals to take it to a next level. The dance floor was jamming, the vibe was amazing and I danced my ass off. The break circle was in effect and everyone got busy in the middle (even Far and J). We were invited to the stage to follow all this, and rocked a balls-out set till 5am. At the end of our set, 3rd Party invited J-Live to the stage, and the late-revelers got a special treat as J did “Them That’s Not” for about 65 people at 5am. Out of this world.






So, we got back to the hotel at 5:30am, packed, slept till 8am and jumped in the van to Prague. We dropped off J, True and Torae at the airport, said peace, took the group photo and headed to DaSka headquarters to begin the Praha stretch of the tour. J and True were off to London to rock one last show that night. Superheroes in the most genuine sense. A week for the record books and the personal Hip Hop annals. My 19 year-old self is freaking out somewhere in 1998, beaming with pride, staring in amazement and loving every minute of it.

Get Up Stand Up Video Journal Vol. 1 - Leipzig & Hip Hop Kemp

If it doesn't embed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfBtGe5F5l4

GUSU #2: In Full Effect

“My role models are my peers now/been doing this ish for years now”

Where to start, where to stop? Well, maybe best with a quote from the very man with whom we’ve been sharing the stage and road for the last week, one Justice Allah (see “MCee” from “All of the Above”). It has been a hurricane of 6 days, and a rarity to be sitting in the eye long enough to collect my thoughts, let alone blog them down. Sofia to Berlin to Leipzig to Hip Hop Kemp, finally to Prague today. It fortunately feels enough like home here to catch my breath and capture this past week in words…


Far Photography 2009


Arrived in Berlin and got right into the mix of the local underground scene. Farbeon has been building with the Berlin heads for a minute and is really plugged into the happenings. On Tuesday and Wednesday we hit some nice spots: Tuesday was EOW Berlin, a cypher style open mic in the most pure sense. Two turntables, one mic, a circle and a bunch of sick emcees. We rocked the jam for 4 straight hours, no break, no fresh air. DJs IGadget and Bulet hold it down weekly and the MCs who rock it are fire! We kicked it hard with Alibi, the EOW Berlin champ and an insane freestyler. Next level, 10 styles, tri-lingual. The Germanic syllabic structure is not the prettiest, smoothest on the linguistic scale, but there were a few MCs knocking the sauerkraut out of it. We’re rocking next weekend both Friday and Saturday with these cats, outdoors on the Alexanderplatz Friday and on the main stage at Cassiopeia on Saturday night!


On Wednesday the 3rd Party Voltron formation was completed on a foreign continent for only the second time ever, and the first for an extensive run. The Hired Gun arrived and we spent the day at the Jewish Museum before we all rolled out to Berlin’s finest weekly Hip Hop party, “Beatevolution” at Cassiopeia (which Get Up Stand Up rocked back on August 12). The party has been running for almost 6 years and is organized by Le Bob, who is a 5 Star dude. He has had a complete run of the underground “who’s who” roster bless the stage during this time, and it is a real pleasure building and chilling with him. The feature this week was one Miles Bonny, a soul singer/horn player from Kansas. This cast brought some serious chops to the stage, both as vocalist and trumpeter. He killed a set full of original joints and some tasteful covers, and was then joined by saxophonist Charles Cooper (of J. Rawls “Liquid Crystal Project”) for some riffing. Le Bob worked it out for me to jump on stage and do a bit of beatbox/jazz horn improvising with them. Check the footage for the result!


Far Photography 2009




Thursday we hit the ground running to reconvene with J-Live and Truemaster, who had just arrived back in Berln after a 4 day trip back to the U.S. to rock a show after 4 days in Europe. We all rendez-voused at the Berlin Hofbanhohf and jumped the train to Leipzig, 90 minutes southeast of Berlin, to rock a venue called Conne Island (pronounced just like “Coney Island”) and roll out the full-force GUSU show.




We were met at the train station by Roland, our driver, in an 8-person Mercedes van (let’s call it a “cargo limo”). We didn’t have much time before soundcheck, so we dropped our bags at the hotel, took a 15 minutes Leipzig stroll and headed over to Conne Island.
Much like Cassiopeia, it’s more than a concert venue: skate park, café, restaurant, small stage, big stage, graffiti everywhere. We were slated to be rocking the smaller stage (it’s festival season, so the clubs economize) to a packed house on a blazing hot day in Leipzig.

