A Conversation with Damian Marley...

I talked with Damian Marley back in late 2005 shortly after his album, "Welcome to Jamrock", hit stores and the summer after the single "Welcome to Jamrock" blew up. I was very excited to talk Damian because I had never talked to anyone from the Bob Marley bloodline. A year and a half later, I would get to talk Stephen Marley.

In this conversation however, we talked about the album, growing up as a Marley and talking about musical expectations abot the children of Bob Marley. Enjoy...

I don't watch dancing reality shows...

... but this audition from "So You Think You Could Dance?" was dope. I love it when real b-boying/pop-locking hits mainstream audiences...

A conversation with 9th Wonder...

Before we get into the topic at hand, check out my piece on Grand Theft Auto IV at FastCompany.com, visit my recent postings at the AOL Blackvoices Sports Blog (with an interview with Dre Bly of the Denver Broncos) and check out this week's column on Westword.com. My postings on my video game blog have slowed down because I'm looking for a new outlet but you can still peep it for reviews of GTA IV, Okami, NBA Ballers:Chosen One and others coming soon.

I'm going to trying something new here with podcasting.

I've done dozens and dozens of interviews with hip-hop artists, mostly for print and web outlets. Which meant a lot of time transcribing audio - I don't like doing it. That's the main reason I haven't done too many interviews lately. You can call it laziness, I just think that sometimes it's not worth it.

The thing is, I love interviewing people, especially artists that I enjoy. So, instead of transcribing interviews for you to read, I'm just going to start posting the audio my conversations/interviews with these artists.

First Up: 9th Wonder

I talked to 9th last winter, right after his album Dream Merchant dropped, and wrote a Q&A for Crackspace.com. But even reading it, you don't get the tone and inflections of the conversation, which I think is necessary to get what the interviewee is talking about.

For those unaware of 9th Wonder, he was a member and producer of the hip-hop group, Little Brother, who broke through in 2002-03. 9th was lauded for his soulful, retro hip-hop beats and was soon recruited by folks like Jay-Z, Mary J Blige, Destiny's Child, and others to produce tracks on their project. Most recently, he produced Erykah Badu's slamming single, "Honey," from her new album New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War.

We talked a little about his album, but mostly about the nature of music. About the new generation of hip-hop, being a hip-hop parent, the state of R&B music, and a few other things. 9th is a funny cat so hopefully you'll enjoy the convo.

So without futher ado, here's my conversation with 9th Wonder:

The Illest graf video I have ever seen...

This was forwarded to me by my man Porter. This must have took so much time... I hope the artist gets a paying gig out of it:



MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

New things....

Check out some of the stuff I've been doing...

I recently interviewed Tanya Marchiol. She's a financial consultant for professional athletes, mostly those new to the league. She helps them buy a house, invest their loot and helps them make money using their money... She had some interesting stuff to say.

I also did a little rundown of all the Grand Theft Auto games to get people amped up for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

Please check out the blogging at my Denver, Colorado Hip-Hop Site, AOL Blackvoices' Casually Obsessed Sports Blog, my hip-hop column at Westword, and video game blog at SiTV.

I have some interviews with NFL athletes coming up here soon... stay tuned for that, and hopefully more feature writing... it's just a different world out here for writers nowadays...

Oh yeah, look for some contributions from me over at Soul Bounce here soon as well. A cool fun site.

ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme

Byata of ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme on VH1

So I was watching the premier episode of ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme on VH1 this week, and noticed the femcee Byata. I swear I heard that name somewhere but no one could help me on where it was familiar BEFORE the show came on the air.

So I started digging in my files and found a song by Byata, produced by DJ freakin' Premier. I knew I had seen the name somewhere before. Check it out:



Anyway, if any of you keep with me ish here, you know that I like TV. I don't front, I like mostly the action drama joints like Prison Break, 24, Lost, Heroes, etc. I'm not on some holier than thou, "i don't watch TV, except for the news..." Whatever man, I like good stories.

I'm very picky with my reality shows, but anything hip-hop related, like Miss Rap Supreme, of White Rapper Show, or Celebrity Rap Superstar (that was hard to watch though), I'll probably peep it. Anyway, just wanted to share that song... I'll have another update here soon. I have a few features I've done going up here in the next week or so.

Updating...

Hey peeps,

If you take a look on the left there, I updated the outlets I write for. You'll notice some outlets are gone. I also joined Facebook, so check out my profile as well. You'll also notice my links have been updated with some fresh blog that you have to check out. Also here's a recent radio interview I did about my "career" and local hip-hop scene here in Denver.



I know I said I was going to talk about Janet, but I think I'll do it next time.