#got to meet him on MC’s ‘final tour’ in 2015

[esta-elavaris]

Had a moment today that exemplifies how my family thinks but like, in a way that’s just very sad and makes me glad I don’t think that way.

Showed a relative the amazing painting that friend did for me, and her first response was “you’d be able to sell that for some good money!!!”

Like. No????

For months I’ve discussed this creative trade with this friend, we’ve talked about what the other wants, we’ve gotten excited about it and traded progress pics as we work on it for each other, gotten stoked over making plans to get to the post office and seeing the other finally get it, and it’s just been a very wholesome and very fun project. It took six weeks for us to complete these projects, and now I have something on display in my room that makes me very happy, that’s objectively beautiful, and that I know a friend put a lot of effort into making for me and was THRILLED when I adored it.

And my family’s immediate line of thinking is “make a few quid from it lol”.

I can’t imagine the headspace it must take to go through life like that.

[snibnoom]

ASTRO FUN FACTS

A collection of facts that some fans may not know! This list is far from exhaustive, so feel free to add on! Or you could shoot me a question and see if I know the answer

Families

MJ has an older brother

Jinjin has an older brother

Eunwoo has a younger brother (named Donghwi) 2 years younger than him (99er) who has studied abroad in China

Moonbin has a younger sister, Moon Sua (99er), who is currently a trainee at YG and was on Unpretty Rapstar

Rocky has a brother (named Junggeon) 4 years younger than him (03er) 

Sanha has two older brothers (named Junha and Jeha); both of his brothers and his dad play guitar, and Junha writes his own music; Sanha’s mom was also a body builder

Education

MJ received perfect attendance awards in middle and high school, and played soccer during elementary school

Jinjin attended Hanlim Multi Arts High School after passing the entrance with the highest score for those being admitted, achieved with his house dancing; he also attended NY Dance Academy in Ilsan prior to joining Fantagio

Eunwoo attended Suri Middle School and Suri High School, then transferred to Hanlim Multi Arts High School and graduated from Hanlim on February 15, 2016; he was accepted into Sungkyunkwan University at the end of 2016 and is currently attending with a major in acting

Moonbin attended Hanlim Multi Arts High School from 2014 until his graduation on February 15, 2016; due to having a birthday very early in the year, Moonbin attended school mostly with 97-line

Rocky attended Eonbuk Middle School and graduated on February 7, 2015; he then attended Seoul Music High School from February 2015 until October 2015; starting in October 2015, Rocky began attending Hanlim Multi Arts High School and graduated on February 9, 2018

Sanha attended Baegwoon Middle School; he attends Hanlim Multi Arts High School and will graduate in 2019

Before ASTRO

MJ auditioned for JYP Entertainment in 2010 with iKON’s Donghyuk (but didn’t make it into the company); he auditioned again in 2012 and won a one year scholarship to Seoul National University; MJ  began training with Fantagio in 2014

Prior to joining Fantagio as a trainee, Jinjin was part of a house dance crew (under the dancer name “Kkorang”) with GOT7′s Yugyeom; he began training with Fantagio in 2012, not long after Sanha

Eunwoo began training with Fantagio in 2013 after being scouted on the street when he was on the way to the bathroom; he refused the offer several times until his parents eventually told him just to try it out and that he could quit if he didn’t like it; he played the younger version of a character in the movie “My Brilliant Life”; he was the 2014/2015 Shara Shara make up brand ambassador

Moonbin began training with Fantagio in 2009 after having been with Kids Planet Entertainment since 2004; under Kids Planet Entertainment, he modeled for various companies (Samsung, Blue Dog, Soie, Tiffany), starred in TVXQ’s music video for Balloons in 2006, and played the role of young So Yijeong (Kimbum) in “Boys Over Flowers” in 2009; he appeared in episode 1 of the 2015 drama “Perseverance Goo Haera” with Rocky

Rocky began training with Fantagio in June 2010; he auditioned for Korea’s Got Talent on July 14, 2011 where he didn’t pass but a judge told him “In the future, I am sure we will meet again in the music industry”; Rocky drove from his hometown of Jinju to Seoul daily for several years (attending school in Jinju then training in Seoul) before his mom and younger brother finally made the move to Seoul

Sanha began training with Fantagio in 2012

Other

ASTRO was technically Fantagio’s first music group, as 5urprise is an actor group and Hellovenus started out as a joint venture with Pledis

Eunwoo was an MC for Show! Music Core from October 1, 2016 to January 27, 2018; following his final episode, the other members started up a vlive as they prepared to surprise Eunwoo upon his return to the company; the video was later removed, as you could clearly hear Rocky saying “f*** off, f***” after Sanha accidentally blew out the candles on a cake they’d gotten for Eunwoo

