Didn't I blow your mind this time...

YESS!!!! We finally started the real work for this next project. Wa'Jee has dubbed it "Food, Clothes and Shelter"...FCS for short. I like it. His reasoning behind it was that the title was something everybody can relate to, hence making it something everyone needs. I guess each and everyone of us has our own genius in some form or fashion...

This album is going to be very, well, personal for Jee and the rest of us. Ken and I were talking about how FCS is going to be different from Younger Frame because of it's content. Younger Frame was an album for Jee to say "hey, I can write thought provoking shit, and I'm clever with it." It was an album to garner interest and intrigue those that were willing to listen. FCS is here to get everyone into his mind and his soul...to see who this brother really is. We're all excited about it and we can't wait to get it done.

On my side, I'm on a whole different plateau musically, mentally, emotionally--even physically. I'm going to have so much fun making this album it's hard for me to convey that feeling and passion to others. When December hits I'm going to have all the time in the world (at least until early/mid-January) to attack this project fully. I might even fuck around and get my own shit done (which I've been putting off for the longest time). Not to put my foot in my mouth and say something too outlandish, but I feel really good about the future. I'm leaving some things behind that have been really irritating me (changing schools is one of those things)--I'm starting to take action on what I've been thinking about for way too long.

In other news, I have a gift for you all. I'm aiming to make it a monthly gift, actually. I've started a podcast that I call "Astro Funk". It's a collection of random mixes of whatever I'm feeling at the time. I was going to call it "iPod de Issues" but that sounded a bit lame...
The link to the feed is http://issues.podbean.com/feed
For some reason iTunes hasn't listed it in their podcast section yet. I sent in the URL weeks ago, and I really don't know what else to do. So, in the meantime, just use that link to the feed and download it that way.

Here are some instructions to download it though iTunes without using the store (copied directly from iTunes, so please excuse the bubbly language):

A podcast I want to subscribe to isn't available in the iTunes Store.

It's easy to subscribe to any podcast using iTunes, even ones that aren't available in the iTunes Store. To subscribe, find and copy the podcast's feed URL. In the "Advanced" menu, select "Subscribe to Podcast" and paste the feed URL into the dialog box.

Welp, there you go.

I know you've been wondering "What the hell is that video at the top?" Well, I'm glad you asked buddy! It's a video of Eddie Hazel, the guitarist from the early days of Funkadelic, playing one of the most famous guitar solos from the title track of the Funkadelic LP "Maggot Brain". I was on youtube wasting precious time and thought I'd share it, seeing as how it's one of my favorite songs of all time. It really has nothing to do with this post, but it's good and I strongly suggest you sit and listen--standing is okay, too.

On that random note, I bid you farewell until next time. It's almost 3am and I got stuff to do early tomorrow...

piece

So what had happened was...

Hi. How long has it been? Way too long. I've been mr. busy busy working on various projects and such--most notably "Younger Frame, Older Mind" with Wa'Jee (you see that album cover above, don't you?). It feels really good to have my first project out on the streets...even if it isn't a major-label-everybody-holding-a-damn-press-conference-about-it release. I'm happy. I had the opportunity to work with one of the most amazing emcees around--and he continuously gets better. We have the next project in the works, not too sure what we're going to title it though.

With the "Younger Frame, Older Mind" project, we were learning how to do everything the most efficient way. I had just met Wa'Jee through S.O.G. Entertainment, an organization of which I am now a part of, and I was really taking my time learning the way everybody worked in the studio. I look at this project like losing my virginity--I really didn't know what the hell I was doing until the end. Now that I've been fuckin' for a minute (continuing with the metaphor), I'm getting close to Mr. Marcus status. This next project is going to change the way people look at hip-hop--most importantly one of those people will be me. So much has happened since we wrapped up YFOM--particularly outside of the music. I mean, so much, well, SHIT has happened that I feel like there's no where to go but up.

I've been on the edge of depression and giving up, but thank whatever god or God that you pray to that I have music on my side. I'm not really a religious fellow, but I believe that everything happens for a reason. I don't know where I would be without music. I honestly think that I'm being tested to see if I can withstand the pressure--and I'm doing pretty well. The way I see it: if I wake up in the morning; if i can walk, talk, see, breathe, etc., then I don't really have much to complain about. SUCK IT UP!

In other news, I've paid much more attention to my bass. For a while I couldn't find time to practice, now I make time to practice everyday. I've gotten so much better over this past summer than I have in the year plus I had it. In addition, I'm takin' a jazz class that forces me to practice all the time. That's pretty much the only thing school is good for right now...

