Representin’ (4 Life) by Adrian H. Molina w/ Mannequin Rituals first appeared on Representin’ 4 Life EP in March 2007. It was re-released on my first full-length album, Up Before the Sunrise, August 2008.
My main goal with my first EP was to clearly define my work as an artist, to define what I represented.
Sometimes I sit on a cloud and think… Me inside of you… you inside me…
A simple but retrospective track, tracing roots, paying homage, showing respect to some of the people, and thus all of the people, who made me who I am.
The art of storytelling boils down to the ability to capture a feeling, to pull in a listener and make them feel you. To transport them into your world, weaving them seamlessly back into their own world, then back again, in and out, continuously, beyond the story itself.
Molina Soleil & Aju (SOULAJU) w/ DJ Icewater 2010
REMIX: The original version of Wrong Ways appeared on Shine Flow EP during the summer of 2009. That was an Aju story—a journey through cultural 
transformation and personal affirmation.
The Soleil Mix is a tale of personal struggle—something everyone can relate to. Some of us have it rougher than others and circumstances transform us in unexpected ways.
“Young Brown Poet” by Adrian H. Molina w/ Mannequin Rituals, CHiTT Productions (2008)
The Journey
Circle back to one of many beginnings. It was November 4th, 2006. I had the opportunity to open for Saul Williams at the University of Wyoming. Will Ross was running sound for ASTEC—the University of Wyoming’s student government sponsored production team.
I knew of Will, having run into him continuously at UW events, but we had never really had a meaningful conversation.
While running sound, Will recorded my performance on his mini-disc recorder. Young Brown Poet lit him up, and the next day he emailed the vocal track to Dustin Neal, his fellow band-mate and co-founder of CHiTT Productions.
Out of nowhere, I got an email from Will, telling me to check out a rough mix of Dustin’s vision of Young Brown Poet. Will explained how he had sent the track to Dustin in the morning, who ran home over his lunch hour and recorded music to the words. Will mixed it down.
I was floored by what I heard. Completely unexpected.
“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.
“Da Indies”, Shine Flow EP — Molina Soleil & Aju w/ DJ Icewater (2009)
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“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…”
…the first words heard from my first collaboration with Aju and DJ Icewater. It was a big shift in style and presentation from the more gritty Up Before the Sunrise album.
“Kite Runner”, Up Before the Sunrise—Adrian H. Molina w/ Mannequin Rituals, CHITT Productions (2008)
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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.
“Representin’ Intro”, Representin’ 4 Life EP w/ Mannequin Rituals, CHiTT Productions (2007)
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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 aka Mo Brown
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