Doing a performance with Packo, along with Illa Dynamix and Oddisc from Perfect Strangahz… Come down and support a dope local hip hop event! Only 5 bucks, you can’t go wrong?! Thanks to the homie, Mental Case for putting us on… MAHALO!
August 27, 2010 will be down in the records as one of the most dopest Hip Hop shows to date!
Just when the doors started opening, there was a long ass line of people looking forward to see Black Star (maybe 8 people were genuinely there to see my ass.. HAHA). Got see a lot folks come out of the woodworks to come to this special BAMP event.
Packo and I was first off to bat. To be honest, I was nervous as fuck as on how much people was already out there and how nobody was really feeling it towards the beginning. As soon as I started to perform more and more into my set, I got most of the heads nodding. Maybe not throwing their panties and hands in the air, but definitely got their noggin and spines working. I ended the night doing a song with my man, Osna, doing “16 bars”. Shit was classic. Thanks to Osna for wearing his ever so infamous filipino chinelas aka Tata slippers, to the concert.
Tassho and Compose were up next and kept the crowd hype through out the set. Big ups to Mister Pearce and Noc Boy himself for throwing a dope Hawaii Hip Hop set.
Goapele went up right after and got the crowd wooed to her soulful vocals. Not a lot of people were being receptive to her shit, but for music lovers out there, it was pure bliss.
Then, BLACK STAR went on stage! They had these specialized 1940′s mics that were hella dope lookin’ (BTW, makes me wanna get one too). They did all their solo stuff and of course their classic Black Star tracks! A all around sweat fest to take about for the months to come!
Thanks to Bamp Project for putting us on the card once again and til next time people… ALOHA!
First off, Thanks to the photographers Gumz, Riana (Rudified), another dude (which I hope you comment on this site to get credit for) for taking photos of my live shots at the Shingo2 show!
Next Door was on FIRE that night! Was definitely a great comeback for Audible Lab Rats to play at the show, performing some of their new material off their new album that will be dropping in a few. Seph Uno was the host and freestylist for the night setting a hype tone for this momentous event. DJ A-1 spinning during the middle of the night playing golden era Hip Hop music was just classic! I mean, dude was playing all the hits from “Shook Ones Pt.2″ and “What’s My Name?” from Snoop Dogg. Shit was simmerin’. Then my boys, Meiso and Amen ripped it up on stage collabing on some new material that will probably drop soon for all the kiddies to enjoy. Finally, the man from the Bay and the Rising Sun, Shingo2, performing his set and getting the crowd hype as fuck! It was a dope night for Hip Hop at Next Door! Big Ups to Bart for keeping the sounds nice that night, Chris for always being hospitable at his club, and all the bartenders for quenching everyone’s thirst. And in no particular order… Here are the visuals from that night… CHEEEE!
Big ups to Kenta (which needs to update my shit… no pressure… haha), Orlando (old Muay Thai trainer and buddy), and Mind Shoppe family for supporting the cause…
Meiso at his best…
Brett and Bart (Flip The Bird, Future sound guy for Next Door)
Audible Lab Rats in full effect…
Honozooloo in the house…
Crowd was hype through out the night…
DJ A-1
Meiso performing live…
And of course, the evening wouldn’t do justice if the show didn’t get some…
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO BLOG KILLA!
So I did a cover to the ever-so infamous instrumental, Deep Cover, which is produced by Dr. Dre, and it’s called Blog Killa. This track’s about the wack monotony of blog reviews on music and their lack of digging deeper into it. Recorded this at Nomad’s in early 09, and figured to drop it for the masses since it’s been long awaited to release. Spread the word… Leave a comment… SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HIP HOP!
Thanks to KTUH Radio and the listeners on making “The Ultimatum” number one in HIP HOP in Hawaii! I really appreciate the call ins and requests for my songs and all the DJ’s spinning my music since day one! Thanks to DJ Bone, DJ TKO and the rest of the KTUH DJ’s playing my music regardless of FCC restrictions! Let’s keep the requests coming! THANK YOU KTUH! you can stream KTUH live on KTUH.org!