The MV shooting for Hide & Seek happened on Moonbin’s birthday in 2016

Jinjin can speak English and some Chinese; Eunwoo can speak English, Chinese and Japanese (and recently took the Japanese fluency test, but failed)

When once asked in an interivew what he has to be sure to bring along with him, MJ answered that he has to make sure the other members are with him

Just before the release of Summer Vibes, Eunwoo went away to film for Law of the Jungle

Sanha is allergic to shrimp

Moonbin is allergic to dog hair and Jinjin is allergic to cat hair

During Spring Up era, ASTRO partnered with the Line Play app to add their own custom characters and content and later added Summer Vibes content as well; they also held a virtual fan meeting on the app

MJ likes retro-style fashion and his favorite food is sushi

As a child, Moonbin liked math in school and wanted to be a prosecutor

Eunwoo played soccer and basketball until high school, and MJ played soccer in elementary school

Eunwoo was class president until the end of his first year of high school

While filming the MV for Crazy Sexy Cool, MJ hurt his leg

When filming for an MV, Eunwoo fell off a set prop and onto a nail but he didn’t feel it; the manager took him to the hospital right away, and the doctor said that because Eunwoo’s butt is so plump, he avoided any real damage

The fandom name, AROHA, was picked by a fan; prior to debut, Fantagio allowed fans to submit fandom name ideas with their meanings on the fan cafe and then the members chose which one they liked the most

AROHA comes from AstRO Hearts All fans, and it also means “love” in Maori

Eunwoo has had many appearances: Hellovenus’ Mysterious MV, “The Best Hit” as MJ, “Revenge Note” as Cha Eunwoo, “My ID is Gangnam Beauty” as Do Kyungseok, “Top Management” as Woo Yeonwoo, Urban Zakapa’s You’re the Reason MV

Eunwoo has appeared in CFs for many companies: Blue Mountain, Polham, Tommy Hillfigure Denim, LaFuma, Cleratin, Baskin Robbins 31, Lotte World Park

Jinjin once said he’d like to be able to collaborate with Big Bang

Sanha had braces at debut and until Stray Kids debuted, he was the only idol to ever debut with braces

Rocky has choreographed a large number of ASTRO’s side tracks and has also made choreography for a few of Fantagio’s other groups (5urprise and Hello Venus)

During Summer Vibes promotions, Jinjin also performed as a special guest rapper on Eric Nam’s performances of “Can’t Help Myself” and also featured in the performance at KCON LA 2016

An early demo of My Style from Summer Vibes can be heard in the background of one of the episodes in To Be Continued

ASTRO’s very first concerts, THANKx AROHA, were held in August 2016; all 3 performances sold out in under 30 seconds

Following the above, ASTRO held 2 concerts in Japan in October 2016; after the first show’s 1,300 seats sold out and roughly 8,000 more fans expressed interest, Fantagio added a second show

Continuing the tour of above was a concert in Jakarta also in October 2016 and a concert in Thailand in February 2017

[peckhampeculiar]

Feel the rhythm

Bradley Zero’s record label Rhythm Section has enjoyed huge success since it was founded in Peckham in 2009. We chat to Bradley and MC Pinty, who’s about to release his second EP City Limits  

Words: Emma Finamore; Photo: Lima Charlie  

Peckham’s Rhythm Section started life as a radio show and dance in 2009, founded by DJ Bradley Zero. Next came an accompanying record label and its first release – Rye Lane Vol. 1 by Al Dobson Jnr – in 2014, and a nomination for Label of the Year at Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide awards. Since then Bradley’s label has gone global, but an upcoming release shows how the dance’s tagline – ‘Peckham Strong’ – is still part of its DNA.

MC Pinty – a local MC and DJ – is putting out his second EP, City Limits, with Rhythm Section after his first independent release (Midnight Moods) in 2015. As well as keeping it local, the upcoming record shows how the dance remains central to the label’s output too. Pinty honed his skills on the mic at nights he used to hold under the arches at Loughborough Junction, and says the ambiance of these late-night parties and sounds of 4am streets permeate his new tracks.  

"It was in such a sick place, round the corner from the flat where I was born actually,” he remembers of the dances he put on, aged just 19. “They were dope, some of the sickest time, and it was always such a good vibe. The guy that ran it was a real character, I think he was an old sound boy from around Brixton, so all his sound system was there and he was really careful about the set up. If there was something wrong he would get right onto it – someone that really cared about the sound. It was cool, very atmospheric."

Music was a core part of the Pinty’s youth. His brother – who tragically died in an accident in 2002 – was a garage MC during the golden years of UKG, and as a student at the Brit School he and his friends were surrounded by creativity. He and fellow attendees like Archy Marshall (aka King Krule or DJ JD Sports), Cosmo Pyke and Jamie Isaac were mates but also went on to become musical collaborators – a dynamic group of South London producers, singers, musicians and rappers.

