It’s about that time…

If you caught either of my shows in September (one at Backspace in Portland, OR and one at Vagabond Sound in Oak Harbor, WA) you would most likely remember the Seattle native hip hop artist who rocked the stage with me – Kublakai. I’m a long time fan of Kubi, so it was dope to meet him in person, kick it with him and get to know him, and to share a couple stages with him. I’m most definitely looking forward to working with him more in the future, and I was stoked that I was able to help him get back in the live performance scene after over a year of a hiatus. I’m not going to spend any more time babbling about the shows or working with Kubi, because he recently resurrected his blog Peep Game and did a great write up on his experience with the two shows that you should check out here. By the way Kubi, thanks for this quote from the blog post:

It seems to be touring season for us in the indie hip hop world. Sapient and I have been gearing up for the Ivory Poachers Tour starting this October 20th. Some more shows have been added to the itinerary since my first couple announcements about the tour, so expect an updated tour poster and schedule coming soon. But in the mean time you can check out the current poster and the dates I’ve already got posted here. Speaking of Kublakai, he also just announced The Self Help Tour which he’ll be a part of, ironically playing several of the same cities and venues that I’ll be at. So go ahead and peep his poster and schedule.

That’s about it for now. I’m working my ass off to get ready for this tour. I’ll be playing some new songs that are going to be on an upcoming album release in February, so the only way to hear them at this point is to make it out to one of the live shows. I’ll also be slangin’ my Hip Hop Feels Your Pain t-shirts and special edition copies of my debut album The Kennel Testimony EP at the shows. But don’t trip, if you can’t make it out, you can still cop the merch online here. Oh, and don’t forget I’m releasing a FREE digital 5-song EP this Halloween called All My Ex’s Smoke Meth. You can cop a free download of the first song off of the EP here. So go do it. Word.

By the way, I love your face.

Upcoming tour, new YouTube videos, and all that jazz…

What up selected few blog readers! Don’t trip, you’re on the “in” crowd. Everybody else just doesn’t know how dope this blog is yet if they don’t read it, ya dig? So in about 2 weeks I’ll be departing on my first semi-national tour, hitting several states on the west coast and in the mid west including: Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. I’ll be joining fellow Portland rapper Sapient on his Ivory Poachers Tour 2011 along with Dopethought. Here is the tentative itinerary and poster for the tour:

I am effin stoked to say the least. It’s crazy to think that just a little over 4 months ago I was locked up finishing off a 5 year and 10 month sentence, and here I am 120 days from the gate on parole and I’ve already released an album and a t-shirt merchandise product line, had my music on rotation on 107.5 FM (the biggest hip hop radio station in Portland), played shows all over Oregon and Washington, been featured in some influential blogs and press outlets, worked with some artists who I’ve been fans of for years, and now embarking on my first tour. Life is a trip. Has it ever just hit you that you’re in the moment living the life you dreamed of years ago? It’s an amazing feeling.

I was digging through my cell phone and found a few videos from being on the road playing shows over the past few months, so I decided to upload them to my YouTube channel and share them with y’all in light of my upcoming tour. By the way, I will be video documenting much of the trip this October and November so look out for that. While I’m on the road I plan on keeping y’all updated with video footage and still shots from shows, as well as video footage from the road. So stay checkin’ back, ’cause I stay active. Oh, here’s the videos:

Enjoy. Is anyone as stoked for this tour as I am? Thank you so, so much to all of my friends, family, and fans who have been supporting me and my music over the past several months. You’re all a blessing and it means the world to me. You rock.

Happy 23rd Birthday Saint Warhead!!!

So I wanted to thank EVERYBODY for all of the Happy Birthday wishes on Tuesday!!! You rock. Seriously. It made me feel so important, like I’m actually a big deal or something. This is the first birthday I’ve spent out of jail in over 6 years, and let me tell you what, y’all made it count. Let’s do a little recap, because I want to share with all of you how you made my b-day kick effin ass.

• Over 75 “Happy Birthday” posts on Facebook. What?! Here were some of my favorites:

Hannah Hobbs posting this video to my Wall.

