UC Berkeley’s Students for Hip Hop will be hosting their 19th annual “Hip Hop in the Park” on 05/02/15. This annual celebration has a special place in my heart; I remember attending in high school when my mentors Group Uv Nutz killed the stage.. also, I opened for Frontline at this event back in ’03 or ’04.. This year, yours truly will be rocking with my comrades Breathless and BPos. The headliner is the critically acclaimed Fashawn.. this is my favorite verse from dude..
2FS (Kensho Kuma x Orukusaki) will be hosting Scarub of the Living Legends’ album release party on April 18th, 2015 at the Legionnaire in Oakland. Line-up includes veteranos Xienhow and Zyme (formerly Enzyme Dynamite) that I came up with in the East Bay scene.. Btw Xien’s “True MC” video is at a quarter million views..
“Meet the Cast” Trailer-
Team Backpack is an awesome platform for MC’s to showcase their craft. Many local artists, such as Richie Cunning, Task1ne, and Locksmith, have successfully accumulated a great deal of shine from Team Backpack. To tell you the truth, I have never seen a wack MC on TBP. I decided to submit a verse for the 2015 audition.. I’m normally not into submitting shit, or auditioning for anything.. but enough of my friends have been submitting this year, and it just seemed like too much fun..
Shout outs to Tefari Casas from Filmatic Production for shooting and editing.
Update: So the above submission got accepted and I was invited to the live auditions in LA! Unfortunately, due to life obligations I will be unable to go.. I’ll be rooting for my many friends to pass the auditions and rep in the cyphers.
My comrades, the BPos clique (Khafre Jay x D-Wiz x Goodword x Gyrl Abstract x DJ Johnny Veneti) just dropped their “Party Mardi” video; it was shot at D-Wiz’s HQ, features cameos from many local party animals including yours truly, and costumes were done by Sarah Stylisms. You can get the brand new BPos album “Positive Beings” here.
I submitted a song to the “Definition of a Rap Flow” contest being hosted by R.A. the Rugged Man. I thought it was really cool how contestants can choose from Mr. Green instrumentals… instead of barring out at Super Saiyan 1000%, I remade a song to “the Dangerous Three” beat.
I usually don’t care about contests, but R.A. has really had a significant influence on me… one of the first instrumentals I remember attempting to record a song to back in the 90’s was “Till my Heart Stops.” Dude has paid dues forever and the “Legends Never Die” album is probably my favorite album to come out in recent years. This contest is also being judged by Talib Kweli and Vinnie Paz, who are without a doubt in my top artists list.
As you probably know by now, Hip Hop 4 Change is a non-profit organization dedicated to making socioeconomic change through the educational implementation of Hip Hop; what that means is that the members go out to campuses and teach academic skills from a Hip Hop stance using its own curriculum. The organization also throws its own events showcasing local talent; the acts are specifically selected to reintroduce and emphasize the core beliefs/ morals of our culture, which are peace, love, unity, and having fun. We are opposed to the mainstream glamorization of sexism, drug abuse, homophobia, materialism, and gang violence; we believe that these problems are not/ should not be the only available representation of our culture, people, or community.
HH4C have been receiving lots of coverage in the media recently. Yours truly is briefly included in the East Bay Express article. Director/ BPos MC Khafre Jay was also featured on a KPIX segment titled “Oakland Rappers Want to Change the Game with Positivity.”
“Peaceful Warrior” is a brand new banger off of my producer Cloud NI9E’s upcoming solo album; it features Justin Murta repping Vietnam and yours truly. Cloud NI9E brought a soulfully mature instrumental complete with a trumpet and I just had to bring a righteous verse to it. My 16 is a lot more militant RBG than usual and am extremely happy with the finished product.
“Peaceful Warrior” – Kensho Kuma
Reporting live from trenches of the golden state/
our experiences here, testing a soldier’s faith/
blaming the crime rate on weapons in Oakland? wait/
‘cause the residents overwhelmed by the local hate/
and social injustice and stopping my progress/
we hopping over barricades at Occupy protests/
middle class belittled as governments profit/
the devil with us no matter how omniscient God is/
represent peace, but I’m far from an pacifist/
never hesitant, ‘cause the scars of an activist/
mean something to us, we learned from the Black Panthers bitch/
to the liberals in Berkeley we be standing with/
local celebrity, verses for working class/
even if he a regular dude, he will merk your ass/
for us to change things will take more than earning cash/
so we are prepared to be right there when insurgents clash/
We don’t need no news programs broadcasting lies/
what we seeing everyday’s the truth we analyze/
we don’t need no governors lying to folks/
my people apathetic they ain’t trying to vote/
we don’t need no crooked cops beating down teens/
and you wonder why nobody will speak to police/
we don’t need no businessmen owning prisons/
I’m more than qualified to make my own decisions/
“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/
My friend Tefari Casas was kind enough to shoot and upload performance footage of 2FS (my group with Orukusaki) from 11/08 from the Legionnaire Saloon in Oakland. It was the first time performing our “Kali Kaliphs” joint and it went pretty damn good. Thanks to all my people that came out to the show. Peace to DJ Manifest for holding down our set and Citizen from the Understudies Crew for organizing the event.
My comrade Khafre of the BPos crew runs Hip Hop for Change, an organization dedicated to educating people about socio-economic injustice and empowering them through Hip Hop. As you can see, Khafre is not playing around at all.
It’s an honor to be performing at the Hip Hop for Change 12/28 Holiday Party @ the Elbo Room. (647 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110.) My crew 2FS (Orukusaki x Kensho Kuma) will be rocking alongside BPos, Seneca, Mint Rock (Bored Stiff,) Davu and the Bottom Hammer Band.