The promoter, Andre, had dinner and a stocked fridge waiting for us in the Green Room. Hotels, hot meals, cold beer…. I could get used to this style of traveling. Local DJ Anna held down the decks before the show, dropping lots of underground classics and keeping the vibe very Dilla-esque (a similarity to both Berlin parties; they love the progressive underground out here!). 3rd Party hit the stage with Truemaster and rocked till the walls were sweating (it was literally 96 Degrees in the space). The stage itself was pretty cramped, but we kept it dynamic and moving with a set of group joints, half-versions of solo cuts and some lovely beatbox/vocal jamming. Had the crowd worked up into a seroiosu frenzy. True Huey kept it crisp on the decks for us, and then kept it moving right into Justice’s set.

It’s pretty mind-blowing to enjoy this tour from the artist perspective, the global traveler’s journal and the Hip Hop superfan’s stageside seat. I have seen J-Live rock probably 15 times in the new millennium, and it never gets any less fantastic. The man is a stage scientist, blazing through his catalog, mastering hooks and call and response, pace changes and freestyle… then he DJs and raps at the same time. Give him 30 minutes or 2 hours and he builds a climactic set that never fails to leave the crowd calling for more. 150 or 1500 fingers tapping the air to “Them That’s Not,” or one person seeing “Braggin’ Writes” for the first time; it’s a bar-setting Hip Hop show that gives me equal parts elation, education and inspiration. The man never really stopped teaching.

So the blog action is in catch-up mode right now, and 2009 Hip Hop Kemp is going to get service all of it’s own. It’s on to 4 days working out of DaSka homebase in Prague city with the Hob-n-Nob familia, rocking Pantheon tonight and the big show at Chapeau Rouge on Thursday with Beatburger Band and Philip TBC. We’ll be celebrating the single release from TBC’s new album that I feature on called “Czech Yourself,” and 3P will be rocking an hour-long set. Brrrrrap!




Far Photography 2009

Live Beatbox, Sax and Trumpet freestyle from Beatevolution, Berlin, 8.19.09.

GUSU #1: Bloggin-A-Right!

Bloggin’-A-Right!

Get Up, Stand Up, sit down, drag bag, take-off, touch down, passport, speak French, Paris, re-lax, birthday, par-tay, board train, high speed, Chunnel, England, Far B, Zaja, accents, no sleep, much rain, two shows, Ap Juic, Hackney, Baba, Contact, move merch, stickers, picnic, hit road, Get Up Stand Up!

Week 1 of the tour in a two-syllable comma-laden-prose nutshell. The legs and back are a bit weary after 7 days of being the object in motion until another force or object acts upon that object to affect its movement. Despite the fact that I’m zipping underneath the English Channel aboard the Eurostar at the moment, the ride is smooth enough to compose my thoughts and reflect on a tremendous jumpoff to this European adventure, as much personal as professional, friend-tional as fuctional.

After a barn-burning couple of weeks in NYC leading up to departure, I crossed the Atlantic as I did for the first time ever, at age 17: alongside my homey Stephen. We flew into Paris, which I hadn’t set eyes upon since 1996. We arrived just in time to celebrate his birthday, rent bikes and get re-acquainted with the breathtaking streets and sites (and dust some of the rust off of my school-age French). It was an utter throwback to the days of backpacking and Eurorailing: logging 10’s of kilometers of walking, sipping wine by canals, rolling by futbol stadiums, running through parks and practicing off-beat tourism. We made serious tracks from the Louvre to Le Boit de Vincennes to the Eiffel Tour to the Parc de Prince, following the seductive curves of the Seine well into the early morning hours bathed in fullmoonlight. The quirkiest/nerdiest/coolest thing we did was check out the 35-year residency of Corbusier, “the father of modernism.” He lived on the top two floors of a building he designed on the outskirts of the west of Paris, very close to Stade Roland Garros and Parc de Prince, homes of the French Open and PSG soccer club, respectively. It was a fantasy domain of geometric shapes, self-defined practicality, studio space, incredible rooftop vistas and modern convenience. Bless Stephen’s Francophonic fetish and endless pursuit of the brilliantly bizarre.




After two days in Paris and a rekindled fiery desire to resettle in France, it was off to England to launch the tour in London. In light of last summer’s overweight baggage fiasco, I was determined to only fly major carriers or take the train. So I boarded the hyperspeed Eurostar, and two and half hours later, arrived at King’s Crossing in London. I relied on sensory memory to guide my bus travels to Hackney and Appl Juic’s pad, where I was set to rendez-vous with Farbeon. I managed to roll up on the “Rapping Supply Teacher’s” home right around midnight, drenched and spent and thrilled. The three of us, along with Juic’s lady Sarah, stayed up till the wee hours writing a track called “The Nothing,” trading teacher tales and laughs.

