8/19 - San Diego - The night before we were at some Beverly Hills party at some rooftop spot with a pool and met some relatively famous people who were all taller and thinner than us. I think I was hands down the fattest person there. That was cool. Had some vodka with no food and after the long flight and jet-lag I surrendered so we fell into Kitchen 24 and I woofed down this buttermilk fried chicken meal that should come with a defibrillator. The next night we rocked at Cane’s, this oceanfront venue somewhere along the beautiful coast of San Diego. Upon arrival, I was more focused on how much fun it would be to let Logan loose in that area then performing later that night. Met a kid with AOTP tatted on his arm so you know he ruled. My man Main Flow came out to rock some shit with us, and everybody tore it down. We had a chance to meet some real cool folks from New England that live in SD now, mentioning our earliest records and shit, tracks that even we forgot about. After the show I made the mistake of opening my video-cam to get a few words from my boys and that turned into cats lining up to spit rhymes at my camera as though I was filming Hood Love DVD. How come when the camera’s on nobody spits 16s, they have to spit 82’s? How do you shut down a camera mid-verse? I couldn’t do it so I just let dudes rhyme. Then Apathy came out of nowhere spitting this verse about dogs and I was really impressed until I realized he was performing my MSPCA Walk For Animals rap. Ok, I’m realizing at this point that I’m pretty sucky at blogging and feel a little conflicted about the whole thing.

8/20 - Los Angeles - El Rey Theatre - Started the morning off with some footage Andrea sent me of Xavier crawling along our new porch, and naturally this put my mood sky-high. Hit up G4 for “Attack of the Show” and Olivia Munn is everything you’d expect her to be. Beyonder is still talking about her. Her coverage of the Star Wars 30th anniversary is what originally caught my attention, but her mastery of my blackberry yesterday was something I won’t soon forget. Kevin Pereira was mad cool too.

On to the show…it was crazy, sold out, and the venue was beautiful…maybe a little too beautiful for my tastes though- the security thought they were working for Obama. I had my shitty little ptero-cam out and security was all over me to put it away. I tried the whole “I’m a performer” thing and he didn’t give a fuck. He gave a quick glance at the silly fucking hat I was rocking and said “I can see you’re a performer sir, but put the camera away.” So the night went on, we were lounging backstage and Bill Paxton from HBO’s Big Love came in! He’s the dude that was in Twister, Wierd Science, Terminator, all that shit. Pretty crazy. Really really cool dude, he brought his son to check out the show. Anyway, we rocked our set…added the “No Features” joint from Saving Seamus Ryan, did a few tracks from Dangerous Connection which even surprised me, then did some AOTP records with Jedi Mind Tricks to close the evening out. Beyonder wanted more Kitchen 24. So we rolled over there and I had another late night heart-attack chicken meal. Good shit. Lots of people asking about 7l’s whereabouts. He’s working on the new 7l & Eso record yall! See you in Pomona tonight!

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had asked me to produce a quick little track for the Walk For Animals event September 13th! This was a no-brainer for me, so I made the track, put some lyrics down, and posted a video featuring a few of the dogs I know from the MSPCA shelter and a few other animals from around the way. You can check out the song and get the free ringtone at www.WalkForAnimals.com . More importantly, you should get involved with the walk! Check the site for details!

YEAH!

ps-the  boston phoenix gives the walk & track some shine:   http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/onthedownload/archive/2009/08/14/esoteric-represents-for-mspca-records-track-to-promote-9-13-walk-for-animals.aspx

