Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Behind The Quan...Pt. 2
This the 2nd installment of my "Behind The Quan" series.
The album was recorded in its entirty at Mike A's (of Divine Minds) apartment. Mike is a student at Kent State. I remember it was back in September of '08. I packed my bags that Saturday afternoon and headed out to Kent to make history with J. When I first got there I remember Mike had the "Scarface" movie playing. J hadn't arrived yet, I don't think. I went in to Mike's iMac and set up my external harddrive which had all of my beats, and then J arrived. J always has so much energy! He's the type of dude that doesn't like being serious all the time. Whenever me and J are together, we wild out! It's a friendship that has become filled with inside jokes and other Quan-encies.
Now in the room that we recorded the album, Mike has all these posters up on his wall of albums that he loves ranging from Dr. Dre's "Chronic," to Three-Six Mafia's "Choices," to a popular Thelonious Monk and/or Miles Davis album. It was inspiring seeing these images as we were in the process of making musical history ourselves.
The recording process lasted 2 days. It was chuck full of Papa John's pizza deliveries, black and mild smoke, "meat missles and mouth hug" conversations, college parties, psycho drivers and encounters with frat brothers. It really was a wonderful weekend. It was the first time that I ever got tired of doing music. I remember me and J, were in the lab recording for like 3-4 hours straight, when we finally were like "fuck this, let's go out." Kent is a small college town, so there's not much commercially to do, but we made our fun!
Sun...Son: This was initially the first official track that we did for the project. I remember I first discovered the sample (Stevie Wonder's "Blame It On The Sun") when I was online for Que Psi Phi. I was riding around with my ADP, and he was going through my iPod, and he asked if I had any Stevie Wonder, he's a big fan of his. I pulled up my Stevie files, and he started playing Talking Book. The first song I heard was "Blame it On the Sun." I was moved by it, the moment I heard it. The chorus, the soulful choir singing in the background, the spacey synths Stevie laid down on the beat. I fell in love wit it. The next thing I knew, I made the beat. I chopped the samples lightly and played the drums myself. The end product was pretty dope. I shot it to J, just like I would for any other beat. He (lyrically) pissed excellence, lol. "You got the sun...and you've got the son..."
Prius: This is the last track that we recorded for the album. J killed with this concept as well. Global Warming. I used the Long Red drums from a drum kit I had. I can't remember what sample I used, but I know that I initially had a whole lot more chops than what I used in the actual beat. In a way, you might say I did what 'Ye did with "The Corner" beat. Kept it simple. It's one of the dopest concepts in rap I've heard. "In my brainspace Quan is a classic...a hypocrite windows down while I blast it/"
Album Update: The album is almost totally finished with its mixing and mastering. As many of you know, we just released our 2nd single, "We Comin," which is now @ YouTube, we thank ya'll for the continued support. We're also currently lining up some shows in the OH-10 as well, so be on the lookout!
Quan.
Monday, January 26, 2009
"We Comin" 2nd Single
Soul and Black Present...the 2nd single..."We Comin."
Believe it or not the album is coming....in the process of being mixed and mastered, must be perfected...real musicians know how important this process is. Please be patient. Thanks! Enjoy the video.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
New Music Discovery: Drake
Drake is a new and upcoming Canadian born and bred rapper who has been cosigned by hip-hop's reigning lyrical titan, Lil' Wayne. Drake first became well known for his role as Jimmy Brooks on the hit series, Degrassi. Drake put out his first mixtape, Comeback Season, in 2008 and gained critical acclaim with tracks such as "Replacement Girl" featuring Trey Songz. He also held his own on tracks with Weezy on joints such as "Ransom," and "Man of the Year."
Drake recently signed to Interscope Records along with his own record label, ATF. Currently Drake's second mixtape, Heartbreak Drake has been in heavy rotation as well. He's planning on releasing his next mixtape, So Far Gone, this year. His first track off the upcoming tape is, "Say What's Real," a lyrical introspective verse over Kanye West's "Say You Will" beat. Drake is definitely an artist to watch for in 2009.
Drake's Blog
Drake's MySpace
Previous: Say What's Real x Drake
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Quan Interview Part I x Higher Plane
The exclusive interview from MK of Higher Plane...Me and J sat and talk about our collaboration EP, The Quan. Dope Interview. Enjoy!
Part II comin soon...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
B.o.B. x I'll Be In The Sky
I'ma be honest...I had lost all hope in the ATL...but B.o.B. is showing a lotta promise. Tell me this shit don't remind of a young Andre 3000...I'm just sayin...
Seen over @ HP
Symphony....Her love is like a Symphony...
One of the best Marvin Gaye songs that you probably never heard! This is what the Quan is all about! Thanks for this J!
SoulerSpace! expands to a Higher Plane...
Happy to report that I've been enlisted as a new blogger at Higher Plane. I definitely believe this blog has the potential to be the next NahRight and/or Hypebeast. It's basically a mixture of both. The blog was started by my former OWU colleague Mike Krieger. This does not mean my blog is disappearing. It's just means that SoulerSpace! is expanding! I appreciate the continued support and look forward to grabbing more fans over at HP!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Amat x So Fly
Amat The Great x So Fly
www.myspace.com/amatification
This is from my folk from the 'House...Morehouse that is! I see you Amat!
