My "Catch-Up Week" & The Innovative Mike Relm

Ahhh Monday, so we meet again!  Back on the 5 day grind, even better when its a scorchin' hot & beautiful day (clearly i'm bein' sarcastic!)  I guess it's only fair after havin' the week that was!  Caught up with a very close friend of mine after not seein' her for close to 2 months!  Currently in the process of havin' that statistic change...It was my first taste of Kamei Royale Sushi, and the verdict:  Absolutely amazing, in my opinion of course!  My week continued as I caught up with one of my bestfriends and had a little downtown adventure, went for a few beers and had a lil' throwback fun by playing counterstrike at a nearby internet cafe hahaha.  Come friday, i was anxiously awaitin' 10pm to roll around to check out my fellow boombox familia member, Mr. Almighty himself..Paulskratch open up with a DJ set for the amazing Mike Relm.  For anyone who doesn't have the slightest clue of who this guy is, you my friend have been livin' under a rock thats for damn sho'!  Aside from a couple sucker fights breakin' out and a guy tryin' to crowd surf unfortunately without havin' anyone catch him haha, the show was certified ILLY-Son! 

...::This clip doesn't do the the show any justice by any fraction!  But its just to give you somewhat of an idea!:::...

Later that evening, Box Studio's held an after hours with the 1st Love Family where I came to a conclusion.  Don't, I repeat, Don't come to an after hours already intoxicated beyond what you think you can handle cuz in the end, you become the highlight of the party or an unofficial Almighty model!  The rest of the weekend came and went as per usualle....but in closing I came to another conclusion.  Well more of a statement and a readjustment of my train of thought...one word:  OVERHAUL....in every possible aspect.  We'll see how that works out for me.

I'll end things with some new music...hope y'all enjoy.  Final Words:  "...You can't wifey that..."   -anonymous

Kid Sister F/ David Banner:  Family Reunion

Termanology: Fly Away

T.I. F/ T-Pain:  Propaine

Rico Love:  Using Me (Mario Demo)

Rico Love:  Congratulations (Young Steff Demo)

Cherish:  Bump Like Some Speakers (Prod.By Timbaland)

Israel:  Killing Me

Claude Kelly:  Only One Night

Ashanti:  All That I Need

Justin Garner: Open Heart

-Funny how some foundations crumble under the most ridiculous circumstances, funny how you can feel one way about something one day, and completely different about it the next because your mind tries to play itself...funny....

Slackin' On My Bloggin'...My Apologies...

..::Thursday, September 18, 2008:

In this edition of the "Mr.Fresha.Than.Yo.Average" Blog, I figured i'd mix things up a bit and use more of this blogspot as a medium to keep friends & family updated in the life & times of yours truly since i've started to make an attempt to hibernate from the scene that is =op.  

The Journal of H.Fresh:

Hmmm...where to start.  To be quite honest witch'ya, this whole idea was easier said than done as far as mixin' up my personal agenda with my musical interests.  Well I gotta start somewhere, so here it goes.  I've always been pretty fond of reality t.v. that revolve around musical personalities, that bein' said, i've spent the last week or so catchin' up on episodes of 'From G's To Gents' and 'Runs House'...i'm still questionin' what percentage of these shows are fixated or scripted, not that it matters cuz either way it's still entertainin'.  On a side note, Vanessa Simmons is  up pretty high on my 'Gahdamn-List'...GAHDAMN, I think i love h.e.r. haha!

Had a pretty chill weekend, officially felt the 3rd wheel effect, got a good buzz, went out only once this weekend which was @ plush & a bit of lola's crib.  Come sunday, it was all about the block party, well, the entire hour and a bit that I was there.  Keys & krates were hot to def!  If you don't know about these guys, watch the f*ck out!  

Finished my days off with some good sessh times that included a one night stand @ V.V Boutique haha, Marble slab and 20 min shiatsu massage haha, to tell you the truth I feel kinda recharged!  Mission Accomplished!

