Untitled

A Simple Question
June 15, 2008

If you're a true music lover would you walk around with a pager like device strapped to you that monitors everything you listen to throughout the course of your day?Would you then at then end of your day place this extra piece of technology in its base unit in your home so it collects the data? Data that has been transmitted to it via inaudible code coming every form of media you come into contact with. Furthermore, would you do all of this for "points" and incentives from the company for time spent wearing the device? If you are a music lover, would you even know or be around someone that would use such a device and be a tool? If you found that the person you know to have the absolute worst taste in music was in essence telling radio programmers what many other people should listen to would you confront them? What would you do if your trend following 15 year old kid was determining what all of the other trend following kids were listening to by using this device? Maybe you should think about all this because that is exactly what is happening.

For many years, Arbitron, a company that collected research data by sending out diaries to a "cross section" of various demographics has supposedly been telling people in radio programming how make their station more successful. They would do this by organizing the data from these "surveys" filled out by god knows who into quarterly ratings books. These books in turn told programmers how many people were listening to the station at a certain time and what time slots were doing well. Essentially the "book" was the bible. Careers were made overnight and also broken cold heartedly destroyed by the people weilding them.I've seen whole staff's be obliterated in less than a week due to a "poor book". Anyway, withthe books and the use of something called callout research which is another animal all together, these programmers felt they had a handle on what "the people" listening to the station wanted. Then with the help of technology Arbitron found a new way to get their 'oh so reliable' data from the geniuses they wanted to spoon feed. Its called....are you ready.....i dont think so.....the "PORTABLE PEOPLE METER"

to do your own research go here.

http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/home.htm

Yes, you read correctly and its exactly what it sounds like. From now on if you can't understand why they are still playing garbage on the radio all the time, just look at the chic who is carrying a small pager like device on her purse with a green light on it. You know, the one that always sings the words to souljah boy in her cubicle at work. It's her fault. Or the dude with one on his belt while he walks around office, or sits in the car, or pays his bills online at home while listening to a station streaming live on the web.

Pretty disturbing no? If you go to the link above you can see where its already being used. Programmers are already making major decisions at their stations based on the data from this device. Maybe its because when they got the reports from Arbitron it showed them more accurately than ever how much they don't know what the fuck they are doing!

In case you cant be bothered to check out the link to Arbitron's page....here's some stuff from Wikipedia.

Arbitron (NYSE: ARB) is a radio audience research company in the United States which collects listener data on radio audiences similar to that collected by Nielsen Media Research on television audiences. It was founded as American Ratings Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949, and became Arbitron in the 1960s.

Portable People Meter
With the interest in the collection of more accurate ratings data, Arbitron has introduced the Portable People Meter (PPM). The PPM is a wearable portable device much like a pager or cell phone, that electronically records the listening behavior and history of a single panelist throughout the day for several months. The information generated from each monthly survey is used as the currency for radio stations and advertisers/agencies to buy and sell radio advertising. The PPM currency is currently live in Houston, Philadelphia, and Dallas. New York will be live by the end of 2007, and the rest of the "top ten" U.S. markets will be measured with the PPM by the end of 2008.[1] In 2006, Arbitron sued competitors International Demographics and IPSOS concerning 3 patents related to technology used by the Portable People Meter.[5]

Casualties of Tour Part 1. Vol. 1
June 15, 2008

On the new album due out in September, i have a track featuring my man Rakaa from Dilated Peoples called "Casulaties of Tour". It's pretty self explanatory but in case you need a little more help understanding what the song is about, here is just one of the many stories that inspired it's creation.

