Chased literacy, only to find it illegible. BRIDGINGthe Gap.

2010-07-31T12:56:00.001-07:00

I ain't dead. I've been mad overloaded.
Catch a couple interviews within the month. Promise.

Yeezy's.

2010-05-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

My friend was having trouble parting with his Yeezy's he is attempting to sell. As a memoir, I took a couple photos for him. I'm not a sneakerhead whatsoever, but I must say the Yeezy's have such a classy look to them. Enjoy!

I finally got to explain myself.

2010-04-25T22:39:00.000-07:00

My good friend got to sit down and ask me a buncha questions for his project. I feel like this is something people hafta understand before they assume things about me.

1. Introduce yourself..

Just an average individual trying to do average things that please my interests, nothing special.

2. What are some of your hobbies?

I’ve been heavily into hip-hop and clothing for as long as I can remember through high school. Lately I’ve really been exploring aspects of photography. On the side, I like to write as well.

3. What is your blog about?

Hip-Hop , journalism, photo, lifestyle, events.

4. When and Why did you start it?

My blog really started as a joke. I was sitting down in Singapore over summer bored out of my mind. I called my good friend, Kyle and we decided to build something. I got a few interviews from some music artists and we decided to make a more professional redesign. Ever since then it’s just been going.

5. What are your plans with it for the future?

I’d like to make a magazine, well I’m in the process of it right now. I’d also like to expand my photography skill and hopefully get enough equipment for a low-key, trashy garage studio.

6. Tell me about your magazine…

I got sick of the blog after a while and really wanted to take things to the next level. I still blog but I think it’s time to raise the standards. Even if I can only supply enough effort for one issue, it’s something I’d definitely want to do.

7. Will it be for sale? If so, where at?

My goal is to hopefully get 100 in print. It’ll be online as well to order as a hard copy. Most likely 50-60 will go away to the friends, and I hope to sell 40 at a more professional level.

8. What notable names have you interviewed in the past?

Honestly speaking, high names were not in my agenda. The people at the top of the music industry right now are not the most talented and impossible to reach, so why bother? Some of the bigger underground people are probably rappers Blu, Donny Goines. The clothing brand Adapt Advancers.

9. Tell me about your photography…

To be honest with you, I consider myself terrible! It’s just a fun way to express myself.

10. Do you plan to be a photographer someday?

As cool as that’d be, I don’t think it’s possible. I wouldn’t work well under pressure and don't have talent in the subject.

11. What kind of style of clothing do you prefer?

If I’m wearing a graphic tee it has to have a concept of some sort to hip-hop culture. Lately, I prefer more of a mature style like Banana Republic and such stores.

12. Who are some of your favorite music artists/genre(s)?

I really don’t listen to anything out of hip-hop much. Favorite underground artists are Blu, Cyne. In the mainstream, I like Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

13. What hot trends do you see happening now and for the future?

I see the hype constantly shifting. Recently was on hip-hop culture, which was irritating because it was impossible to differentiate who actually likes and knows the culture from who thinks its just cool to be on the current hype.

14. Do you plan on attending college? If so, which one?

I do plan on attending college. I’m not quite sure in where yet. In general I feel the whole high school system is messed up beyond the point of description. I’d like to do extensive research to make sure the college I go to is in fact a good college and in no way like the current high school education system.

15. What will be your major?

If I find what I’m good at by that time I’ll pursue it.

16. Do you have a partner(s) in your ventures?

My good friend Kyle Casipit has been down since day one. Everyone that’s ever given me the slightest bit of support I appreciate as well.

17. If people want to learn about your ventures, how can they do so?

You can always check the blog, www.bridginthegap.blogspot.com or talk to me in person.

18. If you had to pick one, which would it be?

Probably a magazine, it’s been a dream of mine for a while.

19. Where will you be in 10 years?

My guess is as good as yours. Although, it would be nice to have a simple place in New York or San Francisco. I’m not out to try to chase extravagance, I’d rather be enjoying whatever I do.

Spring break recap.

2010-04-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

So my Spring break was last week. Overall, the first couple days were cool. I got to spend some time with a good friend I never really get to see much in SF for Saturday. Sunday, kicked it with the Daly City people. Then, literally everyone left for vacation as I was stranded in boredom. From a relaxation standpoint, it was coo. From a satisfaction standpoint, it failed haha. A short photo recap, no special photos, sorry. I suck haha.

"From The Westside, With Love.

2010-04-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

Been bumpin that new Dom Kennedy tape all day.

Fool, ain't nothin changed but the address.

2010-03-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

I can't explain how crazy this is. Very impressive.

Emotion Starters.

2010-03-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder, do people do this kinda thing for attention or do they truly believe what they are saying? Some questions have no answer.

Donnis Sucks.

2010-03-15T00:19:00.000-07:00

So I tweeted, "Donnis Sucks." Because he does.
And Donnis seems to search himself quite often because I never gave the @donnisxdonnis. Haha.. So it turns out I have reached my first beef in this industry, Donnis. I feel like I'm finally a part of hip-hop. Haha, kidding. But in all seriousness, it was funny as hell. sightRIZE Vs. Donnis beef?! Ahhh yeah I'm down! Haha.
"Me: Donnis sucks."
"DonnisXDonnis: donnis sucks? TITTIES!!!!"
"Izzakizza: Ha..boy yous a fool..LOL"
Donnis you still suck. This hasn't changed my opinion of you whatsoever. I don't see why you deserve any hype.
I declare beef. Damn, this feels cool. Haha.
&If Donnis happens to search himself on google too.. :D
Dear Donnis,
I have more West Coast back than you :) Take my word for it.&Stop searching yourself, you're only gonna get disappointed, more people check my blog than your music. You may be working with Chip Tha Ripper&Kidz In The Hall but I don't see why. You're the weakest link. They are probably just using your hype, cause they don't need your talent.
EDIT: Donnis has said he did not put me on blast and it's all love.
But make no mistake, he still sucks. I'm not letting go. Haha.

I've Been Upto.

2010-03-12T00:05:00.000-08:00

Absolutely nothing. I spend everyday besides Friday through Sunday the same way, in front of some sort of speaker attentively listening to attractive sounds that penetrate my mental. Or in front of the books attempting to learn things that don't matter to me *trig.

I made cupcakes with my baking buddy for a friends birthday. Don't judge, you know you're feenin for some.

Bored with Kyle. We climb hills for no reason in particular.

sightRIZE Questions Adapt Clothing.

2010-02-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

Among the elite of Bay Area brands is Adapt. Their shirts are just an icon to anybody that resides in the Bay. I met the founder this summer and got to talk to the dude about what the brand is about. Just a fun fact, about a minute ago I bought my moms the 93til tee for a small portion of her birthday gift! Haha. Sorry ma, I can't stand Ann Taylor. You can buy anything and everything Adapt here
sightRIZE: How was Adapt founded?
Adapt: Adapt was always a project I had wanted to do since doing clothing sketches during High School. When I had the resources I started printing some stuff in college, and then really got it going as soon as I graduated.
sightRIZE: What are the inspirations behind the designs?
Adapt: The Adapt line pulls inspiration from many areas, but particularly through Music, Art, Design as a practice, Literature, the Bay Area, and general street, youth, and pop culture.

sightRIZE: Complete the sentence, Adapt can best be described as..
Adapt: Adapt can be best described as a brand that tries to speak to a lot of different people, but without being too overbearing or preachy in any one direction. As our name would imply, we try and work with the various aspects of life that make us who we are, while continuing to advance and improve on the people we are becoming.
sightRIZE: What music is currently circulating in your system?
Adapt: Recent listens: A bunch of mid to late 90's hip hop and RnB, Hopie Spitshard, Sade, Hieroglyphics, Pinback, the SXSW compilations, Shawn Chrystopher, Adele....
sightRIZE: How did the '93til collab occur?
Adapt: The 93 'til project was something that can about real naturally. 93 'til infinity is one of my personal favorite joints of all time, any genre, period. It just makes you feel good to be alive. The 93 'til concept, of just going on into the future, just really works with the whole advancement concept that Adapt tries to impress. So a lot of reasons why it needed to happen. My good homie Space made the connection with those guys and the rest is history...stay tuned for some more stuff as well that we think people are really going to like.
sightRIZE: What is your personal favorite Adapt tee&why?
Adapt: My personal favorite tee is an old one from one of the first seasons that pays homage to the old comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. I really liked the execution and that comic was highly inspirational to many aspects of my life today, from design to vocabulary to thoughts on life.
sightRIZE: What can we expect from the future of Adapt?
Adapt: Expect a lot in 2010 from Adapt. We are extremely excited about the Spring lineup, and winter will see some cut and sew items.
sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
Adapt: Thanks to the homie for holding us down with this interview, and thanks to all those that support what we do. Follow us on twitter :: @AdaptAdvancers and visit us at www.adaptclothing.com

PEACE.

Sneak Preview: Magazine.

2010-02-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

First article for the magazine I'm currently working on. Feel free to email me at bridgingthegap13@yahoo.com to provide criticism.

Here's the logo the dude KZA made. Apologize for the bad quality picture, after all this is a sneak preview right?

Not so sure if "Full Circle" will be the final title, I mean Hieroglyphics did have their full circle album.. I didn't want to make it seem as if we are trying to emulate their title.

Enjoy!

..........

"Hip-Hop Is Dead."
"Lil Wayne Is The Greatest Rapper Alive."
"If underground artists are so good, then why are they underground?"
-The Misinformed.

As I walk through an average day of school, multiple times in the day I find myself chuckling at these idiots who are making outrageous comments about the current state of hip-hop, and the number of poorly informed people within the community makes me wonder. Is this the current state of hip-hop? It can't be.
I searched and searched through the vast depths of my head till I found an answer.
Hip-Hop is far from dead, what's dead is the community.
I asked some people, why is hip-hop dead to you?
"Nas said it's dead!" -Misinformed #1
My response: Guru of Gang Starr implied it was going downhill back in '98.

"If heads only knew how I felt about the rap game they'd relocate, and change their fuckin name." And you're clearly misinterpreting Nas's quote.
"Because the songs on the radio don't change!" Misinformed #2
My response: The songs on the radio are falling in quality, but whose fault is that? The listeners for encouraging this music.
The bottom line is, most of the community has become underexposed to the true hip-hop and this is why the definition has changed. Those accustomed to listening to the radio in it's golden age are complaining that hip-hop is dead when really they need to evolve and expand their horizons. The underground is shining more than ever.
Which brings me to another interesting point the misinformed say, "If underground artists are so good, then why are they underground?"
First and foremost, like it or not, music is a game of luck. No matter how talented a rapper is, there are chances they may stay underground forever. They could have the most impressive lyrics, the best beats, but they may still be stuck in the underground. It's a game of luck and connections. My response, if mainstream artists are so good, then why aren't they lyrically better than the underground? Believe it or not, there are underground artists that can contest to a Hov verse.
The most ridiculous argument I've heard is the greatest rapper alive topic.
In newspaper a kid told me Lil Wayne is the greatest rapper alive. I usually don't participate in these dumb debates, but I told him I could name off 10 rappers of the top that were better than him. He tells me, "You haven't heard Lil Wayne's mixtapes! Nas hardly releases shit!"
I felt retarded for even trying to argue. These people are narrow minded. According to these kind of people, since legendary groups such as Pharcyde are over with, that makes them not among the greats. To make things clear, there is no such thing as the greatest rapper alive. If there was, it certainly isn't Lil Wayne. But if people refuse to see this, that's the real problem with the hip-hop community, the inability to recognize talent.
True hip-hop isn't dead, it's just been hit hard with unfamiliar substance that have changed it's makeup. It's a complex hole the community has been dug into. In my opinion, the golden age is gone. But it lives through the underground. As for the mainstream? It'll just keep getting redefined till the community can change itself.
Hip-Hop isn't dead, Lil Wayne isn't the greatest rapper alive, underground rappers are talented, &anybody who can't see this is clearly misinformed.

sightRIZE Questions Fongstarr.

2010-02-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

Mr.Fongstarr, is one of the top tier blogs out there. I got the chance to ask Fongstarr a few questions, damn is he witty.

sightRIZE: Your blog, has become quite popular within the culture. How did it come about?
Fongstarr: The story is nothing you haven't heard. Blogs are pretty much old fashion diaries in the digital form since humans don't write freehand no more. To this day, my blogging is like a therapy session on just things I like to keep a tally on in my life. I honestly don't try to advertise it or promote it any more then what it is. I look at it like if you found my blog by accident and happened to enjoy the content, then that's cool beans with me.
sightRIZE: Photography seems to be something you've instilled into your daily life, was there something that made you want to do photography?
Fongstarr: I grew up in a great era where I was exposed to a lot of different genres and fads. You kind of just gradually pick things up if you stick to a general audience like say hip-hop culture. In the 90's you had an era of great West-Coast gangsta beats and cruddy ass East Coast lyrics. In the early millennium, it was all about disco candy shit with raves and scratch DJing techno buffoonary. There's so much more in between but you gradually get into things like skating, turntablism, graffiti, designing, collecting shoes and fixing up bucket ass civics. I think photography is kind of a mature natural progression from all that. I am going to be 29 this year and I am the laziest I have ever been. Photos give me instant gratification in almost 1 second flat. It just makes me feel like I am still being creative in a shitty ass way.
sightRIZE: Your current view on sneakers?

Fongstarr: I am glad to say I am out of the pop scene with shoes. Bobby put up a post on The Hundreds that spoke of my generation of shoe nerds. I was that kid that used to wake up early on release dates but now it's all just silly for me. 80% of the time, I rock $30 Payless kicks at my job, so there is no real reason to buy hyped up sneakers anymore. I have 30 pairs at the moment and at least 20 of them make me look like a tool if I wear them. I do still love my J-Rods though just cause it encompasses such a nice collective of people in the collaboration (Jordan/Tinker and SB/P-Rod). Close second has to be my Vans 3 Feet And Rising pack and 3rd is my tie-dyed HUF hi's SB.

sightRIZE: Complete the sentence. A daily life in the shoes of Fongstarr is...
Fongstarr: ...pretty simple actually. Obviously I don't document my down days so there is a whole lot of nothing going on as well. I am just like anyone else that eats, drinks and shits. I just like to carry a camera when I do it. I do have to give credit to the city of San Francisco though. There are no excuses not to do anything out here.
sightRIZE: What music are you currently listening to?

Fongstarr: I've been out of the loop on new music especially on all those freshman artists like Cudi, Drake and Wale. I have a consistent amount of +6000 mp3s that hasn't really moved in years. I am also heavily influenced by skate videos and music that I definitely would not have been exposed to otherwise. I probably listened to Siouxsie And The Banshees' "Spellbound" 50 times since I saw it on the Transworld vdeo. I did like Q-Tip's Renaissance album that came out last year. Knew it wouldn't make a splash with what people like these days but good to me nonetheless. I just got the new Soldier Of Love album by Sade but can't really put my opinion on it as of yet. Hard to surpass Lover Rock but I am just glad she is making music again. And right now, my iPod is laced with Jeezy, Killa Cam and Howard Stern podcasts.

sightRIZE: When you started the site, did you plan to stick with it for this long?

Fongstarr: It's hard to say. I'll keep updating it as long as this photography craze is still in me but sometimes that even takes a toll. If you think about it, blogs are only interesting if you display it in a fine fashion. Doesn't matter if you document yourself sitting on a toilet or traveling to pick up hookers in Asia. As long as you give some proper information whether with words or photos, people will want to read it. It's February and I have seen The Roots, Pharcyde, Dave Chappelle, a musical, a Warriors game, been to art parties and shows and covered my arm with a huge tattoo. When I am older, will it be "My son isn't my child" or "3 pills of Viagra and still no lift!"? I just don't see myself wanting to put that out on a website.

sightRIZE: Is there anything you'd like to add to the site in the future?

Fongstarr: This is the first time I am mentioning it but the past week, I finally put in some work on the CSS coding on my site. It's hard to get away from the blog look but I minimized it as much as I could. I just like it simple with no banner ads or unnecessary Twitter or Facebook links. It's a photo blog so I don't want to defer from that. So now it is just all the flashy stuff like logos and other digital images to make it more complete. I haven't really designed in a while so hopefully it will put a fire in my ass to do some work. Aside from the site, I also hope to expand on my photography equipment with a new camera and maybe mess with external flashes and triggers. I think it is time to take it to a new level and produce some studio style photos.

sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?

Fongstarr: I'll end it like Wu and say peace to man, woman, child and the small audience that I have that actually enjoy viewing what I post. Respects for the interview and a special thanks goes out to Howard Stern for helping me graduate college 5 years ago when I had an hour commute driving at 6 o'clock in the morning to get to my morning classes. If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead at the wheel instead of taking stupid ass photos of my food. I salute you.

sightRIZE Questions Kil Ripken

2010-02-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

As I checked my email expecting the usual spam junk, the newsletters and forum talk something sparked my eye. A message from Kil Ripken saying he's viewed the site and talking about building with us. I was in my webpage design class, and I literally jumped out of my seat in shock. Thanks a lot Kil, people in my webpage design class now think I'm crazy. Haha. For those of you that don't know, Kil's a lyrical monster that tears up every beat he gets on in an intelligen fashion. Rappers can't get on his level. I got a chance to get a glimpse into the mind of the New York based rapper.

sightRIZE: Familiarize yourself for those that may not know.
Kil Ripken: For those who don’t know, I’m Kil Ripkin, straight out of Coney Island, a lot of people know me from The Coalescence with Torae. Before then a lot of people knew me from my EP Black Power, Black Love.
sightRIZE: How was the experience working with Skyzoo and Chaundon?
Kil Ripken: Dope, they are my extended family, some real cats that I really hope to work with again in the future.
sightRIZE: What is a day in the life of Kil Ripkin?
Kil Ripken: Wake up early in the morning and work, music, lovemaking, and taking care of the family. Music of course is a large part of my day.
sightRIZE: Info on your album?
Kil Ripken: The album is the Balancing Act, predominately produced by Eric G, a potent producer out of Seattle. My album includes Kam Moye aka Supastition out of North Carolina, Torae out of Coney Island, and Charles Herron putting it down for the Bronx. Some of the best music to date for myself. I can’t wait for the people to hear the album in its entirety.
sightRIZE: Aftermath was fire, what inspired that?
Kil Ripken: Eric G laced me with some heat, I heard it and got busy. The beat is enough said.
sightRIZE: Some of your favorite artists?
Kil Ripken: It’s difficult to pinpoint each because I’m inspired by many at different moments. Notorious B.I.G. and Rakim are some of my favorites.
sightRIZE: What's the song you're most proud of? Why?
Kil Ripken: There is a jam on the album called, Homesick, I wrote it on the highway, just out of my head; it’s my whole journey from the urban longevity of New York to another place. The song illustrates importance. I am also proud of another joint called, what love is. I constructed and spit every song with huge intentions to really let the people know who I am. No fake things.
sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects we should be looking out for?
Kil Ripken: I have another project coming soon with a young producer out of Chicago, the Exceptionalist, and another project with a dignified beat maker from Atlanta, Raticus.
sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
Kil Ripken: Go out and check out The Balancing Act, I can say with honesty the album is a real identity of music for the soul. Also what up to the rest of my family from coast to coast and borough to borough. Appreciate the interview too.

Be on the update for Kil Ripken, I will be continually following his projects through this site for my hip-hop heads.
The song aftermath is below, it's a storm of lyrics.

Chased literacy, only to find it illegible.

2010-02-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

So this headline is the official motto for the magazine, "Chased literacy, only to find it illegible."
In the meantime I finally invested in a DSLR of my own. My auntie let me use hers for quite a few months, but as I became a bit more serious about it I wanted to invest in lenses. I couldn't do that without a camera of mine, so I picked up a Rebel XSi last weekend. Although it burnt a hole in my pocket, bank account&everything. I still feel it's the best investment I've ever made. I never thought I'd say this, but I have to completely stop my love of buying clothes&music for six months to make room for lenses and accessories. Goddamnit.

First picture with the XSi.
&I will be leaking the first article of the magazine later this week.

English.

2010-02-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

So I had to do a art portion for my Black Boy project in English. I can't draw or take photos for my life. But I attempted photos anyway, it's just English right? Then all I had to do was write a two page essay about how these photos are symbolic to the book. Which quite honestly was simple, considering I BS'd the whole damn thing. Symbolism is so vague that even my BS sounded intelligent. Ending rant now. This was the art part to my project.
Update though?
This week in general has been mad hectic. Maybe I'm just getting in touch with my inner Indian or whatever, pshh. Haha. I need my old life back, y'know the one that was carefree? I used to dream about going to this concert/event, but now I have nightmares of trig. Well there's good news, at least I've finally got my stuff together. Thinking of going to Ithaca after JC and just stacking up on student loans. 33,000 a year for tuition is no joke though. Sacrifice I may have to make for myself to do journalism.
By the way, I'm thinking of leaking the first article of the magazine on here... Should I? Hmm. It is tempting.

Hopie SpitsHard Yummy Video.

