d_Cyphernauts are the featured artist on 'Adam's World'!

What's good, people! This is Othello, letting you know that I'm back from a week's vacation in the woods of New Hampshire and ready to take on the hip hop world!

Lots of crazy stuff coming up in September (more about that later) but I wanted to let you in on the good news that the d_Cyphernauts are the featured artists on music journalist Adam Bernard's blog Adam's World. Click the title link and you're there!

Enjoy the article and get ready for the AFA mixtape coming sooner than you think...

PEACE-
Othello

The following is an excerpt of the interview

Adam Bernard: Let’s start by talking about your music. What are d_Cyphernauts providing for listeners that isn’t out there already?
Nemesis Alpha: Balance. Hip-Hop used to have a balance before it exploded. You could turn on the radio and hear De La Soul one minute, and Kool G Rap the next. No matter what you liked you got a good serving of everything. Now it’s all an assembly line of these knock-off rappers with no talent. If they have talent they are blinded by money and ignorance. Our movement, if you want to call what we have that, is about empowering our audience to fight for that balance by giving them pure Hip-Hop without all the polish and shine. We want to take them forward by going back.
Othello: Our music is also activist music, so when we have the opportunity to speak out on issues that we think are important, it’s our obligation to do that. Over the past four to five years we’ve really been involved in the anti-war movement. I lost my father in the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, so it really bothers me that the Bush administration used the events of that day as an excuse to attack Iraq. Young people are joining the military because they’ve been sold the idea that the war in Iraq is part of the war on terror and joining the military is a patriotic thing to do because we are fighting the people that attacked us on September 11th. That’s just not true and it’s a very personal thing for me because they are using the tragedy of my father’s death to justify their aggression. We’ve been lucky to work with the Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group of veterans that have fought in either Iraq or Afghanistan and now oppose the war and are speaking out about it. Veterans of the Iraq war have come up to me and told me how much they were touched by our song “Got Your War” and how we really captured what they were feeling and what they went through. That’s a really powerful thing to be able to touch people like that. We will continue to perform at events that mobilize people against injustice. That’s what we’re about.

For the full interview go to: Adam's World

Update!!!

what's up people!

hope you all dug the 7 posts on The Party Music For Pissed Off People EP. . . I worked hard on em to give y'all a little more background on the joints. . .

moving on. . .

I wanted to let y'all know about what else I have been up to. . .

I am writing or producing various projects and all of which are in varied stages of production. . . as far as rhyming goes:

Rhyming

As of now I will be contributing 5 tracks to the upcoming AFA mix cd, all of which may not make it on to the joint. They include "Sleep Deprivation and the Artist" and "Forever With the Moon", which are already complete and a track I half debuted at the last Enter The Cypher called "Song For The Malnourished" along with a cover and a currently untitled piece.

Immediately following the completion of those tracks I am going to be banging out my next 13 track album currently titled The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou, a collection of tracks birthed from poems and free-writing rants i've done. There's some "out there" shit in there lol

Following that I will finally complete the four-years-in-the-making Never Die Alone. . . probably that most personal work I will ever do. 95% of the lyrics and music have been composed. Currently seeking out the proper production partner so that recording could begin ASAP. . .

Production

currently there is instrumental beds out there floating around

3 for The Rising Sun Quest's second full length album
2 for D_Cyphernauts
3 for Protege for a currently untitled EP
1 for Myka Nyne
2 for P.Casso
2 for SilenTuch
like 5 for Expertiz lol
2 collaborative pieces with Darian Cunning (1 for Mike Falzone and one for Expertiz)
1 for Hawl Digg of Workforce
1 for Deto 22 and Dirt E. Dutch

I also just started new sessions for my second Two Crippled Heroes album with Dust Magnet and I have been throwing around the idea of officially releasing the Psi.Dweys Thinq Different Cassettes, a collection of dirty lo-fi underground shit featuring myself, SilenTuch, and DJ Sir Cumference of Phenetiks, for some time. . .

peace and love y'all

PM4POP Day 7 of 7: Betsy Ross. . .

The last track of the cd gets a huge area of interest off of my chest.

