Destro Destructo "Filthy" Ft. JFK

I heard someone at JFK's last show tell me that they're from Portland and that there's no hip-hop scene in Portland. I was like "WTF?"

There is an underground hip-hop scene EVERYWHERE - the island of Guam had one when I was there, for Goodness' sake. Portland hasn't had its own Macklemore yet but Destro Destructo, one third of the group Boom Bap Project, is a Portland State alum and has put out some really solid rap music. Check out his album "Day Of The Dead" and this song "Filthy."

Destro puts his soul in to his music - it's all about his struggles, not shooting guns or wearing jewels or whatever. Really solid, empowering stuff.

 

 Here's a little more from Destro - really honest rapping, "If you can download it for free, why make the register break?"

 

Boom Bap Project - Dealing with all of this (feat. peegee 13)

This song came out years ago, back when Boom Bap Project was releasing their second album/third release.

Carl Roe: The Interview

Carl Roe is easily talented enough to become one of hip-hop's next big stars. Given that, he hasn't done alot of interviews yet. His star is just beginning to rise and the press hasn't caught up with him significantly. Blood Is One, the first blog to reach out to this phenom, is proud to present a short Q&A with this up and comer. Here it is:

With your military past being a big part of your identity as a rapper, do you plan to keep this part of your "schtick" for the long haul?

 

The military will always be a part of my life. Any soldier will tell you that once you cross over from being a civilian, you never truly return to your former self. I have no motivation to make the military my muse or gimmick. The Army is something I did that was bigger than myself. I can't represent the Army doing what I'm doing... but i definately can represent soldiers. It's a hard life, but a soldier makes it work under the harshest conditions. I'd say my "schtick" is standing by the people that share my values of respect, honor and loyalty. Those three things can get you anywhere.

 

You've been working with Kenan Bell quite a bit, for Blood Is One projects as well as with him on a solo basis. Kenan's material and yours are quite different, to be honest. What is it about him that you find to be so synergetic?

 

First off, I would like to really recognize Kenan Bell as a "free artist." By that, I mean he is free from cliches. I really feel he caters to a large audience that has been suffering from the "same 'ol, same'ol" for years. The fact that Kenan's material is so different from mine is what really draws people to either side. At this time I am not too certain where I fall in terms of categorizing my material. I say what I think and feel at the time in hopes that listeners tie in my experiences with theirs. Kenan does the same thing. I think we are both very sincere in how we convey messages. I really enjoy his clean approach, oddly enough. I really get grimey about the lyrics sometimes, but it all ties into my story. Kenan tells HIS story and nobody else's. This fact alone has built an enormous amount of trust in ME as a listener. I'm not hearing a bunch of "empty" fuck-you messages and curse words..... I'm hearing HIM. That is a feat that he is conquering right now.

 

You've received a great reception from alot of hip-hop websites, including mine, Refined Hype and others. What do you think of this? Are you surprised or were you expecting it?

 

I didn't know what to expect. I just picked up my passion again after honorably discharging from service and now here I am. I am at the stage in my life where a soldier is attempting to reassimilate into civilian culture, and it's very difficult. Every day is a challenge, and my music reflects certain aspects of this phase. My upcoming EP, The Broken Time Machine, really touches on this subject. About the website recognition, I haven't begun to tap the many excellent resources out there, but they are in my sights. This EP needs to be everywhere and people need to hear the story of "Joe." Bloggers, writers.... I welcome them all and hopefully they connect with the music the way some have already. It's been a long time coming and I have had several road-blocks but I pushed through them. Refined Hype's blog post about the track We Own The Night was actually the first time I realized people might like this stuff......... a lot. So I plan on it being a ride.... get off one ride and hop on the other. One of my best buddies, and marketing partners, told me a year ago, "You're already famous. People just don't know it yet." We will see.

An Open Letter To Mog Music Network And Its Affiliates

A couple months ago, checks were swimming in due to my approval by Mog Music Network. We were doing great.

Suddenly, the fine folks at Mog tell us that we are no longer welcome with their enterprise. The reasoning?

Your has been audited and does not meet the content guidelines we've set forth as part of our affiliate agreement and in previous emails sent in the last week.

