This is the first time I’ve blogged anything in a long ass time. The 9-to-5 life had me all but discard of this domain name, but alas, we’re still alive! I came back here to announce that we’re proud to present our next show, featuring DC’s own Fat Trel. Check the flyer out above! Crazy, right!?

I blogged about Trel pretty in-depth a little over a year ago (check that here). While bigger names Wale and Tabi Bonney have worked diligently to put DC hip-hop on the map, Trel has been too, just a little differently. Trel’s been in the trenches (read: the studio), perfecting his craft and killing open mics and murdering shows across the country when time permits. Sure, the noise hasn’t been as loud (although it did garner some attention from Cash Money CEO Bryan “Baby” Williams aka Birdman, some big magazines, and a bunch of labels), but you’re about to hear it.

You may have caught Trel at DC’s Vitamin Water Uncapped show alongside Rye Rye, Wale and X.O. earlier this year (I was in there. It was wild!). If you missed it, here’s some footage:

He’s only 20, but his talent as a musician is unparalleled by most. I wouldn’t have said that before yesterday, when the DC to BC team hit the practice site for Krank Factory, the electrifying band that will be backing Trel on stage. He told us it was his first real time rocking with a band that wasn’t a go-go band, but watching him work, you would think he’s a vet. Adding his input for when the guitar should solo on a track, communicating with the lead keyboardists to figure out how to recreate the synth sounds for the live performance. He was doing all that. They jammed out for like 6 hours straight and didn’t even seem tired. That’s an artist if I ever seen one.

I don’t need to sell you on anything else except his actual music, which is what the compilation that we’ve put together will do. It’s called The Set List, and it’s (give or take a few surprises!) the exact same set list that all 500 fans will experience on Sunday evening. We curated it and finalized it with Trel before we gave it to you guys. We hope to gain Trel some new supporters through this mix; you can download this today and know all the words by Sunday. Lol. But really though, we think this could be a cool new way of experiencing music as a new fan. The old fans already know what’s up, but it’s worth a download because it features a lot of his crazy thumpers on one compilation. The best part for both old and new? It’ll sound completely different (but equally as awesome) with a live band.

The entire point of this blog post was to give you guys an exclusive. So here it is, “Nightmare”, the introduction to his heavily anticipated mixtape Nightmare on E Street, dropping at the top of 2012. Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: Fat Trel – Nightmare [DC to BC EXCLUSIVE! PLEASE TURN THOSE SPEAKERS UP!]

DOWNLOAD: Fat Trel’s Nightmare Before Christmas – The Set List [Mix Compilation]

I’ll have the streaming version of The Set List shortly for those who can’t download. Gimme like 30 minutes. I gotta find some food. For those in DC, see you guys on Sunday (grab tickets here!). For those who aren’t there, we’ll definitely document that joint for you!

Well actually, that’s just one flyer. 3,000 looks like this:

Shout out to all of the people who have shown love as far as spreading the good word. From the blogs to the tumblrs, from the publications to the tweets, from traditional (and frankly the most powerful communication method) word of mouth, we see it all, and are EXTREMELY appreciative. You have no idea how much you’ve done for us!

We’re aiming to sell this bad boy out. I think this is an important concert for DC. I mean, just look at the history of hip-hop events of this caliber at a vicious spot like the 9:30 Club. We don’t really have that here, and it sucks. I’ve been to concerts all over the country, and I never can quite seem to find something this awesome within the city. Like I always say. DC’s on the verge of blowing up; as Marcus Dowling would say, it’s in the “I told you so” phase, where people are finally realizing the potential and the talent we got out here. Events like this can stamp all of that. If it’s a win for the DC to BC team, I look at it as a win for the entire metropolitan area, and a pretty big step in the right direction. We aren’t mimicking. We aren’t copying. We’re merely fostering a subculture that’s long overdue in these parts, and it’s with the help of all the rest of the creatives, as well as those who support the creatives in some way, shape, or form.

We would love everybody who can support to come out and enjoy one of the most talented acts in hip-hop today kill one of the best venues in the nation. Grab tickets here, or find me or my teammates on the streets (literally), trappin’ like some damn fools.

#dontwuwwyDC

You’ve probably seen all the $#!t I’ve been talking online about how vicious this concert will be. Frankly, if you break it all down, August 12, 2011 can be seen as a historic day in DC as far as hip-hop is concerned. Before we booked this concert, the 9:30 Club (voted one of the top venues in the nation by Billboard Magazine a couple weeks ago) had no hip-hop concerts until like November. The spot is 1200 people, and honestly, most hip-hop shows these days can’t pack a venue that size unless it’s a mainstream superstar or it’s free.

