Mike Mills "The W Freestyles"

The kid Mike Mills of Seaside has unloaded a robust collection of new material via "The W Freestyles."
The freestyle mixtape is available for free at www.therealmikemills.bandcamp.com.
You can also peep game on the media player above.
And before I forget, welllummmmmm...

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Video: Seaside Stretch gets into it with Rick Ross @ VMA's

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music

Some video of Seaside Stretch getting into an argument with Rick Ross at last night's VMA's. Stretch, a Peninsula native, manages Kreayshawn, who was nominated for best new artist (she lost to Tyler the Creator).

Although you only get to see the back of Stretch's snap back for most of the video, he clearly ain't having it with Rozay and whoever that other big dude stepping up on the platform was.

It's cool to see a local guy up in the big leagues, but I don't think he intended to be seen in this light.

In any event, big up to Stretch for holding down his artist and reppin' the 831 @ the VMA's.

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Excerpt 2 of Untitled Book Project

When Danny finally pulled out his stash, he looked straight at Ant.
"I'm calling bullshit," Danny said, as he dumped the weed out of his shredder and onto the tin box top. “You’re dad is messed up lying to you like that.”

Ant was crushed, but he kept it to himself. A shiver ripped through his spine that he couldn’t hide, but it wasn’t from the cold. He sat silent and watched Danny place the weed into the rolling paper gingerly, pinching the paper between both thumbs and pointer fingers. He rolled it until a perfectly proportioned joint sat in his two hands, sealed with a quick lick on the gummy part.
"Dude, the town was never like this until he died and they named a school after him. That's what my dad said," Ant said. "He said the last thing he ever wanted was to have a school named after him because kids hate going to school. He didn't want his name associated with something kids hated."
"That part I believe. I hate this place," Z said. "I wouldn't want that either."
"You're tripping, Ant. My parents been working the fields for like, a long ass time. Since they were kids. They said it's always been like this," Danny said, pulling out a lighter to spark the joint. He inhaled the smoke in a quick breath, the plume escaping for a split second before retreating through Danny's mouth and nostrils, into his lungs. Danny exhaled slow, took another hit, and passed it to Ant.
"Man, you know I don't smoke. It's supposed to go to the left, anyway," Ant said, offended by Danny’s every gesture.

"If you don't smoke, then how do you know it goes to the left?" Danny said, bogarting a toke before passing it to Zamudio.
"Because the song goes "Pass the dutchie to the left hand side" dumb ass," Ant said. "I can't believe you can be so paranoid about cops but think it's safe to smoke a joint out in the open."
"This ain't the open. We're on the rooftop. And besides, they don't have security guards here anymore. They finished all the construction," Danny said, the paranoia gone in a cloud of chilled smoke.
"Hey man, what's that over there," Arnel said, pointing toward the row of aged palm trees in the campus plaza. "I thought I saw something move."
"Dude, there’s nothing over there. You ain't even high yet," Danny said with his head turned, trying to figure out if he saw anything.
"Man, I ain't getting caught here again. Last time they rang the alarm, we almost didn't make it out," Ant said, getting nervous. "You sure they don't have security guards here anymore?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. We've been coming here for how long now and never got caught? Come on now, you're tripping," Danny said, clearly high off just one hit, getting the joint back from Arnel. Ant was still nervous.
"So, what's up Ant, you got anything new for us or what?" Z asked, looking more relaxed now that he had taken a toke.
"What? Man, I don't know. I been writing some stuff, but nothing I'm too hype about," Ant said, his mind trying to figure out what he wanted to share with them.
"Aww, man, come on. You know you got a whole new stack of shit on you," Danny said, taking a long toke before passing it to Z. "I could hear those papers crumpled in your pocket all the way over here. I’m surprised the security guards didn't hear that."
"I thought you said there were no security guards," Arnel reminded him.

