Bambu has set the bar very high for emcees and the times of the “cool” or “swaged” out artist who could ride on charisma alone are fading fast. Bambu is at the fore front of a forth coming sea change of dudes who fuse socially aware rhymes with real mic skills and visuals cropped straight from his own life experiences as well as the that of youngsters who deal with the sames truths on on a daly basis in this world. Theres too much actual shit happening out there in the wold for the people to continue to be content with these wanna be cats who express no sense of higher self in their raps. This is real shit homie, GET UP ON MAGIC!

“Directed by
PATRICIO GINELSA

Produced by
A.J. CALOMAY
KAT CARRIDO

Unit Production Manager
ANNE RAMIS

Production Coordinator
THERESA T. TESTON

Executive Producer
BEATROCK MUSIC

Director of Photography
ANTHONY IGNACIO

Edited by
A.J. CALOMAY

Story by
PATRICIO GINELSA

Written by
PATRICIO GINELSA
JONAH DEOCAMPO

“Old Man Raps”
Written by Bambu
Produced by Digital Martyrs
From the EP “…paper cuts…”

Words: De3p

“Authenticity” is the tape  by which D.M.V artist Phil Ade measures himself.

His music is the sonic cultural cross-pollination between Washington D.C,  known for its hyped Go-Go sets, and Baltimore, famous for its frenetic dance trends. Thus, when probed on what he thought D.C hip-hop had to offer, Phil Ade obviously had only two words: “live music.” With his latest full length offering under  368 Music Group titled “The Letterman” which drops today, Phil Ade thrusts in our faces his blazing potential to reignite a now smoldering and dilapidated industry, clogged with Auto-Tuned copy cats and fluffy radio hits. No hyperbole intended.

“The Letter” specifically is his flagship piece and video for the album, emblematic of his need to

reconcile the glamour of his name in lights with the reasons he got into rap in the first place. A nostalgic jam with its hook a melodic cacophony of scratches and cribbed vocal clips from legends Nas, AZ, Andre 3000 and Raekwon, its intended underlying message is clear: Phil Ade will claim his place in that legacy.  As the song unravels, he gives voice to his doubts and dilemmas, on one hand avoiding the temptation to become a “bling-n-bitches” rapper and on the other hand, making a name for himself no matter what happens. You won’t hear any references to Beamers, Benzes or Bentley’s on this album, just an unfettered unstoppable laser beam ambition to succeed. He’s ready to do and give whatever it takes; crashing and burning simply is not an option. “My biggest fear right now is ending up in a nine-to-five. As long as I’m doing this, I don’t mind the stress,” he says, echoing the anthem of any and every dream-laden underdog the world over.

_____________________________________

So how are you feeling about The Letterman? And tell me more about The Letter. What was that video and song all about?

Phil Ade: Yeah, I’m pretty excited about this one. It was just about a lot of things going on, and all about being on the road and stuff. First, it was about life on the road and how that changes things. The Letter referred to the friends and family I couldn’t talk to when I was on the road. They’d be like ‘Why you never call?’ and those were the friends I had before I started this. I’m mainly trying to capture how far I’ve gotten, the different things I’ve seen, the different things that have influenced me…

What are your plans for after this project? Did the stress and how overwhelming all of it was really get to you?

Phil Ade: I never really thought about where it was going; I’m just kind of taking it in as it goes. Things just moved way too fast and I didn’t expect them to move that fast, like when I was on MTV and stuff. At the end of the day, you’re just dealing with you and your stress. If you get to do something like this, you have more stress and you just deal with it. My biggest fear right now is ending up in a nine-to-five. As long as I’m doing this, I don’t mind the stress.

“The Letter” – Phil Ade

Were there any real stand-out songs for you on this mixtape?

Phil Ade: Honestly, each song on this is a favorite of mine. I mean, I did 20 to 25 initially and only 15 songs stood out from those for this. If I had to pick, though, I’d say the song ‘Borderline.’ That song’s just all about me living my dream, about doing what I wanna do, and about tomorrow is not promised. That was the one I did for the Sprite commercial.

I notice a lot of styles in your music. I hear a little Roots, a little Wale, a little jazz. What were your musical influences growing up and were you influenced by any non-hip-hop sources?

Phil Ade: Definitely, I listened to a lot of John Legend, Brian McKnight, I listen to Cold Play a lot. To me, there’s a lot of styles of music, but the base of my music is hip-hop though. Really, a lot of stuff from the early 90s, like Tribe Called Quest, I listened to Nas’ Illmatic a lot, Biggie, Pac, a lot of different people. More recently, I listen to Kanye and Lupe’s stuff. Michael Jackson, of course. I also listen to Ray Charles. There are a few people I listen to, but nothing really past the early 80s.

