Hey, everybody! Happy new year to you all, and I hope it's a fantastic one! It's been a little awhile since I've graced the OGT Weekly blog (three weeks since Fiasco's post, I believe), and there's reason for that. Christmas and the new year were approaching, things got a little hectic, and before I knew it... it was January. Then, shortly after the wonderful NYE festivities, I became sick. Just like most of the population. That damned cold attacked my body... and I've been dealing with a sore throat, congestion, and all the horrible feelings that travel hand-in-hand with that. I'm still a bit sick, but today is the first that I don't feel like sleeping it off, and I am willing and able to do things on my laptop (cough, cough, hacking cough, blows nose). I'm going to do my best to catch you all up with the happenings since Fiasco's last post. It's going to be a long ride. Are you ready?
Wrapping up the year,
Poe decided to showcase his eye for directing and editing music videos, by creating a 2-minute director's reel. While various clips of his work plays out, he narrates about his passion for being behind the camera, as well as his strive to be one of the best. If you haven't checked it out yet, you might want to do that (
click here to watch on Youtube in HD, or watch the mini player below). And if you want to hire him to direct your next music video/project, make sure you hit up his
website. One more thing, if you haven't subscribed to the
ORGANIZED THREAT Youtube Channel, you might want to do that, to keep up with everything new as it gets uploaded. The channel has skyrocketed to 70,000+ subscribers, and almost 20 million collective views!
From Von Poe VII: "Since 2011, I've been dedicating my entirety to shooting music videos for my crew (Organized Threat) as well as a few exceptions outside of my camp in the Southern California music scene. Throughout all of this time however, a lot of people had heard about through word of mouth. Why I never put a reel together in the past kind of baffles me as well to be honest, but I think I just didn't feel I had enough material to create a reel that I would be satisfied with.
With 2014 coming to an end, I wanted to close it out properly and create a foundation for future directing endeavors soon to come. So I made a reel to display my directing and editing skills all in one nice, neatly made, 2min video. Hope you all enjoy, and if you have any questions feel free to reach out."
Before the year was up, Poe shared a golden piece of information. He released his very first album, titled
The Atma Within, in 2005 when he was just 16 years old. On April 13th, 2015, he will be celebrating its 10th anniversary, and will put a fully remastered version of the album on his Bandcamp page for ONE DAY. While that's four months away, you better mark that on your calendars. You also might want to
check out the artwork - it's so 2005, haha!
Aside from OLD MUSIC, he also dropped some NEW MUSIC on his Soundcloud page. Dissatisfied with the other remixes of Troy Ave's "All About The Money" song (I've never listened to Troy Ave, btw), "
All About The Villain Remix" finds Poe lacing his own version, and he doesn't hold back. All bite behind that bark. With an aggressive flow and heated bars, the villain is throwing verbal fists and is coming for heads of corrupted officers. It's a hard song. Stream and
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE!
His second offering was another remix, but this time it was a remix of an ASAP Rocky track, called "Lord Pretty Flacko 2". I'll be the first to admit that I don't listen to ASAP Rocky (no particular reason, just haven't gotten into the dude), so I'm not familiar with the original. However, I can talk about Poe's version "
The Villain 2". While I am not really gravitating towards the beat so much, I am feeling Poe's grimy approach, go-hard-or-go-home attitude, and his rapid-fire delivery. My favorite part is the second verse, too, because he's spitting some from-the-heart, real shit, like representing for his town, demanding respecting, getting to where he is without hand-outs, and the shady friends that turned their backs on him after he's helped them in some way. The villain is poetically killin' 'em. Once again, stream and
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE.
Last, but not least, the final track that he recently dropped is a tribute to Jay Z. Spitting over his "Feelin' It" song, which was originally on Jay's
Reasonable Doubt album, Poe adds a couple of verses. Rapping about his come-up and the life he's living, from being raised on rappers like Tupac and being inspired by the East Coast culture, rapping about his first love, staying focused on contributing to hip hop, and his goals of his music making him successful. Now this is a remix that I can get behind! Stream and
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE.
FUN FACT TIME: Did you know that teenager Poe once wanted to be a woodsmith? Yes, true. He built toy cars and planes, and things of that nature. Check the
photo on Instagram! You never know, maybe one of these days he'll put a hand-crafted wood piece in a future music package and it could become a collectible item! Haha.
Papa J's "
Me Against The World" music video has finally reached over 20K views, and is well on its way to 25K. If you haven't seen it yet, or if you just wanna watch it again, go do that! Share it with your friends, too, because his
HR1955 album will be out before you know it. IN FACT, he announced the
release date already...
MARCH 25th! His listening party information was also unveiled!
It will be held at KMG Studios (in Greenwood Village, Colorado) on March 24th, between 7PM-9PM. While it is open to the public to attend, there will only be 50 SEATS AVAILABLE. Save the date, save the time, save the address, and make sure you are there early! Each seated person will recieve a free signed CD, too! Peep the flyer below.
Regarding the album and the experience,
Papa J. Ruiz said: "
GOD watches everything. iii don't know how this is going to work out but iiim promise to YOU ALL that #HR1955 will be a CLASSIC! iii want you all to experience HIP HOP in a whole new light. THIS ALBUM IS A STORY KNOW ONE HAS SPOKE ON. Love you mommy and pops you guys will be retired iii SWEAR TO GOD! #iii #ORGANIZEDTHREAT / #HR1955 3/25/15"
In the last few weeks, JMega dropped two new True Masterz songs. The first is called "
Kosher", and it finds him spitting two quick verses, loosely about what it's like being a universal leader. The second, and most recent song, is called "
Expansions". Over a smooth groove of a buzzing bassline and dusty drums, the verses focus on staying cool, calm, collected, while elevating your life. This one is my favorite of the two.
