BANE

VON POE VII / POETIC DEATH:

This year has kicked off with a shot-gun bang! If you have this blog bookmarked (or if you keep up with Poe's activity via social media, in-person stalking, carrier pigeon communication, or whatever), you would have seen that he's been on his shit lately! Not that you would expect any different from him, but I'm just saying. From rolling out a bunch of music videos, to posting that 3-part interview, pushing an unexpected 5-track EP with Papa J. Ruiz, and more.

Earlier this month, Fiasco shared the two music videos for "Dante's Inferno (The New Black Dante)" and "Views From The VII". However, last week, the villain himself dropped yet ANOTHER music video, this time for a song called "BANE". Over a sinister, hard-hitting, guitar-driven beat, produced by Tiz and Bentley, the anti-hero with fang grills spits grimy raps about his self-less motivation to get his people out of the projects (there are a lot of religious references in his words, which could be a reflection of his long, sometimes grueling, walk through life and expressing supreme gratitude for his blessings). "Back from the dead, like you're seeing a resurrection // I'm the revelation on a blazing chariot" In the self-directed visual, he lurks in the night, wandering through darkly-lit apartments, just really depicting what a visual threat he can be. Watch the music video below, and look out for the next (probably coming this week): "I told you all I wanted to hit you all with a video a week this year until all the tracks off TPOLAW have a video, and I mean that. See you all next week," said Von Poe VII.

"Been a little caught up on side work for the bills, but I got another visual coming soon. I also got another Papa J. Ruiz visual in the vault, just need some more footage for that one. Working hard for y'all this year, and I promise 30 videos from me before the end of Summer. Next visual from me dropping in 7 days.

Until then, enjoy the madness. Once all 30 videos are shot, you're gonna start hearing about special shows. More on that later, for now I'll focus on finishing this TPOLAW project."

PAPA J. RUIZ:

Since announcing the new East Money Bless You album coming in April, he has dropped a street single and some photographic teasers to lead up to it (more on that below). First off, in case you haven't done so yet, stream the song below and download for $1.99 via Bandcamp (or via iTunes and Spotify).



As a journalist, a fan of music, and a creative individual, I'm always curious as to how musicians, especially in today's technology-driven society, write their lyrics. Do they jot them down in a preferred phone app or do they scribble them in paper the old school way. Papa J. posted a photo of his lyric notebook yesterday, of a page that's filled with his handwriting, blacked-out marker lines, and scribbles, for the "Intro" on his forthcoming album. Pretty fun to see things like that, I think, because you get a glimpse into how a person operates when they are at their most creative--getting out feelings, thoughts, and making last-minute edits when they are putting in the hard work to write a cohesive song.

He shared a cartoon picture of himself that someone drew of him (photo here), leading us to believe that something more was going to be done with that. In a Facebook status, he said: "iii use to watch Cartoons every Saturday morning on WB & wish iii was 1 - Papa J Ruiz. Big s/o to scottievibes & naturalvibeslifestyle for fucking with my vision. We have some cool things coming in the future for all of the supporters, stay tuned."

The "embed tweet" function is not working for me on Twitter today, so I just had to screen shot these photo sets of Papa J. Ruiz getting his smoke on with his neon-colored, throwback jacket. Taken by Baylee, he tagged the first set of photos with: "1. LIGHT IT, 2. HIT IT, 3. HIT THAT BITCH AGAIN, 4. WANT A HIT?" The second set of photos: "1. PASS IT BACK, 2. HIT THE ROACH, 3. TRANSITION, 4. GOODBYE"
Click here and here to see the statuses and photos in full.
Side note: If you don't already, you should follow his Twitter profile, because he occasionally posts video clips of himself and/or really random things. So, if you're a fan, get a deeper glimpse into his life this way. Not only that, but he posts a lot of inspiring messages, late-night lady photos (haha), insight into his life, and throwback links and photos from his life. For one example, he shared the DatPiff link to his Life As I Know It Mixtape, which came out in 2012. Check it out and give it a download, if it's not already in your Papa J. Ruiz collection.

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Well, that about wraps it up.
Although I wasn't able to provide some February news from some of the others in the camp,
believe that their quietness equates to hard work.
So, with that said, stay tuned for Fiasco's post in March.
Until next time...
XOXO, TIFFOLOGY