Another Great Day In Harlem

This is my account of one of the most historic days in recent history. Now first off you have to know that I personally I had a lot of back and forth debate within myself about whether I would vote in this years election. Personally I feel that the whole political process is antiquated and needs to go. After the Gore / Bush election I had lost faith in the democratic process. I stopped voting altogether so I hadn't planned on things being much different this year.

Now the other side of the coin was that this year we had a black man who was running for office. Not only was we black, this brother was qualified and in my opinion the best possible candidate. This would be a momentous occasion and how could I not do my part to help this brother pave the way for future generations. I had decided to let events fall into place and wait for a sign that would allow me to make a decision. I took a few photos to show some of the events as they went down and wanted to share a few with you.


This is the Barack Obama and Rakim shirt that a sneaker store had in the window on 125th street. I thought this was kinda stupid because WTF does Barack Obama have to do with Eric B and Rakim? Just another example of how people were pimping Barack and this whole election to make a quick buck. Other examples of this are.













The Barack Obama button lady selling buttons for $2 dollars a pop.












The Rhinestone Barack Obama Shirt which I don't know how much this brother paid for it but he is obviously happy to be wearing it
















So aside from all if the other things being sold on 125th street, Charlie Rangel had made arrangements to have a Jumbotron set up in front of the state office building.
Everyone came there to watch the election results come in on CNN. A few Celebrities showed up as well. I saw Jeremy Piven of Entourage there at some point. I heard fellow Harlemite Dougie Fresh was there, but it was really all about Obama. As you can see there were lots of




News Trucks














People













Even Obama himself showed up to watch the events on the Jumbotron. And for 5 dollars you could even take a picture with him. (I swear if the resurrection happened tomorrow and my people knew about it in advance, they would have T-shirts with Jesus' picture on it talking about “The Comeback 08”)






Anyway, I had decided a way that I could still vote without being a hypocrite and participating in the political process myself. I wanted my daughters to be able to understand the significance of this moment so I decided to take them into the voting booth with me. This way they would be the ones pulling the lever and actually voting in my name (I know its a stretch but It works for me) I took this picture so that they would be able to show their kids one day that they voted in this election.










This is a picture I took maybe 30 minutes later of the aftermath of a buncha Bloods jumping on someone in front of the building around the corner from my house. No matter what is happening you can still expect some cats to act totally uncivilized in the face of progress.







The only thing left to do now was to sit back and wait for the election results to come in. When they did, Harlem exploded. There were White, black Hispanic, Asian east Indian, all races running and shouting in the streets, hi-fiving and hugging each other. It was a celebration even bigger than New Years. I have never seen anything like it and I gotta say it was beautiful.







We went into PJ's which is a bar around the corner from my house to watch Barack Obama's acceptance speech. This made the day even more historic since PJ's is a place that I would never be caught dead in. It was great to see my people happy and celebrating but it was even better to know that we had a black president who won this election with class and handled himself with dignity.




I even got to get some video footage. I shot this footage at 1am on 133rd Street and 7th avenue in Harlem in front of PJ's Lounge on the night that Barack Obama was elected our nations 44th President. I wanted to show that the excitement was still in the air. Please forgive me for sounding so ghetto in the clip but I was soooo tired.



I hope that my people will take note and be the change that they want to see the same way brother Barack did.

Another summer blog gone by..

So this is the opening paragraph of the blog where I say how much I am sorry about not posting more often and how its just been so busy lately and how I promise to step up my blogging game and add entries more frequently and yadda yadda yadda and so on. So if we can all agree that we know that's what happens here then lets agree to just move on and act we all know that I'm gonna try to do a better job if it. Ok?

Ah, the summer that was this past summer. It was a busy time for me as I did my usual of racking up the frequent flyer miles. What were some memorable things that happened this summer? Well we shot more videos to support our album, tha radio show moved full steam ahead and the "From Dusk Til Dawn" CD kept moving units. We shot out video for our next single, "The Buckdown" and it was cool. We were doing one take and some random chick decides to jump her ass in front of the camera like she's in the group or something but other than that everything was fine. Big shouts to everyone who came through and supported. It was much appreciated.