“Fuck ya, happy birthday Ted. Now go get fucked up!” – Keanu Z.

‘Happy day of coming out of your mom to make your mark on this world! You’re certainly doing a good job so far. Happy birthday Tj:-)” – Kelsey W.

“TJ you are handsome, charming, intelligent, and talented. You have the ability within you to change the world. I truly love you no matter who you choose to be, and I see the you that you COULD be. My birthday wish for you is that you use your powers for good not evil I love you kiddo and I’m so proud of you, always.” – Angela C.

“It’s Rhyme TIME!——–>Happy Birthday Mr. Bear, the birthday suit is what you should wear, your day is going to be fucking bad ass, when offered a drink I trust you not to pass. Muah ♥” – Jacque L.

There were a ton of good, touching, and funny posts. So I just picked a handful. Don’t feel left out if I missed ya.

What was the first present I received this year? A bottle opener in the mail from…. Marlboro. Figures. BUT I did have a good handful of friends get me something for my birthday. And. Every. Single. Person. Got. Me. The. Exact. Same. Thing…… Alcohol! Again. Figures. Like take Exhibit A, my present from my good friend Sage:

Birthday shots, anyone?

And just in case you weren’t there, or you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a video taken from the birthday show I played at Backspace in Portland, OR last Tuesday. Courtesy of Sarah Willey, who is amazing. Check out Gumby leading the crowd in singing happy birthday to me:

So this is a huge, huge thank you from Saint Warhead to everybody who got me a present, sent me a text message, gave me a phone call, posted something on my Wall, came out to my show, or who partied with me on my birthday!

DJ Craze Doing Awesome Things (Video)

DJ Craze Doing Awesome Things (Video).

Saw this on Mike Shinoda’s blog. Had to reblog it. Too dope!

 

Soundtrack to my life…

If my life had a soundtrack, I think the track listing would go like this…

Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow

Heartless by Kanye West

Be Somebody by Mike Shinoda & Lupe Fiasco

Remember The Name by Fort Minor feat. Styles of Beyond

Hip Hop Saved My Life by Lupe Fiasco

Superstar by Lupe Fiasco

Lose Yourself by Eminem

Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner

I Don’t Trust Myself by John Mayer

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer

Freefallin’ by Tom Petty

Freak on a Leash by Korn

On The Rocks by Grieves

Vice Grip by Grieves

I Ate Your Soul by Grieves

Fuck it, anything by Grieves actually

Me by Atmosphere

Just For Show by Atmosphere

Makes The Sun Come Out by Atmosphere

Cupid’s Chokehold by Gym Class Heroes

What Do You Want by Jerrod Neiman

If there was a soundtrack to your life, what would some of the songs be?

I will survive…

Shit is rough right now. I’m kind of broke. I work 24/7 on this music thing just to get more broke. I have too much to do. I can’t do it all myself and I do anyways. I’m always behind. But it’s cool. I see movement. Just broke over 100 followers on Twitter and over 100 subscribers to my mailing list. I’m releasing a free 5 song EP on Halloween. I’ve got two shows booked this month, one in Oregon and one in Washington. I just started working with a new DJ, which I’m super stoked about. To tell you the truth I never even think about giving up. The thought never crosses my mind. I get too much fulfillment from every piece of feedback I get on my music. I could never do anything else and feel happy. Keep posting shit like this on my Facebook page, and I’ll keep pushin’ through no matter what…

Every couple of weeks or so I’ll compile the fan feedback from my Wall on Facebook and put a blog post together like this. Seriously, these comments are always what I need just in the knick of time to remind myself that I’m right where I need to be. So thank you.

