For anyone who doesn’t know I’m a HUGE Boondocks fan, I’ve been so since the damn comics came into existence… HUGE SHOUT OUT TO AARON MCGRUDER!!! If your not familiar with the show, go on YouTube and watch some episodes its a socially aware show but is fucking hilarious. A few weeks ago, I was watching The Boondocks first Season episode called yea you guessed it The Itis (peep below and watch it) where their grandfather opens a soul food restaurant which eventually leads to the economic demise of the neighborhood. I’m not going to give the rest away, but it gave me a great idea for a track. No, I’m not rapping about a soul food restaurant, but listen and you’ll get the reference ;).

Heres the track though:

Black ELement - The Itis (Produced By 6th Sense)

The Boondocks - “The Itis”

Part 1.

Part 2.

On the grind after doing a favor for NAV, and Durk sent me over a crazy ass beat this kid has been eating his Wheaties and Drinking his Gatorade lately. I’ve just been writing/recording just finished a track over a 6th Sense beat the other entitled “The Itis”, which will get mixed ASAP and released soon.

Right now I’m noddin my head like Hov and going thru the last few set of beats, just writing/recording. I’m just creating and building with cats until I feel its done. As tired as I am the city of New York is definitely giving me a kick in the ass, theres a certain aura about the city that gives drive.

Left Coast Love

DJ Hyphen, Common & J.Moore

Not to mention DJ Hyphen played “Human” on last nights radio show (Kube 93 FM) Sound Session for those of you who don’t know Hyphen is a DJ from Seattle and has done interveiws with Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Common… just to name a few and has a large left coast following. He’s a chill dood and is always about introducing new dope music to his fanbase.

To Download the show it was played on go here.

Also check out Hyphen’s blog: The Audacity of Dope

“Human” has been getting a lot of love, Khal (from RockTheDub ) put me on his LightHouse Project and had this to say about it:

“Black EL is on a roll right now, and if you’ve been hip to the internets, you should have seen this one around. I heard this a bit ago, and had to have it for this project. I love the switch-up in the beat when the chorus comes in, and he throws some witty lines and sows some deeper seeds (check that 2nd verse). A Major Minority”

We’re making moves folks! We’re closer then you think.

A Major Minority Soon Come!

Exhibit C

On a Side note I don’t really rep other people’s music unless a) I’m really feeling it or b) they are my people or c) all of the above. Exhibit C: I just finished listening to Jelani’s album Wait You Can Rap ?!?! and I was beyond impressed with it. I’ve known dood since ‘05 and is a talented MC from Harlem and he finally put it all together on his debut effort. I’ve watched him grow over the last 3 years into this which is a CERTIFIED BEAST and go download this LP tuesday!

So peep Wait You Can Rap ?!?! dropping tomorrow @ waityoucanrap.com

Oh and for you broke bitches it’s FREE!!!

Startos did a in-depth interveiw with me yesterday, I talk about everything from what superpowers I would have to when you can expect A Major Minority.

Read here

Sorry for the delay.

It’s been awhile since I posted, and its def true what they say about New York it truly is the city that never sleeps. I barely got any sleep this weekend, I went out with my cousin who i haven’t seen in like 7 years and got back to his apartment at 5:30 in the morning. I felt a little old not being able to hang with these young bucks, but I guess thats what happens after I’ve been out of college mode for the last month.

A Major Minority Update

I’ve been writing and writing some more, and I have some great follow up singles but I;m continuing to look for that one bangorang. NAV hit me off with the first mix a few days ago of a track called, “Roadtrip” and it sounds amazing. Right now I’m getting a little frustrated in the process due to the fact that I’m so close to being done, but I constantly feel like something is missing. Creative intuition is bitch. I feel like a father, and A Major Minority is my baby, I can’t let it go into the world unprepared or else… yup you guessed it will fail. It’s not the content or the tracks I’m worried about, there is a lot more that goes into making an album besides the recording process. I’m managing and overseeing every single aspect of how A Major Minority gets out, while investing my own money. I’ve gotten emails asking why I don’t release it immediately when its done and the truth is I can’t, I’m a brother with a marketing plan and I plan on coming thru like Paul Peirce in game 1 (Remember Shake? ). As with the updates, I will have new audio up soon.

But until then…

2dopeboyz featured me in their bi-weekly “Whats In The TapeDeck?” section, with two older tracks “Ama Tell It Like This” and “Folks Don’t Cost A Thing”.  These tracks aren’t going on A Major Minority, but I couldn’t just let them sit on my already cluttered hard drive. Shouts to Shake for the look!

I’ve been in NYC for 3 days now and its official THIS PLACE IS THE SHIT! I might go broke in the next few weeks from all of the dope stores on 125th alone, but surprisingly enough I didn’t buy anything after walking thru almost ever store on that street. Harlem is the definition of black prosperity, I’ve never seen so many black owned businesses all in one large location like in Harlem. It is extremely empowering and you can literally feel the culture when you walk outside my building. New York is the balls, from the crazy hipsters in SoHo, to the go-go attitude down on 42nd its a great place for someone whose gets as bored as I usually do when I’m at home in The Burbs. Besides the fact that I don’t even have a fan and its hot as a slave ship up in my apartment, I’m having a dope time.

As for A Major Minority, I hit a little snag with recording due to the fact that I need a peice for my microphone which won’t be in until Friday, when I can get it from Guitar Center. However, the good news is the album tracklisting is solidified and I will be releasing tracks a lot quicker thanks to NAV whose came through in the clutch. All in all, life is good and new music should be coming soon… real soon.

Mike Waxx put “Human” on Fresh Dunks 2, the second installment of the illRoots.com mixtape series.

