To all my friends in the Ohio area, I will be playing an instrumental set in Columbus on Friday Feb 10th @ Carabar (115 Parsons Ave), as a part of the J-Dilla Tribute Night being put together by my homie Zero Star.  The event is Free admission and all ages are welcome.  I am working on a couple instrumental projects under the name The 808 Mechanic, and this project will be my opportunity to do play some of this material out for the first time.  Just to clarify, I will not be rhyming, I will be playing an instrumental/beat set.

Hope yall can make it out.

Word.

As many of my friends know, I’m a pretty big fan of Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA).  I think I started watching it about four or five years ago, and have been into it pretty heavily ever since, as proven by my MMA-related tweets whenever there’s a big event on.  Hell, a lot of my time in the studio is spent watching classic fights that I missed before I was a fan of the sport.

Well today I get to take my obsession with MMA to a new level because I was invited to call in and talk MMA on the internet show MMA Uncensored, which will be on from 7-9pm Mountain Time.  I will be on there at 8pm Mountain time (10pm Eastern time), talking about the upcoming UFC on FX show that’s going down tomorrow night, previewing the matchups and just talking about the fighters.

As a person who’s definitely a nerd about the sport, but doesn’t really get to chop it up with people about it to often, I’m pretty excited.

So, if you’re a fan of MMA (or just curious about my thoughts and knowledge of the topic) and free at 10pm Eastern Time / 8pm Mountain Time, please tune in.

Here’s are the details:

Date: Thurs Jan 19th
Time: 8pm Mountain Time / 10pm Eastern Time (the show actually starts at 7pm Mountain time. I’ll be on the 2nd half)
Website: http://www.gomilehigh.com/home.cfm (click on the “Listen Live” button)
Twitter: @printmatic and @mm_uncensored

UPDATE: Here is the audio of the interview:

Word!

Please check it out here: http://orlandoweekly.com/music/under-the-radar-1.1245038

Here’s an exerpt:

In 2005, Al Shepard stopped by the headquarters of Power 107.5 FM, a radio station in his hometown, Columbus, Ohio. Shepard had ties to hip-hop, and so did the station, but each had a vastly different idea of what makes the genre great. Traditionally, Shepard raps over self-made beats as Blueprint, keeping his work low on coolness and flash, and heavy on honesty. Slang doesn’t play into his verses much and he’s consistently willing to experiment with different moods and sounds in his beats. (He’s had albums issued by stately indie hip-hop label Rhymesayers.)

On the flip side, Power 107.5 FM’s tastes lean toward bombastic hooks and larger-than-life characters; a cursory look at the station’s recently played tracks turns up Beyoncé, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Wale and Drake. Around the time Blueprint’s 1988 was released, according to Shepard, the two entities butted heads (CON’T).

Word is Blog

Hello Friends.  Although it’s officially winter I would like to announce the Sunshine State of Mind Tour, a week-long headlining tour that will be brought to the sunniest of sunny places, Florida.  If you live in the state of Florida, I would like to officially invite you out to one of the shows.

Blueprint Tour Dates:

Thursday December 15th – Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum: details & RSVP
Friday, December 16th – Orlando, FL @ The Social: details & RSVP
Saturday, December 17th – Jacksonville, FL @ The Phoenix Taproom: details and RSVP
Sunday, December 18th – Orlando, FL @ Blank Space (Producer Showcase): details and RSVP
Tuesday, December 20th – Lake Worth, FL @ Propaganda: details and RSVP

Thanks for the support,

Printmatic!

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to say.  In fact it’s the opposite.  I’ve had a lot to say, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and say it.

But I do want to say this: I’m currently knee deep into working on my follow-up to Adventures in Counter-Culture.

It doesn’t have an official title yet, it doesn’t have any guest appearances on it yet, but trust me that it’s definitely underway and could possibly be finished by the end of this winter.  I don’t even know what the album is going to really sound like other than I’m going to continue to be as ambitious as possible.  Right now I’m just putting an insane amount of time into creating it–not really tripping about the style or sound.

Taking so much time off between albums (6 years!) was something that I never planned on doing, and something I never plan on doing again, but it was necessary for me to find my way musically and personally.

In general, an artist creates an album they love and then have to spend the next couple years on tour promoting it before they can sit down and do music again.  As a result, it’s pretty damn difficult for people to follow up in a timely manner.  I’ve toured a lot this year, but I wanted to avoid that situation.  So when I finished Adventures in Counter-Culture in 2010–I never stopped doing music.  Because of this I’m way further ahead than most people would think I would be having released my album 6 months ago.