Album Review: Kublakai – The Basics 2

Seattle-based hip hop mastermind Kublakai has been around for a while. He’s actually one of my favorite artists to listen to right now. I’ve been a fan ever since I heard an EP that he did called Lights For The Dark Nights. Word is he’s pretty big news in Japan, but most definitely slept on and under-appreciated out here in the Pacific Northwest. He’s worked with some of the best talent in the hip hop scene from Seattle, including his partner in crime The MC Type, Grynch, and the recent Rhymesayers success story Grieves. Kubie has been a little MIA from the game, but is making a strong comeback with the release of The Basics 2, a follow-up to his 2008 debut The Basics. I had the fortunate luck of copping a pre-release sampler of the new album before it’s release, which was… yesterday. You can go cop the album for FREE right here. So go do it. Here’s what I thought about the record:

Kublakai is most definitely an extremely skilled and diverse lyricist blessed with an equally dope delivery. This guy raps slow, raps fast, and sometimes doesn’t even rhyme and still makes it sound legit. He tries to sing too. Granted he doesn’t have the best voice for singing on the planet, but shit, no one got mad at Tom Petty. (Don’t trip Kubie, I try to sing on some of my songs too and I’m even worse at it.) He can put out shit that makes you laugh, makes you think, makes you reminisce, and some shit that pulls on those emotional issues.

He starts the album off with a strong intro track, brilliantly showcasing his ability to pack a verse full of punchlines, metaphors, and wordplay. Oh, and he released a music video for it, too. Then he drops into a joint called Hatin’ is so Obvious, which is possibly the realest shit he’s ever wrote (no cliche pun intended). This might actually be my favorite track off of the album. Seriously. The content just screams “real shit” with every bar.

The third joint One of a Kind takes a little bit more of a ballad approach. This right here showcases Kublakai’s diversity at its finest. The first 3 songs on the album move from a hard hitting yet slow tempo punchline track, to a much faster paced reflective joint that gets your mind running, to a vibe joint with Kubie’s raspy ass voice singin’ the hook – which transitions nicely into Fall. The fourth track on the album, Fall, is your standard simp-ish, kinda emo hip hop love song that’s becoming prevalent in the next generation of hip hop. You can thank Kid Cudi, Kanye West, and Drake later. What? I’m not hating. I dig that shit. Have you heard my music?

I wish Kubie would’ve pushed more marketing and more of an online conversation with his song Top 5, it’s the perfect joint for that. It got me thinking. It got me wanting to tell people who my Top 5 were. It would’ve been cool to see more of a call to fans on Facebook and Twitter, or wherever, to converse around the topic and create word of mouth for the song and the album. That’s just me though. My whole educational background is in marketing. That’s the kind of shit I think about. Anyways, track 6, Scholar, a good song. Good intellectual content. But this is the first point on the record where I started to feel myself getting bored with the music.

Just in the knick of time, Rock That $#!+ happens. You know, the type of joint that makes you want to hear it performed live, or at least bang your head so hard in your car driving down the road that you’re forehead is hitting the steering wheel. The remix at the end of the album is dope, too.

The next couple of songs, Vegas and Like its our Last Day is where I finally start to drift. Both songs just feel like filler tracks to me. Not weak pieces of music by any means, but they were the only 2 songs on the album that I didn’t want to listen to again an hour later. I’ve been knockin’ the album all week, and when I do, these songs never get any play. I think Vegas has marketing potential to focus on that geographic location and maybe pick up some attention there, but beyond that, I didn’t really care for it. Maybe I’m just bitter because I’m still pissed off about having to hear New York by Jay Z and Alicia Keyes on the radio a billion fucking times.

Word. Kubie refocuses me with Torrid and Place the Blame, a couple more simper tracks like Fall, but much more depressing. Right up my alley. I told you I like that shit. I write enough music about my relationships problems, sometimes its refreshing to hear someone else bitch about theirs. Oh, and In The Ether… dope.

Overall a good album in my opinion. I listen to a lot of indie hip hop from the NW, really it’s almost all I listen to. I try to be as familiar with the scene as possible. But there’s only a small handful of artists ’round here that I’m truly a fan of. And it’s dope because they’re close enough, and small enough, that I can reach them. Besides the response from fans that’s the most rewarding part of being a music artist, getting to work with these kats that I’m a fan of. By the way, I’ve got some upcoming shows in Oregon and Washington with Kublakai. Stay posted for more information. Until then, I’m going to tell you one last time…

Go download Kublakai’s The Basics 2 for FREE. Right now.

Much love.