Casualties of Tour Vol. 1

part I

Shanghai, May 9th 2008

I had already checked out of the hotel and i was surprised that Allen, the promoter for the show in Ningbo was over an hour late to pick me up. Once he arrived and i saw him i was also surprised he was calling himself Allen. Anyway, he tells me in his poor English that we have to take a cab to our "driver" because he isn't a local and cannot drive in Shanghai. Ha! if the "driver" only knew he couldn't drive at all it would have saved me the trouble of recounting half the things that are to follow. The poor "driver" didn't even know where he himself was so the taxi man bringing us to him had to triangulate his position using an advanced Chinese GPS system. This consisted of some unusual high-pitched squeaks, squeals and gutteral tones called "CDM", cab-driver-Mandarin. Almost one full hour later we pull over to the dirt shoulder of a pothole-ridden road in some shit-hole suburb far outside of Shanghai. Once there we make a quick roadside luggage transfer. During this brief process i was being eyeballed by the locals hanging around on their barely running scooters like i was the fresh kidnap Dujour. We get on our way and I then spend the next 4 hours inhaling noxious gasoline fumes that constantly flood the cabin of an 87' P.O.S. Nissan Altima that was junkyard bound 10 yrs ago. While riding in this beautiful automobile, (you know how i roll!) the windows must remain open at all times for the whole trip because the faster the vehicle goes, the more fumes there are being pumped into the cabin. I soon realized that the open windows did little more than let cold air in.

As we continue the journey I put put my hood up and cloak my face with my shirt to block fumes. So there I am slumped over my luggage in the seat like an angry white ninja with a back problem. Unfortunately, im not a ninja and thus not trained in the ancient 'escape back-seat poison gas cloud on highway' technique. However it was just enough to keep me from passing out. I feel its necessary at this point to make it known that I've been enduring all of this with no food or drink in my system since the night before. Anyone who knows me knows that im up for roughing it to experience new things in a different country, but this was becoming a bit much even for someone as well traveled as i am. As the hours drag on the "driver", who by the way was smoking heavily as if he wasn't sitting in a car filled with a flammable atmosphere, takes us to the wrong damn bridge. Now we are 40 minutes off course. When we roll up to the incorrect bridge's toll stop, the Police and the workers have a good laugh at our expense and tell us to turn around. The bridge we needed to get to is incidentally the worlds longest. 26 Kilometers (approx 18 miles) over a huge bay that had just recently opened. If you had to go around, it added another 90 minutes to the trip. I guess I should be thankful?

Once we finally do arrive in the city of Ningbo (a smaller city, population 1,219, 900) our "driver" doesn't know where the club is! So after not eating all day I arrive at the club to do sound check and guess what...the entire club staff is eating! Eating well i might add. Huge steaming pots of rice and hot plates of meat are set on tables everywhere. Drinks are being sipped and noodles are being slurped by the staff. Meanwhile, I'm sequestered in a corner room of the club with a huge glass window so im able to watch feast I was that I was not meant to be a part of. I asked someone for some water and got it served hot, in a tall glass flask. No teabags, no lemon, just hot water (I'm later told this is traditional). I ask for a coke and 5 minutes later a man returns with a hot aluminum can and a smile. I perform my obligatory sound check which went suprisingly well. When I return to the rolling headache-mobile for a ride to much needed food and rest, our faithful transporter doesn't know where the hotel is!

"Casualties of tour"
The Road to Ningbo

Part 2 Ningbo, China May 9th/10th

Finally after checking in, I was able to eat. I was still up for trying some interesting Chinese dishes so that's what they ordered. After my blood sugar climbed back up to an acceptable level, I informed Allen that there was no way in hell I was getting back in that gas chamber on wheels for another 4 hours. The poor guy, he was real nice and I felt bad making his life difficult but I asked him to phone his boss (who was coincidentally getting married in the morning) and see if they could book me a flight from Ningbo airport to Shanghai.He said he would try his best and left me to relax for an hour or so. This is when wrote part one. 10:30 pm. Time to jump in a taxi and roll out to the club. The spot was called TNT in case you were wondering and it was packed. Everyone was real cool at the club from the manager to the sound guy and all the hot dancers that were on stage trying to shake what little ass they had while I was playin'. So I rock for an hour on a stage that was fitted with hydraulics so It lifted me up 3 feet when I was doing my thing. Place is rockin' and Im instructed (as scheduled during sound check) to stop for a 15 minute performance of who knows what. Turns out, it was this random Chinese dude who rapped in English word for word over instrumental versions to huge hits like Eminem's "Without Me" and Dre's "Next Episode" during which he kept saying 'westside G' repeatedly. Its very hard to describe it accurately but it was a strange thing to witness to say the least. I couldn't grasp the point but The crowd seemed to go along with him. Why not, im sure they only understood a 10th of what he was saying but he looked like he knew what he was doing. Fitted cap, chain, baggy shit with a white tee on. Im sure the words to these songs were the only things he could say. Anyway, I finish my set. Which was capped of by the bar staff strecthing a HUGE white tarp wth my name on it over the entire crowd. It was cool from where I was on my elevated booth, but who knows what the crowd thought. Again, they seemed to buy it.

