A comment I made after reading this story on the cbc.ca website. You can read the whole article here
"The message is the medium, the medium is the message"
Soo happy to announce I'll be dropping a preview of my upcoming album "The Medium"
Student fined $675 000 US for downloading and uploading Music!
Just wanted to post the comment I made earlier on cbc.ca regarding this story.
Fan Mail
From: Nick Abrey
To: S
Date: Jul 14, 2009 7:23 PM
Subject: Your views on rappers
Hey,
How are you?
Just wondering your views on rappers, rappers get bad press, for glamouriseing, guns sex violence, for example 50 cent, but really is that him giving the message, is that really him, or just the case of him being over produced and that they want to sell records so tell him to act like this, if he never got his music produced like this, would he just be like you? real music.
would be intresting in what you think
Thanks
Nick
To: S
Date: Jul 14, 2009 7:23 PM
Subject: Your views on rappers
Hey,
How are you?
Just wondering your views on rappers, rappers get bad press, for glamouriseing, guns sex violence, for example 50 cent, but really is that him giving the message, is that really him, or just the case of him being over produced and that they want to sell records so tell him to act like this, if he never got his music produced like this, would he just be like you? real music.
would be intresting in what you think
Thanks
Nick
Hey Buddy,
How is summer for you? I've been so busy I'm actually starting not to have any fun. Sorry I haven't been answering back, but I filled my plate up with way too much food and I'm stuffing my face trying to clean it up.
As far as rap goes, I considerer it an art form. It usually takes a lot more words to fill a rap verse then it does to sing a verse. My favorite rappers at the moment are DOOM, Mos Def and Talib Kewli. If you ever listen to any of these guys its easy to see I don't have much love for 50. I used to be a big Dr.Dre fan growing up, but that whole camp relies on publicity stunts now a days, instead of great music. Don't get me wrong they can be dope at times. I guess Jay-Z ( I love all Jay -Z up to and including the black album) said it the best, "real recognizes real".
I've had to deal with people in and outside the industry telling me they like my stuff, but then its followed with the old "if I were you I would do this..." but their not me.
I remember producing and recording an artist at his home studio when his little boy creeped in one night. I had the kid head banging and playing with the buttons but as soon as the artist realized he was in the room he became uncomfortable. He didn't want his kid to hear the things his dad was saying on the mic. I remember thinking that if this was one of my songs being recorded it wouldn't be a problem. If I ever ( and that is a big EVER) settle down and have children, I want to be proud when I see them move to my music and try to understand the lyrics. At the end of the day I think its really important to make music you can stand behind when your an artist for years and years to come.
Take Care Brother and thanks for trying to stay in touch,
S
How is summer for you? I've been so busy I'm actually starting not to have any fun. Sorry I haven't been answering back, but I filled my plate up with way too much food and I'm stuffing my face trying to clean it up.
As far as rap goes, I considerer it an art form. It usually takes a lot more words to fill a rap verse then it does to sing a verse. My favorite rappers at the moment are DOOM, Mos Def and Talib Kewli. If you ever listen to any of these guys its easy to see I don't have much love for 50. I used to be a big Dr.Dre fan growing up, but that whole camp relies on publicity stunts now a days, instead of great music. Don't get me wrong they can be dope at times. I guess Jay-Z ( I love all Jay -Z up to and including the black album) said it the best, "real recognizes real".
I've had to deal with people in and outside the industry telling me they like my stuff, but then its followed with the old "if I were you I would do this..." but their not me.
I remember producing and recording an artist at his home studio when his little boy creeped in one night. I had the kid head banging and playing with the buttons but as soon as the artist realized he was in the room he became uncomfortable. He didn't want his kid to hear the things his dad was saying on the mic. I remember thinking that if this was one of my songs being recorded it wouldn't be a problem. If I ever ( and that is a big EVER) settle down and have children, I want to be proud when I see them move to my music and try to understand the lyrics. At the end of the day I think its really important to make music you can stand behind when your an artist for years and years to come.
Take Care Brother and thanks for trying to stay in touch,
S
Want to jam with me?
Since I'm very humbled to be a featured artist on Indaba Music . I have decided to participate in the fundamental purpose of the their site. I put together this song for my album and I really liked it, but this is something I have wanted to try for sometime. I decided that instead of only leaving room for someone to sing back ups or rap the a verse, I removed my vocal performances. I really want to experiment with this process of creating music with other entirely online, so I made room for anyone who wants to try and create and do their own thing!
I always find it interesting how an open instrumental inspires lyrics. I know that putting it out there for anybody to experiment with will have interesting results. Hopefully this will lead to unique track for my next album. I will be checking all the artist that have been hitting me up and especially members of the Alternative Hip-Hop group on Indaba.