This is not a judgment on the quality of your site, but in order to continue serving ads to all of our publishers we need to make sure these requirements are met.

If in the future you feel your site fulfills the requirements of the network, you are able to re-apply at any time athttp://www.mog.com/mmn. Until that time, we have to remove your site from the network.

We have 762 followers on Twitter (at last check) and the affiliation of many talented rappers from all over the world - Game Brothas, Kenan Bell, Carl Roe, Shimon, CaLii, Simply Simone and others. I am confident that our readers will help support us and that we also will receive new advertisers.

What is really annoying here is that Mog would drop us like this for such a superfluous reason and with little explanation behind it. If you look through our history, you will find that the majority of our content is full fledged, often very lengthy articles like this one. We don't just post music willy-nilly. The music we did post was in order to promote all of the content we were being sent on Twitter. Often enough of a description was needed just to put in the header and not necessary to put at the very top of the page.

Now, your boy is doing quite a bit of adapting. I am currently in the small island of Guam. While my uncle has lived here ten years and my aunt got married and had her daughter here, there is still alot of cultural and environmental adaptation that one has to take under in a place like this. To get gipped by Mog in a situation like that was certainly very insulting and certainly not done at the right moment. There was no warning or anything and when my ads were dropped, I had to call and send out e-mails to find out why. That's not professional at all.

I don't really seek restitution here but I do hope to warn everyone who is affiliating themselves with Mog. These guys obviously don't think much of their clients. When you sign up with them, keep that in mind.

Blood Is One Needs Your Financial Help

Blood Is One has just been dropped by one of its major advertisers - Mog Music Network. The justification by the people at Mog was that Blood Is One had posted far too many videos that didn't adhere to their standards - too many postings of music with one line or just titles explaining what they were.

I can see why they would be concerned about this but I am nevertheless a bit offended by the whole thing. Blood Is One never stopped providing full fledged articles. We only posted new music to keep people posted in between our producing new work. Blood Is One cannot operate without anyone's support. This isn't a free ride - the writing, the coverage, the interviews, this is hard work.

Since we've started, Blood Is One has worked tirelessly to promote artists that will be the future of hip-hop. I like to think that we've had a healthy role in helping the careers of Carl Roe, Kenan Bell, CaLii, Shimon and Game Brothas.

I will be staking out new advertisers as needed, however, we're going to need your help in the meantime. I am starting up a pledge drive for support for our website. Donate whatever you see fit - $1 or $100. Thank you.

Fundraising widgets will be up shortly, allowing you to donate as much as you want and help insure that this unique voice in hip-hop maintains.

New Carl Roe Track: Nobody's Nobody

Carl Roe's DJ Booth presence is building up with his new song "Nobody's Nobody" up on their site. Here's his bio, just in case you need a reminder of who he is:

You won’t need to hear a phone number (area code first) a thousand times to remember who Carl Roe is. Hailing from the Midwest, Roe makes his first appearance on DJBooth with the trigger quick,Nobody’s Nobody. Stepping onto the scene with a unqiue perspective as a former U.S. soldier who toured Iraq, Roe’s style immediately hits the eardrums on this promotional release. Flowing like a torpedo, Roe drops unexpected clauses throughout the track, making you raise an eyebrow as he draws attention to his word play. Spitting savage lines over a pop-centered kickdrum provided by highly-demanded producer Shane Eli, Nobody catches Carl in a raw state on every line. Although this song won’t be on his upcoming release, The Broken Time Machine EP, it certainly garnishes enough attention to look forward to more from this stand-up emcee. No date yet for the tape, but stay with the Booth and we’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Just follow the link to listen and download.

Revealing Carl Roe's New Website!

Up and coming rapper Carl Roe has just released his new website. The design plays strongly on his military background, which involved a tour of duty in Iraq, complete with a camo background and aesthetic. Carl put "The Confidant" up as his title track on the website, illustrating a healthy tendency towards pop music sensibilities:

You can follow Carl Roe on Twitter here. Carl is grinding pretty hard and could use your feedback as much as possible.

His EP, The Broken Time Machine, should be available soon. To hold you over until then, go ahead and listen to the Blood Is One We're On Everything mixtape.