As soon as im done, the next act is up. A cute Chinese girl who started singing Avril Levine style teen angst anthems in English over really reeaally loud rock tracks.Don't ask me. I just packed up my gear and bounced. After returning to the hotel there was more stress and confusion with Allen. He tells me he was able to book the flight so I wouldn't have to ride in the car again. The catch was, It was now 2:30 am and the flight was at 8:20am. Not only was the flight early, it went to the domestic airport in shanghai and my flight to the US was at the international airport. Now im forced to either take a ride in a car that will most likely cause lung cancer, or get dropped off at the wrong airport, get on 40 min train ride to the correct terminal with all my heavy baggage. Great! To make matters worse, they paid the balance of my fee to me in Chinese RMB even though they were contractually obligated to give me US dollars. After a long confusing conversation in which im sure he learned more English obscenities and sland phrases then he expected i agree to take the ride from him in the morning. He assured me we would be able to change the currency on the road at a bank.

After 3 hours of sleep we checkout of the World Hotel Ningbo at 6:30 am. My flight isn't until 4:40, but Allen's flight home leaves the domestic airport (the wrong airport he tried to get me to fly into) at 12 noon. Again i find myself in the car from hell without food or drink. I insisted on sitting in the front seat where i assumed the fumes would not be so bad. I was right and luckily slept most of the way. 3 hours later we get close to the domestic airport and began to look for a bank. No luck. While we searched the streets in the area for an open bank, the "driver" almost got us killed several times. I've never seen anything like it. He stopped dead in the far left lane of a busy 4 lane street, then slowly crept to the right with no signal, weaving through honking cars to reach a parking lot on the right side of the street. It was insane and as good as my descriptive abilities are, they are in no way capable of painting an accurate picture of this situation. I think i can say that the origin of the "asians cant drive" stereotype can be traced back to this one man and his family. After risking life and limb to find a currency exchange we still came up empty handed. Allen then told me we would surely be able to change the money at the airport. What happened next was the unbelievable to me.

We had the "driver" park by the curb while we hunted for the exchange kiosk inside the terminal. Once we found it we are told by the teller operating it that she can only exchange up to $500 dollars US at a time and there is a fee. At this point i get upset and tell him i'll try my luck at the international terminal when i arrive. At this point Allen needed to leave so i needed to get my dough. When we get back to the car he reaches in his bag and pulls out a HUGE wad of chinese $100 bills and hands them over my shoulder to me. Then he asks me to count them. So, picture this if you can. Im sitting in the front seat of this beat up piece of rolling trash parked at the curb of a busy airport terminal in China with two people i hardly know. All while counting what to most people that live there is an astounding amount of money. Counting becomes impossible as i think about this situation and how wrong it feels. I say to Allen
"This shit is all fucked up man....you got me out here like a sitting duck. After you leave Im alone in China with a crazy driver that knows I'm carrying what to him is probably 5 months salary and I'm supposed to be cool with that? Im from LA man and we don't do dumb shit like that. This cat could easily take me to some spot where he knows a few people, fuck me up and dump me with no money and no luggage".
He says to me calmly, "But this is China and things like that don't happen here."
I replied "How the fuck do i know that? i don't know this dude."Still without raising his voice at all he states,
"Yes but i do, he is my friend. We do business all the time!"
After a brief moment of tension i decide that i have no other options. I count the money while every passerby looks into the car window (which still had to be opened to let fumes out) while Im flipping through many, many, many thousands of Chinese dollars. It turns out he was short $100. That figures.He leaves and on his way out he give me $250 to pay the driver when i get to the international airport. I sleep some more and once at the terminal i can escape the fumes for good.
To wrap this up, i still ended up not being able to exchange more than $500 us at a time no matter what airport Im at. In closing, these guys managed to inadvertently cause me drama even once i arrived back home. I tried to change the loot in LAX the rate was much different and i lost over a hundred dollars.This was just one 24 hour period of my last trip to China. The rest of it was great.

Malcolm & Martin project
December 03, 2007

Just lettin y'all know its about time for some NEW SHIT. go to THE LAB at djrev.net to check out the music. MALCOLM & MARTIN is coming.
mixtape in february....album soon after.
keep checkin around for updates.
I dont have to explain the concept....just listen to the music. dont let nobody bamboozle you into thinkin' they started this movement.....

