SO, after close to 6 years... A.V. and Myself have finally assembled our long lost album...

As those of you who have faithfully followed The Sole Vibe will know... A. V. and Myself had been slowly working on an album from the time we were in high school, until about a year ago. For whatever reason, we just sort of gave up. We decided that the music being made wasnt really where we wanted to be.

So anyway, during a very long bus ride, I rediscovered all of this long lost material, and brought the idea to A., that we put it all together.

Long story short, over the Steelers game tonight, Armand (A.V.) and I did the track listing for the album we have affectionately called "Songs About Girls". We decided on this name for the same reason that we ceased production on it over a year ago; we were making all cupcakin' ass love songs. I mean, for awhile, thats the tip we were on, and it was crazy inspirational, but things changed.



Now a year later, turns out, we made some really dope music. So this is more or less a heads up, that we will be doing a FREE online release of this joint. Keep your eyes and ears open, because its something that all said and done, we are very proud of.

-J.

For all singers and rappers out there... Heres something to play with!

Antigua - Produced by J. Fish

The link wont be up forever, so grab it while you can!

-Fish

An Introduction...

Coming to a house party near YOU!

A.V.

E. Jenkins

A.V. and E. Jenkins

J. Fish

Hip Hop isn't dead. It's a zombie...

I'm standing at the bus stop, listening to Feist. I haven't been able to turn her music off for at least 2 months. I try to take a break from it only to find myself grabbing my iPod in the morning, because I NEED it. If you don't know about her, she was the one who garnered great success after a song of hers (1-2-3-4) was used in an iPod commercial. Talk about good marketing. Apple more or less thrust her on unassuming listeners. Potentially bad for her *die hard* fans; great for me.

Back to my point... I hardly listen to rap at this point. Not because I don't want to, but simply because all I seem to hear is more of the same. Sure, albums have dropped that have been great listening material for a few days, perhaps a few weeks... But they burn out so quickly! There's no DEPTH. As a connoisseur of music, its hard for me to remain entertained by anything, let alone an 8 bar loop with some cat talkin' about the hood. Been there. Done ALL of that.

It seems to me that this genre has just grown stagnant. No one is really PUSHING it. Sure, you've got the Def Jux folks, and Prefuse, etc etc... But that shit had its moment in the sun. It was different, and new, not necessarily refreshing, but at least it was new. Now even THAT shit has slowed to a crawl.

To be entirely honest, I feel like people like The Neptunes, Timbaland,and Lupe Fiasco are some of the most forward thinking. I mean, the neptunes continue to reinvent themselves. Timbo REINVENTED R & B! He may have done it on the backs of dance music-producers, but the fact is, he changed the game with Sexy Back. And after that, Icebox sealed the deal. Lupe's new album is entirely concept based! Finally! A new rap record with a cohesive concept!

I don't claim to have any solutions to this, only perhaps that hip hop artists and producers especially, listen to more music! There's a whole world of great stuff, why not take full advantage?

Here's a little something to keep you noddin'...

T.T.O.-The A.V.E. Produced by J. Fish

This joint is about a year old, kinda back cataloged mixtape stuff. An old favorite of mine though. Featuring emcees A.V. and E. Jenkins affectionately known as The A.V.E.

ENJOY!

You look SUPER new at this!

This is what we do!

Yet another...

So, looks like if everything goes according to plan, tonight will be a productive, AND fun evening. Looks like I'll finally be setting up my studio again, since the eviction. This is great news, since Ive literally not worked on anything NEW in like 2 months. In the oven will be some new shit for Rhymefest (cross your fingers!!!), and of course, some new shit for A.V.E. Theres a couple of really strong concepts Im playing around with, so I guess Ill work those out and see what happens. YERP!

No that thats out of the way... I TRIED to go Christmas shopping today. TRIED is the key word here. Two things were really holding me back from getting into it. One of those being my Mom. This will be the first Christmas without her, and it was just tough looking at stuff that she would have liked, knowing I cant pick it up for her. The second thing that was bothering me is something that Im certain bothers a lot of young people (but certainly DOESNT bother alot, too) is the idea of the consumer. How NON-genuine pretty much anything you buy at a store is going to be... regardless of what you payed for it. I discussed this briefly with a friend recently, and decided that the only REAL gift you can give, is a good deed, or something you put together yourself-be that a song, a photograph, a painting, drawing, whatever. I just found myself wandering around TWO STORES, for a total of maybe an hour and a half, and Im absolutely DRAINED. Drained from looking at bullshit. Bullshit that will have little effect on the recipient, and eventually be slid aside, in favor of something newer, or cooler, or shinier. It just upset me is all. It made me feel like all we as people do is consume. Which funnels out into a whole slew of other problems I have with Americans. More than anything else, it made me feel stupid, and manipulated. Any half-witted person should be a little pissed by the pressure put on EVERYONE at this time of year, PRESSURE TO SPEND SPEND SPEND! Credit card applications EVERYWHERE, discounts EVERYWHERE. Go ahead, sign up for that 10% off, and spend the money you dont have-in turn imprisoning yourself with debt for a couple more years.

Shit. That started to go south. If youre reading this, all Im really trying to say is.. use this time of year as a tool to improve your relationships. Love your family, friends, and strangers, because like I said, and firmly believe... the greatest thing you could do for someone, now, or anytime for that matter, is something nice.

Merrrrrrrrrrrry Christmas!


-Juan Consumertron.

Its wild late man.

After another long evening in the studio with The A.V.E., drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes like Bruce Dickinson himself, I am wired and wide awake at 3 a.m. AGAIN! To their credit, we finished another song; The Last Day of Summer. This joint is especially special to me, as its sort of a send-off to those weve lost this year, and years passed, as well as a motivational shove to ourselves. Truthfully, the more progress we make on this album, the more dynamic and impressive I see my artists becoming. This is incredibly refreshing as a hip hop producer, since the majority of the time youve got the same old song and dance, big hat rappin' dun shit. Anyway, for whoever decides to read this, I promise you that our long overdue release will be something very exciting and unexpected. Even if you dont particularly dig on urban music, there will be something for you to enjoy.

Aside from the music bearing down on me, Im still up in the air as to what to do about my life. Story of ALL of our lives right? I suppose its more the immediacy of my situation, as I was kicked out of my apartment, and Im currently living with the folks. You can understand the pressure Im putting on myself to get the fuck out! Of course I love my Town, but Philly is really drawing me in once again... but it seems so far away!

Im going to bed. I love you.