We’re trying to break that mold, starting with this #DontWuwwyDC show. In addition to Kendrick Lamar, #DontWuwwyDC will feature four other artists: ScHoolboy Q, Phil Ade, Phil Da Phuture, and Ashton  Travis. The coolest thing to me is that none of these artists are remotely similar in style, content, and sound. They all bring something unique to the table, and that’s one of the big reasons we decided on these five to showcase their talents. I’m almost more excited to see them all interact and connect behind the scenes than perform the show itself. Almost.

Haven’t done your research on these artists yet? All good! We created “Hello, World” to introduce you to ALL five of the artists so you can at least sing along to the hooks at the show. If you like what you hear, do some more digging and grab their various projects from blogs, iTunes, wherever. The music should convince you more than my words. Grab the compilation, either by clicking the incredible artwork above (s/o to my man Angelo Logan for that, by the way. Hit him up for any graphic needs!), or the link below. Let us know what you think, and feel free to pass it along to people. Oh, and MAKE SURE TO GRAB YOUR TICKETS CUZ THEY’RE MOVING LIKE HOT CAKES!

hello, world. by DC to BC

DOWNLOAD:  “Hello, World.” [#DontWuwwyDC Mix Compilation]

P.S.: Bonus points to those who can tell me where we got the title of this mix from!

We were fortunate enough to recruit Top Dawg Entertainment recording artist Kendrick Lamar for a much anticipated performance at the 9:30 Club, making it his first-ever public show in the nation’s capital. The Compton standout is expected to sell out the 1200 capacity venue thanks to his loyal following in the DC metropolitan area. Kendrick will be joined on stage by fellow label mate Schoolboy Q as he cycles through his hits spanning from his early career to his most recent project, the critically acclaimed #Section80. Also sharing the spotlight for the evening are buzzing DMV natives Phil Adé and Phil Da Phuture, both signees of Grammy nominated crooner Raheem DeVaughn‘s 368 Music Group, as well as Houston’s own Ashton Travis, a lyrical mastermind recently crowned winner of the Hip-Hop Unplugged Series, hosted by Def Jam’s Lenny Santiago and MTV’s Sway. You never know who else may pop up, either…

If you have any sort of cyberspace real estate (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, your brand’s website, etc.), feel free to show the post love there too! Link for the Twitpic is here. #dontwuwwyDC is the hashtag for the event, so use it and abuse it up til the date of the concert to see who’s talking about it!

Event Details

Date: Friday, August 12, 2011

Location: 9:30 Club 815 V St. NW DC 20009

Time: 8pm until close (Doors open @ 8, show starts @ 9)

Tickets are now on sale. You can grab those bad boys two ways:

- Buying in-person at the 9:30 Club box office. Hours: 12-7, Mon-Fri and 6-11 on weekends. You avoid a service charge this way!

- Buying online: http://ticketf.ly/dontwuwwyDC

http://twitter.com/#!/DCtoBC/status/96581975376269312 <—— That is a tweet you can feel free to retweet in regards to the tickets.

I should add that the more support this event gets, the more everybody across the nation and the world will respect our city. We’re just trying to put DC in the game. People think about politics and government when they think about this area, so the DC to BC team is working really hard to change that.

Hit me back here or on Twitter (@DCtoBC) if you have any questions, and enjoy the day.

Dilla fans, rejoice!

DC to BC is a proud media sponsor for the 6th Annual J. Dilla Tribute and Fundraiser, featuring some of DC’s most prominent hip-hop acts and headlined this year by Pharcyde. I honestly thought I’d never get to see these left coast legends rock a show, but this was a pleasant surprise. At the 9:30 Club, too. Talk about trill.

I can’t believe it’s been 6 years since the incredibly influential producer’s passing. I wasn’t even hip to how influential Dilla was until after he departed; I found out he produced so many jams that I never knew he had any part of crafting. It should be cool seeing all these local acts, as well as one of Cali’s most legendary and iconic hip-hop groups, pay their respects through their music!

Grab those tickets, cuz they’re moving quickly. Hit @heartdilla or the official site for any more info.

I’ll see you guys in there. I’ll be the dude posted up on the wall in the back, doing a super smooth head bop and blending in with my people and my surroundings.

I hit NY every once in a while to check in with my folks out there. Since graduation, probably 75% of my really good childhood friends have relocated there. I also gotta dap up those who held me down when I was a newbie to NY, living in Aris’ cozy apartment in the back room and taking the J train to Complex every day, almost always late. I miss NY just typing about it.

One of the guys who looks out the most for me in NY do or die is my bruv Callender (pictured above). I swear to Allah, this man walked about 75 feet, from one spot to another in the Lower East Side, and dapped up 7 people. THAT RATE IS ASTONISHING! I’m talking everybody from the local panhandler to that chick of Caucasian persuasion who looks fly and you don’t know what she does until you find out she designed the entire Fall season of some designer that you’ve heard of but can never afford. “We do laundry at the same place,” Callender explained.

Bare with me. I’m just tryna get my mojo back out here.

