My folks Delorean just dropped the video for the No More Heroes banger “Dear Langston”. This video is a beautiful marriage of hip-hop and contemporary art taking inspiration from New York based painter Kehinde Wiley. Check out a couple of these images for context and then check out the motion picture accompanied by soundtrack.

Delorean – Dear Langston from Faux Real Crew on Vimeo.

“Ya try to help ‘em along, push ‘em along”

via the av club

IT’S FINALLY HERE!! I am please to present to you Doyoudonotsee?, a collaborative music project. What does that mean? It means that our song is still in its development stage, but we’ve opened it up to the public so that YOU can add on! So if you’re a bassist, guitarist, vocalist, or listener, we’d love for you to spend the next week with us figuring out how to make this track phenomenal. Are you ready? Check it out:

see.ill-literacy.com

Ps: Much thanks to the good folks at Blind I For the Kids for helping us launch this!

I’m trying, okay! With so many exciting things going on, I must remind myself that I should keep people in the loop. What’s been going on – you may ask. Great question! As of late, I’ve been preparing the music for our US BuiLLd Tour and as exciting of an IDEA as that is, it is a very boring process; forcing me to play The Sopranos or Jimi Plays Berkeley in the background. This weekend, I had a particular affinity for the Bob Marley and the Wailers DVD that has been collecting dust in our living room, which also led me to this interview I found on YouTube the following day.

Lion of Judah! Just peep the supreme swagger and style of this legendary Dreadlocked Rasta. Watch the great Bob Marley breakdown politics and marijuana so charismatically and poignantly in this video. The man and his music apparently cannot be distinguished.

Jay Smooth is to me what iLL-Literacy is to hundreds of college organizers throughout the country: the ones to call on when an act of racism – too minor to begin the revolution off of, but too major to just ignore – occurs. And coincidentally (or not), I feel EXACTLY how Jay Smooth does about this infamous n-word-saying-white-sumpremacist-penis-having John Mayer incident. The sad thing is, the people offended by these comments are screwed either way. To allow this happening to die down – as it inevitably will – without a fight is to risk the public perception that he might JUST have this mythical hood pass or that comments like these – said by anyone – don’t even have a chance of staining the cloak of super stardom. To allow this to consume us is to waste our energy on a short-lived media frenzy that barely scrapes the layers and layers and layers of racial discourse that needs to be had in this country. See…I already wasted enough time. Check out the iLL Doctrine and let’s do what we need to do, people.

I told myself I would NOT skip this mandatory Monday and despite all attempts it would appear that I have failed once again. Not one to be deterred, however, I realize that it is still Monday to my beloved west-coasters and to my beloved west-coasters, I dedicate this post.

This weekend, Drizzle played me a collection of newly downloaded funk as I was washing the dishes. As soon as I heard the organs of this Seattle-based funk band blaring through our home speakers, I yelled to Drizzle over the music and the running hot water, “Send this to me!”

Although this west-coast funk never got far enough past Pacific Standard Time to even have a video of them posted on YouTube, it is relieving to know that good music can endure the isolation and silence of being “shelved” and get discovered once more to entertain new ears. Check out, “Bold Soul Sister, Bold Soul Brother” by Black On White Affair.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Check it out on UStream at about 8:30PM EST

Since I was busy tying tying up all my loose ends in Cali and preparing to come back to the Big Cold Apple, I missed my Mandatory Monday post. I don’t even know what this category means exactly but it seemed very fitting for this little video I wanted to share with ya’ll.

Now, I’m sure there were a few iLL-Loyalists that downloaded the record and said “WTF?” We understand. Not that it was our intentions to trip you the funk out but we definitely preferred an extreme reaction over an easy digestion. Preparing for the second chapter, I’m attempting to understand the (loose) frame of mind that we had when we we’re recording iB4the1.1 with hopes of recreating (and improving) on the creative freedom we possessed.

Running my final errands before boarding my plane, I wandered into a Walgreens’ where “I Ran” by Flock Of Seagulls was lightly playing in the background. I always loved this song but I never knew anything about it besides its connection to the “Miami Vice” TV show. Upon touching down at the crib, I googled the only lyrics I knew and up-popped the above video. As I watched I said to myself, “This is Circus Nights…20 years ago!” It’s so validating to understand yourself as part of a continuum – especially one that you were attracted to before you understood the reasons. Watch it one time. And if you don’t believe me, silence the audio of the video and play “Circus Nights” in its place.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

There you go. You see where were coming from now???

I hate Jon Reyes for producing the most gangster-ass Christmas beat EVER.

I hate C Plus for beasting on it so HARD.

I hate ALL you muthafuckas for making the Christmas song me and iLL-Lit were scrambling to make.

Merry Christmas, Hip-Hop! DOWNLOAD HERE.

(I told you a Christmas song would work, Plus. You gotta let me on the third verse! Holla…)

Might be a little more appropriate for Wednesday Word, but hey, at the end of the day it all comes down to the word. This week, I had an intimate experience of listening to a hero of mine that I’ve never had the time to fully experience. A musician, a poet, a singer, Gil Scott Heron is one of the few models I have for the vision of the artist I want to become. I am shocked by how closely the humor in my poetry resembles Heron’s even though there is no direct correlation. I had been writing way before I heard “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” but it’s lines like “Roy Wilkins strolling through Watts in a red, black, and green liberation jump suit that he’s been saving for just the proper occasion” that make me wonder if I came up with that in another lifetime. But enough of the egocentricity. The only logical conclusion to this phenomena is the magic of collective consciousness; the belief that all the world withdraws and deposits into a shared bank of knowledge and ideas. Thank you for your deposit, Mr. Heron. I have overdrawn on your brilliance. Time to pay it back. Check out “Whitey on the Moon” (an idea that even my Mom has talked about since I was a child although I’m positive she has no clue who Gil Scott Heron is) and then his soulful “Or Down You Fall” that I’ve included just as a bonus. Withdraw and enjoy!

“Whitey on the Moon”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Or Down You Fall”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.