Blog - The Movement Fam, Independent Hip Hop Record Label - Toronto + Montréal
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It's that time again...the latest Movin' Up From Down Under blog (#3) is now live on Loud.com (click the image or the link).
This week, we spoke about the good old haters. Had to get it out the way early.
Drop us a comment.
Still lovin' Twitter, by the way. :)
photo by buddahbong
I finally have been able to catch with the homie Will Widdoss. It is funny how things work out I one night I just happened to stumble across Will's music profile on myspace after checking out Dutchmassive's myspace page and have been a fan since. Shouts to Will for taking time out of his studies and work in the lab to find some time to do the interview.
Grain: When did you record your first song?
Will: My first official song was "Earthly Relief" and the beat was a Floyd the Locsmif beat originally released shortly after he did the OutKast remixes. Devine Designz is essential soul music so anyone sleeping on Floyd go check him out.
Grain: Considering the type of music Florida is known for (Trick Daddy, Luke, Plies) how have fans received your music?
Will: I'm not sure. FL emcees I respect like Celph Titled, Dutchmassive, Surreal, Laws, Willie Evans Jr, Dillon, Therapy, Butta Verses, Protoman, Majik Most, (and a few others I may have forgotten) will probably agree that the scene for the type of hip hop we do is not what's "hot" in the sunshine state. Though the scene has grown more recently, but I doubt anyone in FL is listening to Rick Ross and Will Widdoss on their playlist...other than me!
Grain: Which one do you enjoy more emceeing or producing?
Will: Honestly, that all depends on my mood. I can say that when I started making music it was with strict intentions to just produce. Inspiration often flows in many forms so I go where ever that takes me.
Grain: How many albums/mixtapes have you made?
Will: I just got started in this but I've only been featured on various albums/mixtapes and the only project I put out on my own is "Ventilation" in Nov 2008. It's a mixtape of 40 tracks snippets and beats that I've been working on since 2006. It's a rough sketch of who I am, where I've been, and where I hope to be. Originally it started as a solo album but turned into more when I had to deal with the loss of my mother. I vented through this artform because it's what I needed to move on. Instead of trying to wait and package it neatly I decided to just throw everything in there. There's not as many beats as I wanted to put but I may put out a beat cd soon enough. Overall, Ventilation allowed me to grow in many ways through this and I'm hoping others will grow too.
Grain: Thus far in your career who has been your favorite artist to work with?
Will: As of now, anything over a David Luke beat. Be on the lookout for him, the kid is sick.
Grain: What projects are you currently working on?
Will: Many things! But mostly on the new album. I'm planning on dropping an album soon with all David Luke beats. So far we have about 5 cuts. The album will feature a few emcees but so far only Wordsworth has been locked down. It's still a work in progress and may not be ready until late '09, possibly even later. There are other projects though, I just don't know how soon those will be out.
Grain: What differences have you noticed in the hip hop scene on the west coast?
Will: There is much more to do out here. A lot of culture is here mainly because there are so many poeple here period. Also, people actually go to the shows and support! There's so much more talent out here as well. Blu is one of my favorite up and coming emcees, but the most underrated out here as for production goes to the guy they call Dert (the Don) is ridiculous. The world is not ready for Dert so if you're sleeping WAKE THE F*#% UP!
Grain: When you receive a beat how long does it take for you to write your verse(s)?
Will: That all depends on really on two things. How much time I have, and how much I'm feeling it. There are a few producers out there that are probably mad at me right now for not getting on a few beats yet. If I'm really feeling it I will generally get it done the same day or week. But really, if I have time on my hands I will always get something done. Sometimes I choose to make my own beats instead of writing when I know I should write.
Grain: Do you have any plans for touring?
Will: I would love to do a few shows this year but I don't think I'll do any touring until the album drops. But you never know, maybe I'll be around your venue soon.
Grain: What was the first rap album you bought?
Will: When I was 8, I saved up my allowance and I asked my grandma to buy me a tape that had tons of artists on it I was hearing about. I had to get her to buy it because of the whole 2 Live Crew era. Parental Advisory took over but I knew my grandma was unaware of all that! I can't remember the name of the tape but it had 2Pac, Ice Cube, Geto Boys, AMG and a few others. It wasn't until Arrested Development's album dropped that I could buy a rap album myself because it wasn't Parental Advisory. I still have both those tapes somewhere packed away.