Enough about me...My guy Options is visiting from Japan a couple of weeks from now. Our little triad--Options, Dave and me--and a new addition my buddy Sam, are going to go on a long overdue diggin' extravaganza. Since the diggin in Japan is like super-expensive, we gonna hit like every thrift store and bargain bin in the chi. I can't wait, cuz I've been diggin' alot on my own, but it just ain't the same without my friends around. It's really something when I'm around people that I can really talk music with--I just hope someday we'll all make it in our respective fields. The crazy thing about musicians is that we all tend to have vastly different backgrounds, yet we always connect through the music.

I'm going to start podcasting my mixes for you all--as soon as I figure out how to do it for free. I know there's somebody out there that'll host a podcast for free--Ima get around to googling it pretty soon...

In the meantime, enjoy "Younger Frame, Older Mind".

Download it here

Until next time...Peace and blessings

- Issues

Nina Simone:

Long time no see...you'll get a full update within this week. just watch this in the meantime...

Back In Ack-Shun...BITCHES!!!

her eyes on the horizon

poet/emcee @ the dmc us finals

co-worker @ 31 flavas

revolution

cityscape 01

cityscape 02

cityscape 03

i like taking these serene pics...

supa staaaaahhhhh!!!!

Noble

Memo

You Know Who @ the sonotheque in september

the taste of chicago

WELCOME PEOPLEZ!!!

It's Me!!! I'm Back!!! For all five of you that read this, I apologize for the long hiatus. I've got tons of pics and music to share...well, mostly pics, cuz SOMEBODY HAS BEEN NOT SO NICE WITH MY BEATS!!! they'll remain unnamed, but that's the last time I post my beats up for people to download. Hit up myspace: http://www.myspace.com/therealissues for new music and such.

now's time for me to catch you up on stuff...just enough, so you don't get bored.

I've been workin on the beats daily...thought I haven't been diggin much (i got too much shit to go through as it is).
I'm goin to Madlib's show on saturday...
i've been learning spanish
i moved from the wild 100s to hyde park
i had to circumsize my set-up in the process
i bought some turntables...and a mixer
i'm djing now
i just found (5-10mins ago) my stash of drum breaks that i completely forgot about
i need a damn stereo
somebody screwed me over on half.com (it was only $15, its the principal that made me angry)
I think I'm moving outta my Dilla phase of beat making...i didnt try to do it, it just happened
im addicted to brazillian dance music and bossa nova

i've discovered that hugh masekela is the shiznit kaboom schnip schnap schnap

Ethiopian funk is some of the funkiest stuff that i've heard...in my LIFE

chuchito valdes is also the shiznit kaboom schnip schnap schnap. i saw him and band at the hothouse a month and a half ago...and im still stunned. pics coming soon.

i have an urge to go to brazil, spain, and south africa (not exactly sure about the order yet)

i'm in 2 battles next month, one with a grand prize of $1000

i'm slowly getting addicted to sneakers, matching, and dressing well...and my wallet is getting very light because of it.

i need a canon digital rebel xt, or a nikon d50/d70...NOW

umm...alot of my friends are getting married now. i feel left out...still, im definitely not doin that until three or four years from now.

i got an artist now!!! (finally) His name is Wajee, and the man writes really, really good. We haven't decided on an album title yet, it's got to be something outside the box.

my beat cds are floating around all over the place. i guess letting people download them was okay afterall...i mean, i got tons of beats in my arsenal just waiting for somebody to spit over. come on people, get 'em while their cheap. in a year or two they'll be too expensive to listen to.

dont say i didnt warn you...

i forgot the other stuff i was gonna say.

im watchin an ebay auction for a stereo that i've been chasing after ever since i heard it.

stay tuned for the next episode...i got a million more photos that are waiting for y'all to post up on your wallpapers and such.

peace and chicken grease
- issues

make sure you hit up the myspace
http://www.myspace.com/therealissues

Back is the Incredible...

kids in the field playing

girls jumping rope

kids in the field playing ball

jumprope...again

some guy sleeping on the bus

funny little kid

a new sport...boccer

pretty girl by the lake

YO!!! WHUT IZ DA DEAL??? LONG TIME NO SPEAKY!!!!

If that didnt say it all, sup y'all?? I've been so busy with all of my music and such that i haven't had much time to do anything else. I dont even remember the last time I posted...I promise it wont happen again...i swear.

Anyway, I moved my studio to a larger area... and in the process, I DROPPED MY PC!!! It was like my whole life flashed before my eyes--because i hadnt taken the time to back up anything before doing so. Luckily, none of my work disappeared...but I lost my dvd burner, and haven't bought another one since. In order to burn things, I have to use my little itty bitty flash drive and transfer my songs to a computer that has a burner...and thats an authentic P.I.T.A., or Pita, or PAIN IN THE ASS!!! I've been so broke, or not broke, just saving up, that spending money is a death sentence. I'm trying to get to LA within the next couple of weeks to go to the J Dilla Issue release party and Adidas originals...Stones Throw is sponsoring, and I'm well over due for an LA visit.