The next day, Zajazza arrived from France to join us for the jumpoff at Pangea Project. Pangea is a grassroots live music/poetry venue is East London, very reminiscent of the Bowery Poetry Club in layout, vibe and staffing. The bill was Appl Juic, 3P with Zajazza, local Grime cats Conrad Scoundrel and Spitfire, and an 8-bit Atari producer. Appl ripped a set with songs from his solo record and gems from “Revision Raps,” a state exam test prep album he’s written, amazingly enough at the same time I’ve been scribing and recording the “Fresh Prep” project for the Global 10 regents. He’s got jams like “Electricity” that break down circuitry, wattage, voltage… wow. Conrad Scoundrel and his crew ripped it as well, bringing the raw energy and tongue-twisting skills that come with Grime to the intimate venue. Serious skills.





Despite the light-ish crowd, we put down the perfect set to get things rolling. Far and I rocked for a cool hour, finding our stage legs and working out the set we’d been envisioning for the last month. It was totally bananas, and felt great to go in deep with a very engaged crowd. Personal highlight included getting to see Deenal and Yitzak, who I met last year when I rocked Pangea. They came back in full force to represent, along with Liam, whom I met on the Eurostar and built with. “As likely to meet your fam as we are to make a fan…”

The next morning was a blur of Iphone alarms and quick hop rides to the train station. We cabbed it to Euston station and jumped the train to Manchester. Baba and Core Rhythm met us at the other end and we walked the few blocks back to Baba & Dawn’s new crib.

Baba recently accepted the position of Executive Director/Creative Director of the Contact Theater, a progressive youth-oriented experimental theater group/venue in Manchester. And let me tell you, the man is living a well-deserved hard-earned dream. Before he took the job, Contact already had a decade-old tradition of youth-centered programming based on workshops and rising possibility (youth move from attendees to junior trainers to workshop mentors). Contact is also a pioneering venue in the world of Hip Hop Theater, both in the UK and internationally. To hear Baba’s story of his interview is one of pure inspiration and straight balls, but that is his story to recount…




Baba and Dawn have an amazing pad on Canal St, kind of the West Village of Manchester. We settled in there, relaxed for a minute and all headed to Contact for soundcheck. The building itself is incredible: a 300 person capacity main space, a black box theater, a rehearsal space, a café/bar and youth-friendly nooks and crannies at every turn. In the time it took us to get the sound right, it was clear that Baba has found a new home. The most inspiring moment of this young trip was when this cat Fabian was chatting Baba up about his desire to “become an arts educator and run workshops, cause , you know, I might not make it in the music biz but want to represent Hip Hop culture and pass it on.” He’s 17 years old.

We caught a quick bite on Curry Row and got back to Contact to get the night rolling. In Manchester they have been rocking a “Freestyle Mondays” event (directly based on Sin Sin Mondays) for 3 years. On this night, we were going to debut “The Freestyle Pyramid” in the UK. The show was hosted by Baba, held down by Zajazza, featured an Open Mic, Appl Juic, Core Rhythm, and Farbeon and myself. The Pyramid broke up the sets and went over extremely well. 8 competitors, 3 rounds, the final between Chronicle and Visceral. Chronicle took it in splendid form.






Everyone killed their sets. Core tore it down, Appl Juic slayed a poem and the “Chewing Gum” joint, and Far, Zajazza and I brought a polished, crisp, concise version of the previous nights show to the stage. The night ended with an outdoor cypher that was all peace and love, highlighted by a teacher/student chide between us and a 14 year old Mancunian, a Hip Hop trivia freestyle and a Q&A freestyle that was siiiiiiick!




We spent yesterday recovering and chillaxing, and went to a magnificent backyard BBQ at the cottage home of the President of the British Black Arts Coalition, a tremendous woman named Sue. It was a bittersweet affair for her, as the Coalition’s state funding was just terminated after 19 years of consistent production, prudent and profitable financial management and groundbreaking race relations work. I mean, this woman founded Black History Month in Northern England. It was quite humbling, educational and inspiring to be in her presence and converse, as well as to peep her BBQing/hostessing skills. As a backyard party afficianado, I was incredibly impressed and left very full.

Today was just gearing up to leave. It was the third continent (or, island off-coast of a continent) that Zajazza and I have blessed, and a great start to the second European tour for 3rd Party. Going global with the NYC family never ceases to amaze me. This was literally the dream incarnate: NYC MCs with a British MC held down by a French DJ in England. All represented on the “Get Up Stand Up” Compilation, all acquainted through positive Hip Hop culture and heavy cultural digging.

So I’m lamping in first class on the Eurostar, buzzing back to Paris for a few hours before boarding a plane to Bulgaria tomorrow to dive into Percy and Masha’s wedding festivities, the other primary reason for this trip. It’s going to be an adventure of it’s own, uniting my best friends from high school as far east as I’ve ever been. There is a potential DJ gig or two lined up, but I am looking very forward to some genuine vacation time, which I haven’t had in many moons. Then it’ll be off to Berlin to reconnet with 3P and hit the heavy stretch of this tour alongside J-Live and DJ Truemaster. In the meantime, Farbeon will be setting it off with two shows in Germany with J, in Cologne and Berlin.

It’s a verbose recap of 7 days, but I’ll be dammed if it wasn’t as loaded as it sounds. I am simply looking forward to being static for a few days and not lugging around 40 kilos of luggage (getting lighter with every gig). Anybody know a good Bulgarian chiropractor?

Get Up Stand Up Tour Kicks Off this Friday in London!

Peace, Paix, Paz, Cheers, Ahoj!


Say Word Entertainment is proud to present our 2009 European Tour: “Get Up Stand Up!” This tour will feature the entire 3rd Party (Farbeon, Rabbi Darkside & Hired Gun) alongside the legendary J-LIVE with DJ Truemaster. As we hit venues and festivals from the UK to the Czech Republic, we will be joined by a massive of special guests and collaborators, including Baba Israel, Core Rhythm, Appl Juic, Zajazza, Beatburger Band, and more TBA.


This weekend we get things rolling in the UK. Friday night August 7, we will be rocking the Pangea Project in East London hosted by fellow artist/educator APPL JUIC! This tour jumpoff show will feature Rabbi D, Farbeon, Core Rhythm, DJ Zajazza and the “rapping supply teacher” himself, Appl Juic. Check out the Pangea Project here:


http://www.pangeaproject.co.uk/


Then Saturday August 8, we head up to Manchester to rock with our newly relocated NYC homey BABA ISRAEL at the incredible Contact Theater. Baba recently accepted a directorial position at Contact, and we’re blessed to be welcomed into his new creative home. This show promises to be legendary; it features Farbeon, Rabbi D, Core Rhythm, Appl Juic, Baba Israel, DJ Zajazza, as well as an Open Mic for local Manchester cats who we have heard rip it! Hip Hop culture is thriving in Manchester and we can’t wait to get busy! Check out the Contact Theater here:


http://www.contact-theatre.org/






If you are overseas or have peoples here, please help spread the word! We need all the support we can get. Check out the tour poster and schedule.






Let ‘em know we’ve got a ridiculous new tour compilation: Say Word’s “Get Up Stand Up” featuring 3rd Party, Breez Evahflowin, Core Rhythm, Baba & Yako 440, Doron Lev, Eagle Nebula, Gr& Phee and Rhyson Hall, Dyalekt, Oddy Gato, Appl Juic, ESP Collective and J-Live with Posdanous from DE LA SOUL!


Let ‘em know we’ve got bananas tour t-shirts designed by our main homey J-SKILLZ!
(merch will be available stateside when we get back in September… if there’s any left☺)



Stay tuned to www.saywordentertainment.com for updates, footage and blogs.

You can check my personal blog at rabbirapsontheroad.blogspot.com.

It’s going to be a heck of a trip. Stay in touch and keep an eye on the updates!


Get Up, Stand Up, Come on throw your hands up!

GET UP STAND UP 2009 Summer Tour w J-LIVE & 3RD PARTY

Skillz to Take Brazil: Paz Interior

3.1.09

Paz Interior

It’s March that comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, right? Well, on this first day of the new month and last day of the tour, that same adage aptly describes Skillz to Take Brazil. After 8 days operating at a fever pitch, we wound down the last 7 in comfort and placidity, following a combination of plans and whims.

Last Monday, we took an overnight bus to the coastal island of Florinapolis, 7 hours north of Porto Alegre. During the night we whisked up the 101, the South American equivalent of Highway 101, coincidentally a road bearing the same numeric designation as the legendary U.S. West Coast thoroughfare. Floripa is a 70 km long island known as a Brazilian vacation destination, as well as a popular getaway spot for Argentines. The island is bent into a series of cove towns and beaches, and we headed north to Canasvarias.



Zajazza had been to this town previously, and fortunately, we ran into a hotel proprietor friend of his, who happened to have a vacant flat. We scored a lovely apartment for a mere 180 r$ pr night (less than $90) split among the 3 of us. It was steady luxury, complete with kitchen, wifi, and a block from the beach. Considering this was the only time on the trip we’d be paying for accommodations, it was well worth it.

Our casa at Solar Isla Verde very quickly became the Skillz to Take Brazil laboratory. Zajazza set up his MPD and continued his prolific production streak, churning out 2-3 new beats a day. Hired and I wrote at least 1 new song daily, some collabs, some solo, and built the catalog of possibilities for this record. It is the rainy season in Southern Brazil, which bode very well for our indoor productivity, and not so well for our beach time. But I managed to kick it outside quite a bit while, soak up some rays, chill by the ocean, take some long beach runs, and simply scorch tracks when at home.




We had planned to venture to Sao Paolo by bus from Floripa, but all of our contacts there had sketched out or fallen through. This was mainly attributed to Carnaval aftermath, when everyone is exhausted and broke at the end of summer. With no guarantees and no place to crash (not to mention a 10 hour bus ride there and 17 hour return trip to Porto Alegre) we opted to stay in Floripa an extra 2 days and keep the engine running. It was a wise decision, as I feel pretty well rested and very accomplished. After a first week of wall-to-wall madness, it was nice to have a home of our own and a schedule we defined. We ate well, stayed merry, wrote exorbitant amounts and slept in beds. We even hit the streets to record some hilarious drops for the album.





Friday we spent the day in Floripa centro, doing some digging and wandering. Friday night we hopped to overnight bus back to Porto Alegre. The big homey Edhino was kind enough to let us crash at his house one last night, which was huge. We showed up at 8:00am, weary luggage bearers, and proceeded to fall right back to sleep. I woke up a little early, wrote a bit, caught lunch, did laundry, and headed to the city centro to dig some more. Zajazza knows the record spots in Porto Alegre, and knows how to bargain. He has scored some serious Brazilian jazz/samba/afro records on this trip. I scooped a couple good finds as well, but man, this cats digs. A true craftsman.





Our ambitions to hit the town on our last night faded into freestyling at Edhino’s and into a pitcher of Pitu. All well and good by me, as I sit here at 9:00am, readying to head out to the airport 8 hours from now. This trip took a number of unexpected and magical turns, and most importantly, we made some serious friends. We didn’t get everywhere we set out to visit, but we got to know Rio Grande do Sul very well. We didn’t rock quite as many shows as we’d planned, but we wrote an entire new album. The closeness to Carnaval actually hurt our ability to book, so we know better for next time, when we come back to tour the North and release the album.

There’s so much reflecting and digesting to be done, two things which life in New York City doesn’t really allot for. Lesson plan scribing awaits me on the plane, and I will be back at Canarsie High School 4 hours after dropping my bags at home. Then it’s into throes of teaching, DJing, promoting our show with J-Live March 11 @ Mercury Lounge (see?) and hunkering down for the tail end of winter. Fortunately I will be getting into full swing with my new gig at the amazing Facing History School, and falling back into the arms of my wonderful lady.

This has been an eye-opening educating inspiring trip, filled with affirmation, human beauty and resilient spirits, coupled with sad news from home and the glimpses into favella life that are so simultaneously sad and stirring. The transformative light of Hip Hop culture is shining bright in Estados do Sul. We have managed to catch some of that light in the form of song, documenting the dichotomy of Brazilian life and the experience of being artist-tourists though writing, recording, photo and video. To call this a “learning experience” would be an understatement, for these are the experiences I learn to live for and live to learn from. It would not have been possible without the kindness of so many Brazilians, the organizational drive of Zajazza, his prolific ingenuity as a producer (and quad-lingual skills), the synergy that Hired and I share, and everyone’s general goodwill and bravery. The most wonderful thing is that we get to spend the next 3 months finishing the “Skillz to Take Brazil” album for late summer/fall release, and we can spread the kinetic energy of this tour infinitely.

Tudo bem?

Tudo beleza!

Acredito no Hip Hop, tamos juntos!