June G. - Finish Line Remix (Official Music Video)

Fire, bars and heat from June G., one of Blood Is One's favorite upcoming rappers.

Carl Roe - "We Own The Night" Featured On RefinedHype!

One of my favorite rappers and a potential explosive market for hip-hop listening military servicemen, and a friend, Carl Roe, is not only moving up fast but is moving up with the help of the larger hip-hop community. Here's an article that has popped up on him at Refined Hype:

Both through RefinedHype and the mothership I get approached by a lot of people looking to run music contests and I almost always say no. Why? Because you're forced to dig through so many Tiffany Green face worthy submissions to find that one hidden piece of dopeness it's barely worth it. But I've never seen a piece of unexpected dopeness like this.

Quick rewind: Shane Eli put out an instrumental version of his "I Can Do Better" album and invited emcees to rhyme over the beat of their choice. There was actually a fair amount of solid submissions, but Carl Roe's "We Own the Night" was hands down my favorite.

Seriously, how fucking ill is that? This isn't to take anything away from his rhymes, the man can legitimately rap, but this is about more than music. Or rather, it's about music's ability to convey emotions and moments that simply can't be carried by any other medium. The war in Iraq is, for most of us, a distant battle we watch unfold on CNN, but I can honestly say that this really made the war hit home for more.

So don't worry, I'll get back to booty and no fu**king sense rap lines in a sec, but if I can be allowed a moment of actual sincerity, huge respect to Carl Roe, both as a solider, a man and an artist.

June G. - Life's A Bitch Video

June G. has recorded videos for most of his work. Here's another, an ode to the great Nas and AZ duet.

Raekwon BioPic?

You read that right, and it will star Cee Lo:

Given Cee Lo’s recent multi-platform stardom, not to mention his generally outsized personality, it’s not a surprise that he should be embarking upon an acting career beyond voice work and cameoing in Mystery Men. But for some reason, it still feels weird to hear that he’s playing the father of legendary Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon in the upcoming biopic C.R.E.A.M. Maybe it’s the geographical discrepancy—Cee Lo is proudly southern, while Raekwon is definitively New York. Or maybe it’s the age discrepancy, considering that Raekwon is actually about four years older than Cee Lo. Or maybe it’s just that it’s bizarre that they’re making a movie about ‘Kwon at all, considering he’d have been maybe our fifth or sixth guess about which Wu member would be the most likely to be the first to get his own vanity picture. (How has there never been an ODB flick, anyway?)

Still, uh, we’re kind of excited to see this movie, which Rae insists is gonna be the real deal, and not some straight-to-DVD throwaway project. “We’re definitely going for the theaters,” he told XXL. “The people that are gonna be involved with it definitely feel like it’s a great picture, and there’s a definite possibility it’s a Lions Gate film.” Should have a kick-ass soundtrack, anyway.

Machine Gun Kelly Gets Signed

Great video. Give him your support.

Carl Roe Biography

Thank you for reading Blood Is One! The compilation forthcoming by the Blood Is One website, We're On Everything, will be released for free very soon and physical copies will be printed and made for sale. Inside each copy will be biographies of Carl Roe and artist Kenan Bell, both of whom have been gracious enough to affiliate themselves with us. Here is the biography of Carl Roe:

If you’re expecting the typical sob story about a musician down on his luck, you just hit the Lotto because you won’t find that here. Born in 1983 in Elgin, Illinois, Carl ‘Roe spent his childhood in the same manner any lower middle-class kid did. Dodging bullies, cussing out the big kids, and skipping class were all staples in his awkward years of growing up. Like many of us, HipHop gave ‘Roe a sense of meaning and expression. When nothing else made sense, it didn’t matter once that beat started.

Yes, ‘Roe did experience his fair share of hard times… but who hasn’t? Credibility doesn’t exist only in a person’s struggles, and a person who doesn’t have a taste for success only takes what is given him. In 2001, his family packed up and moved to Minnesota for a better life. What the hell was ‘Roe going to do now? Music always finds a way, and he linked up with local producer Clowd 9 and performed at local venues while attending college in Mankato. In 2005 music became a dark alley for ‘Roe to the point where it lost its meaning to him. Expression was swallowed by loathsome lyrics and this disconnect prompted the need for him to start over.