I wanna thank everyone who came out for the music video shoot at The Venue! Although there were some slight setbacks, we were able to get some of the shots done! I wanna thank Jess, George, Ryan and the staff at The Venue for letting me do my thing in there! I also wanna send much mahalos to Jermaine and Seychelle for helping shoot the video…much appreciated! Much love to Vitamin Water quenching everyone’s thirst in the video shoot! Also, to all my peeps helping me out: Mic3, Mox, Technique, Dana, Leilani, Elysia, Packo, Bone, Kokes and all the homies that came thru! We got a lot of shots from this one day take so we’re on to the next shoot! IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN BEING IN THE NEXT SHOOT, please hit me up at kris7680lp@gmail.com!
The highlight of the video shoot was my man, Osna! Dude was playing the role real well as the bartender in the video. Thanks to Jess for training him in some minimal bartending skills! Dude’s a classic… you just need to wait til the finish product is done! MAHALO!
August 5th, 2010 was definitely a reunion of all the HI-State heads and originators, celebrating not only Rakaa’s new album, Crown Of Thorns (which you really need to pick up!) but to remember the late Walter “High Chief” Saone.
I can honestly say I was a bit emotional at the venue because High Chief was the only head I knew in the islands that gave a brother a chance to spit on the mic, regardless if I was terrible, but he always passed the mic to me. I have learned a lot from Chief, as far as being humble and represent the HI-State to the fullest! I never ever had ill thoughts about the guy and I believe the rest of the Hawaii Hip Hop community never had either. That was one guy I would never hesitate to share the stage with. Walter, we will always miss you and may your name be imprinted forever in the pages of this Hawaii Hip Hop culture. TIL WE SEE YOU AGAIN, CHIEF! AIGA!
Here are some visuals provided by Star Bulletin that caught the moments of this memorable hip hop show…
Everybody from CJ Fresh, Ha’o, Ralphee from Limited Addiction, Joey from Fumanchu, homie Bart, and Original was getting down for this momentous occasion! There was also Lofa and Kavet of Lightsleepers, Big Mox, Parlous, DJ Technique, Jonah The Whale, Silent Sir (Kokes), DJ Westafa, DJ What, Danny 1, and even DJ Bone of the Got Rice? show making a short appearance as well!
CJ Fresh and DJ Jimmy Taco was holding the foundation down and keeping the vibe in check…
Mo Illa Pillaz performing during the earlier part of the night. Always good to see Fame and Buzz rocking out local brandish hip hop music for the islanders. The “Manapua Man” track is always the winnaz for me! Raps to da MAX!!
Flip The Bird’s head honcho and CEO, Tassho Pearce came thru to give out some FTB merch for the people! Big ups to Sho and Compose for performing that night… If you didn’t hear Tassho spit over J. Cole’s, “Who Dat” that night, you missed on some dope quotables!
That night, we also had Todd G, from one of the original HI-State Family and Hoomanakas, banging out live beats from his MPC plus rocking the mic simultaneously! Be on the lookout cause I got a feature on his upcoming project so keep your ears open and clean! TORN SPEAKER!
Right after, had my big man, Original, ripping it on the mic ever so clean… and when I mean clean, dude does not swear or use curse words! Gotta give the man props for his parables of peace! Dude flew all the way from WA and came straight from the airport to rock it out that night. That’s dedication!
Myself and Packo were up next and let me just say it was a tremendous feeling on stage seeing all the legends and veterans, even Rakaa Iriescience, on the floor looking at us, awaiting for the first track to play…
My plan for that night was too keep it short and sweet but bang them hard with upbeat and popular tracks of mine. “White Flag” is always a great song to get the blood flowing. And I had to do “Hell”, which I think Ion would have been proud cause most of the songs I did were Ion Myke’s production work. Ion, I suggest you start making some bangers again!
At the end of my set, I did a small cover to Drake’s, “Over”, which a lot of people were surprised I busted that beat but in the end, the crowd loved it…
And for the first time, I listened to King Kapisi spit and was blown away! This New Zealand native can rhyme and can spit double time, rapid fire shit! My first impression of Kapisi was that he looked like he could pummel a dude down to a bloody pulp if you stepped on his shoes… but when I got to talk to the homie, dude was down to earth and also enthusiastic about the Hip Hop scene here in the islands. Definitely glad I got to connect with Kapisi!