Boombox mixtape update, we're almost done, almost!  I'll keep y'all posted with that.  Currently workin' on podcast and show concepts amongst other things.  Anxiously waitin' to present our first product and i can assure  y'all, you won't be disappointed!  Keepin' with the music, I MISSED OUT on the Common / N.E.R.D. show!  CHOKED!  Well, whatever, can't see em' all! 

I should probably get to bed seein' that its 3:28am haha, so i'll leave y'all with some music to satisfy em' eargasms...Enjoy!  HuggyFreshness & I'm Out.

Yall Don't Know (Prod.By.Alchemist):  ATM (CoryGunz/SmokeDZA/Numbers)

Swagger Like Us RMX:  MickeyFactz Feat: ATM (CoryGunz/SmokeDZA/Numbers)

Chopped & Screwed: T-Pain Feat: Ludacris

If You Leave:  Musiq Soulchild Feat: Mary J Blige

Top Of The World:  T.I. Feat Ludacris & B.O.B. 

Get cozy, comfy and relax your mind...to some good ol' R&B (...continued from the previous post)

...:::Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Did I at any point during my day even come close to picturin' what i'd be doin from 1am to 3am this evenin'?  Not a chance, not-a-chance!  First off I had to work all day, which meant me missing out on the Janet concert!  I can admit that with some concerts that I miss out on, i'm usually cool with not gettin' a chance to catch an artist...but damn that!  I missed Janet!   Hopefully i'll get a second go round to redeem myself on that!  To compensate if at all possible?  Well, spendin' a couple hours goin' slow jam for slow jam with someone who's got a great feel for r&b...a great feel!  

So I guess this post is just  a continuation or a branch off of my post from the night before.   Goose bumps all the way through...songs from next, aaron hall, babyface, faith evans, total to Rome, Inoj, Mint Condition, Public Announcement and the list goes on!   No Joke, definitely a feel good moment...i'd have to honestly say it didn't compensate for missing out on the Janet show, but it definitely felt like it did, and then some!  I'll leave you with a few of the highlighted songs that stuck out in a big way...btw, Thank you ma!  You definitely know ur stuff, pho sho! 

Do yourself a favor and click on the following links and just listen!

Milestone 

Mint Condition

Tamia

HuggyHeffnah' - The R&B refresha'!

...:::Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

In my personal opinion, r&b music was at its best during the 80's to mid 90's and for the longest time the quality of music not to mention artists were starting to slowly deteriorate  that genre of music.  How?  I noticed the integrity and subject matter of the music no longer had the rhythm and blues substance and began to adopt the hip hop image and lifestyle and applied it into the music.  You have artists rockin' crazy chains, flossin' iced out rolies and singin' about whips & bitches or what not, degrading not only their image, but the whole fact that r&b was mainly about relationships, females and/or males (depending on gender of the artist,  you know what i mean), expressing ones self to another whether it be joy, sadness, confusion or any emotional state.  You have r&b singers talkin' about how big their rims were yadi yadi yada so on and so forth...even r&b beef would cook up!  I remember thinkin' to myself when i'd hear about that like "you can't be serious!"  As of late however, i'd say within' the past 4 years or so..real r&b has started to make a strong comeback where new and up & coming artists have replenished the genre and started takin' it to a new level.

Now I know everyones entitled to their own opinion, and i'm not saying there weren't any r&b artists or songs that were comin' out that didn't maintain the integrity that the past did, not at all!  It was a significant amount though, again in my opinion.  You have tons of canadian artists, notably Glen Lewis, Divine Brown and Jully Black just to name a few who still have that special soulful r&b feel to their music.  Not to mention international artists like Craig David, Justin Timberlake, Joe, Mario, and Ne-yo who give off that same feel.  Speakin' of Ne-yo, his upcoming album entitled 'year of the gentleman' is definitely gonna be an album to look out for!  Numerous blogs have already started to leak out some of the albums material and from those tracks alone, i'm that much more excited to hear the album in its entirety.  A couple of artists who've caught my interest are Robin Thicke and Karina Pasian, particularly 2 songs caught my attention.

