Yesterday I was Gangster-Chatting with the diggy doctor dell and I mentioned to him that I was doing a “singing” album offhandedly (I thought I said it to him before) and he was like “what ELSE are you doing and can I please be kept in the loop?” I laughed, but he was right though. I don’t use the briefcase blog to talk about TOO MUCH of my own stuff because I view myself as a social networking butterfly or whatever and besides that, I STAY BUSY. I’m not some lame whose who career (or even year) revolves around 5-13 songs, that is like saying I’m living and dying behind a 2 handed dunk or a clean 360 flip. One trick cannot be your career, so let me let you into my bag O’ tricks for 09-10..
1. I started a campaign in 08 that would span the entirety of 2009 and the first few months of 2010, in regards to dropping material on “the people” since I was pretty much OFF the radar since Young Dangerous Heart dropped in 2005. On new years day, I snuck How2beat_thebeat03 onto the people in the form of a free download (stations of the crev was a beat tape and thus, not apart of the campaign) and that got a bit of run even though people knew it was for fun. Anyone who followed my career knows that the first tapes I dropped were the how2 series in 97 and it had obviously been years since I went back to that mode. The next piece of the puzzle was Nerves Of Ice and this was a conversation piece since I co-released it with 2-99 records executing the physical manufacturing and distribution of the product. In Russia. I went there, did a couple of shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg, spread the gospel of the b.e.a.r. group and smuggled 1/5 of the pressing (200 copies) out of the country to disseminate amongst the people that I would ultimately encounter in the times after. As far as sonic quality, it was a few steps above How2.. but not ready for prime time. This made it a “mixtape” and something for the fans. Next up on the schedule is the digital (and possibly limited edition vinyl) release of LA Cita Strobe, which is a project that everyone else from the clique (thav beck, mUsScK, dDamage, debmaster, BD1982, bearmod, calamalka, megasoid, depth affect, mochipet, riddlore?, cadence weapon and juan huevos) produced and I rap over in the tradition of YDH and T2R (young dangerous heart and terrain to roam), except with people that I am actually cool with. While all this dust gets kicked up, my magnum opus entitled Trunk Bomb Beta (entirely handled by me, like it should be since I’m good at what I do.) will be completed and implanted in a familiar infrastructure known for releasing good music. I refuse to say who as of right now, but it will quell the teeth gnashing by these bozos and so-called “artists” who talk to me about art and music like I haven’t been making songs since I was 13 and selling them since I was 18. After that, the subtitle costume goes back into the glass case inside of the “crev-cave” and your boy Giovanni Marks is back in efek. 2 more releases to go….
2. As a couple of you know, I dabble in non-rap music and that shit has been speaking to my star player more and more everyday. I figured I would do a “covers and versions” free download project under my real name and a EP or something of OG material to once again, spread around. Once word got out that I was going to do that, the response was WAY better than I could have ever anticipated. I got a couple of “offers” to release these projects (and more) at a couple of cool indie labels and I may take up one or two of those, as long as a briefcase is being placed on all of those releases. I may even make a studio band for extra sauce as well called “the giovanni marks textperience”, this has been on my mind for years but I can’t just “go do that” type of shit since I’m not that self-absorbed and we have some amazing rockstars in the making over here at the b.e.a.r. group. I don’t want to disrespect the legacy that has been started at briefcase rockers and matte black editions just to look like this year’s cool black dude in a band. I think it’s too late for that anyway, but stay tuned on news of that extra curricular project since I am actually working on that as we speak…
3. The big homie DJ Wool from The Glass (who is currently living in Berlin) and I have been working on a couple of dance tunes with me rapping over them that are getting some good run these days. I have to stress that these are meant to be known as “decoys” simply because they are songs that while fun, aren’t really how I wish to portray myself in this day and age on the musical tip. Of course with that said, the first song we do (called strobe-lite) gets picked up for a publishing deal of some sort and gets FM radio play in Los Angeles, which is damned near impossible to do unless you have money, which all of you know I have none of. We are going to take it easy and do it on a track by track basis (on some singles shit) and we are on our 3rd song, so ta-dow!
4. I’ve been a quiet riot on the remix and production front, go cop that Sole and the Skyrider Band remix and the Eliot Lipp remix I did if you can find it. I also did one for Mochipet and Jahcoozi along with a beat for Thav’s new record (along with b.e.a.r. cadets mUsScK and debmaster) and some other bigger ticket shit I am not at liberty to mention right now, but sounds rad when I allude to it. All this and more is to let dudes know that I’m not a nintendo game when it comes to beats and if you want them, holler at a black ops soldier.
5. I got sidetracked with moving and trying to keep things moving, so I didn’t drop how2_3.2 yet. When it drops, it will have bonus songs and remixes along with other bite-sized tidbits.
GROUPS THAT I AM INVOLVED IN THAT HAVE YET TO RELEASE A RECORD
1. Cam, Graham and G.A.M. (or C.G.&G with Factor and Cam The Wizzard of Sideroad Records)
2. Fall Fashion (with Cadence Weapon or “the new me” as others have so elegantly put it.)
3. Tall Boyz (with the homie Pepjin from the dutch group that translates to Youth of Today)
4. Lab Waste (with Thavius Beck, but we have a album done that no one is interested in because black people shouldn’t be smart in 2009.)
when I get back to LA, one of the first things I’m doing after opening a new bank account and getting a ID card is to go skate the berrics with Justin Warfield. After that, I’m going to hang out with my homegirls and BFF’s, do some shows (ideally, but people front like doors), get money by any means necessary and then come back to b.e.a.r.lin. Waves is supposed to be my roommate and Ren (the girl on the cover of Nerves Of Ice) is supposed to be my assistant, but I don’t know about that since she couldn’t figure out how to log into this blog. That shouldn’t be a pre-requisite because 65 percent of the people who formerly wrote for this blog couldn’t figure THAT out…….
I’m not the hardest working man in show business, but I work and you should too true-believer$.
