What an electrifying Monday yesterday turned out to be as I attended The 2014 Mixx Music Festival hosted and sponsored by The Keenan System and Downtown Locker Room.
Directly across the street from Morgan State University, artists from all over the DMV area came together in live performances to wake up MSU students from their summer slumbers in preparation for tackling another school year filled with all nighters, term papers, and dreaded finals. Who’s ever ready to leave their summer freedom for that?!
There were live performances from both familiar faces and some new. But I have to say the most sensational had to be from Malik Ferraud. The party began when he brought an entourage of other local artists with him onstage to put on the best performance of the night.
Don Trunk stole the show for a little sec., too.
Lor Scoota also put on an exceptional show performing his infamous hit “Bird Flu.”
Other performers who rocked the stage last night were as follows…
Maya Milan
Dee Dave
Visto
and Pop.
For it the be the first day of school, it definitely didn’t feel like it. The energy of both the performers and the crowd was phenomenal, and at the same time quite peaceful. That’s why it’s no telling exactly why festivities were cut short by the police. This crowd, full of mature young adults, quietly and respectfully cleared the field at the request of the officials. I guess, it was too live for a Monday. But it’s looking up with great possibilities for next years Mixx Fest.
Baltimore is on the rise! People are opening up their support for local talent, don’t you think? Would you attend next years The Mixx Fest 2015? Leave your comments below.
Jose (Liquor Talkn) is my first recorded song, which addresses what many may call a “situationship.” It’s a personal excerpt from my life that I changed into a personification about my favorite alcoholic beverage, Jose Cuervo. The song was produced by a good friend of mine who goes by the name of Doowy Lloh.
The idea for writing Jose came from being surrounded by a bunch of people who are constantly submitting to me their music. I have an interest in independent works. It’s great content being sent to me on a regular basis and I’m not going to front, I believe I can compete alongside quite a few people who send me music. I’m humble, though. Ha-ha.
I’m a frequent visitor of local recording studio DugOut Dojo Studios in Baltimore. The art that comes out of there is absolutely amazing! If you’re a recording artist, I recommend you stop by to record and check out other artists’ work while you’re there.
Back to talking about my song…During the week of writing this song, I basically drank Jose every night before bed. It’s my go to drink if anyone who wants to know what I prefer. I don’t know why I was drinking so much. It might be because I’m young and young folks do stuff like that sometimes. Haha.
I woke up one day and thought to myself, Hey, I haven’t written a poem in a while. I usually write poems when something heavy is on my mind and I want to express my thoughts creatively. Jose (Liquor Talkn) appeared to be the product this go around because I thought if I made a song about what was going on in my life to conclude all the feelings that I had for a guy I absolutely knew didn’t feel the same for me, it would wipe away every unwanted emotion I had about him. Did it work? It damn sure feels like it.
A new form of creativity entered my realm and now I can say I feel like making music is the cure to what’s been buried inside of me for years. It’s only for fun that I’m choosing to make music. I don’t want to take the fun out of doing it. It’ll drown away every innocent speckles left in it if I made it into a job. But music always brought me joy. For some reason, I knew there had to be a reason why I’m so fond of being involved with it. I’m not saying that composing a song is my calling. But for some reason, I’m drawn to anything that deals with music. I’ve always loved it.
What’s it like to have a career writing music? What’s it like to be a music publisher? What’s fulfilling to me when I learn how to make beats? The possibilities are endless for me because it’s what I’m looking into doing while I’m bored out of my mind because I’m not enrolled in school. Ha-ha. I just want to learn more about anything within the musical culture.
When I made the song, I was lost out of my mind, trying to figure out what would sound right. I still believe my song needs some work done to it. But it’s my first song, whoever likes their first song? There isn’t too many people. So I consider it decent.
Brianna Ragler from RebelliousRebel backed me on the vocals. FluX, producer at the DugOut Dojo, “whipped my sound into shape.” The track became something of good potential. Others have told me they like it. (Hear José on Doc’s Castle Media.) It’s cool. You know, the artist is always their worst critic.
Music is love. A person can join it’s marvelous culture if they’d dedicated their time to it. If you enjoy the arts, you’ll know that music more than what people hear. It’s a lifestyle for many and I encourage more people to learn more about it before they judge it.