"Music’s always been a part of me, I guess,” says Pinty. “I always had it around, and I was always into dance music more than anything else. Archy was the first one to put me on it [music]. He was like, 'You should do this, really. It feels like you've got something to say'." 

The south London connection runs through much of his work. The first track he made – named Midnight Moods, like his club night and subsequent EP – was produced by DJ JD Sports, as is the City Limits EP, along with production from other south London producers.  Pinty also went on to do shows on local Peckham/Brixton stations Balamii and Reprezent with Cosmo Pyke and DJ Maxwell Owin, another local artist.

"We go back-to-back, it's basically my favourite thing to do, pretty much, that show,” he explains, of his ‘Second To None’ Sunday evening show on Reprezent with Owin – a South London producer and bassist. “I always look forward to that show, we've got great energy and just bounce around the studio. We both get so immersed in the music we're just jumping around." 

Pinty has been making waves with his live performances too: he’s played in Paris with hip-hop star Rejji Snow, at Glastonbury Festival with Sub Luna City (a King Krule project), and with RATKING – an experimental, punk-inspired hip-hop crew from New York.

Now – having been brought into the Rhythm Section family after meeting founder Bradley Zero at a festival – he’s hoping the new EP will create more waves. While Pinty’s 2015 debut had a distinctly garage flavour, City Limits takes his sound in a new, house and dance-led direction.

He explains: "A lot of the beats on the next EP are pretty four-on-the-floor [a rhythm pattern associated with dance music] so I think this is going to separate from the earlier stuff. The sound is kind of ‘housey’ street sounds with a lot of lyricism in there. And that's the thing about the project that's different - I'm trying to help people see that house isn't just some straight party, mostly white, Berlin stuff. There's substance and realness to it too.

"It's just my story: where I've come from, what I've seen and what I've been through. There’s a night-time element to it too, like when you're walking back through a dusty street when there's no one around…the night bus home. I'm definitely trying to get away from that garage MC gimmick – I think it is quite a gimmick sometimes.”

Pinty says he’s been influenced by everything from ‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song)’ by Rupert Holmes to The Streets  – anything with a story. "Stories just grip me, I guess,” he explains. “When I realised 'A Grand Don't Come For Free' [a sort of rap opera – The Streets' second album] was a whole story in itself, I thought that was amazing. I've always found storytelling really interesting. "

This love of narrative is particularly poignant on City Limits' final track. "It's the definitive track on the album," says Pinty.  It includes samples of his brother MCing, alongside snippets of a conversation with his brothers' mate – south London photographer Andrew Gillman – who Pinty interviewed a few years ago about their shared loss. "It comes out really nice," he says. "It was quite eerie making it though, kind of dark. But it is quite a special thing. It was nice to be able to sit down and record it, but then to use it in a special way too." 

The pair spoke for two hours, reminiscing, and Pinty says that while it's taken time for him to be able to talk about his loss, recording with his friend and putting the track together was therapeutic. The EP's title is also loaded with meaning – connected with a group of Pinty's brother's friends – making it an especially personal body of work. 

Pinty plans to tour off the back of his upcoming release, and says he’ll be putting out more new music as soon as possible after City Limits. "That's the plan,” he says. “I've waited so long – after this I want to just keep pushing stuff out more man."

Bradley Zero sees the release as a natural partnership for Rhythm Section: “As the label has grown we’ve released music from all over the world, but the genesis of the label – as well as the ongoing focus – has always been Peckham. We’ve played a role in establishing local acts such as Henry Wu, Chaos in the CBD and FYI Chris so the idea of working with Pinty was immediately considered.  

“Musically, our influences align on the crossroads of house, hip-hop and UK sound system Culture. Much like our debut effort from Al Dobson Jnr, Pinty’s style takes influence from a wide palette of sounds to create something uniquely his own. Long story short, Pinty’s style, sound and story has 'Rhythm Section' written all over it!”

Peckham holds a really important place in Bradley’s heart, which is why continuing to put out music by innovative artists from the area – like Pinty – is especially vital to him. “We host our seventh anniversary dance in November – how time flies! It all started in Peckham,” he explains. “The label and the party weren’t born out of a business plan; they where born out of a community, and everything we’ve produced so far is a product of that community.

“My musical journey began here, whether honing my burgeoning skills on the decks of Bar Story every Friday night, hosting my first ever radio show on Reprezent from its original Asylum Road studios, or putting on my first ever party in Canavan’s. While the music and the message has begun to spread its wings around the world, Rhythm Section will always be rooted in Peckham.