2010-02-17T17:51:00.000-08:00

"Dudeee I wanna have an acid trip to this video." Hahaahh. I didn't say it, but a friend did.
Much awaited. The creativity on this is off the charts.
Enjoy!
Now all I need is a Jay Electronica video. Haha.

Hopie Spitshard "Yummy" Official Music Video (Directed by Patricio Ginelsa) from Kid Heroes on Vimeo.

sightRIZE Questions DJ ShamZ

2010-02-14T22:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day! I got to interview the homey, DJ Shamz who dropped his mixtape today. You can download it here. Happy reading. FYI, he isn't kicking the habit. Haha.
Peep shamzs myspace to learn more about the dude and listen to a few tracks.

sightRIZE: Familiarize yourself, what's a quick bio of DJ Shamz?
ShamZ: I was born Africa and moved to Atlanta at 4.
Been here ever since and started making music in 9th grade.
My friend Sumanth came to my crib an FORCED me to write lol.
After that day I just couldn't stop, simply put. My plan is to make music something that can advise an help others when in a state of peril. They chase the money and i chase the fame.
sightRIZE: Let's talk about your mixtape, how are you feeling about it?
ShamZ: Damn Good! It's my first official mixtape an I only plan on gettin bigger an better from here.
sightRIZE: Who are some of your favorite artists?
ShamZ: Tupac, Michael Jackson, Kid Cudi
sightRIZE: What are 3 things DJ Shamz can't live without?
ShamZ: Easy... Family, Friends, an my herbs :)
sightRIZE: Complete the sentence, the current state of hip-hop is..
ShamZ: Experimental! I say that because every big artists recent album has been them doing something different!
sightRIZE: What's one song you'd like to make a video for?
ShamZ: Delhi To Bombay since it was my first track made for the mixtape.
sightRIZE: Any reasons for why you dropped the mixtape on Valentines day?
ShamZ: Its the day you give the one you love the most your gift of love... an this is my gift to music.
sightRIZE: What inspires DJ Shamz?
ShamZ: Happiness.
sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects we should know about?
ShamZ: There are always up an coming tracks ;)
sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
ShamZ: They say WE crazy bout music... I say music is crazy about US ;)

Once again download the mixtape here

I love my eye insurance.

2010-02-06T17:30:00.001-08:00

Chicago Hates You.

2010-02-04T21:58:00.001-08:00

Here's a little hint on what interview is coming up soon...

Interview coming atchu sooner than you think.

Sun clears up the rain, leaving puddles of thought.

2010-01-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

Loungin with goooodpeople in Hayward.

Magazine? I think so!

2010-01-27T12:58:00.001-08:00

I'd like to finally announce something to the public, I will be making a magazine coming atchu soon! The trial and error leading up to the making of this project was tremulous. So tremulous that sometimes the challenges were overwhelming making it difficult for ideas to be feasible. I am pleased to announce that now we're at the stage where making a magazine is more than possible, more than a hope, it's reality. First issue will be a 100 copies in print, 70-80 will be given away to the goood people. 20-30 will be for sale.
I thank you for all the support. This is looking to be a rewarding season.
I'll keep you on the update, till then be easy!

Oh&This means a LOT of late night coffee&tea sessions to complement my lovely junior year! Haha.

sightRIZE Questions Derek Glass Of Manifest Clothing.

2010-01-18T17:26:00.001-08:00

I got the chance to get to understand Manifest clothing with the founder Derek, in perhaps one of the most detailed interviews I've ever received. It's to know how dedicated some people are to the culture. Manifest clothing is more than just a brand, it's one hell of a story itself.
Here are my favorite Manifest designs.

You can buy everything Manifest here

sightRIZE: How did Manifest originate?
Manifest: I started the Manifest brand 9 years ago out of my house. no investors, no partners, nobody bu myself. it was and still is a labor of love. i created all the art and tought myself how to screen print with the most ghetto setup ever. homemade one station screen print press, wood frame screens, grow light, bathroom with no windows and cookie sheets in the oven for curing the ink. that is ghetto but it worked and helped me realize what goes into screen printing and that i don't want to do it in large amounts anymore! having a dedicated printer working for you is a great great thing! as for the reason for starting Manifest, i have always been an artist and a music lover, especially the hip hop i grew up on and listened to in high school in the early 90's. i saw a few people trying to do what i had in mind but nobody was doing it good enough so i created a few shirts for a few friends and myself and then it grew into stores being interested and 9 years later we're still running!
sightRIZE: Out of the all the Manifest designs, which one is your favorite(s)? What is the inspiration behind this design?
Manifest: I would say my favorite Manifest designs would be the simple Manifest logo t's but the fans always come running for the c.r.e.a.m., wu members and a few others that we've kept bringing back for years. off the top of my head my personal favorites would be the biz markie shirt, the tribe (ramones shirt), the we got the jazz, the boyz in the hyundai and the ripper tee. but the one t-shirt that is my personal favorite hands down would be the "listen to paul's boutique" shirt. that shirt sums up the Manifest brand. representing a classic album and trying to spread the word that you need that album in your collection as well and very clean and minimal design. and i guess the inspiration for that shirt comes from the shirts years ago that said listen to black sabbath or listen to bob marley. always loved those so i decided to bring that into the hip hop world.
sightRIZE: Complete the sentence. The current state of hip-hop & the culture is...
Manifest: Well i have to say i am so not in the new "cool" music group. i mostly listen the the classics: tribe, de la, etc or some of the mixtapes on the Manifest website. i'm a sucker for classic hip hop mixtapes. do yourself a favor and check the site and click on the mixtapes link and sit back and enjoy for a few hours. all the classics represented there! i am really missing the sampling and actual dj's in the new hip hop. i know that costs money but come on, that's what helped build hip hop to what it is and now people just drop it?? most of the new hip hop all sounds the same and i can't get down with it at all. the only new hip hop i actually can listen to would be little brother, the roots and other cats like that. i do not own any lil or young anything. no thanks.
sightRIZE: Hip-Hop & Manifest seem to relate. What are some of the albums/mixtapes you're currently bumpin?
Manifest: Actually right this second i'm playing a teddy pendergrass mixtape that's pretty decent. it is sad to see teddy p pass on but he left alot of great music that will live on. other than that, i've got my stable of must have mixtapes: the rub-1992 & 1993, dj jazzy jeff-hip hop forever, pretty much anything from dj neil armstrong (espcially original), pipomix-we got the jazz, vinroc-reconstruction, dj excel- juice mixtape. there are so many but those jump out everytime and are must haves!
sightRIZE: The 11 questions section on your site. How did that come about?
Manifest: Well that section is all about giving some shine to people doing good things and or have inspired me. there are so many other people i'm trying to reach out to, just gotta get more time! it's so amazing to have some of the guys on there that have had a bug influence on me take the time to answer my questions. i got to hang out with cey adams and bill adler in new york last year and that was 100% amazing. those dudes are living legends in the fields and have so many great stories from way back in the early days of def jam. would love to spend more time with them and just listen!
sightRIZE: What influences manifest?
Manifest: I take all my inspiration from classic music, pop culture, graphic design, movies, websites, pretty much anything that inspires me. also seeing some of the other brands i dig cranking out new designs inspires me to keep working and try and get better every season.
sightRIZE: What can we expect from Manifest in the near future?
Manifest: Well i just finished up the Spring/ Summer 2010 catalog and have started sending it out to the stores and be on the lookout for that season to hitting the shelves in mid march. the hats and wallets are a must have as well as lot's of new graphics that i know will be instant hits and some classics brought back one more time.
sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
Manifest: I would like to say thank you for reaching out to me and letting me talk about the Manifest brand. it's all about the old school and the culture of that time and hopefully we are inspiring people to pick up a copy of paul's boutique or low end theory or raising hell and see where the classics came from. there is to many good albums the young kids need to hear!

Mad Inspiration

2009-12-22T20:59:00.001-08:00

Maestro Knows - NYC Edition (13th Witness) from Maestro Knows on Vimeo.

Every time a inspiration of mine slips up, I lose track of my goals, or I worry about the future, I look back at this Maestro episode in particular. &It shows me such a cunning insight I can never see on my own. Sounds pretty crazy, maybe it is, but I feel like whenever I see a Maestro Knows episode I get to enter creative minds at work. It's truly stunning how much one man can do to influence a whole community so positively. Many people are inspired by his work on a daily basis. I'm astonished on how much he shines upon the community. Most people won't see it yet, but this is truly a work of greatness that will be remembered upon for many years to come.
I know I speak for many striving individuals when I say this.

Thanks Maestro for providing us with the insight&inspiration we need to keep going.

2009 Recap

2009-11-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

You know the drill. Me saying "Bests&Worsts" is solely my opinion&an exaggeration since I haven't heard or seen everything. Feel free to disagree and make suggestions, don't send emails with "add this to the list."

CLOTHING

Best Brand Of 09- Staple
Me saying Staple is just the best brand of 09 is an understatement. Its influence can't be measured on a imaginable scale. For starters, the NYC Pigeon SB's are the most sought after dunks. Notice the period after dunks. Then they have the Pigeon New Balance, the most iconic new balance. The irony of their fame; they are stocked in the same retailers as The Hundreds, Crooks&Castles and such brands, yet hype never catches their drift as hard.
They keep their buzz within the community to a moderate speck on the radar type of level while still being able to get their sales in. Mainly because hype's destructive eye is too ignorant to see the real quality in true conceptual creativity. I've noticed, people who let streetwear wear them will never see quality in Staple but people who wear streetwear will.
This could be the most influential brands to go down in urban culture.

My two favorite Staple products of the year.

Best Tee Of 09-10Deep (We Don't Play)
The best brand is Staple also because of its consistency, and since it'd be silly of me to use the same brand twice. I'm going to give it to 10Deep. Yeah, I said 10Deep. I know that 10Deep's hype is off the charts right now, they sold themselves to Zumiez. Stooping down to the LRG level. But I gotta hand it to them, as inconsistent and stupid as they can be sometimes they have good product. Some of my favorite pieces in the past have been 10Deep, its either I love their product or I hate it. Right now the way that their hype is pointing I wouldn't buy anymore 10Deep but I'd appreciate it for what thought has been put into it. Its either you hate this tee or love it.

Runner Up: Cmonwealth (Freedom)
This is another one of those things that I really dig, and y'all probably really don't.
Haha.

Best Denim Of 09- Naked&Famous
To be honest, I have never in my high school years so far been able to buy jeans other than Levi's. Prices are insane. Naked&Famous run for $130 for a basic pair of jeans but considering the more popular denim such as APC's and Nudie's $130 is considered to be a steal to a LOT of denim heads. ( :O, price shock, I know.) Anyway, for this category I can't go on since I haven't ever been taken by premium denim, I think its insane at this stage in my life. But like every other kid if I had bills to drop, I would get a pair of raw Naked&Famous denim! Haha.

Best Upcoming Brand Of 09- effulgence (Website to be running soon!)
Stephen Hung, creator of effulgence, described his brand for us below.
""effulgence", a noun, meaning radiant splendor – brilliance. It’s human nature to have the urge to keep wanting. To be better than the best. To be greater than the greatest. Even when we reach a goal, we make goals upon goals as we all struggle and face obstacles along the way. We simply always seek to be at the state of effulgence, to shine, to be brilliant, to be great.
effulgence is a bay area based t-shirt brand started by 16 year old Stephen Hung (effustephen). Being influenced by the “streetwear” culture and discovering the unique word in middle school, he had ideas of starting his own brand one day calling it effulgence. Always thinking of making t-shirts from iron-ons, paints, markers or printers, he never followed through not knowing what direction to take. Interests soon developed in graphic designing and business, as the ideas soon became reality.
November 10th 2009 marked the day of the first official effulgence t-shirt. Standard font printed gray on black reads effulgence. Simply, clean as status, stories and background of the brand start to rise.
The apparel is mainly inspired by California, hip-hop and sport cultures, but also has influence from others like skateboarding and history. The brand currently only consist of t-shirts, but there’re plans on expanding into full collections. So be a part of the effu crew as we all seek for effulgence…"
Okay okay, so Stephen is a friend which is why I was able to get him to do this small summary. But coming from a personal aspect, I truly believe effulgence is it. I know Stephen, and his drive for creativity will fuel this project to a bright future. Last year I predicted the brand Adapt as the up and comer. And congrats to the dude Evan, Adapt is stocked at in4mation. The point of the story? I'm already 1 for 1. Trust me now? effulgence is only rolling uphill. I know you're feenin' for some effulgence now. So contact Stephen to cop!
effulgencesf@gmail.com
twitter.com/effustephen

effulgence logo tee
"This is Wilson Wallace, derived from Wilson sporting goods and Christopher Wallace. effulgence designs are mainly based on music and sports, hence the basketball and headphones. Wilson Wallace's rugged look represents the brand as a whole as we always struggle to reach the state of effulgence."-Stephen

effulgence text logo tee

Best Dressed Rapper Of 09- Kid Cudi
Cudi's had a huge year music wise. With the dark, "Man On The Moon" drop he's setting his own definition of sound. His wardrobe also has his own definition. This is his Martian type steez. And we embrace Cudi's martian look! For those of you that want the "All up on Cudi's nuts" steez, he usually wears APC New Cures, 501's (Shrink To Fit Style) for denim. Jordan 3's or Bape's for kicks. A leather jacket or bape jacket you can never get. Tees from 10deep and The Hundreds, Bape. And King Stampede or baseball fitteds. That's what I've been able to spot. I apologize for the scattered listing method.

Worst Trend Of 09- Fading Raw Denim (The no wash, all wear method.)
As irrational as buying raw denim is at my age people still manage to buy $150+ jeans. And the immaturity clearly shows when people wear raw denim for 6 months straight 3-5 times a week with absolutely no wash. You know whats worse? To make it "hygienic" they end up doing crazy things to get that repulsive odor off the denim.
So to clean your jeans without washing them,
You stick them in the freezer overnight and it kills the smell. I feel bad for anybody's parents who have to bear witness to this. If my Moms went into the freezer at 7 in the AM to get some ready made food and saw jeans all up in there, I would have a rude awakening. Let's just leave it at that. But there are the people that like to get rid of the smell in a natural way, so they spray Febreze because it kills 99.9% of the germs and smells fresh! When you see somebody with raw denim smelling lets say a Febreze scent of "Cranberries&frost" you know whats going on. Pictures of a faded raw denim project below. These used to look nice.
This guy, in 6months just 1wash. I thought the best part about raw denim was how dark it was. Not to try to make fades and make them look like regular jeans again. To whoever does this, from me to you. Y'all some sick fucks.

Worst Tee's Of 09 (ALL TIME)- Supreme Box Logo's
Hold on a second, the word Supreme means $100+ to some people?! Supreme has some intricate designs on tees that I dig but I never can and never will be able to understand the box logo hype. On new era's its coo cause it defines the brand. But the word Supreme on a tee or hoodie should never be worth as much as it is. I have a sad confession to make. This summer, dudes wanted Supreme junk. We made our own box logos out of transfer paper. Fooled dudes with it. Even got offered a bill for one but I have morals and didn't sell. I considered it a social experiment.
I took a hanes tee. Put the word Supreme on it, and made it a $100 dollar Supreme tee. Call me jacked up. But there is no difference from what I did to what Supreme does. I encourage you to make your own box logos. You can make 20 for the price of one! The word Supreme isn't all that, don't even give in. Do you know whats way doper? Adapt's Wupreme! It actually has a concept that makes sense.

Worst Dressed Rapper Of 09- Far far far far to many.

Fail. I picked Soulja Boy because I hate him most. But realistically speaking, too many rappers don't know how to dress.
It hurt to google anymore pictures of rappers like Soulja Boy, etc. So I let it be. Nobody should wear a 3XL.

Worst Trend Pt2-Matching Your Group
I just had to do a part two because there are so many bad trends out there right now. True Religion Jeans, Ed Hardy, Etc. But the worst I've seen is matching your group. You see a bunch of kids wearing teal together. They look like they're wearing some sort of uniform. Its beyond stupid. No guys should match other guys period. Exceptions? Going for a basketball game. Oh and I'd like to add, no sagging your pants so you start to walk like penguins straight out of Happy Feet. Especially when you start walking like penguins in your group, we don't want to see March Of The Penguins either.

MUSIC

Best Album Of 09 (Mainstream): Kid Cudi- Man On The Moon
To me, it was a amazing debut. His goal was to create an album that was like a dream, and he did a pretty good job. Sure it was dark, it was a lot of emotion and not a lot of rapping. Some people didn't feel that, I understand where they're coming from. But you have to give the man credit. He spoke his mind, his dreams for a whole album not caring about the image it would give him. That already made me respect the album. Plus, after Pursuit Of Happiness it is going to be almost impossible to get another hit song on the radio off that album since they're all on a extremely serious note. What Cudi created was what he shot for, an album reflecting a dream. And for that, you gotta give the man some respect and cut the "he's a softie" talk out.

Best Album Of 09 (Indie): Fashawn- Boy Meets World
Fash's debut album was possibly one of the most powerful entrances to hip-hop in the modern day. I read a comparison on how similar this was to Nas's illmatic. Sounds crazy right? In fact, you can call me crazy, but I think I agree. Pondering upon the cover notice his cover and Nas's cover are somewhat alike. Both have tremendous lyrical capabilities displaying in their early youth, Fash just turned 21 in October. Nas was 20 when he made illmatic. Apart from having a debut classic Fash definitely has undeniable similarities to Nas. He displays raw talent as his rhymes reflect life beyond the cliche street life and enter a more reflective mode. Productions are on point with Exile on the beats. If you're familiar with Exile's productions you should know everything out of his lab is fire. Fash's debut made half the vets this year just look silly. At 21, Fash has achieved more than most rappers do in a lifetime with his mixtapes and solid debut, there's no telling whats next.

Best Mixtape Of 09: Chiddy Bang- The Swelly Express
As a brand, I don't respect Crooks&Castles as much as I used to. They sold themselves out big time. But they have sponsored some of the best artists of this year, Chiddy Bang being one of them. Along with Diz Gibran. Anyway, coming back to the point. Chiddy Bang provides a electro-hip-hop feel and pulls it off cleanly. Many fail at this attempt. Although, the lyrical abilities weren't jaw-dropping but enough to get the job done. The overall mood of the mixtape made up for all that was lacking in lyrics.

Biggest Disappointment Of 09: Dr.Dre
Dre isn't just the biggest disappointment of 09. He's been the biggest upset since 04. Detox has been in the works for 5 years now, soon to be 6 with delays on the release dates. Now Dre has announced Detox is complete but he needs to decide the right tracks for the album. C'mon now really? He claims its worth the wait. I say he needs to get his stoner ass straight for a week so he can finalize. 10 years without an album, and he still claims to be in the game? He should have stuck with the retiring-comeback stunt. But instead he feels the need to leak music on Dr.Pepper ads.

Best Live Shows Of 09: Hopie SpitsHard, Blu.
Okay, so I haven't seen many live shows in 09. In fact, I haven't seen many live shows at all aside from these. Spending over half my sophomore year at home allowed me to see just this much by sheer luck. The fact that I haven't seen very many live performances makes you wonder, "This guy has no idea what a good live show is."
People, there are live snippets all over the internet! And believe it or not, there are people like me desperate enough to see a concert over the internet! Due to this innovation, I have witnessed hundreds of snippets live over this year and believe I can tell when a show is poppin or not. After all, I have a better view than all the real attendees. :P. Haha. On a more serious note, it's just a feeling you get when you see a artist killin' the stage. My ability to retain that feeling with all these artists was there, and you just have to trust the fact that I have no life and watch enough live shows on the internet to differ from the good and bad shows. Haha. Anyway, with no more ranting, here's my verdicts.
Hopie SpitsHard: She's dope. Once again notice the period after dope! Haha. I had the opportunity of seeing her perform two times. The crowd was far too lackluster because it wasn't a full fledged concert and their idiots for not doing research prior to attending any event! Quite honestly, I was no exception to the lacking crowd because I'm far too shy in a new environment. Timidness is a detestable habit I carry. I never even got the opportunity to go see a full show of her's. But through the circumstances, she was able to work with the dull crowd and create sparks. The rapper before her at DXC sucked. People neglected him because he didn't deserve to even be on the stage. He killed the mood. But as soon as she stepped on and the "Hopie Spitter" track was played, murmurs were heard, heads started to bob and people stopped the desperate attempts to sell their shoes. That's how you know talent exists. She was able to figuratively freeze time to get everyone to stop whatever they were doing and take a minute to absorb mind boggling rhymes. As Hopie won't be performing anymore shows in 09, set your calenders so you can catch one in '10. It's a show you won't want to miss.
Blu: Blu is describes himself as herfavcolor. I'll make an attempt to interpret that. Most girls don't dig a lot of the same rap guys do in this era. Why? Oh you can blame songs like Hotel Room Service. It's because rap has no backbone on the radio. And when it does, a lot of it comes out as aggressive. Well, this is the common bullshit stereotype. For a minute I'm stepping into the stereotype. Blu has raps that both males and females can dig. In his own words he simply "sugar quote my quotes so they won't seem raw." And that's what people dig. Some of his tales are clearly street, but he makes them seem like he's painting a picture rather than shooting guns. I got to see him kill it at People's Park in Berkeley. It was INSANE. If I were to go on describing my experience it would go on for thousands of pages. This isn't intended to be gay! But Blu's myfavcolor.