A few years back, I dove deep into how we are lied to constantly in school about things that happened in our country's history. We get hit throughout our schooling with a barrage of lies and European hero worship. This is the main reason I continuously was disinterested in American History. It's also the area where you get the most teachers that are just drowning in their teacher's manual with no original thoughts.

I discovered this book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen and it fucked me up. He dissects 12 high school level American History textbooks and little by little compares them and exposes blatant lies and pushed truths with footnotes every two sentences or so. He discusses not only the lies but the euro-centric focus that our textbooks have. How we praise the accomplishments of europeans that were already accomplished by others.

I moved on by researching some of his footnotes (it would take a lifetime to research all of them lol) and then moved on to books like People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Don't Know Much About History. It's just too important for me to know where we came from. It's like the old phrase "you've got to know where you come from to know where you're going". I think alot of the things that have built this country have been shrouded in these folk tales and happily ever afters and shit ain't really that sweet.

So yea folks. . . check the lyrics and video. . . hope you dig them and start getting an interest in the topics. . . peace and love y'all


BETSY ROSS AND THE MISEDUCATION OF AMERICA




Online Videos by Veoh.com


Yo listen up to what I got burning
lying to our face when we're supposed to be learning
the facts that put us where we are are kicked to the curb and
i'm determined to bust a hole in their sermon
they put alot of curves in and bendable wording
flaws, straight-up lies 'fore they plated and served it
i'm 'bout to put some jewels in your turbin, and know it
word to James Loewen what i'm following is hurting
everything you're reading or read gets defeated
no more focus on accomplishments of europeans
no more fake heroes or behind the scenes demons
or when they see what others have done and just leave it
yo you heard what I said? they leave it alone
wonder how you discover land that people are on
Columbus and all of the others were evil and cold
raped and pillage the villages and killing all the innocents
mistake to call them indians they really are natives
they said that they were savages, no civilization
consider situation, statements are flagrant
wasn't for Squanto the pilgrims wouldn't have made it
and what about the others or the so-called discoverers
Columbus proving the world round was just fungus or
Balboa discovered Pacific isn't right like
we forgot the Asians living on the other side I
can't believe the lies or. . . maybe it's they based
our path in history on the path of our namesake
a liar named Amerigo, mapmaker from Italy
wrote a fabrication, fibbed his way into history
if you see what is happening then lets contract
before we expand again returning to combat
rise from your seats as if you never will come back
hit the nearest open window then say fuck that
pause just for your consideration
in case of miscommunication of the information
next lets take the flag now of our very nation
and shake it until the lies fall from its foundation
the legend goes, Washington needed a favor
wanted a new flag so he hit up the neighbor
to the state house, a seamstress, he made her his savior
she made a new flag, Betsy Ross was her name but
the whole story's a lie, i'm bringing back
'cause we don't need that hero shit just give us the facts
her grandson made it up, the government played it up
to make a hero and an attraction, and that's that son
what about the natives and the slaves among the settlers
that fought their wars for them and they never get mentioned?
That most of the founders had slaves is no mystery
the civil war wasn't 'bout slaves but farms and industry
and Lincoln didn't care about a people and their freedom
look up the Lincoln/Douglas debates and just read em
Now let me take a moment just to exorcise a demon
God ain't mentioned in the Constitution, not even believe it
then there was the Underground Railroad, see this
is where the whites helped the escaped slaves to freedom
the problem with the story is I don't fully see it
most the stops were in free states lead by freed slaves
and then there was these gangs, you don't wanna start me
the Democrats were known as the white man's party
history flipped, ripped chopped, but it's darkened
when the truth comes out there's light shining through the darkness
before I get going, depart soon, i'll bark too
that you should check my references, believe what your heart do
a Tao Te Cataclysma for the topic to start you
and march through and i'll meet you on part two

PM4POP Day 6 of 7: The Fault Line

I didn't really think I would be discussing the background of any of these songs when I started working on this cd. Most of the songs were written LOADED with info and spit rhythmically to allow the message to be taken in more-so after repeated listens. This song was written with a strict rhythmic pattern as well and was initially and still remains the one I want to explain least about.


The Concept

The basic idea of the song was to bring up the issue of the widening gap in social class in this country and the slow extermination of a middle class.

