I said it was coming yall and now without further to do I present to you all the video for my song 8 AM Bluez of my album Ronin. It is directed by good friend Abe Heisler who also directed my Freedom Song Video. It also has a guest appearance by my good friend actress Tomi Townsend. Here you have two links, one is to watch it on Vimeo where you can view it in HD. The other is a youtube Link for the more traditional viewer. Let me know what yall think, comments are welcomed and hoped for....

Core Rhythm


8 AM Bluez from Abraham Heisler on Vimeo.

Originally written as a response to my friend Leroy Kafka's Midnight Musings and edited for your read. Responses are welcomed and encouraged....

Decay is the legacy of America, it's true national pastime. Its the way of the locust, what we know as commerce and industry. It is why your idols loose steam after 10 years and you wish they would have had the same fate Hendrix, Redding or Joplin did, never get to see them burn out, become invertebrate liberals who never seem to be able to match what they did at 21. If violence is the language of America, then decay is the body, the true life blood, how it breathes, it's rhyme and reason for existing. Preservation is its negative and guilt is a foreign concept, just take an inventory of how many trees there where in Manhattan 500 years ago, take a gander at the Washington Redskins logo or spend the afternoon in the upper west side with all the Jamaican women babysitting the children of Obama supporting white liberals and you will know what I am talking about. It is why America is so fascinated with stories of Vampires or of colonizing aliens who vehemently desire the flesh and blood of the human body, a subliminal admission of the ways of the west. It is why a song or dance from last year is old school and why we feed ourselves toxins and are addicted to pain. Babe Ruth is not the true symbol of America, the Oil Baron is. To preserve is too risky, preservation implies something is built to last, it carries time with it and we learn from it's structure, dents, bruises and cuts what was, a reminder most needed. It is why they flood us with agents to help us forget, soma for our sleepwalk. Memory is the assassin in the wings, ready to strike at the shogun. She is ethereal in form, requires host to inhabit and these days all the hosts are too busy letting there nightmares dwell in her proper place. Memory could make us all sane.

Core Rhythm - 2008

Hey all, so as most of us know we lost a true trailblazer in Music yesterday, Black Moses: Isaac Hayes. For those who know me well, know that Mr. Hayes is one of my idols and favorite musicians of all-time and was very upset to see him. So I did the only thing a creative person could do in those moments: I made a beat in his honor. You can check it on my myspace page, its called "Black Musa"

Its made up of Isaac Hayes Samples (except most of the drums and the Bass Line). All ya nerds out there: I used two Isaac Hayes songs to make it. Can yall figure it out? One is very obvious, the other a bit more mysterious. I will give ya hint; its from record incorporating a certain desert food?

First one to get both songs I will give ya special Core Rhythm gift....

...and last but most def not least, Isaac we gonna miss you. Thanks for all the inspiration. We are forever in your debt.

Core Rhythm

Peace peoples, as write this it is day 14 of my 21 day European music excursion. Currently I am in Barcelona, Spain at the home of my good friend and collaborator Marc Ayza. So far this trip has been none the less amazing, eye opening and all other beautiful cliches that exist in the english language, but many times cliches come from truth so there you have it. Well here it is Part 1 of the Rhythmatic Euro-logs:

My trip started in arriving in Barcelona for a day, I was greeted by my good friend Marc Ayza a visionary in today's modern jazz music and one of the artists I would be collaborating with on this journey. This was my first trip to europe in a few years and the minute I touched ground in Barcelona I knew it would be a special one. After the jarring experience of seeing how weak the dollar is when going to exchange my money (America is F*cking up right now). I went for a drive to see the great city of Barcelona. I tell ya, this place has such weight, such history pouring through its veins, people who really feel real here. As we drove, Marc gave me a lesson in the difference between this region of Spain (Cataluna it what it is called to be exact), the difference between this culture and what we Americans traditionally know of and think of Spain (there is a whole other language they speak, a host of different customs, etc.) and the some of the tensions they have with the rest of Spain. Another example of how things are not as homogeneous as we want to believe anywhere in this world and the minute you think you got everything pegged you are on your way to true ignorance. I spent the rest of the day chilling in an outdoor Cafe in Gracia, at first feeling a bit restless (New York can do a number on ya, anytime I leave it takes me a few days to calm myself and accept slower speeds), but then I relaxed had a few Cappuccinos and enjoyed the vibe.

The next morning I headed out early as hell (4 am to be exact) to catch an early flight to Amsterdam and meet up with my SubphonikForces mates Baba, Yako and Morganics. I bid Spain farewell for the moment knowing I would see her in a few days, but now it was time experience Amsterdam. I touched down in Amsterdam and met in the airport with my Baba, Yako and Morganics exited to see them and experience a leg of this journey with them and boy was it a journey.

