Hi guys. Sorry I haven’t been updating, been traveling a lot to work and pay rent. A lot of you asking about new music…it’s coming, I’m just not that guy that tweets about how hard he’s working in the studio and such. Hope to see you at one of these gigs!
-Lee
Yesterday I headed to Paid Dues with Speak, Lanier, and Westside Ty. My man Murs was nice enough to guest list me up with a VIP ticket (comes with access to a ballroom with no AC and a lot of wealthy young bumperheads), but we needed more: we needed to be on stage with Dipset.
I started the day with one red wristband and promised myself that the first folks who asked to take a picture would end up on the blog. Here they are, nice fellas.
These were the first folks that asked to get a picture with Speak. One of them was a girl so he won. At this point it was 3:00pm and I was already starting to sweat through my shirt in the 80˚ heat. We were beginning to panic. Would we ever make it backstage to the paradise land of free juice and groupies?
I went to check my man Macklemore, partly to escape the heat, and partly because his stage show is killing the game right now. Best rap performer I’ve seen in many years, hands down. I ran into his tour manager Tricia and she helped save my life by donating a couple of purple backstage wristbands (THANK YOU TRICIA!!!!). These bands were good enough to get us onto the deck of the indoor stage, and back to the trailers…but alas, we needed more.
Backstage I ran into some rappers I appreciate, like Sean P and RA the Rugged Man. A bunch of random shit happened…four hours passed and it was time to see 3 Six Mafia. Their set was pretty close to the highlight of my day. A bunch of the homies ended up on stage wildin’ out and if you follow me on Instagram (@itsintuition), you’d know I had a really good view.
Caught Juicy J and Mac Miller chopping it up after the 3 Six set. Somehow after this was taken, we ended up getting wristbands for the stage Dipset was playing on from the Grouch’s mother of all people. After convincing 5 security guards (that swore no one was allowed past the barriers) to let us past the barriers, we had finally made it to the promised land.
Ballin‘.
Odd Future meets Juelz Santana.
Oh yeah, there were tits.
-Lee
Finally got to see my dude Allen Stone perform last night. Ever since inviting him and the band to do THIS a few months ago, I’ve been patiently waiting to catch a full set. It didn’t disappoint. Allen absolutely wails and his stage presence is energetic, funky, soulful, and commanding. The band rips and the fans respond appropriately (particularly during the dance off session during the middle of the set). Catch this man in your area, but be quick because his shows sell out fast.
-Lee
My Mom’s birthday is on Sunday. We’ve been in a bit of a spat lately and haven’t spoken this month. I wrote this the other day as an apology letter and decided to film it as a birthday gift.
-Lee
It’s been another fruitless year in the love department. Don’t let this Hallmark Holiday get you down. Cheer up with another mix of sad and bitter love songs to accompany you on the worst (best?) day to be single. Hopefully I’ll make a happy V-day mix next year.
Here’s the download link: CLICK ME.
-Lee
Last night Reebok and Milk Studios collaborated with photographer Jonathan Mannion to put together the best party I’ve been to so far in this young year. Jonathan’s iconic hip hop imagery was prominently displayed in huge tack sharp prints, two legends of rap performed (Big Daddy Kane and DJ Quik), and Bushmill’s open bar got me drunk as fuck. BDK is one of my all time favorites and this was my first time getting to see him perform. Hearing him go into “Ain’t No Half Steppin” was just one of those moments for me.
Mannion has not only documented the scene over the years, seeing him onstage singing along to every word of BDK’s set, you can tell he’s also a huge fan. Refreshing to see someone who’s been killing it for so long not be burnt out on the subject he covers.
The king overlooks his court.
The man of the hour posted in front of his flicks of Ice-T and Snoop.
The two hired guns of the party were posted on the wall next to eachother.
Biggie.
Mos Def and DMX.
ODB and Slick Rick.
DJ Quik did a little DJ’ing and a little rapping.
OG LA photographer Estevan Oriol.
Ran into the homie Thurz.
Anwar and Josh Peas in the place to be.
Avocado is a fucking weirdo.
Even the napkins were killing the game.
-Lee
This is a song Mark and I made that’s not going to end up on the next record. Fun stories, both 100% true. Please be sure to like / comment / subscribe on Youtube.
-Lee
The ever controversial Lana Del Rey played a free in-store at Amoeba Records yesterday. I’ll admit despite following her blossoming career for a quite sometime, I’ve not heard her record, I’ve watched her awkward TV appearances, and I wanted to experience the hype in person.
The line was really long (I got there at 3:30 and it was literally around the block) and filled with people that looked like this.
During my tenure in Los Angeles I’d yet to see an in-store at Amoeba. Didn’t know what to expect, but certainly didn’t expect assigned standing-room-only according to where you were at in line. After waiting outside for 2.5 hours I got inside only to be stuck in the “Reggae 45′s” section with a curious Bob Marley pondering why there were so many smelly hipsters in his aisle.
Lana started her set with “Born To Die“. She was accompanied by a solitary piano for her whole set (5 songs, including “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans“, that all ended up sounding pretty similar due to the stripped down music). Despite all the criticism she currently receives, her voice was pretty strong. I don’t know if it’s “Golden Ticket to Hollywood in American Idol” strong, but there were some notes that made me want to cheer along with the crowd. She nervously mumbled through banter between songs. The whole shindig lasted about 17 minutes.
When she started singing the camera phones came out in droves.
This guy was double fisting.
Just to give you some perspective of how disappointingly far away I was. That’s her…the little white dot in the middle-ish.
-Lee
Over the last month I’ve been teaching an MC Writing Workshop at the Bresee Foundation. The class is for high school students interested in upping their bars. It was surprising and exciting to learn that 20 students signed up to participate. The class has been a wonderful experience. It’s fun to wax poetic with the kids about the intricacies of writing raps. I can ramble for days about the minutia of rhyme schemes and rhythms, so it’s nice to have an attentive audience that’s so hungry to learn. It’s been inspiring to witness their progress as the end of the session draws near.
The early birds waiting for everyone else to show up.
This week’s assignment was writing and sharing a story rap with the class. The topics ranged from silly and light-hearted to straight up tear-jerking, but every single student came prepared and shared.
We generally use the internet to play beats while they rap…some of the kids have producer friends already and have their beats loaded on the phone.
We have a no drug raps, no sex raps, no swearing policy. Ryo always manages to finagle his way around the rules which generally leads to a good laugh.
Moshe has bars for days and he swears this class is his first time ever writing raps.
-Lee