Where Ive Been...Where I'll Be
September 12, 2007

Where I was...Where I’ll be...

July 14th 2004-Cafe Rust-Copenhagen, Denmark
July 15th 2004-Echochamber-Hamburg-germany
July 16th 2004-Prinz Club-Magdeburg, Germany
July 17th 2004-Dour festival-Dour, Belgium
July 18th 2004-LaScene-Paris, France
July 21st 2004-Stargate-Bochum, Germany
July 22nd 2004-Subway-Cologne, Germany-
July 23rd 2004-Cafe Rust-Copenhagen, Denmark
July 24th 2004-Pustervik-Gothenburg, Sweden
June 5th 2005 ..Postkutsche-Matsee, Austria
June 6th 2005 ..L..Usine, Geneva, Switzerland
June 8th 2005 ..DV1, 69001 Lyon / France
June 9th 2005 ..Bitterzoet-Amsterdam, Holland
June 10th 2005 ..Metropool-Hengelo, Holland
June 11th 2005 ..GOA-Rome, Italy
June 12th 2005 ..Willemeen-Arnhem, Holland
September 28th-October 2nd-Mixshow Power summit ..05-Bahamas
Ocotber 20th 2005-Subculture-Queenstown, New Zealand
Ocotber 21st 2005-Candy..s (oiishi) Sydney, Australia
October 22nd 2005-Katoomba, Australia
October 24th 2005-Live on ..JJJ hip hop show.. w/ Maya Jupiter-Syney Australia
Ocotber 28th 2005-420 bar-Auckland, New Zealand
October 29th 2005-Homebar-Christchurch, New Zealand
October 31st 2005-Esplenade-Melbourne, Australia
November 10thh 2005-Flex-Vienna, Austria
November 11th 2005-Warehouse-St. Polten, Austria
November 12th 2005-Graz, Austria
November 17th 2005-Fabriken-Arhaus, Denmark
November 18th 2005-Rust Productions-Copenhagen, Denmark
November 19th 2005-Le Gibus-Paris, France
November 23rd 2005-GOA-Rome, Italy
November 24th 2005-Kuppel-Basel, Switzerland
November 25th 2005-UGClub-Zurich-Switzerland
November 26th 2005-Element Club-Fraunfeld, Switzerland
December 18th-2005-Zanzibar (Quality w/ Haul & Mason)-Santa Monica, Ca
December 25th-20/20 club-Santa Monica, Ca
Decmeber 31st-LA Sports Arena-LA, Ca
January 12th -20/20 club-Santa Monica, Ca
January 18th-Pegasus-Shanghai, China
January 20th-Club Mix-Beijing, China
January 25th-..Liks album release party.. Temple bar-Santa Monica, Ca
January 28th-Vault 350-Long Beach, Ca
February 4th-Avalon-NYC, NY
February-7th-Oxygen-Ralegh, NC
February 17th-DNA Lounge-San Francisco, CA
February 19th-Cabana Club-Hollywood, Ca
March 17th-Misistry of Sound-London, England
March 18th-Schiffbau10, Zurich, Switzerland
March 25th-Zanzibar (Quality w/haul & mason) Santa Monica, Ca
May 13th-Vault 350 (Ded Prez show)-Long Beach, Ca
May 21st 2006 Beat society ..Vancouver, Canada
May 24th 2006 Coupole -Biel/Bienne, Switzerland,
May 25th 2006 Mascotte-Zurich, Switzerland,
May 26th - D! Club Lausanne, Switzerland,
May 27th 2006 - Cassiopeia Berlin, Germany,
May 31st 2006 SOUNDCHECK-Temple Bar Santa Monica,
June 7th 2006 The Library Sacremento, CA
June 28th 2006 Elysee Marmont-Paris,
June 29th 2006 ..Noveau Casino-Paris,
July 1st 2006 - Club Six SanFrancisco, CA
July 8th 2006 .. Zanzibar-SANTA MONICA, CA 90404
August 19th 2006 - The Congress Theater-Chicago, CA 95712
August 23rd 2006 - Rock Island-Denver, CO 80201
Septmember 21st 2006 .. AXIS-Boston, MA 02101
Septmember 26th 2006 - BlueBerry Hill St. Louis , MO