In 2005, ‘Roe enlisted in the U.S. Army infantry and embarked on a journey that changed his life forever. Surviving Iraq from 2007-2008, he returned with a new goal to conquer. Exiting the service in 2009, ‘Roe has been preparing for his return to the music scene… This time with more focus and fervor than ever before.

It is 2010, and it’s time to add another spark to Hip Hop’s shine.

Screw the Lotto. If I were you, I’d put my money on Carl ‘Roe…

Get ready for the upcoming full-length album The Broken Time Machine due for release this summer 2011!

50 Cent - I'm On It

I concede with the guys at Ill Roots. 50 seems like he's actually putting some effort into making his sound different.

50 Cent - I'm On It

HEAT NIGHT CLUB PRESENTS LLOYD OFFICIAL KING OF HEARTS & LIL WAYNE I AM STILL MUSIC TOUR AFTERPARTY

If you're in Ohio, here's a good event to attend:

HEAT NIGHT CLUB PRESENTS LLOYD OFFICIAL KING OF HEARTS & LIL WAYNE I AM STILL MUSIC TOUR AFTERPARTY

August 12, 2011

HEAT NIGHTCLUB

6115 Brandt Pike

Huber Heights, OH

Purchase Advance Pre-Sale & VIP Tickets Now!

Contact & RSVP Ticket Information:

Phone: 937-233-HEAT(4328)

Email: heat.nightclub@yahoo.com

No 414: Kenan Bell

A new profile in the Guardian is out on rapper Kenan Bell, a favorite and affiliate of Blood Is One:

Hometown: La Crescenta, Los Angeles.

The lineup: Kenan Bell (raps), Jason Burkhart (beats), Jon Siebels (production).

The background: What do Sting, Tom Bailey of garish 80s pop-dance trio the Thompson Twins, and new LA rapper Kenan Bell have in common? Not a lot, as it turns out. But they are all former schoolteachers. In fact, the 25-year-old Bell, who recently toured Europe with Dizzee Rascal, still is one, spending his days at a private school in Montrose where he teaches something called Language Arts to 4th, 5th and 6th grade kids. Next question: what do MGMT, Morrissey and Kraftwerk have in common? They are all Bell's friends on his MySpace. There's a good reason for this. He has remixed MGMT's Weekend Wars and created a track, titled Save Your Life, based on samples from the Smiths' eerily beautiful account of an abortion, This Night Has Opened My Eyes. We're not sure about the Kraftwerk connection, but we're looking forward to Bell's version of Morgenspaziergang.

If you're already thinking Bell is not like most rappers, there's something else that sets him apart from his peers. He hates hip-hop, and he loathes the idea that he might be seen as a rapper. "I used to pray, like, 'Please, lord, don't let me end up as a rapper,'" he has said. This perhaps explains his insistence on keeping his day job and treating recording and performing as extracurricular, after-hours activities. His distaste for most hip-hop of the last 20 years – since the so-called Golden Age of Hip-Hop, ie that period between the chart hegemony of Run DMC, Beastie Boys et al and the release of De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising and Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet – and desire to distance himself from the hip-hop hordes also probably explain his use of rock samples, and the references to Jim Morrison in his lyrics.

Growing up in the suburbs of LA, his friends included goths, skate-punks, indie kids and ravers. On his MySpace the labels he attaches to his music are "shoegaze" and "emotronic". He counts his students and their parents as his biggest fans. "I've sold more albums to my students than anyone else," he says. Not that he's some sort of Sesame Street hip-hopper rapping his way through the alphabet while balancing a multi-coloured puppet on his knee. On the title track of his debut EP, Good Day, he raps about sex, decadence, miscegenation, sexual and racial equality and the impending 2008 presidential elections over grinding, distorted guitars, and even though there's a message/moral halfway through - "nothing in this world comes without a consequence" – the track actually sounds more powerful than preachy. On Save Your Life he doesn't flinch from the realities of AIDS and abortion, while on Celebrity he pillories label addicts, druggies and delinquent pop tarts who think babies are fashion accessories. It's downbeat and occasionally discordant, but it's good stuff.

