The New Camera - Just A Couple Weeks Away

Well this is the camera I am getting I do believe!  I will be buying it in the next couple of weeks.  Nothing real fancy but an upgrade from what I was using.  

Thank you to those who have donated even just a $1 to try and help me!  Tay Tay collected $110 for me and wanted to do more!  Also I had a few others tell me they were going to give to the cause and that meant alot. So wit in the next week or so I will be going into debt sort to speak and buy this camera so I can take pictures once again.

But things will be different.  The definition of paparazzi is 

(plural of, paparazzo, nodot=1); freelance photographers who sell photographs of celebrities to the media, especially ones who pursue celebrities and attempt to obtain candid photographs.

I have been doing this for free and not asking anyone for anything unless they ask me to come to their show or if they wanted a photo shoot.  Then it becomes a job.

I am still going to be taking pictures for TayLand promotions and for EC because for one they have a "business" deal with me sort to speak and for two they have tried to do things for me because we have a mutual love and respect for one another.  Also I will still be taking pictures of those I consider family and real friends.  Any other pictures that I take can be bought and will have my logo or website on them so that it can't be cut off or I just won't be taking certain people's pictures.  Sorry but since July it has been an eye opener to how much bullshit people have tried to feed me.

I support you by buying your dvd or cd and you get asked to donate to the camera fund and you say you don't have any money or you just turn away.  LOL  So my kindness is not a weakness!  I wasn't even asking for the donations.  That was something that someone felt was only right seeing how I support and take pictures and try and help other local artists other than my "home team".

In life we are tested every day.  And I believe this was a test for me to see the bigger picture and the reality of what my "role" is in this scene.  And it was a test for those around me and a good majority failed.  LOL  Since my camera has been broken, the requests for me to attend shows and events have all but stopped.  LOL  So I really find it funny!!

So once again, thank you to everyone who has supported me and who have given and who have offered to give and who have just been true to me.  Thank you to those who haven't as well.  Without you showing me the real you, I might have continued to be a fool.

Dirt Platoon - Deeper Than Dirt

On November 7, 2008 I was at the Baltimore Crown.  It had been only 11 months that I had been going to shows in the city and I had already gotten to see a lot of talented people and was realizing that there were tons more just waiting to be heard by me.

As I was sitting there, I was looking around and my eyes fell on two guys that were standing to my far left.  I don't know why, well yeah I do but anyway they got on stage and I was thinking ok let's see who these guys are because I didn't recognize their name.

As they started performing, all I could think was to me, this is real fucking hip hop.  I was loving their energy and their stage presence.  It's kinda hard to really listen to the lyrics but what my ears were catching I was loving. Their name???  DIRT PLATOON

Now here it is September 16, 2010 and yesterday Dirt Platoon had put out another album. "Deeper Than Dirt".  As I was handed my copy last night I really wanted to go listen to it ASAP but I was at the show and I got to see them perform live which is always a pleasure for me. Snook and Raf have always showed me love and I give it right back.  So when they asked me to do a photo shoot the only thing I asked was when and where.  Now I didn't make the cover which was cool because I really like the picture they used but I did make the inside although someone else got the credit!  LOL  

Ok so I put the cd in so I could see what I was going to have to work with as far as my little blog review that I have been doing.  There are 12 tracks on the album but I'm not going to tell you my opinion on every track!!!  Go download it for yourself at http://brakefastrecords.bandcamp.com/album/deeper-than-dirt or get your hard copy from Raf and Snook!  I'm gonna hit on a couple of the songs!!!

The first track is Pennsylvania Ave which they did a video for .



Of course I like this track.  It is true DP.  Storytelling to the extreme! They are letting you know where they came from......Pennsylvania Ave home of the Dirt Platoon!!

