This is the second version of The People. It is the second single off the forthcoming album SOULAJU, set for release March 23rd, 2010. The single can be purchased for $.99 via the download link above.
The first version of The People was titled “People (Molina Mix)”. It appeared on Shine Flow EP w/ DJ Icewater, released June 9th, 2009. I wrote the original in October 2008 in Portland, OR, where I was emceeing Graham St. Productions’ first major fundraiser for Papers the movie. I was two months into the Up Before the Sunrise tour. After the Papers benefit, I hopped on the plane and headed to the Bay Area to volunteer for Youth Speaks’ Living Word festival. At the end of my stay in the Bay, I recorded “People (Molina Mix)” and “Shine Flow” with Icewater in Oakland, CA and did an interview with Hard Knock Radio. I added (Molina Mix) to the title of People because Icewater is a mixtape DJ, so he often uses the same beat for multiple purposes, so I figured that other emcees would be flowing over the same beat.
This second version, The People II, was written and recorded in December of 2009 for SOULAJU. It was a last-minute decision at the time, being that the album was originally set for January release. The words came to me one evening when Aju and I were catching up on Democracy Now episodes. I felt like The People needed an update, so I put the pad to the pen and flipped the track.
To some people, this may seem unoriginal—the same artist using the same beat twice to tell a similar story. To me, this hella fresh. As an emcee, an instrumental is a blank canvas. Give 20 emcees the same beat and you’ll get 20 different stories. Give me the same beat with the same hook two different years and I’ll give you two different stories that are similar in vein, but different enough to provide new insight and keep your attention. Hip-Hop is all about re-creating and re-using, building upon what has already been done, personally, musically, culturally.
So… enjoy the new mix and keep motivating and originating in 2010. We’re definitely in the middle of very destructive times, but the flip side of destruction is that it offers space for creation.
“I strut, I flow, my style I’m all mine / I shine my truth / I chop, mash up time / you work, you grind, you climb with no interlude / your push, your pull, you rise high, it’s all you…”
Peace to our fans, friends, and supporters. We came to a difficult decision this week. We will be pushing back the release date of SOULAJU with DJ Icewater until March 23, 2010.
The album’s release date was set for next Tuesday, January 26th. We planned a month-long series of events in Denver to celebrate this release with our friends and fam here. Last week, we hosted an album listening party at the Gypsy House Cafe in Denver, giving several dozen people a sneak peak at the album. We also co-hosted a successful SOULAJU Youth Jam and Climate Change workshop at Green Spaces Denver on January 15th. We will move forward with the other events we have planned to celebrate the work that has been done, and the work that is to come.
DJ Icewater will be in town for pre-release events next week, including a free youth DJ Workshop at the Flobots Community Center and a pre-release party at the Walnut Room in Denver, CO on January 29th at 8:30PM. Tix for the Walnut Room show are $8. We are also excited to announce that the Secret Techniques B-Boy crew at the University of Wyoming will be hosting us for a show on January 28th. The performance is free for UW students. Doors open at 9PM in the Union Ballroom of the Student Union. Crowds at both of these events will have the exclusive opportunity to see the SOULAJU set performed for the first time.
We appreciate your continuing support in our decision to delay the release of SOULAJU. Combined, we have released four solid projects in less than a year and a half, including Molina’s release of Up Before the Sunrise in August 2008 and the My America benefit cd for Papers the movie. We have kept a hectic touring schedule and have spent a great deal of time working with youth in schools, community programs, detention centers, and group homes.
We are confident in our decision to take a little more time with the release of SOULAJU, which we have been working on since the fall of 2008. Several of the earliest tracks will be re-written, re-recorded, and re-mastered to better reflect the work we are doing now. We want to give our best and most honest work to the fans and communities we represent.
We have released a free download of “Like Magic” —the first international single off SOULAJU, which you can download at http://www.mediafire.com/?zoe4lmj5zyl. We will continue to leak bits and pieces of the 15-track album to the broader public in February and early March.
As for our most energetic fans who are really jones’n for the new tunes, we appreciate your patience. Keep spreading the word.
As MLK Day 2010 comes to a close, I am reminded of my responsibility as an emcee. I walk in many shoes and wear many hats. I use my music to entertain, to educate, to inspire, to provoke thought, to create controversy. These lines often intersect and sometimes they become blurry. I don’t expect everyone to support everything I do. At the end of the day, I am accountable first and foremost to myself.
“Like Magic”, Soulaju — Molina Soleil & Aju w/ DJ Icewater (2010)
Download this MP3 – (Right Click)
This is the first single off the forthcoming album Soulaju. This is one of the first tracks Aju and I recorded together in Oakland, CA back in December 2008.
On “Like Magic” we aimed for that ethereal sense of sensual energy that stops time. This multilingual track is one of three on Soulaju that explore themes of love, sexuality, arousal, and sensuality.
I have largely stayed away from these themes since I began releasing music. Sexuality is overdone in American media, and I have been known to say that sexual does not equal sexy. Most of what is passed off as sexy in our society is cheesy or misogynistic, or both.
The music we were given by DJ Icewater pushed me to be a better storyteller; to be adaptive, to be daring, to have fun with the music; to blend my experiences and what I have seen with what I can only imagine…
Circle back to one of many beginnings. It was 2007 when I released Representin’ 4 Life EP. This intro was the first track the world heard from Adrian H. Molina.
I’ve never been more actively involved in the creation of Hip-Hop, but I’ve never identified less with the “dominant” paradigm in rap music.
I am not alone. Listeners of Hip-Hop are growing tired of the violence, misogyny and hyper-masculine antics in commercialized rap music. Byron Hurt’s Beyond Beats & Rhymes is one prime example of this discussion.
What I want to focus on is intelligence within Hip-Hop, ‘cause we are geniuses.
Touted as the best small venue in Denver by Westword and the Denver Post, The Walnut Room will host the Soulaju release party on January 29th, 2010. Bay-Area mixtape legend DJ Icewater produced the album and will be in town for the event. The national street release date for Soulaju is January 26th, 2010.
DJ Icewater is the tour DJ for The Pharcyde. Highly respected for his support of independent artists, DJ Icewater has put out over 40 mixtapes. Most recently, he has mixed albums for international phenom Shing02 and up-and-coming Bay Area artist Jern Eye. More events are being planned in connection with Icewater’s visit to the Mile High City. Stay tuned…
[MO-LEE-NA SO-LAY + AH-JOO] Molina Soleil & Aju’s genre-bending style is pure fusion. The bold and eclectic duo blends cultures, languages, and artistic styles, combining masculine and feminine energies, water and fire. Molina is a reflective wordsmith who pairs conscious & experimental flows with the soulful sound of Aju--a poetic vocalist who weaves 5 languages into timeless allegories & modern-day proverbs. The duo works together as artists, educators, social activists and youth advocates.
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“Like Magic”, Soulaju — Molina Soleil & Aju w/ DJ Icewater (2010)