In other news, I picked up a digi001, which means that I can finally track out my beats into pro tools...FINALLY!!! Because i didnt have such software, I learned to use my mpc as an all in one machine...meaning any little special effects were done on there with no outboard gear...Oh, i almost forgot. I bought a bass guitar a little over a month ago. It's difficult, but as soon as I get a "bass for dumb-asses" book, I'll be straight. I wanted some live instrumentation in my music, and I love basslines...so naturally, I picked up bass. And it was really cheap, too.

I got a powermac g4, and it runs pretty smooth. Its one of the lesser models, but it gets the job done and thats what matters. with all of the moving and shaking and such, I've grown into a more comfortable setup. My turntable is right where it needs to be, my speakers are positioned so i dont have to turn them all the way up, and my mp is at my fingertips. I couldn't ask for anything but a bigger desk, because I have to play my keyboard on my lap...oh well, it doesnt limit my creativity--the most important thing.

As far as photography goes, a friend of mine showed me how to use photoshop to make things look 100000000x better. The evidence of this is above. As a matter of fact, I'll give a "before and after" shot in the next couple of days (I got a meeting in less than a half hour!!)

I damn near forgot...

I applied to the Red Bull Music Academy. It's being held in Melbourne, Australia this year. I hope i get picked...click on the link cuz I dont have a lot of time to go through it rite now.

As always, i have new beats for you all...I didnt feel like posting everything, so just take these 2wo and be happy.

Midi Swing - umm...i really dont have much to say about this one
Monotony - Tempo changes all over the place

hehe, just kidding
here's my Red Bull Music Academy demo
download it, listen to it, its free...take it while it lasts
or
http://rapidshare.de/files/23338672/rbma_demo_issues.zip.html

peace
Peace and blessings and everything in between
- issues

contact info
2manyissues@gmail.com
(773)398-7625
www.myspace.com/therealissues

Tha Beat Down

ocean view from hampton university, virginia

pretty sunshine wallpaper for you
....somewhere between virginia and tenessee

logik and bo performing @ coops records

beautiful sun hiding behind the clouds...i really like this one

frederick douglas statue in front of holmes hall:
morgan state university, baltimore, MA

some pretty girl @ coops...sorry, forgot your name

another pretty girl @ hampton university

female half of college tour...virginia state university

male half of college tour...virginia state university

happy belated 4/20 everybody!!!

THA BEAT DOWN!! Producer "combine" to showcase beats and talent

L (on the left) and Big Brotha Beat Down...best known as PJ

(from the left)
Logik, Harvy Allbangers, and Bo Beniz
@ coops records 47th Street Chicago

Bo Beniz, Harvy Allbangers, Logik

Juice and Shorty K performing @ coops records

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! whuts going on, peeps?? Back in action after being away for so long. As you can see, I FINALLY got a card reader (yesterday), and I'm updating your "Issues" photo file. A plethora of pics for your visual and artisitic pleasure...enjoy.


Lately....hmm...BOY DO I HAVE SOME STORIES TO TELL YOU!!!! But seriously, I've been busy as usual...beats, rhymes, and life is my story. I went to the east coast in mid-april, visited several schools, and had one hell of a good time. Though I had a hard time not thinking about music 24/7, I got the chance to interact with people i would have not paid attention to otherwise. Overall, great experience. I also found out that...

VIRGINIA IS BEAUTIFUL!!!! OH MY FKING GOD!!!

In other news, member of D-12 and Detroit MC Proof was killed in a fight at a club...FUCK!! WHY DOES EVERYBODY HAVE TO PULL A GUN??? It aint all that serious, really, it isn't. Box it out or somethin'...life aint somethin' that comes back once it's gone. Guns are some of the worst things created by man, and the shouldn't be put into the wrong hands. I personally hate war, bloodshed, and all of that stuff. It shouldn't be necessary, but in the world we live in, alot of people won't get the message without a gun being waved in their faces.

Here in chicago, the chicago police and local radio station V103 are holding a "no questions asked" gun drop-off, urging people to turn in their guns in the light of recent gun violence--most being accidental killings of innocent bystanders. As an added incentive, they will give a $100 gift card for every gun turned in. If I owned a gun, I would turn it in...


