What's the word?

 

2006 has been quite a year.  The Democrats took congress and Three-Six Mafia won an Oscar (stop hatin'!).  Here's what happened in '06 at Wandering Soul Records:

 

The year got off to a great start in March when I was featured on mycoke.com, and in XXL Magazine, hip hop's biggest print publication.  Those features, coupled with the success of my 2005 release, "North by Northwest: Solid Ground" caught the attention of Neil Levine, then the General Manager at Ryko.  Soon after, Wandering Soul Records inked a domestic distribution deal with Ryko.  As the spring was coming to a close, we finished the mixtape "Return of the Kings," introducing the second official "act" on Wandering Soul: Wade Waters.  The mixtape was very well-received and created a loud buzz for the upcoming Wade Waters album.  Shortly after the mixtape's release, Wandering Soul followed Neil Levine over to EMI, securing distribution with indie giant, EMI / Caroline.  In addition to our "day jobs" (as you probably know, I work as an electrical engineer for the Department of Defense and Haysoos holds a teaching position at the University of Maryland), Haysoos and I were busy making trips to the studio to finalize the Wade Waters debut album and, oh yeah, we shot our first official music video. 

 

I took two breaks from the Wade Waters project this past fall to do my first overseas performances.  The first trip was to Holland, with a performance and a promotional run in Amsterdam.  The second trip landed me in Belgium, for a show and interviews with local TV and radio.  The week I got back from Belgium, the Wade Waters debut album, "Dark Water," hit stores across the US (the Japan version had been released a few months earlier).  The album featured my biggest two singles to date: "Speak On It" feat. AZ and "Rock Solid" feat. Cuban Link.  The album has been celebrated by critics and embraced by fans and even landed us an on-air interview with Tavis Smiley.  To top it all off, our single, "Rock Solid" was featured on ESPN during its coverage of the And-1 mixtape tour.

 

2006 has been a busy and exciting year.  The most exciting part for me though, was the support we received all year.  You guys went out and bought CDs, came to shows on weeknights, passed out flyers, hung up posters, picked me up from and dropped me off at airports, connected me with the right people, played our music on your radio shows and in the clubs, booked shows for us, featured us in your magazines and on your websites, and all in all just encouraged me to keep doing what I do, which I certainly will in '07.  As always, expect more great music and bigger and better things.  

 

Thanks and see you in '07.

 

SoulStice

Wandering Soul Records

www.myspace.com/soulstice