We trained out to Den Haag and left our stuff in our accommodation - a squat, now turned into an artists residence run by our friend Stef, a musician from Holland. The place was complete with live jazz bands, art gallery and cafe, it was really ill, the type of places you found in NYC before the hipsters took it over. Our first gig was in a bar called Cafe Me Tante I can't remember the town we were at the moment (been to so many spots over the last few weeks), but the gig was ill. High energy, people just happy to have live performance thrown there way. Half of them probably did not even speak english but they felt the vibe. Was good to rock in front of a fresh audience who did not know my music, can really be a test of how really effective your material is. I made sure my focus was at a high level, cause I knew I was just not representing me but also all my fam from back in NYC and I wanted to be an ambassador for all the ill stuff we do. Each of us, Morganics, myself, Baba and Yako all gave our highest levels of performance, in short we killed it. Shout out to Dennis for Bumrush Radio who put it together, good looks. As soon as we finished we rushed off to our train, which ended up as an impromptu subway session, rhyming all the way to Amsterdam with some cool guys who had just finished high school and naturally after the freestyle session there was more in depth cultural exchange came about. Subjects such as Barrack Obama, Lakers vs Celtics, wack rap music, came up, always love those moments. After some late night window shopping, we got some snacks and headed back to Den Haag, a very long 24hrs.

The next few days were filled with seeing the city of Amsterdam, dancing, freestyle jam sessions (shout out to Mirror Conspiracy, Urban Rootz Festival, all the stages that let us do our thing on them and all the other musicians we jammed with in Amsterdam and Den Haag), Coffee shops (that green coffee if you know what I mean), dancing, new people meeting, great friendship moments, did I mention dancing and pure enjoyment.

Amsterdam - Holland for that matter, is an interesting place, a history of colonialism, Amsterdam being one of the hubs of colonial expansion, African enslavement, the original owners of what we call Manhattan, is now the home of ex-patriot American artists, marijuana lovers and forward thinking people. Not to say it is a paradise, this is still planet earth we live on, but it is a country full of contradictions and is a true example of history. The highlight of the whole trip might have to be a workshop the four us conducted at an amazing arts center in Amsterdam called Nowhere. This spot is ill, Graff and art on the walls, a display of personally customized sneakers, a Dj spinning rare groove in the lobby. We had the opportunity to work with four amazingly ill poets/emcees Zanillya, Quincey, Yunom and Ncyiba. It was three hours of amazing sharing, building and collaboration. We where supposed to be instructing them, but at times I felt I was the one learning the most. As an educator it was great for me, the shot of energy I needed. Another dope moment was the four us in a Bar/Coffee Shop in Amsterdam after rocking a show in Den Haag breaking into a freestyle session for the ages. I am talking next level, it felt like 94 washington square park in that joint, even Yako started rhyming. All in all Amsterdam was dope and Iook forward to going back, I met some great folks and I have definitely left a piece of myself there.

After a chill final evening of great conversation with a friend over some surinamese food and few beers, I headed to back to Barcelona, was sad to separate with Baba, Yako and Morganics as they headed to Prague, but was equally excited to get together with Marc and the rest of the band to get this next quadrant of work started. Got off the plane and went straight into rehearsal. A little history on my work with Marc Ayza. Marc and I met earlier this year in New York. He was interested in experimenting with Emceeing over his jazz compositions , what he did not know at the time I was craving some type of interdisciplinary fusion myself. It always seems when I ever I dream of something it seems to come my way, never in the exact form I would have imagined but in the form it should be. I recorded with him and his band for his fantastic record- Offering. Him and his band are simply incredible Marc a monster on Drums, Tom Warburton so smooth on Bass, Dj Helios a innovator turntables and Roger Mas wanna of the best I have seen on Piano/keys. I have to say I don't know how I lucked out on hooking up with these cats. Rehearsal was one of those moments that you realize your game has to be brought up or you gonna be left behind, this are not your normal wam bam jam band 4/4 time musicians, these are trailblazers. What has really exited me about this is that I have been given the opportunity to help bring Hip Hop lyricism to another level. Taking the lyricist out of the forefront standing alone as the band supports him/her, no this is about making the vocalist one with the band, the voice as instrument. Finding new rhythms for rap lyricism, emceeing is such a baby in opinion, has so many more possibilities in its future, it is a matter of being bold and going on that search. What I am doing is not new, its what the ancients knew, its what the Last Poets, Gil Scot Heron, Sun Ra and Universes search for, it's what the work that Baba Israel in his collaborations with Jason Lindner aim for, my work with Marc and the band are a part of that tradition, that search. All my life I have been looking for the re- establishment of ritual, even when I did not realize I was, this is another step in that journey.

