Hip Hopaholics 09/16/2023

Your boy is performing at the latest installment of Hip Hopaholics on 09/16/2023 at Slate Bar in San Francisco (16th St. x S. Van Ness). It’s a FREE event with an open mic cypher and beat makers.. so it’s perfect for the hungry MC!! Come through with your bars!! Shout outs to the dude Rezin8!!

Kensho Kuma x Cloud NI9E- More than Life

I am currently working on a collaborative album with Japanese producer Cloud NI9E. Here is something we’ve been working on.. Mixed by D-Wiz and graffiti by Marcus Murray.

More than Life

Verse 1:
Was a troubled adolescent, Rap was the cure/
but after twenty years, I had to mature/
stayed up hella nights, to master a verse/
but couldn’t monetize, my passion or worth damn/
I worked jobs I hated, even taught 6th grade/
lost my dignity and pride, just so I can get paid/
older brother was a gangsta, in the drug trade/
that was never me no, couldn’t make what thugs made/
In the lab every night, mixing down tracks/
with a well-known producer, giving dude racks/
ugh patiently waiting to make dividends stack/
but I had nothing to eat, I was living so wack/
Then I met a woman who had an effect on me/
connected at a deeper level, not just sexually/
she stimulated mental growth intellectually/
our time is more important than being the best MC/

Chorus:
Life is more than bars, it’s more than rhyme schemes/
more than what you sacrifice for your pipe dreams/
Life is more than clubs, more than chasing hoes/
more than hustling 24/7 making dough/
Life is more than cars, it’s more than nice kicks/
more than karats glistening, on an iced wrist/
Life is more than drugs, more than an image/
it’s about the real love, the reason that we living/

Verse 2:
When a boy becomes a man, the amount of growing pain/
is more than agonizing potna, people go insane/
music isn’t paying me and that’s an awful thang/
but still outside of venues, cyphering with awkward slang/
Use to by the main act, headlining every jam/
use to have the latest sneakers and the gear from every brand/
use to blow my loot on blow, needed more than several grams/
now I’m saving up, for a mafuckin’ wedding band/
Went from spitting raw, to scrubbing kitchen floors/
domesticated homie, feeling like I’m sixty four/
you tripping boy, if you think monogamy can make you soft/
rather make love to my woman than go chase some crazy broad/
old enough to know the game’s full of snakes and hateful frauds/
so I keep my ass at home and take my time creating songs/
‘ready been around the world, now my time to settle down/
looking forward to the day I see you in your wedding gown/

Chorus:

Global Gutter Gourmet Sampler

When I’m in East Oakland, I’m eating carne asada super burritos. When I’m in 西成、it’s definitely もんじゃ and たこ焼き。In Berlin, it’s the fish sandwiches. Once I reach Prague, hook up the pork knuckles. Come have some appetizers from my “Global Gutter Gourmet” platter.. (they’re select tracks from an upcoming mix CD.) 地球上どこにいても、俺はドヤ街でうまい、ローカルなソールフード食べてます。ニューミックスCDから4曲召し上がれ。Graffiti by Marcus Murray and Mixes by D-Wiz.

Mafia Furniture

Produced by: DJ Pharoahgamoe (Def Star Studio)

Mixed by: DWiz (Bpos)

Mastered by: Sota Furugen

Artwork by: Dreez

Mafia Furniture

Kensho Kuma Verse 1: “Feel like there’s a target on the back of my head/ what make it so apparent is the lack of respect/ never mind the patrons, we cashing a check/ from a lineage of ninjas, get slashed in the neck/ ughh got our young boys, and our Jewish lawyers/ I know ’bout your coke abuse, all you do’s annoy us/ my inner circle tight, letting no crew destroy us/ you getting agitated, but your boy’s truly joyous/ ain’t depending on no Spotify or TIdal/ do this for my culture, drop this shit on vinyl/ goons out in Shinjuku, awaiting my arrival/ 地元じゃ足りなねー, haters let me guide you/ never did contribute to making rap violent/ but coming for my kingdom will get you clapped trying/ always pushed the boundaries, dropping Exact Science/ I rule with an iron fist, Kuma’s the Jap tyrant/”

Kensho Kuma Verse 2: “Leviathan, most rappers are tadpoles/ coming to the party behaving like assholes/ why you jealous homie? I gave you the platform/ never been a killer, but killers will clap for him/ all you think about’s your shitty little cash flow/ while I kick it in a foreign city during Rap tours/ I’m not any better, but I left my backyard/ ’cause this saturated place don’t care for local Rap stars/ go get the knowledge, I ain’t have at your age/ only ’bout 30 percent’s how you rap on stage/ other 70 percent’s how your music’s managed/ gotta be professional when repping what your brand is/ so many damn artists never got to leave the Bay/ never did a video, project, or an EPK/ dedication to your music’s one thing I’m sure of/ it got me out to South East Asia, Tokyo, and Europe/ (that’s what’s up)/”

 

Permanent Scars (Final Fantasy Instrumental)

2 Mello is a multi-faceted producer who samples retro Nintendo games. I was immediately interested upon discovering his Final Fantasy- the 3-6 Chambers project.. (he flipped Wu Tang acapellas over Final Fantasy samples!) He also has Nas x Castlevania, Jay-Z x Chrono Trigger, and the full instrumental version for each project!! WHAT!? A beat from the FF batch served as the perfect, beautifully melancholic soundscape for some painful-ass bars I was chiseling when I lost my older brother this past July. This instrumental truly saved my damn sanity.