I know many may say they don’t listen to the radio anymore. But when you do want to listen to something new, what do you prefer? Do you listen to the local DJs on your cities radio station or do you listen to Spotify and Pandora? In the case of Baltimore, do you listen to 92Q or WMSK Online Radio?
I still listen to the radio. But it’s not my primary choice for new music. Whenever I feel the urge to listen to something new, I find myself running to soundcloud or YouTube rather the radio because the radio plays the same songs too often. When will the music gods ever change that? Honestly, does this city care enough to want to change how we hear new music?
We moan and groan about why our local radio stations refuse to play local artists music for our community to hear and support, but won’t make a difference about it. What’s going on here? Nothing is adding up. Someone’s making an effort, for sure. We’re just so blind to what’s happening in our community that we’ve overlook it. I’ve come across a petition,which entire purpose is to stop WERQ from playing only industry crap during the hours of 6am to 12am, and mix up the music selection with more local/independent artists during those time slots.
The Petition was created by Catherine Moran, and this woman makes a very good point for why we, as music lovers, should sign in agreement for changing when WERQ should play independent music.
Allot 1/3 of their playlist to local Baltimore artist between the hours of 8 a.m. & 6pm daily. Songs should be chosen by the people NOT the PDs, Asst PD, or DJs. There needs to be a voting poll via 3rd party site example “Polldaddy.com” where the results can be viewed by the public with real-time updates, to insure radio staff are not fooling people.
For too long our radio station has put on this front calling themselves the “People’s Station” when in fact they are not helping our “People (local talent)” at all. Every time you turn around they are creating more and more ridiculous policies to discourage artist from trying to get on radio, and justify shutting them out. This needs to end today.
I already signed the petition. I want local artist to have more opportunities to shine. I want the city to be behind this because many of Baltimore residents claim there is never a time where we have a voice. If we could rally up more people to sign this petition, we face a chance in being recognized as another city full of very talented people with the potential to go as far as anyone who may come from New York, Atlanta, or Los Angeles. We can make this happen!
Do you think this petition can be the starting point for big change in the music industry? Leave you comments below.
Alright, everyone is a rapper. I know, I know. I guess you’ll throw me into the mix after you finish hearing my track that was released Friday evening May 30, 2014 (My Birthday).
When it comes to expressing myself, I sometimes need to find new ways of releasing how I feel about something. I have to let things be known creatively. I’ve always experimented with different techniques. While growing up, it can be said that I could be caught journaling, drawing, dancing, writing poetry, writing songs, creating clubs, or joining clubs. I’ve always had to stay active. As you know now, I’ve made a bucket list of tasks to complete.
These past two weeks, I’ve been dabbling in writing a song because it was a task on my bucket list. I’ve always wanted to write my own song, as if I was making a soundtrack for my life. I watch music videos on television sometimes and think that I have the skills to create something like it. So I made a song so that I could make a music video, too. Yay!
Jose (Liquor Talkin) is a page out of the diary of Taylor Walker, a song about an event in my life that I wanted to creatively express my thoughts about. There was no biting my tongue when it came to writing it. It was exactly how I felt about something I believed to be inhuman. It was my first time recording a song and I discovered talents about myself I didn’t know I had.
I have bars! That was surprising.
I may be writing more songs. I have a lot of things that I want to get off my chest that blogging won’t be able to fulfill. So, I guess, I’m making music until I find something new to experiment with. It’s fun.
One thing off of my bucket list is complete. Time to move on to the next!
The Baltimore city’s music scene is getting bigger and bigger by the day. I’m not saying this because everyone seems to want to be a rapper these days, but because if you really indulge in the hip-hop scene, you’ll learn that there are some really gifted individuals taking apart in something worth sharing about. Two of those very gifted individuals are this week’s Music Highlight.
The Mighty Third Eye are two sibling rappers, who are freshly new to the Baltimore hip-hop scene. They caught my attention sometime last month when I attended an open mic night and was granted a T-Shirt from one of the members, Divine King, during their performance. He definitely gave his shirt to the right person because it wasn’t too far after I approached The Mighty Third Eye about being today’s feature.