The buzz: "Kenan Bell's nerd-chic appearance, easy-like-Saturday-morning delivery, and smoothly blended samples make for the kind of hip hop gone missing since the early '90s."

The truth: There's something oddly appealing about this rapper who hates rappers and has a track called Enjoy on which he sounds thoroughly depressed.

Most likely to: Turn up late for lessons after a long night spearing the vain and vacuous.

Least likely to: Use an overhead projector.

What to buy: The Good Day EP is released on November 17 by Cutlass, followed by the debut album, provisionally titled Sounds Awesome, in early 2009.

File next to: KRS-One, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, De La Soul.

Links: www.myspace.com/theblackkenanbell

Tomorrow's new band: The Tough Alliance.

The A.V. Club Launches Music Festival

I'm sure the sarcasm and irony will be out in force with this one: 

The A.V. Club generally has the right attitude about things, but their proclamation of “screw it, we’re doing a music festival” might be one of their most refreshingly poignant statements yet. And oh, by the way, they aren’t joking around; they really are throwing this thing.

The first edition of the aptly-named A.V. Fest will take place the weekend of September 10-11 in Chicago and will be a fairly small introductory salvo featuring just a dozen bands. So far, five of those acts have been confirmed: Archers of Loaf, The Thermals, Tokyo Police Club, Telekinesis, and Eff Barzelay of Clem Snide Plays the Music of Journey, which is sort of a self explanatory inclusion.

CaLii ft. Jus Mula - GORILLAZ (Produced By Billy Jones)

9th Wonder Announces Release Date For ‘The Wonder Years’ Album

From Hip-Hop-N-More:

9th Wonder’s debut solo album The Wonder Years has been in the works for almost 4 years now but was repeatedly shelved or pushed back duetoi numerous reasons. The producer today announced on AHH that it’s finally coming on September 27th this year. Guests expected to make appearance are Marsha Ambrosius, Kendrick Lamar, Warren G., Big K.R.I.T., David Banner, Erykah Badu, Murs, Mac Miller, Big Remo, Rhapsody and Phonte.

“If there was ever a better time to express how I feel about Hip-Hop music, black music, or just music in general, it would be to do it now, on this project. My career has been from the depths of the underground, to the pop charts, but it has always stayed my sound, and what I believed in to be pure. Welcome to the Wonder Years.”

Music Bloggers Hack Record Industry by Launching Indie Labels

A great article is up in Wired Magazine about how "tastemaker" music blogs, just like Blood Is One, are creating indie labels of their own and bringing new music to the forefront:

For Tom Krell, his latest record is extremely meaningful. Krell, who records as How to Dress Well, created the EP as a tribute to a friend who died last year. It’s an orchestral reimagining of music Krell previously released, inspired by the kindred spirit he lost.

As a collection of music, How to Dress Well’s Just Once is a tragically magnificent remembrance. It’s intimate. And that intimacy makes the way the record is being released meaningful as well.

“It’s a memorial record, something very close to my heart,” Krell said to Wired.com. “I needed a label that would allow me to do it exactly my way — have it be something grand, yet intimate and not something overly commercial.”

Krell’s heartfelt EP is being released by small label Love Letters Ink, which is run by San Francisco music video blog Yours Truly. Just Once is a very small release — only 1,000 10-inch vinyl copies of the record are going up for sale — and each $14 EP will ship with a copy of a handwritten letter from Krell.

In addition to the vinyl and letter, fans get a password to view behind-the-scenes footage of the EP’s recording done in the easy-going style for which Yours Truly is known. ($1 of each sale goes to mental health organization MindFreedom, and digital versions of the record were made available through Bandcamp for $4 Tuesday.)

“Some labels put their heart into it, but at the end of the day, their goal is to sell records,” Krell said. “But with Love Letters Ink, they seemed to have a different approach. We want to sell the record, of course. But it felt like they weren’t concerned in the first place about releasing a marketable product as much as releasing a piece of art — something that they were proud of.”

It’s not a common way to release a record, but putting out an album through a popular indie music blog is a pretty smart way to hack the traditional record industry business model. Yours Truly is just the latest indie music blog to launch a label, serving up lovingly crafted offerings and using the kind of promotional savvy that traditional record companies can’t seem to muster.