New Interviews! (LINKS)
Current mood: working
Category: Music

Here are a couple of new interviews for y'all to check out!  I'll add more links as they become available...  Enjoy!

10:52 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Zo! and Tigallo Love the 80’s (SIGNED CD'S NOW SOLD OUT!)
Current mood: optimistic

Ok, so the time is finally here.  Today we are unveiling what we have had in store for y'all for a couple months now. 

By now, y'all already know that only 2,500 copies of the Zo! And Tigallo Love the 80's album have been pressed for worldwide distribution, right?  Well, Phonte and I decided to surprise y'all and do something special with the album in addition to making it a Limited Edition, individually numbered CD.  On Monday, we met up and took 300 copies of the album opened um up and autographed them.  …..and to make it interesting, I opened 300 copies of "Freelance" and signed them as well. 

Here's what it all means.  There is a link to the Hall of Justus store that I am providing down below.  If you order the Zo! And Tigallo Love the 80's album at this location, 300 people will receive…

An autographed Zo! And Tigallo Love the 80's CD
(signed by both of us)

-and-

An autographed   Zo! – Freelance CD

…all for $15

This is first come, first serve.  Once these 300 signed copies are purchased, they are gone.

Here is the LINK to purchase signed copies of Zo! and Tigallo... and Freelance

UPDATE (07.19.08)

ALL OF THE SIGNED CD'S ARE SOLD OUT!

Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy!


Zo!
Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC
P.O. Box 7490
Silver Spring, MD 20907-7490

www.musicalarchitect.com

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Zo! and Tigallo Love the 80’s CD (HOW TO PURCHASE)
Current mood: thankful
Category: Music

What's the word y'all?   I have an important update regarding the new Zo! and Tigallo Love the 80's album…

8:30 PM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Allow me to brag on my music students real quick <LINKS>
Current mood: blessed
Category: Life

Before I get to bragging… I feel that it's necessary to explain the entire story from very beginning when the seed was planted initially.

Back in April of 2005 while visiting D.C. for a week or so, I was introduced to a brotha named Asheru who I knew then as the talented emcee from the group Unspoken Heard (Asheru & Blue Black).  We got to kick it for a minute, talk a little about our current projects and eventually exchanged info.  He ended up emailing me a couple months later asking me if I had ever taught before because the school that he was Director of Arts and Education at was looking for another music teacher. Becoming a teacher hadn't even crossed my mind at the time.  I was still a full-time musician looking out for spots in Maryland and D.C. to move in to.  Finally in February of 2006, I moved out here and with a day job waiting for me already.  I was working at a spot that uhh…wasn't that great.  All of the people were cool, but the rest was a mess and I was looking to get outta there quickly.  I was introduced to another brotha, Omar a/k/a Mr. Hu a/k/a DJ Dirty Ice as he was looking for a keyboard player to gig with on a weekly basis.  After one or two phone conversations, the next thing we knew we were on stage vibin' out and calling random songs on the fly (about a month later, I became a member of the band The ELs).  It turned out he was cool with Asheru and had already started teaching music at the same school that Ash worked in at the beginning of 2006.  We all got together almost immediately and decided that it would be beneficial for the kids to be taught by two kats who already play together in the same band.
 
So on July 5th, 2006, I began at Rock Creek Academy in Washington D.C..  These music classes were special from day one because Omar and I were taking these young kats and teaching them from scratch under a formula we developed that was productive for a year and a half.  I would teach the keyboard players mainly and he took the guitar players – whatever else needed to be done, was done (i.e. instruction on the drums, bass guitar, percussion instruments, as well as the recording process).  In the summer of 2007, we guided our afternoon class of about 14 students in the creation of a 10-song album all within a 7-week timeframe.  Our kids wrote verses, hooks, created melodies, played all over the album.  Once the CD's were pressed up, our students had something to poke their chests out about as they spent the last day of summer school passing their album out to their peers and teachers throughout the school.

Unfortunately at the beginning of February, our school decided to cut 20-25 teaching jobs and O happened to be one of the people who was "chosen" to be cut.  But despite the initial frustration, we have continued to work hard and progress and I am really proud of the kids who have put forth the effort to get it done in my class on a consistent basis.  So allow me to give y'all a peek into my classroom and demonstrate some of the things we do…

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MusicalArchitect.com News 05.11.08
Current mood: inspired
Category: Music

What's goin' on y'all?  First of all, a huge Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there… I hope everyone enjoyed it.  

For those who know… I have been adjusting to a new life, teaching music, while continuing to pull a 4.0 in these Master's Degree classes at George Washington University.  So these updates haven't been coming as often as they should…and it looks like we have some catching up to do.

The Zo! and Tigallo Love the 80's album is coming sooner than you may think.  Besides Phonte and myself, we have some additional vocals from Darien Brockington and Carlitta Durand, a couple of remixes from Trackademicks and Nicolay.  The question that we have received the most about this album besides "When is the album dropping?" is "Can we get a tracklisting?"  So I'm gonna be a nice guy and give you the songs on the album.  You ready?  