My Life in Music: Part 1
Early Daze
I was always into music as early as I can remember. I always loved to sing when I was a child and I remember wanting to be a DJ at a very young age. I hooked up my first Discman to a very old record and 8-track stereo system that would have been big enough and designed in a way it could have been my casket. Instead it breathed life into the concept of music performance to a young boy. I liked all sorts of music by the time I was 7 and I remember signing up for the old Columbia House deal when I was well under the age and completely getting all the CD’s for one penny that I could handle. I remember when they called me too J My first order was a bunch of music that I had never even heard. A wide range to start off my collection featuring titles such as the Boyz n’ the Hood soundtrack to Pearl Jam’s Ten. Not to mention they sent me other CD’s to make up for the ones I requested that they didn’t have. It would soon form the listening habits of my life.
By now I had heard a huge range of music, a lot of one hit wonders, legends like Elvis and The Beatles, a lot of Dance Mix. The first tape I remember being fond of was given to me by a cousin from an uncle I never met. It was full of great black music a lot of Motown old and new which included Boys to Men. However the first album I really can remember anticipating in my life was no less then Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle. The whole west coast gangster rap resurgence, created by Dr.Dre, had drawn my friends and myself in from all the way across North America and across a US, Canadian border. We all knew the words to the Chronic, even though we had no idea what they meant. I find that strange now because I so appreciate and expect great lyrics so much, especially from hip-hop.
When I moved out of the city, and into a new school, it drastically changed what types of music I was into. Being in a new school and being a lot different from everyone, I would follow the trends and make an effort to fit in. In a lot of ways the content was a lot less mature, especially the music. I went from hanging out with friends that would recite the words of Snoop, Biggie, Pac to Metallica and Nirvana, to trying to fit in with kids you liked the Lion King Soundtrack to Garth Brooks. I’m not trying to front! I really, really liked the soundtrack and the movie too, but you can see that this is a really big change. I don’t even want to talk about going from baggy to tight jeans J I guess at this moment I feel it gave me more of a childhood instead of trying to grow up to fast.
I eventually had two different groups of friends by that first summer and my new friends loved heavy metal. Mostly the big three of the time, Metallica, Guns and Roses and Megadeth. One day I walked into a local store and noticed a copy of Guitar Magazine that featured a bunch of Metallica riffs written in something called tablature. I bought the magazine and when I got home I went into my parents room, crawled under the bed and took out my Dad’s acoustic (a twelve string, that what forever reason he still only keeps six strings on) and tried to translate the notes into something that resembles parts of the songs. After about three hours of figuring out how this tablature thing worked, I was playing something that sounded a bit like the main riff to Metallica’s Enter Sandman.
Here is where my Dad comes in (who can play all the cords and performs for fun and charity to this day). Instead of teaching me a G, all he says is you should sing and play and you will get better. Whatever that means! Anyway I got into playing guitar and started learning more and more riffs, never full songs, that is important for later on in my story. After going down to the city to hang out with my old friends, I heard and became aware of an album that would become monumental to me, equal to Snoop’s Doggystyle, Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged.
The End of Part 1
Okay that’s all for now folks. I just wrote this out of the blue when I was tryin
g to write a more personal bio for a website, but now it seems like a good idea. However I am hard at work my new album SO! You will have to come back for part 2 another time.
Check the links below to hear my stuff and keep in touch. Also you can get my podcast on iTunes or find the player on my Got a Love Woman Blog and MySpace.
Thank you for listening,
S
At this moment in listening to Al Green “Guilty”
New Podcast!!
New Podcast!
So I’ve finally got my act together to put out my second podcast. My first podcast got over 40 000 plays so thank you very much.
In this episode I am playing my version of the album Yes! by k-os that was recently released. I got to thank almost everyone who I let hear this stuff, they convinced that I need to let everyone hear this stuff so here it is!
Stream it below or subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, I have a few planned out for the future already as I finish up my new album and get “hyphy” this summer!
Peace S
A World Removed.
The last month has been amazing change. I moved to a new city, and I’m having a blast! The people seem really down to earth for better or worse. In Hamilton, real Canadians have real problems. It feels a lot like home (Nova Scotia, always). Adversity always has been the turning point for most great men in history. I believe all great artist need struggle in their life. In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) it is hard to find a minority and it’s the only place in Canada where 60% of the population are immigrants. I think it’s hard for artist raised and living in the richer areas of the GTA, to identify with being a visible minority, which the majority of us are across North America. I was adopted and raised by a Caucasian family in Nova Scotia, and was always a visible minority until I moved to T.O. I have to admit it freaked me out for a while, I guess seeing too much on any color all your life will make anyone crazy!
