Keeping the torch of conscious thought lit

Next Wednesday me and my DJ, Mike Colossal, fly to San Diego to rock a show with our friend Lumis opening up for FatLip of the legendary group The Pharcyde. The next day we are doing a radio interview in Los Angeles on this station called Huskey Radio, which is one of the most listened to underground hip hop shows in Southern California. Then, on Friday, the three of us roll out to Tucson, AZ to rock a show at this bar called Plush with some bands from out there that requested that we open their show for one of the dudes in the headlining band’s birthday. I guess dude saw us rock in Tucson when we were there on tour in July and wanted us to come back. The next morning me and Mike Colossal get on a plane in Phoenix and fly back to Sacramento in time to attend the SAMMIES Block Party (Sacramento Area Music Awards). This sounds like some rock star stuff to me….. how the heck did this happen? LOL!

Just a little over a year ago, if you had told me the success that I would find this year, I would have thought you were making up elaborate stories about me and shrugged it off. I know that 2011 still has ¼ left, but man, the first 3/4ths has been AMAZING. This year alone I have played in over 20 cities in 9 states, more than half of them more than once this year. When my new album drops next month, it will be my second release in the past 12 months. I have been on TV and radio shows this year. With the help of Life’s A Beach Productions, I released my first ever music video this year and have already filmed the second one which comes out next month. I have opened up for the likes of Acyalone, Myka9, Abstract Rude, and Rifleman. I got to not only open for and travel with Sach Illpages for the shows on my birthday weekend in June, I got to get to know an emcee that I looked up to when I was coming up back in the mid 1990’s who’s music made a major impact on me as him and his lovely wife stayed at me and my wife’s house here in Sacramento. I met the legendary emcee Percey P in Los Angeles after he had just enjoyed watching MY set! (what the heck?!?!) I have had the chance to make an impact on the lives of so many true hip hop heads all over the Western United States this year. Honestly, I can not even begin the express the gratitude that I have to God for these blessings. People who really know me know that I am not a very religious person, but I am VERY spiritual and I feel that my personal spirituality had a lot to do with the place that I am in life right now. I also can attribute a great deal of my success to the support of my wonderful wife Heather. Before I met her I was just kind of spinning my wheels. I had been working on my last album, Once Again, for several years and was no closer to finishing it than I was when I began the project. Heather provides me with the encouragement to keep going and the kick in the ass when the encouragement does not work! LOL!

I am not trying to write this to brag about all of my success or rub in all that I have done this year, but rather to express how humbled I am from this and also thank everyone who supports me in this. I have been blessed enough to be surrounded by amazing people this year, many of whom were mere acquaintances or friends before, but now are more like family to me.

I am going to end here as I could yammer on and on and on all night about this. But once again, thank you to everyone for everything. Much love and respect.

-Mr. P Chill

Every once in a great while I like to look at what is popular in hip hop and see where the trends are going. Tonight I got to see this dude Wacka Flocka Flames video for this song called I Go Hard In The Paint. As I watched this I could feel myself being dumbed down by this yammering fool. What happened to having substance in your music? Its ok to have high energy and to have some fun, but this dude is ridiculous! Then I notice that this dude has the nerve to call his album “Flockaveli” like Macaveli aka Tupac, FUCK THAT! Tupac may have done some materialistic thugged out shit, but Tupac had style for one and spread a message, even on some of his thugg shit, something that Wacka Flocka Seagulls or whatever this fools name is don’t have! I get very let down by the direction hip hip takes sometimes. This sucker has 35million views of his wack video on youtube, but I would rather have my few hundred views of mine than have to be a complete idiot like this guy. Sorry to rant on like this, I just feel that it is sad the direction so many in hip hop are going these days. It is time for all of us who are true emcees to take things back to the golden age of boom-bap, to the days of knowledge in our lyrics, to the days where wack emcees got kicked off the stage no matter how much money they have behind them or no matter how much of a gangsta they claim to be. See, this is why I need to just stay in my little corner of hip hop and create for all the TRUE heads out there, I get all pissed off when I venture out to see whats hot in main stream hip hop! This is why I go out on the road and tour. It is my duty, and all of us who make conscious hip hop, to spread the word. We have an obligation as a culture to save it and to spread the truth to the youth. I could almost bet that this wack ass dude I watched on youtube tonight has NO IDEA of the true history of our art form and our culture! If THIS guy is the direction that hip hop is taking, I want to branch off and make some other genre of music that is NOT always associated with garbage like this. I want to be able to tell a stranger that I rap and not get that funny look of question as they envision me doing something like this dude was doing in the video tonight. I want people when they learn of what I do to stop saying shit to me like “Yo yo yo…..boyeeeeee!” like that is supposed to be funny. This shit is serious to me, this has been my passion for over two decades. It is not going anyplace and my style will not be changing to some wack bullshit so don’t expect to hear me on the radio or see me on your favorite video show any time soon. I make music for other cats like me, and yes, these days there are fewer of them than say ten years ago, but you are all out there and to you all I am greatful for all of the support you have shown me.

Ok, I am done with my ranting, it is time for me to get some rest. I have a lot to do tomorrow and I have to go fight the good fight for hip hop as I do every day no matter what.

PEACE & BLESINGS!

-Mr. P Chill

I have been busy working on stuff on my computer for the past few weeks getting ready for the show Thursday.  I really don’t watch TV, but I will sometimes turn it on for background noise while I work.  I have had the trashiest television on for the past hour or two and I can not believe the people on these shows.  First, why would you put your business out on front street like that?  Second, why do these people who are given info that they are being cheated on so “shocked” that they were given bad news?  If I was to be called up and told to be a guest on Springer or Maurie, I KNOW that something bad is gonna happen and I would not go!!!

It is sad that as a society our entertainment includes laughing at the pain and heartache of others. 

What are your thoughts on this?

-Mr. P Chill

Old soul music, black tea and the sun shining.  It is times like these that I really enjoy living in the moment.  So many of us speed through life at breakneck speed and forget that the little things in each moment are what make life worth living.  This kind of thought process helps me through tough situations where things can feel hopeless or overwhelming.  Maybe this is what Lionel Ritchie had in mind when he recorded “Easy Like Sunday Morning”?

Hope you all have a good day as well and live in your moment!

-Mr. P Chill

Ok, so I am trying to use as many social networking and blog sites as I can to promote this new CD and my music as I can and I am amazed at how the game has changed in just a couple years.  As a lot of my long time fans know, I took a couple years off to work on myself and on new music.  Before I took my break, I used myspace mainly as the way to reach fans on the internet, other than that, it was just word of mouth and shows.  One of my DJ’s told me that I need to get more active online, so here I am, trying to reach out to you all.  I do kind of like it, I mean, when I am at a show, I like to reach out to my fans from the merch table and meet them and whatnot.  This is sort of the same thing, only over the computer.  I have my stuff up on myspace (still), Facebook, Twitter, Reverbnation, CD Baby, and a few others… which ones do you all recommend that I try?

I will be posting again soon…..

PEACE & BLESSINGS!

-Mr. P Chill