The state of Hip Hop pretty much remained stagnant as usual with only a few decent offerings coming out this summer. I cant say that I got caught up in all tha "Little Wayne" hysteria but I can say that independent Hip Hop offered some good music that mainstream radio slept on as usual. Not that thass anything new though, radio has been sleeping for years. I am glad to see my cats in the underground stepping up to the plate. I have come to the conclusion that I am more interested in playing unsigned and independent artists than mainstream major label artists because they just seem to have a lot more substance lately. If fact, if you are an independent Hip Hop artist and would like to get your music to me for consideration for airplay on our radioshow, send me an e-mail or mp3 of your music to the address listed below.

Priest@priestforever.net Subject: Radio show submission

Please make sure that your music is radio edited. I don't have time to edit it myself so please make sure it is clean.

Tha superhero movies were in full effect this summer as well. I enjoyed "Iron Man" and was surprised at how good "The Hulk" was. Batman was a classic but Hancock was some old bullshit. Tropic Thunder was alright. I think that Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise were the funniest things in the movie but I am looking forward to "Burn After Reading". The Cohen Brothers make some funny movies. Rent "Raising Arizona" or "The Big Lebowski" if you don't believe me. I know its "No Country For Old Men" that everyone is buzzing about but I haven't seen that one yet so in my mind they are still primarily comedy directors.

I'm so glad that the football season is in full effect now. I have had these Giants fans giving me the business all summer and now it is time for my Cowboys to redeem themselves. The sad truth of the matter is that with Brady gone for the season, the NY Jets with Brett Farve now have a better chance of making the playoffs than the NY Giants do. Also big ups to Serena Williams for winning her 3rd US Open.

As for this upcoming election, all I'm gonna say about that is I'm voting, "Eric B. for President" (Clap ya hands and do what he's doing...) I know that if Obama does get elected to office, black people are gonna act like it is a national holiday. I can't wait to see it unfold, cats soming in to work late talking about "Man, its national Obama Day, I aint even supposed to be at work today!" I thought about getting some t-shirts made up if he did win that would say "Tha Black Man Wins Again!" the problem is I cant ever really figure out when we won the first time.

Other than that I'm gonna, well you know what I'm gonna say here, just keep checking back man...

March Madness

Wow, what a month

Aside from seeing another birthday come and go, I have had the pleasure of seeing the independent release of my latest project. I feel like I could just pass out from being so tired but the grind continues. There were a lot of good things that happened this March and that makes me feel very optimistic about the future. We got some solid support from people and a lot of positive feedback about the material. There is still much work to be done though.

Sadly I will have to remix and re-master the album but it is enough for heads to get the idea and that is a good thing. What’s important is that we were able to accomplish something that the system tries to tell you cant be done. There is so much good independent music out there that never gets heard but what artists have to do is learn how to do for self. Self reliance, cooperative economics, even the bartering system all comes into play when you are trying to do things yourself. Maybe you dont have the money to pay someone but what can you do for them in return? I’m not suggesting anything crazy, I’m just pointing out that you can help people and they will help you in return. These are the actions that form solid friendships that last through time.

I dont have enough time to list everyone but I do wanna thank the Equilibrium Radio Team and all of our supporters and sponsors who helped out this past month. Whether you came to one of the shows, gave items for the gift bags or helped spread the word about the material your actions were appreciated. Thanks to all of the promoters and venues that held us down as well. We look forward to coming back and playing these places again so be on the lookout. Remember that the summer is coming and we intend to bring nothing but heat!

I’m keeping it brief cause I’m about to get some sleep but I will be posting video of the shows soon for all to see.

Thanks for your support

Priest Forever

One Down Two Ta Go...

It was a great show. Shouts out to everyone who came thru and supported Tha Gecko Brothas last night at Amy G Funk / The Underscore. Special shouts out go to "Chilly G" (Brrrrrrr) for coming up with the new catchphrase of tha night.

