Run for the hills!

In one weekend we had:

- sun
- rain
- hail
- snow
- a Canucks win (boo yah!)


ANYWAYS, i'm going to be making a HUGE drop at the end of tomorrow involving some music you all could download and upload on ur iPods and iTunes, and Zunes and whatever you kids use these days lol. it will be my first of another segment category I will be making as well...Trust me...the music will be banging!

Stay tuned...


OH also thanks to those checking out my blog (the hit counts don't lie...I'm watching youuuu!) Or....it could be me refreshing every half hour about 50 times lol. Hmmmmmmmmm...

Ig'nant S#*%: WTF is Earth Hour?!

Welcome to my first post in the segment category of Ig'nant S#*%! A place where it's time to get ig'nant, folks!


Okay...whaaaaaaat ze hell is this??

"Earth Hour is an international event that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on the evening of 29 March at 8 pm local time until 9 pm to promote electricity conservation and thus lower carbon emissions."

Electricity conservation?


To lower what??



For one hour??

Then what? Go back to our normal, destructive lives driving our SUVs, with our fully plugged outlets and our pet dogs leaving a steaming pile of turd on the front lawn?

Sorry, but lifes a bitch and it's freakin dark @ 8pm here in Vancouver in March. Plus Hockey Night In Canada is on. So if you wanna do this "earth thing", how bout try taking a bus or carpooling and turning off your damn lights, TV's, computers, etc etc during the day when you ain't usin it and call this damn event Earth Day instead?!

OR how about calling it... COMMON SENSE?

Bitch please, seems like the only waste of energy here is human energy. So don't bother me with your "I am more holier than thou" attitudes, it ain't helpin. Coz next thing I know Bono will be shoving this down our throats with a benefit concert...


UGHHH!
Ohhhh the truth can be so inconvenient...

[/Ig'nant S#*%]

adidas+Indonesian Batik fabric = ???

HAH!

Nah.


Dope!

Sick.

Okay this is pretty dope on some far out elaborate shiet. For those who don't know, batik is an Indonesian fabric and in some ways an art form. For those who probably have these patterns somewhere in your house (like on a couch pillow cover for instance haha), chances are you're Indonesian!

As for this line (Materials of the World by adidas) I could never had imagine them doing Indonesia despite all the sweatshop talks and whatnot. How ironic, but hot regardless. HOWEVER, I don't think I would be caught dead in these...okay well I'd probably wear the jacket and the kicks to some functions just coz I like to stand out and represent but I'd probably if anything frame em or somethin if I had em (hence, it being a collectable).

Peace!

Check out my YouTube vids!

Here's me on my marketing and promoting tip!!

The Cool Kids and Wale are two of my new favorite artists that are comin out...Yes I am the one who created the videos and if you at one point Googled "The Cool Kids" you probably clicked and watched the video already haha.

I uploaded these a long time ago, but y'all heard it here first!

The Cool Kids - '88
(with 300,000+ hits and counting!!)



Wale featuring Bun B - Go Mode
(with 1,200+ hits and counting!!)

Interview with Kyle Kraft of Battle Axe Music

*Sigh*

Well first of all *FORESHADOW ALERT* I just want to say how my teacher totally fucked up and screwed up the interview. Mr. Kyle Kraft made it clear how he wanted his updated biography read and researched which was sent to my teacher. My teacher was supposed to send that over to us, however the thing was, my teacher sent us the wrong link...AND with him never replying to his emails I had to go in with info I could find on Battleaxerecords.com (even though it was evidently out of date and possibly last updated 3 years ago!)

So I show up @ about 1:57pm at The Wall Center downtown where their head office is located. I get buzzed up and I was on my way up the elevator. Up on the 18th floor, I enter the suite that they call their office. Nothing elaborate or fancy...it was just that...an apartment suite haha! It wasn't even that tidy and clean, not that it mattered. It was...VERY much as hip-hop as it can get. With posters on the wall, computer cables on the floor and desks everywhere in a somewhat small living room area, it created a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. So I pull out my tape recorder and....yep. The freakin thing went all haywire...UGHHH...so we did it old school with the note taking (well actually classmate brought his laptop and typed it out).