I met with the two at Terra Cafe, which was also my first time dining in the local restaurant. (I’ll talk about my dining experience another day because the food was good y’all.) But once I met up with them, we kicked it and I learned a lot about these Milwaukee natives. We chatted about their start as a duo rap group, the type of music they consider themselves to make, Love Truth’s view on women in the industry, and much, much more.
I started my interview by asking the two how they began. It came to be that the both of them already were writers growing up. But Divine King, while inspired by NWA, began rapping in high school with his friends. He often made beats as a hobby, as well. It wasn’t until 3 years ago; he would faithfully send beats he made to his sister Love Truth for review. At the time, Love Truth was into writing poetry rather than the art of rap. But she expressed that from life’s obstacles and tribulations, she was inspired to begin writing over beats her brother orchestrated. After a while, it became a thing they loved to do, or as they say “it kind of happened organically,” it wasn’t planned at all.
If you were to hear a Mighty Third Eye track, you’d be reminded of “soul-hop,” hip-hop music with a hint of conscious meaning that reaches the inner soul. Artists whom I would consider in this category of music would be Lauren Hill, Mos Def, or the Roots. They have a sound of which I believe has run scarce in the industry, today. As I’ve mentioned to them that their music reminds me of music from the 90s, they’ve expressed that many others have placed them in the same genre. Divine King wouldn’t want to say they focus on a specific era of music though many compare their music to artist from the 90s. Their aim is to deliver a certain message and to add value to the culture. Both aren’t too fond of the “turn up” music that’s so often promoted in the music industry, so they see the 90s comments from others as compliments because it’s an era of music they enjoy, and an era of music they take pride in listening to.
Female MCs are hard to come by in the Baltimore Hip-Hop Scene? Males dominate the culture but women still find ways to form a presence. As I went on expressing how I rarely see female rappers at open mics in Baltimore, the conversation led into a discussion about females and how they carry themselves in the industry. I asked Love Truth if there was reason for why she chooses to represent herself the way she does; in a conservative-simple manner. She went on to say “I don’t feel compelled to sell sex through my music. I feel like I’m going to shine no matter what. I don’t feel I have to use my body to get somebody’s attention because my intelligence and other things are going to be able to carry that.” She’s aware that she’s entering into a male dominated industry and believes there are choices people make to represent themselves the way they do. Every choice has a consequence. She chooses the path that won’t exploit herself in ways that will make her feel uncomfortable living with those consequences. I believe that’s always the way to go!
I asked the Mighty Third Eye’s about the idea behind their logo. Love Truth explained it represents their name. I didn’t realize how obvious it was until they elaborated on the design. The logo is composed of three gold letter “I’s” and a black crescent moon. The colors represent the gods and the earth. The logo is both simple and thought-provoking, which I believe is the best way to go about having a logo because a person who’s viewing the design doesn’t have to dig any deeper into figuring it out; as if it’s a puzzle. Divine King and Love Truth just thought it was cool to have a something to represent them because Wu-Tang Clan did it. Why not?
The Mighty Third Eye set the pedestal as one of the most unique groups I’ve found to be active in the local hip-hop scene. How often is it that you see a rap duo who are twins? They deserve a lot of the support that’s given, if not more. I encourage anyone who’s looking for some new soul-hop to speak into their inner conscious, or rather anything worth listening to as they go about their day, to consider downloading The Mighty Third Eye’s album Let Em See. Add it to your hip-hop collection. Also, if you’d like to see them perform live, attend one of their shows held every Tuesday at St. Mary’s Restaurant’s for Love and Hip-hop Open Mic Night.
I felt like I traveled back in time for a few hours to the 1980s yesterday, except there was a slight millennial twist in my Back To The Future moment. I attended for the first time Beet Trip, a beat and rap cypher event held at The Living Well, just few block north of Baltimore’s Station North Arts and Entertainment District. Last night’s event was Beet Trips 15th episode.
I wish I could have had the opportunity to grow up in the 80s to hear MCs battle it out in cyphers to human beat boxers. But the closest I could get to that was last night when I experience young Baltimore MCs form a circle while taking turns passing the mic to exchange freestyles to new age beats created by 3 star Bmore producers. I regret to have not grab such talented producers names or information. But I’m sure to be spotted at this event again. I definitely won’t make the same mistake. If you recognize anyone in any of these photographs, let them know that they’re now Doc’s Castle Media’s anonymous stars!
