Merry Christmas, as promised above is the video for “True 2 Life Fam.” Video was directed by Jenn Needleman(who directed the music video for “Who The Fuck Is This?!”), produced by True 2 Life Music and sponsored by Pepsi. The video was shot in HD in Brooklyn, NY it includes candid footage of the team and supporters. Thanks to all the True 2 Lifers out there. Enjoy
- Gutta
stay updated via twitter
Check out our fashion interview with Janique Cambridge at HerGoodyBag.com http://hergoodybag.com/interview-with-true-2-life-music
Excerpt from the interview:
HGB: What is the most difficult thing about being in the music industry? What makes it worth while to stay in the industry?
Concise: difficult thing is dealing with the all the little things, both tangible and intangible that you can’t control while on your mission. you have to understand those things but maintain your vision and drive toward your goal. there are alot of distraction and detractors. your music having an impact on people worldwide is what makes it worth it.
K.Words: yeah, this industry is far from a job in Corporate America. In our grind, having that mindset will make you crazy. I must admit sometimes it creeps into my psyche, but I have to be strong enough to focus on our mission and always be ready to shake off the hate and the doubt.
Slangston Hughes: In general, there’s a certain amount of uncertainty in the music business, meaning if you look at many investments and efforts there is no guaranteed ROI (Return on Investment) meaning monetarily, otherwise or even that if there is a pay off, that it will be at all timely. If you don’t work smartly you can put a lot of unnecessary time, effort, money, and energy into something and get minimal to no returns back. However, we thrive off of that type of environment, where we are accountable for our own success and can utilize our skill sets and business minds to further our company, brand and music. So on the other end, it emboldens us to be confident, bold and strategic with our moves. The climate of the industry keeps you focused and determined and in tune with your internal compass, knowing that what you are doing is paying off and is leading to greater things. As tough as it is, when there is chaos there is opportunity, and we are opportunists, so with all the changes and uncertainty in the industry, we relish the freedom to see an opening, mobilize and execute a plan and go for it. This is a job and like all other jobs comes stress, we have all sacrificed greatly to further our agenda but thankfully we’re constantly setting and meeting goals, both short term and long term thanks to hard work, our support system and a solid team. In addition, the love and positive feedback that we get from fans and supporters worldwide is always greatly inspiring and motivational.
Honestly, we’re still in disbelief over the tragic death of Michael Jackson. But still, I felt the need to share thoughts on Michael Jackson and his inspiration on True 2 Life.
MJ is one of the few artists that had the same profound impact on our generation as he did on our parents generation. His music was not only the soundtrack to every 80’s babies childhood, but his work as the lead singer of The Jackson 5 was as important to the baby boomer generation. His music/performances/videos created an international unifying force that we always have and always will look up to.
MJ was overwhelmingly inspirational, not only in musical genius but as an entertainer and trendsetter… and his videos were OD dope. We’re talking the best to do it with music video creativity/output, which matched the already epic popularity of his music. He is the KING of pop and we will miss him. But through his legacy he will live forever.
This reminds us that Life is too precious to take for granted. Cherish the day and the decisions you make.
-cisington
As the tweet said and the video below shows…we had an unfortunate turn of events this weekend. We were supposed to rock out at the HIN Boston and instead we got rained out. The event was poppin’ too, outdoors (unlike last year), models, cars, drifting, the works. But honestly, with any game, you win some and lose some. We’ve taken hits on shows, opportunities, meetings, deals etc. We like to minimize our losses, from just being thorough and dope. But we’ve seen and dealt with sudden change and ups and downs so many times. Its only fuel to keep us going and make us stronger.
Leave you with a quote from ‘pac from one of my favorite verses of all time
“…the message I stress, to make it stop study your lessons,
don’t settle for less, even the genius asks questions,
be grateful for blessings, don’t ever change,
keep your essence…”
-concise
ps: First person to name which song and album that excerpt of a verse is from, will get a True 2 Life Music exclusive song from our “Longest Summer Ever” series. comment here, tweet us @twitter.com/true2lifemusic or email answer to true2lifemusic@gmail.com
What’s good True 2 Lifers?