Grain: How did you link up with Dutchmassive?
Will: We met a few times on the scene, but never really got close until we were talking online one night and realized we lived right down the road from each other. The first time I met him though, I was with this cat DV and Dutch wanted to play him something in his car and I was loving it. Who knew I would wind up living with that dude and learning so much in such a short time. It was good to pick his brain, Dutch is the type that is more than willing to share with someone who loves good music. Same goes for some other Tampa artists as well (Surreal, Celph Titled, SlopFunkDust) thanks fellas.
Grain: How do you feel about the state of hip hop right now?
Will: Honestly I think it's on it's way back to the real shit! Maybe it's because I stay away from the radio, I don't know. But I honestly think the masses are starting to see through some of the nonsense. If Common can go number 1 then that's gotta be good. I have no problem with street rap or even club rap...if it's good! What I do have a problem with is that auto tune crap. I love that Apathy "Love Lockdown" remix, he kills it! When will it die already? I wish more people would feel how we do about Akon and T-Pain...especially Akon! Why is that fool not in jail!?!?
Grain: Do you have any words of wisdom for new artists?
Will: Yeah, be careful who you mess with. But most importantly, just be you. Don't get sucked up into the industry standard of what they think people wanna hear or what you think they want you to be. JUST BE YOU!
Grain: What do you know about Australian hip hop?
Will: I know that M-Phazes has been killin it continously! There's so much good music all around the globe it's hard to keep up with all of it but I love that hip hop is growing globally. I'd love to come out there and learn more about the scene down under. I'm constantly listening to new stuff and always looking to build with new artists and I've worked with cats from every continent except that one...Australia, get at me!
Download link:
Will Widdoss-Ventilation mixtape
Tweet, anyone?
Aight, I'd heard of Twitter for the longest time, but never really bothered with it 'til I discovered the Barack Obama tweet. So I signed up and didn't mess with it for weeks...until yesterday.
For those who ain't know, Twitter is like the Facebook status updates...without everything else. And as shit as that sounds, it's actually really dope. And fun. And addictive. And everyone's doing it. Which, of course, is reason enough to join up.
So my man put me onto this thing called Twitterrific, which is like an MSN type program that sits on your desktop and allows you to see all the conversations between folks that you're 'following' and post directly to everyone without using the web app. Shouts to Ash for the link!
Check out the YouTube video explaining Twitterrific
Y'all can follow The Movement Fam on Twitter, too:
Tweet on...
Hasn't been the most classic of year's for Hip Hop albums, but this is what i believe has been the better releases of 08**...
** not including Common's - Universal Mind Control which gets my vote for 'most offensive rap album of 08'
New mixtape from Che Grand of the Lessondary click.....Everything's Good Ugly coming in Early 09.
Download link:
Che Grand-Breakfast@Wimbledon
New mixtape from Von Pea from A Tribe Called Tanya...watch for Brooklynati coming soon.
Download link:
The Further Adventures of Von Pea
Yes indeed, the second installment of The Movement Fam blog 'Movin' Up From Down Under' is now online at Loud.com!
It looks like we now have a permanent URL so save it in your bookmarks as this will be updated regularly!
http://blogs.loud.com/news/tag/movement-fam/
Hit us with some comments!
Yup. It sure as hell ain't.
The Kanye West Glow in the Dark Tour (which shouldn't really have been billed as such; that's what it was called last year and this was a totally different show) most definitely brought it back, or at least Nas did. We got there a bit late and missed openers Kid Cudi and Consequence, which I was pretty disappointed about. Scribe did his thing; he was never much of a performer but he has some anthems that always go down well, plus he held it down in what could be his first arena show.
Nas is probably the last of my Hip Hop idols that I have yet to see live; until last night that is. And dude didn't disappoint. 'Illmatic' is my fave album of all time, and he did a medley of 'New York State of Mind', 'It Ain't Hard To Tell', 'Represent', 'One Love' and 'Life's A Bitch' before getting into standout tracks from damn near all of his back catalogue.
