“A Hero Dies Once” Official Music Video
Since last fall, I’ve been running around with the camera pretty heavy, shooting music videos for other artists. I’ve shot three music videos for Illogic, one for Supastition, and one for Shrapknel (Curley Castro & Prem Rock). After I shot all of those I decided to shoot one for myself, just to keep my blade sharp and continue to develop my videography skills. The song “A Hero Dies Once” has been mentioned by my fans as one of their favorite songs on my Two-Headed Monster album, so I decided to shoot a video for it. So here it is:
Dunedin, FL – King No Crown Recap
To be completely honest, I had never heard of Dunedin, FL until I was booked to play there last year. Since 2011, I have been coming to Florida and putting in a lot of work here, and even though I had played a lot of markets down here, I don’t think I had ever mentioned the city’s name get mentioned. It wasn’t until my guy Swamburger mentioned that his former roomate Jon had just moved back there that it started coming up in conversation. I found out that Dunedin FL was just outside of Tampa, had a growing hip-hop scene, and might be worth a shot since my last Tampa show went really well. I’m always down to try new markets out, so Count Bass D and I performed there for the first time in 2014 on the Respect the Architect tour.
Experiments in Podcasting
The past month or so I’ve been developing some podcasting ideas behind the scenes. I’ve always been a fan of podcasts, but because I listen to so many, it’s important for me to really develop my ideas fully. The last thing I wanna do is start a podcast that either sucks and has to stop, or one that’s good but too difficult for me to do with regularity. A lot of my current experiments in podcasting deal with the technical side of it:
Blueprint “Just Move” Official Music Video
Check out the track and music video “Just Move” from my upcoming album King No Crown.
Download “Just Move” here: http://bit.ly/1IOIsvX
Announcing the King No Crown Tour
I would like to officially announce the first set of shows on my upcoming King No Crown tour with special guest Supastition and DJ Rare Groove. More dates will be added, but here are the first 25 confirmed dates so far:
What A Night: Chapter 7 – Kalamazoo, MI
What A Night
Chapter 7: Kalamazoo, MIBetween 2003 and 2005, Kalamazoo, Michigan became one of the most supportive cities of my music. It all started when Western Michigan University’s student-operated radio station, WIDR FM, began putting the Soul Position Unlimited EP and my production album The Weight Room in regular rotation. Unlike most college radio stations—whose programming is directed entirely at the student-body—WIDR’s show programming and events calendar garnered the support of the entire community and the surrounding area.
What A Night: Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOUR: NEW YORK CITY, NY
There was a point in my life, between 2002 and 2004, that I became very interested in stand-up comedy. At first I was a fan like everybody else—renting the most popular comedy specials and watching them anytime they were on television—but soon my interest grew more intense. Fortunately, I didn’t have to start my comedy collection from scratch; I was a hip-hop producer, which meant I already owned a decent amount of comedy albums on vinyl. I began revisiting these older albums from comedians like Richard Pryor and Steve Martin, listening to them with a completely different ear and appreciation. Eventually, my favorite comedians made their way out of my house and onto my MP3 player, just as any great album would.
Announcing My New Book “What a Night”
After laying low for the past couple of months, I’m proud to announce my new book, What a Night is finally here. The book takes the reader on a journey through my twelve-year touring career to tell the stories of the worst shows I’ve ever experienced. What a Night is part comedy, part tragedy, and 100% entertaining. I hope you will support me by ordering your copy today.
Pre-order your copy of What A Night here: http://bit.ly/1vVF38T
The book will be available November 18th and available on paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats.
- Available in Paperback, E-Book, and Audiobook versions
- First 200 copies of the paperback version will be signed and come w/ 11×17 poster and Blueprint Sticker.
- Audiobook version is read by Blueprint
Blueprint presents “Fan Questions: Episode Two”
Time for the second weekly installment of my “Fan Questions” video series, where I answer the questions my fans send me. This episode covers the influence of beats vs lyrics, staying down to earth, and violence and ignorance in hip-hop.
Blueprint presents “Fan Questions: Episode 1”
Last friday, I got on facebook and twitter to asked my fans to ask me as many questions as possible for a videoblog I wanted to make. They were good sports and responded with a gang of good questions. The result is the first episode of Blueprint presents Fan Questions. This new series will be posted every Friday. If you asked a question at the beginning, tune in for your answers. If you haven’t joined in, hit up my Facebook or Twitter, or leave it in the comments here.
The Last Five Albums That I Bought: November 2013
Its been a while since I’ve done one of these posts. Not that I haven’t been picking up any new albums the past several months, I think it’s more that I haven’t had much time to sit down and write about them. But now that I’m getting back on top of my writing again, let’s do this!
5. Atoms For Peace “AMOK”
For those that don’t know, Atoms For Peace is actually a side project of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, Redhot Chilli Peppers basssist Flea, and a couple other cats from established bands. I’m a big Radiohead fan so picking this album up was pretty much inevitable.
Looking for Some Session Musicians
One of the early benefits of attempting to change my home production setup into a more mobile one is that it has made me question all parts of my creative process. I’ve realized that there are certain points in my process where the momentum I have in creating art comes to a standstill. In most instances, this is caused by a technical flaw in my workflow. A example of something like this would be not having enough midi inputs or cables to connect a drum machine that I really like. The fact that the drum machine isn’t connected all the time makes connecting it an inconvenience, and therefore reduces the likelihood I’ll use it.
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.
Chip Away At Your Goals
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.