The atmosphere was, like I said, “old school with a new age twist” and the crowd was extremely exceptional for it to be held in an art gala like The Living Well. I assume Beet Trip was the absolute place to be if you’re big on attending Baltimore Hip-Hop events because I spotted plenty of familiar faces in the Baltimore Hip-Hop Scene. To name a few people:
Yet again, I bring you another War Drumz Audio Art artist straight from B-More city. This time around it’s Tony Bonez Sinatra.
This is his latest music video for his single “Mask Writter.”
I like this song because it reminds me of the music I grew up on. You know know 90’s babies love when they hear something that sound similar to anything 90’s or early 2000’s related. Tony Bonez’s music reminds me of some old Redman and Method Man hits. Check out the assets of the video! Can you tell it’s Baltimore? Stand up!
About the Artist:
Tony Bonez started rapping at a very young age as a result of dealing with poverty during his childhood. Music became his getaway from all the issues that revolved in his life. But it wasn’t until the early 2000’s, he started writing his own rhymes and joining cyphers at school which helped gain him much respect as a fierce MC who is not to be messed with. Inspired by Redman (see, I told you it was something familiar about his style haha), Tony took up the name KidBlaq, and was later signed to an underground label Monsta Money at age 19 and took up the name Tony Bonez but shortly left to join a group known as DaUnion. A year later Bonez parted from the 4 man group after issues amongst the group and went solo. Over time he encountered SmokingAces counterpart Fly Fonzarelli. They instantly clicked. Fly introduced Bonez to the Baltimore hip-hop scene on a whole new level. Bonez since then has gained experiences with some of Baltimore’s top artist including learning from Skarr Akbarr, battling King Los, recording with the late Smash, Tiara Laniece and Yea Lano. More recently, Bonez has taken on the position as the sixth addition to the War Drumz Audio Art music label.
Earlier this year, Tony Bonez released his first EP Welcome to the Boneyard: The Rise. The mixtape is composed of 13 tracks that’ll get your head nodding to the beat for sure. My favorite track is “Do Ya Like” mainly because I love the sample of Adele in the song, but he speaks volumes in an audio picture about being intimate with a woman. I’m a woman so…do you catch my drift? Ha-ha! I’m sure he has more goodies to come along with the rest of what he has to offer. What do you think?
To hear more from Tony Bonez Sinatra, be sure to follow him on Twitter at TonyB0nez, Instagram at LongLiveBoneyard, and Facebook at TonyBonez Sinatra. Don’t forget to check out his EP Welcome to the Boneyard: The Rise on Datpiff.com.
Do you like this music artist? Leave your comments below.
Do you have what it takes to be the next music highlight? Send me stuff! You might just become the next highlighted artist on Doc’s Castle Media.
Previously featured artist Champ The General released his music video to mixtape single “All I Know” 2 weeks ago on his YouTube channel for the world to see. The update was submitted to us to promote his show on March 24 at Monumental Mondays at The Depot located in Baltimore’s Art district, Station North. Check him out.
I’m want to start by saying I’m proud of the turn out this past Monday at The Depot for the hip-hop open mic event, Monumental Mondays, hosted by the Alumni Marketing Group. The event started at 6pm and lasted until the venue closed. I arrived at the peak of the show and was at awe because of the turnout.
If you guys don’t already know, I wrote a piece about the lack of support in Baltimore for artists. (Read here to catch up.) The turnout of this event proves the beginning of change for artists. It’s definitely something to be proud of though there are some concerns I want to discuss later in this post. At previous hip-hop shows I’ve attended in Baltimore, crowds were extremely dry. This was my first time being at Monumental Mondays and it was fun. I enjoyed that atmosphere mostly because it felt more like a party. People were dancing and singing along to performers’ music. I’d say it was a great experience for many artists and supporters. If you’re a diehard hip-hop fan who’s seeking new music to add to your collection, this is the event for you.
