Jazz Re:freshed on MAY 23

It’s been a whirlwind month of touring and promoting THE BRILLIANT EP and the Audiobook. I intend to blog about the whole experience soon when things are a bit calmer. I’ve got to say one of the highlights of the tour was performing in Paris and London alongside the most incredible line up to celebrate the music of Afrobeat father: FELA KUTI. I had the privilege of duetting with an old friend, amazing woman and pop star, Shingai Shinowa from the Noisettes. We performed Fela Kuti’s classic song – Lady.

So my next gig is an important one and I’d love for you to be there, especially if you haven’t come out to see your favourite MC in a bit haha. It’s with a group I’ve been doing some work with recently in France. They’re called the Horndogz. I’ve been talking about them for ages and now we’re finally doing our first London show together. It would mean a lot if as many of you could come out and fill the house, I don’t want them to go away thinking London was dry haha. Tell your fremily. It’s this Thursday May 23 at Mau Mau bar, Portobello rd, Ladbroke Grove London W11. Doors open at 8; show starts around 9pm. £5 entry. As always I give you a little something extra at my shows so look out for some surprises!! Check out the link for more details and click join if you’re attending.

https://www.facebook.com/events/580416208658613/581168128583421/?notif_t=like

May days

Gigs for the rest of May

May 16 – Paris, Fela Kuti tribute, la Belleviloise
May 17 – London, Fela Kuti tribute, 229 Great Portland st
May 23 – London, Jazz Refreshed with The Horndogz, Mau Mau Bar Portobello rd
May 26 – London, Dinner and Dance

Tracklisting for The Brilliant EP

AKSAAI

Huge congratulations to TY on his EP launch party at Jazz Cafe on 10 April 2013. Epic, incredible, amazing is how people have described that night. Jazz Cafe was ram jam with old school, new school heads and bundles good energy. Man Vs Wife, Bunny Bread, Madd P (Boogie Bunch) kept the crowd rocking in between sets. Tickets were completely sold out and some people couldn’t get in. With a line up that had Native Sun, Pumpkin, BREIS, Mystro as well as a TY feature with Akala and Durtygoodz, only good things could be expected. Every single artist brought their A game and came with their own chamber.
Native Sun and DJ KMT opened up with their blend of soulful Afro-Hip Hop. French outfit, Pumpkin was on next with an awesome sound and tight le francais delivery.
Then myself and DJ Big Ted took to the stage taking no prisoners with lyrics, vibes and lots of energy. Mystro aka Mysdiggi hit the stage afterwards and lyrically slapped up the place.That guy is too funny!

When Ty hit the stage, the crowd swayed and responded to his every word, sound, movement and joke. It was something incredible to behold. Anyone who knows TY, already knows that you’re gonna get maximum quality but what we’re in danger of forgetting is exactly how many classic tunes my brother has! He drew tunes from his past albums and his new A Kick, Snare And An Idea EP. I think it’s fair to say that the “Knock knock” dance as it’s being dubbed for the song “Knock, Knock” was a visual highlight. Over 400 people dancing in sync, beautiful.

Another highlight for me was also meeting Durtygoodz for the first time, an incredible MC. I did crack up at his unscripted freestyle, that was funny. I have to say I was really moved by the amount of love shown that day by peeps. It was really encouraging as an artist to experience that. So big up to all who were involved in putting that show together – Jazz Cafe and Supa Dupa Fly and all the supporters that made it down. Massive shout out to Javed, who was in a wheelchair right at the front. Your words were amazing. Thank you.

Prof Chinua Achebe and Legacy

“I love my culture, love my heritage/ but every where I turn – depicted as negative” – Strictly

Image by Onyinye
On March 21st 2013, the world lost Professor Chinua Achebe. My eyes welled up as I heard the news and was completely dazed for a few hours. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the fact that he contributed to part of my childhood memories, my education, my respect for writers. It’s been ages since I read one of the world’s greatest novels: “Things Fall Apart” published in 1958 and it’s time to revisit it. The one thing I thought about after I recovered, was how beautiful it is when a man or woman leaves a legacy behind. Are you working on your legacy?