Picture I pulled of Hopie SpitsHard at DXC. Mybad, I was new to the SLR back then. Auto mode&Auto focus FTL! Haha.

Blu.
Moment Of 09: Kanye West Taylor Swift.
Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had the best video ever! Kanye has really lost his common sense. Well it's been lost. But damn, spare the poor girl! It was her first VMA. He ruined it. I actually dig Kanye's music aside from his last autotune album. And all these stunts he's pulling in public is slowly dragging him into the "dick" category. This moment probably hurt his image so horridly that I doubt his image in the public will ever be the same again. But it gave everybody a month of "imma let you finish comments". Imagine if the picture below was a pop up. Oh god.

Best Video Of 09: P.O.S-Purexed

It's simply beautiful. I was having trouble choosing between this and P.O.S's optimist.

Best Song Of 09: Gift Of Gab- Dreamin' Featuring Del & Brother Ali

Dreamin (feat. Del The Funky Homosapien & Brother Ali) - Gift of Gab
Verses on this are unbelievable. This is the type of combo we need to see more of.

One Day... - Cyne
I'm a CYNE fan. They tore up lyrics even more than usual. Crazy.

&that's all.
I wish everyone a superduper Christmas and a Happy New Year! Stay safe and be easy.

Cause I <3 Christmas Time SF.

2009-11-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

Pick Ups.

2009-11-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

This one is possibly my favorite tee aside from the Blu x Abstraxx collabo. As many of you don't know I don't just buy tees cause they say stuff on 'em. This holds a significant interest to me. This is a Supreme "City Of God" tee. Which is one of my personal favorites because its so in touch with reality. I've been hunting for this I don't even know how long now.
I recall the first time I saw the movie a few years back with my cousin during Christmas. It's been his favorite for a while. The first time I saw it quite honestly I didn't care for it. I saw it as a movie full of graphic violence which isn't my thing. Next time I saw it during Christmas time as well. My opinion didn't budge. Then when I started to explore myself more, I ended up seeing it once again during Christmas time of last year and I felt like an idiot. This is the movie I neglected to take interest in for so long. Its good to see reality being portrayed, in America you don't see realistic movies often.
Lil Ze is the kid on the tee. He plays the antagonist and has a raging role within the film. This is the one exception I will ever make to wear a pink shirt!
Finally, I can say I found it. Been looking for this ManikxGhostface Killah tee for far too long. When I found a DS one it was too good to pass up. Now that I have it I don't think I will ever wear it because I'm afraid of cracking! Haha. Supa GFK finally!

Thoughts

2009-10-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

You know I've always wondered if it was possible. If one day, as a small project on the side if maybe I could start a magazine. Just a thought.
But the more I ponder upon it the more it unravels to be quite plausible.
The last three months, I have been discreetly working on a magazine. Taking baby steps, and sketching out a solid plan for my goal.
But as we all know, human nature makes it difficult to keep life according to plan. Unless of course you have rigor and discipline, which I cannot possibly have with my lifestyle.
The small things I've discovered.
Keep relations with everyone. I simply cannot emphasize how important this is. Social skills are the essentials to trying to start not just a magazine but anything. So many people I am thankful to have in my life are providing me with concise advice and supplying with aid. I love em to death for just being there and believing.
Which leads me to belief. Not one person on this earth that you don't know believes in you, and that's not them to blame. It's yourself. You can't go soaring into a project with high expectations, eagerly hoping everything will click. Life simply doesn't work that way. If I was a somebody to a nobody, I wouldn't care about some kid tryna make a magazine. I realize that after going through the road myself. If anybody ever happens to ask me for a favor, I'm going to put an earnest effort into whatever it is.
Next, don't waste money. Man, if I had saved all the money I had spent on clothes over the year. Maybe things would look less jumbled.
Also, you're nothing unless people know your name. I'm nothing, the guy next to me is nothing, my neighbors are nothing. We've all achieved nothing. I'll be honest, looking at this blog and seeing my favorite artists names on the interview section has made me smile, sometimes made me cocky. I look at this today thinking, this is a blogspot. It's a simple blog. I've gained nothing but my satisfaction.
I get an email saying, "Can I see a example of your work."
I reply, "Quite honestly, I don't have any just yet. If my school newspaper and blog counts?" I scratched the last sentence and replaced it with this.
"Quite honestly, I don't have any just yet. This is an impulse. Pure impulse. Whether I succeed or not is based on how long the impulse can control my thoughts for. If you prefer to see my work, I'll get back to you whenever I get a respectable amount together."
Simple. I just stated the facts. Straight. No stupidity can pass the lines. I don't have anything to show. You want to take a risk and give me a shot, I make no promises about outcomes. I say, im going to give it my effort. If not I perfectly understand.
Lastly, people judge you by what your race is sadly, what you wear, and your speaking skills.
I remember a brief conversation I had with not one but quite a few people at Starbucks when I was working on APBio and mag stuff simultaneously.
"May I ask what you're doing?" Said some random white guy.
"See I'm actually trying to put a magazine together. It's called Full Circle."
"Oh how interesting! I notice you're taking APbio and look focused on what you're doing. By any chance are you Indian?"
"Thank you, and yes I am Indian."
"Wow! You're probably a stellar student in school, this should be no problem for you!"
"Actually it's a funny story about school, but what makes you say I'm a stellar student?"
Short pause.
"Uh, I don't know you just seemed the type."
"Here's the funny story. I defy every Indian stereotype you can throw at me. Especially about school. So please next time don't make assumptions. I'm an individual, don't throw me in with the crowd."
Man picks up his latte and leaves.
I'm stuck like wow really? I never knew people still do that. Geez, America's more messed than I thought.
What's worse is people judge you by what you wear. If I didn't dress decent. Have the people wouldn't give me the attention they have. I've experimented with it as well. I wore a teal button up to a formal dinner at my aunts place. All the new faces ignored me because my shirt color screamed childish and immature. I wore white next time and was approached by new faces multiple times. Hmm. Odd.
Then, how you talk. This is understandable.
I'm not good with social skills in certain situations. Matter of fact, whenever I meet someone important and know it I choke up and go stiff. When I casually meet someone I'm loose. It's strange. But I can't stress how important it is to just talk and be social, be likeable. And to refrain from swearing in public. Ever since I stopped running my loose toungue to elders, I can put up a fair arguement.
What the last three months taught me are a blessing that not many people get to see. I can't wait to see what the future holds. Good or bad, whether I get this project off or not. I am thankful for however far I may get even if it stops here. All the people in my life, everyone of you have made a difference.
&thankyou.
&fullcirclemagazine
&makinslowprogress
&somedayisthepromisedday

The Endangered Species Clothing. (TES)

2009-10-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Randomly talked to a dude about streetwear and turns out hes a founder of a real intricate, conceptual brand. As the concepts are to unique for me to fully grasp and explain straight from his words the founder of The Endangered Species quotes below.
"The designs have a "human toy" theme. that's why you see the Chess piece, Marionette, Puzzle Pieces, and Pull string doll. The Pull-string doll comes with a Sharpie Laundry pen so you can "say what you want to say." The Chess piece is a little subtle...if you play chess, you might understand why he's standing in that square. With the puzzles, it was taken from a quote by Sartre: Man is nothing other than what he makes himself."
I worship uniqueness, so this was a intriguing background for me. Most brands have the usual, I skate, I listen to hip-hop typicality but this was a little away from the norm which is why you should cop some TES clothing.
Check out the E-Store here And if you're ever at Haight Street you can check them out at So*Me,D-Structure and now Lower Haters!
My two favorite designs.

Once again be sure to check out The Endangered Species website and E-Store to see what its about. Its always good to support down to earth people doing good work.
Thanks to the dude at TES for supplying me some good info. Much appreciated.

New Blu&Exile!

2009-10-09T23:36:00.001-07:00

Been wanting to post this for a couple weeks. But kept slippin' up with more important stuff popping up. This video isn't the best quality, matter of fact, I can't comprehend a lotta the words cause this video is that unclear. However, IT DOESN'T MATTER! The point is that Blu&Ex are back at it again with a new prospect. A new album, hmmm hopefully soon? Too hard for me to tell thus far.
Enjoy.

Godbless you uncle.

2009-10-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

A moment to acknowledge someone I respect that passed last night due to liver cancer. He was in excrutiating pain on his bed at home, hardly concious. Excuse my writing. I'm expressing whatever my thoughts feel in no order no format.
When I went to go visit him last week these are some thoughts that hit me.
I stepped into the Fremont apartment, it felt like it lost a bit of its luster.
He was always a man of vast knowledge with books all over the shelf yet today, the books seemed a bit lessened.
Highly organized usually but there were bills on the table with his glasses lying there in a dangling fashion.
In other words as soon as I stepped in I could see the unusual things appearing.
I could hear the life support machine from his room, a horrendous sound.
Immediatly, it hit me. This was real. My uncle, who has been nothing but good to me is paining in the other room.
To gather myself, I murmered a quick prayer under my breath then rose to my feet. I prayed for him.
As I inched up towards his door, I could feel the tragic energy and the sounds became unbearable.
I stopped and hesitated right outside the door. Moments passed but I felt like it was too unfortunate for me to see.
There was a mirror.
I made a quick look in the mirror to see him laying on his bed, breathing heavily, all the medical equipment attatched and suddenly looked away. It was a drastic step further from what I thought it would be.
I briskly turned around and made myself back away to the main room. My eyes were full of emotion.
What just happened was indescribable.
To cover my eyes and attempt to be strong for all my family there, I reached in my pocket to get my sunglasses.
Nothing was to be found, I must have forgotten them in the car.
The feelings were rushing from my head to my eyes now. I could feel a river of emotion flooding my head about to break the frail leevey my eyes had.
I hopped out the chair got my shoes on and stepped outside.
I wasn't strong enough.
This was a true tragedy.
Someone who had been so humble, helpful, down to earth having to go like this.
That's a thought that rips my heart apart.
I roamed the apartment building making a swift round to try to ease up. But could not shake the thought.
This is something I have to ponder upon. It's only right.
Came back outside the apartment to see my aunt outside.
I could read her face, it was paining just as much as mine with sorrow.
We siliently acknowledged how unfortunate this was by mere eye gestures.
All this time I was thinking about how tremendous of a man he was. Self made. Intellectual. Highly educated. Humble. Simple. Teacher. Guardian. Helping hand.
Amazing.
I went down to my moms Honda with her rapidly. Grabbed my glasses and threw them on. I had to be strong for her. I muttered another prayer.
And me? I hardly pray from the heart like this. Hardly. But this time I felt that compelling emotion. Like it was the only hope.
My moms reminisced.
I took it all in.
I hated seeing people in pain. I can't stomach it. When I saw my own uncle in pain, I felt an impossible to say feeling that I've never felt before.
Such a great man, such a sad story.
Godbless Uncle.
I love you.

Skyzoo-Ified.

2009-09-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty anxious for Skyzoo's album on the 29th. Cop "The Salvation"

These messages make you ponder. Life can be rougher than you think.

Dunk Exchange SF 9.20.09

2009-09-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

This was my first DXC, the homey Kyle is a vet now with 4 on the board. Haha.
I hate to be so critical, but my first DXC will be my last DXC. Unless something crazy is happening.
Not my thing whatsoever. I came for newspaper. Nothing more.
I like sneakers, I enjoy appreciating collections of connoisseur who have racked up an insane amount of kicks over the years. Shout out to the real sneakerheads at DXC, you know the ones with jobs?
The rest were a bunch of kids in high school just as I am. You can't be in high school and have 20 pairs of $100+ sneakers. Its irrational as hell.
One thing that agitates me is immaturity. When I see kids my age jobless, spending 200+ on sneakers with their parents bills, I think what the hell is going on with this world?
My mom too intended to give me a bill so I can enjoy myself at DXC cause she knows I dig this type of culture. But I feel that there's practicalities in life. I didn't need shoes as it was, and I would rather give the hard earned money back to my family. Sure, there was temptation everywhere, but I would like to stand on my own two and say I bought these kicks myself.
The kids there were all acting like clowns. Being obnoxious. You just had to be there to see it.
I would rather spend money where it matters on friends, fam, supporting good music, charity. There, I know money is going to a good cause, rather then some kicks on my feet that are gonna end up getting beat in a year. Shoes and clothes, yeah they're coo they can be replaced/traded/sold, friends and fam that's love, indestructible in all aspects.
I enjoyed DXC because it was interesting getting to see people that are truly dedicated to sneakers, but the kids my age were straight stupid.
Anyway, the only thing I ended up buying was an Adapt tee from the dude Evan at Adapt, cause it was dope and you gotta support good people.
What made my day was watching Hopie SpitsHard kill the stage with a energetic performance. If you haven't copped "The Diamond Dame" yet do so soon, you're missing out. Pictures above, having trouble choosing which one to put in newspaper!

GooooodMusic.

2009-09-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

Been MIA for a minute, Junior year's catchin' up with me finally. APBio and Honors English FTL. But at least I'm finally gettin' my act together and attending school, studying and such. Anyway..
For those that may not know.
My picks.
Best Music Today.
Blu, everybody knows he's my favorite. Am I biased? No, its not my fault that every acquisition of Blu that I have ever made to my library has been on an unrestrained scale of quality, dude is off the charts. Some of you still may not have heard "Below The Heavens", The Blu&Exile project. And if you are one of them, you're sleeping on the greatest hip-hop album of all time. No hyperbole there, the album takes you to a utopia on the far side of your head. Blu has the highest caliber virtuoso out of any artist in the game today.

Blu

Next, arguably the most intricate group in hip-hop today, CYNE. I take that back, its not up for debate, CYNE has me pondering for hours on end after I throw one of their albums in my 94Altima. My car has 250,000 miles on it. Can't go past 70 without a rattling noise in the engine. A stereo system that makes a horrendous sound every time I make a courageous attempt to crank the volume. As fortunate as I am to inherit my extended families old car, their album is the only thing that makes my drive bearable. Listening to Cise's+Akin's flow blessing on the tracks with Speck+Enoch beats to match.

Cyne

Imma go with Pac Div next, these guys are impeccably talented. They are well on their way to break into the mainstream with all the light being shed upon them nowadays. When I first heard "Church League Champions" I was blown away by the amount of wordplay in all their songs. They are the one of the few groups that have the ability to not let words play them, but instead play with words which are so complex, its almost dauntingly crafted when you hear a line like, "I used to drive the Honda til it ran outta gas now imma push this E till it run outta class, Whiplash." Pac Div is the future!

Pac Div.

Also, there's one additional rapper I'd like to include, HopieSpitsHard. People immediately discriminate against female rappers right off the bat, assuming that the most plausible personality of a female rapper is a person that uses sex appeal to sell. Because of all the skewed facts being drawn into the ignorant community, a lot of people turn their heads when they hear of female rappers. Those of you that think like that are ignorant. Females can spit too. HipHop is for everybody. To me, good music is good music. No matter what race, gender, face, if its good its good. HopieSpitsHard makes good music, that's all that matters. Not whether shes a man or woman. Which is why you should drop the stereotypical nonsense and get with something a little more progressive. She's an intellectual rapper who can spit raw rhymes in a cunning, cagy type fashion. End of story.

HopieSpitsHard

Other music you should check out; Fashawn, Kero One, Dr.Syntax, All Natural, Aloe Blacc, Convinced, Crown City Rockers. Oh and just thought I'd add MFDOOM-"Born Like This" is fire, and Reflection Eternal is coming back again! :D

Blueprint 3.

2009-09-06T00:07:00.001-07:00

I guess you could say anxious me could not wait. Got me all antsy.
After hearing it, I wish I never jumped on the leak.
I wish there was no Blueprint 3.
And I wish Hov literally retired after American Gangster.
Because after listening to this, I need Hov to make another Reasonable Doubt just to get the nasty sound of this album outta my head. Full of loops, cheesy beats, nothing lucrative.
The sad thing really, nobody believes me when I say the album really ain't all that. Is it not feasible that even Hov slips up?! It is plausible, but I can understand the uncertainty in the air is not enough to discourage followers of Hov, you're just gonna hafta hear it to believe it.
There are only two good things about this album, cover art, and one track.
Best believe, or get disappointed.
Sorry Hovito. 2.5/5. Mediocre. Fails on deck.

The only good track.
So Ambitious Feat Pharrell

Worst two songs. And the rest not included are all bad.
I don't remember the name of this song, don't care, I just never want to hear such garbage from Hov again.
Oh and you can thank Swizzy for hooking up Hov with the whack beat, that clearly does not fit Hov's flow.

Drake and Jay-Z, please never work together again.

sightRIZE Questions Alexander Spit.

2009-08-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

I got the chance to ask a few questions to Frisco's own, Alexander Spit. If you haven't heard already, dude is ill. His songs are addicting, odd way to describe music but you gotta hear it to believe it. Rugged rhymes tear apart the tracks with beats that match. It's something that you gotta put on repeat to fully understand.
You can catch his two singles on iTunes now, album "Open 24 Hours", drops September 1st. Be sure to go out and grab a copy to support.

sightRIZE: What makes up Alexander Spit?

Alexander Spit: San Francisco, love, hate, cigarettes, coffee, women, and rap music.
sightRIZE: How was it like gettin' to shoot your "Hella iller than you" video on the living legends bus?

Alexander Spit: Hahahahahaha. That was a completely impromptu thing that happened. The LL crew are my homies. It was the night of one of their shows and we were kickin it. My homie thought it would be funny to film a video. So it happened. Probably not the best representation of my music... but it was fun.
sightRIZE: What inspires you?

Alexander Spit: Everything.

sightRIZE: Any personal favorite artists/albums?

Alexander Spit: Jeez. That list can go on forever. Right now I've been listening to a lot of Rocksteady. Old Jamaican music. Particularly Alton Ellis. But what is always constant... is that I listen to J Dilla a lot. His "Donuts" album always amazes me. I've been listening to a lot of Frisco rap recently. I really enjoy The Jacka's new album "Tear Gas". I'm always bumpin' Morrissey. But to be honest... hahaha I listen to my album "Open 24 Hours" a lot.
sightRIZE: What are 5 things Alexander Spit can't live without?

Alexander Spit: Just pick any 5 from question 1.
sightRIZE: In a brief sentence, describe yourself.

Alexander Spit: Peep the answer from question one.

sightRIZE: Describe your upcoming album, Open 24 Hours?

Alexander Spit: Man... That album was almost the death of me. A lot of me went into that project. From the production, to the song writing, and the overall concept; I put 100% of myself into it. So with that said... just know that it's the real deal. It's something to be taken seriously.

So...

The concept for the album revolves around the album title "Open 24 Hours". It's based off of the idea of asking the question, "Who are you when no one else is looking?". Everybody has different sides to who they are. Sides of them that manifest before certain people. I wanted to explore the idea of trying to be the same person in all situations... "24 Hours" a day. The Alexander Spit you see walking to work... Is the same Alexander Spit you see at the bars...

Along with all that, I tied in a lot of a late night references and what not. So as a result, there's an overall feel and theme that I feel stays consistent throughout the album.

In regards to its sound. It's rap music. I hate being specific with categorizing exactly what. Rap music is beats with raps over them. That's what it is. It has the energy of a rap record. It's that energy that our generation wants and needs in order to actually listen. So... I made the beats bang... and the raps smart.

I don't know. You'll hear it. It drops September 1st. Don't sleep.

sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects we should be watchin' out for?

Alexander Spit: I'm working on a project with female emcee Hopie Spitshard. One of the hardest rappers I've ever met. Male or female. She got raps. Were working on an EP right now produced exclusively by 6Fingers and my homie Cambo. It's still in its beginning stages but I assure you folks are gonna flip a lid over it. The beats are ridiculous. Hopie and I have been coming with some heat over them... So be sure to stay on the lookout for that project.
sightRIZE: Is there anything we shoulda asked you?

Alexander Spit: My favorite color. Answer: I ain't got one.
sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?

Alexander Spit: I urge everyone to take the time and check me out. Please be sure to cop my debut solo album "Open 24 Hours" when it drops September 1st. It hits iTunes September 8th.

And...

Everyone should come out to the Album Release Party in San Francisco at Slim's September 4th. I'm performing with a live band (Overview) and also performing will be Trackademicks, J-Billion, Hopie Spitshard, DJ sets by Ant-One, and it's hosted by Lucky.i.am of Living Legends. It's going to be a night to remember.

Don't do cocaine.

KingdomxAdapt:Blood Of Kings. Union City.

2009-08-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

So the dudes at Adapt set up a celebration for the AdaptxKingdom release.

Was an overall chill event.

Got to chop it up with the head of Adapt, Evan.

HopieSpitsHard.

ViddyV.