One of Doc’s Castle Media’s featured artist Kaseo, who’s latest mixtape is MoBetta Hip-hop, along with Park Heights natives, SMG, and numerous other rap artist performed at Monday’s show. I didn’t have too much of an opportunity to network with new artists, though I wish I had. So I’m announcing I’ll be at future Monumental Mondays as a heads up. Look out for me.
Here’s my little snippet of the show:
Though many performers had a fair opportunity to perform on at Monday’s event, others expressed frustration. Artists, whom claimed to be on the events’ list to perform but didn’t, talked of disappointment towards waiting for their time. Those who’ve performed later in the evening complained about the lack of support from peers, for once an artist performed their song; they’d leave the venue, leaving the building scarce of support of their music. To tend those concerns, Cortez, the promoter of Monumental Mondays, already proposed they’ll be addressed for future events. He wants everyone to feel they’re being heard, as they should for this is an open mic show. I look forward to the coming changes. I believe it’ll bring an even better turnout.
If you missed out on Monday’s show, you’ll have another opportunity to attend next week on Monday, March 24. Held at The Depot on 1728 N. Charles Street, come out to see another round of artists perform their best selections from their musical stash. Whether you’re an artist or an onlooker, you’ll have a good time here. If you’re an artist looking for some exposure in the Baltimore music scene, the Alumni Marketing Group accepts new artists for performances at their events. Just submit to their email, amnpage@gmail.com, for the next available opportunity.
Today, I’m posting a Music Highlight. I haven’t done so in a while. But I want to remind people my blog is not solely a music blog. Doc’s Castle Media is a commentary blog, which means I write based off of my opinions for different events and scenarios that happen throughout everyday life. I enjoy writing about Baltimore because it’s the city in which I dwell. But Doc’s Castle Media is meant to promote productivity within my city through me writing about how I feel about what’s going on around me. I talk about music but I’m not limited to it. My blog shows for it, hence why I don’t post everyday a new song or mixtape that’s being dropped by a local musician. There are other artist, like poets, graphic designers, dancers and etc.; I’d like to write about. I’d love to give recognition to talent while also writing about my thoughts and ideas with what’s going on in the world. I hope that I’ve cleared it up for some of you.
Onward to The Music Highlight…
Kaseo is today’s star! If you didn’t already know about this guy, he recently dropped a mixtape early February that I would say has a unique sound from what I commonly hear in the streets of Baltimore. I loved it. But let’s leave the best for last here. First I’ll get you familiar with who he is.
Kaseo is a Baltimore native who has embedded within him multiple talents that helps him enhance his music career to further heights. Not only is he a musical lyricist, but he’s also a producer making hip-hop beats. But of course, it didn’t all start out as rainbows and butterflies. Kaseo started his music career when he was 12 years old playing the Casio keyboard that was a gift from his father. He started with making beats and freestyling to his creations. Once he learned he had a passion for rapping, he formed a group with his friends in high school name Music Man. Later the group’s name changed to Skyebourne Music Group.
Kaseo’s motivation to make music is to receive a feeling of liberation. In the past, he battled issues with anger and music became his outlet. He believes music is peaceful and serene. So he often writes for his release and “high.” He also creates because people are fond of what he offers. I guess, I would say I’m one of those people, now, because I can vouch that his latest creation is awesome.
MoBettaHipHop, a mixtape that has a sort of A Tribe Called Quest feel, is an awesome tape that anyone who enjoys a jazzy, but yet still rhythmic type of sound, would love to have in their iTunes collection. I downloaded it the first day it dropped and burned it to a CD so that I could have something new to drive to. One of my favorite tracks on MoBettaHipHop is Black Widow, a song of resentment for a woman who unforgivably broke a man’s heart. Kaseo gives a cruel stab back at a woman who, if anyone would hear how she treated him, deserves to reap what she sows. I thought the CD was beautifully crafted, and I definitely recommend it to my readers to take a thorough listen.
To check out Kaseo’s MoBettaHipHop mixtape, be sure to download it from Bandcamp.com, or you could just CLICK THIS LINK. Also, follow him on Twitter at @Kaseus_Clay and Instagram at @Kaseo92 for announcements of shows, albums, and mixtapes from Kaseo in the future.