As a writer and musician, this quote is my motto. We have to write our own story, make our own documentaries, document our lives, teach our children our stories and encourage them to write theirs. Through my music and my books I’m writing my own story, creating my own narrative and controlling the narrative (I got that bit from Nikita). Tell your story, work on your legacy.

The Hip Hop Audiobook

Greetings fremily

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that my Hip Hop audiobook is OUT on iTunes!! I am so excited hahaha. It’s been an amazing journey and I’ve learnt a lot during the process about myself as an artist, my voice, the art of recording, working with others etc. When I decided to create this audio version of my book, there was no exact blueprint for it so I kind of made it up as I went along and the outcome has been more than satisfying. In a sense this is my first album (although technically speaking it’s not) and I believe it has something for everyone. When I think about it, this is the culmination of my work over the last twelve years on the stage and in the classroom. I do hope you enjoy it and would REALLY appreciate your feedback whether you write to me directly or leave a review on iTunes. So here it is people, happy listening.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE HIP HOP AUDIOBOOK

TRACKLISTING

(The download appears as one long track, but this is what it entails)
1. It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop
2. Landmarks & Spencer
3. Think Big
4. Your Favourite MC
5. Wahala
6. Only Human
7. No Condition is Permanent
8. Strictly
9. It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop 2
10. Fill in the Rap
11. Identity
12. Don’t Forever Hold Your Peace
13. Fear of Failure
14. Sharon
15. Jammin on the bus
16. Mocking Bird
17. It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop 3

Click here to Purchase your copy

Rocksteady

Greetings fremily
One more day before the audiobook and EP are simultaneously released. Hopefully there’ll be no delays or hiccups. Tuesday is the day, keep your eyes peeled.

In the meantime check out this video from The Horndogz called Rocksteady. It really is one of my favourite videos right now, kudos to Team Horndogz for this one. They teamed up with the beautiful and amazing Mary Griffin (she sings with George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic) and myself to recreate Aretha Franklin’s “Rocksteady” tune. I had a blast shooting this video in France with them; it’s one of the songs from their new release entitled Dogfood Vol 1. We’ll be doing some shows in France and Europe in a couple of months and an exclusive London show on May 23. So put that date in your diary. Enjoy the funk!

Without my people, I’m a fish out of water

6 years ago was the last time I officially released any music. It’s taken me this long to find the desire and strength to enter back into the music arena again. Don’t get me wrong I’ve still been doing music but not on a commercial level. Why so long? I didn’t find the UK music scene very encouraging, didn’t have a solid infrastructure around me and was too proud to put in the hard work required at the time. Whether I admitted it or not, I subconsciously quit the UK music scene. I remember promoting my song, “Identity” in Nigeria for three weeks and got more done in those 3 weeks than a whole year in the UK. I was on radio, TV and numerous TV channels were playing my video which led me to believe that this is where I was appreciated and needed to be (I can hear my cousins all shouting, “Yes now, I’ve been saying this for years!”) Was my hustling mind set different over there or was there just more support from the industry out there? I don’t know the answer, probably a bit of both. I came back to London thinking I’ll be moving to Nigeria soon but life had other plans.

Meanwhile I decided to get myself into the position where I didn’t have to be dependent on friends and family to support my music. The thought of pressuring them to “support” me was quite sickening. This led to me doing the complete opposite, sometimes I wouldn’t say a word about what I was doing music wise (I’m getting over this slowly but surely now). I focused on my Hip Hop educational business where I had more control of the outcomes. I could make things happen, there were no gatekeepers deciding whether or not I got played on the radio or reviewed in a magazine. I was making a difference and being encouraged along the way. I wrote a book and even more doors opened for me. “Music? Ain’t nobody got time for that”, I thought. However at the back of my mind I knew there was still some unfinished business to take care of and music was the root of what my business was about anyway.

