Today is my three year sober date. To be completely honest, the idea that I would be able to go three years without drinking wasn’t something that I believed was possible when I first decided to quit. So I’m equal parts proud and surprised today. Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago on twitter, I made the statement that it’s easier for a performing artist to remember their bad shows than their good shows. I wasn’t suggesting that good shows are meaningless or unappreciated, my point was that we remember the bad shows more often because they provide a larger opportunity for learning and growth. In most instances, it’s hard to justify a reevaluation of your strategies when you’re being successful. But as soon as you fail, you start to question everything. In my opinion, the best performers aren’t the best because they have a talent others lack, they’re the best because they’ve all had bad experiences that made them take their level of preparation and performance up a notch.
While it is true that I have a great number of fans who know me primarily as a vocalist, I’ve also realized that there are also many fans that don’t really know how serious I am on the beats. In addition to producing both of my solo albums, 1988 and Adventures in Counter-Culture, I’ve also produced three albums for my homie Illogic, as well as albums for my fellow Columbus artists Envelope and Zero Star. So, I’ve decided to run a special sale to bring people up to speed with some of my production where you can get my Chamber Music, Sign Language, and the Weightless Radio CDs for just $10. Plus, you get 11×17 posters for the Chamber Music & Sign Language albums.
That’s right, three albums and two signed posters for $10. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE.
Thanks for the support yall.
Word is Blog
NOTE: ALL PACKAGES HAVE SOLD OUT. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
I’m very happy to announce that even though I’m only hosting the Soundset Festival and not performing, I will be playing a headlining show in Minneapolis the night before the festival. The show will be Saturday May 25th @ The Triple Rock and I will be joined by Illogic, Mally, and DJ Rare Groove. Doors open at 8pm, the cover is $10, and you must be 18 to get in.
Buy your presale tickets here HERE. You should probably get your tickets early for this one. And here’s the facebook EVENT PAGE.
I first got familiar with Maw several years ago when he popped up on the Weightless Recordings forums. He quickly became a regular poster and welcome contributor. Although his conduct was very mature, we soon found out that he was only a teenager at the time, which made him the youngest regular on our forum. Even more interestingly, we found out that he was from Finland and english was his second language. You never would have guessed it by the way he interacted with everybody.
Over time, Maw started getting into hip-hop production and posting his beats in our “show & tell” forum. His beats were decent at the beginning – especially for a young kid who didn’t even seem to have any equipment – but he seemed to get exponentially better every time he posted something. Eventually he was damn good. From there, I always kept my eye on him, and every year he gets better and better. It’s reached the point where I check out anything he releases and try to spread word about him as much as possible. Continue reading
Although I do have many fans that have been with me since I first started releasing music in the early 2000s, I’ve noticed that a large part of my fanbase is divided into two groups: those who know me primarily from my 1988 and Adventures in Counter-Culture albums, and those know me primarily from my Soul Position work with producer RJD2. The last Soul Position album was released in 2006 and although RJ and I have worked together since then (most notably the track “the good life” that was released two weeks ago), we have yet to release a full-length album. RJ and I remain good friends and are definitely trying to align our schedules to work on some new material, but I can’t make any promises how or when that will manifest itself. But rest assured, we’re both working towards making it happen. Continue reading
The American Dream by BLUEPRINT
First single from the upcoming Blueprint album, Deleted Scenes, available Oct. 16th. Pre-ordering right now at http://printmatic.net
I think I’m going to start posting beats every week. Mostly stuff with familiar samples, since it’s easier for people to really follow how it was flipped. This week is a beat I made using “Roxanne” by The Police. Enjoy.
The Police “Roxanne” Beat by BLUEPRINT
Direct link HERE
Follow me on soundcloud if you don’t already.
Word is Blog
Rhymesayers logo hanging at the House of Blues in Atlantic City
I played a show in Atlantic City, NJ for the first time last week and found it to be a really interesting place. Prior to that, I had only heard about it and knew absolutely nothing.
Usually, when you get done driving seven or eight hours and arrive in a new city, the first thing you wanna do is roll down your windows and take in some air. Unfortunately, the air smelled really weird, and by weird I mean not good. I knew that we were near the ocean and expected it to smell like the ocean but, instead, it smelled more like a giant swamp.
Then I checked into my illustrious two-star hotel. Continue reading
For those that missed the announcement a couple weeks ago, the kid will be joining Atmosphere & I-Self Divine for some shows in July. We will be hitting up Wichita, Little Rock, Nashville, Memphis, and Nashville. Check out the details and mark your calendars.
07.08 – Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion Ballroom: Buy Tickets
07.10 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s Cantina: Buy Tickets
07.11 – Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theatre: Buy Tickets
07.12 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works: Buy Tickets
In my book, The Making of Adventures in Counter-Culture, I go into great detail about the role that television and movies have played in creating my music. During my most intense periods of music creation, there are times when I will watch three or four movies a day while I’m in the studio. Although I don’t actively “watch” them – the sound is usually off or very low – they are on in the background providing images and inspiration. Continue reading
I’m proud to finally release this animated music video for the latest single from the album Adventures in Counter-Culture, “Wanna Be Like You.” The video was create by the talented artist Dax Norman. Please check it out and share it on your blog/facebook/twitter if you like it.
LINK: http://youtu.be/8sTay7aDtpY
Word is (Video)Blog
My guy ILLUS, who did the artwork for my book The Making Of Adventures in Counter-Culture, just dropped this fresh video and song. I did the beat and rhyme on it as well. It’s a really positive song from a really positive artist that I support fully. Please check my guy out. Oh yeah, the video concept is fresh too.
Youtube Link: http://youtu.be/lQh2FeuKAgg
The first time I played a show in Cleveland was around the year 2000. I was still living in Cincinnati at the time and the rest of my crew lived in Columbus.
We had just released the first Greenhouse Effect and Illogic CDs and were beginning to play shows outside of our city. Everybody was still working full-time jobs, so doing shows felt more like weekend getaways than touring; Inkwel would get the rental car, we would drive a couple hours to play the show, and all be back home by Sunday morning. Back in those days we would usually roll at least six or seven deep to the shows: Me, Inkwel, Manifest, Illogic, Plead the Ph5th, DJ Drastic, DJ True Skills, and our dude Juan who did merch. Continue reading
Photo by Joe Crimmons
For the past couple of months, I’ve been considering writing a book about how to become a better live performer. I’m still in the brainstorming stage of writing down rough outlines and topics that I think should be covered, but so far it’s going pretty well. If I get a solid enough outline I’ll give it a try.
I would like to start giving some basic tips about performing here. I’ve realized that what is unspoken and normal to me may not be normal to others, especially those that are just starting out. I would like to share these things from time to time.
The first performance tip I have is to start early. Continue reading
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
For all my friends who have Kindles (or Ipad’s with Kindle Reader apps), the E-Book version of The Making of Adventures in Counter-Culture is now available on Amazon.com for $5.99. Click HERE or the cover to purchase. Audiobook version will be available later this month.
Thanks for the support
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
It's been a while since since I've aired an episode of “The Adventures of Blueprint,” but have no fear, I'm back. Brand new episode, baby! This one talks about the upcoming video for “Go Hard or Go Home” and the circumstances that inspired its creation. Check it out!
The official music video for “Go Hard or Go Home” will debut next week, on the one-year anniversary of the Adventures in Counter-Culture album.
Word is Blog!
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