My ultimate goal is to have a new album released in 2012.

I also have a free project I’m working on finishing as well.

Plus more Greenhouse material w/ my compadre Illogic.

And yes, RJ and I are trying to figure out how to do another Soul Position album as well.

Word is blog.

Starting today in Grand Rapids, MI, you can see Printmatic himself over the next week at a number of stops across the Midwestern US. The quick jaunt ends with a what’s sure to be an incredible show in Print’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio, joined by Soul Position groupmate Rjd2, as well as local artist Envelope.

BLUEPRINT TOUR DATES:
10.02 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme: RSVP
10.04 – Fairborn, OH @ One Eyed Jacks: RSVP
10.05 – Peoria, IL @ SOP’s on Main: Buy Tickets | RSVP
10.06 – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s: Buy Tickets | RSVP
10.07 – St. Louis, MO @ Gramophone: RSVP
10.08 – Columbus, OH @ Skully’s: Buy Tickets | RSVP

Hey Friends.  It’s been a while since I’ve written so I figured I would write one post that summarizes all the stuff that’s been going on.  This will also be my first newsletter that I’m sending to those that subscribe to my mailing list as well. 

Family Vacation Tour
The first leg of the Family Vacation tour has officially ended, and I’m back home for about a week off, before the second leg starts.  The first leg was great, and I would like to thank everybody that came out to a show, shook my hand, picked up some merch, and supported me.  Doing music at home is one thing but going on the road is when you actually get to see the people your music is touching and reaching.   The tour itself was one of most complete and diverse shows that I’ve been a part of, where everybody on it sounded completely different, and brought something fresh to the table.  It’s wild to think that back before I ever considered putting out my own music I was listening to Dilated Peoples 12″ records, and then years later I’m in a van touring with Evidence and DJ Babu.  It’s pretty damn fresh.  The second leg of the Family Vacation tour starts on September the 13th in Madison Wisconsin and takes us through a lot of Southern states that I haven’t been to in a quite a while.   Here are the dates:

09.13 – Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theatre
09.14 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall
09.15 – Athens, GA @ New Earth Music Hall
09.16 – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore
09.18 – Orlando, FL @ The Beacham
09.20 – Jacksonville Beach, FL @ Freebird Live
09.21 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
09.22 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
09.23 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
09.24 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom
09.26 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
09.27 – Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown

Ohio Shows
Back in 2003-2005 me and Illogic used to play a ton of shows in the smaller markets of Ohio, what we used to call the Weightless Invasion Tours.  We would go to places that nobody was going like Toledo, Kent, Youngstown, Athens, Dayton, Fairborn, Akron, and try to build up there since most people who come through Ohio only play Columbus, Cincy, and Cleveland.  Well, we’re going to start doing that again.  We played Kent on Thursday night, we play Cleveland this Sunday night at the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, and we play in Athens Ohio at Casa Cantina this coming Thursday.  Hope you can make it out to the shows:

9.4.2011 – Cleveland, OH @ The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern – (Blueprint & Illogic)
9.8.2011 – Athens, OH @ Casa Cantina – (Blueprint & Illogic)

Minneapolis & Fargo Shows
Friday Sept 9th – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave w/ Prof & SoulCrate
Saturday Sept 10th – Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium w/ Kipp G & Tony The Butcher (9pm, 21+)

More Music Videos
Adventures in Counter-Culture is out now, but I’ve still got a couple more music videos coming soon.  The first is the music video for “Go Hard or Go Home”, which I directed.  It’s in the editing stages now, but it should hit right around the time the Family Vacation tour starts, so be on the lookout for that.  I’ve also got an animated video for the song “Wanna Be Like You” being finished right now that will also be coming at you soon.  Keep an eye out!

Rhymesayers tour Europe in November
This one is gonna be great. The entire Rhymesayers crew (Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Evidence, Blueprint, Grieves & Budo) invade Europe this November.  I haven’t been to Europe since summer 2008 I believe, so it will be good to return there.  For the details please check out this post: I’m going back to Europe, Europe, Europe.