(Pic of Myself and KRS-One)

So I started making plans to get closer to music again and started to record the audio version of my book, a Hip Hop audiobook of music and narration “Brilliant Rappers Educate Intelligent Students”. I worked with a sound engineer and producer by the name of D’lux Beats who was amazing. A mentor suggested I turn it into an EP for those that didn’t want to listen to all the narration, so that’s how “The Brilliant EP” was born. I shot 2 music videos back to back, one was for the lead single “Strictly” which I’m hoping you’ve seen already (if not see it here) The second one for another song from the EP called ‘Only Human’. I’ve also been inspired by some artists around me releasing material and putting in mad work like Karl Nova, TY, Genesis Elijah, GhostPoet, Eklipse, Vula, Terri Walker (with her new group ‘Lady’), Tawiah to name just a few. This time around, the focus is different and the mission is clearer. I’m fuelled by God’s grace, the possibility of greatness, humility, fans, family, supporters and even the haters and doubters. Before, I used to focus on the gatekeepers and almost started doing it again this time around… but it’s not about the gatekeepers; it’s about the reason I started doing this in the first place, for the love of the art. For the people that get it. It’s about People Power! I’m not afraid to ask for your support anymore. I’m blessed to have a stronger support system around me this time, it’s still tough but your support has been awesome and I’m grateful for you all. This project is just the appetiser, the campaign is simmering, there’s still a lot more on the way and I need you to get on board the train in any way you can. Whether it’s buying the audiobook or the EP when it’s out. Buying the single today. Blogging about it, email me questions, RT tweets, subscribe to the Youtube page, DJs play the tunes… If you’re not feeling it, it’s not a problem; I got something else for you that you might love haha. Come out to the shows, the shows are ridiculous. Basically what I’m saying is that without you, this doesn’t make as much sense. I do this for my people…Strictly For My People.
It’s OUT NOW to buy on iTunes

If you enjoyed reading this, please share this post with your networks.

“STRICTLY” video

Greetings Fremily,

Happy new month of March!! It’s with great delight that I share my new music video for “STRICTLY” with you. There are no yachts, unaffordable cars or irreverent depictions of abject poverty (thanks Rick Ross). Just myself writing some bars in the studio and a load of fremily enjoying a day on the beach in Lagos, Nigeria. We wanted to capture a natural vibe and think we managed to pull it off. Big shout out to TY, Wale, Oke, Victoria, and FEROmedia for making this video possible.

I’d like to thank you all for your support, it is the fuel that keeps me doing music. My request to you beautiful people is that you kindly share this video with your friends on your blogs, BBM, Facebook, twitter, newsletters etc. If you like the song, the video, the lyrics, say it on the YouTube page. Subscribe to the YouTube page, I’ve got a few more videos on the way very soon. Till we read again, muchos merci.

1st single from Audiobook/EP

Strictly

Greetings Fremily,
Hope this meets you well. I will be uploading music from my audiobook (out in March 2013) for you guys to hear bit by bit. The first track is a song you might have heard before, called STRICTLY (for my people) featuring the amazing vocals of Eska Mtungwazi. Watch out for the visuals of Strictly by the end of the month. Keep connected via twitter also.
Bloggers and DJs please hit me up at bambreis@yahoo.co.uk for instrumentals, acapellas, other exclusives and info regarding release. Thank you

Like You Never

I’m really excited about TY’s “Kick, Snare and an Idea”EP. The first song from the EP is “Like You Never”. I had the pleasure of hearing him perform this soulful jam recently, it was awesome. Put the 10th April in your diary for the Jazz Cafe release party too, not gonna give away any spoilers but it’s an event you don’t wanna regret missing. See you there!

Feb/March – Shows and School Visits

There are a few more tbc shows and visits, but here’s an idea of what Feb and March are gonna be like for me. Kicking off the month with the amazing Jazz Club in Soho. I’ve never played there before, so looking forward to it.