Spaceman Cell.

A good Saturday indeed.

With Viddy V, this dude freestyled for 20 minutes nonstop. Just to warm up. Insane!

Adapt holdin' it down with BTG.

HopieSpitsHard.
I hadta say it was a good day.

CYNE-Water for mars.

2009-08-13T15:09:00.001-07:00

How to explain? This album did it for me. Struck that nerve. In the past certain songs could hit that nerve for me, or one particular Blu&Exile album, as soon as I finished listening to this I got that feeling again. That feeling where you escape the world for an hour. Water for mars is beautiful, literally beautiful.
When you put two genius producers, Speck&Enoch together it automatically produces harmony. Then Cise Star and Akin tear up the beats with overpowering lyrics, it's really a sight you hafta hear to understand.
These are not your regular average MC's. They are on the next level that is too advanced for the brittle mind of current hip-hop. In simpler words, they are intelligent.
Coming back to the discussion of Water For Mars, I encourage everyone to buy the album and give it a thorough listen.
Cyne touches upon all topics; Passion can be heard in "Pretty Apollo." A self portriat of Cise Star can be heard in, "Cise." Any rapper that can paint a self portriat through song is insanely ill with it. Serious notes are heard with songs like, "One Day Or So." And fun songs to ease out too are covered in songs such as, "Boombox Pimp."
As far as the album goes every track on it is blessed with the gift of Speck and Enoch so those who are critical of a good beat will be overwhelmed by the quality of the beats to match lyrics. This is one of the only albums in which listening to the interludes are highly enjoyable.
For those that may not know Cyne's style is always consistent, so if you enjoy this which I'm sure you will, most likely you will enjoy their previous albums as well.
For those of you that may want to know more about Cyne check the sidebar for a dope interview.
To help Cyne cultivate your new experience please buy "Water For Mars" on itunes.
Cyne simply cultivates your new experience, as always.

In Rotation.

2009-08-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

MIXTAPES.

Dom Kennedy- Future Street/Drug Sounds

Dom Kennedy in one word. Smooth. "Future Street Drug Sounds" Is composed of genius peaceful productions matched with the unique Dom flow to provide the classiest mixtape I have heard in a while. Anyone that hasn't heard of Dom Kennedy is sleeping hard.
A Kid Named Cudi (Yes I AM STILL BUMPING THIS.)

Ever since day one this mixtape was ringing through my ears. Now if I don't get through "Heaven At Night" before sleeping I literally can't sleep. Cudder drop man on the moon quick so I can get hooked on something new!
Wale- The Mixtape About Nothing

So basically, Wale literally made a mixtape about nothing. But this mixtape about nothing has meaning for something if you catch me. This is onna those things that has been in my head since day one just like cudder. These guys know howta catchu hard. Lately, Wale exploded with chillin' if you heard that and said, "Its aight" like too many people did, you needa catch some of Wale's tapes to do him justice.

ALBUMS.
Blu&Exile-Below The Heavens

Oh man I could go on for days on end about this album. Been bumpin it for a couple years nonstop a few times a week. Every song on this album is insanely crafty. With Exiles swift calm production, matched with Blu's metaphorically ill style it crafts perfection. No music collection is complete without Below The Heavens.
Jay-Z- Reasonable Doubt

Always gotta keep a couple classic albums in the rotation. Lately, just been getting hyped for Blueprint3. Honestly, I can't say anything about this album that hasn't already been said.
Fugees- The Score

Another classic I'm bumping after seeing Wyclef on 60 minutes recently.
Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean+Pras=Fugees.Pushed new boundries to reach a next level.
One.Be.Lo- s.o.n.o.g.r.a.m.

This album puts me in deep thought. Really as soon as that first track, "The Underground" kicks in on my mediocre speakers, I lean down to listen to that beat click mashed with one.be.lo's mind bleeding on the track.

Gone Days.

2009-07-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

Cudi always speaks whats real.
"when i was younger i was a bit of a fuck up. didnt really apply myself enough in school like i should’ve and i got in trouble a lot. never did anything cool to really make my mom proud of me until now. yea shes tol me ive made her proud before in my life but i kno ive never made her “yesss my baby boy graduated from college” happy. when people give me compliments i really appreciate that shit more than the person could ever know, i jus shy up and dont know how to respond sometimes becuz im not use to it. if uve ever met me, im very awkward with compliments. no one really ever tol me “hey good job scott” ultimately cuz i never did shit worth congratulating. the most i got was when id be at wutever job i had and the boss would say “good job on cleaning those tables” or “good work organizing the stock room”, which would make me happy cuz atleast i was bein recognized for suttin i fuckin did. my mom doesnt count as far as compliments, its a parents job to be fans of their kids (MESSAGE TO THE PARENTS). this is jus all new to me yall, this life, the attention, the love, the hate, ive spent 25 years of my life jus bein a regular dude who cracks fuckin jokes and loves random comedic films. the reason im writing this is to show u jus a tiny bit of the shit dat runs thru my mind at all times. i literally smoke as much as i smoke to remain chill and calm and not be freaked out when people recognize me. which is impossible lol but the tree helps a lil.

women

i never got love from chicks like dat, i mean i did but it was mostly cuz of my personality and every so often my looks. so the attention and love from gurls is of course awesome but it makes me wonder, do they like scott, or kid cudi? hell, do they even understand wut i talk about in my songs? thats wut runs thru my brain with every gurl i meet now and its a question ill never b able to answer off the top. i have to watch who i have in my space, my privacy level is at a all time high.

im oblivious to how good u guys say iam, i think im good but i have a lot of growin to do (as we all do). when fans rep how dope of a artist iam and how my lyrics touch them and that im the next new sound of hip hop, its sometimes so surreal i think they’re lying to me jus to make me feel good or jus sayin it cuz im standin right there lol. dats how shy iam, its like “naw they dont really mean dat, they’re jus bein nice”. i thank u all for tellin me these things, it makes me smile everytime. all in all, i jus want u guys to understand the science behind scott mescudi. damn it, that shoulda been the real subtitle of the album lol oh well."

Isn't it crazy that similar thoughts go through my head occasionally. I love music thats for the people, thats what cudi does. It isn't about the clothes, shoes or beef that makes an individual an individual. Its the things that they do that defines them. Cudi's entries really reveal whats going through his head, thats what the average joe like me respects and reads, to know someone is also constantly thinking along with you is a wonderful thought indeed.

Leaves.Stairs&Ladders.Wind.&ONE.

2009-07-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come across that leaf on the sidewalk that's worn out on one side, but as you turn it it's beautiful again?
Or have you ever had that real gloomy weather with the mood to match, but then it clears up and your day is suddenly fluorescent again?
And there's that day we all loath, the day where your favorite song comes up but you're still down. Then outta nowhere, the most random acts lift you right back up again.
Observe these details cautiously, and let yourself decide what's right and what's wrong. There is no justification in something wrong, at the end of the day blame can be put on anyone or anything. Over engrossment can compel anyone's mind to insanity without liberation. Stages of denial can lock one in a phase of no emotion at all.
Let's think of one as this rough leaf on one side but smooth on the other. Leaves can be flipped by the wind. One can be flipped by peers.
At the end of the day, does that make the wind at fault for flipping the leaf to the rough side?
Or does it make it the peers fault that the people swayed too easily?
Personally, I like to think of the leafs two sides as two different moods.
So if the leaf is on it's rough side it still has the choice to be smooth. No wind to blame.
Similarly, if one is swayed by their peers, it is still plausible to act like their true soul. No peers to blame.
If one feels uncomfortable, he should beware his peers. Likewise if one enjoys that feeling of discomfort thinking it shall bring a positive effect, then why not? Supposing there are no illicit activities involved of course.
After all peers are only trying to help their fellow friend.
Then suppose one were to take his peers tactics for granted. One has to remember that secretly he is gratful to his peers for giving him the courage to do things that one might not do because of complex, stupid reasoning.
One is overcome with feelings of peace,love&hapiness. Harmonic rythm strikes every nerve as if one was in a intricate heavenly maze with no way out but to surrender. Surrender, never to a person, never to a thing, but to a feeling that captures a thousand words.
Then everything is left behind one, as for one follows the feeling catiously lagging behind trying not to become engrossed or worse, noticed.
Soon enough one catches up with his desires. Only to find out that ones desires were simply to admit that they were desired in the first place.
If there are 21 steps to desire, the first 20 are fairly simple, they are short and don't require much effort. But that last step is elevated much steeper than the rest, and has a intimidating gap between the steps. Then one must ask, "Do I really want it? Ok I do but at the same time I don't.But can it wait? No it's pretty much now or never, but its highly unnecessary not to mention odd. So is it even the least bit of necessities? Absolutely NOT!" A red flag indicator hit one's head with the large words "NO" flashing overhead.
Now or never. His peers had convinced him enough.
Similar to do or die just less harsh, one thought.
With this being said, one thought about the leaf. Thought about the emotions. Thought about his caught and mixed feelings. Cursed his peers, slowly to accept that they were right. One realized that he couldn't stay on the rough side of the leaf any longer, he needed to have one moment of gleam. For a minute he forgot about the peers, like a leaf trapped under a rock, unable to remember the wind.
And one slowly said to myself, "I did it."
His peers curiously said, "What? What happened?"
One replied, "The result was unimportant, the action required was imminent since time was running out. But I found my side of the leaf. I removed my defiance and denial. I removed my unenthusiastic expression. And the meaning of life is to live, living requires a optimistic, exciting set of rules."
Peers stared in awe, but a lone peer slowly calmly said, "Much respect, one love. You came cleansed of all the side drama." The rest strangely dangled their heads around and stared as they deciphered one's new found lifestyle as one sipped on a glass of clear water.
Nobody said a word but they all understood. They now had it all.
The short moment of silenced echoed their eardrums with blissful sounds of
Peace&Love&Hapiness&
Harmony.
&ThankYouM'am&Sir.Peers.Fam.CrackMusic.God.Struggle.Soul.Desires.
The thoughts of peace ring hard yo.
-------------------------------------------------
Something Different In All Aspects.
-sightRIZE

sightRIZE Questions Hopie$pitsHard

2009-07-14T11:32:00.001-07:00

I got the opportunity to interview Hopie$pitsHard, onna the most talented artists in the bay today. Cop her album, "The Diamond Dame" at your local Rasuputin, Ameoba, even iTunes, go out and support!
Oh and tell me this isn't genius and you gonna get flamed

sightRIZE: Tell us a bit about how you got into hiphop?
Hopie$pitsHard: I got into hip hop about the same way as everyone else got into hip hop, which was basically finding out that that music made by people going through the same things as you, feeling the same way as you, and basically just being cut from the same fabric as you fills that void that feeling no one gets you leaves open.
sightRIZE: My personal favorite song of yours was Hopie Smile, shit was lyrical as hell, how'd that come together?
Hopie$pitsHard:Right on. 6Fingers gave me the beat with the sample on the hook- at that time, all that was on the hook was the word "smile". I tried to think of things that made me smile, and, at that time in 07, I was struggling with money and trudging through my first year of law school and thought, 'damn, there's nothing to smile about right now, but hopefully there will be soon.' And that just took me back to my childhood and how fucking tough it was, and how back then, just like at that moment, there was only a promise of a smile and a determination to get to that place. The rest wrote itself. That entire story in that song is true true true ass fuck.
sightRIZE: I see your're workin' with Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, how has that experience been?
Hopie$pitsHard: It's been awesome. It's not like we're working on stuff all the time, but I did work with him once, and opened for him on his Funk Man tour recently, and there are murmurs about future collaborations, which is nice. I was juiced then, and still am, about working with Del. He's a rap legend, and was my idol growing up. To have your idol recognize your craft is unbelievable and humbling
sightRIZE: Who/What are some of your favorite artists/albums?
Hopie$pitsHard: Like I said, I looked up to Del a lot, a lot... I really played out Both Sides of the Brain, but, what really killed it for me was him & Dan on Deltron 3030. I also listen to a lot of Outkast and Biggie for inspiration. And Jay. And Lauryn. There are a lot. As for right now, I am playing the fuck out of Cudi and Diz Gibran. I am feelin the BoB v. Bobby Ray mixtape. There is a lot of stuff I like in hip hop. If we're crossing genres, I have to throw The Doors and Led Zep I-IV and Coda in there, as well as Pink Floyd.
sightRIZE: Adapt Advancers, how'd you get affiliated with them?
Hopie$pitsHard: Evan hit me up on MySpace, actually, and it turned out he and my good friend, Arjay of Oh Dang!, had been working together on the clothing tip, so Arjay arranged for Evan to meet me at one of my shows. We just hit it off really well from there, and now Adapt is coming out with a Hopie line of shirts that I've designed, which is exciting =)
sightRIZE: What are 5 things Hopie$pitsHard can't live without?
Hopie$pitsHard: 1. Good food. Must eat at a good restaurant at least once a week. 2. My laptop (w/good beats on em ;) - is that cheating? If so, I don't care... 3. QT with my girls 4. Vacation time off! 5. Some good good... Interpret that as you'd like. You're right no matter how you cut it up ;) sightRIZE: Who is Hopie$pitsHard in a brief sentence?
Hopie$pitsHard: It is a brief sentence. Hopie spits hard. HAHA
sightRIZE: Are there any upcoming projects/shows we should know about?
Hopie$pitsHard: Yes, yes, yes! I am working on my EP, Raw Gems, which is the follow up to The Diamond Dame and produced entirely by 6Fingers, again. Also, I am kicking around a mixtape called Stolen Nova. The idea is that I jack classic beats, like gaffing a classic whip... Also, it's a play on my joint "Supernova" and a ref to Slick Rick. Lastly, I'm working on an EP with Alexander Spit, formerly of the Instant Messengers, which split up and is now a group called The Life Forever. Anyhow, 6Fingers and Cambo (IM, TLF) are producing that cut. None of these projects, unfortunately, have release dates that we can give you at this time, but they're comin fo dat ass...
sightRIZE: Is there anything we shoulda asked you? (I know there's prob a lot haha, go easy on us!)
Hopie$pitsHard: :)
sightRIZE: Anything that you'd like to end with?
Hopie$pitsHard: My site, hopiespitshard.com, will be up very fucking soon. Also, you can always check my MySpace and Twitter. Finally, Stolen Nova will be up on Youtube.com/hopiespitshard. PLEASE SUPPORT INDIE ARTISTS!!! You have $ to hit clubs and get faded with $10 drinks; maybe forego 1 drink and cop the Diamond Dame at CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, etc. or your local Ameoba/Rasputins. Then burn it and hand it out. I really don't care! Or, fuck it, listen to it for free on Pandora. Just support!!!

HolaHovito!

2009-07-13T13:35:00.001-07:00

This Is Death Of Autotune Moment Of Silence.
The Only Rapper To Rewrite History Without A Pen.
BLUEPRINT 3!

They Call Him Alex(ander) Spit

2009-07-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ran into Alex Spit as he's workin' at The Hundreds.
Real chill dude, he's supposed to be droppin' his album this month called "Mimosa" and it looks real dope. Peep his stuff
www.alexanderspit.com
www.myspace.com/alexanderspit

Manhatten Rooftops.

2009-06-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings From NYC.
Saw the most beautiful view from this rooftop in Manhatten. 360 view of the city looked phenomenal at night. I can now hop on the bandwagon and say,
I <3 NY.

Real G's.

2009-06-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

If you can manage to diss Dre this bad its insanity.
Eazy-E Is The Father Of Gangsta Rap.
Rest Eazy.

Revisited WITH A CAMERA SON!

2009-05-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Can't critique me now, besides the fact that the pictures stills suck and I don't have an SLR. Haha.
I tried.

New Pickup, you already know I had to try. I fail at the eye attempt. Sorry haha.

!

2009-05-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Was crackin'. Shoutout to Danny, Brian and Kevin for showin' me a good time.
Excuse me for the phone pictures. I forgot my cam, and y'all would complain about lack of pix if I didn't show you anyway! Better than nothing!

Some of the illest work I've seen down by warm springs in fremont, check it out.

Spotted a JorOne tag on haight. Dope. http://www.jor1.com/ Peep his ish now!
Too lazy to rotate. Haha. I enjoyed the view, once again sorry for the poor quality. Next time I forget my camera you can cap on my ass!

Sneakers.Sneakers.ISS.WACK.

2009-05-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

Most of you are familiar with the website solecollector.com
After being with the forums since December, we have labeled it as WACK!
For those of you that may not know, ISS (solecollector forums) is a intricate maze of overall garbage. And damn, it makes you dream.
See the more I logged onto ISS the more I felt myself losing sight of reality.
This is a recession, but people are dropping 5 bills on kicks.
Clownish.
But it was funny.
Kids be labeling themselves as "goons", "leet", "ill", "hooligans", "sneakerbois", "fresh", "mad dope". And there's nothing wrong with that. Except for the fact that these kids are all 5 feet tall and look like they still in the third grade (they even got a high pitched voice).
Now listen kids, our blog has built up a rep within the leet crew of ISS. So I expect whoever's reading this from ISS to pay close attention.
If you are not working, if you do not have a steady income in your family, if you are under the age of 16 and are dropping 200+ on shoes, you are a fool. All love, but dog check the real world. You cop some infrared 6's for instance, not in the best condition.
90% of the real world is not going to know what kinda shoes are on your feet let alone care.
95% of the real world thinks you are retarded for spending a vast amount of cash on used shoes.
But then again you do have the 5% of kids who think you are leet for coppin'.
You get beat shoes for over 10 dollars, your're a fool. Get it straight.
Don't be hatin', I work but damn you won't catch me playing the fool and spending over a hundred on any shoe anymore. As I do desire the bred 4s, the price is ridiculous for a shoe.
Any kid who is a sneakerhead and eats money from his parents or relatives, I do not respect.
If you have a job or a way of getting income, then being a sneakerhead is an option.
ISS has also made us have a few good laughs.
For instance, the what did you wear today thread is goddamn funny dog.
I am glad I do not shop at boutiques 24/7 after lookin' at what typa people do!
Having a bad day?
http://solecollector.com/forums/what-did-you-wear-today-may-2009-t922609-6795.html
Take a look at the what did you wear today thread. Its bound to cheer you up!
Overall, ISS is coo no doubt, I'm still gonna use it to tryta sell all my ish I regret gettin'. And when I'm lookin for a quick cop on sneakers.
But the people on there, the whole culture is just based off impulse. Kids there are obnoxious, flakers send you offers.
Its a risk, but at the end of the day if your're lookin' to move ish or get a quick cop it may be worth it.
KZA was so irritated with it however, he quit sneakers. I don't blame him! He had quite a reason, seeing how the people turn out is really ironically sad. Haha.
Believe that g.

Is It Wrong To Dream?

2009-05-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

I've given' up. Haha.

Been A Minute.

2009-04-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd take a trip away from the redundant stuff that y'all usually hear.
Besides I don't even think I told y'all about I, sightRIZE.
But better late than never right?
This is whats good, I'm a Miami native. Coastin' you ain't never seen before!

Dade County stand up!
Alright that's the beginning, though.
Technically, I'm 3 years old.
Before you trip, my perception is different.
Before '06 I didn't realize anythin' it was just finding me. Once you find yourself then aren't you born? Think about how different you were before you found yourself, chances are you are 3 too...
Conceptualist by nature. And yes I made that word up.
sightRIZE is a conception of perception.
Alter ego, symphomaticallyILL, is the same.
I don't make it up just to flow yo!
Everything has a meaning, so take it seriously. Ask about me yo.
Hip-Hop is lyrics, kill all that wack ish.

See to me hip-hop is a story. When I listen to a track if its deep the dude who is rappin' is spittin his soul on the rap, bleeding on the track.
"Yo, I speak from my soul!"
Whens the last time you heard someone say that?
Get with soulhop yo!
I'm down with a project called Gift Of Conception. Dope 2 year project that is in the makin'. Its a book just about concepts (duh), hit me up I'm takin' guest writers!
I'm not the dude that'll be cuttin' class nah that ain't me.
I'm the dude thats subttle and you'll think is a damn nerd! Sikeee! Sorry to dissapoint.
Quiet as hell but only cause I daydream through class!
I needa go to UC Santa Barbara!
Conclusions can go on but how 'bout I hitchu with a 5 word sum up.
My English teacher would gimmie an F on conclusion for this, but those cats is thick! Perception needs to be updated on 'em!
Anyway got sidetracked.
Peace&Love&HipHop&Creativity&Conception
=sightRIZE
Remember, its just a concept. You'll find out what I mean yo.
Gift Of Conception be posted!
Take A Hit Of The Rythm And Float On.
Be Easy.

meltDOWN.

