Molina and Aju are exploring music, arts, social justice and youth advocacy work on the solo tip for the tyme being.
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On Dec. 7th, MOLINA released a 45 single with DJ Icewater on 7” vinyl. The single features "FAM BIZ”, with an appearance by Molina’s 7 year-old son.
Producer Diles’ Albuquerque to Denver to New York MOOD STATIC compilation features two guest spots by MOLINA.
With the Moutain West / Southwest Denver to Burque connection growing stronger, MOLINA is set to release full-length album “NAME & TOWN” w/ Diles on January 18th, 2011. The new album features collaborations with 303 emcee Mane Rok and Denver vocalist Venus Cruz, along with guest spots by Albuquerque artists Hakim Be and Sol. A string of additional MOLINA works is set to follow early in 2011.
FOR ALL FUTURE INFORMATION ABOUT MOLINA MUSIC, visit www.molinaspeaks.com, where the MOLINA SPEAKS blog has also been moved.
If you’ve been following Molina’s 52-week music blog: A.M. Soleil, Retrospectively, weeks 49 through 52 will be published at http://www.molinaspeaks.com/category/molinaspeaks/. The entire blog series will be catalogued there early in 2011.
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Stay tuned for AJU updates and a few SOULAJU surprises… when the tyme is right…
Thank you to all who have offered timeless energy and support.
“Wings of the Butterfly” by Mannequin Rituals featuring SOULAJU. This track appears in the movie “Papers” – a film about undocumented youth.
Papers is a documentary film that tells the story of undocumented youth pursuing higher education in American society. The film has screened in all 50 states. It was recently released for personal home DVD purchase and can be licensed for educational use by universities, libraries, non-profit and for-profit organizations.
“Wings of the Butterfly” is one of a half-dozen songs featured in Papers. Dustin Neal of Mannequin Rituals wrote the music and inspired the concept. Will Ross of CHiTT Productions produced the track. Aju and myself wrote and performed the vocals.
Dustin sent the track when i was in Mexico City late in July, 2009. I lay in my hotel room the final morning and bumped the instrumental on repeat, watching monarch butterflies flying in droves high above cities throughout the United States.
I saw THE DREAMERS as butterflies, delicate and susceptible to danger and capture, but strong and agile as they pushed forward in the wind, demanding a space for themselves in the world.
I am not a religious man, but a spiritual man. Nevertheless, the religious imagery came as I watched the men in my family live out their struggle as immigrants. I saw a daughter i did not have, beautiful eyes, hungry and dependent upon me. And I began to write…
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.
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.
A Mile High City mover, shaker and tastemaker recently blogged about SOULAJU.
The General is a makeup artist, designer, event emcee, blogger, and in her own words “a bunch of other shit. Ask about me.”
On SOULAJU:
“It’s the kinda shit that makes you wanna just lay back and close your eyes so you can feel every word. It’s like dark smokey vintage lounge sexy meets earthy nature sexy meets 3am urban sexy meets revolution sexy. If that makes any sense at all. But yeah, its that good.” READ MORE.
SOULAJU spent some time in Trinidad, CO in May and June working with a group of young people connected to a criminal justice “Diversion” program. Good kids, smart and conscious of their surroundings, who got in some minor trouble and luckily evaded more serious problems like juvenile incarceration. These youth meet weekly and have to satisfy a number of requirements to complete the diversion program, including weekly meetings and community service. We had worked with Tony Diego, the diversion program director, on other youth programs through an organization called OYE (Organized Youth for Empowerment). He had an idea for a youth video project with flip cams. We had limited time and funding was also limited, but this is what we came up with after a few trips down to Trinidad: a documentary about youth culture in Trinidad, Colorado:
“Trinidad Undaground”
Our main goals in working with these young people were to empower them to tell their own stories and engage in a process of creating their own media. Before we put cameras in their hands we ran some workshops with them, talking about their experiences, identity, their dreams, life beyond Trinidad, getting them writing their thoughts on paper. The following video is a “making of” look at our work with this group of youth.
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 in Brooklyn when DJ Icewater sent this beat. This was before Aju and I were SOULAJU, before we decided to make an album together. It was a winter day in January 2009. I had the track on loop in my headphones, staring at the thick snowflakes falling outside Aju’s apartment window in Bedstuy.
No doubt about it, this was a love song…
Updated sometime in 2011
Love comes and goes but it always remains the same, true to its essence: Love. We’re always looking, wanting, hoping, wishing, praying… for that one true love. Some of us find it, some of us do not. For some of us, there isn’t meant to be just one. Some people come into our lives to help us prepare for the one.
It’s a tricky game, not supposed to be a game, but so often a game, even when no one is getting played. The game of life. Love is.
Love is… a beautiful song, to be remembered always….
A music video was supposed to come out of this. I spent a lot of time, energy, and money trying to make this happen. DJ Icewater flew out to Denver from NYC. We went through the whole shoot… dope ass footage… but months passed and shit fell through on the editing end. A disaster. A mess of egos and bad business. Unintended complications on the part of some. Toxic intentions on the part of others. Ultimately not meant to be.
There was never supposed to be a visual. But the song lives on.
This was one of the people’s favorites. “Love Is, Molina that’s the jam!” I was often told back in the Soulaju days.
I’ve been a Hip-Hop head for 18 years, over 2/3 of my young life. I’ve been emceeing for 13 years and utilizing Hip-Hop as a tool for education, consciousness raising, and social justice activism for 9 years. I have released six independent music projects and am the music supervisor for a film about immigrant youth that has screened in almost all 50 states. I have paid some dues.
My hard work has bred some success … but not without some controversy.
SOULAJU hosted a youth DJ workshop at the end of January 2010. The workshop was one of five community-oriented events we hosted in celebration of the coming SOULAJU album release.
On Dec. 7th, MOLINA released a 45 single with DJ Icewater on 7” vinyl. The single features "FAM BIZ”, with an appearance by Molina’s 7 year-old son. 
![777118321_CfZ3V-L-2[1]](http://www.soulaju.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/777118321_CfZ3VL21.jpg "777118321_CfZ3V-L-2[1]")