Feb 3 – Pizza Express Jazz club, London (Live Show)

Feb 5 – TLA School, Colchester (Performance/Workshops)

Feb 6 – Marshalls Park, Romford (Book signing)

Feb 7 – Conisborough College, London (Performance/Workshops)

Feb 8 – King’s Place, London (Performance)

Feb 12 – Harris Academy, South Norwood (Performance/Workshops)

Feb 14 – Conisborough College, London (Performance)

Feb 21 – Panelist on DigiAfrica, Nigeria Social Media Week (Panelist discussion)

Feb 23 – Queens Park library, London (Workshop)

Feb 23 – Rock the Runway, London Top Model of Colour (Performance)

Mar 5 – Fircroft Primary School. London (Performance/Workshops)

Mar 7 – Park High School, London (Performance/Workshops)

Mar 13 – Urmston Grammar School, Manchester (Performance/Workshops)

Mar 16 – A night of Diversity Showcase, London (Performance)

Mar 19 –  Tubbenden school, London (Performance/Workshops)

Mar 29-31 - Festival performance, Lithuania (Live Show)

TEDxYouth – Think Big vs Fear of Failure

It was all a dream…

One of my 2012 highlights was being asked to perform at a TEDx event. Since I was invited as a result of my book Brilliant Rappers Educate Intelligent Students, I decided to entitle it: “Think Big vs Fear of Failure,” two song titles from the book. I was accompanied by producer/sound engineer/bredrin – D’lux Beats. I had the privilege of meeting some incredible people that day, both students and other speakers. Over 400 students in Bath, stories of empowerment and encouragement; with music and dance. A great experience, hopefully the first of many. Enjoy and please comment on the Youtube page, thanks.

Be sure to follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/MrBreis

I fell in love with Nobel Prize nominee, Scilla Elworthy. Awesome woman.

Met Ripton Lindsay, a dancer with vision.

A Fruitful 2013

Greetings fremily,

Hope you’re enjoying the year so far. I’d like to declare a fruitful 2013 to you and your family. Motto for the year: “Let’s Do This!”

2012 saw me working with some amazing artists and recording new music, recording an audiobook with D’Lux Beats (OUT March), taking part in my first TEDx event, shooting a new music video (coming soon), delivering inspiring Hip Hop Edu workshops to 1000s of students alongside Karl Nova. Meeting some incredible people, being introduced as a Hip Hop author, running a 10k race, getting fitter (thanks to RunDem crew and Spartanfam).

One of the biggest lessons I learnt from last year was that I need to stop doing things last minute dot com and I need to keep my supporters posted with what I’m doing in good time. Time management is key this year. A big thank you to all who came to my shows, bought my book, downloaded or played my music, retweeted a tweet, liked my page, blogged about the  music, referred me for amazing projects, encouraged me, prayed for me…I THANK YOU.

To paraphrase some words from Kendrick Lamar: My New Year’s revolution is to stop all the pollution, talk too motherlovin much, I got my drink, I got my music, I WILL SHARE IT, but today I’m yelling please don’t kill my vibe, please don’t kill my vibe…

Do share and comment. Thanks

B

 

 

Dec 1st at the Southbank

Hi guys

There’s a FREE family event (children must be over 5) at the Southbank Centre this Sat, Dec 1st. I’ll be performing some children raps from my rap book, alongside the revered John Hegley and wonderful Francesca Beard. Details are below. It starts around 10:45 am.

Day:  Saturday 1st December
Venue:  The Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX (nearest train station: Waterloo / Charing Cross)
Age: 5 +

Dream Big

DREAM BIG – That’s the title of my TEDxYouth talk that I’ll be giving in Bath(England) this week. It was actually a dream of mine to be asked to give a TEDx talk one day. Good times.

It’s gonna be part music performance and part talk, which is great. The video should be available about a month or 2 from now, will post it up as soon as.

 

 

Jazz Refreshed

If you were at the Jazz Refreshed birthday gig I did here a few years ago, you already know the deal. If not, then don’t miss this one! This’ll probably be my only live show in London for the rest of 2012. It’s gonna be a blessed night, bring a friend. This is where ‘Fremily’ was born.

Ronnie Scotts

Got a show this Sunday 14th October, upstairs in Ronnie Scotts, Frith St in West London. Will be doing a few songs from The Moving On Project and my forthcoming audiobook. If you feel like coming out, I’d love to see you. I’m on around 8:30pm.

