Official video for Greeny Jungle + upcoming shows in NYC, DC, SEA

It's finally here! The video for Greeny Jungle captures a moment with the Black Lives Matter movement in Seattle, on Reclaim MLK Day 2015 where an estimated 10,000 people took to the streets. You can read more on okayafrica... this one is special. I'm also currently in the midst of touring with the Evidence Of Things Not Seen album, and have just had some incredible shows and workshops in Montreal, QC; Toronto, ON; Buffalo, NY and Wooster, OH... alongside some of my favorite artists and minds including Nnedi Okorafor (who's speculative fiction works inspired the theme of Greeny Jungle), Akua Naru, Bocafloja, members of Nomadic Massive, Kalmunity, pHoenix Pagliacci, and more. Sending extra love to everyone who braved the Siberian vortex to make every date so awesome. This week I'm in New York City with a show in Brooklyn on Friday, Washington, DC on Sunday, and coming back to Seattle for a few shows next week. More details on everything below, and I've also been keeping the events page updated as I go. Friday, February 27th - Brooklyn, NY Gabriel Teodros with si dåko’ta & DJ Ian Head 11PM | $10 at the door invite your peoples on facebook here Bunna Cafe 1084 Flushing Ave Brooklyn, NY Sunday, March 1st - Washington, DC Gabriel Teodros with The 1978ers (yU & Slimkat) 9PM | $10 at the door invite your peoples on facebook here Bossa 2463 18th St NW Washington, DC Thursday, March 5th - Seattle, WA Abstract Rude & Myka 9 Gabriel Teodros Silas Blak hosted by Suntonio Bandanaz & DJ Able Fader 9PM | 21+ | $10 adv / $15 dos invite your peoples on facebook here Lo-Fi Performance Gallery 429 Eastlake Ave Seattle, WA Friday, March 6th - Seattle, WA Youth Speaks Seattle Wild Card Slam featuring Gabriel Teodros 6PM | $5 youth / $10 adults invite your peoples on facebook here Rainier Valley Cultural Center 3515 S Alaska St Seattle, WA And finally, if you haven't heard, Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements has a release date of March 15th, and is available now for a discount via AK Press. I'm so honored and excited to have my first published short story in this collection... the book includes short stories from LeVar Burton, Terry Bisson, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Alixa Garcia, Autumn Brown, Bao Phi, David Walker, Dani McClain, Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Gabriel Teodros, Jelani Wilson, Kalamu ya Salaam, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Mia Mingus, Morrigan Phillips, Tara Betts, Tunde Oluniran, Vagabond, adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha, essays by Tananarive Due and Mumia Abu-Jamal, as well as an introduction by Sheree Renee Thomas. There is a tour in the works, and we want to bring it everywhere! The information for booking Octavia's Brood is here. Hope to see you in your town soon!

10 years since the first Blue Scholars release!

Blue Scholars released their first album 10 years ago, today. They celebrated with a release party at Vesper Lounge. I opened up, along with Cancer Rising. I also remember Macklemore was in attendance, and he played me songs from his upcoming "The Language Of My World" album in the car that night. I remember tripping off the quality of everyone's work, including the Abyssinian Creole album we were still working on at the time. A little later in the year, I remember rolling with Geo (aka Prometheus Brown of Blue Scholars) to Teal's place to record his feature that ended up on that Abyssinian Creole album. We had on KEXP in the car, (I think just for a split second while changing CD's) and a Blue Scholars song came on. This was a big deal because it wasn't a Sunday Night, and before Blue Scholars, I don't remember KEXP playing local Hip Hop outside of Street Sounds. If I'm not mistaken, it was the first time Geo heard himself on the radio outside of a Hip Hop specialty show too. That was one of many doors Blue Scholars were able to kick down, and Hip Hop in Seattle has never been the same. Sending love, respect and gratitude to Blue Scholars on 10 years since that first record!

Photos from Wayna x JusMoni x Gabriel Teodros @ Chop Suey on Saturday Night...

Love to Choklate Music, The Town Entertainment & Hidmo Entertainment for putting on such a beautiful evening... to Wayna, JusMoni, Big World Breaks, Mikaela Romero, Khingz, DJ's Introcut & WD4D, Lulu, Rogue Pinay, and everybody who came thru... Classic show... so much love in the building that night. More soon! Photos by Avi Loud.

