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A Recap of My First Teaching Experience

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For those that have read this blog for a while, a few weeks ago I wrote a blog titled “How Do You Respond to Failure” that was about how I had messed up my first opportunity to teach kids because of a date mix-up.  I beat myself up over it, but promised myself that I would try to make up for it by making it a priority and trying it again in the future.

Well, early last week I got contacted by a friend who teaches at a charter school here in Columbus about coming in to speak to his kids about poetry.  Excited about the opportunity, I said yes pretty much immediately. Continue reading →

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A Recap of My First Teaching Experience

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Teaching 5th-8th grade students about poetry and my career as a hip-hop artist

For those that have read this blog for a while, a few weeks ago I wrote a blog a few weeks ago titled “How Do You Respond to Failure” that was about how I had messed up my first opportunity to teach kids because of a date mix-up.  I beat myself up over it, but promised myself that I would try to make up for it by making it a priority and trying it again in the future.

Well, early last week I got contacted by a friend who teaches at a charter school here in Columbus about coming in to speak to his kids about poetry.  Excited about the opportunity, I said yes pretty much immediately. Continue reading →

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Throw Me a Couple Topics or Questions

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This past week I tried something that I hadn’t tried before: I wrote about blog about a question that was suggested to me by one of my twitter followers. The blog was titled Thoughts on Sampling vs Fair Use and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I’d like to try that again in the future, so if you’ve got any cool questions or ideas hit me up in the here in the comments section, twitter, facebook, or hit the contact page and e-mail me.

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Thoughts on Sampling vs Fair Use

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A little while back I was asked this question about sampling on Twitter.  I wanted to answer it there, but I realized that would be pretty difficult because of the 140 character limit, so I decided to write some thoughts on it here.

@ I'm curious about your thoughts on this vs sampling vs fair use via the "transformative work" clause. Where is the line?
March 14, 2012 5:34 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@TysonHabein
Tyson Habein

To discuss sampling properly, I think it’s necessary to talk about it from three distinct perspectives: the artist doing the sampling, the artist being sampled, and the rights owner of the sampled material.  I’ll write my thoughts on each perspective.

Continue reading →

Yo, What happened To Peace?

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Earlier today I was having a discussion, or better yet an argument, with a family member and came to the conclusion that most people don’t really know what peace is.  Therefore, when they talk about wanting peace, they’re actually talking about something completely different than what peace actually is.

I’ve noticed that many people think peace and quiet are the same thing.  This confusion makes it very difficult for them to actively engage in productive discussions about how to achieve peace. Continue reading →

Two Years Sober Today: The Benefits of Sobriety

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Two years ago today I decided to take small break from drinking.  I needed to clear my head.  A week into it, I felt good and decided to keep going.  After a month, I felt even better.  Once I got to two months sober I made a decision that I didn’t want alcohol to play a part in my life again.

I have been sober for two years straight today.   It has been an amazing journey that has forced me to confront many things about myself that I didn’t like.  I’ve learned that everybody drinks for a reason, and the people who drink the most have the most reasons.  If you don’t understand the “why” then you will be doomed to repeat the cycle.

Continue reading →

Working Out and Eating Right: What’s Your Status?

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The other day, a friend made a  comment on how in shape they thought I was.  I’m not really ripped or anything like that, but I am pretty lean and thin.  I think the comment was rooted in the fact that I don’t really come off like a health freak or obsess about working out, and usually people who don’t do either of those things are out of shape. Continue reading →

How Do You Respond to Failure?

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About six weeks ago, I was contacted about teaching two workshops on writing to a group of High School kids. The person who contacted me had originally reached out to me a couple years ago, but for whatever reason we weren’t able to make it happen.  It looked more likely this time around since my schedule was clear; I had been at home writing my book for several months straight and had no plans to be on the road for a while.

After giving it some careful thought, I confirmed the date and started to prepare.  Admittedly, I was nervous about teaching, but since I had more time to prepare I felt confident I could put something together that the students and I would be happy with. Continue reading →

Quote of the week: P.T. Barnum

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“When a man’s undivided attention is centered on one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements of value, which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen a dozen different subjects at once.” – P.T. Barnum (from Art of Money Getting)

 

Chip Away At Your Goals

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In the spring of 2010, while I was on tour with Killah Priest, I had the idea to write a book about the making of Adventures in Counter-Culture.  I started jotting down thoughts and memories, emptying my head of everything that I could recollect about the process and everything that went into the creation of the album.  I wasn’t sure if I would ever finish it, but It was a cool activity to keep me busy during the long drives.