Previous: Amat "Real Talk" Produced by SoulKlap
KiD CuDi x LV x Sprouce Event
F.luxury.B x LV x Stephen Sprouse x Kid Cudi from ferris bueller on Vimeo.
More Duder!
Jacked from 'Ye
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
kanYe x Clash Mag x Interview
This is actually an interview from late '08 from Clash Magazine. It's a really good read...
I definitely loved house music...you go to a house club and you could actually dance up on a girl – so I said “man, I’ll listen to hip-hop in the car but when I go to a club I want to go to a house club. At a house club I can feel on girls!
Interview
New Notorious!
Heard that these are from the soundtrack of the forthcoming biopic, Notorious.
Guaranteed Raw
Microphone Murderer
Thanks Mike!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Heirplanes x Japanese Cartoon
Yes the lead singer is who you thought it was...Percival Fats! hahahahaha
Heirplanes x Japanese Cartoon
The Super Friends!
Super Friends - Print F/Mickey Factz, Homeboy Sandman, Strictly Business, Outasight, 6th Sense, Oddisee, Von Pea, Fresh Daily
Swagga Like Planes x Mick Boogie
Mick Boogie Remixes the ultimate swagger banger of '08...
"Swagga Like Planes" Mick Boogie F/Jay-Z, Kanye West & MIA
Saturday, January 3, 2009
A.P.C. Footwear x Spring/Summer
I got one pair of Sperry's but I gotta add to the collection...these would like nice on los pies.
Spotted @ HypeBeast
Behind The Quan...
This post is inspired by Mr. Michael Krieger aka MK from '83. Shouts to MK, me and J just had our interview with Higher Plane last night, he's mad cool peeps! Interview will be posted soon. But I digress...
I'm going to be posting up a series of posts giving my fellow Soul Cadets an inside look @ what went into making, The Quan. First of all, as many of you may have guessed, the title was inspired by Rod Tidwell, an arrogant, self-absorbed professional football player. Despite his arrogance, Tidwell coined a phrase that spoke volumes to J and Me. The Quan. As Tidwell put it, "Many players have the coin, but few have the Quan." Quan represents love, respect, money and community.
Fast forward to 2008. Me and J have been best friends since first meeting in college 4 years ago. I was one of the first to hear him spit, and told him he needs to get behind the mic, and he's made history ever since. That being said, The Quan has been bubbling slowly for the past four years and soon will become a reality. After four years of b-sides and collabo tracks, SoulKlap and Black J came together for The Quan. The end result was 12 tracks of about love, respect, money and community in no particular order.
In this post, I just wanted to highlight a couple of my favorite joints from the project.
Ike vs. Nate: The concept behind this song is just ill to me. I still remember when J called me about the concept. Two angels. One good. One bad. And J, who plays the human, is caught in between the war between his dual consciouses (hope I spelled that right). The sample was J's finding also. I sampled "I Think I Love You," by David Cassidy. However, I made it so dark that many would never know that it's from such a happy love song.
DreamState: The concept behind this song was simple. A dream. Dreams aren't supposed to make sense. I told J just to flow and totally use his imagination on this one. That's exactly what he did...from fist fights with PunchOut and Mike Tyson...to Grandma introducing him to Miles, Marvin and Monk. It's a Marvin Gaye sample, "Dream of a Lifetime," from a posthumous release of the same title. It's probably my second favorite joint on the album. I used the same drums from the Fugees rendition of "Killin Me Softly." To me, they just fit the best.
Voyages: This is my all time favorite song with Black J. We actually recorded this 3 years ago. I remember finding the sample, forgot dudes name, lol Michel something. I remember laying down the beat and handing to J. When J hears something he really likes, he writes instantly. When he heard the beat, he grabbed a pen and pad and lyrically 'pissed excellence.' I remember when he had put the demo version together (which may or may not be the version we put on the album) he told me I had to wait til I got back to my dorm before I listened to it. My anticipation was raging, and when I finally got back to my dorm and listened I was in awe.
More to come....Quan.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Omega Man of the Month: Melvin B. Tolson
This month's Omega Man of the Month honors go to Melvin B. Tolson. Melvin B. Tolson was a poet laureate, educator, and columnist among other things. He is most recently known as the Debate coach of Wiley College in Marshall, TX. Denzel Washington played Tolson in his 2008 film, The Great Debaters. Tolson graduated with honors from Lincoln University, and later taught at Wiley College.
Tolson later ventured into politics, serving as mayor of Langston, OK after years of teaching at Langston University. He also earned a Master's degree from Columbia University. Tolson is also known for his literary works and published books of poetry.
Source
"There can be no democracy without economic equality. Thomas Jefferson said that when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. There can be no brotherhood of man without a brotherhood of dollars. I have another theory. It is based on economic and racial brotherhood. I presume to call this the Merry-Go-Round of History. On the merry-go-round all the seats are on the same level. Nobody goes up; therefore, nobody has to come down. That is democracy, as I see it. In a brotherhood, all the members are equal."
— Melvin Tolson
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