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

Mexico City

This past weekend i had the honor of rocking Mexico City in celebration of the release of Bocafloja's new album Existo, Preludio Al Piensa. Boca invited me, alongside Toronto / New York-based super-emcee Eternia, Bay Area crew Para La Gente, and from Mexico: Rasheed Allah, Manik B, Soulman and Charlotte Darat. It was an experience i will never forget... an incredible journey with some amazing artists i feel so blessed to call family now. These are just a few of the things i learned while sharing experiences with Bocafloja on how we grew up in the '80s and '90s in different countries: While the symptoms of the diseases that afflict our communities are very different, the root causes are the same. We also grew up with Hip Hop the same way, remembering breakdancing as some of our first memories, and trying every element of Hip Hop before just sticking to emceeing. (We were never really good at the other elements... ha!) But some of the differences are that in Mexico, minimum wage is less than 10 dollars a day. And Bocafloja represents the first generation of Hip Hop in his country. If your not hip... do yourself a favor and check the Autonomo video... the brand new Las Estaciones video... and check the music on his myspace. In addition to just being an incredible emcee, Bocafloja goes above and beyond when it comes to reaching out and building with artists from around the world, in a real way... in promoting other artists who are of like mind... and the hospitality and kindness he showed us when we were in Mexico was just so much! I couldn't believe how many people were so familiar with my music, aaand with Abyssinian Creole when we were out there. The first night we did a radio show called Represent on Radio Alterno. In the interview, the host Daniel Soto, said something along the lines of "whenever i have a hard day, i pop in your music and start to feel better... please do another Abyssinian Creole record!" I said for him, it might just happen.

On Saturday when we got to the venue (2pm) there was already a line forming around the block. From what i was told before i even got to Mexico, Foro Alicia is a unique venue in DF, the shows are All Ages and start at 5pm (because everyone rides the Metro, the show needs to end by 10 so people can catch the train home), and if this venue were here, you would say maximum capacity of the club is around 250... but they PACK it, to where there's over 500-600 people in that one room... sweaty, hot, and a walk from the stage to the restroom is gonna be a constant push, shove, and you literally have to swim through people.

This Quilombo show at Foro Alicia is one i don't think anyone involved will ever forget... because one song into my set, the lights went out on the whole block. I ended up doing the rest of my set either acapella or with Omar from Para La Gente on the drums, no microphone... rocking it harder then i probably would of with electricity. Even if no one understood my lyrics, it seemed like everyone got my spirit that night. The room was dimly lit by 3 battery operated emergency lights... and after i rocked it, so did the rest of the crew... Until the crowd was chanting "...Boca! ...Boca!" So Boca goes on... and what starts as a little hum underneath his lyrics grows into the entire crowd yelling every lyric of every song he did... it was beautiful. We managed to keep everybody there and entertained for over 2 hours until the lights came back on... Eternia rocked as much of her set as she could before the lights went out again... And the crowd was giving her so much love! Eternia's one of those emcees that make you want to better your performance game, no matter where your at... she just goes so hard! (If your not hip, you should do yourself another favor and check the Struggle video featuring Wordsworth & Kenn Starr... plus all the music on her myspace). When the lights came back on Bocafloja rocked what was one of the hypest shows i think i've ever seen... People we're rapping every lyric along with him... crowd-surfing... it was madness. You can catch a glimpse of it in the video blog Eternia put together... also posted below.

The next day we rocked another show in Cuarnavaca, about an hour outside of DF. On the way down, we spent the morning in Tepoztlan, checking out the illest open air market i've ever seen. When we got to the venue in Cuarnavaca for soundcheck... we were informed that there was no electricity on the block, and that a generator was coming in 2 hours. "Welcome to Mexico!" Still had a lovely day sharing experiences with new found family... The show was great... and freestyling outside with babies, graffiti writers, and having the thunder clap for you? Another one of my favorite memories ever... thank you Hip Hop, for touching every part of the globe. If all that wasn't enough... On the way home i bumped into Minister Server while i was changing planes at the Atlanta airport. I met Minister Server when he used to travel everywhere with KRS-One, but the first time i really got to know him was at the Trinity International Hip Hop Festival in 2007... which was the also the first time Bocafloja, Eternia and myself all shared one stage... he co-hosted that event along with La Bruja. No coincidences. 2 things Minister Server said to me back then that i still always quote: "You are a perfect, unrepeatable, expression of the Most High" and "H.I.P. H.O.P... it's a Higher Infinite Power Healing Our People." Life has a crazy way of letting you know when your on the right path.