October 6th - The Power Summit-suite party/demo
Punta Cana, Domincan republic
October 19th- Tabella SEATTLE, Washington
October 31st- plan B Burlington, VT
November 18th 2006 .. Quality-SANTA MONICA, 90405
November 25th The Bridge@ little Temple-hollywood, California
November 30th 2006 .. SACHI-Long Beach, California
December 15th 2006 - Tabella -Seattle, Washington
December 16th 2006 - Club 6 -SanFranscisco, California
December 21st 2006 - TBA -Budapest, Hungary
December 22nd 2006 - Rote Fabrik -Zurich, Switzerland,
December 23rd 2006 - Tryptique-Paris Paris, France
December 25th 2006 - Salzhaus -Winterthur,
December 26th 2006 - TBA Oslo, Norway
December 27th 2006 - TBA St. Gallen, Switzerland
December 30th 2006 - Geneva, Switzerland
December 31st 2006 - Coupole Biel/Bienne, Switzerland,
January 4th 2007 .. Kuppel-Basel, Switzerland
January 5th 2007- Tap Tap -Schaffhausen, Switzerland
January 6th 2007 - LA Luna-Weinfelden, Switzerland
January 20th-2007-NAMM show-Anaheim, CA
January 21st -2007-NAMM show-Anaheim, CA
February 1st 2007 .. TBA-Minneappolis, Minnesota
2/03/2007 08:00 AM - Boom box -grand star Jazz club/China town-Los Angeles,-US
February 8th-2007-TBA-Sandiego, CA
02/22/2007- BellaUno-Garden Grove, California
03/02/2007 ILANON-event-downtown/wherehouse
03/08/2007 10:00 PM - UNITY-Los Angeles, California
3/14/2007 - VISIONS-SXSW music convention-Austin, Texas
03/17/2007 - Quality-5th & arizona ave-SANTA MONICA,
03/22/2007 - Coyote street bar-Wellington-NewZealnad
03/23/2007 - The Esplenade-Melbourne, Victoria-Australia
03/24/2007-Metro City(run by a bitch made fake mafia wannabe who dont know shit!)-Northbridge-Western Australia
03/29/2007 - Quest Lounge GoldCoast/Queensland-Australia
03/30/2007 - Candy's Apt-Sydney, New South Wales-Australia
03/31/2007 - Upstairs-Adelaide, South Australia-Australia
04/07/2007 - Club 6-SAN FRAN-California-US
05/05/2007 10:00 PM - Arena Hip Hop Fesitval-Vittoria-SPAIN
05/23/2007 - Knitting Factory w/ Evidence-LOS SKANDALAZZ
05/25/2007 - SOUL FOOD @ the royale Wilshire Blvd, LA LOS ANGELES,
06/02/2007-Pachanga Casino w/ Russel Peters-Los Angeles
06/07/2007-Roc raida's Gong Battle_knitting factory-Los Angeles, Ca
06/27/2007-Evidence show-Knitting Factory-Los Angeles, Ca
06/30/2007-Quality w/Haul & Mason-Santa Monica, Ca
07/13/2007-Tabella-Seattle, Wa
07/20/2007-Privelge UltraLounge-Pittsburgh, PA
08/09/2007-Nouveau Casino-Paris, France HHR!
08/11/2007-Bakuda Club-Dortmund, Germany
08/17/2007-Royal Arena Festival-Biel, Switzerland
08/18/2007-PACHA-Ibiza, Spain
08/23/2007-Atomic Cafe, Munich, Germany
08/24/2007-Hip HOP KEMP-Hradec Krolev/Prague-Czech Republic
09/30/2007-MoreFiyahMondays-Riverside, CA
09/08/2007-M-Audio/Evidence Concert-West LA, Ca
09/12/2007-FRESH@Shag-Hollywood, Ca
09/13/2007-M-Audio Party@REHAB-West LA, Ca
09/15/2005-METRO-Alberta-canada
09/25/2007-TBA-Bucharest, Romania
09/26/2007-Marsatac Festival-Marseilles, France
10/02/2007-Hamburg, Germany
10/06/2007-DC's SoulShakedown-Club 6-SanFrancisco, CA
10/19/2007-Vessel-SanFrancisco
11/24/2007-The Bridge-Holywood, CA