Off top I’m listening to everything Blu blesses. Sene is also in that category. That made this track a no-brainer.

The boy Blu chops it up with Hard Knock TV

Download: Dela – WhatUWanna (ft. Blu) | Props to HipHopIsCoolAgain and Potholes

This little gem is from French producer Dela, who’s ‘Translation Lost’ album drops March 31. My night has officially been made.

FUSE x THEMASHUP.NET proudly present… Healing the Nation Tour 2011.

ZION I & GROUCH // BLU // JAZZ MAFIA’S SHOTGUN WEDDING QUINTET

Brought to you by FUSE and The Mash Up, Zion I & Grouch, Blu will be performing LIVE in Sacramento on March 21th. The show will be held at Tropicana (1696 Arden Way. Sacramento, CA 95815) with an admission price of $12 on sale now. Doors open at 8PM, so come early to save your spot.

2 people and their guest, will have free access to this show. All you have to do is leave us your first name and your email in a comment (in this post only) and we will randomly pick a winner. If you enter more than once, you will be disqualified.

You will be notified by email from mashup916@gmail.com 2 days before the show (March 19th)

The winner and their guest will receive:

- free admissions to the show

The winner names will be put onto a guest list.

Winner must be present with i.d. to receive tickets.

Tickets are non transferable.

As you know (because you follow them so closely) “I say the hood need a new model to live by tho. New roads to follow and new ways to get by…” by Blu was a LyricalLesson from a few days ago.  On or around the same day I added this one from DiceRaw  “I feel a change is an absolute certainty. Cause what’s going on is a state of emergency.”  The former got me thinking I needed to write, the latter confirmed the former.

The idea that the hood, any hood inhabited with black and brown people, could use a new model to live by isn’t inventive.  It’s pretty clear that the current model(s) aren’t working.  Unemployment in the hood is still high.  Violence in the hood is still at an unacceptable level.  Kids from the hood continue to drop out of High School.  Babies are still having babies in the hood.  Dudes still ain’t taking care of they kids in the hood.  You can keep the list going if you want but, that’s enough to know it’s time for some new shit.  A state of emergency is definitely a great way to define the situation.  Because shit’s an emergency and the tactics that have been used aren’t working, it’s time to explore some new options.  Change is an absolute certainty.

If history provides any insight into the future, the Talented Tenth aren’t going to provide the necessary solutions.  As much as I’d like to believe they will…they won’t.  Their rhetoric tends to miss those who could most benefit from it’s direction.  The government has no interest in providing longterm solutions.  Corporate America wouldn’t dare cut into their profits by offering positive solutions.  The current methods used in public education are largely ineffective and the methods that do work will take some time to produce positive results.  Entrepreneurship in the hood isn’t sophisticated enough yet, or occupied by enough people from the hood, to recycle profits and turn them into a model for others to follow.  Not to mention that the model of individual success being more important than any collective success has eroded any fabric of unity and must be discontinued.  That model hasn’t produced enough shared benefits to warrant continuing.

I think hip hop music can effectively communicate and provide the groundwork towards the implementation of all the above things that have thus far missed the mark in terms of being a guiding force in the hood.  Maybe I’ve got too much faith in hip hop music.  But I happen to be of the belief that if we actually listen to, and interpret appropriately, what these MC’s are saying we’d be on a road worth following.  At it’s most inspiring and highest quality, hip hop music has the ability to remove personal notions of superiority and allows all of us to be one.  Rocking to the same beat.  The urgency with which people seek to be superior to one another is slowed when hip hop music is at it’s peak.  It eliminates the need to express how many degrees a person has earned.  It eliminates the need to express how many times a person has been arrested.  The beat allows us to nod regardless of status.  The rhymes reach us wherever we’re at.  You can come as you are and leave how you hope to be.  When it’s done with a righteous intent, hip hop music eliminates the prerequisite just about every other current solution suggests.  Its that unimpeded access to righteousness that’s the new model.  Access is the change that’s an absolute certainty.  You don’t need a degree to press play.  You don’t need a bullet wound to listen.  You don’t have to have good credit or a criminal record.  You don’t have to be straight or gay.  You don’t have to be white or Black.  You can even wear your sneakers inside.

