I didn't think the possibility of MF DOOM and Mos Def sharing the stage would ever realize, so when I found out they were on the bill at the Kool Haus on January 27, I was quick to shell out 50 dollars for the show. I've been to a fair share of Stones Throw parties, but I've never seen DOOM live. I have seen Mos in concerts before, but I really wasn't happy that the Ecstatic tour (featuring Jay Electronica) didn't come to Toronto. Anyways, all that aside, I'm just really looking forward to January 27. Here's some goodness that'll keep me going until then. If you need tickets, they're available here.

Mos Def: Still a DOOM Fan


MF Doom ft. Raekwon - Yessir!


Mos Def in Japan during his Ecstatic tour. Found on Jeff Staple's Blog.

I've yet to find the perfect balance of hot and cold in the shower, or get used to those god-damn noises that've kept my sleep light since we moved in, but the process of creating a workspace in the new home is well underway.

I'm in the planning phase, and I've created some completely unnecessary floor maps for the task. I mean - I'm working with an 11 square foot room and all I need to do is include a coupla desks and a futon. This isn't rocket science. There's just something about drawing architectury diagrams makes me feel good.


I'm gathering ideas from IKEA catalogs to articles on The 99%, especially the Workspace series by a photographer named Joseph O. Holmes. If you have any resources or suggestions, drop it in the comments or shoot me an email.

More updates coming in the next few days.

The fall jacket days are quickly coming to an end, and I'm still struggling with the fact that sunset is only a few hours following lunch. Fortunately, this winter brings plenty to look forward to: an opportunity to build a new workspace, a renewed vow to hit the hills more before the edges on my board get rusty, and plenty of new beats to compete for the 16 gigs of memory on the iPod. I speak for no one but myself (read: this is not meant as an invitation to start a "Top 5" MC's comment battle) when I say 2009 has been an AMAZING year for hip-hop music. The latest offerings from K'Naan, Mos Def, MF Doom and Raekwon serve as great examples. Thanks to the whole social-twitter-facebook-vimeo thing, we've also caught a glimpse of some amazing projects underway. Things are looking good:

Nas + Damian Marley coming together for "Distant Relatives". I wish there was a release date on this.




Blakroc, a project bringing together Q-Tip, Mos Def and Raekwon (among many others) and driven by 88 Keys and Damon Dash (put the diamond down son, this ain't the 'Fella). Releasing November 27.




J-Cole - Rocnation's golden child - is working on his debut album following 2 highly successful mixtapes. Releasing sometime early 2010.




This isn't a complete list, but do you think I missed anything? Leave a comment, and let me know what you're looking forward to in the next few months.

This is completely unrelated to anything I normally post up here, but its an interesting story about the history of the phrase "this too shall pass". My dad always tells me that whenever I'm upset or going through rough times. I got it from Wikipedia (where else). The origins of the phrase are from an old Jewish folktale involving King Solomon.

"One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah Ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, "Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it." "If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty," replied Benaiah, "I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?" "It has magic powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy." Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility. Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of the poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day's wares on a shabby carpet. "Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked Benaiah. He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile. That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. "Well, my friend," said Solomon, "have you found what I sent you after?" All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled. To everyone's surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!" As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: gimel, zayin, yud, which began the words "Gam zeh ya'avor" -- "This too shall pass." At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust."

Those around me have been witness to the frustrations and such while I've navigated through this so called "real" estate process for the last few weeks and months. Well, someone turned on the floodlights in the tunnel and looks like wifey and I will survive this emotional joyride. If I'm high fiving you like a nutjob on the streetcar on King West, its because we finally bought a house (and sold the shoebox we call a home today). I'm looking forward to not thinking about moving for the next decade or so, but I'm most excited about creating a new workspace for bombayhustle and other creative projects. More pictures and updates will follow as the story develops.

Eventhough I've been working on a number of things for the last few weeks, its funny how I sometimes feel that my creative activities aren't complete without having blogged or tweeted about them. This is an age where the process (the How) is as important as the product (the What) - if not more. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those that can use both to engage their audience. We live in times of transparency, fueled by a healthy flow of information from various media. And as I'm thinking of which examples I should list to illustrate my point (there are many), I run into this...Below is a LIVE video stream of Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic artist from the UK, drawing a detailed skyline of New York City...completely by memory. Amazing. I found this from www.designboom.com by way of Greg Washington on Twitter. I don't think I need to say much else.

This is a live stream, so it won't work in a few days when the drawing is complete. Direct link here.