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…
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
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
Tuesday Night we gathered @ 420 Lounge in NYC to premiere our music video for “Poppin’ On TV”. It was a good night new york city…
Our friends and family were in the building, celebrating with us the release of our video. People from school, work, “Notorious”, and “back home” were in attendance. (even people I haven’t seen in 14 years… wow….).
THANK YOU!!!
- to all the people who attended the event
- to all of the people who helped make the video happen: The True 2 Life Music Team, Omar Derby (the director) and his crew, The Poppin’ On TV Models, the makeup artists, stylists, and supporters who came to lend a hand.
- to all the people who have supported us during the years by going to shows, giving words of encouragement and positivity.
We completely appreciate it and are thankful to have you guys on our side. The world could be heartless and the winters can be cold, but the warm and friendly environment we felt at the video premiere party makes it all worth it.
We have alot to be thankful for.
Sincerely,
K.Words
PS - Shouts to Swagg & Money Bags for the pictures. If you have any pictures from the event, send them to TRUE2LIFEPR@gmail.com. Gobble, Gobble.
Okay, so some friends of mine were joking around with me cause during election night I was using Obama to drive traffic to our website.
Guilty as charged.
Don’t get me wrong though.. I respect everything that night stands for, but it’s a recession… and brothas gotta eat. Anyway, I came across on hiphopdx.com:
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Rev. Al Shaprton, a frequent critic of Hip Hop believes that the Obama victory will “force” Hip Hop artists to behave better. Sharpton predicts that the Obama administration will force a decline in the more violent and misogynistic elements of the culture. “You can’t be using the ‘b’ word, the ‘n’ word, the ‘h’ word when you have Barack Obama redefining overnight the image that black people want to have,” Sharpton says. “Here’s the greatest political victory in the history of black America, and the thug rappers can’t come near it. They will have to change or become irrelevant.”
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Now, my personal convictions and beliefs often clash with those of our community’s popular black “leaders”. And yeah, I’m a lil’ tough on Sharpton, Messy Jesse and their cohorts, but I gotta speak my mind on this one.
He says: “Here’s the greatest political victory in the history of black America, and the thug rappers can’t come near it.”
What is that even supposed to mean?
Does he really think anyone is holding Trick Daddy and Noreaga’s successes in the same light as Obama’s?
(no shots @ Trick & NORE, but I’m sayin….)
Does he really think the Obama victory is gonna force rappers to “behave” better??? Like all of a sudden rappers won’t curse?
Chill son, you wildin’.
The only thing that’ll make people “behave” is home training and/or money. If us rappers (who use the B/N/H words) truly see financial repercussions for our word choices, I can see us stopping. Maybe not me, though. Partially because I barely use curse words and limit my uses of the n-word in raps anyway, and partially because I don’t want to give up who I am as an artist by thinking too much and not expressing myself as naturally as possible.
I’m not gonna lie.. I, too, shake my head sometimes at potty mouth emcees… but often vulgarity helps get your point across. Like is there any way to express the feeling behind “Fuck Don Imus” without using the F-word? I don’t think so… but anyway, Al seems to be leveraging Obama-mania to further his own political agendas. Not a surprise, though…
If urging people not to riot is grandstanding, Al must be the grandfather of grandstanding. Wouldn’t MLK say the same thing??? Dude is akin’ more and more like Rollo Goodlove from The Boondocks.
I understand the rampant negativity in hip-hop can get pretty bad sometimes, but let’s work on fixing our communities forreal rather than just blaming it on gangsta rap. That whole thing is getting quite old…
- WORDS!
ps - I respect the “leaders” of our community and everything they have done and sacrificed for black people…. forreal… I do.
Since last night, things have changed for me. I don’t get followed around in stores anymore. My blood pressure has dropped significantly. Cops no longer pull me over. My credit situation is so dope that creditors that I owe don’t even call, they just erase my debts.
Sike!
But forreal, it does feel good to be black right now. Last night I was at the homie Keith’s Obama party and I couldn’t help but be slightly weirded out about the whole thing. A little negative. I dunno. It was surreal, but I think I have issues living in the moment and just enjoying something. Especially things that I really care about. (it’s not that I care about politics, just that I love black people and want to see them succeed in everything. Any black contestant on reality or game shows are my favorites off rip. Like remember the Jenkins/Watkins/Jones families on Family Feud? I used to OD cheer for them… but i digress…)
It’s like with music… with every accolade and achievement True 2 Life Music reaches, I still don’t feel satisfied. I find ways to make our show that much better, I learn how to mix drums that much crisper, or I think about all the work that still needs to be done. I would never just feel like “I’m good” or “my work is done” just because I reached some milestone in my career. That’s some complacent shit right there. Hard work and love for my culture [hiphop and black] is just part of me..
The same feeling goes for black people/America when it comes to this election. Obama won. That’s great. But now, people need to carry over that same passion and energy to the way we live our everyday lives. We need to understand that Obama’s job is to improve and lead AMERICA as a whole and that won’t always necessarily be reflected in our communities. IT IS STILL ON US TO IMPROVE OUR SITUATION.
So yeah, like ‘Cise was saying in the post before, it’s time to work. We just lived history. For those of us who were not around during the Civil Rights Movement, this is the single most defining moment for black people in America. We need to delve further into politics because right now, they’re gonna realize that our voices must be heard, and our concerns must be considered. As Obama represents a shift in the way American politics is looked at, it’s about time the same is done about the leadership in our own community. Let’s shift things for the better. For the future.
So, a few weeks ago, I was meeting with Omar Derby (the director for the Poppin’ On TV video, coming soon) going over one of the edits of the video. (coming soon, forreal y’all). This guy (Nat Beal) next to me asked if I would watch his video and give my reaction. Check it out.. then let us know…
What’s your reaction? Tomorrow’s the big day.
- K.Words
ps: we will be putting on a small non-formal post election event…details to come
Filthy put us on to some exclusives this morning…a collection of photography of the Obama campaign. The photos were taken by Scout Tufankjian and posted on her website. There was some really dope shots in there. I had to thief some of them and post to our blog just because. Hopefully she (Scout is a female photographer based in Brooklyn!) sees her credit and doesn’t try to send Polaris after us.
Anyways…there are only 6 days until election day! I’m anxious just thinking that the face of this country can be changed in less than a week. We HAVE to elect that man Obama! These images are definitely moving enough to give you hope that Obama has the power to unite this country and bring change we need.
