For those of you not in the know, both Rob Zombie and Andre 3000 are both really good visual artists aside from making chart topping music that has captured the imaginations of millions of fans. For more of you not in the know. I myself have always been a visual artist since I was a kid!
You was holding out on us huh? So drawing was your Love Below?? Say whaaaaat!?!
Really Super King!?! I didn't know you knew how to draw! Tell me more!
Sure Rob! For the very first time I am in the position to self publish my first illustration book! It's based off my album 'Gone Is The Illusion' the same album I did the front and back cover for, and which is linked to the right side of this page through Bandcamp. Completing this project has been very important and liberating for me to accomplish.
Maaaan lissen! It feels good to be free boi!!
The artwork in the book is based off each and every song from my album. With descriptions attached to each one, and bonus material from my upcoming graphic novel titled '4'.
Now that's some creative shit!
Ain't it!? So here's what I did for my next trick! I created an indiegogo to publish the book. I'm offering all types of perks including original artwork from in and outside of the book. Below is the video from my indiegogo check it out!
In this next video from my campaign I do a thank you roll call for all the contributors to it, up to that point of the campaign! I've had an influx of new contributors since. Once you contribute you can be in my next thank you video!
Not much intimidates me when it comes to being a performer. I've performed in front of a number of diverse crowds. They range from angry, loving, or blank stares until you come off stage and everyone tells you how much they loved your performance.(That one still confuses me sometimes even though I don't show it, and it makes me laugh a little).
Imagine this face staring at you for 15-30 min of your set. I wonder what goes through the head of a person that looks like this? "He's not Kanye, where's my Kanye???".
Here is your Kanye but he's giving me a face worse than yours,lol. If you are an artist we have all been there to some extent. You can put your all into a set. Mind, Body, and Soul. Still..The stinkface.
It happens to the best of us. Then there is the angry mob. Which I have to say I enjoy performing in front of. That to me is a Hip Hop crowd, those are the types of crowds I came up through. Just absolutely no mercy! Haha! And I loved every minute of it. I know, I know, I'm a masochist. If you don't drop a hot 16 nigga!! You in trouble!!
Now I don't want to stray too far away from the main point of this blog, but what I've mentioned above has given me some ideas as to what a future blog will be about. Namely being dope, in front of a non reactionary crowd. or any crowd for that matter that gives you the opposite reaction you were expecting from your music. Back to my main point. Busking was one of those things, for some odd reason, scared the shit out of me. Only through out the years of doing music have I become more extroverted and it really has given me the courage to exploit talents I never knew I had. So it's safe to say that feeling the way I did about it was frustrating to me, and I was ready to change it. So I made a post on Facebook, putting the word out to anyone who wanted to join me in doing it, figuring that a group effort would ease the pressure of not having to do it alone. An artist by the name Johnny Hobbes reached out to me saying he wanted to join forces. So, cool it wasn't a group but I had someone else on board which eased my mind. He also had to work up the nerve to perform in public. Checkout the videos below to see our first time out busking on NYC trains.
You can probably see how nervous we were in our first outings, but as we progressed, maaan!
We would just walk into train cars and start rapping. The nervousness was gone and we could see a greater power in doing what we were doing. We even broke off and started busking individually. I will admit it takes a bit more energy out of me than being on stage but the liberation is completely there!
In order to be a 'dumb smart nigga', you have to know what it is first. A 'dumb smart nigga', is someone whose too smart to be in a lower position in life, but remains there regardless of their talent and skill sets.
Two of the most common signs a person is one, is the fact they never own their successes. Meaning while people give them credit for what they've done. They themselves shrug it off never really owning it, grabbing it by the throat! Like they should. This is a sign of low self esteem.The other sign a person might be one, is sometimes it's unbeknownst to them until someone brings it to their attention. Kinda like, if you don't believe something exists, you don't have the motivation to know it does if you don't even know it's there.
I used to get called this a lot when I was a lil homie and always by a female usually my age or a little older. True to what I mentioned above, I didn't know I was being one until it was brought to my attention.
I was always told "man..You are to smart to be working here, what are you doing here?"
"Ayo! Ray boogie, I want you to use your brain man, you a smart dude, just use your brain!".
Those lines mentioned above were from some other homies I grew up with or just worked with on different jobs. Man even as I type this, all my experiences make me reflect on moments where I could see I was being one but recognizing I had the talent to make real shit happen. It's definitely sobering thoughts, especially at a time like now where I feel I could be doing so much more. Yet the drive hasn't been there like it was, only appearing in patches of time. It's been a process pulling myself along and bringing it back out.
Now below is the only live performance of 'Dumb Smart Nigga', that I have with Corina Corina, who sang the hook. When you scroll further down you'll find the bandcamp MP3 with the lyrics below for you to sing along yourself. Check it out.
