Teedra Moses

A: “Quality sound—in the sound that I can sing. I don’t mean like ‘Oh, I can sing so well.’ I mean I’m not Jennifer Hudson, but I can sing. When you see me on the stage tonight, it’s not going to be like ‘Oh, God, they did something to her voice on that album.’ I can actually sing. That’s quality. I think my ear for the tracks that I pick. I am my own A&R….quality music in the sense that it all come from here (she points to her heart). The level of the engineering is good. Quality music to me is well put together music, and music that is true to form. If I’m a singer, I can sing. If I play the piano, I can play the piano and I’m not just playin’ chords. Quality and true.”

- Teedra Moses

Referenced from Interview w/ Teedra Moses ::: Creating Lifestyle Music, God’s Speed & Champagne Soul by The Jasmine Brand.

Follow @theJasmineBrand

Kanye West

A: Definitely. I feel like a lot of people dropped albums this year like people were gonna ride with them regardless. It’s like when somebody spends money on some bullshit. You can tell they had extra money in their account. People who don’t have a lot of money may be some of the freshest people, because they know they need to do this specifically. I felt like I was in a position, musically, where I didn’t have money to waste. So I was like, Bam! “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” Or “Throw Some D’s (Remix).” I really feel like niggas be like, “We don’t wanna fuck with you.” So I made music that way. I make albums like people wanna turn on me at any given chance, and I gotta make it so they can’t.

- Mr. West

Independent hip hop artist and accomplished songwriter Chris Classic continues to innovate the business of music with the release of his new project Summer Classic 3. His extensive resume includes not only a variety of mixtapes and indie releases, but he has also traversed into the world of TV show themes and Hollywood movie soundtracks. From Alvin and the Chipmunks, to Sex In The City, to the Fantastic Four and more…you’ve heard Classic music before.

The fly thing about this promotion is that he manages to bridge the gap between the waning physical world and this digital revolution that we all are a part of. Enter the QR code (google that). That’s right, Summer Classic 3 is a completely mobile mixtape, available by a miniature 3×3 scannable card that makes use of your phone’s built in camera.

The fact of the matter is that as fans, we consume music in a number of ways. But how many of us ever stopped to think that each time the medium changes (i.e. cassette >> CD >> mp3), we risk losing a generation of music. I only say “risk” because we still have some control in this matter, and this mixtape release is proof positive of that fact.

Now aside from all the technical stuff, the music itself is real grown-man-style and the production is polished. From front 2 back it sounds like a late nite cruise thru your metropolitan district (dime piece and dime bag sold separately tho). Get your copy of Summer Classic 3 here and press play on whatever device that’ll suffice.

Chris Classic – Summer Classic 3

Peace.

A good little roundtable series that leaves you wanting to hear more. Young Guru, 9th Wonder, Young Guns, and Jabari hit on some topics affecting the hip hop industry. Some real talk for you. I posted them in the order I enjoyed them. Parts 3, 1, and 2…

This is an extremely well produced piece on the making of a coveted hip hop collaboration.  (Sadly) There will be many people that look right past this joint without a second thought, but for those who recognize what this occasion means to our culture of hip hop, Brian “B.Kyle” Atkins directed the hell out of this short film that gives us everything we want to hear and see about the making of a song of this magnitude…sans the fly on the wall footage of the vocals being laid. Press play and put the “Do Not Disturb” sign up for the next 13 minutes.

D/L: Common – Ghetto Dreams (ft. NAS)

Peace to LRG for documenting these 2 pioneers of hip hop culture and lifestyle. Raekwon and Nas represent the cross bearers who continue to pave the way in bringing originality and integrity to this art form. BE yourself and Respect will BE Due.

From LRG Blog: In a week’s notice, LRG films traveled to Oslo, Norway to shoot the new video for “Rich and Black” with Raekwon and Nas. While backstage in Oslo, we got some behind the scenes footage of the two hip-hop legacies. In this clip, Nas speaks about his first time meeting Raekwon. This is the first of 2 videos of backstage conversations and performances with Raekwon and Nas, so check back tomorrow. The final video for “Rich and Black” drops Thursday. “Rich and Black” is off Rae’s new album Shaolin vs. Wu-tang.

(1991), by Peter Fischli and David Weiss.

Successful entrepreneurial minded artists of today (such as the homie pictured above) have embraced the principles defined by the trials and errors of those in the video below, while continuously pushing the envelope…

(part 2)

NOW…

…my question to all the debaters & progressive thinkers out there is…

What needs to (continue to) happen next for this game to thrive??

Shout out to DJ Cotton for the video.

Let’s build.