There were so many adventures, memories, gifts exchanged, lessons learned, good food eaten... i can't even begin to write about all of it here. I just want to thank Bocafloja so much for the experience, the hospitality, and the love... and to every single person i got to build with the last week in Mexico... Para La Gente, Solymar, Leon, Tania & family, every single person that came to the show and showed love...you all helped my spirit more than you could possibly know. And to Auntie Eternia... Thank you. I call her Auntie Eternia cause she gave me some good advice, treated me like family, and did an amazing job of documenting the whole trip... check out her blog and her photo album for more goodness! (Including our visit to Frida Kahlo's house... gyeah!) God-willing we'll be back soon... Thank you Mexico.

"Quilombo’s roots are based in political principles and conceptions that direct our actions. It is thus how we position ourselves as persons of the Left committed to social change, who work in an autogenic fashion and believe in the ability of individuals to change the course of history; especially their own history. We work autonomously, with our own resources and abilities within the Mexican hip hop community. We are linked to existing progressive and revolutionary conceptions worldwide concerning hip hop that believe and work with the transformational force of the culture applied to education and social development. We are the heirs and the continuation of the many efforts of the people and movements that have preceded us, but we work in our own manner as not to limit ourselves to legacies. We took the name ‘Quilombo’, which was originally used by communities in resistance during the colonial period on the American continent by fugitive black slaves, indigenous peoples and others who rejected colonialism’s domination, who preferred to live as free people in communal form. Colonization also left us with dilemmas, one of which was the question of hierarchical divisions between people defined by race. For this reason being conscious of this issue, we consider important to affirm and honor our own indigenous and African roots, fighting as proud people of color conscious of our ancestry, educating ourselves to demystify the racist global vision that was taught to us in school, at home and by mass media, which caused us to unequally value human being always in favor of White people. Our form of political participation and intervention is through education and political foundation, expressing ourselves under diverse artistic methods, like workshops, panels, concerts, and academic meetings. We consider ourselves as part of a global resistance formed under the initiatives of many people and organizations with which we form alliances in different places of the world, and under different premises. Our efforts are focused on promoting debate, the formation and proliferation of progressive and revolutionary ideas. We understand ourselves to be just one part of the efforts in search of the peoples’ progress, and that we are not the only ones in the fight, but at the same time we consider fundamental that the people who take part in political change through hip hop have the ideological understanding in the why, and the how, by any other form their argument would not transcend the cliché. Clarity in convictions will strengthen our QUILOMBO." - from myspace.com/quilomboarte

Nefasha Ayer's Northwest Tour... in photos

Nefasha Ayer, loosely translated from Amharic as “the wind that travels”, explores a transcontinental odyssey of multiple characters who find themselves caught between national identities, cultures, and politics. The project joins together the talented song-writing capacity of Meklit Hadero with guitarist/composer-arranger, Todd Brown, South-Indian Carnatic Jazz composer/saxophonist, Prasant Radhakrishnan, drummer/tablaist, Sameer Gupta, composer/bassist/flautist, Eliyahu Sills, and Ethiopian hip-hop artist, Gabriel Teodros. Nefasha Ayer weaves together Ethiopian and South Indian melodies/rhythms against a varying backdrop of North American jazz, while Hadero’s voice and song, as the wind that travels, serve as the narrator.

Through its tones and colors, poetic texts and trans-cultural melodic scores, Nefasha Ayer joins the continents of Africa, South Asia, and America to explore the most essential and universal qualities shared among individuals worldwide whose identity no longer fits within the boundaries of one country, culture, or tradition. Whereas one would expect the content of such a project to focus on the social/cultural context of its characters, Nefasha Ayer builds on the internal: the subjective yet universal human desire for home. For these characters, “home” is no longer an external place – for some it never was. Home has taken shape instead as a longing within. This is “the space of in-between.”

As Hadero states,

"When growing up in Brooklyn, my mother would refer to Ethiopia simply as “back home.” Years later, during our first trip to the Horn of Africa, I witnessed her using the very same words to describe the United States, which struck me profoundly. It became instantly clear that there was, in fact, no such place as “back home.” Rather, it was a reference to an in-between, heavy with nostalgia and fluid enough to change from moment to moment, as she herself was capable of doing."