I had my first crack at a Spanish audience at vocal jam session at club called Jamboree in Barcelona. Like the Emcee I am, I once again felt the need to rep for NYC and all my peeps, hard. I asked Marc to back me up on Drums. As I stepped on to the stage I noticed to the left of me there was an army of stunningly gorgeous Spanish women sitting to the side of the stage, I immediately got a little choked up, the shear sight of them was breathtaking, so regal and full of beautiful appeal. As a believer in that as an emcee you should never censor yourself, I decided t give them a shout out and love for just being them, they returned the gesture with cheers and words of encouragement ready for me to rock the spot and tear the roof off, at that moment I knew it was on, Marc came in with probably the hardest drum break in the history of man, I took a gamble went into a classic Hip Hop call and response "Rock Rock yall, to the beat yall" and they all participated with me, especially the ladies on the side. It was pandemonium, I broke into one of those freestyle were all moves are correct, even the "mistakes". It was great, so much love, people wanting you to succeed. It was really dope. Proof that music is bigger than language and idea's it is about ritual, vibration, energy.

It was what I needed as we stepped into the presentation of Marc's Album- Offering and it was magnificent. Can't really explain it in words, so Im not gonna bother a whole a lot, but it truly feels like the seeds of a next level in Hip Hop and in Jazz music. We are doing audio recordings of the show's, will have some for your hearing pleasure in the weeks to come. We presented at Teatre Zorilla in Badalona Spain. It was also really special to me to be an ambassador for Hip Hop at that moment, in a non- traditional environment for the Hip Hop arts and to show people the high level of artistry it requires, as equal as western classical, jazz, blues, whatever. Hope I made Hip Hop proud.

Did another show at a club in Andorra the next night (a very interesting and strange place, picture Herald square surrounded by mountains), show was awesome, was even tighter the next night and on the next night freestyled with a blues band based hear in Barcelona. In between made beats, wrote rhymes, ate great food, talked endlessly about music, experienced the holiday of Sant Joan (that was crazy firecrackers going of everywhere, placed sounded like Beirut in the 80's) and went to Montserrat (probably them most intense mountain I have ever seen). Currently am in a resting moment as I await my final weekend of performances. Two of them will be in Gaudi's La Pedrera. If you are not up on the architecture of Gaudi you need to found out, it is intense. Stay tuned for part two of the my logs as I will break down the final weekend. Also check the pictures in my photo section. Shout out to Stef, Dennis, Evelyn, Phil, Lies, Rosa Galbany, Fresh Sounds, Jordi Pujol, DJ, Reyneld, Alex and last but not least my good friend Maria....

and now final rambles: Butifarra may be the most tasty peace of meat known to man, New York really needs coffee shops- the green kind, Americans sports intensity does not come close to European, Pau Gasol is soft (sorry Espana), Had Rabbit for the first time - Bueno, Really like when non-american emcee's rap in there native language or if they rap in english keep there accent, disturbed when they don't, proud of Barcelona for being against bullfighting, Soccer confuses me, I love shudders, pissed off my spanish is so bad, Hate globalization- I mean Pizza hut in Spain- w.t.f.?, Amazed at how many different races people are in Amsterdam, is sick of seeing Eva Longoria everywhere in Europe, tripped out Hip Hop really got this big, is amazed how In leaving my country I realize more about my music heritage....

What up familia? Its ya boy Core sending out a message to yall. As write this I am currently in Spain loving life, enjoying beautiful weather and being a part of fantastic music, but all this space has got me contemplating and thinking.

As many of you all know I just released my second record "Ronin" about a month ago and as independent artist there is tremendous excitement but a great struggle putting out a record without even a little machine the size of a nanobot contributing to the process. It can be a very lonely feeling. Luckily the community in the community I am apart of, we have been able to muster up a good amount of mutual support amongst eachother when it comes to buying each others CD's, attending each others shows, collaborating on music and organizing events with one another. With that being said I know there has been an ongoing conversation on how our community could better support one another and I have discovered one way that could greatly benefit artists and it wont take very much time

So the other day in Amsterdam I was having a casual conversation with someone I recently met and we were talking about indie music and purchasing music on line. I asked her what makes her buy music and she said to me two things:

1) Seeing the performer Live (she said also this is not always a full proof sell, she usually listens to samples before she buys it and even sometimes consults others if they have heard it and liked it, or googles the artist name and sees what others say)

2) Hearing Samples on-line and what others have to say such as reviews or comments left on iTunes, CDbaby, rhapsody or whatever it may be.

The thing that struck me from the conversation was that how dependent she was on the feedback others, in her decision to buy music (some of which she did not even know), even if she had already decided within herself she enjoyed what she heard, she still needed that extra push. So it hit me, people really don't do things that independently, in particular when it comes to spending money. So I took a personal look at my own music sales . Places like CDbaby or iTunes Europe I get a lot more sales and there I have comments by others, while on places like iTunes America and Amazon my sales are small and I have few to zero comments. I truly believe there is a correlation.