I present to you Permanent Scars. Props to 2 Mello. Mixed by DWiz. Pic by Sarah Arnold.

Kensho Kuma & Cloud NI9E- Temple Work

Here we go once again.. my partner in crime Cloud NI9E and I released a brand new banger.. this one’s called Temple Work and it’s from a vinyl that we’re currently working one. This is the free version, so it’s been ran through a maximizer, but it hasn’t been mastered..

For those of you who don’t know, Cloud NI9E is a producer/DJ from Tokyo, Japan. I did a collaborative album with him back in 2013, and he has served as our tour DJ on numerous overseas solo and group tours.

Never Be Famous

Brand New Banger by Sticky Ricardo featuring Kensho Kuma!! “Never Be Famous” is scheduled to appear on Sticky Ricardo’s upcoming “Sticks and Stones” debut album; his project will also have appearance from the legendary Killarmy clique. This track is about being content with accepting that you’ll never “blow-up” by so-called “industry” standards and is written from the perspective of an independent artist dealing with everyday trials and tribulations. The graphic was created by Jane the Message and is modeled after the Japanese Doraemon font.

Never Be Famous Verse 1: “Yeah, rappers talm ’bout, getting more Prada/ your boy’s independent, shipping out product/ never sold hella units, gotta day job/ I’m performing at the local shows, on my days off/ yeah, use my vacation, for oversea tours/ I’m flirting with a mermaid, on foreign seashores/ hi! getting more supporters, more than before/ but we can’t buy a house or afford the decor/ and we blame one percenters and white older heads/ but I’m more evil when I’m outta bipolar meds/ ughh, Lithium, Depakote in pill cabinet/ but I hate feeling numb, rather feel passionate/ ’bout everything in life, success to the failure/ you talk a good one homie, let’s see you wager/ running with the immigrants, Mexican neighbors/ know the Japones is raw and get’s only greater/ invest my Bitcoin, in Vivranium/ and hire more teachers and librarians/ I don’t give a shit if I don’t rock in a stadium/ but tired of the students getting shot in the cranium/”

Chorus (repeat x 2): “I ain’t even tripping that I’ll never be famous/ ’cause I murder everything, when I hit the stages/ nothing but my real life, written on the pages/ we’ll be here forever, ’cause the way we flows ageless/”

Never Be Famous Verse 2: “My beautiful masseuse got me feeling great/ I’m on a cruise boat with friends and we grilling steak/ if you, talk shit my killers will seal your fate/ ughh, jets and helicopters on my real estate/ I got every pair of Nikes, that were ever made/ at the venues in your city, my records getting played/ Kendrick called last night, and asked for a feature/ my photo shoots packed with some Japanese divas/ (wake yo ass up!) damn, back to my real life/ what I do for a living doesn’t even feel right/ trapped in a meeting writing verses in my head/ I should be out touring in Europe, but instead/ my bitch of a boss, writing me a reprimand/ if I get one more, I’m fired so I’m stressing fam/ lemme get you tea, ah! mix it with some Diprivan/ kill all the cameras, return with some weapons (blam!)/ I ain’t even serious, my dreams and my nightmares/ always influence the rhyme schemes that I write here/ we respected for the way we rep on the mic/ but we speak for real people with some regular lives/”

Chorus (repeat x 2):

Brand New 2nd Floor Samurais Track

I am proud to present a brand new 2nd Floor Samurais banger.. “Why You Do It” was produced by Japanese turntablist pioneer DJ $HIN of Turntable Troopers Entertainment. It was recorded amidst our Asia tour last year in Osaka, Japan. DJ $HIN runs the Skratch Labo DJ school.. if you’re in Kansai and you’re interested in becoming a DJ, this is mos def the place to check out!! It’s a comfortable environment with more hi-tech gadgets than I can explain..

 

Kensho Kuma Verse 1: “Got ma game from the smugglers turned businessmen/ it’s a deeper cognition that my words get you in/ yeah the 2nd floor image now worth dividends/ so my circle hella small ’cause the turf listening/ for the intel, hmmm how they get that foreign doe?/ how they tour overseas? what? they was poor before/ how they popping Dom P, and they pouring more?/ you can closely watch, but nothing I’m recording for/ coming with a price tag or sold through an auction/ the weight of the entire world I hold for my squadron/ kamikaze diary, told through my doctrine/ I rep perseverance, we don’t fold when we boxed in/ the broke kids happy with headlining local gigs/ the Samurais on 2nd floor be on some global shit/ monetize, don’t you forgot what the focus is/and  we trust only family, not no associates/”

 

Here is a 2nd Floor Samurais music video which was also shot in Japan last year…

Smilëyz Cheeky Chinky Crew- Asiatik Kings feat. Kensho Kuma [Official Video]

During my Solo Shogun Stories Tour through France, I got down with the Smileyz Cheeky Chinky Crew.. they are an Asiatic Parisian crew representing Paris. They featured yours truly on “Asiatik Kings”.

Smilëyz Cheeky Chinky Crew- Asiatik Kings feat. Kensho Kuma

Production: Kody Babyghost for Wishing Light Music Label

Realization: Kevin Bantsimba

Shot on location in: France and Strasbourg, France

Camoes by: Architeknic, Noa, and King Siroko