The lyrical content, written both in Amharic and English, follows the story of five characters, each expressing a different part of the story of “in-between”: nostalgia, exile, return, the moment of break-through, and, finally, revealing to others what has been learned. In each song, the wind, which does not belong to any nation, is ever-present as the narrator or a character, constantly calling the listener to move from the external world, through the songs, and into the internal landscape that ultimately grounds the music.

Although there are innumerable works, in almost every discipline, that address the interface of racial and/or cultural groups, immigration, etc, Nefasha Ayer's central focus brings to life a deceptively simple and most elusive quality. Though the stories are told through the lens of Ethiopian musical idioms and language, it is not an Ethiopian story. Rather, Nefasha Ayer explores a living history found universally amongst people of movement, and indeed all human beings, whose life and identity cannot be bound by nation, religion, or cultural tradition. At its heart, Nefasha Ayer - the space of in-between, represents a free-ness from ideological construct and a fluidity of being - moving and livng in constant redefinition.

Photos by Nathanael Keck

classic show... thanks ya'll

Thanks to everyone that helped the show on January 9th such a success! i think that was exactly what the space needed... a packed house, all-ages (from children to elders), good vibes, and really powerful back-to-back performances. Big ups to all the performers, Mystic & DJ Bonds, Canary Sing, JusMoni (my birthday twin who had a beautiful release party at Hidmo the next night), my band - Amos Miller, Big World Breaks, Maya Jenkins, Yirim Seck, Khingz, and DJ's WD4D & B-Girl for coming throo in the clutch! also peace to DJ Ian Head who couldn't make it due to flooding on I-5... you were missed homie!!! and of course our lovely host for the evening Weezy F. Crazy (please say the crazy) i love ya'll... i think that show was what the town needed. i should have some more footage soon... for now, check out this video Nick took of Mystic's "Beautiful Resistance" her set alone was one of the best things i've seen in hella. Hidmo Entertainment in 200shine!

photos by Sergio Mottola @ WWU :: 12/05/08

Big ups to Sergio!!! check out his blog for the rest of the photos from the sold-out show at Western Washington University, also featuring Blue Scholars, Common Market & Nam!!!

Rock The Bells!!!

"i play No Label all the time, people always ask me who's that..." - Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Apparently he found the song playing on somebodys myspace page, and then bought it off iTunes right away. he digs East Africa too. the first time somebody told me Ali Shaheed Muhammad was playing my song in a club i didn't believe them. and then when he hit me up on myspace, a lot of my doubts surrounding music seemed to fade away. at least one of the people who influenced me growing up, digs my music too. and one of my biggest influences at that... A Tribe Called Quest is namechecked on the intro to my last album. Full-circle moment!!!

Rock The Bells, 2008. i don't think i've ever been so starstruck one day in my entire life. Thanks to Blue Scholars (who rocked it) we had backstage access to a dream line-up of classic hip-hop groups: A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, De La Soul, Mos Def, Little Brother, Supernatural, and a set from all 4 members of The Pharcyde, reunited. i turned into a little kid all over again... lost my voice and my hearing during The Pharcyde's set alone... Runnin'! and The Gorge is still the most beautiful venue i've ever seen. Got to meet some people i wasn't expecting to see, like the homie Fizz from Spitkicker.com & Rachel Crick, co-founder of The Flavor Magazine... and i'd have to say half of Seattle and half of Vancouver made the trip too. awesome day huh? Thank god for the sunshine. Peace to DJ B-Girl & Mic Flont for the ride, Geologic & Sabzi for all the love, Milu, Ndidi Cascade + all the homies for kicking it, and to Meli & Barry for the ill photo!

forever and a day...

...a pictures worth a thousand words...


206 Renaissance









thank you to everyone who made Bumbershoot one of the best times i've ever had performing with family!!! Meklit Hadero & Todd Brown, Khingz, Toni Hill, Prometheus Brown, Jerm (of Alpha-P), Language Arts, El Dia, Lioness (of Canary Sing), Kwame Morrow, Amos Miller, Aaron Walker-Loud, Camilo Estrada, Mark Oi, WD4D... Blue Scholars, Good Medicine... Bua, Daps1, Nam, Meron, B-Girl Chillz, JujuBean, Rufio, Asun... and the whole 206 for a day i'll never forget.

there's new music and new shows coming your way soon!!!

i can't thank ya'll enough...