“Before the Overground came, people didn’t often venture south of the river and folk who lived down here tended not to leave so often, so we got what I like to call the ‘ pressure cooker effect’. The musicians and artists based in Peckham felt largely disconnected from what was going on elsewhere, so we made our own fun, collaborated heavily and eventually the word got out.”

For Bradley, pushing forward home grown talent is important in maintaining some of Peckham’s individuality, and he talks about broader things like rent controls to help protect longstanding residents and businesses from being pushed out. “There is a genuine community here that cares deeply about what goes on and how the area grows,” he explains. “We must nurture and this, and champion the independent spirit of our community.” City Limits – in its reflection of south London nightlife and demonstration of south London talent – will do just this.

[seiyuuraji]

DreamFest live broadcast Beyond the Best 5th March 2018 summary

DreamFest live broadcast Beyond the Best 5th March 2018 App termination announcement live

DreamFest app will be closing in May and they will also put interrupt the 3D version, DearDream and KUROFUNE. They go into reminiscing about the whole project. About how it started in September 2015 and it's been around 2 years and a half. How in their first talk show no one could talk anything and they prepared things to talk about. Kabu talks about how Kurofune also got in through audition and says DearDream had it nice because they had activities but Kurofune were kept a secret for a while. They talk about how difficult the recordings for the app (stories). Tomi says he thought Kabu was very cool but at the first recording his hands were shaking while holding the script and he thought Kabu also had cute sides. They talk about how this project had a lot of firsts for them like the VR theater and such and how it's not so often to have work with so many people as main cast and how it was the first time to do voice acting. Kimito: "Personally, I am glad I met the character Kazama Keigo and although I don't say it to him personally, I also treasure the fact I met Kabu through DreamFest." Kaoru says that if he (they) wouldn't have been in DreamFest they wouldn't have heard the voices of so many people and be cheered by them (like in lives with glowsticks and name fans) and it was a big happening to meet Sawamura Chizuru. They talk about trying out the application at  rehearsals after it was released.  And they were all anxious because they didn't dance in front of people much and Masaki led them in that.

Kabu says that when he heard their activity will also stop along with the 2D version he was lonely and anxious about what's going to happen and he thinks that what he felt then is what the viewers are feeling watching this broadcast. He says he's been with them for 2,5 years as well although hidden; in the beginning he was anxious about the role but it's the first time he grew to love a character and that they will live in his heart and probably everyone else's hearts. He also says that maybe in 10-20 years when they're old men maybe the characters would also become old men, because they're stopping activity for now. Takuya how in 10 years the characters will be their age.

Tomi: "Somehow, I really grew to like yellow. When I wear yellow, I have a pleasant feeling." He says that Junya is stoic and goes straight on the road to become and idol and that made him also think he can't relax, it was the first time he got influence from a character. He feels he has somehow combined with Junya in his heart (they react by saying it became 5D)

They say a project for 2,5 years is rare. Takuya says he's been with his character the whole time and it's somehow surprising he still loves the character just as much.

Masaki says he had a complex about his voice, even people at work (he doesn't mention where) told him his voice was high but when he got the role of Itsuki he got letters and messages that said they liked his voice and he got confidence. "The fact that I met Itsuki became a treasure. It's 5D so I think that as long as we're alive they will also be there. The app may close but They will live on in our hearts and I wish to continue on without ever forgetting that."

They are talking about how Chizuru is the first character Kaoru met. Kaoru: "Chizuru is the existence that connected me to this world."

They talk about how Souma was the one who had the hardest part in events and such. Souma says it was difficult in the beginning but he gradually started feeling he's in a position where he can say what he wishes to say and he ended up doing long talks at lives (MC moments) but he had a good experience where he could express his feelings. He says he hasn't had many chances to be in the center and be the one representing the others and he thinks that without DreamFest, in a broadcast like this he'd be in the back nodding along without saying anything. He grew in these two and a half years and feels more responsibility towards his work and says the biggest part is that he met a lot of people through this project, involved in it or cheering for them. He says the project grew a lot from the beginning and he looked forward to seeing where it'll go. (as a past thought, he doesn't say it in a regretful tone)

Souma says they had a live tour and the last stage was Pacifico Yokohama and he was shows the best scenery by everyone, and that was the last scenery they saw and they can't let it end there. They announce a final live in Nippon Budoukan with DearDream and Kurofune. They talk about how it's been their dream. In the first fan meeting in 2016 they did it in the Science Hall next to Budoukan and he said then that he wishes they'll do a live next door (Budoukan) and at that moment he couldn't imagine it. He says he said it without thinking but now they are really going to have a live there. Kimito asks Tomi if it's all right to fool around in Budoukan but Tomi answers him that he won't change.