The album itself wouldn’t come out for a year, so my initial idea was to finish the book before the album was done so it would be available on the album’s release date.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  I was able to write up about three or four pages of notes but that was it.  Sadly, the initial idea for The Making of Adventures in Counter-Culture book was filed away along with all the other ideas that I used to talk about but never finished.   I had a bucket list just like everybody else, which included items like sky diving, write a book, and make a movie, but during the two year period that I was drinking heavily nothing really seemed to get checked off of it.

Things started to change shortly after that 2010 tour with Killah Priest. Continue reading →

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Quote of the Week: J. Krisnamurti

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“When you depend, you gradually become weak, you become feeble. You are incapable of thinking clearly.  This is a fact.  Newspapers tell you what to think.  All the meetings, the discourses that you attend, instruct.  So the lack of self-reliance, the lack of a sense of responsibility for oneself – that may be the root cause of all this confusion. We have become irresponsible because we depend.” - J. Krishnamurti (“Mind without Measure”)

The Last Five Albums I Bought (March 2011)

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I got a lot of good recommendations the last time I decided to post the Last Five Albums I Bought, so I’m going to make it a regular thing.  Here’s the last five albums I purchased and my thoughts on them.  Please hit the comments section and add yours.

1. Ka ”Grief Pedigree”

This album reminds me of everything I love about New York hip-hop: the production is minimal but bangs, the rhymes are rugged and make you visualize the city, and the rapper’s got a really dope voice.  If you’re a fan of Roc Marciano, then you probably heard Ka guest appear on his album.  In short, Grief Pedigree, Ka’s debut solo album, is dope.  My favorite joint on here is “Decisions.”  My dude Cryptic One recommended this to me and I’m glad I listened. Continue reading →

How to Cure Writer’s Block

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For those who write, writer’s block is the antithesis of expression.  As unseen as the common cold and as paralyzing to our creativity as any sickness that attacks our bodies. Those unfortunate enough to catch it are forced to carry on their lives voiceless in a world that barely gave them a voice to begin with.

As writers, we tend to beat ourselves up over it.  The longer it lasts the more we start to question everything that made us unique, how we got this far, and if we’re really cut out for this field of work.  We worry that maybe we just ran out of “stuff” to write about.  Maybe our lives are just boring and we have nothing to offer.  But following that line of thinking only leads to the most obvious solution, which is to go do something interesting so we’ll have interesting things to write about.  This sounds good on the surface but don’t be fooled.

I’ll explain. Continue reading →

What I Learned From A 30-Year Old Drum Machine

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Yesterday I bought a used Roland TR-606 drum machine from craigslist.  For those that don’t know, the Roland brand of drum machines are synonymous with most of the music released in the 80′s.  You would be hard-pressed to find a record from that era that wasn’t made using one of the Roland drum machines; the most popular being the TR-808 model.  This model is so popular that people just refer to its sounds as the 808 kit, and an “808″ is now slang for the really deep bass kick that’s used all over the place.  Even if you didn’t know what it was, you’ve heard it a million times, especially on southern rap records and 80′s music.  The TR-606 I bought originally came out in 1982.

Even though I experimented with the 80′s sound on Adventures in Counter-Culture, I never owned any vintage gear, so I had to work from memory and studying those styles more than actually owning the gear they used to create it.   I would’ve loved to own some vintage gear in the past but it’s usually pretty expensive, and I didn’t know if I would be using it enough to justify the purchase.  Luckily, I saw the 606 on craigslist for a price that was in my budget, so I went for it.  I spent a few hours last night going through the user manual and learning how to use it, and while it hasn’t even been 24 hours since I brought the TR-606 home I’ve been reminded of something that was starting to get a bit lost. Continue reading →

Being Nervous is Good For You

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I often get asked by friends and fans if I get nervous before I get on stage, and my answer for the past 10 years has always been “no.”   When I say I don’t get nervous most people think it’s because I’ve got nerves of steel or that my confidence is just so high that I can’t be shaken by being in front of unfamiliar crowds, but the truth is a little more complicated than that.