The show in Malden last night rocked. Not sure why I felt the need to shout “is Malden in the place?” so often because there were heads from Connecticut, Providence, New Hampshire, and Vermont at this show. They probably outnumbered the Maldenites. Thanks to everybody for making the trip! And how the fuck did yall know the lyrics to Cortex Nematode like that? I thought I was throwing a curveball there. Peace to TCC, Will C, Raheem Jamal, Blacastan and my man Leo. You guys made it a good fucking time. Really good sets from yall.
And yo, to whom it may concern: if I’m quiet before a show, it’s because I’m trying to preserve this million dollar, love-hate-or-tolerate voice of mine. It isn’t because I’m not interested in hearing about projects and business ventures. So if I’m just listening, nodding and smiling, please understand. If I try to “build” with you while “french vanilla butter pecan chocolate deluxe” is blaring over the speakers, my voice will be stripped in no time because I’m a pussy like that. I mean no disrespect. After the show, I’m a lot more laid back because my job is done and we can drink, shoot the shit, do whatever…I just don’t want anyone to think I’m a dick (total dick thing to say).
Speaking of shows, I’m looking forward to this Hell Awaits tour with Jedi Mind Tricks and the crew. 8/19 in San Deigo sets this whole tour off. I’m working on a set with Beyonder that touches on most of our career, so you’ll get a dose of everything from the late 90’s shit right up to new material off of Saving Seamus Ryan.

If there are any photographers on the west coast that wanna bang out a quick press/promo shoot while I’m out there we can schedule that. We land in LA on the 18th and I don’t think I’m going to find time to do them here before that. After all, Logan needs his exercise and Xavier needs his bubba. Those gotta come first. Oh and tomorrow I’m doing some b-roll/pick up shots for Animal Planet. Hit me up dangerousconnection@yahoo.com
 
A lot of you rapper guys know I haven’t been available for collabos lately because I’ve been busy and I’ve shut down the Pterolab while we move into our new house. I made an exception for the MSPCA. They asked me to do something promoting their annual “Walk for Animals” event and I was honored and excited to do it. More on that later, when the lyrics get approved. They’ve already told me that while they enjoyed my little dog song ”Hangin Out the Window,” promoting that idea is against their belief system. Check out www.walkforanimals.com

I checked the pre-orders for the SSR tees and cds and WOW yall are definitely beasts with the paypal! Good lookin’ out! Those who aren’t beasts yet, you can purchase the shit at www.esoterichiphop.com and rest assured, it will ship the week of 9/14 (a week before street date). And if you cats are so 1997 that you don’t order online, come out to the shows and cop from me directly. Go to www.jmthiphop.com/tours for show dates and tickets. I’ll be there.

I’m still looking for sneakers that say “I’m over sneakers” but are still fly. I can step in any mall in America and reach a cool looking Nike sneaker within 10-15 steps. So can anyone else…and that bugs me. I’ve been struggling with this shit since like ‘05. I know I’m putting too much thought into it….kinda like when I scooped up those limited edition throwback Marvel tees at Old Navy last weekend….the nerve of Old Navy to put “limited edition” on anything. I bought them all without a second’s hesitation but on the ride home I really beat myself up over it. I thought about how many times I’ve dissed Old Navy in songs. I don’t give a shit anymore. Logan taught me to not give a shit. He really did. He teaches me a lot. I remember back around Soul Purpose and Dangerous Connection when I’d spend all this money on Gucci and Burberry and Prada. Why? Was it for girls? Most girls that are really into shit like that are birdbrains. And where was Logan when I was doing that? He was just a twinkle in his father’s eye….so I had no guidance. With a baby like Xavier and a dog like Logan, expensive clothes are really unnecessary. Plus Foxy and Meo have all that black fur that fucks up what Logan hasn’t already.  This was after Malden show…

Me and Fox gettin' it in

Saving Seamus Ryan hits stores 9/22 on Fly Casual Creative. It felt odd typing the lyrics out for this record, because although a lot of thought and organization went into crafting it, I seldom put anything on paper. The album is based on a dream I had like 3 years ago and the names on the cd are not the only other voices that show up on the record. With that said, I’ll soon be ebaying every Harrison Ford movie ever released on DVD. Every guest plays a role in the album (this isn’t guests for the sake of filler or battle shit). This is a story, something a little more intricate than your average Lady Gaga single..you may need to rewind and replay. See, I’m trying to fill this paragraph up, but I suck at talking up my own projects so bare with me while I purge the cliches from my system. After all, you are supposed to say it’s ill, not me. I’m supposed to keep my mouth shut.
See you all on the road!

-ES

PS - Just started formulating the direction for a NEW SEVEN-L & ESOTERIC album with George! No release date set but we got 3 or 4 tracks in mind so far and are shooting for next year!