Lorina & Hudson

So I just tried this drink that Allie from Shift purchased called Lorina's French Berry Lemonade. A tasty choice that I would certainly recommend. Chyea, "big-ups" to Allie and to Lorina.



My subject today is Mr. Hudson, a fine mix of electronic, hip-hop, and pop. Oxford grad and Birmingham, England native is taking the industry by storm. Hudson and his former band, Mr. Hudson & The Library, opened for Kanye West on the European leg of the Glow in the Dark tour in 2007. Following the tour, Kanye flew Mr. Hudson along with Kid Cudi to Honolulu, HI to feature as a solo artist on his 808's & Heartbreaks release, "Paranoid." The record obviously got plenty of attention along with the name Mr. Hudson.



Mr. Hudson is now signed to West's G.O.O.D. Music label and is set to release his solo album, "Straight No Chaser" this October. The good news is you don't have to wait that long to hear him. He has two singles out called "Supernova" featuring Kanye West and "Everything Broken" featuring Kid Cudi (DOWNLOAD HERE) . He's already blowing up throughout the UK and is getting plenty of attention in the states.



For more check out MRHUDSON.COM or MYSPACE.COM/MRHUDSON.

Good day,

Reknir & the Due Opp.

Elevator Sounds

Ink stains and post-it notes.. What's going on? Reknir here. It's been a day at the office for sure. I've been looking at this computer screen for like the past eight hours or some shit.



I have some bizniss to talk about. That being the new release of up-and-coming producer Grimeshine. The record, or beat tape as he calls it, is titled Like An Elevator. I was looking it over with Nik P last night and I have to say.. it's that new shit. Grimeshine is a 19 year old dude out of West Seattle in the 6. He combines the classic boom-bap drum, mpc sampling, New York-resembling sound with the easy going, melodic NW sound that Seattle has grown to love. Super clean. Definitely has a seat in the future of hip-hop while taking a trip back at the same time. It goes over real nice with the ears. In addition to his beats, the record features his own cut work too.



You can download a copy of Grimeshine's "Like An Elevator" for yourself @ http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RBEQKVK8.

My favorites include the title track, "Like An Elevator," "Freefall" and yes, "Chronic of Narnia." Leave a comment and let me know what songs you like best.

Also, be sure to check him out on the space @ myspace.com/vinylfreeway.

Good Day,

Reknir & the Due Opp.

Hello Seattle

Good Morning,

It's a Monday. My brother flew into San Francisco on Thursday to visit for a few days and I have had a lot of fun with him here. So, big ups to Daniel Rinker.

As for news, we barely made it to work this morning. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) union decided to go under strike over the weekend. Fortunately, with further negotiations the urban train remained running. Without the BART it would literally be impossible to get anywhere in this city. So after a day of worrying I was relieved to hear the good news.

Anyway, onto other shtuff. 

To relieve this transit stress, my topic of the day is Owl City. An uplifting, amazingly melodic, electronic, soft-spoken sound that is almost guaranteed to better your day.  This is the type of music to lift you from any stress, anger, and sadness you may feel, and gently rest you on top of a sea of sunny clouds.  Listening to him is like drinking your first sip of cool water after walking through a desert all day without water.  A true refreshment.    

I have been listening to him for months now. Since January '09.  So, no I am not following any "Hello Seattle" trend.  In fact, I found him by accident.  I was looking for artists to sample on a Seattle song I was making and happened to find "Hello Seattle."  I listened to the 30 second sample and my jaw nearly dropped.  I loved his sound from the start.  An instant fan.  This was just as Of June and Maybe I'm Dreaming were being released.  I contacted him to let him know how perfect his sound was and that I was awaiting his next release with anticipation.  What also won me over about Owl City was that he was nice enough to respond.  Basically Owl City's the man. 

After his well-deserved signing to Universal Republic, Owl City released his break-out album, Ocean Eyes in July '09.  I would have to say that this record blew me away just as much as the first time I heard "Hello Seattle."  Songs like "Fireflies" and the "Hello Seattle (remix)" are instant classics to me.  Try and not sing along.  It's a test.  His melodies, I think, are what catch me every time.  I have yet to hear a flaw in his music.  I can literally listen to every song I have by him on iTunes and enjoy every minute of it.  

Try him out.  See what you think.  He's no longer my secret.    

   

Good Day,

Reknir & the Due Opp.

The Day Is A New Day

What's going on?  I'm at my spot with Nik P. listening to his to-be-released EP.  It's on something real nice.  I think the vinyl sampling, bass-heavy drums production of AMFM compliment Nik P.'s low, rasp flow really well.  I mean on point.  Definitely take a glance at MYSPACE.COM/ECONOMICS206.    

But yeah, day 2 of this business.  Honestly I don't care about fashion as long as it looks good, is new, innovative, or improves a concept.  Regardless, design/technology is the main shit today. San Francisco just released news on plans to even better their already amazing public transportation in the near future.  Whether that's a good financial decision?, I do not know.  California being the of the most in-debt states (if the not the most in-debt), is transportation of more importance than education?  Fuck it.  This is concept is amazing and I am no activist.

It's called, Personal Rapid Transit by SkyTran.  Basically this is the same thing as any other monorail, except this project runs as a circuit of several individual cars hanging from their roofs and provide 2 person per vehicle seating, as opposed to a bus-like seating arrangement.  It's pretty gnarly.  These things can hit speeds nearing 100mph.  They are driven by magnetic forces.  As the New York Times pretty much said, this is some Jetson shit.  The designers for this project are doing a great job.  The cars cruise at efficient speeds, they follow closely together, the rails split throughout the whole city for more precise destinations, wifi ready, and so on.  These designers were on point.  God damn.  Moment of silence, please.  

Now, I also want to say something about new music today.  That new music is by artist Mike Posner.  Mike Posner is a 21-year-old musical mastermind out of a Detroit suburb called Southfield.  His music hosts an array of genres in my mind.  I've been listening to his "Matter of Time" mixtape hosted by Don Cannon & DJ Benzy for a minute now after a friend showed me both this and Big Sean's stuff.  I hear pop, hip hop, soul, r&b, etc, etc, ect.  He's does it all and straight kills it.  I think one of the coolest things about this dude too is that he's headed into his senior year at Duke University with a signed deal to Clive Davis's J Records.  Pretty sick.  He also has a collection of producers/musicians that he works with called The Braintrust.  They play with him live at his shows.  Anyway, hear for yourself.  "Drug Dealer Girl" is the cutty.  Check out myspace.com/mikeposner.  Enjoy.

               

Good day,

Reknir & The Due Opp. 

    

Welcome to the World of He

Welcome You,

I guess this is my introduction as a blogger?.. Aww yes.

Everyone knows that trends come, and then they go. Easy. Some re-occur even. In this bloggatearing (my new word) adventure, my goal is to sift through the bullshit and deliver via text/photo/video/animation what is really DOPE. To me, DOPE is something that I get excited about and something you would most likely get excited about. I won't post anything that sucks. DOPE includes design, architecture, some other word I would use for fashion, technology, and most importantly, music. I myself am a musician but I'm always looking for the new "it," if you know what I'm saying.

I have a new word everyday. Don't matter what day of the week. You will most likely want to use them as well, but won't know the proper context. I do encourage your efforts. Although I do strive to speak and write with sophistication, I will not be spending time worrying about a single comma, period or gramar context. In all honsety, I say more slang than traditional English. Let's be real. This same slang will eventually reside in your child's dictionary.


Good Day,

Reknir & the Due Opp