They announce some things: - DearDream 2nd album. They want to each have a solo song in here (and combinations that haven't been done before) and they emphasize want because nothing is decided. - Deardream 1st Live Tour 2018 Yume no Kodou LIVE Blu-ray - Kurofune 3rd Single - Battle Live Kurofune VS DearDream LIVE Blu-ray.

The DreamFest Lab archive will be moved to bandai channel from 23 March. Takuya says they got a lot of requests for DreamFest lab. From what I understand they will still do it once a month but I don't know for how long.

Kabu says that it's so unexpected they got to Budoukan in such a  short amount of time. Kaoru says it feels like a different continuation to Dreamfest. Kimito "I wonder what's beyonf the best. It's also today's broadcast title Tomi: I think it's Space."

They say they need to improve and do more thinking for the final live. Kabu notes that it's not a DearDream live or a KUROFUNE live, but a DreamFest live, which is a first since they were only there as guests or in the VS live. He says that the real DreamFEst will be shown in Budoukan.

They joke about how in Budoukan Souma may show his longest talk until now. And Takuya wonders if something unexpected like someone else like Masaki talking a lot could happen. Tomi says you need mental strength to be able to talk so much in such a place and tells Souma he will be the one to do it.

Masaki: "I think each of us has a lot of feelings. I wish that the 7 of us and the people coming to see us will let our feelings clash and that we will show you the best performance and that you would be happy with us that a dream of ours came true."

Kimito talks about how until now they talked about what they were going to do among themselves but now they'll all be together. Masaki says that among the various possibilities of new songs there might be a a 7 people song and talks about how when there's a coreography for a group Kabu will complain that he can't do it. And they say lately he hasn't been complaining.

The broadcast ends without any explanation about why the closing of the app is happening.

[chaquismaliq]

Acoustic Adventures : Chaquis Maliq Resilience Pays Off

Feelings at the Eclectic Cafe & Vinyl Feb 2

This night was a room full of fresh faces and familiar faces, while I displayed Sangin faces at The Eclectic Cafe & Vinyl. After getting over being nervous singing a new song, "Vessel" from #ResilienceEludesDeath I was able to get back in my zone. I am finally understanding why I got so nervous singing this song, now that I’ve gotten nervous in other venues. It’s not nervousness. It’s simply suppressed feelings that try to take over whenever I want to sing this song. I actually cried when I played back the final recording of this song multiple times. It’s unexplainable to me at the moment. But when a good feeling gets you, what can you do? I eventually got through the song and and then I heard  unexpected sounds of warming hand claps throughout the cafe.

At some point during my set, my hair just kept falling! LOL! I tried my hardest not to become irritated, agitated, and annoyed (which easily happens for me). I kept it together though. I forget what I did. but I know I had to change my hair in the middle of my set lol.

After my entire set, I got to reflect with some of my faithful supporters and new supporters. During this time I was approached by Marion’s House. Which is a nonprofit organization for Child Sexual Abuse Awareness. We begin to chat and I was invited to perform at their Spring into Action event April 6th. And of course I didn’t turn it down. It’s a sensitive topic, but it needs to be addressed and I’m for helping making people more aware of what’s been going on. 

This video below is provided by a supporter. I really appreciate when ya’ll post videos and allow me to repost them. This particular venue is a great spot for listening room style where music lovers can listen to my stories, my songs, and witnessing tracks of my tears while my heart and soul take control of my mind. 

A post shared by Chaquis Maliq (@chaquismaliq) on Feb 3, 2017 at 6:58am PST

Ada’s Daughter Society Luncheon Speech Feb 4

So, I spoke and performed at a country club for the first time ever in my life. This was my second speech. But as a poet, writer, songwriter; etc. You get the picture. I had to write another speech to reflect the topic and my similar story to the book Ada’s Daughter. So, I told my survivor story of life long Domestic Violence and Abuse, as well as Empowerment and Healing (Resilience Eludes Death). I haven’t decided to make the speech public yet. But one day I will. 

I did a musical set first, and host rearranged the order of the program so that I wouldn’t feel so pressured to do my speech. LOL! I was so happy about that. I also had fed my anxiety by not knowing I had my mic stand with me. I had the staff at the country club running around trying to accommodate me and the mic stand was in my guitar bag the entire time, and the base of it was in my rolling back pack. LOL! So, we were all squared away for the performance and my speech.

I started of sounding speechy in the beginning, but my emotions started to interfere once I got deeper into the story. But I'm glad to tell you I made it through the speech and was shown so much love for my strength and courage by the women of Ada's Daughter Society and the Host, My Sister’s House Inc.  So many hugs, words of encouragement, similar stories, and the push to do more with my writing with this story for the world to hear. It was a bit overwhelming but a lot to think about and to know that I’ve got more work to do while I’m on the planet Earth, gives me the courage to hold on to my many purposes in life.

