I’ve been meaning to post about my last trip on the road with Tanya Morgan for a minute. Here’s recaps and links to some audio, video and reviews of the shows. Also, make sure you go cop Brooklynati if you haven’t already, it’s been popping up on “Best of ’09” lists left and right and it was easily one of my favorite albums that dropped this year.
10/1 – After catching up with fam in ATL for a few days, I linked up with Tanya Morgan, Dom from IM Records & Alex from Move Forward Music downtown to get into A3C mode. We roamed around, Von Pea told everyone the story of how he ended up producing a Slim Thug song for the Daily Show and we bumped into a ton of other A3C artists around the hotel (Beatminerz stayed across the hall, so random). We caught up with Che Grand later and headed over to the sound check for the Perfect Attendance event we were playing at. The lineup for the show was stacked with some of the best new acts out and I was happy to enjoy it on some fan iddish. There were a ton of great acts on the bill, with me, Che & Tanya Morgan going on towards the end. I DJed for Che and our set was short, sweet and well received. Then we got into the TM set and in the words of Dom (Tanya Morgan’s A&R), “It was the best Tanya Morgan show I’ve ever seen”. Out of the 50 or so shows I’ve DJed for Tanya Morgan, that had to be one of the freshest crowds. They knew all the words, went extra nuts for “Hardcore Gentlemen” & were all around hyped. But don’t take my word for it, check out the review over at the Smoking Section.
10/2 – Woke up at sunrise and flew back to Colorado to DJ a wedding. It wasn’t just any wedding though. My friend Christian got married to a musician by the name of Derrick Hodge. I consider myself somewhat music savvy but I was amazed when I saw dude’s discography, which includes everyone from Common to Kanye to Timbaland to Sade. Check out his myspace page and get up on a ridiculously talented musician, now on tour with Maxwell.
10/3 – Pulled an all-nighter to fly back from Denver to ATL for more A3C Perfect Attendance fun. I caught up with my pops for some Zaxby’s and then linked up with TiRon, who I DJed for that night (you better have downloaded our mixtape, Ketchup, earlier this year!!!) and Jermiside (You better have Die Jerm Die too!!!). The show went well, it was my first time DJing for TiRon, which was dope. I also got to see another great lineup of acts including J Cole (pictured above at sound check), the homies U-N-I, Diz Gibran, Mike Baker, El Prez, show-stealer Grip Plyaz and more. A3C is a incredible event, I highly recommend you check it out if you’re a fan of up and coming hip hop.
10/4 & 10/5 – Woke up again at sunrise and it was off to NYC to link back up with TM and rehearse a show with Daru Jones and the Cipher, an AMAZING group of musicians who we we lucky enough to get to rock with. Going to rehearsals with such a talented group of musicians was easily one of the highlights of ’09 for me. The spontaneity and variety of ways a good band can play songs is a beautiful thing. They’d just randomly break into different flips or elements of classic records out of nowhere, it was crazy. Check out this (warning:low quality, from an iphone recorder) mp3 of the band and Donwill unexpectedly rockin Slum Village “Hold Tight” during a take of “So Damn Down”. Kinda fresh, right?
.:Tanya Morgan, Daru Jones, the Cipher & DJ Low Key – “Hold Tight” / “So Damn Down” Rehearsal MP3 – 10/4/09:.
10/6 – We rocked a show at the legendary S.O.B.s (of De La Soul – Stakes Is High, interlude before “Itzsoweezee” fame) with Daru Jones and the Cipher. I also ended up the last minute house DJ (bonus) and got to see legendary Native Tongue Dres (from Black Sheep) rock with a band. After Dres tore ish down, I introduced the band; Ray Angry on keys, Daru Jones on drums, Louis Cato on bass, Inmar Thomas on trumpet and Nir Fielder on guitar, myself and Tanya Morgan. Then I got to be a part of a classic night on Brooklynati history. Check out videos below for some footage, and make sure you read about Filthy’s 24 hour trip to NYC.
10/7 – After NYC, it was off to Baltimore, the second of three shows with Dres. This trip to Baltimore was completely different than last time and probably the only not so great part of the trip. Von rocked his verse from the Keelay & Zaire version of “So Damn Down” over the OG beat and that was a cool surprise. Otherwise the show wasn’t too special so I’m gonna just keep it moving since this post is already long…LOL.
10/8 – I fell asleep on air at Serius XM on Subsoniq…LMAO. The itis hit me HARD (courtesy of mambo sauce & a comfy leather couch) towards the end of a long TM/Dres interview and I was dozing off and catching myself like you’d do in a high school class. The show was actually super interesting with Dres dropping classic hip hop stories & breaking Native Tongues news, but the power of mambo sauce is something else, not to mention, I passed out during a TM segment. The homie KB called me out and it was pretty hilarious (“I’m ready for some more Dres stories”…LOL). Check it out here and make sure to tune into Subsoniq, it’s one of the best radio shows out.
.:Tanya Morgan & Dres on Subsoniq – Part 1 & Part 2 (w/me dozing off at the end):.
After Subsoniq, I shook off the itis and it was off to soundcheck with the homie BJ at Liv. The show there went well, lots of familiar faces in the crowd and a good vibe. Also, Dres finally rocked “B-Boy’s Theme”, my favorite song from his 8WM/Novakane album and we saw Tatyana Ali in a diner after the show. Not too bad, right?
10/10 - After a day to recoup in NYC, we hit up the Lessondary Radio Show at PNC. I rocked a rushed set on what had to be the worst mixer I’ve ever used (not hating, just saying…LOL) and we headed out of the city for show at SUNY – Purchase. It was probably the least hip hop type crowd I’ve ever rocked with TM in front of, but they were open off our set, I swear Ilyas could have stage dived if he played his cards right. After the show, I pulled one last all-nighter and it was back to CO to spin at Hapa Life that night.
Props and thanks to: TM, Alex, Che, TiRon, Jermiside, Dres, DJ Strike, Dom, KB & Subsoniq, Fadia & Soul, Diz Gibran, U-N-I, Ayomari, El Prez, Daru, the Cipher, Meka, Truth Live, DJ Trackstar, Paul Printz, Hallway, Oddisee, BJ & Monica, DJ Harvey Dent, Audible Treats, Outasight, Donny Goines, Fresh Daily and everybody else I got to see and meet.