I chose to just tell the life stories of a rich man and a poor man without saying too much about them at all. Let the stories say things for me. And just to add a little something I had The Rising Sun Quest speak in Spanish over a bunch of percussion at the end about his interpretation of the concept.

now the beat. . .

The Beat

I really dig having the opportunity to sample the music of people I know. Beyond the emcees and producers, I am in contact with a large group of really incredible musicians and singer/songwriters. Very proud to know them.

This track in particular features a piano sample from my homegirl Larissa Delorenzo, an awesome singer/songwriter from Fairfield County, off of her song "Type Of People" from her cd Da Sola, a voice and instrument collection of her songs.

I combined those two piano sounds with a load of chopped up percussion samples ( check this out to witness chopping from a master), drums and bass from 3 different salsa songs.

The Mix

This track and the one following it almost didn't make the EP. The deadline was closing in and there was a few issues with being able to get this song recorded and mixed before the release date (see more on this in tommorow's post). Quest was able to squeeze in a session on the morning of Father's Day and we were able to get this done and then got on the grind with Spaz the Working Class and got a few different versions of mix-downs for both of the last songs done by the end of the night. I chose Quest's version for this song.

additional info

I struggled for a while with this track and being able to get my point across without coming off too preachy. I managed to squeeze in a little criticism about taxes, social security, and insurance. There was soooooo much that I wanted to say about these subjects but the song just really hasn't come to me yet. I also learned alot about the movement of people not paying income tax and that there is no law requiring you to pay a federal income tax or to fill out tax forms. As much as I wanted to include that stuff. . . I really just haven't found away to do it without going over everybody's heads or being too preachy.

peace and love y'all

PM4POP Day 5 of 7: The Revolution Will Not Be. . .

I am very proud of this track. . .

The lyrics

The original concept for the song stemmed from a conversation I had with a co-worker of mine about the civil rights movement and push for revolution. This took place in the middle of this period were I emersed myself in literature on the lives of Stokely Carmicheal, Assata Shakur, Che, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Huey, Bobby Seale, Fred Hampton, etc. etc. etc. so I was really really into discussing the topic. I landed upon the story of the Cuban revolution and the story of Patrice Lumumba. This sparked a discussion that slowly drifted to "why wouldn't a revolution work in this country today among it's own citizens?" And thus. . . the topic of the song. I wrote an essay on the topic citing the various reasons that I saw that the revolution would fail and decided I had to challenge myself by putting it into song form.

The next area was making the words have some sort of flow so that the message would sink in after repeated listens and then the last decision of beating the message into their heads by repeating the first verse. . . which leads me to the beat. . .

The Beat

Originally this song had a different beat. It was a funky slap bass, wah guitar, synth filled track with a chopped sample of Gil Scott Heron saying "The Revolution Will Not Be. . . be . . . be . . . be" and me saying "Hey!" on the 2 of every bar. Pretty dope. . . I still dig it.

One day I was watching a documentary on Bob Marley and caught a 5 second clip of one of his songs I never heard and immediately sought it out for samples. after making the track and dancing around for like 20 minutes lol playing it I decided to spit my lyrics that were over the original beat. Everything I spit ended up coming off in this melody of a twisted version of "Pass The Dutchie" lol that I was digging and there you go. . . bye bye original beat. . . and this became one of my favorite songs and my break out performance track.

The Revolution Will Not Be. . .

Add to My Profile More Videos

Sketch Show 6/23

Add to My Profile More Videos


p.s. he is saying "it takes a revolution. . . to make a solution"

peace and love y'all

PM4POP DAY 4 of 7: FREE THE RADIO

and so. . . . Free The Radio. . .
interesting track for a few reasons. . . lets start with the lyrics this time. . .

The Lyrics

I really over-thought the approach for this track. . . I wanted to do only one verse and have it repeat. . . make it have a chorus with a phrase that is repeated and have it basically be a gigantic display of what the radio does on a few levels. . .
I wanted to discuss the way in which the radio repeats messages continuously throughout the day by playing songs all with the same themes and then commercials that back up those messages, and then repeating those same songs and commercials alllllll daaaaaayyyy looooooongg. . . so I felt by explaining this in a verse that is repeated I was forcing an opposite message done in the same way as the radio but within the format of one song. . . I hope that didn't go over anybody's head. . . I just felt like a rap nerd typing that. . . but yeah. . . so that's Free The Radio. . . and I had a set rhymthic pattern for the rhyme that went directly to the Meters loop buried beneath the beat. . .