The women also bought all of the CDs I brought, took photographs with me and filled me with smiles that will last for a lifetime. And I remembered to bring clothes that I cannot fit to the event for them to give to women and children in need at their shelter. The feeling of giving to whoever needs it when I can, is a great feeling.

This Facebook Thing I went to 

So, there was this event in my Facebook feed called the Celebrate African-American History Month with Facebook Boost Event. I don’t really go to events, but this was free and had food. LOL! So, preregistered and actually remembered to go. I filled my gift bag ( stop calling it a swag bag for goodness sake) with the goodies they provided as I entered. I hate taking selfies. Why? Because it’s just saying “Hey! Look at me doing NOTHING!” So, I have no selfies of this event. Instead I took photos of things around that I saw and went to the actual photo booth they had. 

The event was in partnership with NBCC | National Black Chamber of Commerce. Soooooooooooooooooo, the introducer (not an MC... he never returned to the stage) was black. The Host was a Black Woman and Facebook Employee, who flew in from Texas. And all  businesses on the panel were owned by Black Women in South Carolina. So, my attention was almost undivided.

I’m little so don’t be mad at my photo lol. And I had a free $25 Boost Your Post card from attending this event.... I forgot about it and it expired LOL!

I did speak to a few business owners in general. I won’t get into my thing about people in general. But those who know, know. Any how, I did get to meet someone I’ve been wanting to meet. The owner of Fresh Future Farms. We chatted for a bit, and found out how much we had in common and some of the issues we have concerns about and how to move forward with bringing about change to those issues.

Black History Event  & Benefit Concert for Students to Go to Washington D.C.

I did attend a fundraising event that was also a Black History Event. I missed the first half, because I lost track of time. I didn’t get to see the kids perform. But I did get to catch Marcus Amaker, Charleston, South Carolina’s first Poet Laureate. We were on the same program back in 2015 at the College of Charleston, but missed each other once the program was over, so we had never met, officially until this night. We greeted each other with a hug and began to chat about art scenes in general. I was able to see him perform his poetry and making live beats. I’m not a big fan of poetry (although I used to be a poet), but I was deeply moved by Marcus Amaker’s work, especially his concerns about the community and environment, and never afraid to perform it in front of the Mayor on purpose. 

I got to see Benny Starr perform his rap lyrics in poetry form (without music). We had never met and I came across him on social media.Although I’m not one to talk to people, I did introduce myself before he got on stage. So, kudos to me for being a grownup lol!. Starr admires the strength of Black Women and isn’t afraid to let listeners know that. It was pretty refreshing to hear of Black Women being praised in more than one song, with cleverness.

Last but no the least at all. I got to witness Charlton Singleton in a different light. Singleton demonstrated beautiful tones on his trumpet, while giving us real history behind Jazz, and the forgotten Origin of it. The history that no one tells us, and he is making sure it’s being told. The fact that Jazz came from an orphan band of children of Charleston, SC’s Jenkins Orphanage. These children were the first to use a plunger mute on a trumpet as well.

JENKINS ORPHANAGE BAND

RESILIENCE ELUDES DEATH AVAILABLE ON COMPACT DISC

ChaquisMaliq.com/store

Commercial Break LOL

Drumming

I haven't played an African Drum since 2009. And at the time it was a djembe. I wasn't ready for what I played that day. But I owned my rhythm for the first time. I was mindful and focused. They told me to bring my cajon next time. So, I will have to play it correctly and not the #1WomanBand way lol. Invitation and video by @msbjpeart . Thank you!!!!!

A post shared by Chaquis Maliq (@chaquismaliq) on Mar 2, 2017 at 6:23pm PST

Valerie June

And yes! I got to see the one and only Valerie June! I love every bit of the show. Even when we were waiting for her locs to fall down. Lol! They did and she owned it! Tumblr won’t let me post anymore videos, so you can see a clip here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BRSEXlLDCkQ/?taken-by=chaquismaliq

A Moment with Chaquis Maliq Interview via Lowcountry Rhythm

I have way too much  to do. So, I’m gonna end this entry now. I will post the remainder of the things that happened in the month of March next entry. This entry consists of February and some of March. So, yes I’m behind lol! But I thank you for reading and truly supporting me. As usual, I’m not proofing this, I will do it at another time.

Please make sure you follow me on Spotify! Thank you! Oh, I’m on Pandora. Though my name isn’t coming up. So, I guess you have to just keep typing my name into your stations so that eventually they will pull me off the cyber shelf at Pandora.

Thank you!

- Chaquis Maliq xoxoxox

03.30.17

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[writemarcus]

We didn’t see this year coming, but we heard it from all sides. In Signal & Noise 2016, you’ll find the way we made sense out of all of that sound.