Ok, here we go…The tracklisting goes as follows: "Africa", "Take On Me"… and a few others…

…Sorry y'all…I couldn't give it up that easily.  But I know that you all should definitely enjoy what you hear...

Anyway, immediately following the 80's joint will be Dreamwalk with vocalist Tiffany Paige, which is completely finished.  It's just waiting to be released...and I can't wait for y'all to hear it.

The brotha Asheru was over here in the studio just yesterday knocking out a verse for my album with Asylum 7 recently entitled, Overdue Process EP.  The production on this album is back up and in full motion.  We are currently about 8-9 songs deep into the project and steadily moving forward.  Matter of fact, this brotha is so diligent that while I was finishing the 80's joint and Tiffany's album, 7 completed an album of his own with producer Eddie Logix.  Be on the lookout for their joint called, Lights Out @ The Power Grid releasing this month...

In the meantime, I'm still putting together music for my album!  How bout that?  Tryna get some 'me' time in the studio every once in awhile.  Folks who have reached out to me for this one so far have been my brotha Phonte, YahZarah, and Ab.  Ab came through the studio yesterday about an hour after Asheru left.  Bottom line, he left with some joints last night at about 11p and sent me a finished joint back at about 4:30p this afternoon.  Now, if that ain't the beginning of some good music to come, I don't know what is.  Stay tuned on that one….

Through the year, keep your ears open for work with myself and: Foreign Exchange, Sy Smith, Kev Brown, Buff1, 14KT, Daru Jones, Completion, Rhonda Thomas, and Mr. Hu.  I won't be teaching music at the high school this summer, so it is wide open for me to put work in…and I'm very anxious to see what is going to come of it.  Yes, yes, yes…

One excited brotha,
Zo

7:26 PM - 8 Comments - 11 Kudos - Add Comment

Article/Interview @ MosaicThump.com
Current mood: pleased

Big shouts to my boy Mo for conducting this interview and putting the article and audio up.  I wanted to give y'all the opportunity to check it out, the conversation covers a lot of ground....  Enjoy!

Article / Interview on MosaicThump.com

2:25 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Ok....so I just got put on to Last.FM
Current mood: artistic

I know, I know....I'm late.  Actually that kat who put me on to it did so about two months ago.  I've been messing around w/it for about the last two hours or so tryna upload some music, etc.  Looks like an alright spot...Anybody else mess w/Last.FM or another site like it?   Fill me in.      ...Forgive me, I'm learning y'all...lol

Zo! on Last.FM

10:37 PM - 8 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

My Dilla Memories... R.I.P. - 2/7/74-2/10/06
Current mood: inspired
Category: Life

I can remember distinctively the first time that I heard Jay Dee…and actually KNEW who I was listening to (I owned a some of his music at the time but never put two and two together).  It was The Pharcyde's "Runnin' (Remix) back in Late '95/Early '96…I was a senior in high school.  One of my classmates, my boy Dwight hit me up one day and was telling me about his most recent trip to the record store that day.  Included in the store run was the maxi-single for "Runnin'".  So he told me to check for the remix done by a kat named Jay Dee whom he had heard was from Detroit which was a big deal...there wasn't a lot of national exposure coming from the D around 95/96.  So I was like, Bet! I'ma start keeping an eye on him for that reason alone.  Things looked good from the break as I opened up my "Labcabincalifornia" CD jacket, checked the credits and under all of my favorite joints I saw "Produced by Jay Dee" or "J. Yancey".  The next thing I know, here come the "Woo Haa" remixes…the "Stakes Is High" song and remix, The Ummah.  Damn man…this kat was starting to sound real consistent.  So continued to keep my eyes and ears open for him.  "Beats Rhymes & Life" came out about a month before I went away to school in '96 ("Word Play", "1nce Again", etc, etc)...  

Sometime in '97, I remember hearing from one of my people back home that he was in a group called Slum Village...So about a year later, I was looking on Sandboxautomatic.com and listened to snippets from a 12" by Slum that had "2U4U", "Fantastic", "I Don't Know" and  "Players".  When I heard "Players" for the first time…wooooooow.  I hadn't heard anything that sounded like that.  The claps, the texture of the song, the bassline…I was hooked.  I would head up to the school library in order to hop online, go to Sandbox and listen to "Players".  So I finally took the time to order it (I used my boy's credit card and paid him back, as I didn't have one of my own at the time haha)…and I still have that 12" to this day.  When those joints showed up on "Fantastic Vol. 2" (except for "Fantastic"), I was all in.  But then heard "Climax" for the first time and damn near ran my car off the road.  I was by myself in the car sounding like my boy Leaf when he hears one of his favorite joints…talkin' bout, "OOOHHHHHHH!!!!!!!".  

Fortunately, I was able to meet Dilla back in 2003…It was February 14, and I was in Barak Studios in Southfield.  If I remember correctly, T3 was in there with Young RJ, Black Milk, and Que-D.  And in walks Dilla and Karreim Riggins.  I was just standing there like, 'Oh really?'  Here comes Jay Dee holding a bag of McDonald's with this huge grin on his face.  I believe that at the time he just got over being sick because RJ Rice, kept saying how healthy he looked.  RJ was the one who introduced me to him…and anyone who knows RJ, y'all know that was an interesting introduction.  