What about collaborations? If you could make one track with absolutely anyone you could think of, who would you want to make a track with?

Phil Ade: Ha! Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson, he’s just the greatest artist of all time in my book because his voice is just unique. His singing voice and the songs he’s done, and the thing he’s built. And Quincy Jones because he’s one of the greatest producers of all time. And if you want to bring it back to real hip-hop, the way he puts stuff together is just amazing.

“Borderline” – Phil Ade

What’s your process like when you come up with tracks and lyrics? Like a lot of artists today, you incorporate so many different influences like TV, cartoons, ads, whatever you see around you, it sounds like that.

Phil Ade: Yeah, with me it’s just we each have to do what we have to do. Just go out, man. You gotta do your thing, just go out and experience life. The more experience you have, the more you have to talk about, the more you can make music that people can relate to. As far as the process of making a song, I usually just let the beat dictate. Whatever emotion I feel with a beat, I try to write and keep my subject matter along those lines that fit in with that emotion.

Because I hear so many references from TV in your lyrics, and because you always talk about making it big and doing something amazing with your music, I want to ask you, if it wasn’t music, if you could have any super power in the world, what would you want?

Phil Ade: Wow… that’s hard to choose man. I think I’d actually want to go in peoples’ minds to see what they thinking. Yeah, reading people’s minds.

Aight, another random question: what if you could pick your last meal? What would you want to put together on a plate for your last meal ever?

Phil Ade: Oh man, um, wow. I’d have some macaroni, some egg and cheese croissants. It’d be all over the place. It’d be breakfast foods, lunch foods, dinner foods, but definitely egg and cheese croissants. I’d have some pizza…ah… my mom makes some bomb meatloaf. I’d have a slice of that. Probably a glass of orange soda. No vegetables, I know that. It’d be all junk food. Maybe some chicken wings or tenders. I can’t even say, man, it’d probably just be a whole lot of stuff.

This isn’t as crazy, but what are five TV shows or cartoons that either influenced you the most or you loved growing up?

Phil Ade: The old Looney Toons, Batman, the animated series on Fox, Dragon Ball Z, during middle school, this show Gundam Wing, and Family Guy, but I still watch that.

Ha! Right on. Finally, how would you sum up your overall goals and aspirations for your music?

Phil Ade: My whole goal with doing music is to just be able to do what I love and to live off of doing what I love. I don’t think I could ever do…I think I have ADHD, cause I can’t just hang in just one place for more than an hour without going crazy. My goal is just to be able to do what I love and live comfortably. I ain’t gotta be on TV or have 2 billion dollars. I just want to be able to pay my bills and live comfortably.

For 15 years The Jacka has been cutting his own kind of dope and pitching it to eager consumers of mob influenced hip hop across the world. His current release “Got Bots 2 The D-Boy Era” featuring crushing re-productions of classic hip hop era beats with his homie Lee Majors falls neatly into that slot he’s cut for himself. It’s notoriously tough to track down the Jacka, he’s constantly moving like a shark swimming through the ocean. Picking up people, doing shows across the country and sitting only long enough to write a solid verse and he’s back on the move. His words are backed by a solid street cred on and off the mic, partially having to do with him making his first 6 figures off hip hop when he was just 17 straight out of high school and never looking back. One could even say after listening to this interview that The Jacka was born into hip hop and he truly experienced the 80’s…those halcyon days known as the first Golden Era. From Slick Rick, label dominated street fashion to breakdancing to the out break of crack cocaine in the hood the Jacka was there and these are just a few of his thoughts. Get Up On Magic!

No fancy title needed on this post. The fact that this interview is with the live wire hip hop artist known as Roach Gigz should be enough. Shot in some very Frisco locations, we met with Roach Gigz at Fatlace in S.F not far from his Fillmore district stomping grounds and got more than a few jems off the dude. With the release of Roach Gigz’s mixtape “Roachy Balboa” you could easily define Roach as one of the top emcee to watch in California. He’s as perfect a representative of the Bay Area as you can look for in his style of music. In this interview Roach easily passes the equivalent of a secret hand shake by breaking down which High School he attended letting you know when he claims S.F he’s really raised in the heart of the city. Live in person as he is in videos, his persona and raps are as authentic as it gets. He’s a product of the Bay’s musical past but his musical product is a signal of the Bay’s future locally and nationally. GET UP ON MAGIC!

