It’s been a looong time since I’ve had an official solo show. On 06/20/21, Kensho Kuma x DJ Mike will be holding down a traditional 1 MC x 1 DJ online set at the Complex SF. The FB event page is here. I will be performing material from the “Lineage ov the Lyricist” mixtape and upcoming album songs with Cloud NI9E. Shout out’s to the good people at Outsiders Syndiate and Infinite Chi.
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:
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.
Here’s a brand new interview I did with DJ Mister Vee for CJLO’s Beats from the East program. CJLO is Concordia University’s radio station based in Montreal, Canada; Beats from the East is a program dedicated to showcasing urban music from Asian communities.
Special shout out’s to Joyskii at Hip Hop x Asian America blogspot for doing such a comprehensive and brutally honest interview!!
Please check out the interview here.
Special Salutations to the following blogs for featuring the “Lineage ov the Lyricist!!” From Germany to Slovakia to Latvia, and from Japan back to the U.S., the support has been more than anything I could have expected!! Thank you for supporting “Lineage ov the Lyricist!!” Although it’s a FREE project, I feel hella rich!!
2.) Hypnotic Asia
3.) We Nod Records
4.) Datpiff
10.) Digiindie
11.) Dope Future
12.) I Still Love Her
13.) Mics und Beats
14.) mrcnnlive.com
15.) HRS Underground
16.) 7th Boro
17.) 1st Day Fresh
18.) Hip Hop Relevant
19.) Hip Hop Movement
20.) Beat Box Radio Show
21.) MJ’s Hip Hop Connex
22.) YO? Komix Rapz
23.) Japanese B-Boy Post
24.) SHOUTS Music Blog
25.) Rymeezee Blog
The good people at Cosmic Hip Hop in Paris, France, have written an article about yours truly!! My 2017 solo European tour was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had in this culture, and I cannot wait to get back out there again!! Salutations to King Siroko of Zulu Nation France!!
The Kensho Kuma Bandcamp has been updated!! Listeners are able to download select tracks from the upcoming “Lineage ov the Lyricist” for FREE and name prices for past albums.. all purchases will be used to mix my upcoming album with Cloud NI9E. (No, I ain’t one of these MC’s that claim to know how to engineer because they can run their DAW.) My engineer has always been paid off.. So yeah, get the tracks for FREE or donate a little if you can. Peace.
My peoples in Paris France, La Rime Metisse (King Siroko x Architeknic) just released “VIVEMENT”, a Corona awareness video. Yours truly has a brief cameo appearance.
The duo is in the midst of preparing their upcoming album “Jusqu’au bout”, so stay tuned..
Look, I’ve never in my life considered myself an activist.. nor a “political” MC.. just a regular dude with integrity and morals. But with all the madness going on with our police departments, this song naturally came out. Took the instrumental from Japanese producers Typewriter&YMG, mixed by D-Wiz, and mastered by Sota Furugen.
Killings Must Stop
Kensho Kuma Verse 1: “Ignorant people think Asians eat cats/ I love eating pussy, please believe that/ we could joke around but these stereotypes/ are killing Black people in the dead of the night/ prejudiced Caucasians, perpetuate fright/ cops see the melanin, and pull weapons on sight/ (from the Bay Area) where we hella liberal/ yet Barbecue Becky think you’s criminal/ depending on your damn traits, phenotypical/ after Oscar Grant, most of us remained cynical/ ughh, still can’t believe they acquitted Zimmerman/ the mass media, don’t want us to remember him/ I’m down to go riot ’cause I like vengeance/ but I’d rather see a cop get a life sentence/ for taking the lives of these minorities/ some do believe in white superiority/ they known to be liars who commit forgery/ when they doing they dirt, we gotta record the scene/ ah! hold them accountable, in a court of law/ if that don’t work, we bringing war to yall/”
Chorus: “Too many people have been killed by the cops/ nobody can afford to chill and just watch/ protest, riot, or go and bust shots/ we gotta do whatever, the killings must stop/ too many people have been killed by the cops/ nobody can afford to chill and just watch/ don’t know what to do, but I’ve seen too much/ in the Bay Area, shit’s been too corrupt/”
Kuma Verse 2: “I’m hella racist like the world I was raised in/ get buck-fiftied if you disrespect Asians/ immigrants, Tibetans, or folks from Wakanda/ want more than cash, I need freedom and the honor/ forefathers proud, I’m a Japanese soldier/ some paying to be white, fuck a Sammy Sosa/ the European standards of beauty is wack/ in Hip Hop, what’s considered beauty is black/ ah, worst gang members are the agents of ICE/ what familias in Oakland be facing ain’t right/ it’s about the colored kids, not the hatred for whites/ but I’m not a pacifist, I can’t break up no fights/ at a damn Trump rally, stand with the refugees/ Latin youth in cages, cry out rescue me/ officers ain’t letting kids in the ghetto live/ people from the Middle East, get called a terrorist/ politic with doctors, and some gang members/ and learn from both groups, to further the agenda/ streets to the campus, we are making anthems/ if you down with POC’s, please put them hands up!/”
Chorus: