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Last weekend I saw ChocQuibTown live at Moy’s, their first show in Barranquilla. This was actually the second time I’ve seen ChocQuibTown. A few years ago they came to my college (UNCW) on a tour through the states. The show was in a relatively small bar, giving me the chance to get my second up and close experience of the band. I like to go to shows to get ideas of things to do in my set, and this was one of the best classes I’ve ever been to.

ChocQuibTown is one of the biggest hip hop bands in Colombia. They won a Latin Grammy in 2010 which gave the already prestigious band world-wide recognition. Their set, from start to finish, was filled with energy. Each song called on the audience to participate. They mixed beats with live instruments, speaking to the crowd in their mother tongue… Caribbean rhythms. The three emcees, one of which being one of the best female emcees I’ve ever seen, did everything but jump into the crowd… putting them in the top 10 on my All Time Greatest Hip-Hop Shows list. Method Man still owns the crown.

Lets play a game… find the gringo. Ready? Go!

Follow them on twitter @chocquibtown

Who is DJ Complete? He’s the man responsible for making our last album (Play It By Ear) sound like it was recorded in a professional studio even though it was recorded in my closet. He has lived the classic American DJ Dream story of starting in a strip club introducing Candy (who I miss terribly) to running the club scene in the largest city in NC, as well as being the official DJ of the Charlotte Bobcats (NC’s NBA team for all my Colombian readers). In about ten years he will also be the star in the movie Alexi Lalas: The Only American Soccer Player Americans Knew By Name In The 90’s. I’m getting off topic… He has recently teamed together with A-Styles, an OFFICIAL producer who has done work with Ying Yang Twins and Bone Crusher, in a new production group they call Styles & Complete.

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/24847013]

These guys make club music that doesn’t suck. How cool is that?! Check out their latest release above and add them on facebook and twitter to hear the ones to come:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/StylesAndComplete

Twitter: @stylesNcomplete

Albert Pérez is a good friend of mine. He also plays in an amazing reggae band called Doris Vespa, a group with Jean Mazzili, and is just an all around nice guy… but I want you to focus on the fact that I’m one of his friends, and what that means for my drum skills by default.

Albert just won some really big drum contest in Barranquilla. I got the chance to see him in the semi-finals but was sick and unable to catch the final round. I can’t remember the name of the contest, or even the name of the drums that he is playing, but all of that isn’t important… what’s really important is that I know him, and that you remember that. Watch him destroying the drums:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RflRMrW9_TA]

The last two shows I have sat in on have been with Guayaba Club, a band made up of some of my best friends here in Barranquilla. It’s really hard to describe this band in words. They have a real sophisticated, jazzy feel to them. This is definitely a band for your grown and sexy party. They play songs in Spanish, Portuguese, and English; they are made up of some of the best musicians and vocalist in the city; and they let me rap! What more could you (I) ask for.

Being that they look and sound sophisticated, they also get to perform at really cool places. So far I have performed with them at a really nice salsa bar and a famous restaurant downtown called La Cueva (The Cave), a notorious hangout for Colombia’s best writers. Get a glass of wine, your shiny shoes, and check out one of our last shows:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YelHqlpq9Aw&feature=channel_video_title]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkjRQekpaK0&sns=fb]

Mic Savvy released a new music video today for his song “Come Home” and it’s outstanding. This video makes me want to hear more from Sav and see more from Vectra Scope/Kasey Ferguson. Savvy is without a doubt one of the most committed rappers I know. He is constantly going out-of-state for shows, following the music and chasing his dreams. To me what defines Savvy’s character though is the fact that he is an honest, hard working, family man. This video visualizes all of those things.

“I am with the love of my life. I am a proud father. I am Hip Hop” –Mic Savvy

Growing up in Chapel Hill we were all obsessed with hip-hop. I was one of the seven or eight kids in 2003 trying to make a name for myself. We all looked up to Savvy; he was like our big brother. He helped us get shows, make contacts, and follow music past freestyling at parties. Almost ten years later he is still NC’s big brother, leading by example with the honesty that he puts into his music and the integrity he shows off stage. Savvy gives everyone a chance, which is more than I can say for myself and most other people I know. I hope everyone in the great north state realizes how lucky we are to have him.

I’d like to thank Savvy for everything he’s done for NC hip-hop in the last decade, and everything he will do in the next. Here is a poster for the very first show I did in 2003 (they used to spell his name wrong like a mug haha):

Mic Savvy: www.micsavvy.com

Vectra Scope: www.youtube.com/vectrascope

A couple of days ago I woke up with a 102 temperature. A doctor came over, diagnosed me, gave me some shots in the ass (of a drug that is illegal in the states and most other countries), and told me to stay in the house and rest until Monday. I’ve already watched four seasons of Weeds. Before I start on the next one, I want to thank you all.

This week my blog passed 4,000 views!! For you big bloggers out there, this is a number that you probably reach in a week (big whoop you want to fight about it). Thumbs up for you, but I don’t run a big blog. I write about the things that happen to me and try to pull life lessons out of those experiences to share with you. I’d rather my audience be my friends and family. So here is to all of you. Thanks for reading, commenting, listening, and sharing.

 
To celebrate I will try to write a blog every day this week. I’ll start today by sharing one of my favorite stand up acts by Rob Stapleton.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6XaDMREsXI]

A few things in this act really hit home. I had plenty of experience with both crack heads and busses in DC. I actually felt more in danger riding public transportation at 6 pm after work than I did walking around Florida Ave at 3 am. Once I was riding the bus home from work and accidentally made eye contact with the creature sitting in the back seat. It slowly got up, mouth-watering and eyes locked on me, and started screaming “I DON’T F**K ANIMALS.” Needless to say this scared the piss out of me. I was new to the city and didn’t know the protocol. You have to put yourself in its shoes (I’m calling it IT because I could not tell if it was a man or a woman). How would you feel if people were coming into your house all day, reading their electronic books and trying to get cell phone service, while you were just trying to get some shut-eye. Sitting in the last four seats of any form of public transportation is considered trespassing.

On a different note… I’ve always been a little curious about this, so I’ll go ahead and ask and see if anyone has any thoughts. Do black people find the way we speak hilarious, or is it more the corny way middle-aged white people act? I think it’s interesting that most imitations usually depict us as a polite and well spoken bunch. You rarely see people using the hee-haw, tea-party enthusiast, Obama is a Muslim t-shirt wearing, redneck imitation. Thanks for that!

Thanks again for checking in on the blog and keeping me inspired to write. Remember to subscribe to the blog and look around the different pages. What are some of your favorite comedy clips people?? I got four more days of lying in bed… help me out.

A blog about a blog? It’s kind of like a dream inside a dream, or a taco inside a…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EVtfPo5cmk&feature=related]

That’s right people, Haji P has made a new blog and it’s something you have to check out. I have been given permission, to give you permission, to laugh at his comical approach to dealing with racial stereotypes. Just please, make sure everyone in the room knows you have been given this golden ticket.  The blog is called “BlackFaceChicken” and we don’t want anyone to be getting the wrong ideas.

 “The people is paramount.” That’s not a famous quote. Its just some profound sh*t I just made up…but we should start using it. Anyway, from Marcus Garvey’s UNIA-ACL to BSU Programs…and even that part in House Party 2, when Dana “Zora” Owens rallied the school in support of an Ethnic Studies program, evidence of our unification has always proven itself a bad mamma jamma.

Entonces… you are not racist for laughing at this, or typing blackfacechicken.com into your browser. You actually might learn something. And if you are racist, you might become unracist, or make racist comments and be made fun of. Or maybe the jokes on me, but either way the writing is great. Check it out:  http://www.blackfacechicken.com/

Last night my friends and I went out to Julian’s mountain house in El Morro. It was a looking for answers type of night for me, and I believe I found some.

The sky was filled with stars; the moon was almost full, buried in layers of fast moving clouds that seemed to cradle it; the ocean breeze made palm trees dance and the world around us sing. We explored the mountain, following a path to the top where we found a sanctuary. We past through a wooden gate marked “Parque Jurasico” and up one final hill to reach the peak of the mountain. There we found an outdoor church setting, stone seats rapping in a circle around a statue of the Virgin Mary that was elevated off the ground on a rock which had steps built into it. It had just turned 12, Good Friday was here, and I was standing at the absolute highest point the eyes could see, between a city and the beach, listening to the world around me. My uncle told me when I was very young that you can hear God in the wind, which is one of the reasons I have such a fascination with trees. The wind found its own way to speak this night though.

Lying on the ground staring up at the stars will always remind me of being in Pipestem North Carolina with my family. It’s one of the most distinct and pleasant memories of my childhood, something I will always carry with me. Stars make everything seem so small. These lights that seem to be right next to each other are actually farther away than we could even imagine. Julian stopped playing and put his guitar back around his shoulder, began to turn around and stopped when he heard the sound. The wind, which was very strong where we were sitting, hit the guitar strings and vibrated them, creating sounds that shifted in pitch and volume. It sounded like a choir singing. He held the guitar up to his head and turned into the wind once more, and the sound became even stronger. We sat there and listened to the wind play for a while.

I came out to the morro to let go, and just like Julian’s guitar, when I did so I was amazed at what I found. You can’t always control situations, and even if you could, sometimes it’s better to just let nature run its course.  We live in a very small and beautiful world. It’s never the last time you’ll see someone, or the last chance you’ll get, so relax. I’ll sing for you as long as the world keeps singing for me.

Happy Birthday Peyton. I never knew you but every person I know that did is kind and loyal friend, so I’m sure you were the same. For those who don’t know the story of Peyton, he was shot and killed by police officers at the age of 18 in my college town (Wilmington, NC). He was unarmed when this happened. Here is a song I made years ago and never released that speaks on the issue:

http://addictivenature.bandcamp.com/track/punish-me-appetizer

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPWH5TlbloU&feature=player_embedded#at=1733]

Check out this video. It really does a great job of explaining how messed up our society is. I fear debt more than anything about our country. I already am in debt from college, but I refuse to let myself go any further. I will not have a credit card. I will not buy things I don’t have money for. It’s wild to me that people view financial stability on a persons credit. Credit is just how well a person can handle debt… here is a better idea, stay clear of it. The guy who walks around the hole is smarter than the guy who can find a way to pull himself out.