Never Say - KR

In this installment of the Dream series, KR speaks on his performance at Central Michigan University OBU Apollo. If you didn't know I go to CMU and I did ask him to at least touch on it and after a bump, this is what I received. I did tweet while at the apollo and this is what it said: Alex_Washington: #lowkey I'm STILL mad at how #CMU did @KrackDiesel, like that really got under my skin ... Like something serious.

Note: Before I get started, I wanna give Alex Washington my apologies. Sometimes when someone gets pissed they black out and forget about the consequences of their actions. Anything I say is a reflection of me, not her, DO NOT get that twisted. The last thing I would want to do is put her in any awkward situation due to a conflict of interests.

I turned my own CD off. Me and my girlfriend rode back to Detroit. I was licking my wounds, all out confused. I didn't even wanna hear myself. I didn't wanna hear anyone. We rode in silence.

I brought her to the event. She'd been supporting my music since she met me five years ago. She's one of my #1 fans through and through. In addition to that, she hadn't been able to make my past couple of performances because we had no babysitter for our child. She was excited about seeing me perform for the first time in a while. I was excited for her to see me.

I drove two and a half hours to this place, expecting to take another step towards getting my name out there. Every performance is an opportunity to gain a fan, and I'm sure that's why artists of my stature (unknown) go to such lengths to perform wherever we can fit in. The only people I even knew at Central were people I hadn't even met in person. I was coming into a new situation with a relatively small backing.

That never stopped me before.

From Callahan's Bar & Grill in Auburn to The Shelter in the D. I've never had a performance where people didn't come up to me and salute the performance. Real n*gga sh*t. I'm used to at least one person stepping to me and telling me how well I did. It's no longer unusual to get a few new followers on twitter just based off a performance.

Which brings us to Central Michigan University's Apollo Night...

Horrendous.

I got booed THEE F*CK off stage. First time ever-might not even be the last time. I'm still not quite sure.

Here's what you may be wondering, was it because I bombed? Did I forget my lines? Were the songs wack? Watered down?

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Kill Yourself - KR

In his second post, KR talks about the 52nd Grammy Awards ceremony, what surprised him and what pissed him off.

Hello friends and enemies. I’m back. It’s good ol’ Krack Daddy with my jumbled opinions on the Grammy Awards. On second thought, make that a bunch of unanswered questions. Maybe someone can help me understand? There’s our first question of

the day.

First off, Taylor Swift just won Album of the Year. Wow.

Rihanna got her face dismantled last year. She’s still one of the biggest artists in the world. Why exactly was she not performing? Why when she was asked about the reason behind her not performing she alluded to her getting her ass kicked? Yeah I’m sure she knew Chris was going to treat her fingers like sausage links the day before the award ceremony last year.

Taylor Swift gets interrupted and so begins the pity tour of 09. I thought this was a new year, but it seems like this is only the beginning. Everyone keeps on writing about how Taylor writes her own music, blah blah blah. Damn near everything I’ve heard from her has to do with teen relationships. Girls are the stupidest when they’re her age. Stop using that argument. She’s talented, but damn…it seems like every award. How is this possible!?

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Another Dream - KR

I've been looking for another blogger for a while, but I knew it couldn't just be anyone (especially since I'm extremely picky about grammar and other things even though I slip up). I was looking for something different. I wasn't sure exactly what just different. When KR asked me if he could guest blog I took him up on the offer. He's currently in the studio working on Chain of Memories II which is releasing some time [very] soon. This series of blog posts are his thoughts in his own words. I'm calling it The Dream Series and you'll understand why.

It’s funny growing up with a head full of dreams and things you know you’ll do by the time you’re a specific age. When I was in 2^nd grade I wanted to be the first basketball playing astronaut.

At age 23 I’m 5’9 and I hate riding airplanes, fuck a spacecraft.

I look at being a kid and having all of these outlandish dreams, that no one my senior would sway me away from, and I begin to wonder, is it their fault for not telling me 99.9% of those dreams would never come to fruition or is it my fault for still not believing?

I begin to wonder, is the bitter bitch working the drive thru window at my local McDonald's bitter because she’s just a bitch or because this ain’t what she wants to do? It’s probably both, but I digress.

It’s cliché, but I think we all need dreams. Otherwise we get caught in these cycles and by the time we snap out of it we realize the mistakes we made by staying so dedicated to that cycle. Hindsight is 20/20 though; let’s see things for what they are.

I’m stuck in this cycle; I do the same things everyday in order to chase my dream.

What is the dream?

To use rap to support my family and tell my story to people. I wanted to be the biggest and most famous when I was a child. When I grew up, it was about family. When my daughter was born in 2008 and I held her in my arms for the first time, it was all about her and her well being. Fuck being famous. They’re calling Jay-Z the devil and Kanye’s being called a nigger because he interrupted some overrated white girl—TRUST ME, I don’t need fame. What I need is the mental security of knowing if I died tomorrow my daughter would be financially stable. I don’t have to be rich, but I have to be comfortable, so I deal with the uncomfortable to become comfortable—for a dream.

