“Beyond Sundown” by Adrian H. Molina w/ Mannequin Rituals, featuring Day Acoli & Helen Changthongthip, CHiTT Productions (2008)
Mass deception, coups d’etats left and right, shared confusion, no way to tell what’s real and what’s fake—a collective inability to ascertain truth from lies because the spin doctors are that good.
Polar ice caps melting, mass global poverty ignored, apocalyptic natural disasters, conspiracies linking what was once natural to what is now claimed to be man-made. Seemingly no empirical way to make sense of it all, so the masses don’t even try. They just wait for 2012.
Sticking with the theme of the moon, “Letters to the Moon Pt. 1 (Heart in Motion)” appears on Sacred Paths—a collaboration with Asia Jazz Project.
Sacred Paths is a 9-track album that fuses nu jazz and living word poetry. It was released on September 20th, 2009—a day that marked both Asia’s and Aju’s 26th birthdays. The album contains two tracks that are each almost 15 minutes long. These tracks are more like journeys, or opuses, than they are songs.
following “Like Magic” and “The People II”. If you like what you hear, click “download” above to purchase the track and support Soulaju music.
This week’s reflection builds off last week’s post, when I wrote about Wrong Ways (Aju Version). I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the my work within the male/female duo SOULAJU, especially since we are increasingly asked to speak and perform at events that focus on gender equality.
Working within the context of a male/female duo has profoundly impacted my ongoing development as a man.
This is the Aju version of Wrong Ways, released on Shine Flow EP w/ Dj Icewater (2009). The Molina version appears on the forthcoming album SOULAJU.
Mixed entangled confusion / infused by my name and tongue / constant duality, redefine sanity, birth burning heart internationality…
This is one of the oldest stories in human history, because people have always moved, for survival, for opportunity, sometimes for love. Sometimes we are pushed or pulled by the wind, not knowing where we may land.
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…”
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.
[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)
