The Return of an Inspiration: O.C.
- Rapper O.C.
For those that have been listening to hip-hop as long as I have, the artists and time periods that have influenced my music are pretty obvious. My first album solo album, 1988, was probably the biggest example of this, but even on the Soul Position albums I was exercising my influences. I’ve always paid homage by referencing lines, phrases, and samples that I considered classic. I’ve even went as far as rewriting entire songs (e.g. “No Half-Smokin”). I guess I’m just a huge fan of hip-hop, and will always be. Hip-hop has influenced my life in a way that no other artform has; taking me places I wouldn’t have gone and showing me things I definitely wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It’s only right that I pay homage.
ILLUS – “Extraordinary” featuring BLUEPRINT Music Video
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 Show I Ever Played in Cleveland, OH
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.
Performance Tip: Start Early
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.
End of Month Sale at Printmatic.net: Books & MP3s
From now until the end of this month we will be running a special sale on printmatic.net. There are a number of items on sale already like the $10 t-shirts and $20 Hoodies, but we are adding two big ones: The Making of Adventures in Counter-Culture book and all digital downloads. You can now get the physical copy of the book for $10 and all digital albums are setup for “fan price,” which means that you decide what you pay for digital albums. The price default of zero, and you decide how much or how little you pay. Please note that the $10 version of the book is signed, but doesn’t come with any of the extras that are available in the other packages like the sticker, t-shirt, instrumental CD, or poster.The Making of Adventures in Counter-Culture” Book (signed copy but without the extra stuff)- $10 ADD TO CART
Thanks for the support.
Zeroing in on What You Really Love Doing
A couple months back, I read a story about a man who says he gained happiness when he gave up doing what he loved and took a regular job. The man studied math in college and his first job was as a high school math teacher.
His first year as a teacher was amazing, but his second year is when the trouble started. He started noticing that dealing with the children’s personal situations and problems robbed him of the joy that teaching math brought. He became depressed and began to resent his job. The man resigned a year later. Eventually, he went back to school to take some additional classes in accounting, then took a job as an accountant. The man said he found happiness by giving up a career he “loved” to take a “regular” job. He said he wrote the story because he often hears too many bloggers suggest that true happiness comes from an endless pursuit of doing what you love, a suggestion that causes them to overlook the fact that many people can find happiness by taking a regular job with less stress. These people choose to put emphasis on areas of their lives they deem more important like children or family and look at work as just a paycheck they need to maintain a stable life.
YAMAHA RX-15 DRUM MACHINE: Review & Demo
The past few months I’ve been picking up some older drum machines and synthesizers from craigslist for pretty cheap. The demos for these machines are kind of terrible, so I decided to do my own for my producers who want to learn about older machines out there they might see. This is my first time doing a video like this, so let me know if you find it interesting or helpful and I’ll try to do more videos like it.
Word is Blog
A Recap of My First Teaching Experience
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.
Throw Me a Couple Topics or Questions
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.Word
$20 Hoodie Sale at PRINTMATIC.NET
Last week we ran the $10 t-shirt deal, and this week we would like to announce the $20 Hoodie Sale. Supplies and sizes are somewhat limited, so don’t sleep on this one. Each hoodie comes with a FREE CD of your choice. Check out the styles and colors HERE
Thanks for the support!
Thoughts on Sampling vs Fair Use
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.
@printmatic I'm curious about your thoughts on this vs sampling vs fair use via the "transformative work" clause. Where is the line?
@TysonHabeinTyson HabeinTo 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.
Yo, What happened To Peace?
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.
Two Years Sober Today: The Benefits of Sobriety
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.
Now Available: Blueprint “Weightless Radio” Album
Last year when Adventures in Counter-Culture was released I created an exclusive instrumental album to be given away free with all pre-orders that were sold through Fifth Element. The name of the album was Weightless Radio: A Collection of Blueprint Instrumentals and, outside of the people who pre-ordered the album on Fifth Element, it hasn’t been available anywhere else prior to today. In fact, there’s a lot of people who had no idea that this record even existed. Therefore, I have decided to make this album available here on Printmatic.net for the first time. Check it out:http://printmatic.bandcamp.com/album/weightless-radio-a-collection-of-blueprint-instrumentals
It it only available in digital format at this time and it is also available on Amazon.com
At an hour-long and 27 tracks in length, I believe Weightless Radio is a very dope record.Thanks for the support!
Working Out and Eating Right: What’s Your Status?
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.
