Roosh Williams - Unorthodox

I usually save my shout outs for the end of the post but shouts to the homey and Houston rapper, Roosh Williams. His album, Unorthodox, dropped today so mosey on over to iTunes and get that.

When I moved back to Houston, one of the first things I did was try to figure out which young H-Town artists were new and making it happen. I googled upon a couple of Complex articles on the subject both written by Houston's very own hip-hop scribe, Shea Serrano. On the list of "The 10 Best Houston Rap Mixtapes of 2013" was a fellow by the name of Roosh Williams and his project deja roo: Times Have Changed. Downloaded it. Jammed it.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago, I was contacted to work on a photo story doing artist spotlights on Houston rappers. Roosh was one of the people I reached out to. Even though the story kind of fell through (new management), I got to kick it with Roosh for a few days while he did various rapper things like shoot a video, wear a Sub-Zero costume, play basketball, eat fajitas and open for Wale. Unfortunately, I was unable to follow him into a classroom where he occasionally moonlit as a substitute teacher (seriously). Oh well, maybe next time.

OH! We did get to play a couple of games of 1-on-1 in which I am reluctant to say...I lost. He shot like 80% from 3 and I just didn't believe in his jumper. Still don't, actually. But go get Unorthodox and go watch the video he did with Houston rap gawd, Scarface. In the meantime, I'll work on a negotiation for a hoop re-match.

8to8: Deontre Blayz/Derrick Bowers -- Rapper/Aftercare Instructor

Although I've known Blayz since about 2003, I hadn't kicked it with him for such an extended period of time. And when we did kick it, it was usually in the music studio down in the basement of the McKinley building at American University. This time around, it was interesting to see his creative process but even more interesting to see him at work and interacting with kids. I guess we've all grown up.

Deontre Blayz is a Brooklyn-born MC and Howard University alum currently living in Washington DC. Derrick Bowers, also known as Mr. Bowers to his 4th graders, was formerly a teacher associate and is currently an aftercare instructor at E. L. Haynes public charter school on Georgia Ave. NW. Music is his passion but working with children pays his bills. We all know that becoming successful in the music industry doesn't happen overnight. In this installment of 8to8, I follow Deontre Blayz to illustrate a day in the grind of getting there.

P.S. this blog post includes an embedded slideshow so it might not be viewable in your feed reader. You might just have to head to the site Untitled, Michael Starghill.

B.E

B.E is a hip hop artist out of Washington DC and a member of the hip hop group N.O.T.M.E. While I was shooting Josh, they showed up at the MTerrace offices in Rockville to record some new tracks in the studio engineered by my man Tom.

The first time I actually played with the color of the light by using gels. I liked the red because it matched the inside of his vest. Shout out to Kwaku Alston (picture of Xzibit).