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Zo!



Last Updated: 12/14/2009

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Status: Single
City: Silver Spring via Metro Detroit
State: Maryland
Country: US
Signup Date: 11/28/2004

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Friday, January 02, 2009 

Current mood:  optimistic
Category: Music
Happy New Year!!

I hope that everyone had a good time last night bringing in 2009. And since it IS the 1st of the year, that means the time has finally come to fully unveil the Zo! & Asylum 7 album Overdue Process!!!!!

The album will be distributed through Tasteful Licks Records as an exclusive release today, with broader digital (iTunes, etc.) and physical release on January 6, 2009.
My Chicago people can pick up the album at Dr. Wax Records or Dusty Groove America.

A huge "thank you" goes out to everyone who placed pre-orders earlier this week. I owe all of you an autographed poster, so look out for those. Anyone who orders through this link will also receive an autographed Overdue Process cover art poster as a thank you from A7 and I to you.

ALSO, during the upcoming week…I will be posting blog entries that will break down each song from the album giving you all inside look at how the album was created. I will update it every other day. The first entry is up for viewing now… Enjoy!

In other good news to begin the year, the Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80's album made Vapors Magazine's 'Top 50 Albums of 2008' list placing at 15. I was also informed a couple weeks ago that our distributor Fat Beats Records has sold out of the album! This means that if you happen to see one in a local store, pick it up because they are no longer being supplied. The Fat Beats store still has some copies actually. Phonte and I really appreciate all the love and song suggestions (lol) we have received over the last 5 months. We are now concentrating on creating on plenty of original material…so please keep your ears open for that.

I wish everyone much success in the new year. Please be safe and thank you, as always for the continued support shown in this direction. Peace!!

Zo
6:46 PM 
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008 
I am happy to announce that we are now taking pre-orders for the Zo! & Asylum 7 Overdue Process album!!! 

Any orders made will be shipped on Monday December 29th....

The official release date for the album is still,
January 1st 2009




Order Zo! & Asylum 7 - "Overdue Process" CD (Ships Dec. 29th) - $10

1. Intro
2. Timeline
3. Overdue Process
4. Mentality Maker
5. Crossover (ft. Miz Korona)
6. Resistance Is Futile
7. Crushing (ft. AB)
8. In Yourself
9. Simplicity
10. One Bad Thing
11. The Lineup (ft. Metasyons, Finalé & Buff1)
12. Rigorous
13 Gotta Live (ft. Asheru)


Thank you to everyone who appreciates our music and have an enjoyable and SAFE holiday!

Zo
12:34 PM 
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008 

Current mood:  focused
Category: Music
"Overdue Process" - Zo! & Asylum 7
Produced by Zo!
Written by Asylum 7
All Instruments by Zo!

From the Zo! & Asylum 7 release
Overdue Process
Available 01.01.09
3:10 PM 
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Monday, December 15, 2008 

Current mood:  excited
Category: Life
January 1, 2009

New Year's Day is the new release date for the new Zo! and Asylum 7 album Overdue Process.  Yeah, we know it's an awkward date because it's not a Tuesday or whatever…But, uhhh…. we're not signed, we can release an album whenever we want to! lol  Nah for real, we wanted the opportunity to set the bar for the new year – I guess in clichéd terms, we want to be able to start the year off right musically.  So the newest album, Zo! and Asylum 7 – Overdue Process, will be released on the 1st off January.  Here is the cover art…


Reflections on Two-Thousand Eight
Ahhh (reflective sigh)…2008 has been an interesting year to say the least.  I brought the year in while vacationing in Aruba and came right back home to work.  There were two projects that were ready for completion.  Me and Phonte decided one day to leak the cover art for the Zo! and Tigallo Love the 80's album…aaaannnd many laughs later lol, the joint was released through Fat Beats on July 22nd and has damn near sold out since then.  We even got love from The Rude Boys' lead singer Joe Little (big props!) for re-working "Written All Over Your Face".  The first time any of the 80's joints were performed live was here in D.C. at Busboys and Poets on September 22nd.  Tay was the featured artist while The ELs provided the music.  That night it was Omar on bass, Biscuit on drums, and myself ..s.  The performance was so special that it landed us all on the road with The Foreign Exchange hitting NYC, DC and ATL…much more on this to come.  

