Guest Star

I feel truly blessed to be SOHH.com's first "Official" Artist, thanks to all the readers for all of your support.

The real aim of the 16 Words Tour was to let the fans know how important these songs were to me. The concept evolved from an idea we had to do an alternate track listing for the album, and we just couldn't quite figure out how to roll that out in the right way. Brainstorming off of some designs for the album artwork, posters, etc, a couple of these words jumped at me right from the page. I started to play around with the concept and everything just seemed to click. The 16 Words Tour is really The Eardrum Tour. Each song from the album is embodied in a single word title, you extract your own meaning from it.

If you check this blog, I will be giving you a better idea of what these words mean, as well as other things to check for like track listings and concert tour dates.

Let's get into the first video where I discuss the first three tracks on the album, "Everything Man" - excellence, "NY Weather Report - determination and "Hostile Gospel" - fire.

When I go do interviews, sometimes I'm asked "Kweli, where you been?" I get that because some people think that if you don't have a video or song in rotation, then you are sitting idly by waiting for your next hit. Today's artist cannot be scared to work outside of the system. That's why I picked the word Courage for the track "Say Something." The fact is, I travel more than any hip hop artists, other than the Roots. I see Common, Blackalicious and some others on the road, but I wish I saw every artist out there. It is hard and tiring sometimes, but it is my charge. I go to schools, clubs, cultural events, and so on. So when people say, where you been, I been everywhere, where you been? If you haven't seen me out, then you need to get out more, real talk.

Blacksmith is a flag for progressive minded people to wave. I roll with a crew of visionaries but someone has to be a leader and show a singular focus. Blacksmith is a collective of artists that you can be proud of because we lead by example, not rhetoric. Blacksmith is the future and the vanguard of hiphop culture.

Check out the Trailer for Blacksmith TV, an electric hybrid of television, documentary, film and music housed in 10 short episodes. It will be a combination of rare behind the scenes footage, interviews with Jean Grae, Strong Arm Steady and many special guests. All Content will be original, new, and unreleased.

For more info on Blacksmith TV go to http://blacksmithtv.com/.

Pain is love, pain is hate, pain is the artists best friend. Sometimes we cut ourselves to see if we bleed, to see if we are still alive. We utilize the pain of hunger, growth, poverty, relationships and death to make art that expresses what people feel inside but don't always have the outlet for. Some of the best pieces of music, whether it is "Night Shift" by the Commodores, "T.R.O.Y." by Pete Rock and CL Smooth, "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John, or "Dillatastic Volume (Won)derful" by the Roots are tribute songs, wrapped in pain and hope.

There were people who have passed on recently that have really touched my life, and I wanted to pay tribute to them over this Pete Rock track so I created "Holy Moly" or Pain. Gerald Levert had a classic voice and carried on the family tradition of the O'Jays properly. He reached out to work with me right before he passed. Rest in Peace brother. James Brown was the Godfather of Soul, but there would be no hip hop without him, we owe him our musical lives. He was a respected musician with a couple of hits until he put out that Live at the Apollo album in '66. Then the audience really understood him. I understand that struggle. I also got to tour with him in Austrailia in the year he passed. That's amazing to me.

EXCELLENCE is achieved through DETERMINATION & COURAGE. FAMILY strengthens FAITH and provides BALANCE. SUSTENANCE oftentimes necessitates PAIN, but through LOVE & HOPE one can truly realize POWER. PASSION spreads the FIRE of BEAUTY. This is HIP HOP each bolded word in this paragraph represents a song on the album.

Explore the tracks from the album Eardrum, and the stories behind them

The next three songs on the album are "Give Em Hell"/Faith, "Stay Around"/Love and More or Less"/Balance.

Today's religious organization draw their power from blind FAITH. The doctrines that the heirarchy pass down stress faith over education, when the two really go hand in hand. How can you justify not educating yourself about the history of that which you worship?

What could be blasphemous about knowledge and understanding? When I first learned the history of the church and especially western religions, I was teenager and decided I was an atheist. Then I felt God's presence in my life, and as I studied, I saw way more similiarities in religious ways of life than differences. I saw how foolish it was to deny God, but I could understand why the masses seem puzzled. Religion as we know it is a concoction of man, not God. Each religion has beauty in it that we can learn from, but dogma kills and starts wars.

There is nothing wrong with making songs about rims or songs about the strip club, because I can appreciate fresh rims or a fly strip club as well. The problem is the lack of BALANCE that is presented in the mainstream. There is nothing wrong with records about societal ills, or spirituality either. Our people are not one dimensional and I strive to make music that represents that. My music challenges the format, and I like it that way.

Recently, hip hop music has been blamed for violence and misogny, the cornerstones of american culture. The mainstream media focuses on the earning potential of the music without respecting the art. They talk about record sales and hip hop's influence on children, but they never mention the artist who do it for the LOVE.

Those of us who love this music have to be proactive in it's defense.
DJ's should be spinning sets of artists who put love into their music, especially if they claim to love hip hop. Like I said before, it is these artists that do it for the love that light the fire to keep us burning. These are the artists who will stay around for years, while you are embarrassed about that song you used to like 3 years ago...

As I told you in one of my earlier posts, I travel more than any hip hop artists, other than the Roots. It is hard and tiring sometimes, but it is my charge. I go to schools, clubs, cultural events, and so on. My upcoming tour dates are below. If you haven't seen me out, then you need to get out more, real talk.

Aug 15 2007 9:00P
Showbox
Seattle, Washington

Aug 16 2007 9:00P
Crystal Ballroom
Portland, Oregon

Aug 17 2007 9:30P
Domino Room
Bend, Oregon

Aug 18 2007 3:30P
McCovey Cove "Rock The Bells"
San Francisco, California

Aug 19 2007 4:00P
Sleep Train Ampitheatre
Marysville, California

The last four songs on Eardrum, which is in stores August 21st are "Hot Thing"/Beauty, Perfect Beat"/Hip Hop, "My Stars"/Hope and "Listen"/Power.

I write hip hop love songs because I love hip hop. I love it's potential for tribute. I grew up around strong beautiful women, so I am not ashamed to celebrate that BEAUTY. I think that is what a real man does. Not that there aren't foul women out there, but they have an abundance of songs to choose from. The good women have to search for their songs. Beauty is my favorite thing to write about because you can never run out of ways to describe it. If you think that's soft, you're probably lonely.

If you saw my post yesterday you know I talked about my single "Hot Thing" and the word Beauty. If not, here's what I said:

I write hip hop love songs because I love hip hop. I love it's potential for tribute. I grew up around strong beautiful women, so I am not ashamed to celebrate that beauty. I think that is what a real man does. Not that there aren't foul women out there, but they have an abundance of songs to choose from. The good women have to search for their songs. Beauty is my favorite thing to write about because you can never run out of ways to describe it. If you think that's soft, you're probably lonely.

Check out the brand new video for "Hot Thing/ In the Mood" and let me know what you think.

This is a special cover of the iTunes version of my album, Eardrum, which is in stores now.

Click here to purchase it.