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Mixtape: Fin Is King 2

Well, thirty days past December and JFin has released his new mixtape Fin Is King 2. I must say, I am quite happy the mixtape is finally here. Hopefully, you have already downloaded 'InFINity & Beyond', his mixtape that released in July and have been paying some attention to his tracks the last thirty days. This mixtape is different than IAB, but definitely not in a bad way. Fin does tackle ransom but most of the beats on the tape are original. Some songs may look familiar, as they had been leaked as a part of the Thirty.30 project. It may be a couple of months a part but Fin Is King 2, definitely shows some growth and is slightly more cohesive than IAB.

My thoughts?:

First, I appreciate the fact that it's pretty much all JFin. It's not overpowered by features thus making the listener really get a feel for who he is. I like the fact that it has some consistency to it as far as style goes; it all flows nicely and doesn't sound choppy or like it jumps around a lot. For specific songs? I like them all but I do have favorites. I LOVE "Nothin' to Somethin'", "Shine Forever", "Galaxy" and "Favorite Rapper". I like them all for the same reasons delivery, wordplay and beats are good, yet they all sound different.

I have no criticisms, but I do know that some people will try to compare his style to Big Sean. The similarity is there, but upon closer listen they are indeed different.

If you couldn't catch on, I definitely think it's iTunes worthy.

Click HERE to download JFin's Fin Is King 2

Late - KR

Like his lil' bro, JFin, KR has been in the studio working on the follow up mixtape to this summer's 'Amnesia.' His next project, 'The Chain of Memories II' (I love the title) will be dropping sometime after the New Year.

In the meantime, KR is prepping folks for the release by dropping songs every Monday and Friday (must be a family thing). His series is titled "Monday Night Raw/ Friday Night Smackdown" and according to his blog he named it after the wrestling shows because:

"... I've been watching wrestling since I was about five years old and it's a habit I never broke out of. ... I wanted this series to reflect some of my favorite shit coming up. I got a thing for nostalgia."

The first two tracks of the series dropped Monday with another pair (maybe a single track) drops sometime today. The first track is "Blockstars," which is only about 1:30 in length but packs a lot of punch, "Pow ... right in the kisser."


The second joint is called "Curious," and KR stays true to the nostalgia feel by mocking the 'Living Single' theme song but even with that reference aside it has a 90s feel to it.



Now you may be quick to compare him and JFin to each other and I'm repeating myself and suggesting that you don't do that. While there are some similarities in wordplay between the two, they definitely vary in delivery.

If you want the rest of the "Monday Night Raw/Friday Night Smackdown" tracks KR has coming, just follow him on Twitter or check his blog every Monday and Friday.

Reminder - J. Fin

Money to Blow (Day 6)

You met J. Fin earlier this summer after the release of his mixtape 'InFINity & Beyond.' Well, the Southfield native is currently in the studio cooking up Fin is King 2, his next mixtape scheduled for release 12.31.2009. But to build the buzz around him, Fin took on a 30 day challenge (and I'm not talking a diet). Fin has been releasing a track a day for the month of December and will do so until his mixtape is dropped. The campaign is called 'Thirty.30 or Die', and all the songs are being put on a blog for it. December is halfway over, which means that he's halfway done with the challenge but you can catch up on what you've missed. Below you'll find a link (it's a .zip file) to download all 16 songs so far and if you want to continue on with 17 through 30 just follow J. Fin on Twitter or visit the blog for the next two weeks to see what's new.

Click HERE to download days 1 - 16.

Let the Beat Build - Lil' Wayne

Royalty Ent. and the peeps over at ScollasWord.com have teamed up to present to you The "Hell of a Night" Remix Contest. If you're not familiar with either, JFin dropped his mixtape 'InFINity & Beyond' last month (and also did a video interview with Tha 'A' Side check that http://thaaside.blogspot.com/2009/07/like-it-or-not-jfin.html) and Scolla's Word is the homie Young Scolla's blog (with the help of Binks).

The goal is to remix JFin's song "Hell of a Night" there's an open verse on the version Scolla posted and which leaves you aspiring rappers and such an opportunity to display your skills. Here's the official lowdown from Scolla's Word:

Participants have until 8.23.09 to submit to scollasword@gmail.com their remix versions to "Hell Of A Night".
The top 4 remixes will be chosen and JFin will choose the final two verses to make the official remix live on ustream. The Final remix will be placed on the 1st Official "ScollasWord Mixtape" as well as blasted to the ScollasWord Web List (Over 100 major blogs)


*Participants will judged based on production/recording quality, creativity, delivery and track presense.

Interested? Well download the contest mix for "Hell of a Night" here and get started.