The Beat

The only thing not played out by me in the track is a loop buried beneath everything. . . I sat around in my house for a while got bored and decided I wanted to play everything that resembled an instrument in that room on a beat. I ended up playing flute, tambourine, maracas and shakers, djembe, chimes, and a guitar tuner thingy lol. . . but yea. . . fun joint I believe

The mixdown

This track was one of Deto's favorites and I think it really shows in the mixdown of the joint. . . so much so that I gave him a co-production credit for it. I think he really brought out my performance and really accentuated what I dug about the song. . . good shit Deto. He also had another layer of effect on it that was dismissed by my good friend Kristin during the session . . . that layer didn't appear on the final mix lol

check the track out here

or check the video of me performing it at a show I call the "rehearsal" show at The Space in Hamden. . . a very akward wednesday night in this past April. . . where there was a crowd of ten females lol. . . it was fun though. . . peace to Halo



Online Videos by Veoh.com

PM4POP Day 3 of 7: Michael Stewart

This track has been bubbling for a looooooooooooooong fucking time. somewhere around 2002 myself and JK1 were discussing our extreme distaste for the abuse of power within law enforcement: everything from murder to bullshit unnecessary traffic stops and we decided we wanted to do a track about it. We spent a day doing loads of research on the topic for statistics and stories and all it ended up doing was get us more and more pissed off. The names of victims kept coming and coming.

We ended up getting so pissed that we were going to make this gigantic epic about two cats that witness a police shooting and flip out and go on a rampage killing cops (this was before I saw the Melvin Van Peeble's indie-film classic Sweet Sweetback's Baaad Ass Song and before I thought about how some cops actually do their job).

Either our consciences got in the way or we feared the extremity of our anger, but the song just disappeared.

Still. . . police brutality is too important of a topic for me to not address. One particular story struck me. The story of Michael Stewart. Check the link and listen to the song man. . .

Other info. . . the track also features my homie Wos. Me and this cat made up a fucked up R&B group after a very entertaining karoake night called The Genius Called Beautiful. Look out for the project sometime toward the end of the year on Psi.Dweys Movement haha. . .

I really dig the mixing job Deto did on this track. His mix down definetly pushed this track to the more favorable side for me. I had a very difficult time with this track, The subject matter is soooooo serious and I wanted the beat to still sound fun so this one was a little tricky for me to accept, Deto helped me accept the joint a little more. . . thanks dude. . . you guys could check the track on my myspace page

peace and love y'all come back tommorow for my blog on "Free The Radio"

PM4POP Day 2 of 7: REBEL MUSIC

Rebel Music

The second track of the EP is truly the kick off point to me. "I can't keeeeeep from cryin' sometimes. . . ". "Rebel Music" was the first beat I ever made using my MPC 1000, made one afternoon so that I could teach myself how to use my machine, using an entire album for samples. No I am not going to tell you the album, but I will say it featured a varied array of funk songs from the 70's.

The topic of the song for me is probably one of the biggest parts of who I am as an emcee: be different while retaining the essence of the music. Don't do what has been done before but let what you do pay homage to what has come before. The song contains rhythmic reference to Big Daddy Kane, Common, Busy Bee, etc. all while updating the rhyme styles.

The actual recording session was slightly irritating lol. I recorded the first five tracks of the EP with Deto 22 of Phenetiks and at the time of recording all of these tracks had been performed steadily for just about three months straight. I was getting sick of them all and I couldn't tell if my takes were good, to which Deto asured me they were. And so, I accepted and decided to just have some fun on the tracks hence the starting phrase "I put the danish in your mouth and you don't stop!!" which is a throwback to the track JK1 and I put out called "Strawberry Cheese Danish".

whatever lol anyway. . . this shit is starting to seem like some ego-feeding thing so I am going to cut it right here with this video. . .