Here’s to the Upthinkers

Upthink: Thinking on a higher plane. Keeping your mind on possibilities and opportunities. Lateral thinking. Upgrading your thought patterns. Solution seeking. Thinking outside, inside, around and under the box. Learning.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – (Philippians 4:8)

Here’s to the Upthinkers

Who is your mentor?

Every top athlete has a coach. Every successful business person has a mentor. It makes sense to have one for our personal or business lives. Someone who is or has been where you are hoping to get to financially, career wise, relationship-wise etc. Sometimes we can’t get the mentors we want but there are always those that can mentor us from afar, simply by us studying their lives, strategies via their books and videos. Do you have a mentor or a coach?

ONE YEAR LATER

Apply this simple concept to one dream that you have. One year later, you’ll see exactly how true this statement is.

Witness The Fitness 2

Wassup fremily
A few months ago, I began my fitness journey. 5 months on and I’m still on said journey, which for me is a sign that I’m quite serious about it. Just to give you an update on what I’ve been up to. I started running with Rundem Crew led by poet/DJ Charlie Dark and recently completed my first official race: The British 10k!

I completed the race in 1 hour 1 minute which was 6 minutes shy of my 55 minute target. Next time, I’m sure. Big up Rundem Crew and Chakabars for being the Jedi counsel on this journey.
Alex who I met at Rundem (really cool dude) introduced me to a charity called Find Your Feet that support families in rural areas of India, Nepal, Malawi and Zimbabwe. I managed to raise just over £200 in 5 days for them which made every step even more worthwhile. Thank you to everyone who donated. The journey continues. In all you do, find your feet and go for it.

For your amusement, here’s a homemade video of my preparation for the 10k.

The Hip Hop Debate

I was at the Barbican yesterday for the Hip Hop on Trial debate. The motion: “Hip-Hop Doesn’t Enhance Society, It Degrades It” in itself was annoying but I thought this should be fun. Once I got over the fact that the panel was an imbalanced representation of global Hip Hop (okay to be honest I meant legit UK representation) I went there with an open mind. I missed the first 20 minutes or so but found it quite interesting listening to people like Dr Eric Dyson, KRS, Dream Hampton, Questlove, Q-Tip, Benjamin Zephaniah and too many to mention. Dr James Peterson, Prof John Sutherland and Prof Tricia Rose made some brilliant convincing arguments, but overall there was way too much rhetoric and simplifying of complex issues. PJ O’Rourke via satellite cracked everyone up by asking the host, “What the f*&$ am I doing on this panel?” Joe Budden got cocky, then frustrated and left early. Estelle and Q-Tip were very passionate. Sean Bailey made some good points although he wasn’t getting any love for most of the negative things he had to say. KRS surprised me a little, I think I wanted more from him. There were too many discussions on semantics, the n word, the b word, this took up way too much time. Jason Whitlock (who was on the side for the motion) said Hip Hop had been taken over by prison culture. Which to me means Hip Hop therefore isn’t what should be on trial. Man of the night though goes to the man whose mum calls him Stinky. He’s got 99 problems but his name ain’t one, hit me!

During the debate I realised two things 1) Hip Hop wasn’t on trial, rap music was. There was no talk of the other elements of Hip Hop (unless I missed it earlier on) and 2) The motion itself was like asking if someone was either good or bad. All this debate was set up to do was to have us go round in circles. At best this was a Hip Hop pantomime that was enjoyable at times but I couldn’t take it too seriously. I had a blast afterwards though, catching up with peeps and meeting some really interesting people. I must say some fascinating convos kicked off in the foyer. I think we need more debates like this but more relevant ones and solution seeking ones too. You can watch the debate below.

Horndogz ft TY, Peeda & BREIS

I had the pleasure of working with The HornDogz recently. One of the cool dudes from the group, Eric, played part of the horn section in my song Identity.

