Life After Death
When the music stops, we’ll still have our memories and shared experiences
3 Comments · Tuesday, January 3, 2012
I retired this column a couple of months ago, but I really didn’t retire it on the proper note, so allow me this addendum. It is now 4 a.m. and I just woke up from a dream.
Ready to Die
The Ultimate Advice: Push yourself to make the best music possible
0 Comments · Wednesday, November 2, 2011
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to write
about here, but I’m already overdue on turning this column in, so I’m
sure I’ll think of something soon enough. I haven’t written one of these
in a few months now. Truthfully, I haven’t even thought about writing
one of these. It occurred to me a couple weeks back that it’s been a
pretty minute since the last one, so I told Mike (the editor) that I
would probably fall back for a while.
The Listening
Don't get so caught up that you stop hearing and enjoying music
0 Comments · Wednesday, June 29, 2011
It’s occurred to me on a few occasions that it’s not so much the music we listen to that sucks, it’s the way we’re listening to our music that sucks. I won’t even get into the lowered quality of MP3s and iPod earbuds, or even the shitty laptop speakers, though all that plays a huge part in this. It’s the way we’re delivered music and begin to absorb it, especially folks in the music game, whether it be artists, bloggers, DJs, whatever.
Hip Hop (Un)Scene: Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em
For artists, routine is vital to developing a sustainable daily/career flow
0 Comments · Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I want to talk more about how to find a rhythm in your life and music cycle. I've been doing music full time for about two and a half years now (by the grace of God), and one of the first things I've learned in adapting to the change in lifestyle is the necessity of a daily and weekly rhythm.
Hip Hop (Un)Scene: On to the Next One …
Rushing into a new project can rob potential of current one
0 Comments · Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Bleak-ass February is over. This, as far as I'm concerned, means winter is over. Oh, it might still snow in the next two to three weeks, but it's such a punk-ass snow. Winter in March is like an abusive alcoholic father you dealt with as a child and then grew up to see as nothing more than a sad old man swiping at the air and falling over. Snow all you want, old man — your time is near.
Freddie Gibbs Builds Buzz
Hip Hop artist goes back to Indie roots
1 Comments · Wednesday, January 19, 2011
They say when times get lean it’s best to reel it in and stick together. Born and raised in post-industrial, Reagan-approved-crack-era Gary, Ind., Freddie Gibbs gets that. This would explain his grassroots approach to re-inventing a once-promising major-label-approved career into an independent DIY movement.
Freddie Gibbs with DJ Clockwork
Jan. 22 • Mad Hatter
0 Comments · Wednesday, January 19, 2011
They say when times get lean it’s best to reel it in and stick together. Born and raised in post-industrial, Reagan-approved-crack-era Gary, Ind., Freddie Gibbs gets that. This would explain his grassroots approach to re-inventing a once-promising major-label-approved career into an independent DIY movement.
Music: Freddie Gibbs
0 Comments · Tuesday, January 18, 2011
In 2004, Freddie Gibbs signed with Interscope, but, not one for the politic game, he grew tired of waiting for Jimmy Iovine to friend him on Facebook, so he built a team and a sound and began dropping heat himself. Following two underground classic mixtapes, 'The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs' and 'Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik,' Gibbs returned in 2010 with 'Str8 Killa No Filla' and a co-starring role in XXL’s esteemed “Freshman 10” list.
Hip Hop (Un)Scene: Respect My Mind
Bashing others’ music and reacting to it with yours limits an artist’s creative potential
1 Comments · Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Let’s start at one of the most basic concepts I can imagine about being a potentially amazing, well-rounded and successful artist in your own right, let alone by “industry standards.” This is the idea: As an artist, you have to be able to appreciate and respect the idea of music, even in music that you can’t stand. You have to be able to separate which music is made “for you” versus which music is made for other demographics of fans and consumers.
Hip Hop (Un)Scene: Greatest Hits
The dirty dozen: a year's worth of artist advice columns recapped
0 Comments · Wednesday, October 6, 2010
I've officially written 12 columns for CityBeat, which technically amounts to a year (although it's now been more than a year). Hey, it's a free paper, so who's counting? What I want to do is write a quick recap of what the first year's worth of advice has amounted to. Awesome how I can just cram it into one column.