Callender took me out to lunch and I brought up this dude Rocky who  he works with and had put me onto back before there was a “ASAP” in front of his  name. Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of everything that I heard from him, but I did recognize his charisma and was waiting to hear something that I couldn’t stop listening to. He told me some new jams would be dropping extremely soon. But everybody says that.

Then I was on Twitter a couple days and I saw that my man Noz of Cocaine Blunts fame (as well as every epic hip-hop article, internet or print, of recent) had posted this video that I’m about to make you watch on The Fader.  It’s now 2 AM on a work night. If this whole song and video wasn’t that tight, I woulda been sleep 15 minutes ago. Right? Right.

I rock with Rocky cuz he has a lot of swag. I don’t really care if people think that word is overused, because it’s so appropriate. A Harlem kid with golds in his mouth, permed hair braided up like a left coast legend? That’s crazy.  He pays homage to that Houston movement with a chopped up, not slopped up jammy jam that’ll make you think you just sipped some purple drink once you press play. Lemme know what you think. Just swag rap, don’t expect to learn anything except how he has the boppas goin’ crazy. Just remember, this is a New York rapper. Keep that in mind. New York rarely gives the South respect. There’s something pretty major here.

If the tape is vicious, I’ll throw it up here. Drops end of this month, I believe! Download the MP3 too. You know you want this in your iTunes.

DOWNLOAD: ASAP Rocky – Purple Swag

I hope so.

I’ve kept the DC to BC name alive through my prolific tweeting, but now that we’ve started throwing legitimate events that people really appreciate, I think it’s time to get back to the blog world. I know what you’re thinking. I say that like every four or five months. But this time I have to do it, because once you work in corporate America, you gotta make an extremely conscious effort to ensure that your 9-to-5 doesn’t swallow your brand (all hetero). If my job is Moby Dick (another all hetero can go here if you deem it appropriate, although in my opinion it’s far from needed; I’m referencing a classic which I didn’t read in 11th grade although it was clearly assigned reading and I wrote anywhere from 3-5 papers about it. C’mon, dude.), I’m captain Ahab. I’m not going down without a fight, baby.

So let’s go. I’m posting stuff when I feel like it. My taste is still the same – trill. I got new followers who have no idea why I have all these damn followers and weren’t there for the first wave, so I guess I gotta make sure everything I drop from here on out is as vicious.

Speaking of vicious, did anybody buy the new Kendrick Lamar project, Section 80? I told you a while back he was the future. Just want to make sure people didn’t miss that (but if you did, you can always read that here), cuz I called it.

I’m just gonna act like like it hasn’t been two years since a legit post has gone up and start wherever I left off.

I know. I haven’t blogged in a bit. And I’m completely fine with it. Just gearing up for the summer, man. That’s a whole ‘nother blog post, though.

My man Ken Consor over at Syracuse University and the kind folks over at ‘Cuse’s University Union are throwing the Block Party 2011, featuring KiD CuDi, Nas and Damian Marley, and Tinie Tempah on April 29 (Friday), and he’s been kind enough to throw me 4 tickets to toss around to any DC to BC readers in the tri-state area that can make it up (or down, depending.) to ‘Cuse to witness four wildly talented artists jam out on the same stage.

That being said, I just need those who stay in the area to holler at me. All it takes is a @DCtoBC Twitter follow and a RT of this and you’ll be entered, as well as an e-mail to info[at]DCtoBC.com that mentions you’ve done the aforementioned. by 9pm tonight (4.28). I’ll be giving the tickets out in pairs, so there will be two winners.

Cool? Cool. Good luck!

Major, major shout out to Howard University’s Zon D’Amour as well as all of Endustry Power Players for inviting me to kick it with them and chop it up with whoever shows up to this event, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, about whatever’s on their minds. I invite and encourage anybody who rocks with me to come through. It’s at 7pm, and the address is below:

Howard University
Armour J. Blackburn University Center
2397 Sixth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20059
202-806-5983

Bingo. Any problems, just call that number. I’m nervous because I’ve never spoke at a panel before! I just want to make sure anything I say helps whoever is in the room get closer to whatever they’re striving for.

I’m excited to share the room with the brilliant minds behind Concrete Loop, Ready Set DC, The Fab Empire, and more. Some of these folks I know, some of them I’ve been following and admiring from afar from a while, and some I’m not hip to. Regardless, I think it’s just crazy that I’ll be on this panel.

Shout out to all the supporters who still rock with a slowly moving movement. The summer has some cool stuff in store! Promise! Shout out to Marcel and Quinn. And shout out to anybody who believed in the DC to BC movement from jump.

P.S.: These guys are so smooth. I didn’t even give them my logo or anything. They just snatched it from somewhere. Respect.

Thank you, WKYS! I appreciate it. Check the article here, and browse the site out too; they just started going IN on their content. Hopefully, it’ll be a whole new market for them since terrestrial radio is evolving.

Thanks again guys!!!