The Benefits of Sobriety
On the day that Blueprint celebrates being seven years sober, the most infamous podcast decided to talk about what life looks like once you cut alcohol out of your life. Instead of discussing all the bad things that can happen when you drink too much, we decided to speak about the ten benefits of sobriety. Some are more obvious than others, but as usual the conversation is pretty entertaining.
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Seven Years Sober
Today is the day. I have officially been sober for seven years today.
One of the coolest things about being sober is probably the fact that once you get sober your sober date kind of becomes your second birthday. That part is pretty awesome to me.
How Important Are the Tools You Use?
Throughout my entire creative career, I’ve been a man of few tools. While many of my peers were going crazy about and purchasing the latest and greatest music production gear, I was holding still, using the same old reliable gear that got me where I was.
As a former Information Systems guy, I was always curious about new gear and advances in technology of beat-making, but something didn’t seem right about constantly upgrading my gear before I had truly mastered it. So for the first seven or eight years of my music career I used the same gear; an MPC-2000 sampling drum machine, Pro Tools, a $99 mic, and my records.
Everybody Hates Print
As with most things in life, the internet has it’s ups and downs–not only in terms of content, but also in terms of the way people are treated. Blueprint himself learned this first hand after one of his tweets about mainstream hip-hop artist Wale started a back and forth between the two artists, causing Wale to send his twitter followers after Blueprint. People learn a lot when millions of twitter followers are unleashed on them in attempts to make their lives miserable. In this episode we find out what happens why Everybody Hates Print and how he bounced back.
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King No Crown Movie Update: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
If there’s one constant lesson I’ve seen during the process of making this King No Crown movie, it’s that there are always trade-offs. As simple as a decision may seem on the surface, it never really is simple. That’s because every decision has it’s benefits and it’s consequences.
The Power of An Apology
Being the imperfect human beings we are, it’s inevitable that we get into conflict with each other from time to time. But after the smoke clears and the beef has ended, the first order of business is figuring out who will apologize and start the reconciliation process. This week we dive deep into when and why apologies are so powerful and necessary. The spirit of reconciliation is in the air. Bask in it, folks!
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What the World Would Look Like Without Library Fines
Like most kids, I was huge fan of comic books growing up. In fact, I have to credit comic books as being the first thing I was ever excited about reading. Regular books were just boring to me, at least until I was fifteen or sixteen years old. But even as a teenager, I wasn’t very much into reading. Back then, we were too busy running around and playing sports to sit down and dedicate significant time reading anything that was beyond our school assignments.
Things really changed for me when I stopped drinking. All the sudden my mind started clearing up and I had a burning desire to read and learn more. So, for the first time in my adult life, I got a library card. Ever since then my reading habits have been strong and steady. I look up books online, then check them out from my local library if they’re available. I do buy many books that I think I would like to keep as reference but, overall, the Columbus Public Library is my go to spot.
Life After Losing Your Creative Catalog
One of the worst feelings any artist can experience is losing their entire creative catalog due to circumstances beyond their control. Whether it’s a hard-drive crash, a fire or flood, or burglary–losing what we’ve created is heart-breaking. But after the smoke clears and we accept that we will never see our creations again, how do we bounce back? That’s what this episode is about.
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King No Crown Movie Update: The Importance of the Edit
For the last two weeks, I’ve been knee deep in revising my first film King No Crown. Obviously I’ve been gradually revising it throughout the entire process but, as I get closer to the end, the revisions start to get a little more involved and intensive.
Dating Uncreative People
While dating in this day and age is not easy for anybody, it’s even more complicated for creative people. The trouble lies in the fact that creative people tend to be quirky and see the world differently than most of the non-creative people they date. Take it from us, small differences can lead to a lot of misunderstandings and heartache. This week we speak about ten problems creative people have when dating non-creative people and how to resolve them so you don’t end up ruining a good thing!
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Focus on Productivity, Not Time
People often ask me how I get so much done.
From music, to books, to podcasts it’s clear that I do a lot, but my work habits are very different than what people assume them to be.
Finding Inspiration Outside of Music
While music can be an amazing source of inspiration for all of us, there are many times when it fails to deliver on the type of consistent inspiration we need in our lives. In fact, some of the subject matter in music can sometimes be down right depressing. So in this episode, the most infamous podcast on planet earth decided to speak on ten sources of constant inspiration that are not related to music at all. This week’s episode topic was suggested to us on Twitter by one of our listeners, @JayIsALetter. Thanks for your suggestion, brother.
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Blueprint Makes His First Movie
For those who listen to my podcast, you heard me announce this week that I am in the final stages of finishing my first movie, a documentary called King No Crown.
The Best Hip-Hop in Hollywood
Sparked by Blueprint announcing that he is putting the finishing touches on his first movie, a conversation about the relationship between hip-hop and Hollywood was a must. Especially since so many veteran hip-hop artists have been able to transition into successful careers as actors, writers, and producers. In this episode of the most infamous podcast on planet earth, we dive deep into the relationship between hip-hop and Hollywood to speak about which artists have done it the best. We even give out some awards.
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Tools of the Trade: Fethead Mic Preamp
While it is completely possible to get a decent sound out of a microphone without using a preamp to boost the signal, most people who are serious about their sound prefer to use one. In fact, I would say mic preamps are more prevalent now than ever, even if they’re less obvious as they use to be. Preamps, which were usually once only available as a external pieces of gear, have started to become built internally into other recording gear that people already buy. As a result, some people may never really feel that they need a preamp for their particular studio setup. Those that do need a proper mic preamp are always on the search for something effective.
This brings me to the second piece of gear that I’d like to talk about in the Tools of the Trade blog series, the Fethead Mic Preamp.