Nas also isn't renowned as a quality live performer but just his presence was enough; the band was dope and it seemed like there was a lot of happy Hip Hop heads in the mostly white, suburban, teenage girl, pop-friendly crowd.
So, to 'Yeezy. This is the fourth time I've seen dude live, and every time, if nothing else, it's entertaining as hell. The production value was at a similar level to his set at Good Vibrations earlier in the year, with a massive lit up backdrop and stage pulsating with the music.
Contrary to popular belief, and Kanye's recent interview with extraHit mag, dude actually rocked half the '808s & Heartbreak' album, opening with 'Paranoid', and throwing in 'Welcome To Heartbreak', 'Amazing', 'Love Lockdown' and 'Heartless', all of which went down incredibly well, even with the autotuned mic.
The obligatory slew of hits was performed, as is necessary with a radio-friendly crowd, most of whom probably didn't own any of his albums (or at least not 'College Dropout'). The old Kanye blended well with the new Kanye, as he often utilised the autotune when performing his back catalogue of hits; most of the time, it worked well.
Some dick in the crowd threw a glow stick at 'Ye at one point, and he went off at them, in rhyme, using the autotune. 'What if it hit me in my pretty ass face?' he screamed, half serious. 'Do you wanna fuck this up for everyone? Make yourself known, come up here and I'll smack you in your fuckin' face'. Gold.
The only criticism would be his lengthy interludes at the end of tracks, where he improvised and just kept on singing. If I was sitting down and didn't have sweaty tools pushing me, it'd be aight, but since we'd been standing for a hot minute, it got a bit frustrating.
All up, an amazing show from both Nas and 'Ye. Worth every cent of the $140. Click on the images to check out Nas' MySpace and Kanye's blog.
Yes sir! Tonight, finally, 'Ye's 'Glow In The Dark' tour is coming to Melbourne city! The whole Movement Fam will be in attendance. And not only is Kanye doing his thing, his cousin Tony Williams will be singing backup (more on Tony later), PLUS Nas is opening! Goddamn, about time he came Down Under. Also, Scribe, Kid Cudi and Consequence are rockin' lil sets.
Should be an amazing night; we got gold floor tickets right up the front so hopefully we'll have some dope flicks. There'll no doubt be a report online tomorrow.
Oh and in the mean time, click the image to read the review of the European leg of the tour on my man Kev's blog.
Aight man, holla then...
Once again, shouts to the homie DJ Hyphen for this one. He's hooked up the whole Fam with pieces on his blog (interestingly, the title is a play on a book by Barack Obama called 'The Audacity of Hope'), and the kid Notion got his lil feature on right here.
Check out World Domi-NoTiOn on The Audacity of Dope (download that bitch!); and while you're at it, check out the rest of the blog. It's a heater.
Ah shit. BIG UPS to my man Kevin 'The Man' Nottingham for taking out the Music Lover Blog of the Year Award on SOHH's Online Hip Hop Awards! Kev's site went up against the big guns such as 2dopeboyz, MusicOnPlay, KeepItTrill, and NahRight - and won!
Seriously, this is a brilliant thing as Kev finally has some industry recognition that should direct more traffic his way - and rightly so.
Dude should have won more awards but yo, this is a great start.
Much love to Kev and all the contributors (especially the homie Deez), keep doing your thang, heads is recognising. Click on a banner to check out the video announcing the winners on Kev's site.
Shouts to the homie DJ Hyphen for this one. Not only did he generously have us on his popular show, Sunday Night Sound Sessions, in Seattle when The Fam was in town, but Hyph done went and posted our mixtapes for DL to show some more love. Respect.
Check out The Soul Movement Volume 2 on The Audacity of Dope; and while you're at it, check out the rest of the blog. It's a heater.
Autotune Old 80's Technology That Has Resurfaced!!!!!
This Autotune madness is being used by every one and their daddy. Don't get me wrong for certain songs and artists it works but for others......naaaaah it does not do it. Check out this mixtape by Roger Riley and Teddy Troutman that take autotune to a new level.
