high speed chick trap...

check out graffiti death threat...



check out pete miser...

okay. some cats here in london have a site set up for the local hip-hop scene. i met these dudes at the show the other night, they seem pretty cool. should be some photos from the show up there soon, so if you got a second or two, peep it...

it was a bit strange for me at that show. just walking through the door, i hadn't been in that bar in years, not since i used to promote concerts and perform there, and the crowd, so young. everyone was like 19. i felt crazy old. when i left this city for toronto, these kids were all ten. one guy said to me "i remember seeing the flyers for when you brought blackalicious here. i had just heard that "don't let money change you" song and wanted to go, but i was in grade 8, so i was too young." wow. this cat must have been like five years old when i was first losing my mind to the "swan lake / lyric fathom" 12"...



it was cool though, seeing cats doing the same shit ten years later we were doing (i hate to say it) "back in the day." a lot of them are way to young to know who i am, or what i tried to do for this city years ago, but a few cats were hip to it. my man tom from toolshed got on the microphone and introduced me, calling me an O.G., which brought mixed feelings. on the one hand, being respected by the younger generation is cool. on the other hand, damn, i'm still rocking! it took me ten years to do it, but shit, i just put out my first record! it's all good though. tom and i are planning on getting together soon, so who knows, you may hear a little musical collabo in the near future...

another i was thinking about was the hip-hop uniform. most cats pretty much are dressed the same at these types of events. air force ones (or some other basketball-style sneaker), baggy jeans, a basketball jersey over a white t-shirt, baseball hat). the "uniform." i'm not dissing it, i had my own when i was younger. it's a bit funny to me now though, when you get a little older and you stop feeling like you have to dress a certain way to fit in, and it's just about being comfortable. these days i rock shows in whatever i'm wearing that day. usually it's a plain t-shirt (medium, not xxl like it used to be), torn up old blue jeans or whatever, flip flops, and shit, sahra treated me to a peticure the other day, so i even had my toenails painted all blue. at a hip-hop show, that gets some strange looks. (just keeping my "cuticles suitable, player, don't hate me because i'm beautiful...") i got a few comments about the toes. my response? "don't be scared fellas, ask the girls, they like that shit..."



i was talking to my new friend sarah siddiqui about this kind of stuff recently, back and forth via email. it's one of those things where, when people meet me, or see me for the first time, they're surprised to find out i'm a rapper. "you don't look like a rapper." she goes through the same type of stuff, being of south-asian descent, but making music that's got more in common with simon & garfunkel than what you're used to hearing from over there. "how come you don't have an accent?" here's a recent story in eye magazine where she talks a bit about it...

i'll have to admit a bit of a crush...

speaking of crushes...



gen.

arsoncityscape.

okay, time for some q&a from some readers...

this is rob, from montreal.



he writes:

"Yo Ryan!!
Thanks for the link,I'll go download it immediately. I definitely miss your writings. Actually you never tought on writing books?I love your style and you'd definitely get one buyer!!! Man,as soon as I get a few dope beats,I'll send a few your way,fo' real!! Btw,what do you think of "Rich Terfry"? Too arrogant and condenscending for my liking!!
Yeah,I love to hate!!
Peace,
Rob"

what's happening rob? good to hear from you. i hope you enjoy the album. and yes, i have thought of writing books. i've got two novels in the works right now. the first is tentatively titled "the somewhat interesting autobiography of an insignificant man who is slowly dying." it's based on my experiences growing up in london, in the 90's, and everything i went through with the death of my father, moving out on my own, drinking, drugs, crime, hip-hop. i have no idea if it will ever see the light of day, but it's part of the reason i moved back to london. to walk the same streets again, to find the places where the memories are, and like i've written before, pull them out of the ground like weeds. it's really more like a form of therapy than anything else. i'm also planning another novel, which i'm hoping to get started on next summer. right now, i'm calling it "my brothers."



i have two brothers. i don't really know them very well. we don't have much in common. one thing we all like is motorcycles. yup, road trip. next summer the three of us will hopefully hit the road for a few weeks. we will talk about our lives. we will find out how we all feel about everything we went through in our lives together, and seperately. i will tape record our conversations and photograph the journey, then work it into a book. if i'm lucky i'll find somebody who will pay for all this. most likely i won't, so we'll do it ourselves. which is actually the best way. what do i think of richard terfry? hmm. i'm not sure i want to comment on that one. let me put it this way, i lived in montreal for a year, and the dude basically acted like he didn't even know me. which i found strange, considering that over the years we've been involved in a lot of the same shit, and i feel like i've helped the dude out quite a bit. i was one of the first music journalists to ever show him any kind of love in print, i booked shows for him before anyone knew who he was, and dude crashed on my couch in toronto and ate my food. now he's on some big time shit, and walks past me on the street like he doesn't know me. but hey, times change, people change, or maybe they stay the same, and you just never knew who they were in the first place? i guess i can no longer play a significant role in the advancement of his career, so i've outlived my usefulness in that regard. i don't know.

okay kids, if you're in the london area on weds., i'll see you at the embassy. once again, with moka only



and the quartertones.



yes, i'm going to remind you every day, with the butters boo,
uknowhowedo...

lasers,
ryan