People follow the lead of others, even if the other is just a web address, they wanna be in the know and the only way they can be is they believe that someone is worth knowing. We have to make ourselves and each other worth knowing, it only benefits us all cause when I have twenty more fans and we are rockin that show together at Southpaw, that twenty more folks you are exposed to that we can share with each other.

So what I say is this, next time you buy a record from any indie artist, if you FEEL it, go take 5 minutes and go to iTunes, Cdbaby or whatever and leave that person a comment, give them a star rating, whatever. It really helps and it translates to sales for that person, I just put out a record thats now on iTunes and CDbaby, if you feel it , leave me a couple of words, would be greatly appreciated. If you felt my first album go leave Nat Turner Reloaded a few words, on iTunes its pretty bare and could use some help. Im about to go do it myself for a bunch of yall, cuz you ALL are dope and folks need to know that and anything within reason I can do to help yall succeed I gonna do it AND if you are in crew with this person this should be a requisite!!!!! This also helps cause many of us struggle to get reviews of our records, well this to me is just as effective as magazine reviews these days. Sh*t if you really feel one of your comrades, write them a review and post that joint , back in the days practicing artists were critics not mostly jealous nerds who could not get down with the cool kids (sense the bitterness).

And for those reading this who like my or others music and support us, if you get a moment drop us a line or comment on any of these sites, we will greatly appreciate it like we appreciate all the love you have shown us.

Thats all I have to say on this, Im gonna back to having wine and deep thought in Barcelona, well after I leave a few comments...

Core Rhythm

Waz up yall!!! Some very special news in the world of Core Rhythm, Im embarking on my first European Tour this June!!!! Thats right. I will be with my fellow Subphonik mates Yako 440 and Baba Israel, plus Australian artist Morganics in Amsterdam from June 12 to the 16th (check the Calendar for Specifics) and I will be in Spain with The Marc Ayza Group from June 20th to June 29th (also the check the Calendar for Specific dates). Gonna be wild. Check the website and the myspace cuz Im gonna be sending updates from the road. If you plan on being out there or know anyone out there who would like the vibes hit me up.

Peace
Core

Whats good folks? Yes its that time again, after nearly two years since the release and success of my first record NAT TURNER RELOADED, I am finally ready to unleash my second full length album. It is entitled RONIN, a collaboration between myself an Brooklyn based producer Zaquan (he did the beats, I did the lyrics) and honestly I feel as if its my best work to date. So to commemorate this occasion and partly inspired by the super-ill release party for my first album (those of you who were there I know remember, folks still talkin' bout that one, Indie - New York Hip Hop took over The Bowery Poetry Club that night!!!), I have decided to do another release show, this time bigger, deffer and with extra mustard!!! This time around I will be invading downtowns REHAB (FORMERLY CLUB MIDWAY), we will have performances by some of the usual suspects from two years ago, downtown mainstays 3RD PARTY will be joining me and also my SUBPHONIK brethern BABA ISRAEL AND YAKO 440. But this time we will have some added bonuses, my man VERSE ALL will be opening the night up (stay tuned for the CORE RHYTHM/VERSE ALL album COMING SOON!!!) and the whole evening will be hosted by the Charles Oakley of indie-Hip Hop TAH PHRUM DUH BUSH and of course you will get a special set by yours truly that night full of some of your CORE RHYTHM favorites and material from the new record that have yet to be performed, plus an ill jam session at the end of the night featuring New Yorks top emcee's , beatboxers and vocalist AND to top it all off you will receive a complimentary copy of RONIN with the price of admission!!! If that aint enough to convince ya to come through don't know what can. So get yall pens out and mark it on ya calenders, gonna be a great night, come be apart of the celebration!!!

One Love
Core Rhythm

P.S: Check out tracks from RONIN on my Reverbnation page and the exclusive "fan only" preview of the song "Spread Ya Wingz"

Hey folks just loaded up photo’s from a shoot I did this past week. It was done my homeboy Kamau Ware. Check him as you will see, he is pretty serious with the camera. If you want to get at him here is a link to his site

http://www.kamauware.com/

Peace
Core Rhythm

Hey yall, just updated my website a bit. Info on new happenings such as the Release of Ronin, show and tour dates, new instrumentals and other things. Check it!!!!

Core Rhythm Website

Wuz up yall, a few months ago myself, Baba Israel and Yako 440 facilitated a user group for Ableton Live @ Dub Spot in New York City. Check it out, its pretty dope. One Love to Ableton for putting this together and peace to dubspot.

Core Rhythm
www.spitmatix.com