Early in my career, I wasn’t nervous because I was too nieve to be nervous.  I was playing shows in my city but hadn’t really left yet and could still count on knowing the majority of the faces in the crowd.  Shows were social events more than shows back then and it was easy to be comfortable.  At that point being nervous about performing would’ve meant that I actually understood the long term scope of what I had gotten myself into, and that I wasn’t just out there having fun.  It was easy to be comfortable when you don’t know how bad things could go, and what you could lose in terms of fan support by doing really bad shows.  Truth be told, if i would’ve actually understood things a bit more at this stage I probably would’ve been nervous enough to piss my pants.  Everybody goes thru this stage. Continue reading →

The Struggle of Getting Music Out

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2012 marks the tenth year that I’ve been a full-time artist. Without a doubt it’s the most rewarding career I’ve ever had.  It’s also the most challenging, although in completely different ways than my previous jobs.

I remember when I was considering resigning from my job back in 2001, I went around getting advice from other self-employed people, in hopes of getting encouragement or advice before I made the leap.  One of the people I spoke to was named Todd Buck and he ran an in-home studio on the west side of Cincinnati that I would routinely use for mastering the first few albums I ever released.  He had just made the decision to move his studio and business out of his basement and to a larger one on the opposite side of town.  He had only been self-employed for a year at the time so I asked him for some advice. Continue reading →

The Best of Printmatic.net 2011

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2011 was a very real year for me.  After taking a departure to learn about music and get my life in order I released my sophomore solo album Adventures in Counter-Culture and toured the United States, Canada, & Europe.  My brother got sick and my mother moved in with me for most of the year to help handle his affairs.  I learned how to kick it without alchohol, became more focused on family than ever, and my brothers situation forced me to put things into perspective.  I realized along the way that writing helps me get through things, and understand the world around me more, so I continued to write here at printmatic.net, and I thank you all for reading and allowing me to use this as an outlet.   I was going back through some of my posts from this year and figured I would post a “best of” list for those who may have missed some of the things I consider to be my best writing, and for those that may want to reread or share some of these with friends.

Eyedea: One Year Later, Before and After

the downside of giving up on yourself

One year sober today

Blueprint, MTV, and “Selling Out”

Power

Words I Like: Agonizing

The Adventures of Blueprint: Episode 2 – What happened to the radio?

The Adventures of Blueprint: Episode 1 – “The story of Radio-Inactive”

A Perfect New Year

I’ve got a lot of plans for 2012, and I’m in the lab really heavy hoping to bring a bunch of new music to you.  As usual, this is where you will hear about everything first.

Thanks for the support.

Resolutions are stupid but I’mma do it anyways

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While part of me completely understands the extreme amount of predictability and cliche attached with making new years resolutions and remains cynical of the whole thing, another part of me thinks it can be a pretty decent tool for self-improvement if used properly.  For most people resolutions are typically about losing weight, spending more time with their family, and finally taking some time off work–all good but nothing I’m too concerned about right now. So I figured it would be a cool exercise to write down a few things that I would like to actually achieve that aren’t difficult, and I can stick with next year.  Partly because they’re easy, and partly because I think it will be pretty funny to look back on these in five or six months and see where I’m at.

So with no further ado, here are my fucking new years resolutions: (dont front you know you’ve got some too)

RESOLUTION #1 – To use my Phone as more than a texting and rhyme writing device

Apparently these things can do a lot more than text, tell time, and store my lethal raps.  I had actually forgotten because that’s all I use my phone for.  The instances where I actually call people are very rare, and if I had to guess I would say that I only talk to people on the phone no more than once per day. Two phone conversations in one day would probably freak me out, and holidays where you have to talk more than that can potentially make my head explode.  But fuck that, in 2012 I’m gonna take it back to the essence, and actually use my phone for verbal communication.  I’m not gonna stop texting people, but I am gonna actually call people and try to talk to them more, with my mouth, and my voice.  It sounds weird even writing it, but I’m gonna do it! Continue reading →

Sell Your Crap, Pay Off Your Debt, Do What You Love

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For the past few weeks I’ve been having a lot of thoughts about simplifying my life; evaluating my relationship with my material possessions, how they effect my mood, my so-called happiness, and my ability to adapt to change.  Then I stumbled upon this video by Adam Baker, who runs a blog that I really like called Man vs Debt, that touches on the exact thing I was feeling inside, and puts it into words perfectly.  Please take a few minutes and watch this video.  It’s very inspiring.

http://youtu.be/9XRPbFIN4lk

Let me know what you think in the comments section and if you can relate to what he’s talking about.

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