Movin’ On is a cool, jazzy tune with oodles of soul. For whatever reason, I had also named my EP project The Moving On Project but this was totally coincidental (even though there are no coincidences). Features myself, vocalist Peeda and TY, enjoy and then book us!

Favourite Group of The Week

Hi guys, got lots to blog about. Here’s the first, it’s about a group I vaguely remember from a few years back and this is their return. They’re called A Yellow Man – Sam, Emmanuel and Demae. Check out their vids.

Nice, right? Check this one out. *Starts to rock head back and forth as the beat kicks in*

Don’t Talk. Just Do

It’s been a busy week with the release of The Moving On Project EP. The response was way more than what I anticipated. A big thank you to all your emails, DMs, comments, blog posts et al. I was just about to say what I was gonna do next but I’ve learnt a new lesson recently which is “don’t boast about what you are GOING to do, just talk about what you’ve already DONE” and I’m living by that for the time being haha. If you haven’t downloaded the EP yet, please do so here

Here are some reviews of the EP

Imade In Truth

The 3axes

The free EP download

Download The Moving On Project here

Let me know which songs are your favourites, which ones you didn’t like, reviews, comments. It’s all useful information. If you tweet about it (@MrBreis) add #TheMovingOnProject thanks. Whilst you’re there you can also check out The Identity EP. Enjoy

Press release

DOWNLOADABLE ON MONDAY APRIL 23.

Babes in Paris

A friend of mine posted this the other day and I fell in love with it. So many clever lines. The flow’s okay but the wit is just classic lit. Enjoy.

Ghana Independence Day

The first sub Saharan African country to gain independence on 6th March 1957 was GHANA formerly known as The Gold Coast. The most prominent of advocates for this was Dr Kwame Nkrumah. I applaud the vision of this man and all he wanted to do, not just for his country but for all of Africa. He was a visionary, a man thinking outside the box and sometimes misunderstood as a result. A true leader. Here are a few celebratory tunes.

Witness The Fitness

I haven’t seen my 6 pac for at least 12 years now and last month I decided 2pac needed his 4 brothers back. So I got back into the gym and for the first time in my life, started watching my nutrition. I suddenly realised how bad my eating habits were. Late night take outs, midnight snacks, missing lunch altogether simply because I was too engrossed in writing the perfect 16 bars or making a dope beat. Now I’m eating four meals a day, never bought so many eggs before and eating fruit and veg every day. Everyday ya know! That’s like a joke. This is for life and not just a few months anymore so I’m taking it easy and building it into a lifestyle. Health is so important and it was only after seeing people close to me fall ill that I realised this for real. God’s been telling me to get fit but I’ve been ignoring the warning, no more, Lord I surrender. I went for a jog a month ago and lasted 4 minutes!!! This is a real low, so the cardio thing is a must even though I hate it. I even bought new jogging bottoms. Had a chat with a fitness guru friend and he has dropped an idea into my head which I would have laughed at a few weeks back. I’ll let you know what it is in the next fitness blog, I still need time to digest it. Until then, no more meals after 9pm (this is the frikin hardest thing of them all). I’ve got a long way to go but I’m happy with how things are going. I’m giving myself a year to transform from Professor Klump into Michael Johnson. One day at a time. The Roots Manuva video is my life right now.

Love Is A Journey

This laid back, soulful collaboration between myself and the amazing Joy Jones is one of the songs featured on “The Moving On Project” out soon. This track is all Joy’s. She came up with the creative mermaid and sea sons concept. Looking at love from an aquatic perspective. The ebb and flow of love, relationships, the resistance we come up against when trying to find or understand each other. Produced by Daz-I-Kue, (keys by Kaidi Taithum) it even sounds like the music was made under water. Joy smashes it with a rap verse too (sister has skills!!) and even encouraged me to sing at the end too. Where we offer a unified love manifesto if you will. Enjoy and keep your ears out for other tracks.