2009-02-28T14:36:00.001-08:00

Paycheck to paycheck right?
Look at where that gotcha.
Worldwide people are taking a hit, unemployment rates are off the charts. In my state, California, the current unemployment rate is 10.1%. As I go out, I look around the people around me, 1 in 10 of these people are going through struggles at home.
America lives life paycheck to paycheck, instead of saving they splurge on things they can't really afford. You can't front that you got it made for so long.
Rapper Sene quoted in his track WhatevaWheneva, "See you don't even know what your're speakin' of, talkin' about you broke with the flyest sneakers on, thats real childish."
About a week ago I became even more aware of how bad it really is.
On my local news of the Bay Area there was a senior citizen living in San Francisco. A retired old man, he got a pension of 1000 a month. This pension of 1000 all went toward paying his rent, the poor guy couldn't even afford the medicines he needed let alone food. He ate one meal per day at the San Francisco homeless shelters.
As I pity upon this man, something also struck my mind. If he is retired, where the hell did all his money go? You can't always live in the spur of the moment. As I do the same, I really can't say much on how to stop spending.
Homeless shelters are having their budget cut down due to a significant increase in demand.
Damn, what is going on? I could care less what y'all think when I say this, I'v said it before and I'll say it again. This is no recession, this is no short term dilemma. I think the way this is looking, we are in a depression worse than the one in the 1930-1940's.
Hang tight y'all economic meltdown is only beginning.
By the way just thought I should add, any stupid republican who blames Obama for this is an idiot. This ish started in Bush's 8 years and he is never held responsible for any mistake he as done. Weapons of mass destruction my ass, always favor the whiteboys huh? Grow up. Obama made the lobbyist mistake and the world came down on him even when he apologized.
Next 10 years are rough. Politicians need to man up and work with Obama instead of against him. He's your president. Tackle the problems so we can get a brighter future.
Its time to rise people. Based on how we handle this can change the way America is forever. Stomach the shorturn so you can succeed in the longturn.
Lets lock this down!
-sightRIZE
P.S. If you have negativity to spread on this blog, don't bother lookin'. If you don't agree with me, I respect that, don't trip out and diss in the chatbox. How much of a child are you? Letters to the writer can be sent at our email and we will look it over carefully. And if you claim to hate us, why are you lookin' at this? Stop being clownish. Let's grow up.

Soulja Boy Vs NaS. You Gotta Be Kidding Me.

2009-01-30T14:57:00.001-08:00

Lately I'v been going to all the forums I usually go to. ISS being one of them, I looked into the music section the other day. It looks as if people are still bickering over this Soulja Boy, NaS ish.
For y'all that don't know Soulja Boy claims NaS killed hip-hop, haha right?
Well anyway people on ISS are stooooopid, I can't emphasize that enough cause most of them think Soulja Boy has a point.
Okay, this time I'm not gonna let my opinions do the talking but compare the two rappers, correction one rapper, one wack and cocky gimmick.
This is off Soulja Boy's song "Bird Walk"

"Hit my bird walk
And got the club crunk
Den I heard your girl talk
Now she hoppin in my trunk
Now im hittin my bird walk"

That's real lyrical stuff right? Haha.

Okay here's the NaS song "Y'all My N!ggas"

"find a room to lock yourself in and close the door
its some heavy concepts that we gotta explore
we gotta strip the word down rugged and raw
the rhetoric of martin king just saint around no more
dave bowie aint here james baldwin neither
they all were leaders
but they ain't help me get this porcsh two seater
a lawyer left the hood he never looked back
to be a fortune 500 ceo it took rap
so what if my pants sag with my hat turned back
the same swag got our merchandise flying off the rack
marketing companies thats hiring blacks
fresh hip hop lingo for your campaign ads
the controversy surrounds who could say it and win
some niggas are full time some play and pretend
so fuck that no apologies on the issue
if it offends you
its meant to
its that simple"

I don't even know if I want to compare these. Nah, I don't even think I will, that'd be a diss to NaS comparing him to a dude that does the bird walk and got jumped by two people with his click to "support him".
Soulja Boy claims if 50 says he runs NY he runs NY cause he says it and if NaS says hiphop is dead he killed it.
Thats pretty wack cause if soulja boy said he is the greatest rapper alive I would strongly disagree.
Hats off to the retarded rapper that dissed another legend, he has managed to look himself look retarded yet again.
Soulja Boy, till you can rhyme don't diss rappers.
NaS made NY State Of Mind when he was 17, Those are real lyrics.
What did you make when you were 17, oh I forgot you made Crank That, big achievement, you got some ringtones out.
Who gonna be playing you in 10 years? Real talk.
Illmatic lives forever, will SouljaBoyTellEm.com even last two more years? Haha. Your're gonna run outta ringtones kid.

I Wish.

2009-01-30T14:52:00.000-08:00

Sigh. Wale is in town with Blu&Exile! Sadly I won't be able to attend. But that doesn't mean you can't! Peep this. A concert you definitely won't regret.

America.

2009-01-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

America - Nas

America, land of opportunities, or a distorted image?
Don't get me wrong, we are more than fortunate to be living in America but what does it mean to really be living in America?
Immigrant families every year move from their homeland to this place, over 70% move to the ghettos. Is it worth it?
Their verdict isn't wrong, it is for a better life for their children, but is living in the environment worth it?
There are ups and down sides, if we look at the success stories of immigrants in this world today, some are out of this world. But what happens when it all collapses?
Immigrants growing up in rough neighborhoods can hardly consider themselves living the American dream. And their kids may not turn out so successful, it is not their fault but if you are raised around negativity, it is only right that you are negative.
The point that I am trying to get at is, what is the American dream?
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't see it. We live in a country in debt, at an international war, with racism to top it of. This is America.
I am fortunate enough not to have to deal with a lot of the poverty in this country, but it is plentiful as well. Most immigrants have to live in the poverty limit as well.
For example, East Palo Alto. A rough neighborhood. People here are living in dire straights, not their fault either. As some may call it the "slums" I do not think it deserves to be looked down upon. People try to stand for something more in their community, it deserves to be credited more. Coming back to the point, "The American Dream" is non-existent here.
What is the American dream?
I go to a diverse school, not dealing with much racism. But if I went elsewhere such as lets say a white neighborhood in Texas, or a white neighborhood in the suburbs of New York would I feel like an American?
I look at my passport, it says I am a US Citizen. But if I moved out of California would I be treated as a US Citizen?
Right now, I feel like I have hope in being in America. I have had the opportunity to visit a 3rd world country and realize how grateful I am, but how long will it last?
In America today we face a economy crisis, smart kids out of top American colleges are going overseas for jobs. Our country is not able to produce enough engineers/doctors. Jobs are being cut. Distractions are everywhere. Media is full of violence, poor language, racism, sex and drugs. How long can we go on like this?
I am excited about Obama's promise of change but its not like he controls the economy.
We are in tough times as much as I'd love to be hopeful and optimistic, reality this time does not allow it.
What really gets to me is when poor immigrants sacrifice their middle class life to come to this country and live in poverty, then get let down by the lack of opportunities available.
We live in a beautiful country, no doubt. But maybe we spoke too soon, in 50 years America will step down as the world power.
In my mind, America is a whole new world. It can make or break you. If you aren't white you could be in for some tough times, we have loads of cocky white kids that enjoy picking on minorities. We have rich kids wanting to be thugs and poor kids wanting to be rich. We have the best of both worlds its true, but how you want to use it is really up to you. Education is the key, but most of us have trouble finding the lock. If you aren't white here, you aren't American in most of these peoples minds. Religion divides here, people show no respect for your values. They don't classify you for who you are, or what you do, but instead what you wear and how you look like. If you want to be equal you came to the wrong place.
If there is an American dream, it is dead. Resurrection is impossible.
But still I dream, that everything clicks for America. After all it is my country. One day maybe we all can stop the gang violence, racism, wars, and just be us without any worries.
Chances are slim but that is my American dream or miraged image that seems to be non existant.
Still Livin' The Dream.
Peace&GodBless.
We Deserve More. But ItsWhatItIs,ItsWhatItIs&ThatsWhatItIs.
&StillDreamin'

2000$+ SHOES?!

2009-01-26T05:24:00.001-08:00

My friend some how copped these havens gate sb dunk samples. These will never hit store, nor will they be released! They were based on a cult of people that were part of a cult called heavens gate. They all died, read all about it click the link.

http://www.nikeskateboarding.org/index.php/2008/11/07/nike-sb-heavens-gate-dunk-up-for-grabs-from-gumsoles/

ps. that's my iss tagggg

My President Is BLACK.

2009-01-20T14:04:00.000-08:00

Word.

Happy Bush is out the dude was retarded, how'd he manage to get re-elected? Obama is in, we're good! But I still wish for this to happen,

DOPE.
Good luck Obama, you got a tough task. Yes we can y'all!
&CHANGE.

So GOOD.

2009-01-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

Livin' It Up.

Kicks Are Really Startin' To Ruin My Life.

Hey He's Nearly Gone! Somebody Please Shoot That Son-Of-A-Bush.

But It Still Remains A Beautiful Day.
&AnewDay.

Contribute to something larger then your self...

2009-01-12T20:23:00.001-08:00

Pnoyapparel.com is a great website. They actually host something called "shirt the kids" in this you donate five dollars and a child in the Philippines actually gets a shirt.

you just cant say no to that.

Lyrical.

2009-01-12T14:57:00.001-08:00

Whateva Wheneva (prod. Erik L) - Sene

I'd like to redirect your attention to the song above. This is something I really wanted to get out and share with y'all. Sene has done an amazing job with this track. Perfect lyrical quality. Forreal listen to this, an amazing song. Dude is articulate.
This song strikes a nerve. It hits that feelin' y'know what I'm sayin'? You gotta listen to it to believe.
Y'got me.
"I Peep The News But They Talkin' About Celebrities, My Homey's In The War Zone, What The F- They Tellin' Me, I Could See The Bullish But They Still Sell It Though, Smack Lipstick On $#!T, I Still Smell It Though, Iv Seen My Sister Hafta Back Her Bags And Hafta Sell Her Home, And Big Fish On Wall Street Gettin' Dough, Yeah Its Gettin' Old, Yeah I'm Gettin' Old, ...... They Say Its Safe To Get A Day Job Too, But I Never Liked To Play By Rules.."
This is crazy. Lyrical genius.
Don't sleep, peep Sene.
Ridiculous how people translate pictures into words. Seein' it vividly through Senes rhymes.

GNO CLOTHING!

2009-01-12T13:28:00.001-08:00

Yo! The brand y'all have been waiting for is finally here! Peep GNO clothing at www.gnobrand.com Concepts on this are crazy. Believe that. Designer is insane!

Media Heads, look at our generation.

Remember Deltron 3030's (Del Tha Funkee Homosapien), "A Brymar College Course"?, This is the inspiration for this tee. Upgrade your grey matter cause one day it may matter.

Y'all know the infamous Common song, "I Used To Love H.E.R" Well peep this tee! When I saw this it drove me crazy, iLL.

Closer look on this design, its too dope to miss.

Only 50 of each tee made, So don't sleep! Tees are sold at 25 dollars each at www.gnobrand.com
Check It!

If You Have Haters You Must Be Doing Something Right.

2008-12-23T14:11:00.001-08:00

Yo, lately I checked this chatbox, I checked all this garbage people been posting about us. And all I got to say is thank you.
C'mon if you think some words is gonna knock me off then I'm sorry to disappoint but I could really care less. Evidently I can name some of you in the chatbox but I'm not tryna start nothin'. You do realize that every time you view this blog you are directly supporting us, so thanks for that.
I'd actually like to adress some of these comments.
Thizzkid wrote, "You guys are seriously a ******'d disgrace to hip-hop"
My response to you thizzkid is if you got a problem then say it to my face, you wanna cuss me out then do it to my face and tell me who you are. And I find it funny that you are callin' me a disgrace to hip-hop when your name is thizzkid. You probably don't even pop pills, callin yourself a thizzkid. In fact I bet you haven't even seen thizz. So please do us all a favor and keep hatin' it gives us somethin to laugh at.
Next, RealHipHop wrote, "RealHipHop: u guys are a bunch of rich poser ****s that dont kno **** about hip hop"
My response to RealHipHop is first haha you called me rich, second hats off to you for callin yourself the realest one. Evidently Im not sayin I'm no heavy guru that knows everything about hip-hop. And if you are so real then why even bother lookin' at a blog you claim doesn't know anythin' about hip-hop, if you were really the realest then you would be lookin' at the realest blogs and you claim this blog isn't real so why bother lookin' at it? Unless of course I dunno, coincedentially you happen to be some poser who tries to call himself the realest... Haha whatchu know about that?
Next I'd like to adress this funny guy dopeboy who wrote, "haha, i second that realhiphop. the shoes this kid kza bougt has hypebeast written all over it. black star? wow, you must think you're the coolest guy in your school."
Okay Dopeboy, look at the name you signed on under its dopeboy, that clearly shows you definetely think you are all that and are jumping on the latest trends tryna stay what you claim to be so dope. If you were as dope as you claim and not you really wouldn't care. And please explain to me how Send Helps and Denim dunks are hypebeast?! Haha please get a reality check fool. You are wack and are the HYPEBEAST! KZA is not a hypebeast, and is my best friend you attack KZA you attack sightRIZE. So Dopeboy, blackstar is a classic fool. Don't trip. If you knew some hiphop maybe you would know that. I bet your're lined up for a soulja boy album.
In transition, lol said, "w-e-a-k blog"
Haha you really made me laugh. Okay if you think this is week I'd like to see you compete, go get some interviews and write and tell me if you can do better. And if you think its week guess what, we did a interview with the rapper Blu who was recently on the cover of XXL mag! And we did an interview with Donny Goines, whose new videos are on MTVU. Wait a second, I recall you called us weak? You must have high standards.
And then we have a dude that tried to impersonate Nas, Blu and Sene
blu: where did iMAGiNE go? at least he was the only one that did act like a ***** when it came to hip hop
nas: fail
sene: fail
My response to this is wow you think you are cool don't you? Haha. Seeing as Sene and Blu both did interviews with us, they must've obviously had reason to do so. If you think our blog is a fail then really make your own. We do us, I do me, you should do you.
To conclude to the haters thank you, I really got something to laugh at. And I use haters as inspiration so you are only making me do better. Jealousy is a female trait so if you jealous over a blog... "If you have haters you must be doing something right". "I'd rather be hated for what I am than loved for what I'm not." I love haters. "Everything I'm not made me everything I am."
I Still Does It.
My newly lit fire. Hustle. Struggle. Soul Desire.
&ThankYou.
-sightRIZE.

08!

2008-12-23T11:27:00.001-08:00

Yo! The year of 08 is coming to an end and y'know that means ya boys at BRIDGINGthe Gap hafta give out our awards.
Best album of the year: Johnson and Jonson. As you all may have probably realized, when it comes to Blu I am bias as hell. I believe that this album delivered, J&J FTW!

Best mainstream album of the year: Its funny most people are gonna say The Carter 3, I strongly disagree cause Weezy is the most overrated rapper on the planet and not only that but over half the songs on his album were bragging about himself. So instead I'm gonna give it to a album that I unexpectedly have really enjoyed, Raphael Saadiq- The way I see it. It is pure genius. This is coming from me who hardly listens to R&B but this album struck a nerve. It sounds so authentic and genuine, it is definitely a must hear. Crafty is all I can say.
Runners Up: T.I.- Paper Trail, John Legend: Evolver

Best Clothing Line Of The Year: Usually, I would say something like The Hundreds or ALIFE but that's all too common these days, they are still great brands but this time I want to give it to some brand that is exploring the new frontiers of streetwear, a brand that is coming up with more unique ideas than ever. This year I think that brand is Adapt Advancers.

Best Trend: Those Fixed gear bikes. Cause there is nothin' like ridin' down the slopes of San Francisco on some black mags. Dope.

Best people of 08: Y'know when I think about this award I think of two people that have had a tremendous impact on us, rapper Sene and rapper Donny Goines. Okay so let me start off by saying Donny Goines was our first interview ever. We thought after that we were done with that. But Donny gave us some advice and geniunly encouraged us to do our best. So now we started using Donny Goines's motto, "If you don't know my name I'm not working hard enough." For Sene he struck a nerve for us. The dude is so down to earth and so humble, he really deserves more credit. He gave us not only information for our interview but advice that will last a lifetime. To Sene and Donny, Thanks for the inspiration you made us where we are today. Stilldoes it, still livin' the dream.

Peace&GodBless. Many Prosperities For 09.
-sightRIZE.

political pokemon!

2008-11-23T01:23:00.000-08:00

KZA x SF x DXC

2008-11-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

The Grails up for grabs.

Mos Def and Talib on Bart.

Arriving @ Powell

Haight st

I heard Obama chants, then i saw this ROFL

The line @ the milk bar 4 hundreds

Line for DXC

Cops

sightRIZE Questions CYNE.

2008-10-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

sightRIZE: This question is for Cise Star, Yo Cise! You have spit some crazy verses man your flow is real locked. Like an example is your verse in "Haze" off evolution fight. What was some inspiration off that?
CISE: Basically hope for humanity and the current state of affairs. It is the way I think people should view themselves and others. That was the basis of my verses on that particular track.
sightRIZE: This question is for anyone who can answer. My friend TONE+Chef really wanted to know what you want us to pull away with, like what is Cultivating Your New Experience?
SPECK: Our music is a direct expression of our personal experience. That may seem overly simplistic, but our music is rooted in the interpretation of our immediate environment -- our era, our work, our families, sociopolitical events, music genres, pop culture, human interaction, daily observations, etc... So, maybe we're hoping that our music can provide another perspective for our listeners.
sightRIZE: This is for the producers. So CYNE has Speck and Enoch as producers if I'm not mistaken. Please correct me if Im wrong. The beats are really unique and has a real nice sound to it for Cise and Akin to rap over. How did you come up with these?
ENOCH: Speck and I both have diverse tastes and we try to incorporate a lot of the different elements of the music that we love into what we do, while at the same time channeling it into our style and making something completely our own out of it. When we first started, the conception of a beat would more than likely come from a loop we found, but over time we have grown as producers and have learned how to better utilize other methods of sampling, such as chopping or sampling from less traditional sources, as well as live playing. Speck and I working together for a long time has helped us to be able to create beats that complement each other well in a larger body of work. At the end of the day, we are just huge fans of music, and i think that the both of us would continue making beats even if no one were to ever put lyrics on top of them. Luckily we have two incredible mc's who appreciate the sound we provide for them, so it works out pretty well for all four of us.
SPECK: Since CYNE formed, we've been growing towards a "sound" that feels like our own -- we're always learning and experimenting with methods of making and listening to music. One of the rewards of working as a group for so long (we've been releasing records since 2001), is that you develop a type of language. For example: if one of the other members lends me an album they're inspired by, I can understand how they might want to translate that into the CYNE songwriting process. Luckily, we've gotten to that level as a band, and that's a space where many of the songs come from.
sightRIZE: So do you have any inspiration for your albums, like what were your thoughts as you were making it?
AKIN: All our albums have certain themes that coincide with that particular moment of the creation of the record. So we try to translate these experiences as best as we can into song.
CISE: Everyday life experiences and the thought processes behind them. I find that life is really a series of experiences that if observed would weave a tapstry of the essence of an individual. How we react is the key of who we really are. If you can understand why you did what you did honestly, then you can truly be a whole person who can effectivly relate to others. I think that most people don't try to do that, or even care to do so. I try to understand myself through the
vehicle of spoken word and music.
ENOCH: Speaking in terms of production, Speck and I both make a conscious effort to keep improving on what we do and challenging ourselves. We try to keep it interesting to ourselves first and foremost, but we also both come from a generation where the quality and consistency of music, specifically hip hop, had a much higher standard. So in that regard, we are very conscious of trying to create a full record of material that flows and makes sense as a collective work. I personally have lots of albums that I love and will always think are timeless, and there is definitely a part of me that strives to achieve that same timeless quality... I would hope that someone could throw on a CYNE record in twenty years and still think it were relevant or interesting in one way or another.
sightRIZE: This is for Akin and Cise Star, So when you guys rap its really insane because Cise is really quick with his flow and Akin changes the tempo. It really has a nice feel to it. Was this intended?
CISE: That is the way we both complement each other. It brings together both aspects of one unifying theme of expressing ourselves though music. No it wasn't intended, it was just the way it worked out.
sightRIZE: So this is for Akin and Cise Star, What do you feel is the illest verse you have ever spit?
AKIN: I like all my verses the same cuz they all meant something to me at that particular time.
CISE: I don't really have an "illest" verse but some of my favorite songs we have done as a group are "Steady" and "400 Years."
sightRIZE: Recently you had a lotta featuring artists on Starship Utopia how was that experience?
ENOCH: Two of the songs with guest artists on Starship were recorded during sessions in Gainesville with our friends from Miami. Both took place in downtime around shows we had set up with all of the guest artists performing as well as CYNE. One of the songs comes from about 12-15 people being trapped in a house during a hurricane, which is sort of a one time type of experience that is cool to have documented in that way.
SPECK: In a few cases, we worked with sounds and contributions from friends in our community -- bands like Asshole Parade, ROM, Warren Hixson, and Deceptikon all had a hand in shaping that release. This kind of collaboration keeps things fresh, and it inspires challenge on our end. Some of the tracks were long-distance collaborations, some of them took years to complete. So, for all of that music to have developed into a cohesive record is really gratifying.
sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects?
ENOCH: There are always upcoming projects. As of now we have the Pretty Dark Things vinyl coming out in November which will come with a download card containing the album plus extra bonus songs and other material. After that, we'll have new and unreleased material that we'd like to release. We like to stay working on things, so there should be many projects on the horizon.
SPECK: We're always working. The three years it took to create "Pretty Dark Things" and "Starship Utopia" were never idle. Even tonight, we're working on new material... Other than that, we're hoping to tour in support of the album.
sightRIZE: Anything You'd like to end with?
ENOCH: Thank you to all CYNE fans. Go vote on November 4th

sightRIZE Questions Wiseman

2008-10-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

sightRIZE:Okay for the listeners that may not know, would you like to
do a brief bio?
Wiseman:Back when I was 12, my grandmother gave all the children a 100 dollars. I used the money to buy a radio. Listen to Hip Hop every day all day, and told myself I would become the best MC, and here I am.
sightRIZE:So how did your name "Wiseman" come together?
Wiseman:I had all these rymes filled in notebooks, but had no beats. So in the year 2000 I got my first beat machine, and started making instrumentals. I called my production company "Wiseman Production". Because through my beats, I would stimulate Wise words to be spoken. Then everybody just started callin' me Wiseman. I figured the name pretty much found me.
sightRIZE:So coming from that, wisemans gotta be wise, so would you like to drop some knowledge for our blog through a quote?
Wiseman:Music is the vehicle through which the Most High's Energy is transmitted into the hearts of many. Music is a behavior shaping tool first, and entertainment secound.
sightRIZE:Music is my voice is amazing, my favorite track off the street scholars, what was your inspiration for that?
Wiseman:I'm a calm quiet person, so the only time I really have something to say is when I'm writing lyrics or on the mic. So music became my voice to share my thoughts to the world.
sightRIZE:So do you have any upcoming projects?
Wiseman:Glad you asked, I putting the finishing touches on an upcoming album titled "Children of the Sun". So far I've completed 13 tracks on it, also I wrote a book of positive affirmations that comes with the cd. It's definitely one to treasure, Heavenly music.
sightRIZE:On the street scholars, you hooked up with prefyx how was that?
Wiseman:Me and Pre been knowing each other since 1992, he was in a group called lifestyles. We would always build togeter, here and there, have freestyle sessions. I've always wanted to work with him since his flavor is unique. So he blessed me with 16 bars on "2 late".
sightRIZE:Do you have any personal favorites in rappers?
Wiseman: KRS One is my distant mentor in rap. Nas, Commmon, Mos Def, Jay-Z, Ice Cube, Ras Kass, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, just to name a few.
sightRIZE:Outside of hiphop what are your interests?
Wiseman:READING... books from the bible to Meter Neter to Life and teachings of the Master of the Far East. I like to fill up the bowl with knowledge, then spoon feed. If I'm not creating Hip Hop I'm building with my seed, family and friends.
sightRIZE:Anything you'd like to end with?
Wiseman:Just wanna say, keep vibing to the truest artform. Yaw got it. It means alot to see how hip hop truly effects our lives on a worldwide scale. Any time you wanna build I'm here.

