I <3 Mad Decent

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check this single out guys! it KNOCKS its free for only a week so grab it fast


and then next week!


HOLLLERRRRR

October Steez

this month has been so hectic for me but it a great way. I love what October brings every year; colors and festivals and magical weather.

that being said i have been blessed to have gone to many celebrations this past month or so. with the combination of festivals and enjoying the weather and leaves changing color, I have rejoined the work force which has left me in quite a zombie-like-state but I have been very happy and productive this October. Below are some shots from 2 recent photo shoots I have done with Ole - a good friend who I met at lifetouch. and Joseph Bradley who I work with. I decided I need to broaden my horizons and continue to shoot people and learn how to be a better photographer and blogger for that matter lol. so i decided to shoot guys...which i don't do often. but i think they turned out great and each were a blast to work with.

Have a safe Halloween everyone!

i'm gonna be a nun! hahahaha I love that movie!

The magical thing called MAD DECENT

SOOO i just joined the Mad Decent Street Team!
I am so happy I could do a flippin cartwheel.
if ya know what's good, check out www.maddecent.com AND www.maddecent.com/blog

also the flyers below! - i know they are cut off because blogger is a lil weird but if you click on the flyers you can view them a lil better:)
To me it's the best thing that Maryland has to offer next to the blue crabs, ya heard?!
Mad Mashups, mixtapes and the best beats.
for example....
MIA and santogold = great revolutionary artists.
MIA, Santogold w/ DIPLO = CRAZY DELICIOUS!

check em out the flyers to see when MAD DECENT will be in a town near you:)
& to be on a lil bit of a deeper level, Discovering Mad Decent and all of the magical music that comes from them has
made me appreciate my move to Baltimore SOO much more. now, i can REPRESENT! the great things that Baltimore has to offer
MAD DECENT being #1.














and oh oh!
here is a pic of the last day of artscape and guess who was playing.. DIPLO!


yay!

ohweeee. Motown TIME!

**please don't forget to turn off the music on the bottom of this page before listening to the videos below:) 

Here is something that I just discovered and i think it is magical.

I LA LA LA LOVE Marvin Gaye. Look at those stunnaz! He definitely one of the 1st, a trailblazer. I think he sings the National Anthem soo well because its the same octave as that one note in Sexual healing...you know when he goes, BAAAAAAAAAAABYYYYYYY! I can't take it much longer... HAHAHAHA Yay! Marvin Gaye! 

Here is another video I absolutely adore. I heard Nina Simone sing "Backlash Blues" for the 1st time about a year ago. I was watching her performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. I was taken aback by how radical her performance was. She sang about the same bullshit of today and it was eerie to see history repeating itself. The video isn't from Montreux I can't find that anywhere! It was on comcast last time...its incredible what kind of stuff they put on comcast. 

on another note. check out jazmine sullivan. She is a new artist that is dabbling into a little bit of that ol skool sound, I think it has the warmth that a lot of modern music lacks. Enjoy:)

Self Portrait

I decided I want to switch out the background photo. I think I'm going to frequently do this.
The photo that I changed it to is a scanned self portrait that I did when I was in high school.
I remember taking this with a film camera *gasp* that my grandpa gave me. I was happy with
the result and promised myself this will be the photo I will use in my opening of my 1st
gallery in New York City. I still want to make that happen:)
Friends, amazing people and things... keep checking back. you may be my muse/inspiration/
or pretty thang I might want to put up.

***so this is late

I don't know why its taken me this long to post this... So about 2 months ago i found out my entries into a contest called make history --an international contest...won! and today i found out another one was accepted as an entry so 5 of my photos have been selected. i'm elated. and I really hope you will all be able to see it published in many different international magazines.i'm happy to show my work in an honest way. sometimes i find it hard to categorize my photography but this contest seemed significant. I want people to know the sense of urgency in my work. its not just cause it looks good. there are real stories behind them. and hopefully stories that will mark this turbulent time we are in. Just like in that movie 1 giant leap. we are bombarded with a lot of imagery in today's society...mc donalds. nike. michael jordon...fuckin sean puffy combs *bastard 
"so I'm in the business of showing other dominate cultural images as well. and saying hey. let's not forget about these things because they are who WE are."
yayayaya. lately in my journey i've found that truth is what I need.
can i get an amen? :)
but seriously..