We in the zone yo!
Verse 1 intro “You know what you should have in common with Hunter S. Thompson, Ernest Hemingway, and Kurt Cobain? It ain’t talent, should blow your brains out you Dumb. Smart. Nigga”! Hook My friends say I'm smarter than Them. Smarter than my friends ooooh. So how come I'm not making their ends? Their ennnnnds They tell me I have everything, because I am aaaa king! So why do I still feel like I got nothing? Nothing, nothiiing. ... Verse 1 I feel dangerously vulnerable, when I write songs like this I feel like I’ll be judged, then hung for the shit Because long as I’ve existed I won’t let people get close I find myself alone, living life as a ghost Can you blame me?! I mean I love living life But there are moments I wish I have had my memory wiped I’m no angel with its wings clipped within my own right I’ve burned so many bridges with such tremendous force You’d think I was a monster a living human torch That wedged a gap bigger between life & corpse I hurt the ones that I love, never the ones that deserve it It’s enough to curse myself and start rethinking my purpose My impulsiveness is like a fucking disease motivated by the need to quench the thirst of my greed Jumped to conclusions with a short burst of speed My lack of self control has left scars that always seem to bleed Verse 2 intro You blinder than a muthafuckah! Can’t see shit to be shit! Do us all a favor, just walk off a roof you Dumb. Smart. Nigga! Hook My friends say I'm smarter than Them. Smarter than my friends ooooh. So how come I'm not making their ends? Their ennnnnds They tell me I have everything, because I am aaaa king! Why do I still feel like I got nothing? Nothing, nothiiing. ... Verse 2 Because I had perspectives different from the rest My friends believed that I was destined for success I suck at handling the stress rehearsals never dressed subjected to the con I’m not fit to take the quest But if I saw what others saw I’d be without the mess But I’ve been told so many times that I ain’t worth shit I’m ashamed to say a part of me started to believe in it I’ve been told I’ve made things into more than what they are Will I be old & gray, sitting at a bar drunk & telling stories, about a falling star? not playing with a full deck the joker in the cards delusions of the slander, old habits die hard I’ve hit rock bottom is escaping so bizarre? I’ve walked many miles more than ones put on a car I’ve slept on a beach without a home near or far you dumb smart nigga, or whoever you are……… Verse 3 intro Nigga you can’t tell your right from your left, what’s real or what’s fake, you ain’t good for nothing you Dumb. Smart. Nigga! Hook My friends say I'm smarter than Them. Smarter than my friends ooooh. So how come I'm not making their ends? Their ennnnnds They tell me I have everything, because I am aaaa king! So why do I still feel like I got nothing? Nothing, nothiiing. ... Verse3 Devils in the details, angels in executing My brain is fried, with my impulses electrocuting A retina scan for the mind keeping my eyes open Mass produce adrenaline keeping my drive potent I’m not a dumb smart nigga! I'm dumb smart nigga! ! When I Iearned Jiu Jitsu they teach discomfort & pain discomfort being achy joints bruises and strain Pain is walls closing in no oxygen to the brain The Grim reaper with the key unlocking the chain When I suffered losses that made me take leave from the game I suffered the emptiness of never facing the strain reminded me of being paralyzed as a child When I flew off my bike and laid in rocks in a pile a discomfort that temporarily altered my style But like Tetsuo in a Akira I picked my guts up so there might be hope after all for this fuck up. verse 3 Outtro: Maybe you starting to get it after all nigga, but once a dumb. Smart. Nigga, always a Dumb. Smart. Nigga. Hook My friends say I'm smarter than Them. Smarter than my friends ooooh. So how come I'm not making their ends? Their ennnnnds They tell me I have everything, because I am a king! Why do I still feel like I have nothing? Nothing, nothing. ...
So I have something to admit...I have a fear of performing in public places by myself or even with someone directed at a crowd. It is something that drives me crazy knowing how comfortable on stage I am and all the intense situations I have been in over the years as a MC. So I finally decided to take matters into my own hands because this shit was fucking with my pride. So I mad a post on facebook about it and another MC I know, named 'Johnny Hobbes'. He told me he had a similar fear of performing in front of crowds. So I said BET! let's do this together then. He agreed and the following video below is the result!
I kept the editing to a minimum so you could see our progress as we went from car to car and train to train. I'm going to continue this project until I ween this shit out of my system and just kill it on the trains and anywhere I go period!
My good friend Adam Bernard over at http://www.adambernard.blogspot.com/ added me to his top ten list 'Some shit you may have missed in 2015', which was recently posted to rapreviews.com. http://rapreviews.com/special/adamb-dec15.html I took a screen shot of it, which is below.