What up folks! Join 24KMilkCrate TV behind the scenes of Los Rakas’ latest and upcoming video “ABRAZAME” directed by Aris Jerome shot over the course of one beautiful weekend in Frisco, California. Every second was propelled by the melody and energy that their song “ABRAZAME” carries and it’s amazing! Hear Rico & Dun Dun’s feelings about the song and what it means personally and professionally and listen to young director Aris Jerome expound on the concept that the video spoke to him. GET UP ON MAGIC!

If you want to get @ Los Rakas
or
Director Aris Jerome
Hit them on Twitter
twitter.com/LosRakas
twitter.com/ArisJerome

Tanya Morgan Presents “The Sandwich Shop” just dropped and somewhere deep in Brooklyn Donwill and Von Pea along with Che Grand were on a meat & beer run to a super market with the tallest wall of Goya beans ever assembled. If you know Tanya Morgan and are familiar with Donwill & them then you know there isn’t anyone on Earth that digs a cookout more than him. Thankfully, 24KMilkCrate was invited to grub on some of their home cooking. Oh yea, and film a rhyme or two. Somewhere between seasoning hamburgers with Goya and peppering beats with ILL ass rhymes Donwill, Von Pea and Che Grand were able to face the camera and record “HEADPHONE ROCK”. GET UP ON MAGIC!

Big up to Vash and Noel for the Brooklyn hospitality.

And if you’re in NYC tonight hit up SUTRA, chILL with the posse, lounge with good people and celebrate DONWILL AND VONPEA’s free album The Sandwich Shop. CHECK THE FLY SHIT!

Panamanian emcees Raka Dun and Raka Rich have been tearing up stages as Los Rakas since before they were allowed to vote. Being born in Panama and raised back and forth between their fam on the isthmus and Oakland, California created emcees that switch their rhymes from their Panamanian slanged up version of Spanish back to the unique Bay Area slang tinged English with ease. Which makes these cats a threat to the whole New World via their crowd and dance floor rocking jams. With deep roots in their community here and in Panama Los Rakas aim high to the sky, declaring that the day that you finally see a bunch of Afro Latinos at the Latin Grammys you’ll know that it was Los Rakas’ hand that helped make it happen. From this performance you wouldn’t tell them no. GET UP ON MAGIC!

Carnival S.F 2010 in The Mission was packed with partiers. The sun was gleaming on the parade, where thousands of people in the crowd were out drinking, dancing,eating and soaking in the rare unblocked sun rays. Los Rakas was out too, shooting their music video for “Abrazame” in the middle of the the parade. But it wouldn’t have been a true party if they didn’t get to rock the stage too. Which they did in front a a couple of thousand heads. CHECK ‘EM OUT NOW AND GET UP ON MAGIC!

If you want to know more about Los Rakas, check their music out HERE ON THEIR BANDCAMP SITE
Or talk to them personally HERE ON THEIR TWITTER

Hailing from Brooklyn, Sene (pronounced “Seen”) is an emcee who speaks and shoots straight from the heart. His thoughts don’t pull punches but in conversation every word is measured and delivered with a smile and wit no matter the seriousness. 24KMilkCrate was lucky enough to get an interview with him to chop it up face to face about a record off his recent release “Reality Bites” called TIME KILLS. During the course of the interview he kicks the song itself, literally paints a picture, breaks down his thoughts on success, his position in hip hop and a hilarious childhood story of loss and revenge. GET UP ON MAGIC!

Download Here: Sene “Reality Bites”

Welcome to part 2 the last segment of our interview with mega hustlin’ NYC shooter Alexander Richter. In this segment he breaks down some of his favorite shots from METHOD MAN, to HELTA SKELTA along with the thoughts that come with the ups and downs of the struggle. We usually cover hip hop artists on 24KMilkCrate so hopefully this gives you an idea of what it takes to make it on the other side of the lens. Get Up On Magic!

Alexander Richter has been busting his ass in the NYC hip hop scene as a photographer sweating under his relentless work pace. While not in the business as long as some career “professional” photographers, he’s sure as hell busted his ass and worked as hard if not harder than one in order to establish a solid rep in a very short period of time. With stacks of ILL photos with almost every national emcee that lands in New York. Recently while out in Queens, 24KMilkCrate.Com caught up with the shotta to get some insights on his hustle and grind. You’re in a position to learn a thing or two. Stay with us and GET UP ON MAGIC!

Alexander Richter on Tumblr