The next song that kinda caught me was track 5.  Raven  Now with a name like that I'm like ok what's this song going to be about??  A girl? A raven since this is Baltimore?  So the song comes on and I'm like feeling this laid back music.  Then Raf starts comparing a girl to a raven.  Hmmmmmm  The thing that came to mind was LL Cool J and I Need Love.  That's a good thing in my opinion.  You have these rough and tough and gritty songs that DP is known for and then here is this song that isn't a love song but in a way it really is.  Love it!!!


Next song was Crook.  Snook says " your family won't know you're deceased for 4 weeks"!!!!!  I rewound that shit like 4 times!!!!  The whole song is just raw and uncut.  You can hear his intensity in his words!!  Love it!!

The Fuck It is the only song on here with a collabo. Mic Brown and L.E.G.A.C.Y.  Definitely feeling this song.  The flow of all 4 of these young men together just feels like it was supposed to be like that!  LOL


Another song that got my attention Long Time No C.  Another song that is towards a female.  Showing that you can be a real man and still have that loving side.  Then you think the song is over and a beat comes on and you think it's another song but it's almost like a remix.  LOL  Took me by surprise!  


Deeper Than Dirt the final track on the album.  Yet another story being painted. " you mess around and get your rap book shattered.  I stay above average.  I love ham with my cabbage...."  Raf Almighty  "I learned more from my mistakes than my successes....."  Snook The Crook

Now the whole album is fire to me but my opinion don't mean a whole lot of nothing but any one of you who know me know that I'm not going to give anything a pass.  This cd is a must have in your collection if you really love real hip hop.  This is what I love to hear.  I love to hear the realness of the words.  The intensity and love that these emcees have for their craft!  This is art.  This is music!  This is life!!


Much love and respect to Raf Almighty and Snook The Crook and Brake Fast Records. 

Tay Land Promotions aka Tay Tay

I wanted to do something different in a way!  Instead of doing a bio of an artist or group or a review of someone's cd, I wanted to give a special thanks to someone who since day one of meeting her has been a really caring person.

If you don't know who that is in the picture with me then you need to get to know her!!  Her name is Tay Tay and she is a promoter here in the Baltimore scene.  She puts on shows at Sonar and at Club Reality where she is also a bartender!  I met Tay through B.O.M.B. and Shy Lady Heroin when she was throwing shows and bar tending at Penguins.   She seemed really friendly and I soon seen that she was funny.  Tay isn't from Baltimore but you really couldn't tell it because of all the love she has shown for the local artists.

As time moved forward, she started throwing shows at Bedrock.  Her shows seemed to consist of known acts as well as people I had never heard of as well!  She seemed to be giving a shot to everyone who wanted to do a show!  Regardless of if they were wack or not.  I have became familiar with a few artists through Tay Tay!

When my camera broke Tay was like the 4th person to suggest taking up a collection to help buy me a new camera.  The reasoning was that I have taken pictures for free of just about every artists, rapper and wanna be since 2008.  Now my whole thing was that I wasn't sure how some people would feel about people wanting to get money together to buy me a camera something like what others had bought for themselves!  But then again I don't charge for the show pictures and the photo shoots I have done for people were so cheap I was basically doing them for nothing.

In 2008, I went to 60 shows and took a total of 6,870 pictures.  In 2009, I went to 41 shows and took 3,832 pictures!!  And so far in 2010, I have gone to 37 shows and took 4,396 pictures.  Not to mention the 11 photo shoots and other events I have done and taken 539 pictures for those.  Of those 11, I got paid for 3!   That is a total of  15,637 pictures in 2 and a half years.

So Tay took up a collection at her Purple and Green Event on August 18th.  She collected $61.  I was appreciative of it because I wasn't expecting anyone to give but a $1 or $2.  I wasn't expecting anything for real!  I was just happy that Tay cared enough about what I love and what I do to even try!

So Tay, thank you for all that you do, have done and will do in this music business!  That's why when out of town artists ask me about shows I send them your way.

I love ya Tay Tay!!!