And of course, the one half man of the hour (since the other half is HIGH CHIEF). Rakaa of Dilated Peoples performed songs of his new album, Crown Of Thorns, which is available at all music stores worldwide.
Rakaa’s performance set was flawless and made me feel like a HIP HOP fan again. You would think with Rakaa’s credentials, it would make him sort of conceited or snobbish but actually, dude is real humble and has a sense of humor! Dude also knows Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu! Big ups to Rakaa and the Dilated fam and hope you come back to the islands to bless us with yall music.
Although the footage maybe old like 06, this is a captured moment at the Talib Kweli show with High Chief XL, Big Mox, and Inteleck the Reject. Mahalos to Jake the Snake of genuineHI for filming this! This is proof on how we brought down Pipeline that night! It was a good night for Hawaii Hip Hop!
Let me just say that everytime when I do a Tropics Cafe show, there is always random shit that pops… regardless it’s outside, inside, in the women’s restroom, etc. First off, I wanna say thanks to my man, Bone, who has always thrown these local events and for Pat (owner of Tropics) for having the local hip hop scene throw shit there!
Let us delve into the festivities that night…
Thanks to Jeremy aka Product (homie in the middle) for taking the flicks of the night! Really appreciate you coming homie! Also, big ups to Risup and Pro (Left to Right) for coming down and supporting!
First one performing for the night was Meiso and a small appearance with Amen during his set. I was skeptical on having Meiso doing his set, since he does an all Japanese Rap sesh, but it ended up being a success! Amen was killing it with his conscious raps as usual.
Then, Ill Hill Society went up next, doing an amazing performance that night! I definitely love their energy as they try to get the crowd to participate with their set. Gotta love that respond/react type motivation.
Right after that, the homegirl from Seattle, Dice, went on stage to do a short set. She set a different tone through the night as she started to sing a lot more R&B type feel and ended the set with rapping over Jay-Z’s “Can’t Knock The Hustle”. Once again, definitely a success with the set. It was a pleasure rocking on stage and kicking with her. Dice, we will miss you.
I would really wanna consider these guys the main acts because they brought a following like no other! Blood Brothers took stage right after and it was hardcore hip hop at its grittiest form imaginable! I gotta give it up to their energy on stage and how they back up each other. I can definitely see them making moves in 2010 and beyond.
And it was finally ME going on stage… I definitely was feeling the crowd and it was a party up at Tropics! Packo was cutting it up like the precise marksman that he is and tore the night down with a HANA HOU (encore) from the crowd. I was definitely pleased with how the night turned out, even though there were like a hundred other things to do that night! I also wanna thank DJ Une and the Tropics staff for making it all go down like it did!
I wanna take this time to thank Oliver and IM King for hooking up the shirt for the night! Praises for threading me up FRESH!
And of course, the night had to end with a good night kiss… haha! Big ups to Gumby and Kele for coming down! Til the next one!
Yet another great talk with Professor Rod’s students at UH Manoa! The talk was about Hawaii Hip Hop and what was my take on the Hawaii scene in general. There was a lot of peeps from UCLA, which made it twice as dope because talking to people abroad about my music makes it that much refreshing. I want to thank all who were participating in the class by asking questions and I hope I have answered them sufficiently. If you guys are reading this blog and need more information about myself or about the music, hit me up! Catch me on Twitter or Facebook… Much Mahalos again!
Going to perform at the Black Star show at Aloha Tower Marketplace! Gotta give thanks to Bamp Project for hooking this up! Super excited to also see Goapele play live at the show PLUS my man Tassho Pearce, probably doing a new set off his upcoming new album yet to be set in stone.
For this performance, I am going to change it a bit but include one of my main mans to the stage. It is going to be a surprise! But I guarantee you, YOU WILL BE ENTERTAINED! Doors open at 7pm so come early, cause this SHOW WILL BE PACKED!
The Flip The Bird debut release, The Ultimatum! Featuring Osna, Bambu, Geo of Blue Scholars, DJ Packo and more! Get it on iTunes or get the hard copy CD at NAKAMA BRAND!
CLICK HERE FOR THE DOWNLOAD!
The Flip The Bird debut release, The Ultimatum! Featuring Osna, Bambu, Geo of Blue Scholars, DJ Packo and more! Get it on iTunes or get the hard copy CD at NAKAMA BRAND!