sightRIZE Questions Co$$

2008-10-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

sightRIZE: First could you tell us a bit about yourself for other listeners to get a bit on your bio?
Co$$: Im 24, from Leimert Park, Los Angeles...Been rhyming for 10 years, rhyming seriously for about 5.....Im affliated with Blu and Taraach, Sene out of Brooklyn, and DJ exile...I'm a loyal westcoast repres enative, north and south coast cali..my music is what I call "socially street"...Im not a concious emcee, but Im not a backpacker either...somewhere inbetween gangster and revolutionary..I'm very reclusive, I don't do big crowds unless I'M doing shows...I just want to bring back that raw westcoast hiphop that I feel the game is missing.....
sightRIZE: Whats the best part about rappin?
Co$$:Being able to express myself through a rt....It's like stress relief everytime I write or spit a rhyme....
sightRIZE: How do you feel about the state of HipHop today?
Co$$: Not very good....I feel hopeful, but right now I'm not very inspired or impressed by most of the new shit dropping, to much style biting, not enough innovation...no offense to any new or established emcee doing their thing.....
sightRIZE: Growing up what were your hobbies?
Co$$: Rhyming, haha...I been rhyming since 14....Hanging out with thugs was also another hobby, haha...I played sports, mainly basketball, or should I say only basketball, haha....I used to collect N ightwing comic books as well...I was a only child so I had to entertain myself....
sightRIZE: What is a song of yours that you are most proud of?
Co$$:These are the days has to be my favorite song...I captured the way I was feeling at the time perfectly and put it into rhymes, I usually struggle to convey my emotion through rhyme.....
sightRIZE: I see that you are friends with Sene and Blu, are there any projects we should look for between you guys?
Co$$:actually, Look out for a collaboration project with Shawn Jackson and I after my solo release....I do not want t o say too much but it's going to be a major move for westside lyricism.....Blu will be involved as well....
sightRIZE: What is the biggest influence on your music?
Co$$:Life experience...What I've been through and will go through will always shape what I rhyme about....It's all about perspective in my opinion.....
sightRIZE: Do you have any favorite artists and why?
Co$$:My favorite artist is Blu....Just because I have witnessed h is growth first hand, musically and career wise....He inspires me to be my own emcee, because he is his....I'm also a fan of J-electronica, Plex rock, elzhi, Taraach, Shawn Jack, and every emcee with his own style, haha...
sightRIZE: Well through your music, I feel that you are a wise dude, would you like to drop some knowledge for our blog through a quote?
Co$$:uhhh, let's see,
"this is a lesson that I learned from mistakes, LEARN FROM MISTAKES"
"YOU get a chance when you earn you a place".....
sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
Co$$:thanks for reaching out, and please support the music, I have a mixtape dropping late december entitled "THE Coss edition" and my lp "before I awoke" will be dropping in may on tres records, so fuck wit ya boi, cop the records!!!!

On Days I Have Nothing To Do.

2008-10-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Way Back Then

2008-10-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

Just takin back good memories and as I was highliting a string of BTG'S exsistence I remembered a blog that influenced us the most, The Hundreds. sightRIZE has been on the blog once before and it is above!
The Hundreds IS HUGE.

ArtOfficial Interview By sightRIZE

2008-10-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Okay this is the ArtOfficial hiphop group. They do hiphop with a jazzy beat and it has never sounded so good. Check out Big City Bright Lights, their music video off their album Fist Fights And Foot Races that is on iTUNES and AMAZON both. Cop it. Really deserving dudes.

sightRIZE: So you have a saxophone player in your crew which is really original, how did that come together?
ArtOfficial:It came together by coincidence actually. At the time that it happened we weren't technically a band. Just a bunch of musicians who made music with different people and came together for some paying gigs. We didn't have a name and nobody knew of us. The keyboardist wanted a lead instrumentalist for the gigs we were getting. The first gig we did was a pool hall called Felt in Miami Beach and so the keys player, Danny, called up Keith (Sax) who happened to live on the beach. Keith didn't know any of the songs, he just improvised the whole set and just ripped it up. Everything clicked that night and we figured we could make a serious band and put some serious effort into this. The next day Keith left to India for a month. Meanwhile we're in Miami hoping that he's down to work with us when he gets back and he's in India hoping we don't kill each other in that month he was gone.
sightRIZE: So try to choose one Jazz or Hip-Hop and why? Aha this is a tough question.
ArtOfficial:I don't think anybody in the group can pick one. We walk a very thin line between genres of music. For the most part music was separated into genres to make it easier to sell. And the same can be said for the visual arts. To us theirs good music and bad music so the choice is pretty easy when you break it down like that.
sightRIZE: What's the greatest part about Florida?
ArtOfficial:I don't know about Florida, but I can speak on the small southeastern country of Miami. There are a lot of great things going on here in the good ol' 305, but my favorite right now is the emerging music and art scene.
4. Who is your favorite hip-hop artist(s)?
ArtOfficial:The Blackstar album is a personal favorite of mine. Mos Def is an incredible artist. As you can imagine we have a lot of favorites so I'll speak for the entire band and mention Pharaoh Monch (who we got to open for), Aesop Rock, Outkast, Dilla, and The Roots.
sightRIZE: What is the lyric/song you guys are most proud of?
ArtOfficial:It depends on the day of the week really. My favorite anything changes from week to week. Eyes of a Stranger is one I know the band is proud of. I'm gonna say, personally, the lyrics on Gone are my favorite right now.
sightRIZE: The concept of the big city bright lights video was really unique, how did that happen?
ArtOfficial:We worked with the director of the video to come up with the finished product you saw. It was really a balancing act between working with-in our means and making something visually interesting.
sightRIZE: Outside of hip-hop what are your guy's interests?
ArtOfficial:Drinking heavily, and picking up women at sex addiction meetings...lol. For real though, Keith is a surfer at heart. Newsense collects tattoos. Manny likes things that travel fast over water. Ralf is a sandwich connoisseur. Danny is a connoisseur of a different sort. And I like to read about the end of the world. Ha.
sightRIZE: So we are young in our crew 14-16, and were wondering what your ideal day would be like if you were are age?
ArtOfficial:A typical high school day for me included driving to school, showing up late to my first class with a cup of coffee, sleeping through the first 3 periods, doing my battle rapper thing in lunch, skipping into the second lunch to annihilate all the second lunch shit-talking rappers, hitting up my photo class, then impressing my racist English teach who didn't think brown people could write anything of merit. Some time after that I would sleep some more, listen to loud rap music, and make loud rap music. I can't speak for the other guys, although I know their days involved things I probably shouldn't be suggesting to impressionable minds...lol.
sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects/events we should be on the lookout for?
ArtOfficial:Definitely. We're working on our US release, which has no name or release date as of now. As you may or may not know, we have an album out, but it is exclusive to Japan. We're taking the very best material from that album and mixing it with the new hot shit for the US release. We're also looking for a company to put that out here in the good ol' U.S. of A. I think you'll see that album out some time in early 09 and a live album some time in the middle of the year.
sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
ArtOfficial:Yeah. A special thanks to you guys for giving us an outlet to the people and also to the supporters far and near.
sightRIZE: Okay thanks ArtOfficial crew!

sightRIZE Questions Sene.

2008-09-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

First off Sene is so sick. Dope dude. Real dope. I had a phone call with him. How many rappers would allow you to do that?! Real humble dude. I hope you enjoy this, I did.

sightRIZE: My favorite song off Elevator Music was "These Days" what
was your inspiration for that?
Sene: These Days can be rough man...even when money aint the issue. Jobs, bosses, people gota work to survive so even if the check is comin it aint comin stress free...Or its gone soon as it comes...But I have alot of downtempo songs addressing everyday issues..I wanted a more upbeat to joint to do a song like that over..when Brady sent me that I just let out some ideas and it came together. thank you.
sightRIZE: So I heard the BeSene EP with Blu on it. Is it official
that you are gonna do a full album with him?
Sene: We're gonna put out a full length album with me on the raps him on the breaks. The BeSene is more of a digital single deal. It [BeSene] was really just some fun, it's just how me and Blu started recording tracks.
sightRIZE: Yeah this Blu thing is just huge man.
Sene: Yeah I appreciate that man. Some cats are likin it so hopefully that works out.
sightRIZE: Yeah man you and Blu coming together is straight crazy.
Like Below The Heavens is really beautifully crafted.
Sene: Yeah, Below The Heavens is one of my favorite albums. A lotta cats will be like oh thats his homie so of course hes gonna say that hes not gonna say he didn't like it.. but imma tell you right now nepotism isn't needed when critiquing below the heavens. Lyrically it drove me to push deeper..Instead of having the hottest lines maybe further elaborating on a subject to help folks understand what your trying to say more. Then your intricacy becomes whats hot instead of a punchline...mixing booth is dope and that album did that well.
sightRIZE: Yeah Blu&Exiles really powerful like that man.
Sene: someones speakin to you, instead of just kickin raps to you. you know what Im sayin?
sightRIZE: Yeah I feel you. I had to hop like five record stores
constantly to get that.
Sene: I mean sometimes .. not the artist obviously.. but on the business side of things they can really drop the ball, an album of that quality should be able to be found everywhere but with that one you really have to go on a witchhunt. sightRIZE: So if you could find one inspiration for all your songs what would that be?
Sene: If I could pick one inspiration for all my songs, It would be the awkward situations I observe, situations people find themselves in and how they deal with'em. I'll be real with you my little cousins help me stay attached to that zone I was in growing up. I have cousins around your age actually if I'm not mistaken and just seeing what they go through just makes me wanna make music.
sightRIZE: Yeah I feel you.
sightRIZE: So if you had to choose one HipHop artist or group which
one would be your favorite group?
Sene: Yeah, thats a tough question. Damn. One cat?! Oh man. One cat in the game I think imma go out and choose Andre 3000.
sightRIZE: Andre 3000?
Sene: Yeah and a lotta people gonna be like huh?! And its just because I don't think he let nobody hold him in the box you know what Im sayin?
sightRIZE: Yeah I feel you.
Sene: He came out wearin jerseys flipped it to pink wigs and like it was just straight cause it just let people know all over that no matter what good music is good music. So anytime someone tells me, you can't do that people gonna think you crazy lookin at Andre workin Im like nobody gonna think its crazy. I mean lookin at Andre and Outkast in
general is just one of the biggest inspiration on me and Blu's album.
sightRIZE: (I have no clue what I said here)
Yeah man its unbelievable , because you listen to what a lotta these kids listen to and (Im really sorry for interrupting him here I was getting really excited haha -sightRIZE)
sightRIZE: So what do you think of the Outkast track the Art Of Storytellin?
Sene: Yeah I remember when that Slick Rick got on the series you remember that?
sightRIZE: Yeah man.
Sene: When that Slick Ricks voice came on I was hype. I remember blastin that in my headphones and I was like wow! Slick Rick and Andre 3000. Which version was your favorite.
sightRIZE: Im feelin part two man.
sightRIZE: I mean I feel like theres a lotta wack tracks in the
mainstream game right now that Im really not feelin like that Soulja
Boy bullshit or whatever. Like hes pretty wack.
Sene: I mean sellin millions its hard to say anything you know. I just wish that this wasnt the only thing being played..NY is a little better with their hip hop stations and what gets played but if there was some "it was written" mixed in with the "supaman that hoes " thered be a wider variety..Cats are gettin retarded...Im hearin cats like why bother writing rhymes yo jus come up with some catchy shit and....thats where i cut it off..
sightRIZE: (laughs) Yeah I feel you man.
Sene: I mean now days a lotta underground rappers can't do projects and give away a million units let alone sell a million digital tracks. you know what I'm sayin? They couldnt give you a dollar with the CD and tell you to take it. But as far as quality music, its funny. Growin up compared to now, I cant believe whats on the stereo.
sightRIZE: (laughs) Yeah man.
Sene: So at this point I kinda laugh and I enjoy it now cause Im like it makes me appreciate the people I listen to, the people I work with, don't work with. It makes them stand out even more. And in a world full of robot voices like you know it just makes more appreciation.
sightRIZE: So if you were our age what would be your ideal day?
Sene: WakeUp...Get dressed like I was goin to school..leave for the homies crib to eat drink and rap. Pizza Beer and AcidPro.
sightRIZE: Yeah I feel.
Sene: I was definetly lookin for myself at your age. My steppops was more in the picture and my moms and him started setllin the party a little more... after goin to public school my whole life I was really fuckin up. I didnt get into any of the public schools that were known to be dope after junior high..i had a bunch of suspensions, red marks n shit...My whole family had basically dropped out of Sheepshead highschool minus my sister. So they knew id do the same if i went there. They busted their ass workin in supermarkets n came at me thrreatening paying for military school. I think it was cheaper for a few years of catholic school. Unfortunately shit on that opportunity as well.
sightRIZE: Yeah I feel you at that point because going to school
sucks. But going to private school , that must suck worse. But you're
a natural rapper man if you never came into the game and made elevator
music and hooked up with Blu for an album. I dont even know man.
Sene: Yea and I was real out of place...I had a blowout tho..greezed that baby out..cringe thinkin about it. But Im sure when they were saving and bustin their ass to pay..rapping never crossed their mind as my future. But it was their final push..they had no chance at helpin me for college they hoped id pull a scholly out or someshit. N someother little nonsense i pulled blocked my financial aid.
sightRIZE: Yeah but I'm sure she looks at your lyrics now and really
thinks its amazing.
Sene: Moms would rather see me in a suit than rappin on a stage.
sightRIZE: Yeah and I feel you on that because maybe its hard for them
to see something theyd never expect. Like I feel the same way because
my parents try to get me education and shit is all i'm reallly into
right now is Graffiti and HipHop.
(laughs)
Sene: Yeah growing up for me it was hard because I spent a lotta years isolated with music. I spent a lotta years by myself like straight up BY MYSELF. My sister was basically raising me and while my mom trying to figure out where her life ending up. My pops out doing his thing. So when that time came they wanted to get a hold on me cause they were getting a grip on their own shit.. I was so used to doing my own thing that I couldn't be harnessed. So it was beyond go get an education do what we say to do.., for me it was like of all the ages you should've had taken the time to guide me..na.. now Ive chosen what I wanna do. I just moved with it.
sightRIZE: So how did your career start? Like how did you make your
mark in the game?
Sene: Oh man I started in class just in junior high school .. me and the homeys just writing raps. my first rap was when I was seven years old it was some anti-drug soundin shit. But I really didn't touch it again till junior high school. And it would just be a way to ignore the teacher and pass it between the homeys and such. But then I started recording next door in the homeys building and we would use a cheap ass microphone or those computer microphones. Then I started living life at a little faster pace, met a girl from California. Came out here. Loved it. Then I moved. And people was like you're crazy! You wont be able to survive youll be back in 2 weeks. But I was like no fuck it imma go do it and ive only been back to visit a bunch since but never on a perma stay.
sightRIZE: So you're originally from Brooklyn right?
Sene: Yeah born and raised... till eighteen. Then I bounced to Cali.
sightRIZE: Well Im glad to have you out here man.
Sene: Yeah thanks I appreciate it. Shit, I'm glad I'm here man. Yeah its a really hard thing to do, move in someone elses territory.
sightRIZE: How do you feel about it now man?
Sene: Everydays a blessin out here. Cause you got palm trees and a sun as the backdrop and then the grimiest shit you'll ever see playin out in front of it. Where Im from they dont realize that of course its going to look different..thats geography and mother nature...But dont let the pretty sites fool you about Cali . I love it here though. Its a really hard thing to do when you are moving into someone elses territory but I'm fortunate enough to have been given a little elbow space to work here and I respect the scene even more so for allowin me that..Cause trust if someone don't want you making moves in their area you wont be there..Regardless city state country...So it aint like You can just come setup camp with a fucked up attitude. Nor would I want too. I been able to build with real talented cats in LA...Cashius King (Coss) and Blu are the illest individual rappers left side in my opinion and its a strong team.
sightRIZE: Yeah man you're hookin up with Blu that shits crazy.
Sene: Yeah that was somethin different because we are from a whole different place and we met and its just beautiful to see how it came out.
sightRIZE: So how do you feel anything between clothing and HipHop?
Sene: Yeah thats a funny question man because at your age I used to do a lotta different things for money on the side and I'd blow it all on clothes. . (laughs)I figuredif I spent all my money on the illest gear then I could pass for having more than I did. So I was really heavy into fashion for years. But then after I moved to Cali surviving day to day without the ability to just start makin moves..I had to humble pie real quick..Broke...again...but it taught me alot I realized you waste so much time and energy on areas that should be the fun touch at the end..cherry on top to who you are and what you are doing..Not the primary selling point. I got the little kid in me thats saying, "Go cop those" but then I got the other voice in me thats like, "You better not!" So im just minding my own position. (laughs)
sightRIZE: So you're in LA now right?
Sene: Yeah man Im in LA now.
sightRIZE: The culture out there is like ridiculous!
Sene: Yeah its crazy, I joke that everyday people come out to chill to show out their new clothing not run errands.
sightRIZE: Yeah, you go out to Fairfax and muhfuckas is wearing shit
Iv never even seen before!
Sene: Yeah they probably worked a week so they could wear that shirt to buy a latte.
sightRIZE: So ... the cover art for Elevator Music was one of the
dopest covers Ive seen.. how did that come together?
Sene: I always said that I feel like I was lacking color in my visuals. I grew up doing a lot of graffit and stuff so bold colors was everything to me. So I felt like I wanna be bold and get a lotta color in this so we had a couple shots to work with and the homey, Ryan Webster looked at some of my shots and came with that and I liked it. And the fact that it was all graffiti it wasnt computer paint meant more. I really liked that in the background.
sighRIZE: So speaking of graffiti when you started your name probably
wasn't Sene right?
Sene: Yeah like I dunno how much you guys know about graffiti but "Seen" is one of the legendary graffiti writers, my friends speculate whether it's true or not but word was growin up he went from NY to Hollywood and busted on the Hollywood sign. I remember growin up hearing that story, It just left me dazed for five minutes like I can do that! But when I started I was so corny man and I was doing it for the rush and all the older homeys were just ridiculous , real ill with it, city acclaim. And I was just trying to get on! Scrappin over little corny tag names. I was writing Elroy cause I was the little kid hanging with a bunch of older kids. So one of the homeys brothers had thrown the name around and it just stuck. So everybody started calling me Elroy. So I could embrace it and write it or be like damn im young buck over here i get it. So I said imma make this badass fuck it.hah. So I just started writing it.
sightRIZE: So Im from the bay. And when I go to San Francisco,
muh'fuckas have this crazy shit out there and you see my little tag on
the stop sign and its like you know?
(Laughs)
Sene: Yea man its intimidating. Shits crazy cause a lotta kids died over graffiti....trainridin...beef. But the adrenaline rush was worth it at the time i felt... To get that shit all over and to be ill with it just makes you go on. I didnt push anywhere near what the homies did.But Its like listening to someones music makes you wanna make a dope song. Seeing your little weak handstyles next to all this big pre-planned pieces is pretty intimidating, makes you scared to go home and hit the black book. Its like when you get into the cipher at the park and kids been spitting for five-six years and you're about to pop out with the "Yo Im So Hot" raps.
sightRIZE: Alright man, any upcoming projects we should look for?
Sene: Imma let my hair down for a minute, imma just let Elevator Music circulate and just watch for me and Blu in January.
sightRIZE: Yeah that shits gonna be crazy man.
Sene: Yeah I just hope people take to it man. Its different its like a whole genre of its own. A lotta people are gonna be like this aint what I expected but I think that'll be a good thing.
sightRIZE: Yeah and I just realized that I didnt ask you your favorite
album so if you had to choose an album what would that be?
Sene: Oh shit man. Damn thats a hard question. It was written was up there...moment of truth when i was young..But OneDay it'll all make sense was the first cd my brother gave me before moment of truth and that had me bugged out at how you can word things to make people have to figure things out in there head because you are implying instead of
directly saying something.
sightRIZE: Whatd you think of the new Nas album?
Sene: Honestly I have been so busy the last two months I did not get to that so Id rather tell you that then yeah its dope. So I wouldnt lie to you. A lotta cats get mad at him but to me anything he puts out is worth support.
sightRIZE: So you were at the time of NaS, Jay-Z beef right?
Sene: Yeah I cut school that day. I listened to everybody calling. When it was over I just took it in for a second. I'll never forget the day though. Stayin home and bumpin that shit over my little Aiwa sterero. sightRIZE: So like my ma doesnt appreciate HipHop or anything about the culture or a lotta my friends thats really deep with it. So how did your mom deal with that? Sene: Its still kinda bad for my mom you know. Most people dont think like my child is gonna be a rapper you know?
sightRIZE: Yeah because HipHop is negatively perceived in the public.
Sene: My mothers like ..somethings gonna happen, you're gonna die look what happened to so and so.. stop rapping. Im like take it easy. It got easier for her over the years but people that she knows that you would never expect to be into HipHop to tell her Im makin right moves, so shes developed appreciation because shes seen me have struggle to me alleviating my struggle through HipHop. If I went to community college then she would still see me in her apartment but instead she saw me in Europe and on my own across the country.
sightRIZE: But with you hookin up with Blu theres gonna be a serious take off.
Sene:Ifwe can keep good music coming good things will happen.I like to keep recording and making better music. So hopefully we can all be in a better place. sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
Do you ... just do you.
sightRIZE: If you ever come to the bay imma come see you no matter what?
Sene: Yeah hopefully i'll be there soon and try to get you a event with no age. I cant promote fake Id's but I hear they are get sold easily in the bay.
sightRIZE: Yeah man imma go to Blu and the DNA lounge too. How else? (laughter)
Sene: Yo man I really appreciate this.
sightRIZE: We appreciate you man.
Sene: Like none of our shit matters. Like hearin your age like doing something positive like writing a blog and even graffiti as long as it aint gangbanging makes me real happy man.
sightRIZE: Yeah man thanks. And Im hookin up with Blu for the blog too
so imma tell him to make a statement about you and hit you up with
that man.
Sene: Aha sure man if he talks shit about me throw it at him!
(laughter)
sightRIZE: Alright man peace and good luck.
Sene: God bless and good luck to you too.