It was interesting to learn that most minorities think about what color they are everyday, whether in a positive or negative way. I never realized it, but I have though about it since I was six everyday! I asked some of my Caucasian majority friends from Nova Scotia and most of them admitted that they never think about it. I Think its hard to know or identify struggle, living in a place where people like to pay more for everything, and think its worth more just because of the cost, in attempt to make your friends and neighbors jealous. Take the library for example, for me it’s a gold mine, but so many people think there is no good stuff in there just because its free. Just like public school, there is a belonging to a group mentality that occurs with kids when they go to school, even with out the uniforms; it’s hard enough to be an individual. School is an institution that sets up our children to be able to function in all the institutions that control our lives and minds…all right enough philosophy on my recent observations :)
BACK TO THE MUSIC!
If you followed my podcast you know that I remixed the entire Yes! album by k-os that was scheduled for release on March 31st, 2009. When I was remixing the album back in November, I had never really remixed anything before. I knew that I was creating some of my best music, as soon as I finished remixing “Burning Bridges”. After the first track the ideas were uncontrollable! I played guitar, sampled the originals, lots of key and drum programming and I couldn’t hold back from singing back up’s on the hook and rapping a verse on “Fun”. I had a goal to change the feeling of each track and allow the listener to focus more on k-os’s amazing lyrics, that a lot of people never hear for whatever reason. I was really happy with the work and was sure I made at least 6 tracks that would be accompanied with the release of the album.
One of the judges, Mantis Evar, contacted me and told me I was going to be a featured artist on his music collaboration site Indaba Music, and I was honored to be a featured artist last week. When I found out that none of my tracks made the compilation I was oddly not sad, mad, pissed or confused. I was passive, and I convinced myself that this is destiny. Many of the tracks used my own original material only, and I was actually really happy to use the tracks to write my upcoming album (which is going very well! I listen to the demos and I’m getting really, really stoked to let the world hear it). Since finishing the remix, I have let more and more people hear my version of Yes!, which puts them in disbelief. A lot of them aren’t interested to hear it at first because they are not big fans of k-os, but they all say they love my version and think k-os is sick afterwards. They love the music and they realize how good of lyricist k-os is! That was the goal.
A friend of mine really loved it and told me it would be a shame for me to not try and make as many people as possible hear my remixes. Since my blog and podcast are usually easily in the 25 000 – 30 000 views within a few weeks, I will be playing them all in their entirety for my next podcast which will be up this weekend! Please check back on my sites (links below this post), iTunes and of course http://gotalovewoman.blogspot.com to subscribe to “S’s Live Podcast”
That is the current in a nutshell or shells. I just got internet at my new house, I could write all day but, I’m cutting it shorter then I’d like to so I can live up to my word and drop the new podcast by the end of the weekend. New photos coming soon too, I’m surprised at how different I look these days. It may sound strange to some, but my dreams have turned to desires and my desires to reality. It takes a lot of practice to convince your sub conscience, but once you figure it out, you can truly control and create your own destiny….
For better or worse! Thanks for sticking with me,
S
“What’s an industry? If the listeners always stand beside me” – Q-Tip
Music Chases Love Away: Valentine's Day Blog
Making music attracts people, I don't think any musician can say they don't want their music to be attractive. Some don't want to draw a certain crowd cause they might think their undesirable. Some people join bands or start become musicians just to become attractive. I know some people come into my life just because of my music, maybe they don't even like me. It only gets to me after awhile of being around the person. I'm thinking about it right this second and i really like that kind of attention. These types of relationships are somehow inspiring even when they end in ruin.
Soiled relationships and serious musicians are a hard mix. You need someone very understanding. I would have to be really committed and understanding myself. The amount of time an artist puts in to their career can be ridiculous. It seems to get even more intense the more successful you become the further away you are and the less time you have.
The point is that its hard to to make time for all the other things in life that people miss when their working their asses off. It is to this end that I guess I always go for girls that aren't even close to who I think my soul mate is. Obviously I'm not ready for a good relationship anyway, music is just too important. Music is listed on my top three most important things to me. I guess I'm trying to lead the life of the "true artist" and see what life will inspire me to become. This true artist unfortunately seems to only be able to be faithful to one thing, his art. I'm still looking for miss-know-it-all everyday! No opportunity is ever passed ; )
I was surprised today when I seen my first window and it was daylight!! Of all the days it was Valentine's!! I started making music late and got into a "that trance" (see blog post "Natural High). I bite the dust :( At least the session was great I'm over half way done writing and pre production recording on my next LP! Writing a lot of love songs which is no surprise lol! I HAVE A TITLE!!! Its a secret :)
Anyway because the energy is dying and my destiny is probably to sleep most of the day...if I stay up I'll be a wreck.
Happy Valentines Day (you know who you are),
S
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