"Whatever, man. Seriously though, when you gonna spit some gangsta shit for us, Ant? When you gonna write about your homeboys in East Salas out here banging and slanging and thangs," Danny said, his voice hitting a low register that resembled a gangsta drawl. "Like some Mac Bullet shit."
"You heard that new Mac Bullet mixtape? That album is hard," Z said, taking a long, mean pull, his bear lungs sucking in twice that of Arnel and Danny. “He's got a song on there, "Killa Hoe," that bumps."
"Mac Beezy is tha truth," Arnel said, taking the last of the joint and trying to salvage a hit. His lips put out the joint.
"Man, I don't know about all of that. I ain't really feeling that Mac Bullet shit. He just raps about getting shot and making money," Ant said. "I don't respect the person who got shot. If anything I'm gonna respect the shooter."
"See, that's gangsta. Why don't you spit like that," Danny said. "Come on, show us your latest."
"Well, I wrote this one to remind me of the cold-ass summer, chillin' literally on the rooftop. I guess this is my back to school rap," Ant said, finally pulling out his short stack of rhymes. He had about eight or nine new raps he had written that week, most of them already memorized. Ant liked to keep the paper with him just in case.

"Aww shit, Ant-Sleezy in the house. Haters start hating," Arnel said, his Filipino accent butchering the ghetto slang.
Ant flipped through his papers but he already knew what he was going to say. Still, there was a sense of security in looking down at his scribbles, even if he wasn't reading off the page.
"Alright, check it out...
A-yo, cold ass night in the summer but I'm blazin/
ain't nothin' to do, always the same thing/
Kids on the block actin' hard like retards/
I need to find something to do, and still be smart/
So we takes it to the spot on midnight creep/
Four-deep, steady quiet so the pigs don't peep/
My boy D's got the bomb but you know I ain't trippin/
Big Z got my back, so you know I ain't slippin/
Nel's up top and you know it don't stop/
Bout to hit the cash crop even though I don't cop/
cause in the Salas valley, that's just how we do/
Ain't nothing wrong with chillin' out with the
crew...
Ant stopped to catch his breath, and without realizing it, he opened his eyes. He wasn't sure at what point he had closed his eyes. He wondered if the guys noticed.
"Damn, that was pretty tight man," Z said, his head nodding in approval. "You even mentioned the valley in there."
"I like that one, it sounded like some east coast stuff," Arnel said. "I'm not into that stuff, but it sounds good from you."
"You still need to spit some gangsta shit," Danny said in his typically disapproving tone. "Listen to some Mac Bullet. Some hard shit."
"Man, I ain't trying to be hard. I'm trying to be complicated," Ant said, his joke registering nothing from the rest of his boys. He sighed quickly before hearing what sounded like a loud thump. All of the boys jumped in response.

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Video: Cali Yun-Gun "YGTV Channel 831"

Some heat from Salinas' own Cali Yun-Gun. He reps the town, and he reps it well.

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Andre Nickatina performs Thursday in Salinas

Bay Area rapper Andre Nickatina returns Thursday night to the Fox Theater in Salinas. Hosted by DJ Solrok of 102.5 KDON. Tickets are available at www.vallitix.com.

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Shepard Fairey coming to West End Festival in Sand City this weekend

EDITOR'S NOTE: PREVIOUS HEADLINE GAVE WRONG EXHIBIT LOCATION. EXHIBIT WILL BE IN SAND CITY. APOLOGIZE FOR THE MISINFORMATION.

Contemporary artist Shepard Fairy, best known for creating President Barack Obama's "Hope" poster, will exhibit his work this weekend at The Independent gallery in Sand City.

Presented by Toyroom and Outer Edge Studio, "Shepard Fairey: An exhibition of Fine Art Prints" opens with a private reception from 7-10 p.m. Friday at The Independent, 600 Ortiz Ave., Sand City. The private reception is rsvp only. You can rsvp at outeredge@toyroomgallery.com.

A public reception will be held from 5 - 10 p.m. Saturday.

There will be a VIP party hosted by the Monterey Contemporaries from 8-11 p.m. at The Independent. Admission is free for Monterey Contemporaries members. To join, visit www.montereyart.org/membership. Non members will have an opportunity to join on site and gain admission to the party.