New banner created.

2008-09-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

took me a good hour and a half to do. Inspired from the GZA Pro Tools album.
-KZA.

Choose A Lie, Pick A Side, And You Make Foes.

2008-09-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Discipline, No Emotion.
That is the key to life you need discipline. If failed to do this.
To accomplish discipline you need a plan to do what you need to do in a certain amount of time if you don't keep up you fail. Discipline is the only thing that keeps the mind in checks, not other bullshit. You wanna teach yourself something? Learn that first.
You need no emotion to succeed. I was watching the movie "21" a few weeks ago and the dude is smart.
He is right. You get emotional, you get stupid, then you make a bad decision, every decision you make should be on reason not emotion.
Listen to your head not your heart.
Iv failed to that as well.
Another thing you need is set a perfect goal.
I set a perfect goal for this blog because I know it can never be accomplished, so that way it keeps me working to try to find perfection although that is not possible. It is the only way to keep you working steadily otherwise you get lazy and fuck up.
Iv accomplished that.
You gotta get past your shit. Don't think to much otherwise you become worried/stupid.
You got no clue muhfucka and I mean it. I don't think any of us do. We don't no how to do shit with our lives at all.
Success in the US=The Jay-Z statement, "A bunch of people actin like bitches with big mouths"
Humble yourself. Don't be a ignorant muhfucka. Most of all stop being stupid, make decisions based on reason. Not what you feel is right cause it just fucks shit up.
If you wanna start something make sure you finish it correctly or imma finish it for you. You fucks with me you start a fire that cant be put out till you are diminished. Fucks with me and like Freeway its over muhfucka. You dont listen same shit happens. You think Im getting emotional and contradicting? Nah muhfucka this is how imma does it now. This is my reason.
Its time for change.
Escape the long winding road of lies, the truth is emaculate, it can diminish anything.
My goal self balance. To be like the RZA have that mentality. Is it possible? Not even muhfucka.

Just Another Day.

2008-09-11T22:16:00.001-07:00

My favorite track. Rough day. Nothin like listenin to Blu.

Much Love To D.HOOD of www.namusink.com

2008-09-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

A shoutout to D.HOOD for postin us on his blog.
Real down to earth dude much love. Check his shit out man real life shit
www.namusink.com
We wish him luck and god bless.
Peace
sightRIZE

"PLEASE VISIT OUR MYSPACE AND FORUM"

2008-09-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hey if you like our blog at Bridging the Gap, you can add us on Myspace, and interact with other Bridging the Gap fans AND the creators on our our Forum by clicking on them OR JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU DO I will PUT THE WINDOWS BELOW!
The Myspace one is pretty messed up on this thing so you can just click add at the top!

sightRIZE Questions Raashan Ahmad Of Crown City Rockers

2008-09-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

1. sightRIZE: So we all know Crown City Rockers is the one of the greatest groups out there right now, how did that come together?
Raashan: Crown City actually met in Boston when the band was going to berkelee college of music. We met at random house parties and jam sessions when I moved out there from L.A. After about my 3rd winter there I needed to get back to the cali sunshine, I convinced the crew to move and we all moved to Oakland into one big house and have been making music and travelling the world together since.

2. sightRIZE: And before we get real into it, you are really wise and humble and that's why I look up to you. I do enjoy quotes as well and I really feel like you could drop something to leave us thinking about. Would you like to drop some knowledge in the form of a quote?
Raashan: THANK YOU! I love quotes too. I gotta share one of my personal favorites its by Emma Goldman and its "if I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution" I try to make my music with that in mind, making sure that I drop some words with depth and substance but at the same time I want to make sure it something people are gonna want to move too. I think too often "Conscious" rap is boring and the beats aren't that tight. That quote always comes in my head when I'm writing.

3. sightRIZE: So I feel like that one Crown City picture with you throwing your hand to the side and everybody posing/jumping for the picture a classic. How did you come up with that?
Raashan: That's actually taken on Max's (the drummer) street. We were actually loading up our gear for a gig and ran to the middle of the street to take that pic! Luckily our homie (and DOPE photographer) Scott Anderson was there and he took that pic. One of our favorites!

4. sightRIZE: So I feel like Crown City has tons of Jazz influence with Kat on the keyboard and all its really unique like no other, but please correct me if I'm wrong. So when you guys came together was this type of music intended or was it a spark that just hit?
Raashan: I gotta say it just came together. We all come from such different musical backgrounds and our music is like hip hop itself, a bunch of musical styles thrown in a pot and this is what came out. Obviously we are all heavily influenced by jazz but we never made a choice as to how our music should sound we just wanted to be true to ourselves.

5. sightRIZE: After hearing "Simple" I was really eager to hear more about your views on the HipHop game today. Would you like to give a statement?
Raashan: Honestly my views are ever changing. I think one of the greatest things about hip hop now is that there is so many different styles of it! So while commercial radio may be playing the same songs over and over there's lots of good hip hop below the radar thats happening right now.Lots of different groups that are really bringing the culture of the music IN the music. When I wrote "Simple" I was just fed up with hearing bad mc's and feeling like the scene was getting oversaturated with everyone trying to rap so I wrote that joint.

6. sightRIZE: What is the verse/song you are most proud of?
Raashan: Probably "Fight" off my solo record. I love the lyrics and the flow. Plus the beat is more on the party side and I love the "Conscious" lyrics over the "Party" beat.

7. sightRIZE: Like as you know we're young as in 14-16 in our crew. So we were curious to know what you did in your teenage years?
Raashan: rollerbladed,skated,tried to get girls and failed,ate lots of fruit loops,danced,hated my high school,played basketball/baseball,avoided gangs,tried to get girls and failed,made mix tapes,played video games,went to parties,watched t.v,tried to get girls and failed....

8. sightRIZE: Who is your favorite artist in the HipHop game?
Raashan: That's too hard. I cant answer that...KRS and Rakim are my super heroes but Nas is bananas too but A tribe called quest and De La Soul defined my hip hop story, but Pharoah Monch is a monster! but Mf Doom, Brother Ali, Freeway, J-Live, P.U.T.S., Talib Kweli, Elzhi and Blu are incredible too!!! and Soooooooooo many more.

9 sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects we should know about?
Raashan: YES! The new Crown City Rockers record is almost done and should be out early next year! Also My solo album "The Push" is out now. The New album from my fellow crown city rocker Kat Ouano called "Natural Phenomenons" is out now and Headnodic from Crown city has a group with Gift of Gab (Blackalicious) and Lateef the truth speaker called Mighty Underdogs that should be coming out in october!

10. sightRIZE: Anything that you'd like to end with?
Raashan: Thanks for supporting and keep supporting good music! Peace!Raashan

sightRIZE Questions Blu

2008-09-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

Okay this was really special for me since this is my favorite rapper of all time. No lie. Hes dope. Peep him if you haven't you are really missin somethin. I really thank Blu, and his manager Jon Kim for hookin us up.
This is truly greater than anything I could have asked for so yes this is possibly one of the greatest moments of my life. No lie.
Blu is a great rolemodel and just a overall person I look up to. So enjoy!

1. sightRIZE: Below The Heavens is the best album possibly of all time said by many hiphop heads and the greatest album of all time in my mind, how do you feel about that?

Blu: IFeelLikeMaybeUShouldListenToSomeOfMyFavoriteAlbums.

2. sightRIZE: How do you feel about all the posers and wack tracks in the game right now?

Blu: IThinkItGivesPeopleanAlternative,LikeUs.

3. sightRIZE: Who is your favorite artist in the hiphop game and why?

Blu: JayElectronica,

Because"EternalSunshine"DefinedToMe,

HipHop,From07Til.

NothinHasMatchItSinceItsRelease.

ImWaitingToseeWhatWill.

4. sightRIZE: Your collabo was abstraxx was sick how did that start?

Blu: TheyAreFriendsWithMainframe,HeHookedItUp.

WeLinked,BecomeHomies,ThenHeShotmeSomeDesigns,

ISentHimMyLyrics&Whala!

5. sightRIZE: How did your career start?

Blu: AfterIHeard,"ItsDarkAndHellIsHot"

IPickedUpAPen

AndHaventPutItDownSinceThen.

6. sightRIZE: My favorite song off below the heavens was dancing in the rain, what was the inspiration for that?

Blu: WorkingAtAWacAssNine2Five.

Life.

JustMe,Being21,InLongBeach.

7. sightRIZE: A couple months ago I copped the CRAC album and it was unique! What is the concept for that?

Blu: FreedomFromScratch.

AndItsBeenSince.

NoRules.

ForTheLove.

8. sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects we should know about?

Blu: Yup,Many.

sightRIZE: And Imma come see you at DNA lounge in San Francisco for sure. No matter if they dont let me in theres gonna be a fuckin ruckus. Aha for real though if you're coming to my city I gotta see you!

10. Anything You'd Like to end with?

Blu: Yes,

JayElectronicaIsTheFuture

NewJackHustleisTheFuture

ArtOfInkIsTheFuture

ChurchOfTheTaintedSaintIsTheFuture

SeneIsTheFuture

JayJayIsToday

BluIsHereToStay

AndGOD,

SweetGOD,

Always.

I Was Told Hell Was Hot But Had To Feel It For Myself.

2008-09-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Yo! sightRIZE back at it again. My bad for not posting, iv left you guys hanging for a while, we've been mad hectic as our schools have reopened and shit. You know the usual shit out here.
Anyway. Recent shit: Switched schools and shit been gettin adjusted.
Reading the WU-TANG MANUAL. Which by the way is really interesting, if you think you know the WU you are dead wrong, you don't know shit till you read this book. I have discovered so much just after reading most of it. RZA is the wisest muh'fucka ever. Such a down to earth dude he's just a regular person is what he comes of as. No overconfidence or anything.
Next, been really thinking about this lately. People are lacking originality!
I mean why must you do what somebody else does? Why must you listen to Hip-Hop to claim you aren't a poser?
It's either you dig it or you don't! Don't force yourself to have to listen to shit you don't actaully like.
People really need to find theirselves instead of having others find it for them.
Its like muh'fuckas just rely on others to make their own decisions. Wack.
Yeah and I'v also noticed we are hella self concious. Like muh'fuckas are saying I don't care what I wear. But then why are you buying shit in the first place?!
Listen to Kanyes All Fall Down again. You're self concious admit it.
The only reason we buy expensive shit is for a reason. Otherwise why spend money on cologne, 40 dollar new eras, 30 dollar tees, and 80 dollar hoodies. Wack. Admit it. I sure as hell did.
We don't buy the shit we like cause we like it, we'd rather have something appreciated by the public. Its true. So stop fuckin with it.
And lately we have people saying our blog is weak. Aha I thank you haters for the inspiration I really do cause now I'm never gonna give up till my heart gives out you hear?! And also I really wouldn't say shit unless you compete cause you know you can't to better.
500 views a day. Try fuckin with that or shut up.
So yeah this is shit right now with sightRIZE. Thats whats up.
Be sure to peep our latest interviews coming including: Raashan of Crown City Rockers, CYNE, Sene, Blu. And keep an eye out for the BTG stickers and BTG CD which includes photos from your boys at BTG plus our favorite tracks.
Any questions you have can be emailed to bridgingthegap13@yahoo.com
Peace&GodBless&doesIT.
-sightRIZE

"NEW BRIDGING THE GAP FORUM NOW UP"

2008-08-30T14:36:00.001-07:00

FORUM NOW UP PLEASE SIGN UP AND POST HELP US BUILD IT.
PLEASE CLICK THE LINK OR IMAGE BELOW!

-Picture made by "KZA"

Forum
http://bridgingthegap.darkbb.com/

Beautiful. Glorious. Fuck It, You Pick A Adjective!

2008-08-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

Many of my friends may know I have transferred schools and now go to a different high school.
In a way I am happy to get away from all the poser and bullshit that happens at my old school. But I can't say im not gonna miss my two best friends.
I feel like I have dedicated my whole life to HipHop and it really doesn't seem to pay off so far all its doing is burning a hole in my pocket.
When Muh'Fuckas was out hanging, I was out buying albums.
It seemed like I had no life for a while but nobody knows what this means to me.
People Were Wondering Why?
Because to me HipHop is beautiful. It is an art. Its a culture. Its fascinating.
I started with two albums, Little Brother- The Minstrel Show and Supastition- Chain Letters.
After this I could successfully say that I had fallen in love for the first time. I had never felt this good before.
Its like they were teaching me life lessons through rhymes and beats.
I could now say I had found what I was looking for, I had fell in love for the first time.
After my first albums it triggered something, I found myself trying to buy a album as often as I can.
My collection expanded. My knowledge was greater.
The more I pondered along HipHop the more I loved it.
Then just last year I hit a big downside. I had figured out about this game of posers.
Posers who put HipHop in a web of lies.
The clothing of HipHop, all the brands are a culture. Theres no hiding it.
But lately people who dont know HipHop are wearing shit like this. Why?!
Im questioning myself.
They try to fit in into a world they aren't.
I hate posers because I feel they take away from lifestyle. Iv spent countless of hours just looking through CD's for a good dig. Trying to find a certain in hundreds of CD's. What have they done?
Taken away from the culture. It kills me to see posers.
As I left my old school I will cherish the memories I left behind. And dwell at what I see today.
A school filled with kids going for brands not HipHop. Sadly to say at my old school they killed great brands like The Hundreds and TRUE by just being posers more importantly I feel like they take a part of my lifestyle away.
I know joy because I felt the pain. I found joy in HipHop. They found joy in HipHop clothing.
There is a big difference.
HipHop and HipHop clothing go hand in hand.
Clothing alone when you dont know shit is wack. I mean why try it?
HipHop is beautiful no matter what happens to it. But these are some of the things that take away from the lifestyle.
If you wanna go down this path like me and plenty others did, then you have to face some consequences such as having to see posers every day ripping your hard earned knowledge out. Being broke as fuck all the time.
I hate some of the things about hiphop but in the end I can't complain cause its all worth it.
"You Need Some Soul Searching The Time Is Now" -Nas

Why Is The Game Going To Retire?!

2008-08-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

After his latest album L.A.X the game has announced he will retire.
As the album is dropping on the 26th there is hype surrounding the singles that he dropped.
A friend of mine stated, "I just don't get it, it seems like The Game is spittin nothin but fire! Why retire when you are at the peak of your career."
My answer is that The Game is sick of the bullshit in HipHop today.
In a recent interview where game announced his retirement he had stated, "I don't belong in this era, I belong in the era with Public Enemy and NWA"
The Game had also wanted to make a song about the man who had gotten violently killed by police and shot 40-50 times to show the brutality in this world.
Nobody wanted to collabo with him on that track.
The Game stated, "We can make a mixtape about how much we hate each other but we can't address the real things that are happening in life, now that's fucked up."
Shortly after he said this he broke down into tears.
As many people called Game a bitch for crying, I thought he was speaking sense. He wants to bring back the era's where artists want to do shit for the people. And people do not want to support game in this path.
The Game truly believes that this isn't the world for him anymore. And I agree he has kids now and they need him more than ever, as he needs them based on the lyrics of his song My Life you can see his attachment toward them. The Game deserves more collabo's with artists he wants and deserves to address issues that he wants.
Truly, The Game isn't set for this world right now. He is going through a lot.
At his aunts funeral his relatives were asking him to pay for everything and he did being a generous person. Game's cousin said, "Whats that on your cheek?" And pushed Game at the funeral. Game punched him and this shows how much he is going through at this moment.
Family is even going against him. He has a rivalry with his own cousin.
To sum up my thoughts I believe Game will retire but no rapper can leave the mic alone for long, take Game's enemy Jay-Z for example hes back again.
I believe Game will retire but we will hear from him again in a couple years.
After all, the Game needs The game.

sightRIZE Questions Tajai Of Souls Of Mischief/Hieroglyphics

2008-08-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

1. sightRIZE: You had the honor of being in the legendary hiero with your group Souls Of Mischief how was that?
Tajai: It is great (We are still a group, our new album, produced by Prince Paul should be out early next year). We have a good time, we have had longevity and that is important. Plus they are really talented, no one person is holding up the group.

2. sightRIZE: Who is your favorite hiphop artist and why?
Tajai: I would say KRS is the ultimate b-boy but Kane is my favorite.

3. sightRIZE: I read somewhere that you are a vegetarian, is that true and if so what made you make that choice?
Tajai: I used to eat really badly and drink and smoke. I decided when my daughter was born (she's 11 now) that I wanted to know my grandkids, so I quit all that.

4. sightRIZE: The song 93 Til Infinity is a classic and such a tribute to the bay, how did you guys at souls of mishief come up with that?
Tajai: We sat in the studio and tried to make something anthemic. Then the video just complemented the whole thing.

