Thirty-eight weeks into 2010. This A.M. Soleil, Retrospectively project is only one blog a week, but putting down something meaningful each week in addition all the new stuff I’m working on definitely keeps me on my toes. The fall equinox already has me reflecting on 2010 like its December 31st.
SOULAJU will perform our last show of 2010 at the Boulder Theater on Oct. 1st. Bill includes us, The Reminders, and Les Nubians. People still needing tix can pick those up here: http://bouldertheater.com/event_detail.php?id=1319. We have a few video shoots coming up and some big youth advocacy events/projects in October, then SOULAJU goes on hiatus until February 2011.
During this hiatus, I’ll be getting back into my solo element. DJ Icewater will be putting out a 45’ single that features my vocals. I have some long-awaited collabs lined up with Denver and Albuquerque emcees and producers.
This necessary shift takes me back to the October 2008.
Hip-Hop meets Bossa Nova, poetry meets bilingual reflections. “Timeless” captures the essence of SOULAJU’s fusion. Aju is a lover of languages, cultures, and foreign lands. I’ve always been that old soul Hip-Hop head that can’t get enough of the rhymes. We both stay hungry for fresh ideas and new challenges. DJ Icewater continually fed that hunger in 08 and 09 with his creative energy.
This was one of the last beats DJ Icewater sent us for the SOULAJU album. Aju was working at a Brazilian Jazz bar in New York City at the time and thinking about how to make a trip to Brazil a reality.
Video edited by Adrian H. Molina. Filmed by Molina and Amy J. Iwasaki in Bahia, Brazil (Aug 2010).
“Timeless” by SOULAJU w/ DJ Icewater, released on the debut full-length album SOULAJU, March 23rd, 2010.
A.M. Soleil, Retrospectively is a 52-week blog series in 2010, tracing back five years of independent music by Molina.
Time in Brazil
Aju and I had an opportunity to spend 3 weeks in Brazil this summer. Aju danced at Escola de Danca for two weeks with American and Brazillian dancers, studying Brazilian cultural traditions, Afro-Brazilian dance, Candomblé rites and the Orixás.
For me, the trip was a break from the pounding of time that I feel in my life, my work, my existence here in the states. My only goal was to shoot some video footage for a possible DIY music video. Otherwise, I was on my own time. No laptop, no cell phone, no schedule, no to-do lists.
“A Reflection of Hip-Hop” appeared on Representin’ 4 Life EP by Adrian H. Molina aka Mo Brown (2007), CHiTT Productions
I’ve been using this acapella piece as a crowd pleaser since 2005. I spit the rhyme for the first time at an open mic night at Coal Creek Coffee House in Laramie, WY. I recorded this track in 2006 with Will Ross of CHiTT Productions. We recorded in my bedroom, turned the room upside down and inside out: makeshift studio, mattresses pushed up against the windows and the walls. Borrowed mic, laptop setup, homemade pop filter.
We were very meticulous about the details. Everything had to be right. Unplugged the refrigerator and the other appliances in the kitchen even though they were all the way down the hall. We didn’t want the reverberation of the machines’ lull fuckin’ with our energy or our soundwaves. We paused when trucks drove by and scrapped the takes when we felt that minor noises outside might cloud the sound quality of the recording.
“Skydreamer” by Adrian H. Molina w/ Mannequin Rituals featuring Helen Chanthongthip, Up Before the Sunrise, released by CHiTT Productions (2008)
Skydreamer is the opening track off Up Before the Sunrise, my first full-length album. It was a dream. I had been writing rhymes for 10 years, constantly envisioning what my first album might look like. What would it sound like? What would I say if I had one chance, one album, to say something to the world?
I started writing material for Up Before the Sunrise during the summer of 2006. I had been through a lot during the years prior. In 2005 I left the life I was living. It was a life that wasn’t mine. It was beating me down, slowly murdering me, and it probably would have killed me, mentally and spiritually, if not physically. I faced my demons, handled my business, then tested out my wings.
This is one of two tracks SOULAJU released with DJ Ceiba for “My America”, a benefit compilation for Papers the movie, released July 4th, 2009. The other SOULAJU/CEIBA collaboration is “Believe It”.
Sending love out to Brotha Sean aka DJ Ceiba, who recently became a father. Ceiba is a Harlem-based drummer, DJ, and producer. He puts together jarring, head-nodding beats, fusing Reggae, Latin, and Hip-Hop influences. Ceiba flirts with some samples but relies mostly on his own musicianship.
Switchin’ up the vibe and pulse. Recent weekly Retrospectives explored the lighter side of my work. A.M. Soleil, Retrospectively now moves back into harder-hitting territory.
Everyone’s heard the song “Gettin’ Mine.” Every rapper’s got a Gettin’ Mine track. The world is in a Gettin’ Mine state of mind. This is my version of Gettin’ Mine.
I was on a train from Copenhagen, Denmark to Berlin, Germany when I wrote this poem. There was a lot of movement that day, in the waters and in the sky. The colors held me. I watched everything in silence, breathing it all in until it was time to write…
I wrote five Letters to the Moon during a journey through northern Europe in November 2008. Three of these poems became compositions on Sacred Paths.
This Letter was written near a small town maybe 30 miles or so south of Dublin, Ireland. I can’t recall the name of the town, but I remember the day well. I remember the way the pen felt in my hand, the coldness of my fingers as a I scribbled the ocean’s words.
Representin’ (4 Life) by Adrian H. Molina w/ Mannequin Rituals first appeared on Representin’ 4 Life EPin 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.