So first of all, I'll give some background info on Kyle. A hip hop follower since the age of about 7, he truly found his calling that early and stuck with it. About 13 years later he founded the hip hop Independent label Battle Axe Records with Madchild of Swollen Members and was given the General Manager title. And for a few years, it's been butter for him.


...well for the most part. My 2nd question (first being more of an introductory question) was just about to be prepared. So I went along saying "So Battle Axe Records being more of a hip hop label, what do you think---" to which at this point he interrupted me and asked if I read the biography he sent to my teacher.

Coz well...APPARENTLY Battle Axe Records is no longer in business! I was thinking hellllllllllll naww! Shiet, now all my questions are bunk and I'm really fucked. What they apparently now operate is Battle Axe Music which is a music publishing and artist management company. (Hint to all the future industry cats on the business tip: this is where all the money is at now)

Battle Axe Records kinda fell off because Madchild wanted to furthur develop his career as a rapper instead of at the same time developing others on the label. So after that, it kinda fizzed out and Kyle went on to create a new venture with the publishing company. And it's going good for them apparently as Kyle's main artist focus is now on Sweatshop Union and Kyprios.

So my interview was more fluent in casual conversation then something structured with questions. No thanks to my teacher, we had to improvise but shit happens eh? (especially in this business).

Kyle was very open and candid with the ups and downs he went through with managing the former label. I felt a kinda irritated vibe whenever I would ask about the label but he was very helpful in answering our questions. So I kinda stayed clear of that whole topic and let the conversation flow. However, he did admit that some artists who were signed to the label were a big waste of time, and that doing the whole label thing didn't really generate great revenue. He stressed that the whole live music and touring was and always will be the main source of revenue for an artist and their managers. But still that, none of this at first will get you a house in the British Properties, but it will be a steady source of income to support a family.

As we left and thanked him he gave us words of encouragement and advice, it was that artists and the music industry will always need business oriented minds and that there will always be plenty of jobs available. He said just be professional and we'll be fine. (He also gave us some CD's, stickers and pins haha! sweet deal!)


So as soon as I left that interview I had a GREAT thirst to work in this industry. I wanted to network, I wanted to be engulfed in hip hop music and make a career out of it! I later met DJ Seko down @ Dipt coz I was in the neighborhood and I haven't been at that store in a hella long time. We talked, we networked, and he said something along the lines of if I want to survive in this business, it's all about meeting and meeting new people in the industry. And he was right...

So look out peeps...for the next little while I'm gonna try building a relationship with people in the industry and posting about it here. Some familiar and unfamiliar names maybe. But whats the point of working in this biz if you know nobody in it, ya dig? Anyways, peace!

Interview with Swollen Members!

I guess I should first explain that currently @ Capilano College I am a part of this 2 year diploma program called Arts & Entertainment Management (in my 2nd semester). At first, I thought I found a gem for schooling that will help me learn about the business side of the music industry. Yes, the two areas I wish to mesh for my future career job. Well not so much of a program, well, I'd be lying if I didn't learn a lot but I expected more...but whatever. That's a different topic...

ANYWAYS one of my instructors gave me an assignment that allowed me to interview one of a bunch of respected people from a list who are from Vancouver and currently work in the arts and entertainment industry. So as I was skimming through the list I spotted KYLE KRAFT (the founder of Battle Axe Records). On his label are well known Canadian artists such as Swollen Members, Moka Only and Sweatshop Union. (Lemme tell ya how freakin' relieved I was in finding something HIP HOP oriented!!)


Okay, so I lied in my header to get you interested haha. But this opportunity will be absolutely dope for me to "get ahead" in the industry. I hope to ask questions about his opinion on the future of Canadian hip hop, his way of dealing with illegal downloading, his opinion on the great involvement of the internet to the industry, among other stuff.

The interview will take place tomorrow @ 2pm in his office downtown. I'm going with a classmate (harsh thrash metal head dude...he's a cool guy!) Hopefully the interview will go well. I'll post the results tomorrow!

Peace!