Teaching has been challenging this year (as it is every year), but I took the summer off and completed a TON of music and my students were invited BACK to perform at the University of Maryland in early October.  

This year I have read books on kats ranging from Rick James, Faith Evans, Prince, and Miles Davis to Malcolm X, Fred Wesley, Grandmaster Flash, Charlie Parker, and the early days of hip hop.

I took part in completing THREE albums…one which will never see the light of day.

AND kept up my 4.0 GPA in graduate school.  

I lost a good friend of mine on November 3rd – respect due to Chris "Jax" Thurston, 1976-2008…

…The following day, I was fortunate enough to witness and be a part of this year's historical election results (now the REAL work begins).  

I, along with many of my people at home, have even managed to sit and watch the Lions win not a single GAME this season, LAWD!!…  

…The Red Wings did their thing last season and won it all though… Congratulations!!

Oh yeah, I made it to my 30th year back in September!  And the celebration was CRAZY…

Overall, 2008 has been another blessing and yet another step in the right direction toward musical growth.  I have learned a ton in the last 12 months and I am looking very forward to new things to come in '09…


Oh, by the way.
2009 will bring two albums…

…just visiting too
(follow up to 2006's …just visiting)

and

SunStorm
(solo album featuring Phonte, Yahzarah, AB, and Sy Smith)




YES…I am excited.

10:34 AM 
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Monday, December 01, 2008 

Current mood:  intense
Category: Music

Enjoy these courtesy of

Stephen Stewart  and Richard Louissaint

Good job fellas...

8:46 AM 
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Wednesday, November 05, 2008 

Current mood:  shocked
Category: Life
In waking up this morning excited about today's election as well as waiting to hear some feedback on the joint we just leaked, the last thing I thought I would hear about is the passing on of a friend.  

Last night Binkis Recs lost one of its family members – the talented, charismatic emcee by the name of Jax.  This was a kat who loved life, his family, loved to laugh and had a true passion and a gift for hip-hop music.  I had to pleasure of meeting the brotha via my man DJ Jon Doe of Prophetix back in 2002.  Jax left about a 2-minute extra-enthusiastic voicemail on my phone praising some of the music that he heard from me beginning with his famous, "Zo Boogie! This is Jax kiiiiiiid."  It was actually a message that I saved for a while after that because it was the first time I had ever heard someone get that excited about any works that I had done.  I called him back soon after and we were cool ever since.  

We got to kick it only a few times over the years, mostly down in Atlanta and another time in Detroit when he, Phife, Rasta Root and Slick-N-Rose were all in town to record.  But every time we were in contact, whether it was via phone or IM, he was the same ole animated, high-energy, good-natured dude.  Our conversations sometimes seemed like a comedic battle or joke crackin' and witty one-liners (he always got me on those though).  Jax was just a genuine brotha overall – full of positive energy and we will all miss that.  Although we only worked on one joint together ("Limitless" from his Sharper Images album), there was always a mutual respect we held for each other's music and plans to work on some more in the future.  I actually just learned from his wife Lisa that they planned to use "When Everything Is New" as the intro to their official wedding ceremony that was to take place on the 22nd of this month.  And that's the kind of guy he was right there…I will be thinking about that for a long time to come.

Rest in Peace to my man Chris Thurston a/k/a Jax of Binkis Recs…  Always

Zo

5:13 AM 
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Tuesday, November 04, 2008 

Current mood:  excited
Category: Music
Yes y'all… It's midnight, November 4th and I'm just real excited right now. We are right on the brink of a very historic election, so let's make it happen today at the polls…! Vote, Vote, VOTE!!!

ALSO, Asylum 7 and myself decided that this would be an excellent time to leak the very first joint from our collaborative album Overdue Process. This one is called "Gotta Live" featuring my man Asheru (Unspoken Heard, Boondocks Theme, etc.).

