So according to my google analytics there's someone out there still checkin for this.. Busy as I am, its only right I hit yall with an update.


I've been busy as hell with the release of ADHD, which I'm pleased to announce has gotten a great response so far..Shoutout to Kev Knottingham, Rock the Dub, Hip Hop is Read, Bostonianz617, Dotgotit, Pen and Sword, TittyPuncher (yes u read that right), The Leakage, Fresh Hip Hop Music, Thats Major, Bsand3s, and any other blog I might've forgot to mention that showed love.

I've also been serving as the head of marketing for Scope Urban Apparel and still looking for a day job (I'm not one of those bloggers that makes a living off it).  In any event, its been a long time, and I shouldn't have left you, without.. blah blah blah yall know the Rakim sh*t.

So, what's new with me? Same sh*t different day, music, disgruntled twitter rants, and failed relationships. We had a very successful release party for ADHD at Kulturez in Harvard Square.. Since then I've pretty much been spending my nights in the studio working on new material, and my days hunting down Hip Hop celebrities to endorse Scope.

Myself and Tyler the Creator - Click for more photos

Its been fun. Last week, I met Tyler and those crazy Odd Future delinquents at the much publicized "riot" at the Newbury Comics in-store. I also put some new joints out myself.

I can't guarantee how consistent I'll be with keeping up with this blog but I will try to keep yall updated as much as possible. Don't forget I also have a tumblr which I check a lot more often so don't think I've disappeared completely from cyberspace. Just know bein a RapperSlashBlogger is a lot harder than it looks so cut me some slack.

Couple shows coming up in the month of March as I rear my head from obscurity once again. If you are in or around the Boston area I strongly encourage you to come out and support. ADHD is closer than you think but in the meantime you should definitely come out to hear some of the new material performed live.

The 5th and final leg of the Abstract Music Tour stops in the Boston vicinity at one of the city's prominent Central Square venues and teams up with one of the Bean's burgeoning urban music labels in OneThree Music and one of its young rising stars in Catch Wreck to bring the tour to a rousing close.

I'm excited to be a part of both shows and I hope you won't be foolish enough to miss either one.

The thing is, when you have a life, it gets very difficult to keep a blog updated constantly with new material.. Especially when you are the sole-contributor.. If there's any other rappers out there who want to contribute your more than welcome, the more the merrier.. In any event I'm back on this, Happy belated new year to everybody who still bothers to check this, and happy 22nd birthday to me!

1st things 1st... ADHD will be out very soon and I just put out a new music video! I got mixed reviews about my self-edited, overly artsy piece for Concerto, so Rene Dongo and I teamed up once again to put some visuals with the record, "1Tyme4urMynd". The song and video mark a slightly new direction in my work, a more personal and honest approach as far as the lyrics go. With ADHD, I tried not to limit myself to "sounding like a conscious rapper" when it came to the writing, it was a a risk in terms of how I expect people to react, but so far I am extremely happy with the results. With 1tyme4urmynd, Rah Intelligence supplied a beat that starts off very dark and sinister sounding.. It lets the sun come out for just a moment before going right back into that dark place - very much a reflection of where I was at mentally while writing.. I left song structure alone and decided to just rhyme all the way through the record as opposed to trying to come up with a hook.. When Arcitype and I recorded it, we got it in one take with no punches.



Note the symbolic transitions and Rene's use of contrasting images throughout the piece. I guarantee your going to want to watch this more than once...

We definitely tried to do something completely different here. To accompany the Concerto piece I recently released off of the ADHD project, I edited footage Jacob took of me in our top secret location. I know this is something that will get mixed reactions given the content, but I feel like this works with the song in showing the depression that I talk about in the record and what I was going through while writing a lot of the material for ADHD. The quality of the footage should've come out better given the camera we used, but something got lost in the rendering. I'm still working this out, I haven't edited film in a long time and I used imovie for this so cut me some slack. Other then that, Jake shot this with his new camera that takes really nice photos and video.. what do you think..?

