Things are beautiful right now. I am almost finished recording the vocals for the next two T-Love hiphop-esque albums--the first one being titled "Strong Enough." Cuz you GOTTA be: To Survive.

　

Me and my band [Vidableu] have started working on our first album, as of yet, untitled. Itz kinda hard to describe what we sound like. I bring hiphop, rhymes, spoken word and singing to the table. From there, the influences rang from Portis Head, Bjork mixed in with a little rock, blues, jazz and afro/latin rhythmns---mixing it all up. The groups members are: Cedric Moglia [upright bassist/composer/business], Benoit Crozatier [drums/music professor/business] and me [vocalist/business/composer/producer/group management].

　　

We just added a guitarist. He is WICKED. His name is Francois and he also plays violin. AND he speaks better English than me. With a cute British accent. And girls---beware: The guy's pretty damn sexy, too. We are still putting our budgets together, so hold tight. Just wanna say thanks to all of those who responded to the Brawl/T-Love "For Hire" blogs.

　
I recently started back managing beatmakers/DJs again---just for the love of my crew really. I kinda put my beatmaker/DJ management career after I moved to London, back in 1998. But Pickininny is officially back after a long, long maternity leave!! I made the decision to leave the music biz altogether and concentrate on my little boy.

　

And now that he's doing is own thing now, the project on mommie's agenda, is to release Pickininny's first-ever compilation, Picki People Music Volume I. Due out February/March 2010 via Brawl Records, it features the music of all Picki's people/family: Vidableu, DJ Dusty [from the Jazz Liberatorz], Breiss [Jazz Libz/Meauxtown Crew (pronounced "Mo-Town")], DJ Lyric [A Cat Called Fritz], vocalist/composer/producer Nelson Garcia (Venice Beach, CA/USA) and Pickininny's latest sign, Katrah Quey. A very, very talented beatmaker out of Minnesota.

　

I do not manage MCs, but I have recently added some really dope MCs to Picki's extend family: Preach Jacobs, Niamaj, Kai Swivel and Mercury Waters (USA). Other extended family that I am trying to represent on this album---are my boys Beyond There (UK) and a new bastard group called Soundsci (UK/US), comprised of Jonny Cuba [One half of the UK beatmaker group Dynamic Syncopation/NinjaTune, Audissey (formerly Tone from the USA crew Mass Influence) and recently-added UK DJ, Ollie Teeba (The Herbaliser). I don't manage 20syl and his group Hocus Pocus either, but they are still apart of T-Love and Vidableu's extended family and they have given us TONS of love and support in the past couple of years.

　

From the immediate family, to our extended family: We are now the Picki People. A gypsy family of beatmakers/producers, DJs, musicians, music journalists, photographers, video directors---where WE do OURSELVES, our own marketing, accountanting, legal services, stage production engineers, mixing/mastering engineers, graphics, film/videos, music business consultants, etc., etc. All in-house. No 3rd parties. It is "we" the artists and our friends who run and conduct our own business--cuz itz to the point where we are companies working within companies. Really cool and rare dynamic, in both music and in business. Pickininny is not just a business, itz like my boy DJ Dusk [RIP] used to always say: "It's a family affair."

　

　

A change is definitely-a-comin. Don't fight it. Just ROLL with it, boo...