Valentine Shmalentine

Every king is looking for his queen and I’m no different. What am I looking for? Let me bring out my list. Truth be told, it’s kinda long so I’ll leave it for another time and instead talk about my concubine. Her name is Music, we go way back. She’s been there for me when other girls tried to treat me like Norbit. You could say I used to love her, but I’m not sure if she felt the same. We had a good relationship or so I thought and things seemed peachy, but something happened in the mid noughties. I guess we wanted different things and we eventually drifted apart. However we bumped into each other last year and decided to give it another go and this time do things properly. Obviously things have changed and relationships aren’t what they used to be. Needless to say we’re taking it slow (no long ting) and decided to start afresh.

In order for us to move on and move forward, we decided to do a spring clean by releasing our past and embracing our future. This is where my downloadable 6 track EP entitled The Moving On Project comes into play.  It’s an eclectic mix of old tunes and collaborations that have been gathering dust during our time apart. A bit of Hip Hop, a bit of broken beat and lots of soul. I’ll know the release date very soon, hopefully by early March or earlier, but there will be a pre Valentine leak on Feb 13. I told my concubine straight up,
“I don’t do Valentines. Valentines is for suckers”.
She smiled at me and looked lovingly into my eyes.
“You’re such a man”.
“It is what it is”, I said.
“What does that even mean?” she exclaimed.
I looked at her in my best Norbit face and said “Nobody knows what it means, but it’s provocative. It get’s the people going”.

The Beginning.
B

This Year…

Greetings wonderful people, I hope this year will be a brilliant year for you. A good friend of mine reminded me that it’s great to dream but you have to live the dream and not stay in la la land dreaming all day. So here’s to 2012, the year of realising and manifesting dreams.

This year I’m putting music at the top of the list (even above finding a wife, much to my parent’s dismay. This might change by tomorrow though so they shouldn’t worry too much). The first offering from me will be an 8 track EP entitled THE MOVING ON EP. Release date will be announced soon. Till then, keep flying high.

Subscribe to this blog to be kept in the loop and if you haven’t already done so, please ‘like’ the fb page. Apparently these things are important. Thanks!

Peace

Get Your Copy Today

BOOK TRAILER

Thank you for your emails, comments and tweets regarding BRILLIANT RAPPERS EDUCATE INTELLIGENT STUDENTS. The feedback has been absolutely amazing. It’s been a hectic couple of months promoting the book which has been fun but I’ve been told that you have to market a book for at least a whole year, so guess there’s still plenty to be done. Here’s a short trailer for Brilliant Rappers Educate intelligent Students. If you haven’t got a copy already, don’t put it off any longer get yourself a copy today. It would make a great gift to anyone over the age of nine. Either for yourself or for a young person and it would also make the next 6 months of promoting easier lol.

Purchase your copy by clicking here

Hope you enjoyed the video, I’ll be putting up a few more video soon.
Purchase your copy by clicking here

Also, I haven’t forgotten about the mix tape, it’s almost done.

AMAZED

One MC on the scene that really caught my attention as an up and coming rhymer in the 90s was a funky flowing, basketball playing, slang slinging sister that went by the name of Nkechi da Lyric L. Her name alone told me that this girl was the business! She’s very talented and is one of the wittiest people I know. Her banter is just stupid crazy. That same banter is what makes Lyric L’s flows and rhymes stand out. I’m so happy that her album has just been released and the whole world gets to be AMAZED. Classic album cover too. Click on this link to get your copy

Tenderness

The riots totally shook up the UK last week. Politicians, the police, the media, the middle class, shop owners, black folk, the Sikhs(oh my gosh), my godson…in short everyone. I’ve talked and commented ridiculously over the last week about responses to the riots and the highly offensive sweeping generalisations of David Starkey. Let’s just say this week, some people across the country have been showing their true colours. I wrote this track after I got tired of responding to ignorant people on forums who thought everyone looting was black, how Starkey was right and when a journalist called Paul Routledge from the Mirror said he blamed hip hop music for the violence of the riots. I thought to myself, that’s it I’m off to the studio to start a riot!