BEACON HILL STAND UP!!!


"No Label (Esma Remix)" Video Shoot - photo by DAPS1

Thank you to everyone who came out, to everyone who helped make this video happen, it was truly a community effort... Beacon Hill - 206 - you are beautiful!

So much has happened these last few months & it's been hard to keep ya'll posted... this blog entry is long overdue! The album, Lovework, was released late february... we celebrated 2/24/07 at the Chop Suey... the show was an overwhelming success, the line-up was flawless and i can't thank the 206 enough for the support!

So much love to everyone who came through and supported the show... and to all the performers: Medusa, Beyond Reality, Burntface, Canary Sing, Alpha-P, Rajnii Eddins & Language Arts... to Khingz & DJ WD4D (of Abyssinian Creole) for holding it down the ENTIRE night, and to Amos Miller, Mark Oi, Aaron Walker-Loud & Camilo Estrada (of Big World Breaks) for all those rehearsals and for backing me up. Thank you to Jelani, Sabzi & Mass Line Media for helping the show happen... it really did end up being the show of my dreams! check out what the Stranger had to say about the show

The next week i had the honor of opening up for Lyrics Born & The Coup @ Neumos... check out what Seattle Weekly had to say about that show and check the slideshow as well

More on the press side of things we got Lovework reviewed in Rolling Stone!

A feature on NPR:: Ethiopian-American Artists Make Their Mark

and a feature for URB Magazine's "Next 100"

On the radio side of things... Lovework was #1 on the CMJ Hip Hop Charts just a few weeks ago... to all the DJ's around the country and world who have been giving my music a chance... thank you.

On the east coast side of the country... Trinity College held it's 2nd annual International Hiphop Festival in Hartford, CT... and i had the honor of opening up the festival and kicking it the whole weekend. I just want to say thank you to Zee and all the students at Trinity College i met who helped make this festival happen, to the city of Hartford for having us, and i gotta say that was the most positive festival for the advancement of hiphop culture that i've ever been a part of. I hit your town not knowing anyone and feel like i left with dozens of new family members... to everyone who rocked that stage and everyone i got to build with:: DJ Ethos, BocaFloja, Rebel Diaz, Woyni, La Bruja, Minister Server, Charlie Ahearn, DJ Boo, Bennchoumy, Self Suffice, Haben (the other Ab Creole!), KG, Chosan, Eternia, Toni Blackman, Fable, Juba Kalamka & Jeff Chang... Thank you for the support, inspiration and i can't wait to see ya'll again!

While on the east coast, i also got to warlock around Brooklyn with my brother Ian Head, and recorded some verses for that new DollaBin project! shouts to Verbmath and thank you Ian, for everything... i also got to catch that chinatown bus to Philly, and caught up with my sista Walidah Imarisha, her godchildren and my cousin Mamaye (you are the future of everything i do)... as well as the homie Njuguna and the homie Ibrahim... what was hella crazy tho is the one day i show up in philly, happened to be the one day a month Ibrahim hosts a monthly night at The Rotunda called "The Gathering"... and right before i called him he found out his headliner for that night had cancelled. So... i ended up staying the night in philly (thanks Ibe) and rocking a really dope event, the crowd was hard but the night was beautiful... i hadn't seen anything like it since the '97 park jams at jaycee park in las vegas... hella b-boys, b-girls, djs, mcs and graff writers ALL getting down in one spot at the same time. Thanks Philly.

What's next?

Stay tuned in next few weeks for more information about the MassLine Tour (Blue Scholars, Common Market, Gabriel Teodros & dj WD4D will be in yo town soon!), more shows from Seattle to all over the planet... and the video premiere of "No Label (Esma Remix)" & "Don't Cry For Us"!

i know i have a hard time keeping up with the updates... i really want to say thank you to everyone in the world who supported my music, to everyone who copped a disc, downloaded a song, sent a personal message or a comment... thank you & i apologize for not being able to respond to every one. to the people closest to me... thank you, for your support and your patience... i apologize for my shortcomings and i promise to show you more everyday that we are blessed to walk together. loveiswork.

-- gt