Ozy Reigns Exciting Time's Release Party

If you are going to be in Atlanta GA on March 6. Then you need to be there!

Put Oz on The Coast FM

Listen to www.THECOAST.FM tonight from 6pm-7pm EST for my single "OZ" and vote it into rotation by calling 269.934.9830.

THANX IN ADVANCE!

HIP HOPS LIFE after DEATH

I thought I might let everyone know that my last post was actually a post from a 2006 blog I did. I found it interesting reading an almost 3 year old post and realizing how much my feelings haven't changed. Ohhh, but have no fear the resurrection is very near. You can feel it in the air. The culture is awakening. If you don't feel that way I advise you to dig a little deeper into the digital crates and look-up some artists who are consistently putting good shit out. Myself for instance, who you can now download on iTunes. Good music is not only out there, but it is indeed coming back to the mainstream full force not just in tiny intervals. We have more control over our art now and we are gaining more control by the minute. I'm excited about the digital age. And though, like everything it comes with it's downfalls such as beat auctions, which I think takes the producer artist relationship out of it, the digital age is mostly a major plus. No more having to sign 360 deals, basically allowing a huge company to anally rape you out of your royalties and dough. What I have envisioned is a situation where we'll have the creativity of the early 90's and the entrepreneurship of the new millennium in a cohesive state. Stay-tuned.

Why Hip Hop is Dead.

Before you get all defensive and start replying with mindless rants, check my reasoning. As you all should know, Nas has a new album dropping entitled "Hip Hop Is Dead." Yeah I'm an up and coming MC in the game, who has been a Nas fan for a long-time. That has nothing to do with why I agree. No I'm not going to stop making my music. It would take a whole lot more than a hip hop great saying hip hop is dead to make me hang up my mic. I've been frustrated with the lack of creativity in music in general for many years now. People listen much more closley to how your beats bang or who's producing your tracks nowadays instead of listening for substance in your lyrics. So the majority of "artists" don't feel they have to put any effort into making music that means something. And producers get top dollar for wack stripped down tracks that have no musical value other than to get that ass movin on the dance-floor. I like all types of music. But when everything starts sounding, looking, acting, smelling or feeling the same, you better believe death is in the air. Hip Hop has to die to be reborn as something better. And personally I'd like to be apart of a new movement. Not one that has lost it's flare and has forgotten the whole reason that it even came about. Everybody's beefin because hip hop started in New York but it's now much more alive in the South right now. Fuck all that! Hip Hop is for the universe. I think alot of legitamate artists as well as the fly by night garbage artists are truly on some bullshit right now. One of the main reasons Hip Hop is dead is because the artists that were holding it up just forgot what making quality music was. They didn't step it up and they stopped putting out good shit. Now they're mad that the next generation doesn't know who they are and what good music is. It's partially your fault. Yeah big business too. Big business likes to come in and fuck up what began as a pure form of expression. Fuck that too though. We are more in control of our art than we've ever been. It's time to step this whole shit up. Make quality shit and get paid.

I'm @ Apache Cafe Tonight

If your in Atlanta GA tonight. Make sure you check me out @ Apache Cafe. The I Love Rap show.

Last Word on Dilla

I discovered Dilla in the odd way that many of us discovered Dilla. We found out that many of our favorite Hip Hop joints had been produced or co-produced by him. "Stakes is High," "Runnin" and "Got til It's Gone" were favorites of mine long before I knew who Dilla was. The dude had magic. Aint no other way to explain how he single-handedly elevated the game. He was a mixture of Hip-Hops greatest producers. Pete Rock, Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip. He even had some Prince and Quincy Jones up in there. Dilla could do anything and he did. Nobody could make music with so much soul but so much thump at the same time. Dilla made you feel it in ya spirit and in ya chest. He had a way of taking you to another world. When you have the guys that you've idolized for years, trying to do what you do you've made it. Dilla was a genius. A genius that many are STILL trying to figure out and emulate. He took you to where ever he wanted to take you. From the club, to your car to outer-space. Dude made a life-time of music in such a short span. Dilla didn't even get to see the level of respect and fame that he should have, but he has a faithful cult following. I can say that I share a deep love for this music with Dilla. He actually made me realize that if I dig deep enough I really can affect peoples lives with my music by giving them the deepest part of me.

(The following are not my words, rather they are the words of Minister Server a friend of mine and leader in the Temple of Hip Hop with KRS-ONE. I'll do this from time to time, but only with really important posts such as this one.)

FEBRUARY 2009 "FOOD FOR THE SPIRIT"

Peace and much love! The divinity in me salutes the divinity in you, word!

The spiritual gift for the month of FEBRUARY is LOVE! The word LOVE is probably one of the most misunderstood words in our modern vocabulary. Most people confuse LOVE with emotionalism, infatuation or material wants. I won’t go into a long list, however, if you listen to or watch mainstream media, you’ll hear a lot of people saying and doing some strange things in the name of “LOVE”! However, your spiritual gift of LOVE gives you the ability to go beyond your personal feelings, thoughts and emotions to allow you to experience a higher consciousness. It is written that, "God is LOVE", we believe this to be true. God lives within you so there’s never a need to look for LOVE; you are a living manifestation of LOVE! Unfortunately, most people never experience this powerful gift because they have not learned how to LOVE themselves, which is truly the basis for loving anything. Some people have only experienced LOVE on a limited level because they have placed conditions on how they choose to experience LOVE. For example, in relationships people will threaten to hold back their LOVE if the other person doesn’t say, act or do the things they want them to do, and that is not LOVE! LOVE is the unconditional principle that allows you to connect to the oneness of God, which is the underlying energy of all creation. It is written that you should, "LOVE God with all your heart, your soul and your mind and you should LOVE your neighbor as you LOVE yourself". Most of us are still working on doing that, especially the second part! It’s all good, as you to learn to LOVE yourself like God loves you, it becomes easier to share that LOVE with all of creation on a daily basis! God loves you so much, that there is nothing you can do to stop God from loving you, even when you don’t LOVE yourself! That’s unconditional LOVE! It may seem impossible for you to LOVE like that, however, you are a child of God and if it’s true of God, it’s true of you too!

We all desire LOVE in our lives, it gives our lives more meaning and yet, loving someone unconditionally doesn’t mean letting them to take advantage of you or treating you wrong. It simply means that them to be who they are without judgment. Sometimes you have to LOVE people from a distance, everyone doesn’t deserve a “front seat” in your everyday life, be honest with yourself about how you choose to use your LOVE!

Your spiritual gift of LOVE gives an inner peace that will allow you to experience the life you were born to live and fulfill your divine purpose! In the challenging times we are living in, we must remember that LOVE is the most healing, powerful and harmonizing force in the universe; we should use it daily and share it with all of creation! It is true, you let It be and there It is, word!

Minister Server - The Hiphop Life Coach Temple Of Hiphop, HIPHOP Ministries, Inc. http://www.hiphopministries.org/