Rebel Music

Add to My Profile | More Videos

PM4POP Day 1 of 7: Editor's Note

an introduction:
In June I dropped my 7 track EP Party Music For Pissed Off People, a grouping of songs I wrote on various socio-political topics based on 6 different essays I wrote. I have always felt that it was difficult to get heads to flow in the same river if you are preaching to them, especially the hip-hop audience, so I decided to lay the lyrics over a bed of tracks containing samples in dance-able areas: 70's salsa, funk, reggae, and soul music (which I was heavily listening to as a replacement to hip-hop). Even Chuck D needed a Flavor Flav to get his message across.

I have had quite a few heads in the last few weeks that have asked me to provide some sort of background information on the songs on the cd, so I decided to use the platform of the Ant Farm Affiliates blog to do that over the next 7 days. So. . . we'll start with the opener "Editor's Note". . .



Editor's Note
This is the only track on the EP that doesn't fit into the theme of the rest of the project, instrumentally. The track was produced by Eye One a.k.a. SilenTuch, a fucking genius emcee out of Waterbury, CT who is a part of my Psi.Dweys Movement collective. I wanted to start it more abrasive, a little more direct, a chorus-less one verse editorial. I say some pretty straight to the point shit on this track and basically left it where if you don't make it past this track you are not going to be dancing later. I've watched expressions change when I get to the line "Iraq may have been better off with Sadam!" lol

whatever man. . . i'm just being as real as I can be
It's the shortest track on the project and so I figured I would just post the lyrics. . .

Pissed off people stop crying
Relax, sit "Indian" style as I drop science
an alliance has formed of funky bitches
guzzling gas in SUVs with bumper stickers
freedom isn't free is what they said
to counter complaints logged as we count the dead
as long as their mouths are fed we won't say something
problem is we're starving and kids are dying for nothing
that's why i'm confronting the lion crying dysfunction-
al prying, finding the lie that's hiding behind the fronting
I want to stick my fist through the residence
and slap the stupid grin off our condescending president
levees broke, people spoke
the sign said SOS reply is "don't hope."
this world is cold, don't leave with no coat
the pearls of souls bleed you leave soaked
and
and while they rain my brain remains focused
expose 'em to swat locusts from the hopeless
they think their intentions are cloaked they won't notice
that they think we're better as prisoners than voting
that's their slogan, weeds illegal to trp people who have less
make them evil
sell to make, get locked, what's the sequel?
Inmates paid slave rates for products that are fecal
90% profit for them rich folks
while commerce drags are masses in a stiff yoke
quote whats spoke. . . note what i'm on
Irag may have been better off with Sadam
we may have been better off by not fighting it
this has been a letter from the editor that's writing it
just a few quick words before igniting it
relax, kick back, or shake your ass to enlightenment

DAY 1 OF 7: PARTY MUSIC FOR PISSED OFF PEOPLE

INTRODUCTION TO THE WEEK OF BLOGS:

I was approached multiple times in the last few weeks about providing more background information on the 7 tracks that appear on my EP Party Music For Pissed Off People. So here we are. . .

The EP was (and will be in future volumes) a means for me to air out my personal thoughts and ideas on a varied array of social and political topics. I have always been deeply interested in all of the areas that are covered on the EP and found that I was going to need an avenue for this side of me that was separate from all of the other music I do.

Also, I have always felt that people have a hard time with being preached to, especially the hip-hop audience, and sometimes need something to ease the tension a bit and allow that information to creep through. At the start of pre-production I was on a steady diet of 70's funk, reggae, soul, and salsa (absolutely no hip-hop) and I decided that this would be a good place to focus the samples and possibly be able to make some party tracks that'll ease the tension

Revolutionary Non-Polutionary Mechanical Player

Our song order didn't seem to matter much to the gods that be, but I feel page 1 comes before 2 right? So read the book this way.
the track listing is as follows...
1. epitome one, two
2. sharpie
3. blow it
4. pillow talk
5. vent
6. it's a wrap
7. devastation raga
8. burn
9. loopholes
10. kill your radio
11. old cold
12. closure
13. satellites

