Air 2 A Bird: pictures from the Capitol Hill Block Party!

Air 2 A Bird "Crow Hill"

When Even Birds Need Passports:

In an era of auto-tune and sampling debauchery, Air 2 A Bird is wind to lungs starving for originality. Re-uniting hip-hop visionaries Gabriel Teodros & Amos Miller after their critically acclaimed Lovework collaboration, Air 2 A Bird was born in a manner similar to hip hop culture: amongst people attempting to fly in a world that only reminds you of gravity.

The synopsis begins with lyricist Gabriel Teodros, carrying displaced people inside his tongue, being detained at London-Heathrow Airport & deported. Sent back to New York with his world tour and contracts cancelled, he was given keys to a studio by a friend. His producer Amos Miller, who was to join him on the tour, now spends the next 14 days getting raw and open with the only resources available in the studio: Garage Band, a microphone, and live recordings of actual birds. Thus Air 2 A Bird was created: from two individuals determined to defy border patrol by lettings sounds fly over borders even when bodies are denied.

Beyond Barbed Wire Nests:

Musical aficionados understand the best projects are part invention, part audio ancestry. Air 2 A Bird does not disappoint: their collaborations are West Coast classic rap meets classical music. You would not be surprised to hear them channel early Organized Noise energy into sacred sounds. The movement of the crowd is architecture and indigenous in motion; it is South East Seattle & the C.D., Russian immigrant in a cipher with Hip Hop Pioneers, the Black Panthers, and displaced Ethiopians.

The first project literally is an experiment in flight, sampling a different bird per track. It is no wonder they say this project is wind to other people’s work and lives. Many have asked how do birds re-establish roots when displaced from barbed wire nests? In the words of Gabriel Teodros: "We needed NOT be broken what was in front of us- tour being cancelled- being deported. We needed to CREATE". Since the original recordings Air 2 A Bird has also grown, with the addition of a three part harmony via vocals of Lara Davis and Estrella De Leon.

Finding Roots Through Flight.

Air 2 A bird is an experiment in trust, friendship modeled through music, realizing you have everything you need, when you think we don’t have anything, It may be the first hip hop project focused on sharing stages, rather than monopolizing them. To quote Amos Miller: "Bird’s can’t fly without air; I can’t shine without a community of people, to support and hold me accountable".

For those whose greatest gravity is fear, Air 2 A Bird demonstrates through sound to not be weighed down by this world. It is an attempt to reclaim soul, self & freedom from a music industry that has more in common with border patrol than their listeners.

Should Gabriel and Amos’s tour have occurred, Air 2 A Bird would not exist. For many of us who write, dance, produce, we too know of the ways we are historically not supposed to be alive. Yet even if babies aren’t always planned for, it does not mean they cannot become beautiful. Thus is the way of beats, and the way of birds.

- words by Mark Gonzales

"Pop Star Is Dead" - Gabriel Teodros

My solo contribution to the 47N122W35N139E: Reunion On The I-5 album, produced by Simonal, and recorded last summer on the day Michael Jackson died. This song's not really about MJ... it's more of an answer to the statement "Hip Hop Is Dead", and it also represents me breaking through a personal wall. In the time after recording the Lovework album (Spring of 2006) and before August 2009 when i started recording the Colored People's Time Machine album... that whole 3 year period... i only completed a total of 3 solo tracks. The song Tizita for The Kafa Beanz project released in the summer of 2008, the song Me & You with Silver Shadow D in January of 2009, and this song right here, which came right as the floodgates broke... and i've been making music constantly ever since! You could say i took my own advice and started writing songs about issues i was scared of talking about. When i wrote this, i remember thinking how symbolic Michael Jackson's death was, as he was referred to as the "King of Pop"... and how that idea of being of pop star can destroy a person's humanity... and how even the little fame that came my way with the last album, nearly destroyed my desire to continue making solo music. Me killing the pop star in my head, needed to happen just so i could breathe free on a microphone again. More centered, more grounded, and more focused then ever before.

The project this track ended up on, is a bridge between Seattle and Tokyo, a beautiful piece of music made in the summer of 2009, mostly in Daichi Diez's apartment overlooking Lake Union and the I-5 overpass. Producers T-Bone Steak and Simonal came to visit from Japan, and got down with Seattle producer EarDrumz, as well as emcees like myself, Khingz, ORB, Yze, Lateef Mozest, Phreewil, SistaHailStorm, Daichi Diez, Maf Maddix, and more... in a crazy 2 week recording session, that turned into an ILL 22 track album. It's amazingly cohesive considering all the people that came together to make it happen, and perfect summertime music. 47N122W35N139E: Reunion On The I-5 was released in Japan on Vuestro Record / Shamrock, and it looks like it can be found anywhere in Japan where music is sold... it's pretty easy to find in an internet search... and i can tell you, the CD is definitely worth the purchase. If anyone can name the other 2 projects i'm featured on that were released in Japan only... you get props.

