"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.