Downolad link:
Roger Riley/Teddy Troutman - The Death Of Autotune
For those of you that don't know, Tanya Morgan is a rap group, and recently they won a MySpace contest that highlighted new artists. Make sure you pick up their entire music collection (Moonlighting, The Bridge and dropping early next year Brooklynati). Make sure you download this classic. Shouts to Jermiside who has the verse of the year on the track "Easy". I have a treat for all the fans that think hip hop is dead.
Download link:
Il Wil/Tanya Morgan Presents - Beat Thieves Vol 2
This one's for all our brethren north of the Equator, in the USA and Canada.
As of October, we now have both 'The Soul Movement Volume 2' and 'World Domi-NoTiOn' mixtapes available in selected cities in both Canada and the USA! The prices range from something like $5 to $10, depending on the store, but check the list below for your nearest spot:
ATLANTA
Soul of Sisa - 504 Flat Shoals Ave SE, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
BERKELEY
B-Side Records - 2128 Dwight Way, Berkeley, California, USA
TORONTO
Da Corner - 256A Queen St W, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (in the Black Market complex)
So if you're in any of these cities and wanna get your hands on a rare hard copy of the new projects (we only pressed a small amount for the international trip), roll through and cop 'em now!
For the folks Down Under (and everywhere else), we'll be pressing up a gang of copies of both mixtapes asap (plus a launch show), so we'll keep y'all posted.
If y'all haven't peeped it already, check out the Notion interview on the WYDU blog.
There's a link to download World Domi-NoTiOn mixtape as well.
Much love to the homie Trav for lookin' out for The Fam, once again. Make sure y'all check out the WYDU blog, definitely one of the tightest blogs on the web, straight up.
The Movement Fam done moved up in the world. Thanks to the homie J. Master in NYC, we now have an official regular blog on www.Loud.com. That's right, folks.
'Movin' Up From Down Under' (Week #1) details the struggles, successes, trials, tribulations, thoughts, learnings, ponderings and blatant self-promotion of a bunch of Australian Soul/Hip Hop artists trying to crack North America.
This first post actually went up in early November but I only found out today! There's a couple more already written in the vaults so they shouldn't be too far behind.
Great MC That Died Way Before His Time 
For those folks that do not know Big L, he was a rap legend whose life ended due to senseless violence. He had many memorable tracks with the likes of Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie, Kool G Rap, and many other legends in the rap game. Many people may or may not know that before his untimely death he was set to sign with Roc-A-Fella Records, but he died the week before he was to sign. It is said that if his career would not have been cut so short he would have easily rivaled Jay-Z. His features with the Children of the Corn (Cam'ron, Mase, McGruff, Big L, and Bloodshed) and the DITC clique (O.C., Lord Finesse, Diamond D, Showbiz, A.G., Fat Joe, and Buckwild) are all classics. Big L is missed but his music and spirit lives on through all the music he left behind. R.I.P Big L (Lamont Coleman)
Big L and Jay-Z Freestyle
Massive shouts to my man Kev. Dude has supported The Fam from the day he heard about us through the homie Sean Deez, and we can't thank him enough for everything.
Have a read of The Movement Fam article from Kev's site back in September, just before we left for the US/Canada/NZ trip.
Also, this week happens to be Kanye West week over at www.kevinnottingham.com, in celebration of the release of '808s & Heartbreak', which I happened to cop today. Like I said the other day, this album is incredible. I love it so much. Except 'Ye went and changed 'Welcome To Heartbreak' to a more minimal sound with strings on the retail album as opposed to the doper, more synthy leaked version. That alone caused me not to delete the leaked version from the iPod.
Kanye's 'Glow In The Dark' hits Melbourne in 2 weeks. Very excited over here.
This is a short video of my cousin BT (rapper, game announcer, sports show host, and student). BT is holding it down for Prep Extra, a weekly show that airs every Friday night on the local Knoxville news to highlight the high school football and basketball teams in Knoxville and the surrounding areas.
You also can catch him hosting the dopest college radio show in all the land The Edutainment Hip Hop Show every Saturday night from 9p.m. to 12a.m.EST (http://www.wutkradio.com). Also stay tuned for the weekly download for my news segment that I deliver every Saturday on the show.
This guy can be credited with helping me keep the faith in hip hop and keeping the grind going on this music ish.