Boom, and here's the cover

Xotic Dreamz Car Show

Whats good everybody,

This Is Quest with a little summery of the goings on this past Sunday. The Xotic Dreams car club was holding their 5th annual car show in Waterbury this year so they asked If I could rock the crowed since It's my hometown. I was definitely down for it and have been waiting with great anticipation for it to go down. I was afraid that the rain would spoil the event considering that every outdoor event that I've ever tried to rock has been canceled due to rain. The car show was supposed to be a two day event which started at noon on Saturday. I was to be performing Sunday around 2:00 but DJ SirCumference and I intended to drop by on Saturday to see what the deal was. The forecast called for Severe Thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday. I was bummed Cause I was sure the event was canceled but to my surprise the car show was going on. Through the rain cars were registered and judged on Saturday.

Sunday was looking pretty good around noon. the sun was out and their was a good amount of people at the event. Their were about 50 cars on display which i was told was a very small turnout but considering the forecast was not that bad. Their were some real dope whips there. there also were some dope shorties in short shorts too for all the fellas to look at. I was there with some of my peoples just enjoying the day. Nemesis was there with his family, My boy Definition, Roc One, Expertiz, Spaz, Dj Sircumference. It was a dope afternoon. The first event was a High low competition where they measure how close the car is to the ground or how high it is off the ground. Whatever. After that was a rev competition to see who the big dogs were in terms of revving that engine. Their was a Dodge Charger there that nobody could fuck with. He revved that bad boy up and i'm sure it was the loudest car Ive ever heard. Their was a Chevy Impala that came close but nobody could see that Charger.

After that was my performance. I had to cut it a little short cause the storm clouds were approaching and their were still other events like the Bikinni Contest, tug of war, bobbing for apples, pie throwing yet to be held. I set it off with a track that was kinda lyrical and im not sure the crowed was feeling what i Was doing At first. So I broke out a joint off the upcomming album titled "The Rhythm" THats now my go to track. Heads were feeling it and because it has that dope b-boy vibe a couple heads even started to break on the concrete in front of the stage. It was dope and the crowed was definately into it at that point. I rocked a freestyle after that and then Ended it off with My favorite closer off Surviving Life,"Hip HOP FOR YOU" I definately had a good time. But just as i finished up and announced the next event, I look to my ritht and saw a wall of rain headed right for us. it went from dry to flood in seconds. You would think shots went off the way the crowed scattered. It was funny i cant remember seeing that many people dissappear that fast. many ran under tents most ran to their cars.

Those Xotic Dreamz cats are no joke though. They weren't about to have the rain completely ruin their event. Even with Thunder, Lightning and heavy downpours they still had their bobbin for apples event. That shit was so funny to see them in the rain trying to get a trophy for whoever could get the most apples. After that every car club that was taking shelter under a tent lifted it and walked towards the stage under the tent like 20 deep per tent. Now that they had all the tents butted up against each other the were able to have their trophy ceremony's.
Considering the shitty weather Id say I had a great time. THanks to the Xotic Dreamz Car club for having me as the live entertainment for the event.

Returning to this side of the moon

What up freaks, geeks, and pimps.
I've found random wi-fi service from my house and was able to stay on line long enough to blog...UGHH.
So the Rawkus thing "officialy".."launches"...in "September", so we're "Told".
Although the album is up and available for download.
(www.indie911.com/phenetiks) The Protege will splash a player/link on here soon.
Sketch's Party Music EP is out and dope as shit. I know, I was there.

• Production has started for the next 2 phenetiks albums.

• Production has started for a deto-22/sketch collab.

• And production and writing have started on Expertiz' album...

It'll be dope.
I'll really have the internet soon and will be more relavant then
Peace.

Quick Quotes: Sonny's Blues

Sonny's Blues
Written by: James Baldwin (1924-1987)

All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations. But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air. What is evoked in him, then, is of another order, more terrible because it has no words, and triumphant, too, for that same reason. And his triumph, when he triumphs, is ours.

--

He turned back to the window, looking out. "All that hatred down there," he said, "all that hatred and misery and love. It's a wonder it doesn't blow the avenue apart."

I thought it would be cool to throw up some inspiring quotes from literature. Thanks Tyree for inspiring me to read a book. :)
~ Snare