Enjoy this one and keep your eyes open for the album's arrival on
December 16th…

"Gotta Live" (ft. Asheru)
Zo! and Asylum 7
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Written by Asylum 7 & Asheru


Peace y'all…and thanks for listening.

Zo
1:01 PM 
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Sunday, October 26, 2008 

Current mood:  peaceful
Umm...  Well, you didn't hear this from me.  But uhhh....  Here's some more info on the new album.  Let's keep this between us.....

Zo! & Asylum 7
Overdue Process

one. Intro
two. Timeline (cuts by Roddy Rod)
three. Overdue Process
four. Mentality Maker
five. Crossover (ft. Miz Korona)
six. Resistance is Futile
seven. Crushing (ft. AB)
eight. In Yourself
nine. Simplicity
ten. One Bad Thing (cuts by O. Hunter a/k/a DJ Dirty Ice)
eleven. The Lineup (ft. Metasyons, Finalé & Buff1) (cuts by Crate Digga)
twelve. Rigorous
thirteen. Gotta Live (ft. Asheru)

Produced by Zo! for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music / BMI
Written by Asylum 7
(except where noted)

Arrival Date…
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

10:12 AM 
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Saturday, October 18, 2008 
Back in the summer of 2004, as I did almost every Tuesday night around that time I ventured down to the Carbon Lounge in Hamtramck, MI.  Carbon was a spot that would showcase different local hip-hop artists every week and would follow their performances with a cipher of freestyling emcees that would show off their best or simply sharpen up their skills.  Being that I have never been an emcee, just laying low and watching the overflow of talented kats pick up the mic in that place was satisfying enough for me.  One night in particular, I was in the spot checking out this duo who called themselves The Runaways.  Now normally, being that I'm always so immersed in the music and trying to take a song apart and put it back together in my head I have never been one to really pay attention to lyrics like that (it takes me forever to learn the words to songs) – but one of the kats by the name of Asylum 7 stood out as he rhymed with the hunger of a young LL (circa 1985).  His wordplay, stage presence and command of mic was undeniable.  So after the set, I walked up and introduced myself and suggested that we should work.  The next day we were on the phone scheduling a time to meet up…a couple days later 7 was at my house picking out music we should work on (I ended up constructing the beat right then and there for him to take home and write to)...and a few days after that, we were in a studio in Ann Arbor, MI recording our first joint together, "Listen Up."  We ended up working together on another joint that ended up closing A7's debut EP Brown Study entitled "Observe (Remix)."  With the feedback we received from these couple of songs and the ease at which the results came, it was almost a no-brainer – we need to start on an album, or at LEAST continue working.  We talked about that even before I moved east in early 2006…

We recorded the first song for the album back in July 2007.  At that point, we were both working on other projects and we decided to let the music dictate the flow of the album without forcing creativity.  Soon after all of the production work was finished for the Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80's album and 7 finished working on his Lights Out project with producer Eddie Logix, the production for our album was then put into overdrive.  I basically went from Phonte's great work ethic to Asylum 7's…and what an easy transition that was.  Everything I was sending A7's way was being turned around in 24-48 hours with a, "Send the next one through when you get a chance" message attached to it.  Those who we asked to be a part of the album recorded without even a second thought – This lead to contributions from emcees such as: Asheru, Buff1, Finalé, Miz Korona, Metasyons, and talented vocalist AB.  DJ's Roddy Rod, Dirty Ice, and Crate Digga came through for us on the cuts…Hundreds of back and forth emails, thousands of tweaks and 13 songs later, we now have a complete product on our hands….

Overdue Process

Stay tuned as we have some special things planned for this project.  Next, be on the lookout for the cover art and tracklisting…

Zo
8:57 AM 
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Thursday, September 25, 2008 

Current mood:  relaxed
Category: Music
Here's a joint we did this past Sunday night w/my boy Jamie Benson of Funkdelic Freestyles @ GWU Radio...  Wanted to share this with y'all.

Zo and Phonte GWU Radio Interview


3:58 AM 
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