Toki Wright "By The Time I Get To Arizona 2010"

"Teza" is showing in Seattle right now!

Finally caught Haile Gerima's Teza, opening night of a one-week run here in Seattle's Southend at the Columbia City Theater. I missed it by one night in DC... traveled all around the country and then missed it again by one night in NYC... I'm so glad to have finally caught it in my hometown, and with family! Haile has crafted a masterpiece, i urge everyone to go support right now. This brotha is one of my heroes, and one of my favorite storytellers i've ever encountered... I hear him speak and feel a lil less crazy, encouraged, and not alone. Thank you Haile. If you are in Seattle you can get tickets here at Brown Paper Tickets and if if you wait one week from the date of this blog posting it's too late! Check what New York Times had to say about it, and the video posted above is part 1 a great interview he did with Al Jazeera last year, part 2 can be viewed here. More information about Teza and future screenings can be found at www.tezathemovie.com

I'm too overwhelmed to say anything more about the movie right now, other then i feel like he captured what my parents generation went through in a way never before seen on film, and beyond that i felt an acknowledgment to our generation too. It's a work of healing and there will be many more conversations to be had... let's go.

TEDx Seattle :: Scott Macklin "Convening Community Through Stories"

Scott Macklin gave a presentation to set off the TEDx Conference in Seattle last week, a journey in film from South Africa to Seattle, all about community and the art of storytelling. If you ever wondered who that guy with the camera is at all of our shows this is a good way to get to know! my twitter feed blew up when he gave me a shoutout... check out more of his work at http://www.vimeo.com/openhandreel/videos Thanks Scott!

Meklit Hadero "Abbay Mado"

Meklit Hadero's debut lp On A Day Like This... officially drops today! Be sure to check Porto Franco Records on where to purchase the album, and keep checking her website for a tour date near you! I know Seattle, DC and New York shows are all in her immediate future... my cousin is going hard right now! The video posted above interweaves clips from a new music video with Meklit explaining the process behind one of my favorite songs on the album, "Abbay Mado" the classic Ethiopian folk song. She's my hero for having a song in Amharic on her first album! So inspirational. I'm hoping to have one on my 5th album lol... but you can also hear Meklit on a few tracks off the Colored People's Time Machine dropping this fall! (it's done... for real.) Yay Meklit!!!

"Top Left" The Coolout Documentary... preview

The 206 Morpheus, Georgio Brown, has the potential to make the definitive Seattle Hip Hop documentary based on his archived tapes alone... but he had to go and get new interviews from a who's who of Hip Hop artists from the town over the last 30 years first. Damn! This sneak preview of the Coolout Documentary "Top Left" kicks off with vintage footage from an interview with Silent Lambs Project to new footage with Canary Sing rocking H206... and it doesn't stop with interview clips with everyone from Ghetto Chilldren, Specs One, Mr. Supreme, Abyssinian Creole, Jonathan Moore, Piece, Emerald Street Boys, DV-One to Silver Shadow D and much more! If you want to know more about Seattle's Hip Hop History... the people to ask are featured in this clip. They even got a clip of the first time i ever performed "Third World Wide" in here... can't wait to see the full-length!

Meklit Hadero "Leaving Soon"

My cousin is the truth! If your not knowing yet, please get familiar with Meklit Hadero... my amazingly talented, Arba Minch Collective spearheading, Global TED Fellowing, world traveling, beautiful, out of this world voice having cousin. This is her debut music video "Leaving Soon" (directed by the homie Salvatore Fullmore!) off of her upcoming debut album On a Day Like This... which is being released 4.20.2010 on Porto Franco Records. So excited!!! Also... check her interview that aired on NPR earlier today!

Porch Jams

I'm a cartoon! So the homies Amos Miller & Mark Oi have been making these stick-figure animations for over a year now... and you can catch the whole last season on Ame's Youtube page. I made a guest appearance in the newest episode, playing a hater who gets turned into a lover, after checking out the homies show. On playing a hater: i tried to have fun with it, even quoted things i heard from other people that week! but let's be real... being a hater is never fun. somebody give that dude a hug!