Dont forget to come out to support the other dates on March 25th (Album Release Party) and the Emcee Challenge @ E.O.W. on March 30th

Peace
Priest Forever

Valentine's Day Joints

So we had to put these promotional mix cds together for our radio show but I wanted to make them available to good music lovers everywhere. The CDs are for Valentines day. One is all Hip Hop songs about love and relationships. The other CD is a mix of soul classics that you can put on for those romantic moments.

Please download them, burn them to cd, pass them around, whatever you want to do just get the music out. Also, fwd this e-mail out to anyone else who you think would enjoy the music. They are both I-pod ready and I have added the links and play lists below.

Hit me up with your feedback, questions, and music requests.

Hope you enjoy tha music.

P


Crys Breezy presents tha Equilibrium Radioshow Valentines Day Mixtape

01 Equilibrium Intro Crys Breezy
02 Brown Sugar Mos Def
03 Hot Thing Talib Kweli
04 I Want You Common
05 Selfish Slum Village / Kanye West
06 Shout Outs Crys Breezy
07 Teenage Love Affair Alicia Keys
08 Number One John Legend
09 You Should Be Here Dangelo - Raphael Siddiq
10 You Got Me Singing S.B.
11 Shout Outs Crys Breezy
12 Bonita Applebum A Tribe Called Quest
13 Come Closer Remix Common / Erykah Badu / Pharell / Q-Tip
14 Shout Outs Crys Breezy
15 Climax Slum Village
16 Find My Way A Tribe Called Quest
17 Shout Outs Crys Breezy
18 Tha Letta Tha Gecko Brothas
19 All Of Me 50 Cent
20 You And I J Dilla / Dangelo / Common
21 Step My Game Up Little Brother
22 I Need Love LL Cool J
23 Love You Betta LL Cool J
24 I'd Rather Be With You N.W.A. / Bootsy Collins
25 Shout Outs Crys Breezy
26 You Are Tha One Mos Def
27 If I Dont Love You This Way The Jacksons
28 Playing Your Game Buffalo Soldiers / Barry White
29 Shout Outs Crys Breezy
30 Cross My Mind Jill Scott
31 Brown Skin India Arie
32 Feel Like Making Love Dangelo
33 You And I Emily King
34 Shout Outs Crys Breezy
35 Coming To Break You Off Tha Roots

Download: http://www.zshare.net/download/7196775650e0ff/



Priest Presents Soul Standards Volume 1 Tha Love Ballads

01 Greatest Inspiration - Teddy Pendergrass
02 If Only You Knew - Patti Labelle
03 Send For Me - Atlantic Starr
04 Sparkle - Cameo
05 Love Train - Confunkshun
06 How Bout Us - The Manhattans
07 Can't Hide Love - Earth Wind and Fire
08 Love Ballad - L.T.D.
09 Say Yeah - The Commodores
10 Prince - Do Me Baby
11 Very Special - Debra Laws
12 Attitudes - The Bar Kays
13 Love Of My Own - Average White Band
14 No Hiding Place - The Gap Band
15 I Want To Be Free - The Ohio Players
16 Morris Day And The Time - Gigaloes Get Lonely Too
17 Marvin Gaye - You Sure Love To Ball
18 I Try - Phyllis Hyman
19 Cause I Love You - Lenny Williams

Download: http://www.zshare.net/download/7220848886a501/

U betta watch for tha signs mann

I have always believed that sometimes signs come from the strangest places. The hard part is that sometimes you have just got to lay back and try to be aware of the signs when they reveal themselves.

As most of you know I am finishing up a album with my man John O called "From Dusk Til Dawn". Now while the material is crazy, I am in the final stages of mixing and that is a tedious process (See my earlier blog on mixing). Plus I still gotta deal with everything else I need to deal with and it can get a little frustrating when you are working on so many different things. I find that sometimes you tend to feel like a project is not moving quickly enough for where you are trying to go with it.

Well I was feeling like this and then found myself watching TV. While flipping through tha channels, I came across an Quentin Tarintino interview on MSG. Since we named the Gecko Brothas project after the movie that Quentin did, I took it as a sign to see what the brother was talking about. They'd asked him what the toughest film he'd ever worked on was.

