Yours truly has just been added as the special guest for the August 9th “Sound Fix” event @Long A Long. Osaka underground fixture DJ Godz will be holding down my set. This marks my fourth live performance for the 2014 Summer Asia Tour. ????????????????????????????????????????DJ Godz ????DJ????????2014???????????????????????
Yours truly is now a featured artist on Hip Hop 4 Change, an organization dedicated to fighting social inequalities and injustice through the education, empowerment, and implementation of Hip Hop culture. I am honored to be selected alongside artists I look up to such as Equipto, Melina Jones, and the Coup.
Their philosophy is that “the mainstream music industry sells sexism, homophobia, drug abuse, materialism, and gang violence as if these problems represent the cornerstones of hip hop culture. These are actually symptoms of hollow marketing schemes driven by corporate greed and when young people buy into them, it perpetuates another generation of closed minds and more hollow marketing. Hip hop stems from the roots of artistic, creative, and militant demands for justice and the acceptance of diversity in all its forms. In this way, hip hop is what we as individuals want it to be.”
The organization is dedicated to grassroots activism and I have ran into founder Khafre numerous times raising funds for local causes. Please visit the site, check out what Hip Hop 4 Change is about, and if you feel that the beliefs and objectives are in sync with yours, please don’t hesitate to support.
I recorded this track last summer with veteran Osaka MC’s Gebo and Mistah O.K.I. Produced, recorded, and mixed by Noah Beatz.
Kansai Soul Fiyah-
I convey the message like a translator should/
‘cause we the same regardless of the language or hood/
whatever continent, yup this man’s understood/
acknowledged by the ballers ‘til I vanish for good/
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what we take for granted isn’t normal to them/
we hella rich compared to Bangkok’s orphan my friend/
keep the checks I get or share my fortune instead/
Oriental soldiers chop off a foreigner’s head/
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2FS (Orukusaki x Kensho Kuma) Live Performance Footage @ the Elbo Room 12/28/2014. Shot by Tefari Casas. DJ Kevvy Kev on the one’s and two’s. Check the ending of the last clip… we’re presented with katanas..
2FS (Kensho Kuma x Orukusaki) performance footage from 03/30/14, shot by Tefari Casas at the ROTC event at the Boom Boom Room. Stone Rock held down the boards. This show was dedicated to the ROTC home team.
MC One Werd and I share several things in common besides rapping: we’re both teachers and we both are practitioners of a specific faith. He released his “the Faculty” album this week and I’m featured on the “Addiction” track along with my friend Pure Powers. This one is for my people “in the rooms.” This album also features Orukusaki, Task1ne, Telli Prego, Pete Feliciano, JB Nimble, and Joe Mousepad.
DJ Dolbee is a veteran DJ/ producer located in Tokyo, Japan. He recently released “Still Underground” on CD and on vinyl. Buy it at We Nod Records, the illest independent record store in this solar system.
I met him in the late nineties when he resided in San Francisco, and was working at the now defunct Zebra Records on Haight Street. He was the first person to ever believe in my rapping abilities and is credited as being the first to ever record me and release any material with your boy Kuma on it. The “Nice Kut” mixtape was released in 1998 and features my first released freestyle ever.
Then he returned to Japan, had a label fly my big homie Tenzin and me out there, formed a crew “I.P.S” and featured us on a vinyl release. The 1999 “Catacombs” compilation was my official debut and remains my only vinyl appearance to date.
“East Bay Dungeons” is a track recently I did with Acmac. This one has a mid/ late-nineties Telegraph cypher throwback feel to it… you know when crews like Mystic Journeymen, the Living Legends, Bay Area Art Collective, Hobo Junction, Cytoplasm, the Slumplords, Kimetic Sunz, and of course the Group Uv Nutz were wrecking cyphers and selling four track tapes.. Yeah, those days.. What the fuck have I done with my life..
Kensho Kuma- East Bay Dungeons
Cats in/ the East Bay to A.S.I.A demanding me/ to go and murder every microphone they handing me/ it’s like a fantasy, ‘cause every fan of me/ is watching Kuma become everything he planned to be/ a true king never mistreating his followers/ people depend on me to speak up for all of us/ we’ve had enough of these demonic conquerors/ and gives a shit if you believe in the God we trust/ the soulless and monstrous stuck in the matrix/ oppressing men and women and corrupt what is sacred/ I’m numb as a basehead, dumbing down my statements/ our adolescent dreams just crumble on the pavement/ we picking up the shattered fragments piece by piece/ and the resentment and despair get released on beats/ ‘cause a life situations you believe defeat/ so we doing what we doing to achieve our piece/ ain’t got no Jesus piece, just some prayer beads/ here in the underground of the Bay, I play for keeps/ you are so damn shallow but your hatred’s deep/ all the love up in the media is make believe/ so just pray for me, as I turn my will over/ while everyone is getting drunk, your boy is still sober/ the cops and criminals that’ll kill soldiers/ been always dedicated to this, trying to build towards a/ better life, better scene, better tomorrow/ even when I’m overseas, I’m repping the locals/ been rocking Asia, Vietnam to Tokyo/ get beheaded if you ever step in my dojo/ respected by global veterans and freshmen/ for the talent we uphold and elements we blending/ 510 Ken Kuma, general of henchmen/ rule the underworld with intelligence and weapons/
Revolver Open Mic is a sister event of “Return of the Cypher” which occurs first and third Wednesdays at the Showdown (60 Sixth St. San Franciso.) The event is coordinated by my teammates Orukusaki and Denero, is frequented by all the ROTC regulars, and beatsmiths like Bayroo Burner, Stonerock, and Decap often show up to play instrumentals. SF icon DJ Johnny Venetti of BPos is the venue owner, so it’s got a very welcoming environment.
2FS MC Orukusaki will be the featured special guest @ the Chris Riggins’ Talent Show being held at Yoshi’s in Oakland on 06/20. We will be performing 2FS material as a crew, including a brand new banger dedicated to debauchery.