5. sightRIZE: When you started did you see Hiero getting this big?
Tajai: Of course. In fact we thought we would be much bigger. I don't think anyone makes music (maybe now, since EVERYONE makes music) but before the point was to be as huge as possible and touch as many people as we can.
6. sightRIZE: Speaking of starting how did your career start like how did souls of mischief hook up with Hieroglyphics?
Tajai: We all grew up together, Souls of Mischief is half of Hiero. The other members are Casual, Pep Love, Del and Domino. We have been Hieroglyphics since the beginning of our career, we just came out with a group album after our individual albums.

7. sightRIZE: What are the inspirations for your songs?
Tajai:Life and all of its possibilities. We try to be creative but not so far out you can't relate.

8. sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects we should be aware for?
Tajai: Souls of Mischief with Prince Paul - Untitled Tajai - Rap Noir Tajai and C7 - THC Opio - Vulture's Wisdom Volume One New Hiero album coming HIERO JEANS/ www. hierojeans. com

9. sightRIZE: Anything you'd like to end with?
Tajai:Check out Clearlabelrecords. com and myspace. com/clearlabelrecords. There is a LOT of talent in the Bay.

sightRIZE: Thanks for your time Tajai really an honor to have a Hiero member on Bridging the gap.

Turn Off Your Fuckin Radio!

2008-08-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

As far as living in the Bay Area goes the most annoying thing to watch is people "going dumb". I have seen hundreds of muh'fuckas blastin the local wack radio station Wild 94.9 and thinking that they are the shit. Or buying the Soulja Boi album or The Pack album to blare in their car.
What happened to bumping some easy Biggie or Ice Cube in the car?
Its been corrupted.
What people view as cool now is wack shit. 80-85% of music on the radio is bullshit music with weak or wack lyrics.
I am a part of the new generation so people should learn to change.
"See who's the one to place that blame.
we're getting trapped in a cycle of pain,
we're the generation is going down the drain.
that's how we're turnin' out. " - Immortal Techniques reverse pimplogy.
This just shows where we are going. Its like "going dumb", and hyphy music is in. What happened to classic bay shit like Hiero?
The radio is murdering real HipHop and we have to stop it.
The first step is getting rid of your fuckin radio!
Now I don't care how you gotta do it. Just get rid of it! Rip it out if you gotta!
This also gives you an opportunity to explore other music. And find yourself instead of having the radio find it for you. It would give you a sense of originality and a sense of belonging.
And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe wack shit is in. Maybe nobody gives a fuck about true shit anymore. Maybe retarded lyrics are cool. But I can tell you HipHop wouldn't get far if this continues.
Peace.
-sightRIZE.
Be sure to peep me thoughts on why the game is retiring next!

sightRIZE Questions Substantial

2008-08-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

1. sightRIZE: Your Cover Art For Sacrifice Was Quite Unique. What Was Your Inspiration For That?

Substantial: Thank you. Well, I've always had a thing for Japanese culture, Asian culture in general really. So one day I was checking out this photographers website, my boy Eddie B. Tombs IV, and he had these sick photos, like fashion photos mixed with martial arts. The idea hit me almost instantly. I just wanted to add the twist with the sword being replaced with a pen and a mic.

2. sightRIZE: I Ask Everyone This Question, How do you feel about all the wack tracks and posers in the game right now?

Substantial: I feel the same way I've always felt, if it's terrible I don't buy it. Bad music will always be here, it just seems like there is more of it these days. As far as the posers, I try not to waste my time or energy acknowledging anything that lacks authenticity.

3. sightRIZE: Outside of HipHop what are your interests?

Substantial: Youth work, visual arts, martial arts, movies (martial arts, anime, documentaries, etc.), old records, sneakers, a little bit of everything.

4. sightRIZE: You have a unique clothing style any comments about that?

Substantial: I rock what I like and I don’t go out of my way to rock what everyone else rocking. I definitely don't spend a lot of money on clothes I just try to make what I got look as fresh as possible. I definitely try to keep a lot of custom stuff in the closet and plus my folks Dylated Clothing, Up and Up, & Good Bully Apparel keep me with a fresh Tee too.

5. sightRIZE: My favorite song off Sacrifice was Let It Go, how did you come up with that?

Substantial: I had a lot of challenges going on in my personal life, both positive and negative, so I decided to take a little break from writing so I could deal with them. After nearly 3 months without writing, the first song that I wrote was "Let It Go". I clearly had a lot off my chest and the beat Burns gave me set the perfect mood. It was a while before I recorded it though. When I did, I did it one take to capture the feel of how I perform it live.

6. sightRIZE: How did your career start?

Substantial: I had been battling and performing for years and finally I was discovered by a producer in Japan named Nujabes who signed me to Hyde Out Productions back in 1999. Between that and grinding on the NYC scene with PackFM that's how I started making a name for myself.

7. sightRIZE: Who is your favorite artist in the game right now and why?

Substantial: I honestly don't have one favorite right now. There's a lot of different folks that I dig honestly. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Nas, Lupe, Common, Sean Price, Kokayi, Rhymefest, Guilty Simpson, and Elzhi to name a few. All of them have great lyrics, presences, personality, etc. But honestly, I listen to a lot of other music and try to cut back on hiphop when I’m writing.

8. sightRIZE: Any upcoming projects/news we should know about?

Substantial: Next project is a collab EP with Burns, the producer of Let It Go. It's called "SubstantialBurns". It will be a digital release dropping Late 2008/Early 2009 with QN5 Music. And don't forget, Sacrifice is stores now.

sightRIZE: Thanks for your time man! We appreciate it.

Substantial: Not a problem, anytime fam.

Donny on the myspace.

2008-08-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

Support Donny Goines!(click here)

sightRIZE Questions Donny Goines.

2008-08-05T08:53:00.001-07:00

I, sightRIZE had a chance to ask some questions to the rapper, Donny Goines. And must I tell you Donny is one humble down to earth dude. He let me ask questions just for this blog. This is an exclusive. Donny is a talented artist that is really making is name get out there. Cop his shit.
He really made our visions at BRIDGINGthe Gap come true.

1. sightRIZE: How do you feel about posers and the wack tracks in the hiphop game right now?
Donny: I feel there are just too many of both in the game right now. Honestly speaking I really don't care what other people do but the problem with it is that they are just taking up too much space. It's time for real artists to be in the forefront.

2. sightRIZE: You recently hooked up with Static Selektah for a song called what you expected. How was that?
Donny: That was dope. We knocked the joint out in his crib. I went over there and we listened to some records. Once we found that track he threw the scratches on it, I laid down the verses and there you have it. We sent it out that same day and the response was very good (got me played on Hot 97 among other things). He's doing a joint for my album too. Much love to Statik Selektah.

3. sightRIZE: Who your favorite HipHop artist in the game now and why?
Donny: That's a hard question. If I had to pick one I'd probably say Joell Ortiz. That dude is the epitomie of a Real MC in my opinion and I'm a huge fan.

4. sightRIZE: Did you have any inspiration for songs?
Donny: All the time. Inspiration is all around me and it strikes at any given moment. I only write my music when I'm inspired. I can't really tell you what inspires me because it's so random and sporadic, but for the most part I am inspired by people, vibes and life.

5. sightRIZE: How do you feel as you are getting more popularity?
Donny: I feel cool. Popularity is cool, but not really my thing to be honest with you. I've always been the quiet type as far as that goes so it's strange to me when people run up on me in the streets, or write me emails saying who much they love what I do, etc. but I love the people so it's all good. Im here for them and if they love what I'm doing then I will continue to keep doing it.

6. sightRIZE: Growing up how did you feel about clothing and HipHop? What were your interests?
Donny: Funny enough, I wasn't really a huge Hip Hop head growing up. I loved rap, and was always into fashion but I wasn't as into it as I am now. Hip Hop to me is a lifestyle and a culture and it's something that you have to really live to understand. Now I feel I have a full understanding of it so I embrace it with open arms.

7. sightRIZE: What can we expect in the future? Any upcoming projects?
Donny: Minute After Midnight. My official debut album. It's being Executive Prod. by Dame Grease and will feature many other producers such as Ron Browz, Statik Selektah and Kwame to name a few. Expect some surprise guests on there as well. That's something I am currently working on right now and should be done in the next couple of months.

8. sightRIZE: Anything You'd like to end the interview with?
Donny: Thanks for all the love and support. Be sure to look out for my "Bars" series every Thursday and keep an eye and an ear out for new music. Much love and God Bless.

We highly thank Donny and appreciate what hes done for the blog. Much love to Donny and good luck with his work!

Nas on the Colbert Report

2008-08-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.prefixmag.com/media/nas/colbert-report-videos/20167/

click to go see, couldnt find a way to get it on here, enjoy!

-KZA.

More About sightRIZE.

2008-08-02T01:30:00.000-07:00

Okay.
A lotta people ask me my opinions on music so imma give you everything in my opinion about my personal favorites. Keep in mind that this is my personal opinion so don't think you are going to like everything.
Best Song That Gives Focus: American Dreamin- Jay-Z, Choices- Median, One Mic- Nas
Best Song That Overlooks Life: Basic Instruction- GZA//Genius, Dead Presidents II-Jay-Z, Dreamchaser- MURS, Reminisce-9th Wonder Feat Big Remo
Best Hustler Anthem: All My Life- Jay Rock Feat Weezy
Best Chill Song: 93 Til Infinity- Souls Of Mischief
Best Lyrical Song: In Remembrance Of Me- Blu&Exile
Best Hardcore Song: Furious Anger- Shyheim
Best Sad Song: Dance With The Devil- Immortal Technique, You Never Know- Immortal Technique, Before The Great Collapse- Jedi Mind Tricks,
Best Group: Crown City Rockers, Hieroglyphics
Best Lyricist: Immortal Technique
Best Producer: 9th Wonder, J Dilla
Best Freestyle Artist: Papoose
Best Album: 36 Chambers- Wu-Tang Clan, Below The Heavens- Blu&Exile
Best Dressed: Pharrell
Best Classic Artist: Ice Cube
Best Classic Album: Eazy-Duz-It- Eazy E
Most Overrated Artist: Lil Wayne
Most Underrated: Freeway
Most Dissapointing: De La Sol
Most Hated: 50 Cent
Most Hardcore Group: Wu-Tang Clan
Most Unique: The Cool Kids
Most Consistent: Cyne, Talib Kweli
Most Inconsistent: Mos Def
Saddest Moment: J Dilla's Death
Wackest Artist: Soulja Boy
Cream Of The Crop: Chicago

Political Views: Barrack Obama

2008-08-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

Barrack is a ignorant ass muhfucka.
Listen to my story before you judge.
At first when Barrack came out I liked him. Because he was a democrat and he seemed wise.
I loved how Barrack rolled with Ludacris even though I hate Ludacris. I just like how some president liked music other than classical. I loved how he said he liked Jay-Z's American Gangster.
The more and more I read up about Barrack the more I felt like this is the president for us.
I even read the fact that he used to do cocaine and was a chain smoker but I didn't even give a fuck! I thought his values and his actions were outstanding. At first he opposed the war on terror bullshit. He said that he would pull out the troops and put everything back together, and find a way to lower oil prices.
A very hypocritical move.
Barrack is now saying that he will reinforce the troops in Iraq with more to give them help when he should be pulling them out.
This is retarded.
The economy of the United States is on decline as banks are going bankrupt and the stock market is falling steadily. People coming out of Harvard cannot get a job in the United States instead they are moving to areas in Asia such as Hong Kong.
Numbers are declining worse than the great depression of the 1930's. Why? The war in Iraq. It is causing too much money over nothing. Bush is ignorant as fuck. As Barrack is supporting war he is no different from a republican.
The United States is done. Barrack and McCain are the same.
Hillary was the future. No doubt. People were getting mad over gender issues but it was the facts that people should be focusing on, her goal was to get all troops out within one year. And she would have done it.
Lately I'm always seein these tees that say Barrack is the future, but with Barrack as president its like Buck and 9th's, No Future.

Turn Off Your Fuckin Radio!

2008-08-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

How Sick Am I? I Wish You Wealth.

2008-07-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

I guess you could say I was back in the real world. Got a little reality check in India as I walked off the plane and kids as old as me would beg for food. This is the real world, nobody lives as lavishly as Americans do. This is life around the world. There is no A/C, nobody can afford to eat out. If you think you have a bad life look again. This is incomparable.

STOP THE VIOLENCE! Innocent people die every day in Kashmir for over a territory despute thousands of Kashmir residents are homeless because of Pakistanis taking over homes by force. Non-coperation results in death. GZA said it was a cold world but he had never seen real shit.

"Why Must It Go On, We Must Stop The Killin, Tell Me Why We Die We All Gods Children."-Nas's Rule.

I hope Blu was right when he said you gotta go to hell to be a man. And you make your own heaven.
-Peace.

Re-Worked.

2008-07-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed already but BridgingTheGap has been completely remodeled by KZA. And the Re-Working is not in full effect yet! Expect plenty more changes to come.
Also, BridgingTheGap will have an exclusive interview with a underground rapper soon to come! Yes you heard right I, sightRIZE will be interviewing a underground rapper within the next two weeks! Also, our myspace is now up and running along with our email! Hit us up!
Sick.Sick.Sick.Sick.
In case you haven't noticed BridgingTheGap is makin' moves! Get with it!
Peace.
-sightRIZE.

Is Hip Hop Dead?!

2008-07-08T01:08:00.000-07:00

Well lately, Is Hip Hop Dead has been a question going through everybody's head. Well the answer is if you are spending all your time watching MTV or listening to the radio then yes HipHop is dead and the way the game is looking there is no resurrection for MTV and the radio.
"If Heads Only Knew About How I Felt About The Rap Game They'd Relocate And Change Their Fuckin Name." -Gang Starr's the militia.
Now this was a while ago but it turns out Guru of Gang Starr was right. The mainstream game has diminished to almost nothing. A few artists such as Nas, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common, etc. Have kept it alive. But what about whats happening under the surface? Under MTV? Under the radio?
HipHop is still and always will be alive.
I consider artists such as Soulja Boi, and Flo Rida shit artists with no message corrupting the mainstream game, killing only the mainstream game, but the underground is still very much alive and will stay alive so HipHop is never dead.
In my eyes HipHop can never die. I just see this as a phase that HipHop is going through where retarded lyrics are in. Thats all I see. How long will it stay in this phase for? That is a question I cannot answer. It could go on for a while if artists such as Soulja Boi keep selling. If people stop buying artists like Soulja Boi then we have a hope. All it takes is realization. That's it.
It also takes people to stop being posers. That is a major killer of the game. No doubt. If you fake knowing HipHop and listen to MTV or weak RnB then you are promoting more people wearing clothes that are meant for HipHop lovers. Therefore you are encouraging more shit music in the game and more people being posers. If you have a Hundreds hat on or a ALIFE tee on you better have some HipHop knowledge to have the right to wear such a thing. Otherwise you are a poser. If you wear a brand such as ALIFE you really have to know something about HipHop. If you don't know shit don't act like it by wearing shit like Hundreds or ALIFE. No Posers=A Cleaner Game. True HipHop=Poser Free. You Heard? Spread The Word.
Also people need to stop this shit about "keeping it underground." One of the most retarded things I have ever heard is I'm not about to tell you this song cause I'm keeping it underground. If you were a HipHop lover you wouldn't care because telling people true HipHop spreads the word and gives shares the knowledge with the world. How do we expect to clean up the mainstream game with people hiding their Ipods? Its time we shared our tracks.
However, I do believe there should be an exception to showing your Ipod to posers cause they still listen to wack shit and weak shit. This means that the person is going to take the tracks and then try to "keep it undergrond". A word of advice from me, if a true HipHop lover/head does not show his Ipod to you then he either lacks respect for the game or thinks you are a poser.
There has been a instance where a poser tried to talk about HipHop with me. It was retarded. He don't know shit. Hes sitting there telling me hes getting into true HipHop and he listens to hella true HipHop, he shows me the weakest track iv ever heard. The muh'fucka is wack hes killin the game.
When I talk to someone who knows HipHop I get knowledge and they get knowledge. We share opinions. For instance when I talk to my friends from the YO!(www.thedailyyo.blogspot.com, one of the best HipHop blogs on the net!) we share opinions, and everybody knows what being talked about. No wack tracks are even thrown out. Its just wisdom being shared. Promoting the very much alive HipHop.
So if you are wondering if HipHop is dead. It is not. I see it every day. HipHop is very much alive and healthy it just took a hit and is weak in the mainstream game. Its recovery date is unknown, it has had plenty of support from the passionate followers that stay with it, so it should be okay in the long run.
HipHop is still impeccable and definitely not to be fucked with.
Peace.
-sightRIZE.

Warped Pt2

2008-07-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hit up warped again and their shoe collection is still crazy! Shit, the dude at the store says they pick up five pairs of old retro Jordans per day. About six pairs of SB'S per day and a crazy amount of regular shoes. Crazy shit!

Starin' At The Skyline.

2008-07-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Singapore skyline is amazing, last night I saw it from a beach and it is really a sight to see. It put me lost in a vision. Focused. Shit was insane! The night really brings it out.
Shoutout to Adrian For taking me out here.
Peace
-sightRIZE.

Warped.

2008-07-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

Found another hole in the wall store in Singapore today. Its called Warped and for sneakerheads this place is the shit. Now I'm no Sneakerhead so I had no idea about half the shoes up there aside from the Jordans.

But people come from all over the world to go to this shoe botique in Singapore. It has almost all the desirable SB's, all the desirable Jordans plus all the air max's. Selection is crazy! A pair of Hawaii SB's were going for 250 Singapore Dollars. In USD thats about 200.

All the old Jordans and Air max's are also at this place. Price can start from as low as 150 Singapore Dollars and go up to as much as 350 Singapore dollars.

Don't get discouraged by the prices though there is always a sale going on. And the sale is CHEAP. I bought these blazers for 60 USD.

Plenty of other dunks and blazers to watch out for on sale. Doug E Fresh Pumas are 80 USD almost bought em but the sizes were too small.

If you head to the back you see a whole lotta KIDROBOT gear. Nothin special but its just interesting to see the variety of clothing in this store.

Anyway bottom line is this store is great if you are a sneakerhead and willing to drop a couple bills on a pair of shoes. If not this store is worth checking out. Still packing some sick shit and you never know whats on sale.

www.warpedstore.com

Peace.

-sightRIZE.

What Do It Take To Be A Legend Like Nas Is?!

2008-07-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

Okay. Gettin hyped up for Nas's untitled album dropping on the 15th. A little too hyped if you ask me.

In the past two days I have been through every Nas album besides Streets Disciple, Nastradamous, and the Lost Tapes.

All I can say is sick.

Nas is pure talent! Lyrical genius.

For those of you that haven't gone through the past Nas albums, I highly recommend you do so!

Favorite tracks were Second Childhood off Stillmatic. Memory Lane off Illmatic. Revolutionary Warfare off God's Son and Let There Be Light Off Hip Hop Is Dead. Also cop that album on the 15th.

"Life Is Ill, Again Lifes A Movie, Then The Roster's Cypress Hill, Nas And Fugees." -Nas (surviving the times.)

" I switched my motto -- instead of sayin fuck tomorrow That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto Once I stood on the block, loose cracks produce stacks I cooked up and cut small pieces to get my loot back Time is Illmatic keep static like wool fabric Pack a four-matic that crack your whole cabbage" -Nas (Lifes A Bitch)

Peace.

-sightRIZE.

OFFICIAL LOGO?!?!?!

2008-07-04T00:46:00.001-07:00

Leave some feed back on what you think!

-KZA.

Vancover Canada.

2008-07-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

A couple days before this blog was opened i went on a lil trip to Vancover Canada. There i found shops i didnt expect to find in a place like Canada. It ends up hip hop culture is alive and well in Canada. I spotted many Alife, The Hundreds, 10 Deep, Mighty Healthy, and lots of Crooks & Castles around there. I asked around and discovered these stores...

Gotta love Alife. Pictures werent permited in store so i had to steal a couple snap shots. I did see the Wu-tang Clan alife's in person but the store keeper had a steady eye on me.

They had Alife shoes in EVERY color imagineable, prices ranged between 130 - 80$.

In the display case i saw some of the most unique shoes ive ever seen. Unfotunantly they werent for sale.

HAHA, had to put the camera on a timer to get this, but the alife shirts were sick i ended up cop'n two as well as a krink pen before i left this store.

This is the best shoe store ive ever seen! There was such a large selection I wanted to take more pictures but the next bus time was very near so i had only one picture before i left.

This was deffinantly my favorite store. I picked up a Crooks & Castles Hoody for only 45$ as well as a King Stampede stweater for 45$ and an Orisque hat for only 20$, guy was so nice he hooked me up with the shirt behind him in white which was acutally a limited Crooks & Castles X Complex shirt. I also notice the Countdown packages all in store and in stock!? As well as the Aqua 8's, I thought that was very stange counting that those sold out within the first couple minutes in the states, maybe the Jordan hype is yet to hit Canada?!Much love to the store for making me feel right at home.

-KZA.