Wednesday, August 8, 2007

On my Dublin & Glasgow S#!%


For the past few years I've branched out of the U.S. and gone on to collaborate with numerous artist from around the world. One of my favorite and more successful collaborations was with the "Heralds of change." The heralds of change is a production duo that consist of Mike Slott (Dublin, Ireland) & Hudson Mohawke. (Glasgow, Scotland) The two met while Mike attended university in Hudson's home town of Glasgow. Around March of 2005 they contacted me through myspace and requested a collaboration. They sent me a beat reel of really impressive material and I agreed to the collaboration(dope beats don't pay my bills, I got paid to! lol). In Jan. 2005 I became the first MC to be featured on the Heralds of change first commercial release "Show You/Part of the World." The a-side- "Show You" featured Mike and Hudson on the beats and my self on the rhymes, the b-side- featured the same. "Part of The World"All City Records ( the label that has released all of H.O.C's material) H.O.C thought it would be a good idea to throw an album release party and for me to fly out to perform the record.(this was the start of my first European tour) With the success of the first 12", H.O.C. thought it would be a good Idea to release another 12." This time they brought myself and Unknown board. I've known Un. since 1995 and since 2000 we've lived down the street from each other so the collaboration was nothing unusual. Un. also brought on Mudd (producer/MC form the group "jazz addicts") and in Jan. 2007 "Sittin on the Side" was released. ( I was featured on the a-side: "Sitting on the Side") In the tradition of the first, I started my 2007 Euro tour off in Dublin, this time Bringing L.A.'s "Trek Life" along and Unknown. while in Dublin we all recorded several songs with the H.O.C. that would later appear on their July 2007 release-"Secrets" (I was featured on a-side: "Be out there", b-sides: "Stay Cool" & "Trip Fall") Since I've known them I've witnessed their sound evolve from the soulful boom-bap sounds of Show "You/Part of the World", into the new age, ambient, synth heavy sounds of "Stay cool" and "Bop Gun". (featuring Olivier Daysoul, another Maryland home town hero) When it comes to this new age sound that so many producers have turned to in the persuit of the next fad or rendition of J-Dilla, I can honestly say Mike & Hudson are pioneers and they pave their own lanes. Their album cover art is yet another example of their ability to push the envelope with out going over board. All of the artwork is done by Dominic Flannigan a.k.a Summel. Dominic is a the MC in Surface EMP, a producer in the blessings, and also art director of Luckyme.(http://thisisluckyme.com/html/map.html) When Mike attended University in Glasgow he also me Dominic and many others forming "Luckyme". These tracks have never been released state side and I'm not sure they ever will so it's my pleasure to share with you all of our collaborations from their last 3 releases. enjoy and peace!

http://www.myspace.com/heraldsofchange
http://all-cityrecords.com
http://thisisluckyme.com/html/home.html
http://www.myspace.com/unknownbeats
http://www.myspace.com/treklife









Bonus: Peep a video taken circa jan. 2007 of myself, Unknown, and Hudson Mohawke. (Fact: Later that night we made the songs that would be "Stay Cool" and Be Out There)
First day beats

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15 comments:

Ben said...

the 2nd and 3rd tracks from "secrets" are crazy!

Anonymous said...

1st beat... was the best. No diss to other's but... that one was amazing!!!

StillPhilosophy said...

Heralds of Change...UK's finest, no doubt!

The Puzzles and Secrets EP's are in a different league, defiantly worth checking out.

Like alot of this type of music, its getting slept on by a few people, but I just hope it continues to be created, it's there loss...our gain.

Alisha said...

I loved 'show you', and i will love again and again. The beat is dope.
'Part Of the World" is really good too. I love the jazzy influences.

Anonymous said...

Never heard of these cats but Heralds of Change are definitely fresh mayne. Oddisee lyrically murders the beats as usual. I'd have to say Part of the World is my favorite though. When's the album coming Oddisee, ready to buy that!

hillydilly said...

hey thanks for posting all these songs, i had no idea about these tracks, they are so dope

Logic Marsalis said...

Show You/Part Of The World are some of my favorite joints on Foot In The Door. Good look sharing how they came about. keep blessing us.

Stylus said...

fresh.

who's on the cuts?

ODDISEE said...

Damn, I think thats Hudson Mohawke on the cuts. I'll ask him to make sure.

Anonymous said...

DOPE, i been after part of my world for a long time.. thanks for the good music peace!

ODDISEE said...

It happens to the best of us. lol

Styve said...

word em up

Anonymous said...

Yo Amir, It's your brother Clarity all the way from UAE, Been out there and came back, im from sudan and god you make a nigga proud, keep your eyes open in the look out for the lies of the illuminati and such told infront of our eyes...hope to see you when u come down to dubai, eza el wahid ma3awo grush ehehehe

Anonymous said...

and yeah loved that part of the world song i only wished it was longer :(

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