Quentin said that before he was well known, he had worked on a film project spending money he didnt have to buy film to do it for 5 years and at the end of all that, he had nothing come of it. No major movie deal or anything. He said that seeing that project thru was his proudest accomplishment because for him to have stuck to it and not given up on it showed a lot of growth in himself as and artist and although it was never released for everything that came with it he was glad to have done it. He kept pushing through it. Sounds like a sign to me. I got another sign a week ago.

I am a lover of music and I have a decent record collection. When I took the pic for my "Beast Within" mixtape that I put on my myspace profile, I was trying to recreate the feel of those old soul album covers where cats didnt have on a shirt on some old Al Green, Isaac Hayes type shit. Apparently a lot of people who saw it thought I was trying to be on some "I'm too sexy for my shirt" shit which was not my goal.

While there are a lot of cats are on here with tha shirtless pics chasing ass, (and females too) I am not one of them This is why I posted in big letters on my profile I DIDNT COME HERE TO MACK, I'M ABOUT THA MUSIC. Still what i found out is that some people never read the small print and thought I was trying to show some skin. I just wrote it off to the concept going over peoples heads. Then this week, I saw the video for Erykah Badu's Honey and I knew that some people DO get it.

If you haven't seen it go here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x46v8r_erykah-badu-honey_music


(ps: you get mad points if you can name all of the album pics in the video. Ten extra points for the magazine cover)

She recreated all of the old soul album covers and interjected herself into them.(The damn thing is brilliant.) Now if you just are from the mp3 age you might not get it but if you are a DJ or vinyl purist like myself you could really appreciate it. (She killed it with the Earth wind and Fire cover), Anyway I took it as a sign to keep thinking outside tha box.

Artists think like artists and that is what makes them artists. Everyone is not gonna get it. Not all of the Beatles were feeling "Let It Be" when Paul McCartney auditoned it for them. They didn't think it fit into their sound but they were true enough to the art to put it out there and look what happened. It is one of their biggest hits. Sometimes you just gotta look for the signs. I tell ya.

Have you ever had any signs that you saw and knew were meant for you specifically? How did they affect you?

Holla back
P

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

I was sitting here watching this TV show called The Lords Of Brooklyn"about a Hip Hop / Rock band and their struggles to achieve that next level of stardom. In a lot of ways their situation parallels my own. They have that underground notoriety but keep getting their heads bumped when trying to get to that next level. It made me sit down and revisit a few thoughts that had been swimming around in my head for a while. Now, while I'm not big on new years resolutions, I'm big on moving forward so I decided to try something different this year.

This year I've decided to go extra hard in terms of my career. All of the opportunities I used to turn down I will take and all of the doors that were once closed I intend to kick down. If one way of doing things do not work for you, you have to try another and I have finally reached the point where I can accept that. Being the true Pisces that I am, I'm not gonna do anything until I get good and ready and I am finally at the point where I am ready to accept my destiny. I can't avoid it any longer. Everything is pushing me in a direction and I can no longer avoid the inevitable.

The radio show is more cohesive than it has ever been and I am happy about that. We finally have a solid team that all contributes something that makes the show better. The Damented Mindz movie is coming together and now we have 28 skits posted on YouTube so we are getting there slowly but surely. The Gecko Brothers Album is pure fire and I am shocked because this was something that went from a mixtape to an full out album. It was just supposed to be a couple of cats from the block collaborating on a track or two and now its gotten real serious. I'm impressed with John O's lyric game and the fact he has made it really hard for cats to half step on this joint so I can't wait for everyone else to hear it. And the Priest album is gonna.. Mann, You just gotta hear it.

So It will be a good year. I'm happier than I have been in a loooong time and now I've got great people in my life that support what I do and have made it easy for me to take it to that next level. Its up to me to do it. I'm getting a camera and I'm gonna document the changes I go thru and post them on tha blog for all to see. Should be interesting to see. A lot of other things are in the works but I can't mention them yet. You will just have to stick around to see what happens. Keep checking back and I will keep you posted. Also feel free to write me back on these blogs I wanna get your feedback and see how it goes down.

With that being said, hope you have a happy and productive New Year as well

Priest Forever
Harlem's Most Dangerous Emcee