I had a good time at WECB last night on the Helmsplitter with DongoSon and Dan the Man for their last show of the semester. In case you missed it, you can download the entire show including our conversation and some of the new joints off of ADHD..



Here's a list of the songs they played on the show..

Catch Wreck - Outta Control
Catch Wreck - Concerto
Free Energy - Hope Child
Fusion Mobile - Almost There ft Lauren Hillman
Catch Wreck - 1Tyme4UrMynd
Alien Ant Farm - Goodbye

Concerto by Catch Wreck

The new project ADHD is almost complete.. It's been a little while since I put something new out and I got tired of waiting.

With @TheRealRahDigga reppin for @Scope_Apparel at the Concrete Jungle Pop-up shop in Boston.

Had a great time last night celebratin the release of my dude, Pause's new free mixtape, Stuck on 100.. Scope Urban Apparel/Hood Prop/Pen and Sword/Grindmode/etc. was in the building representing

Blizz, Jero, Pause, Myself

If it wasn't for the colors I might rock this.

Myself and the lovely Ms. Sabrina Antoine

Illiam Savant, OTO, and myself

Jake, Pause, myself

Step ya game up.. If ya store aint got a fishtank, you slackin'!

Chantelle, Illiam, and Jero

Boston Latin School reunion: Myself, Cassandra from the Outlet Magazine, and Kayla

With Jordan Martins

Rene Dongo of Dongoson Pictures

Hoodlums: Myself, Jake, and Blizz

Myself along with the beautiful and talented Ms. Rozell.. Collab in the works...

Myself, Fex, Pause, and OTO

Brand new off that Young & The Restless..

Young Gifted and Black makes responsible rap cool
Drama of the Gifted Child
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  August 18, 2010

If you look closely in the 2002 video for Public Enemy's "Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need," you'll see a 13-year-old Jesse Winfrey playing the background. He was hanging in Roxbury's Funky Fresh Records when front man Chuck D entered the Dudley Square landmark with a cameraman in tow.

Winfrey, who now performs as Catch Wreck, has remained tight with his anti-establishment heroes, and opened for Public Enemy two weeks ago at the House of Blues. Chuck D knows what's up; along with his other Young Gifted and Black (YGB) counterparts, Winfrey is leading a revolutionary and enlightened rhyme movement in Boston.

Launched in 2007 by Dorchester native and community soldier Vernon C. Robinson, YGB has evolved from a series of events into a collective of socio-politically astute MCs, poets, and singers. As a whole, they don't endorse drug dealing, gun toting, or ill-gotten gains. As individuals, some participants — including Winfrey and spoken-word prodigy Sofia Snow — push further, fighting the power on such issues as police brutality and CORI reform.

"There's no buffoonery at my events," says Robinson. "I don't need to tell them what to write about, because the youth that I'm dealing with knows what's going on. They're leaders with a higher consciousness than most of their peers."

In the "each one teach one" tradition, Winfrey and other movement veterans are paying lessons forward by recruiting young new talent. Since it was built without a dime of outside funding, YGB might not be on the radar of philanthropists or politicians. But with Catch Wreck and his brethren expanding their positive base, it may be time to take notice.

"Deval Patrick should be paying a lot of attention to this," says Jamarhl Crawford, an outspoken Boston activist and Winfrey's mentor since Chuck D introduced them at a Public Enemy show in 2002. "We've spoken with [political leaders] about getting funding to help [YGB] grow in the future, but if you look at what's been going on in the streets, it clear that something needs to happen right now."

Winfrey, who recently dropped a mixtape dubbed The Young & The Restless, rocks the eighth biennial YGB showcase at OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center in Egleston Square this Saturday. YGB expects 200 attendees this time around.

"For the most part it's not cool or mainstream to be an activist," says Winfrey, "and with our music and movement we're trying to promote responsibility and make it cool."

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/music/106993-young-gifted-and-black-makes-responsible-rap-cool/