Blog update long over due:

Every now & then I get the reminder to step it up here. Its not like I’m not among the living, it just that I prefer to live it versus bla bla bla’ing about it. In an effort to be a proactive blogger, I am writing  a few words of randomness that may interest you or ennui you…haha.

While in pursuit of loosening up my persona I landed in Panda, a local lounge with a room full of dj’s that played some very chill yet grand choons. During my short stay I was introduced to Beans from Anti-pop Consortium. He was there in chill mode as well. We chopped it up a bit about life and then he hit me with that ball dropping question (Tribe-New-Album). All attempts to circumvent that question led to a discussion on the state of music today. Will that subject ever get old? I think not.

Beans said he missed the times when it every other week a hot and inspiring song was released. I miss those days too. Daily my dj in-box is filled with songs that will never make an impact. I often look to break a hot song but are there not many ill songs being made, nor are there a lot of deep digging, record breaking dj’s to play the good stuff that is out there. Strictly speaking about radio dj’s of course.

Just a random thought. Beans it was good to meet you fam, I can’t wait to hear the next solo material.

Family, friends, fans and tweeps on July 7th 2010 I experienced a life changing moment. I was asked to be a pallbearer for my brother Phife’s Grandmother, Eugenia Boyce (may she rest in peace). It was an honor to be a care taker for her as she made her final journey. I was a bit nervous but happy to be there for the family. Little did I know how much this was going to affect me.

As I took a hold of Granny I was instantly drawn to the time my brother and I physically placed my father in his final resting place. If you don’t know anything about an Islamic burial, the loved one is placed into the grave minus the coffin and we lay them there like a sleeping baby. Let me tell you that particular ritual truly makes you have a reverence for The Creator.

All funerals are a reminder to the living that life is precious and encourages us to not waste the time we are given. Mrs. Boyce aka “Granny’s” service was no different with one exception, her life was truly inspiring.

She lived all of her life in service of others. Not only was she a teacher but at the age of 50 she went to school to become a registered nurse. As I’m sitting in the service I’m hearing this and I’m like “really?” who does that sort of thing? Answer; a truly exceptional and giving person. She did so much for so many and I can not begin to break it down here. Granny certainly did not waste the time she was given.

The service suddenly became heavy, not in the sense of tears and sadness but more like realizing that I have not put in enough work into this life. If I was to leave here now what will they say? He had a few great songs and touched people with his performances? Please don’t get me wrong, it is a blessing to be able to touch people and to unite the masses via song, but there is more in life that I am capable of. I began to realize that in order to serve people in the way Mrs. Boyce did I would have to shed my own self wants. Her service made me look at all of my interactions with people, specifically the people closest to me. Yes I’ve done a bit of good things to people but I have also been arrogant, stubborn and selfish too. In pursuit of making my way in life I have put up walls and alienated those that laid themselves for me, so stupid. It caused me to really evaluate my life. I was able to directly pinpoint the moment I became me. A blip from my childhood was the cause but I sat in the service seeing clear as day the change that needed to be made. AND I instantly was able to break free of what has held me back for so many years.

I take a moment to be this vulnerable in hopes that someone else will be inspired by Phife’s Grandmother to the degree that they too can break what holds them. My only desire in life are 3 things, to serve my Lord to the best of my abilities, to be a service to mankind as I am humanly capable and to receive love from “the one”. That is all.

I would like to thank everyone that has allowed me into their life via personal relationships or through music. I would like to apologize to those that I have wronged and ask for your forgiveness. I humbly leave you asking you to let today be the day you make change for the better and to spend everyday thereafter striving to live up to it. May Allah guide us all righteously.

Salaam..

OH HALIFAX!! I had the best time at the Jazz Fest on July 9th 2010. I opened for my native tongue brethren De La Soul. They never cease to amaze and inspire me. Their set was GRAND!!!

When I first stepped up to the decks people were in plastic chairs, kinda lounging Jazz Fest style. I wondered what did I get myself into. I knew it was jazz and laid back but this is the hip-hop opener. I could not allow people to just sit there. Needless to say the people in Halifax did not come to chill they came to party and that is exactly what we did so much that I made the front cover of the newspaper the next day. WOW

Shouts out to The Extremities, Uncle Fester and Fresh Kils for their opening set.

Thank you Halifax for the great time. Bring me back..

click flyers for more info…

In the UK working on this very cool project. Today began in normal routine, I ate my cereal, suited up for a run, showered, walked over to the studio, said what up to the lads going over last night’s take, powered up my laptop and wait for my cell phone to come alive. I get better phone reception in the studio. Then the words popped on my screen “Guru passed fyi”. Stunned, shocked, deeply saddened. I repeated the words loudly. A brief pause, silence and then laptops open up. I presume everyone is hitting google to get the word.

My memories of Guru precedes the monotone rhythmic rhymes. When my crew was in demo stage way back in the day, I use to see Guru on the “J” train. Late nights journeys from “Hotel Amazon”, “Union Square” and the like. We didn’t know each other then but became acquainted as New Yorkers do when you bump into one another, no words just the universal “what up” head nod. Not too long after that Gangstarr’s music dropped and so did Tribe. Head nods turned into pounds. It was later I found out he was from Boston, nahhhh He rolled like a Brooklyn boy & to me He always will be.

I had the opportunity to work with Guru on a Jon B remix. Conversations often get interesting when you’re the only one passing on the pass if you catch my drift. We kicked it a bit. I learned a lot about Guru then and even more as life moved forward in this industry. Through the years our run-ins changed venues from the “J” train to the dark corners of a club here and there throughout the world. While the beat banged in the background many conversations were had about music and life . He, like I had many deep layers.

This life of music invites all things imaginable, good things and cataclysmic things. When you’re “2 Steps Ahead” you can have both sides within your grasp. God willing the travelers road will lead to enlightenment and the lessons learned can be shared. Guru has left a trail for us to learn from. Even in his last days. I pray his journey is peaceful.

Hip-Hop is fairly young but we’re getting up there. In Guru’s passing I’m asking what are we leaving behind? Your culture is only as strong as what you leave behind for those after you to carry it forward. Hip-Hop means so much to me that I can not put it into words in one writing. I don’t think any of us can and that is why we write song after song after song. In looking at the present state of Hip-Hop I can see we have a lot of work to do. There are a few youngins that  get it and they carry the torch well but for the most part they are only a few which means we have to come together and return to being a community of one. That’s a little Islam for you.

I’m deeply saddened and have to get back to work. I’m gonna take that Boston/Brooklyn spirit and push these lads hard today. May Keithy E. The Guru rest in peace. And May his legacy carry on.

salaam

Today marks our 20th Anniversary of the release of ATCQ’s first album Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

April 17th 1990

Thank you to all our fans who have made this journey a blessed one. Today we celebrate you!

Peoples’ Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest – Download Peoples’ Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm on iTunes

Haaa not my backyard but the backyard of Angelic Studios in the UK.

Back in the lab with “The Kanyu Tree“. Five weeks of straight recording, deadlines eek!! We’ll get it done. A few comforts from home would make it nice though. 5PM rush hour traffic, 1010WINS, Funk Master Flex bombs all over the track, asphalt & concrete and my most fav meal from wholefoods. Enough day dreaming, back to the boards and chords..

We hope to have this project wrapped and ready for your ears some time this year.

peace…