The five stages of an artist

Everything happens in stages. Miss one out and there will be a sense of lack. As a hip hop lyricist, author, workshop facilitator, actor, publisher and sometimes beat maker I realise that I spend a lot of time creating new work. I’m an ideas man, similar to Tom the inventor (Apprentice 2011). The hard thing for people like us, is following through and completing a project. Just as you make headway with this amazing idea, another idea comes along that is slightly sexier. This makes it very easy to stay trapped in the sweet and sour creative zone. I’ve realised that I have different stages or zones I operate in and to have a sense of fulfillment, moving through all the stages is essential.

1. Creating – This is probably my favourite place. I get a buzz when I create lyrics and vibes. Translating what’s in my head for others to enjoy. It’s a place that loved ones don’t always appreciate as it’s usually an isolated place.

2. Sharing – Allowing others to see and hear your work; a nerve-racking experience encapsulated by Erykah Badu when she said, “I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about my sh*t”.

3. Impacting – When your art becomes bigger than you and means something to others in a way you never would’ve imagined. You become a real artist.

4. Promoting – the business side of things we sometimes want others to deal with. This is the hustle, the bustle, the knocking down of doors, getting in people’s faces, Facebook or twitter timelines. Telling the world that this is what we do.

5. Earning – When all the creating, sharing, impacting and promoting is done and whilst it’s still going on, you’ve got to know or learn how to make money from your creations.

I’m making sure for the rest of this year I do more sharing, promoting and earning. With that said allow me to introduce you to Student of Life the site to visit if you’re in education or working with young people and the only place to order a copy of my new book, Brilliant Rappers Educate Intelligent Students.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the five stages and where you spend most of your time and where you need to be spending more time. Please feel free to share this. Thank you kindly.

B

Move On Up

MOVE ON UP

In June 2011, I took part in a professional development programme for artists working in African and Caribbean music called MOVE ON UP, produced by Serious as part of Black Routes and funded by the Arts Council England. There were 12 artists from all over England chosen to spend a week together in the most amazing grounds of Dartington Hall in Devon. One rapper, one producer, ten singers/musicians. It was an intensive week, we listened to speakers from withtin the music industry, took part in workshops, had jamming sessions and a Dragon’s Den exercise which was both fun and stressful (but of course my team won lol) and enjoyed some good food daily.

I have to say that it was the best week away I’ve had in a long time. It renewed my passion to be a recording artist, equipped me with vital information, made me appreciate my skill set and alerted to my blind spots. I was privelaged to meet 11 other talented artists  and beautiful people (I knew four of them already) . We worked together in such a magical way, it’s hard to put into words.  There were some collaborations that took place that week that were simply divine. Grammy award winning songs and performances were created.  It was a privelage and honour to spend time with them and I look forward to the projects everyone will be involved with. I’ll be sharing more with you about these artists, also known as the Diamond Dozen.

Adriano Adewale (percussion/voice/warm heart and skills from Brazil)
Ayanna Witter-Johnson (voice, cello, piano/has legendary powers of persuasion)
Bianca Rose (voice, guitar, ukulele/ playful and powerful)
Breis (hip hop vocalist – that’s me)
Bumi Thomas (voice, guitar/intense elegance)
Jahmel Ellison (voice, bass guitar/ cool and multi faceted)
James Yarde (producer/the glue holding the crew)
JB Rose (voice – beauty and soul)
Julian Gill, aka Esco Williams (voice,keys/this guy has soul and heart galore)
Mellow Baku (voice, guitar/unpredictable and sweet)
Mim Suleiman (voice, percussion – powerhouse vocals and dance moves ey!)
Ray Estaire (voice, keyboard – jazz scatt powers)

New Rhyme Book

Hi guys

it’s been a minute, I’ve been extremely busy doing many things at the same time.  One of them has been putting the finishing touches to my first ever book, BRILLIANT RAPPERS EDUCATE INTELLIGENT STUDENTS. It’s a book of my lyrics, the inspiration behind them and an insight into some of the lyrics.  It’s been an amazing process and I’m proud of the outcome.  It’s due for release on July 11. Available to buy from the Student of Life site. I’ll keep you posted on any news and developments.  I’ll endeavour to get some music up for you next week too. Have a great day, peace.