"Yeah mayne, this is Zo…he plays keys for Slum!  This nigga bad mayne!" – RJ

As I'm standing there giving Dilla a pound and saying 'what up'…I'm thinking to myself…Damn, this is the kat who did (name your favorite joint here).  He was real cool, a real humble dude…and I'm happy to be able to share this story.

February 10, 2006 was the same day that I moved out here to the DC Area.  After being on the road for about 9 hours, my phone started BLOWING UP at about 4:30p with all types of text messages and calls.  I was in the middle of moving boxes and furniture into my new spot with my uncle, so I couldn't get a break to even look at the phone.  Finally, I just stopped and picked my phone up to check it out because at that point, the call volume was indicating that something was wrong.  So I looked at the phone and saw about 7 or 8 missed calls and 10 new text messages…I checked the first one, "Did you hear Dilla passed?", the second, "I'm hearing Dilla died, have you heard anything?  Tell me it's not true."  I was thinking that it had to be a rumor.  Then one of my boys called…I picked up and I could just tell.  When I heard the tone of his voice, I didn't say "Hello", "What up?"…nothing.  It was just, "Is it true man?"  The news hurt.  I have never been affected like that off of someone that I never really knew like that.  The fact that it happened the day that I left the Detroit area hurt even more.  But all in all, when you make timeless music…you are never gone.  We all miss you Dilla and the music has been extremely inspirational.  Here are some of my personal favorite joints that Jay Dee produced.  Feel free to respond with your own favorite Dilla 'moments', songs…whatever.  This is a celebration of life and music…

Currently listening : Welcome 2 Detroit By Jay Dee Release date: 06 March, 2001

3:12 PM - 25 Comments - 34 Kudos - Add Comment

What 2008 brings...
Current mood: working

*comes up for air* lol

Maaaaaan, after all of the craziness surrounding just getting married in Nov., moving in Dec., going on the honeymoon during the holidays, and moving some more when we got back...2007 was a year that I didn't get to release an album, so I'm gonna let ch'all know just how fun 2008 is gonna be...

Gather 'round y'all, gather 'round....

First, I am currently finishing up the Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80's! EP with my brotha in music, Phonte.  This is something that came about through our mutual respect for each other's talents......and quite simply because both of us are music fanatics.   For example, "Africa" was born out of a conversation we had at the end of '06 that we had going back and forth about our favorite 70's and 80's joints.  Next thing you know....here comes "Take On Me".  With "Steppin' Out" already completed, gears shifted like, we need to make this an official joint.  Since then, three more have been done....won't tell y'all which three joints we picked out yet though... Look for this one to drop somewhere between February and December of '08....................

......next we have the Dreamwalk LP with the one and only Vocalist/Songwriter Tiffany Paige.  This was a match made in musical chemistry heaven.  When we met in 2005, I ended up sending her a joint that was returned to me within about 24 hours....LACED UP.  When the same thing wound up happening about 2 or 3 more times, we decided to work on a full-length album (fairly easy decision there lol).  A few kats have been hearing joints form this album for a minute now....well, production-wise, Dreamwalk has been completed and we're both real happy with the results.  Y'all will start to hear joints from it in various different places here real soon....

The third album that I have begun production on is yet another collaboration EP with extremely talented Detroit emcee Asylum 7.  We have been working together on different things since we met back in 2004 ("Listen Up", and the "Observe Remix" which appeared on A7's Brown Study EP).  This was another case of dope chemistry and respect for one another's work ethic.  We're about 7 tracks deep into it and still pushing...

You will also see production on one joint that features YahZarah from the upcoming Foriegn Exchange album Leave It All Behind.  And just yesterday I laid some keys on a joint by my man Kev Brown for his new album.  And there's more...but all of it hasn't been finalized, so I don't want to have to retract statements and everything. lol  My goal for the year (as it is every year) is to continuously hit ch'all with good, consistent music.  Let's have fun this year...I'm looking forward to it.

Did I also mention that I'm working on another solo LP too?...Just thought I would throw that in there.....................

Currently watching : Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story Release date: 02 October, 2007

7:27 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Reporting live from ARUBA ...the Honeymoon Suite
Current mood: relaxed

Yes y'all...  Happy New Year from Eagle Beach, Aruba!  Maaaaaaaan, I have no words for this island.  It has been in the 80s every day, the beach is CRAZY...soft sand, palm trees, we have been eating GREAT.......LAWD have mercy!  We've seen a lotta lizards, iguanas, and expensive menus (Subway was anywhere from $6-10 for a 6" sub and $10-20 for a footlong)..........who is paying for that?!  The Taco Bell serves fries w/their meals.  The seafood dinners have been wonderful.

Me and wifey are having TOO much fun man.  Pictures coming soon.  Be safe tonight.........

Zo

9:22 PM - 8 Comments - 13 Kudos - Add Comment