Here’s the dates:
07.11 – London, UK @ The Electric Ballroom: Buy Tickets | RSVP
08.11 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg | RSVP
09.11 – Paris, FR @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge | RSVP
11.11 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique | RSVP
12.11 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik | RSVP
13.11 – Fribourg, CH @ Fri-Son | RSVP
15.11 – Berlin, DE @ Festal Kreuzberg | RSVP
16.11 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefahrlich | RSVP
18.11 – Stockholm , SE @ Nalen | RSVP
19.11 – Oslo, NO @ Spikerboks | RSVP
20.11 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega Musikkenshus: Buy Tickets | RSVP

Blueprint October Tour Dates in the Midwest
Tuesday Oct 4 – Fairborn, OH @ One Eyed Jacks (w/ Copywrite)
Weds Oct 5th – Peoria, IL @ SOP’s on Main
Thurs Oct 6th – Iowa City, IA @ Gabes (w/ Toki Wright)
Friday Oct 7th – St. Louis, MO @ Grammaphone
Sat Oct 8th – Columbus, OH @ Skullys (w/ Envelope and RJD2)

New Blueprint Music
While it’s true that it took me 5 years to complete Adventures in Counter-Culture, I don’t plan on taking that long on my next album. In fact, I’ve started working on new music already and have a great jump-start on things.  I don’t have a name for it, or a release date, or anything like that–I’m just going with the flow and doing whatever feels natural at this point–but I do plan on trying to release a new project next year this time.  I’ve got enough good material done now to where i think it’s completely possible, depending on how hard i bust my ass this winter.

That being said, the first thing that should drop will be a new Greenhouse EP and the long awaited Greenhouse album “Bend But Don’t Break”.  If you’ve been following Greenhouse then you know we like to keep it wintery and this winter will be no exception.  More music.  Stay tuned.

That’s about all I’ve got for now.

As always, thanks for the continued support.  I wouldn’t be doing this without the people who support me and allow me to do so.

Blueprint
http://printmatic.net

p.s. For those of you that told me you missed out on t-shirts or vinyl while I was on the road, you can pick them up on the store page at http://printmatic.net

You didn’t think the tour was only a few weeks long, did you? Just announced, Atmosphere has added MORE dates to The Family Vacation Tour. On the second leg of this tour, labelmates Evidence and Blueprint will be joining once again. The tour starts in Madison, Wisconsin and ends in Omaha, Nebraska and will travel throughout much of the South and Midwest of the United States.

Fan Pre-sale begins TOMORROW, Wednesday, July 27th at 3pm local time at ArtistArena.

09.13 – Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theatre
09.14 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall
09.15 – Athens, GA @ New Earth Music Hall
09.16 – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore
09.18 – Orlando, FL @ The Beacham
09.20 – Jacksonville Beach, FL @ Freebird Live
09.21 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
09.22 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
09.23 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
09.24 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom
09.26 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
09.27 – Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown

Few of their contemporaries have dedicated such a large percentage of their professional lives to touring, and this statement rings truer with each additional outing. Atmosphere, originally a 2-piece consisting of a touring DJ and rapper Slug, have augmented their battery with the addition of producer Ant, guitarist Nate Collis and keyboardist Erick Anderson, reinvigorating expected classics with live instrumentation and performing songs from the latest albums with absolute, heartfelt accuracy.

Columbus, Ohio’s Blueprint will be supporting the dates with a set drawn largely from his April release Adventures In Counter-Culture, a self-produced gem that straddles rock and pop while remaining steadfastly hip-hop. Representing Rhymesayers’ western contingent, Evidence will be supporting his highly anticipated Rhymesayers debut Cats & Dogs dropping on September 27th!

Evidence‘s new album Cats & Dogs drops September 27th! More info
Buy the new album from Atmosphere - The Family Sign : Fifth Element | iTunes | Amazon | Best Buy | Hot Topic
Buy Blueprint‘s new album Adventures In Counter-Culture : Fifth Element | iTunes | Amazon | Best Buy | Hot Topic

Atmosphere: Facebook | Twitter | Myspace | Ping
Blueprint: Printmatic.net | Twitter | Facebook | Myspace | Ping
Evidence: Twitter | Facebook | Myspace | Ping
Rhymesayers: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Flickr | Myspace | Soundcloud

word is blog

So, peep the dates below, mark your calendars and come see me in November and say whatup:

07.11 – London, UK @ The Electric Ballroom: Buy Tickets | RSVP
08.11 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg | RSVP
09.11 – Paris, FR @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge | RSVP
11.11 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique | RSVP
12.11 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik | RSVP
13.11 – Fribourg, CH @ Fri-Son | RSVP
15.11 – Berlin, DE @ Festal Kreuzberg | RSVP
16.11 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefahrlich | RSVP
18.11 – Stockholm , SE @ Nalen | RSVP
19.11 – Oslo, NO @ Spikerboks | RSVP
20.11 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega Musikkenshus: Buy Tickets | RSVP

Serious inquiries only! In other words, don’t e-mail me asking for free beats.

To everybody else.  Hit me up.