With his
Stay Still album coming in the Spring of this year, producer/rapper JG dropped his second single on the first of the year. Even though it's the unmastered version, "
A Simple Notion/A Complex Emotion" shows me his skill on the mic, because I thought he was strictly a producer. I'm feeling it, even though it's a rough edit. I sense a dark, melancholy vibe in his storytelling. In contemplating his life and the future that waits for him, he talks about weeding out fake friends, finding truth behind the lies, and preparing himself for any rejection that lies ahead.
When I asked him for his insight on the song, he said: "
The album it's apart of is a concept album that takes place after a catastrophic event. So, each track is a mindset you would find that atmosphere. This particular track is about the main character's struggle with the loss of his woman, his disgust with the state of life, and his struggle trying to find love again."
Also, JG put together the 5th installment in the
OGT Mix Series. A little over 15 minutes in length,
VOLUME 5 combines JG's favorite songs from Papa J. Ruiz, Vida Killz, Von Poe VII, EmptySev, and Razor. Find the track list below, then stream and
download the mix for free.
MIX TRACKLIST:
Papa J. Ruiz - "Eyes Closed" [Prod.Joogy Jugg]
Chateau Des Dieux - "Paranoia" [Prod. JG]
Von Poe VII - "Delegation" (Feat. Papa J. Ruiz) [Prod. Ruman]
EmptySev - "Bloody Sabre (Viktor Kreed)" [Prod Ruman]
Razor - "Retaliate" [Prod. Chaper 3 Beats]
Here's an OGT collaborative track for you! EmptySev teamed up with
Xican Brown for the first time, for a song called "The Coming". The two get wild on this song, produced by
Ruman, with the intro done by Koolz One. It's a tough song. However, I found myself laughing at the following one-liner by Xican Brown: "
Smooth as cream cheese sliding through the fuckin' bagel". Haha, so random. Cool track, overall. Stream and
download for free!
Earlier tonight, Xican Brown dropped a brand new track. He had linked up with another fellow OGT member,
Koolz One, for "Poison Darts". Produced by Xican Brown himself, the two are spitting lyrical venom, proving why they are a formidable threat. Both of them are witty with the wordplay and their flows are fierce, too. Stream below, then
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE.
A couple of weeks ago, Koolz One dropped a dope posse track called "Body Bags". It featured Xican Brown and
Razor, with production handled by
Rellim. These three blood-thirsty emcees spit vicious, cautionary bars, sending death warnings to anyone that gets in their way or disrespects the mic. This one will be on Koolz One's forthcoming album, titled
The Alpha, scheduled for release sometime this year. Stream below and
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE!
Vida has been posting several short video pieces that find her lacing some spoken word pieces - some heard and some unheard yet. On December 17th, she posted three 15-second spoken word pieces. Listen to them here:
PT 1,
PT 2, and
PT 3. The next day, she followed that up with another video, where she's reciting lines from her
Daydreams And Nightmares album. Watch that
here, and look out for that album sometime this year. On December 20th, she posted another one, this time it's something from DeathKillz (can't wait for the second album from them!):
check that video. Lastly, before the year was up, she posted one last one (
watch).
Aside from videos, she's been sharing sneak peak photos from her life (
young Vida,
her desk space, and
winter beauties), as well as letting us know that she has a lot planned for the year.
This cool Soulcat has a couple of shows lined up that you should know about, especially if you live in Vienna. The first one is going down on January 17th, for Kültür Gemma. It's a performative presentation of a film, literary performance, and live music. She will be performing at the end of the event. Check
this link for more information, or go to
the site to see a bigger version of the flyer.
The second show takes place on January 23rd, for the Soli-Konzert: HipHop gegen Strache im Einbaumöbel. This show show is hosted by
Linkswende, which is a political organization against racism and fascism. It will be focused around hop hop making a statement against Australian politician Strache. About the event, Soulcat E-Phife said: "
Next up with ESRAP, SOULCAT E5 uvm.!! Vienna, don't miss this if you wanna make a statement. The right wingers is sueing the left party and we gotta make this bullshit stop, so we get together for a night emerged in HIPHOP and solidarity."
FACEBOOK EVENT INFO.
Let's see what Yarah has been up to these last couple of weeks, shall we? Before closing the year, she performed her
fourth show in Paris within a year;
volunteered at a homeless shelter for Christmas; she hung out with a
really cute owl; her
Love Is The Movement EP was
nominated for "EP Of The Year" at the Kingsize Gala, in Sweden; and she shared a goofy, "
happy New Years" video that she filmed in her hotel. She then welcomed the new year with uplifting words, open arms and the desire to spread love, and a beautiful picture of the queen herself (seen below).
----------------------------
DOWNLOAD AREA
For easy finding, I've listed the free-to-download songs that I've shared throughout this post. We all love free music, so get to grabbing!
VON POE VII - "All About The Villain Remix" [
DOWNLOAD]
VON POE VII - "The Villain 2 Remix" [
DOWNLOAD]
VON POE VII - "Feelin' It Remix" [
DOWNLOAD]
OGT MIX VOLUME 5 [
DOWNLOAD]
EMPTYSEV x XICAN BROWN - "THE COMING" [
DOWNLOAD]
XICAN BROWN x KOOLZ ONE - "POISON DARTS" [
DOWNLOAD]
KOOLZ ONE - "BODY BAGS" (ft XICAN BROWN & RAZOR) [
DOWNLOAD]
----------------------------Andddddd, I'm done! That was a long post, huh?
I hope you read through it all or, at the very least, skimmed through it to get the important parts.
Have a great weekend to come!
See you next time.
XOXO, TIFFOLOGY