One time for the altar boy turned rap king, for the rap king turned witness, and the witness turned prophet. Kendrick Lamar and his cosmic jazz conglomerate open-palm-smacked the world silly in 2015 with the magnificent To Pimp a Butterfly. Twenty months later, it’s worth retracing the arc and significance of its impact: Arriving in the midst of what the critic Greg Tate called a resurgence of for-real black music, TPAB was a time machine dressed up as a hooptie, blasting back and forth through the eons with the ghost of Sun Ra as its guiding light and Herbie Hancock backseat driving. At the wheel was K. Dot himself, rap’s wary messiah, taking us on a spiraling world tour from his hometown of Compton to Cape Town, South Africa, talkin’ our ears all the way off with spoken-word street narratives, barefaced personal testimonies, and theatrical drama as tangled as his plaited hair.

In a year when it often seemed the only people screaming about the ills of negritude were the black youth protesting in city streets across the country, Kendrick matched their fervor; the youth responded in kind by adopting “Alright” as the preeminent protest song of a generation. Yet the album stood alone, vast, more than the sum of its singles. K. Dot’s flippancy toward mainstream sensibility forced audiences to meet him right there in the black before he returned back to his reclusive state.

A year passed. While we chewed on To Pimp a Butterfly’s brain-food smorgasbord, another king — LeBron James — starved for more music from Kendrick. At James’s behest, Lamar and his label, Top Dawg Entertainment, gifted the masses with Untitled Unmastered this March — an unexpected handful of unused song sketches from the magnum opus’s sessions, widening the scope of an already wide-angle vision. If TPAB matched the passionate disillusionment of today’s youthful protests, then Untitled Unmastered is the intimate backstory. The new album put forth the most emphatic argument for how the making of the masterpiece is just as important as the final product — that the inner discourses, loose ends, and premonitions at the center of TPAB didn’t just spring up from nowhere. Not everyone heard it at the time, but Kendrick was drawing back the curtain on the various perspectives vying for speaking time within his own inner psyche. He was also forewarning us of 2016’s inevitable tumult.

Today, as Trump’s racist regime takes form, many communities are facing the “how did we get here?” question. Answers of a kind lie within Untitled Unmastered, where Kendrick (re)prophesied the untenable struggle between capitalism, otherness, and democratic discourse with clever precision. The way he talks about and to whiteness illuminates the oppressive power dynamics that characterize not only the streets, but his own place in the music industry. “Untitled 03 | 05.28.2013” articulates the paths by which knowledge is traded like trinkets from one perspective to another, echoing the Socratic model of discourse. In search of “peace of mind,” an unspecified “Asian” puts Kendrick on to the practice of meditation, because the rapper is “thinking too much”; an equally vague “Indian” breaks Kendrick off on the importance of land equity, reminding him, “These tangible things expire / Don’t you expect income with so much outcome.”

The black man, in this song, is painted as both lustful — “pussy is power” — and clear-eyed: “We do it all for a woman, from haircut to war.” But encountering whiteness, for Kendrick, meant giving up a part of himself or the fruits of his labor. The white man in the song answers the black-ass concern of selling out by saying that it “don’t even matter,” speaking to not only the speaker's cultural obtuseness but his desire to reduce powerful black art to useless commodity. The differentiation that Kendrick makes between the races on this song is reductive — stereotypical, even — but the lessons he’s learned and rehashed about whiteness, power, and stolen freedom are worth the gripes.

As much as the album breaks form — kicking in the door of established genre norms and throwing jazz and funk into the hip-hop gumbo — it’s even more about breaking out of a singular notion of cultural and political discourse. Kendrick’s brilliance relies on his willingness to interrogate himself as both a political actor and a black arts leader. In 2016, mainstream audiences couldn’t run away from the bloody reality of institutionalized black violence. But skinfolk been having to deal with their subjugation since Plymouth Rock landed on us. This long-standing relationship to subjectivity gives us a keen black eye for America’s undying love for black death.

Embodying Nina Simone’s paranoia, Kendrick frames the multifaceted trauma of black death by dumbing his perspectives down to astrology. Born under the Gemini moon, he’s never been shy about the inner dichotomies that define his approach to rapping and living. As far back as 2010’s “The Heart pt.1,” he found strength in the binary: “Any means necessary, get the campaign right / Very emotional, I’m a Gemini / I love hard and I fight harder, a born author.” Last year, on TPAB opener “Wesley’s Theory,” he was caught between fighting capitalism and giving in to his inner materialist: “Your horoscope is a Gemini, two sides / So you better cop everything two times.” On Untitled Unmastered, his dual personalities come into conflict with brutish physical reality.