City folk***

An old friend from Valley, Megan Matthias contacted me 6 months ago about her friend who is in the peacecorp with her in St. Lucia.






 

She has gotten accepted for her graduate studies at The University of Maryland Baltimore. She is finally in town to look for a place to stay in Mt Vernon and has also brought along her folk-singing boyfriend and their super cool tortoise named stella. They are staying with us until they find a place. We took em around town and shared an Ethiopian meal at Dukem (the same restaurant down the street from Azizah in DC that she raves about) We went around fells point and looked for a bar to sit and have a beer at and got to know each other a lil better. They are a blessing to be around and its honestly a breath of fresh air to know people like Jennifer and Aj. Super Chill, into the Arts and have great things to say. Jennifer and I even share the same passion for things needing to change in our world and how living more simply could help with that. I even got to share with her some info on Baltimore's "Slow Food Revolution." that is definitely something that makes me proud of Baltimore. I'd even say they are two people that are living proof, if you follow your heart--it will take you places. Tonight we had the blessing to hear AJ play in our living room over a bottle of authentic Spiced rum from St. Lucia. It was the first time I wanted to taste the alcohol straight no chaser.We all were sipping carefully from our tea cups. AJ says it reminds him of Christmas and as soon as me and lucas put it to our lips we smiled and said "CHRISTMAS!" It was so flavorful and such a treat to have being that I hadnt ever planned on tasting authentic rum unless I visited the islands myself. so this was a REAL treat for us. here are some photos that i took from tonite. definitely a memory that i will keep forever. it was absolutely magical. Jennifer even told their story and how she fell in love with AJ when he was on tour with his first album. I finally mustered up the courage to ask them if they listened to Ani Difranco without sounding cliché but Aj mentioned that he used to share a pad with Tom Sickafoose, Ani's bassist and that Jennifer loves Ani. It was a great night. it is certainly an experience that has made me love my move to Baltimore that much more. oooh! and I soo have a video of the AJ singing but I gotta figure out how to get it off my phone. ** the song was about San Francisco and it was awesome. Cheers to new friends!

sacramento

before you hit play

please go to bottom of pageto turn off music from my playlist. sorry! these are some shots i took from my latest trip back to the city of trees. enjoy!

 

boo hoo the perils of the unemployed.......

okay. so my arch enemy being unemployed...is not not having money
its not "the man" it is actually Billy FUCKIN Mays.

**dude isn't that such a gnarly picture! whoa man.
i always have trouble sleeping and i think unemployment intensifies it.
yesterday i even had quite an eventful day! I woke up butt crack early to
take an assessment test for Verizon Wireless. I think I did okay. Me and lucas then went to the historic Federal Hill to get bagels and found this amazing furniture boutique. He took me home. I chillaxed then we went back to the neighborhood when we got home to try for the first time Maryland steamed crabs. it was incredible. I cut my finger cause got DOWN on them crabs. it was delicious.

We went back to light street and checked out American Apparel. picked up a racer back tank and vintage red striped tube socks. checked out doggie style and got Jerry a doggie toothbrush and an adorable polo shirt
we have a friend that lives in federal hill and we were chatting about how lucky she is to live in such a great neighborhood and how fabulous her house is...and then we ran into her! anyways we ended up hookin up and got super drunk off of mimosas
got home...pooooooooped and drunk. and 3am i wake up nand couldnt go back to sleep cuz i woke up to fuckin BILLY MAYS screaming I CAN GIVE YOU AFFORDABLE INSURANCE!
***insurance? fuckin insurance?
not orange glo. not the face shaving thing. not the hercules hook or that damn magic putty. he is selling fuckin insurance! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and screamin about it.
yes yes i know tv rots your brain. especially billy mays!
on another note...tv is still very entertaining hahahaha
i am home right now watching the marathon of project runway season 1. makes me want to learn how to sew and make my own shit. i get in these weird moods when it comes to fashion. I want to create and i totally love clothes but at the same time it can be a circus. and models. fuckin models are just ridiculous to me. there was this one part on the very first show that the models were walking trying to show the designers how they look like and its like. are you serious? so Jay (season 1 winner) was like a breath of fresh air with his humor. Particularly when Jay was dressed like Jesus! i think we have the same humor. lol
ahhhhhhhhhhhh save me from myself!