A Man Apart

Aight, change of plans folks. The mixtape was originally going to be called I Got The O.J. Gloves but not anymore. Its not going to be called A Man Apart like the movie with Vin Diesel. That's how I feel now with so many people from Best Coast gone now. 2 artist, 2 A&R's and my business partner are gone. Time for me to throw the company on my back. Luckily I don't fold under pressure. Its refreshing and makes me nervous at the same time. I'm good tho, I started this by myself and I've only gotten better since then. I've come along way professionally

Anyway, back to the mixtape. I'mma have pieces of the movie between songs that relate to how I'm feeling. There will be no features except my artist but that's limited to 2 songs. I'mma get real personal on this. It won't be as lyrical as "I Got The O.J. Gloves" but will still be better than most mixtapes. The purpose of it is to get shit off my chest. I'm going to also do a dvd to go with it just so people can really get to know me. I know how it is to be a fan of some1's music but you hear them talk and be like "this nigga ignortant". I can speak and I'm funny so you'll enjoy it.

The title is relevant also because I'm always alone. I don't kick it with people mainly because people are stupid. A person is smart but people are stupid. And my son is only 2 so we can't have grown people convo but we talk like he's grown. I tell him everything. I work with like 100 people but I don't talk to em. I don't know anyone's name. I eat lunch alone. I don't say hi or bye or none of that shit. I'm only a people person when I'm in rapper mode. I'm weird like that. I'm real private but I'll get into why on the dvd

In other news, the website will be up in a couple weeks. I'm going back to recording and engineering next weekend. Back to working out. Oh, and I'm growing my hair back. I'm giving the Balmd Menace a rest. New tatts coming soon. I'm out. Peace.

He's baacck!
323 622 8559

Old School Me

The video above is of me at 17 dj'ing at my high school pep rally. Man, I was MAD skinny back then. I was funny looking and shit. I don't even know why I had my fucking shirt up. I think I was working out back then and felt way bigger than I was lol. My dilusional mind lol. Notice my hat say "YOLEGE". That was my dj/rap name back then. It stood for Young Knawlege. It was the YO from young and the Lege from knawlege. There a million "young knawlege's" back then and just "young" something in general. It was my way of saying I was the beginning and end of young knawlege out there in the world. My way of being unique.

Also look at my crappy ass gear. This was a "dj in a box" set that my mom got me for xmas the year before. It was some bullshit gemini joints, the cheapest we could find. Belt drive turntables, ever dj knows you don't dj live with those lol. Its almost impossible to scratch vinyl's with those but I figure out a way. No slip mats or nothing. I still had the heavy rubber joints like slip mats and would use a crappy vinyl as a slip mat. Lol, look at the bullshit as mixer...Nuff said. See all those vinyl? This was before serato and shit. I had to bring what I could on the bus. That's right. I packed all that equipment in a big ass duffle bag and the vinyl in my backpack or a spare backpack and got on the bus with it every friday during football season for pep rallies. That's dedication for that ass. My whole life was hip hop back then. I stopped listening to music and only listened to instrumentals and I wrote rhymes like crazy. I didn't write verses back then, I wrote whole pages of raps



I used to tape verses to my wall after I finished a 16 or a whole page. I recorded on my computer in my room all the time. The sound was crappy but I felt like king of the world. I used to dj in yahoo chat rooms lol. Instead of plugging my mic in and talking, I hard wired my turntables and played whatever I had on my turntables. Most people liked it. Only one that didn't was the asshole who just wanted to talk shit on the mic...get it....assholes...talk shit lol.



I sat on this couch next to my bed and write poems and rhymes out the ass. I should've been doing my homework. I used to record freestyles on cassettes in the morning, then pass the tape to my best friend Stevie Franklin and he would do his freestyle after school or that night.



This was/is my best friend in the whole world next to Denise. This man got me serious about rapping. He moved to pasadena from the east coast but was born in Madagascar in Africa. He was so much better than I was but it never felt like a competition. He taught me shit and with his help, I got better. You'll hear more about him in another blog. There will be more old school pics too when my old computer is up and running. Until then, PEACE and go to bestcoastent.ning.com

"Underground" rapper

For those that don't know, there are typically 2 kind of rappers. Mainstream and underground. I'm classified as an underground rapper. It used to be that you were underground until you got signed or "discovered". Then you were considered mainstream. That's not so much as true anymore

Now if your underground, that means you make underground music or "real hip hop". These are the artist who throw a milion words in a sentence because they think they are suppose to. All of their beats have heavy samples and sound like BOOM BOOM BAP because that's what they think is real. They either dress real regular or in shit most people have never heard of. But it has a lot of colors in or on it..

The mainstream rapper is the artist on a big major label or major indie label. He raps usually about whatevers hot at the time (the newest car, hottest model, new big face on money, swag, etc.). They wear what they think we think is hot. Gucci, sean john, prada, etc. They spend a lot on diamonds, girls, cars, and liquor.

Jay-Z was underground at one point, so was biggie, G. Malone, and any other rapper who hit the small clubs, bars, and open mics to perform. That used to mean you were on your way. Now it means you only do one kind of music. Underground artist now all rap about how the industry is wack, how they better than the top selling rapper, sometimes about how hard life is and weed. They all sound the same cuz they all pick dilla-ish/kanye-sh beats. They can't make a radio hit to save their lives but they got MAD vocab. They rap about peace, politics, and punchlines

I'm not the typical underground artist. Which is why I can't stand most of them. I perform every where because I have no real platform. I run into all the performing undrground artist and I never stay and listen to their set. Because I already know what your gonna rap about. So I don't walk in the spot til 5 mins before I go on stage. That leaves enoug time for a piss and to grab a drink. Then I leave right when I'm done because the guy/girl after me is gonna rap like the guy/girl before me.

I rap about whatever. In my set these days, its a song about my moms on crack, me as a person, a song about me stepping to a girl, rappers trynna be like Pac and Biggie, and some genuine west coast shit called "lo lo drop". Half of those are underground shit, half is possible radio shit. I pick different sound beats. I have a set list of songs for underground spots and I have songs for when I perform at a club. I'm not MC freestyle his ass off but I am MC get busy lol. I'm versatile. I can perform at any venue. These "underground" cats will get booed at some clubs I've torn down. Same thing for some mainstream artist at underground spots.

I say all that to say this: I'M A RAPPERS WORST NIGHTMARE. Because I can do any kind of song. I'm not underground, I'm THE GROUND. When you walk down the street, you see every kind of person. I rap about every kind of thing without contradicting myself like Pac did. I might wear the undeground gear but I do it because its fresh, not cuz I'm suppose to. Therefor I can be marketed in more areas than a Jeezy can or a Talib can. Because I'm all over spectrum instead of being in an industry made box

C. - hype without the hypeman

NO MORE FREE SHIT!

I've reached the point where its time to put worth on what I'm doing. So from now on, I won't be doing any free collabos and I won't do a feature if the sound quality isn't right. I won't be charging a arm and leg, I'll work with any budget but I can no longer do it for free. Reason being, this is my hustle and if it don't make dollars it don't make sense. I've done got to keep business booming so the ringtones and wallpapers that were free are now 99 cents. I take my craft very seriously, as should every artist. I guarantee that if you pay for a feature, it'll be worth every cent but you know that already otherwise you wouldn't have asked me.

I won't charge artist that I feel I can benefit from collabing with or dj's who has a mixtape coming out.

So if you feel you have something to offer that would warrant a free verse, hook or whatever than let me know.

I will not die off in this recession lol....WORD!