Shout out to them boys @ illRoots.com

Check it Here.

I fucking love t-shirts like this. Extremely clever, and anything that relates kicks to porn automatically gets my co-sign! Whenever I find shirts like this I feel like I just got to cop it, i’m a clothes fiend, a victim of having that t-shirt that would make you say “where you get that from?”.

Well fuck it I’m gonna tell you.

For your custom shirt needs check out: Karmaloop.com

I’ve been shoppin @ that spot for almost a year now and they have some real fresh gear, at times they are expensive but when its the first or fifteenth it gets to be tempting.

I just got back yesterday from Boston, staying at Ryan Durkin’s (aka Captain Durk) spot for a weekend of digging in the crates, chilling with Stella & Mary and making my rounds in Boston. Stella and Mary were just there for moral support and to help spark the creative process, thanks again girls ;). However, when I was hanging with my people I really realized how talented my circle is. I guess its true what they say “real recognize real”, but let me introduce to you two hard working cats who are heavily involved not just with my album but the scene.

Ryan Durkin aka Captain Durk

For those of you who don’t know Captain Durk, dood is an ultra talented DJ and Producer from New Hampshire, and all around good dood. You might remember seeing his name on the production credit for Can’t Call It, but dood has also been hard at work with cats such as 7L & Esoteric, Jelani, Project Move and Jawn P. Not to mention just dropped his Jay-Z Techo EP: Who Said Gangsters Don’t Dance?!?! (a party starter). Durks already got a few tracks on A Major Minority, but you will def hear more collaborations from the Captain and Black in the future.

Checkout: myspace.com/captaindurk

NAV

My boy NAV (from Keeps it Rawkin) is coming through for me mixing the majority of my album, as well as hooking me up with some dope keyboardists/bass players; I swear if he wasn’t an artist I would definitely ask this cat to be my manager. He is truly one of the hardest working guys i know, besides having amazing range on the vocals, he can hit notes that most singers can only dream about. He can sing the panties off of your girl, produce his own music and probably get your girl to make him breakfast.

Checkout: myspace.com/nav

A Major Minority…

So we are well on our way folks, two of my boys came through for me in the clutch and thats something which is so rare in the music business, but when you have homies who are as hungry as you are (assuming your hungrier then Starvin’ Marvin) then everything will work out. I felt really stuck until friday with how I was going to finish A Major Minority, but sometimes chilling with your artsy friends, (not to mention Stella & Mary) you will get that creative kick in the ass!

I’m all for artistic expression and something different, but you will never see me rockin the tight jean look ( I need my balls to breathe cause I dream of reproducing someday) . If you haven’t been paying any attention to the scene there has been a major backlash from the mainstream baggy jeans, Timb wearing MCs that we’ve all grown accustom to. This counter culture has been dubbed Hipster Rap, and is a growing immensely with, yup you guessed it Hipsters. I would say the whole Hipster movement began with Kanye & N.E.R.D (before it was even dubbed Hipster Rap) then came Lupe and BAM it was cool to be a nerd and/or a clothing condisuer. But a lot of Hip Hop conventionalist have written this sub-culture as a fad, and personally I have to agree. It can be compared to the Jiggy of the late 90’s or the Crunk at the beginning of the century which have all faded away (Remember that?).

The only real difference in my opinion is SOME of these cats can actually spit, while your going to have a million carbon copies of The Cool Kids popping up out of nowhere in the next few months not a lot of these cats can hold it down on the mic. Shouts to The Cool Kids though cause they were in fact the original archetype for this genre and are a post-Golden Era version of the Fat Boys and just make fun music. However them doods can spit (Peep Looseleaf), thats why I believe they are one of the few that will outlast their own fad (once again I’m not feeling the nut huggers). Same goes for Mickey Factz, dood actually has talent, but a lot of heads write this dood off due to the fact they feel he plays the ‘Lupe nerd tip’ a little too heavy. My answer to that is WHO THE FUCK CARES? Lets just judge talent instead of MCs fashion sense and approach, whats wrong with being different? Although lets be real there are going to be a thousand copycats for ever Mickey Factz or Mikey there is out there, but thats a given. Hip Hop needs to get out of the box, and in a way this is a step forward even if my nuts won’t allow me to wear them tight ass jeans.

I never understood why Boston’s Hip Hop scene was so weak. Granted there are still out there who are holding it down ( shouts to Termanology, Special Teamz, Project Move), I feel like there is just a real lack of raw talent. Just last year I hit up a promoter (lets call him Dick), who threw a lot of shows downtown and brought in high quality Hip Hop acts. Dick hit me back and said, “If you want to perform at ***** then you got to sell at least 30 tickets”, I said cool hit him back. What happens next? I don’t get a reply, but to only find out the opening acts that he does have are absolutely atrocious (SAT word). These guys are rapping about “egotistical, metaphysical, atronomical” pretty much rhyming the periodical table. Now I don’t care if these guys rap, as long as its in their basement and out of the public eye but come on man what are cats like Lupe, Pharoah Monch and Raekwon suppose to think about this cities talent pool? Probably not much. To me it seems like Dick doesn’t care much about product quality, but only if Generic Rap Group A can sell 30 tickets. There is absolutely no regard for talent anymore, and its all about the damn money. Sure everyone likes to get paid, but at what cost? The people who go to these shows and pay money shouldn’t be subjected to straight bullshit acts. On the positive side like I said there are cats out in the Bean who are holding it down and I’m glad that they are getting recognition, however funny enough Dick hasn’t pushed any of the acts I’ve mentioned. Let’s start putting the talent to the forefront you dick!