The boundless influence is what makes hip hop music such a powerful force.  And because the influence of hip hop can be used by all, all have a stake in hip hop.  When people feel like they’ve got a stake in something they tend to act in that thing’s best interest.  Hip Hop allows messages to be shared by all.  Such power often lends itself to misuse but part of the new model is to use the power for things that are righteous and true and tune out the misuses that haven’t provided a positive influence or useful model.  Repeating that which is negative in influence is crazy.  Not only is it crazy but it’s also a burden that is too costly to bear.

Using hip hop music for positive, peaceful, productive progress is the new model.  Focusing our attention on MC’s (and fans) who use their voice to inform and uplift the hood has to become the rule instead of the exception.  The extraction of messages in hip hop music that can be used by all of us allows for a collective vision and direction.  Such an extraction is easy.  Its simply process of elimination.  We know what isn’t working.  Let’s leave that shit where it is and use the voices, messages, images and ideas that promote what we need in order to prosper.  Knowledge, peace, understanding, personal and community investment, strong relationships, family, financial literacy, spirituality, truth, honesty, accountability and responsibility.  When done with a positive purpose, hip hop music evokes feeling. Those feelings can lead to meaning. Once folks find meaning, well…

Stay Up.

FUSE x THEMASHUP.NET proudly present… “Higher Learning” Tour

BLU // FASHAWN // EVIDENCE // CURT@!NS // GILBERE FORTE

with Local Support: J.Good, Chuuwee, Dj Oasis.

Brought to you by FUSE and The Mash Up, Blu, Fashawn, Evidence, Curt@!ns will be performing LIVE in Sacramento on March 6th. The show will be held at Colonial Theater (3522 Stockton Boulevard. Sacramento, CA 95820) with an admission price of $22 presale sale now GROOVETICKETS.COM and all Dimple Records locations. Doors open at 8PM, so come early to save your spot.

2 people and their guest, will have free access to this show. All you have to do is leave us your first name and your email in a comment (in this post only) and we will randomly pick a winner. If you enter more than once, you will be disqualified.

You will be notified by email from mashup916@gmail.com 2 days before the show (March 4th)

The winner and their guest will receive:

- free admissions to the show

The winner names will be put onto a guest list.

Winner must be present with i.d. to receive tickets.

Tickets are non transferable.

Tracklist:
01. Seasons
02. Surrender
03. Get Choze f. Mr. Brady & Diamond D
04. Pour Another Glass
05. SLNGBNGrs!
06. Hi(gh) Music
07. Cringe f. Pac Div
08. DreamLand f. Andy Allo
09. Life Of A Lover f. Theophilus London & Jesse Boykins III
10. Wonder Why f. Blame One & Exile
11. Merci Me Lord f. Ta’Raach
12. Jazz (Tribute Remix)
13. Sour Patch Kids (Remix) f. Asher Roth & Talib Kweli
14. Razor Blades
15. Steel Remains
16. So Perfect
17. KeepItGoing f. U-God
18. Excuse Me (Make Room) f. Mic Holden

Blu – And If You See The E Drop ‘Em

Thanks guys. Thanks for giving the fans something new to hold on to. Thanks for making music that we’ll be able to listen to with our kids 15 years from now. Do whatever you need to do in order to keep making music that meets your standards and makes an impact on your fans. If the two of you like what you make, we’ll love it.

More like I’m dreamin’. I never thought we’d get any such thing from the All City Chess Club (Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, The Cool Kids, Blu, Diggy, B.o.B. and Dosage) but here’s something to wet our appetite. And I been hungry! Collabo’s don’t always work and one song does not provide enough of a foundation to speculate about an entire album…but damn an album with such a wealth of words would force MC’s to rethink their current approach to writing.  Not to mention the production such an album would command.

Let’s cross our fingers and speak up about how much more we want to hear from these dudes.

Peace. Power.