As far as me, I've been grindin' hard. I went to a monthly conference called The Beat Down on this past saturday, as well as a fair number of other chicago producers. The event organizer, Kevin Shine, gave a pretty informative lecture on how this thing we call the music industry really works. I learned there are several MORE steps needed before hitting that big plateau we all know as "fame". "Fame" is not really my concern, I just want to be known as a man who loves music more than sex--THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID IT!!
Anyway, we played our beats and looked for reactions within the room. I went there to see where I was at among the other producers/beatmakers around here, and I think I did pretty well, if I say so myself.

there were some guys in there with some serious heat, like DJ Ozone. The beats he played were sampling pretty recent stuff, like within the past 6-8 years...so from that first meeting, I can't really say he's a serious beat-digger...BUT, his shit was so hot that I couldn't hate on him. The first beat he played made me damn near shit my pants...gave me that feeling. I love that feeling...it feels like someone cares about this music thing as much as I do. I also found out that he runs a beat battle regularly....YOU KNOW I'M SIGNING UP!!!

Speaking of beat battles, there's one I'm going to next week: May 4th @ 6pm. Its at the Crocodile Lounge on wells and Van buren...or...

The Beatbattle will be located at The Crocodile Lounge 211 W Van Buren It
will begin at 6:30
There a $5 cover if ya'll are gonna bring yall peoples

(copied from an email message)

Judges
John Monopoly (Kanye West Manager)
Jeffery Lane (Chicago Recording Company)
DJ Lil Jon (WGCI)


so...that means that I have to bring my A-Game...I want to blow people's minds. I want to stop someone's heart when they hear my music...or have uncontrollable neck spasms. But, in order to do that, I have to show people that I belong. So, I'm workin hard to show that aspect of my beatmaking...

And...next week, I have an album release party to attend. Guess what? It's the nite before the battle...so next week will be nothing short of tiring, but its worth it. Anything that gets me closer to getting exposure is worth it.

One more thing...

I'm giving up meat--temporarily...I'm going to experiment with this, and see how my body takes it. From there, we'll see how Issues looks as a vegetarian...

With that, here are some beats

Yoga Neckwork
Sometimes
Butter Fried Bread

For Production or photography services
http://www.myspace.com/therealissues
2manyissues@gmail.com

Peace and olive oil
- Issues

Listen to this While Eating Hagen Daas Ice Cream

Yo...Long time no see. I've been waitin till I get a card reader for my camera, because somehow the usb port stopped working. I have no time to repair it, as I am taking pictures all the time and I dont want to be without it--even if only for a few days. Anyway, here's one I snapped while at the train station on my way to school.

Musically, I have been building non-stop--at least until last week. I ran out of jusice, becuase I've been trying to juggle school and work and fixing my car and music and learning the inner workings of female minds and working on my lyrical skills and saving money for pro tools and buying sleeves for my records and cleaning my records and finding a spot to move my lab to and sharpening my skills on the keys and studying Dilla's work objectively and battling ashy limbs due to a shortage of lotion and trying to work out more often because i'm beginning to gain weight around the mid-section and finding artists to buy my beats and promoting myself to already signed artists and trying to decide on what school i want to attend when i graduate and learning about south african folk music and bettering myself and getting rid of the selfish part of me that chooses to ignore other peoples feelings and looking for time to update this wonderfully put together website of mine.

So, as you can see, I've been pretty busy.


I've included a couple of tracks, but I really can't explain the ideas behind them--they're just spurs of inspiration. So, after you finish reading, the treats are waiting for you.

Good news--Dilla got a semi-cover story in Scratch Magazine. I say "semi-cover story" because ?uestlove, the drum genius, is on the cover along with the Roots sportin' the "RIP J DILLA" t-shirt. Its about goddamn time that Dilla got something on the cover of a main-stream magazine. He has a "mention" in many of the hip-hop mags across the globe (ie XXL, the Source, URB, etc.), even got a REAL cover story in the canadian magazine Pound (they even have a pdf of the entire magazine...HELL YEAH!!!). MTV put out an extensive article on the brotha, but I still havent the slightest clue if they put anything about him on television, as I haven't been watching the boob tube lately (too distracting).

In other news...MADLIB'S LP JUST DROPPED!!!

As far as me? I'm just takin life a day at a time. It's really not good for me to look far into the future, as I know if I keep on doin what I'm doin everything will work out.

I've been missing my aunt lately. Tonda started me on the path towards music by sitting me infront of her congas and playing rhythms with me. She passed away about 10 years ago, and I just recently found a picture of her and I. My family, or at least my mother and I, aren't really big on pictures. I guess that's why they interest ME so much, because I didn't have that same passion for them when I was younger.

I'll scan the picture when I get the chance, it wasn't too long (maybe a year or two) before her passing. I think the cause of it was stomach cancer...not too sure, though.

Welp, here are the tracks.

Listen to this While eating Hagen Daas Ice cream
Hey!!
the Name Game
Return to Good Graces
Keep Up
Friday at Midnite
Neo Soul/Outer Space
Song Forgotten

Peace
- Issues

Contact Info:
2manyissues@gmail.com
therealissues@gmail.com

oh yeah, don't be afraid to check out the myspace page http://www.myspace.com/therealissues