First would be 'The sweetest love' by Robin thicke and 'Slow motion' by Karina Pasian.  Both are piano driven songs of which I have a strong appreciation for.  So for your listening pleasure...here are a few links to the songs that i'm sure most will enjoy!  Who knew.. HuggyFresh had an ear for some wholesome r&b?  Don't get it twisted now, i'm not claiming a guru title by any stretch since this is all in my personal opinion.  So for the hopeless romantic side of me,  i figured that Huggy Heffnah' only seemed fitting Hahaha ;o)

Robin Thicke: The Sweetest Love

Karina Pasian: Slow Motion

Joe Featuring Mario: Last Sip

Summer's Exit...Let The Layer Season Begin!

...:::Monday, September 08, 2008:

It's about 2:10am monday mornin', the official inauguration of my first blog posting!  I know, I know,  a popular trend that everyone got into a year, possibly two or even 3 or more years ago and i'm just getting into it now.  Better late than never as I usually tend to suggest, obviously not always a good thing but for this occasion i'm sure an exemption can be made.

Now let's get down to business!  Most people tend to officially end their summers on the last day of August, Labour Day, or in most cases..whenever classes are back in session for the fall semester.  In my case, for someone who hasn't lived by a school calendar for about 4 years now, I usually don't feel summers over until scarves and hoodies need to be broken out just to enjoy a sunny day.  This time around however it feels way more different than summers past.  For one, the weather has been an issue where vancity got exposed to an extended rainy season that took over most of June and slowly leaked into july which was when we finally got a long streak of sunny, hot and scorchin' days..you know, how summer's supposed to feel!  Well that weather abnormality started to come back durin' late august where the days would still be hot, but once night fell it'd be cold as a mutha'!  

Although its not the weather that marks the end of my summer, but a concert, that puts the official stamp to the end of MY summer!  Quite fitting since I pretty much began my summer with a concert in early June which was the Kanye West "Glow In The Dark Tour" with special guests Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D.  Presentation and artist wise, probably the most amazing concert i've ever attended.  Well here we are in the first week of September and i'm officially rephrasing and proclaiming the best concert i've ever been to...*DRUM ROLL*  "..and the award goes to...ROCK THE BELLS TOUR held @ The Gorge in Washington!  I know I know, the 5 hour drive, to some 6, sounds like quite the commitment to drive just to see a concert but no, this wasn't just any concert..don't get it twisted, this was THE concert!  First off, if anyones ever been to the gorge, then this definitely does not apply to you...for those who have no clue well then, you really, really don't have a damn near clue!  

 The venue alone is absolutely breath taking, pictures can't possibly do justice for the description but for what its worth, here's an idea <==

2nd'ly, the line-up was insane!  There were 2 stages, the one shown in the image was the main stage where I got to see De La Soul, the reunion of The Pharcyde, Supernatural, The mighty mos def, The amazin Nasir Jones and Legendary, A Tribe Called Quest!  We got to the venue at about 2:30p.m. and caught a bit of the blue scholars, a local hip-hop group from washington who were pretty ill in my opinion!  Gotta show love & respect to where it's due!  To see all four members of the Pharcyde all together on one stage was definitely a sight to see, definitely a feel good moment for hip-hop fans!  Mos did his thing, I honestly was expecting a little more energy from his set, but i'll take what I can get!  Nas, Nas, Nas....after peepin' his set last summer @ summer jam which showcases mainly commercial artists which in turn explains the type of hip hop fans that attend, I was expecting a more energetic performance seein' as rock the bells was more of a 'heads' show than summer jam.  The verdict:  Nas' set, absolute murder!  The mans swag is second to none on stage although I still have yet to catch a show with T.I, Jay-Z or Weezy on stage!  Which brings us to the final act:  A Tribe Called Quest, 3 letters, one expression...OMG!  During Nas' set, I caught the show sittin' down cuz I wasn't feelin' too good from all the alcohol mixed with bein' over exposed to the heat...but when Tribe got their set goin'...I stood right up and weathered the storm!  The illest show i've ever been to, it's almost a shame to attend whoevers show I plan on attendin' next hahah, i'm playin'...maybe.  

All in all, that show made it official...my summer is officially doneskee for another year.  Cold weather = a shirt or two, a hoody or sweater, and a jacket, in other words;  Let the layer season begin! (2:55am)  -HF