“Untitled 05 | 09.21.2014,” which feels like a precursor to TPAB’s eerie and volatile “Institutionalized,” is a dramatic tale of the trauma wrought by antiblack racism. A murderous Kendrick who’s “living with anxiety” and “duckin’ the sobriety” stalks an unnamed man and gets mighty close to offing him, until he sees the man’s son and drives away. Kendrick is the witness who sees himself within the people he observes. He knows that “genocism and capitalism made me hate,” and owns up to the fact that despite stopping himself from killing another person, he’s still got some self-questioning to do. This is a fictionalized rendering of Kendrick's internal dialogue, but it suggests that Kendrick is just as anxiety-plagued as the gangbangers he grew up around — “I’m passin’ lives on the daily, maybe I’m losing faith” — and as nervous about the painful future that is assured to come to pass. As he ominously puts it, “The borderline between insanity is Father Time.”

Kendrick is immeasurably concerned about the world’s future as well as his own. The album opens with vivid imagery of the apocalypse: “Untitled 01 | 08.19.2014” finds him in a metaphysical garden of Gethsemane, at once prayerful and doubtful. Over Thundercat’s eerie bass plod, he spits off-kilter of fire and brimstone, frantically interloping images of end-times while flipping through the Book of Revelations. The Hell he foresees is full of “preachers touching on boys,” “backpedaling Christians settling for forgiveness,” and “atheists for suicide.” But when it’s his turn for judgment, Kendrick is surprised by his position among the damned. When God asks, “What have you did for me?,” Kendrick pulls out the résumé — “I tithed for you, I pushed the club to the side for you / Who loved you like I love you?” But the future has been decided, and Kendrick is resigned: “I guess I’m running in place trying to make it to church.” This dialogue between Kendrick, the secular world, and God illuminates the futility of judgment in the wake of black folks’ shared demise. These moments of realization often come too late. The gavel’s already been dropped, the noose already tightened, and we’re just waiting for the world to catch on.

Expecting Kendrick to supply all the solutions to the world’s ills is asking quite a bit. He’s still figuring himself out. But he’s got a good head start on Untitled Unmastered. When he repeatedly intones “head is the answer” in the call-and-response chorus of “Untitled 04 | 08.14.2014,” he’s also going further into what it means to have freedom of the body and freedom of the mind. While the “government misleads the youth” and “the preacher man don’t always tell the truth,” Kendrick cleverly posits that the answer might just be ... head. The baddest MC will always break you off a little truth. And whether you seek freedom from sexual repression or a cripplingly narrow socialization (or both), the body and mind must be unencumbered if you’re going to get anywhere.

More pragmatically, Kendrick paints himself as a living example of the small things MCs can do to inspire the world. “Untitled 07 | 2014 - 2016” is Untitled Unmastered’s most complete vision, appropriately spliced together in three parts. Sandwiched between fleeting highs and sexual release, Kendrick’s most abrasive rap-happy persona, “Cornrow Kenny,” flows liquid and proves that he’ll body your favorite MC just off the cuff: “You niggas fear me like y’all fear God.” Even amid his meteoric rise, basking in sudden wealth — “The flattery of watching my stock rise / The salary, the compensation tripled my cock size” — he reminds us that he’s remained attentive to the needs of his city: “I blew cheddar on youth centers.” He’s also justifiably proud of his influence on the rest of his genre: Through rap persona (think his verse on “Control”) and his relative frugality outside of rap, Kendrick “hope[s] it’s evident that I inspired a thousand MCs to do better.”

The early returns imply that he, indeed, has. After a long run of materialism, it’s safe to say hip-hop needed to tell a different story this year. In 2016, leading artists drank the Lemonade, pulled up their Seat at the Table, penned masterpiece after masterpiece bringing radical black art back to America’s living rooms — all in preparation for round 300 and counting in the daily fight against white supremacy. Untitled Unmastered, in its loose abstractions and overlapping voices, could’ve easily gotten lost in the shuffle. But looking back now, more than any other album, it primed us for the multi-planar fight for the survival of our country early on. Perhaps most importantly, by making visible the time and care that go into his work, Kendrick undermined the notion of radical black art as simply a reaction. We’ve been here, creating black art in this white world. There’s nothing reactionary about it. And while the psychological trauma within black art was never going to be scaled back if Clinton won the presidency, it’s crystallized even more with Trump’s election and Cabinet decisions.

It takes courage to delve deeply into the funk of American racial trauma, internalized and otherwise, but Untitled Unmastered took that plunge. In the end, it’s much more than an album simply about cross-cultural dialogue or rap supremacy. It embodies the nature, process, and daunting revelations that come with wading in the murk that resides in each of us.

Next in MTV News's Year in Music 2016: Sasha Geffen on Calvin Harris and the glitch inside.