LA + the Bay

i'm just back to london from a fun couple of weeks in california. the main mission going over was studio - various people i've been meaning to build with and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it happen. a lot of studio collabs happen by remote/online, but it's always great to have that direct contact and creative interaction.

day one was with jody watley - i did a remix for her last year, and now we're doing a joint for me. i was digging into her back catalog a few weeks back, and right in the socket is shalamar at its best. disco classic...



thanks to rodney lee, jody's regular producer, for the use of his studio in the valley. jody was lovely and a pleasure to work with. the song we put down that day is called 'time 2 get down'. i'm looking forward to finishing it, some saturday night house music runnings.

the next couple of days i was in studio with ovasoul7 - he's a dancer, poet, singer/songwriter some might know from our collab for DJ spinna's here to there album, or his big ass tune 'i-cling' with deetron/osunlade doing the dancefloor rounds at the moment. we did the vocal tracking out at mr leigh's studio in the north valley - ainjoy (yeah!) hooked me up with mr leigh - classic original school cat in black adidas tracksuit and black DMC style hat. he does all the home studio installations for A-list rappers and artists and has recorded/produced or engineered many of them too. ovasoul7's one of my favorite singers and songwriters anywhere so it was dope to reconnect with him. i cant wait to get the two joints we did finished and mixed - 'tasty beautiful' is a guitar/drum heavy soul joint that i made with lil john roberts on drums and jeremy toy on guitar (lil john is THAT DUDE), and the b-side song is with a great young singer that ovasoul7 brought in, frina.

ovasoul7 and i met in NZ back in 1999 when i was recording my move on up single with cherie mathieson. he was in NZ with a touring dance company and cherie brought him up to studio - where he actually laced the track with his vocals, but i kept it just cherie in the end. good fortune tho, cause there was plenty more to come :) the first released collab we did was back in 2000 - i got him to lace vocals on a remix i did for german trumpeter til bronner (verve/universal jazz)....



my friend mathieu and his girl took me to catch up with leon ware (if you dont know.. then REALISE!!) at his home and we were treated to fresh seafood lunch courtesy of leon and his wife. leon and i have been hitting back and forth for a minute - we have a couple of collabs (also involving kenny dope and dj spinna) that are unfinished and been wanting to link properly directly. it's pretty dope when you have gold and platinum records for marvin gaye hanging on your wall.... dammmn! leon listened through some beats i've been working on and chose 3 to bless with his musical massages. can't wait for that ish either! he's working on a new record for concorde and i have a feeling it's gonna be sickkk.

as it goes, leon dropped by a freesoul sessions gig of mine in london last year - stepped up on stage for the improv freesoul vibe...



the friday night in LA, i DJ'd for eric coleman's firecracker party at the grand star. what a VIBE. good people, good sound system, the party and the club had a real underground kind of flavor. coleman was in sao paolo so we didnt get to link proper, but it was a pleasure to rock the party. great to see LA fam in the spot too... big up BLU. also congrats to vik duplaix on his grammy nomination - went to his celebrations party at the 86 and great to see fam there too - rashida and garth trinidad on decks especially.

next up was the bay - a couple of days holed up in studio in oakland with replife. rep and i met when he came to the UK working on his record 'the unclosed mind'. we did a joint for bembe and my politik album ('sweet') and i laced him with a couple of beats for his own projects. from the first time i heard him, i was like... this guy is the Truth. we hooked up at his home studio in oakland and knocked out some magic. 'ready set go', 'real life' also featuring capitol a and 'the nod'... some new school forward thinking hip hop is in the pipeline. we'll probably end up putting it out as an EP but first things first, gotta get the tunes finished and mixed down.

i was back to LA for one last night before heading back to london. spent that last night in venice - DJing at wiseacre's funky in the middle party at the ac supper club. again, was great to see crew out and on the dancefloor, including meeting long-distance friend dj moni in person for the first time. funny shit in this day and age when e-communication is so the norm and then sometimes you actually MEET people for real... haha

FOOD.... three spots stood out... breakfast in the valley was all about '4 n 20' (laurel canyon and riverside)... ASHE in venice - i witnessed their dinners and consumed their lunch and definitely recommend it if you're in the area, and betelnut in san fran. seriously not sure about their all white staff wearing all traditional asian uniforms (umm... 'asian fusion' doesnt have to be interpreted that unsubtley!!), but their food is BANGING.

so yeah, was a fun trip and great for me to get my cali fix. i've been thinking about relocating to the states for a while now, just cant choose between the east coast or the west coast. LA scored well on this trip tho! ;)

great to see everyone out there but as usual, nuff fam i didnt get to hook up with... i'll catch you all next time!