We’re heading back to the ‘nell this weekend to be a part of an alumni discussion panel. Feels like we just left as students, now we’re back as alumni. The panel is called “Hottest Hip Hop Ivy” (not sure who titled it) but well we’ll be panelist amongst some very important hip-hop/entertainment industry heads who happen to be Cornell alum.
Panelist include Londell McMillan (prominent hip-hop lawyer, co-owner and executive publisher of The Source Magazine), Reggie Osse (music attorney, Co-author of “Bling” novel, Combat Jack to those in the blogosphere), Linda Berk (General Manager of AJM records, represents Ashanti), Randy McMillan (legal counsel at Island Def Jam Music Group), and last but not least…Kanye West (produced Common’s “The People”). Nah just playing…True 2 Life Music (Jackie Rob & Slangston Hughes) will be on the panel offering insight into what’s it like being artists in this industry trying to break through and advance our movement. Moderating the whole discussion will be Cornell alum Fritz Celestin, a talented video producer and director who worked with everyone Diddy to Madonna, Slick Rick to Mary J Blidge.
Here is the facebook event link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=67259331034
Details: Saturday, April 11th, 4:00pm-5:30pm, RPCC Auditorium, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Free
(click to view larger image)
We’re looking forward to being panelist, but also just attending the discussion. Should be a dope overall experience, all of the panel members have excelled to do remarkable things that we can learn from. After the panel we are booked to perform at The Phenom Step show on campus and will of course be in the streets after that partying…word up.
-’cisington
Jackie Rob takes it back to 2001 after the performance at Trinity Show…
I pop a tag before the show…
-slang mob
k.words chef’n up some pasta and speaking on our recordings in south florida…
-cise
ps: Our performance at the Trinity concert last night with Mike Jones, Juelz and Fabolous was crazy. We’ll have footage from the show asap…
What’s Poppin?!
For starters…we have to apologize for the lack of activity on the blog. If you didn’t follow us we are just getting back to NYC from a 2 week hiatus in south Florida (Ft Lauderdale / Miami / Miami Beach). The condo we were stationed at didn’t have wireless internet access so our laptops were desperately out of touch with the net. So bad news is we have alot of catching up to do via net, good news is we got od amounts of dope recording in. We could have the next few projects lined up…we CLOCKED IN. With some stupid fresh new new. so we’ll be releasing some of those records shortly…
(Gutta on Ocean Drive)
We had to cut the beautiful weather and music creation short for our concert tomorrow, Friday, March 27th with Fabolous and Juelz and Mike Jones at Trinity College (and we miss our northeast peoples). We can’t return for the WMC weekend either because of interviews and some press opportunities…but anyways
Here is the link to Trinity’s Blog about the show: http://trintalk.com/2009/03/scholarship-concert-3-27/
It’s a benefit concert. More information about tickets and all that can be found on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=57252383508&ref=mf
Come rock out with us and 3 hip-hop biggest stars…
best,
‘cise works
What’s Good??
We’re throwing a birthday party for our True 2 Life brother, Concise, at Sway Lounge in NYC tomorrow, Monday, Feb. 2nd (Groundhog’s day). Of course, we are inviting all of you: our family, friends, fans and followers.
Sway Mondays are dope so if you decide to come celebrate with us, do try to get there early. We’ll also be celebrating fellow True 2 Lifer, Jason Morgan’s birthday. So you know T2L will be in there heavy. You might even hear a few cuts off of “Larger Than Life.” Holla at us about getting on guestlist. Email: true2lifemusic@gmail.com
Peace, see ya’ll monday night
- Words
…footage from our impromptu trip to the nation’s capital to be a part of Barack Obama’s historic inauguration.