Fairey is expected to attend both events.

For information visit toyroomgallery.com, outeredgestudio.com or obeygiant.com.

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Excerpt 1 of Untitled Book Proect

A Quick Note:This is the first in a serial, an untitled, unfinished, unedited book project I've been writing for the past few years. You can read my introductory column Here.

The serial will run for 6 to 7 installments over the next two months. Feedback is encouraged.
Thanks for reading - Marc Cabrera

A foggy night in Salinas is colder than a slap from mom. Ant thought to himself as he braced to climb the drainage pole leading up to the Steinbeck High School rooftop. He figured his mother's reaction would be an ice-fisted slap to the cheek if she saw her boy preparing for rooftop mischief. A nice, stinging, open-hand right to the kisser. The night fog hung in a blotchy mist, covering the stars in a blanket of dark smoke. The valley hid in the shadows.

Ant climbed the rain gutter like an extremely amateur telephone pole engineer scaling an electrical pole. He was careful to balance his toes on each peg, measuring his weight with each step. This was routine for him. Over the summer, the school rooftop became the official hangout spot for him and his homies Danny, Zamudio and Arnel.

"Hey Ant, try not to fart on my face this time," Arnel said as he followed Ant up the pole, his short, solid frame easing its way up the metal facade. "You got me with my mouth open last time. I almost puked."

"This time I'm gonna drop a deuce in there" Ant said, drawing chuckles from Danny, who was already up top and looking down at the rest of them. Zamudio was on the ground, waiting for Ant and Arnel to get up far enough to scale the 20-foot pole.

Arnel snorted his laugh and kept climbing, not garnering a response. Ant climbed up the last few feet before reaching up and grabbing Danny's hand, careful to lean his body forward and over the raised ledge that outlined the rooftop. He pulled his right leg over the edge of the roof, followed carefully by the left leg. Arnel sped up right behind, his light frame flipping over the edge in a gymnastic half-flip.

That left the lumbering Zamudio to trudge up the pole with the speed of a low-rider cruising East Alisal Street on a packed Sunday night. His first name was Anthony, but the crew called him Zamudio because there were already two Anthony's.

Anthony Reyes had been called Ant since he was an elementary school sugar freak - his mom used to call him holmiga because he always wanted sugar.

Anthony Zamudio became Zamudio because everyone in his 300-block of Toro Avenue started using his last name whenever it came up, as in "Did you hear Zamudio kicked Antwon's ass?" Or "Did you hear Zamudio got busted for bringing a knife to school?" Zamudio also had the odd pronunciation with "moody" in the middle, and although that was just coincidence, it wasn't by much. Eventually that was shortened to the easier to pronounce Z.

"Hey Z, can you go a little slower? School's gonna start by the time you get up here," said Danny.

"Hell naw. We're all gonna be seniors by the time his big ass gets up to the top" said Ant, letting out a cackle that pierced the fog and spouted a dragons breath of chill from his narrow mouth.

"You want me to go down there and carry you up?" Arnel tried to add on to the cap fest. "I can jump down and climb up and push you from the bottom"

"I bet you'd like to push him from the bottom, huh" said Danny, the resident cap artist. When Danny saw an opening, he exploited it. "Bottom pusher."

"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate!" said Z, his usually kick-back demeanor lost in his loud bark, a bark not nearly as ferocious as his black-eye inducing bite.

Z pulled his way up the final few feet, his stocky frame clinging to the skinny pole for precious life. Ant, Danny and Arnel stepped up and helped pull Z over the ledge. Z gave a slight grunt and heaved his cumbersome frame onto the rooftop. The fact that he could balance six-foot and
200-lbs plus on a thin, steel pipe, 20 feet, was no minor feet of athleticism. Z could have been a killer tight end or power forward if he wanted to. He could have been anything if he wanted to be anything at all.

"Hey girl. Are you done being a chavala?" Danny said impatiently, as Z kneeled on the rooftop for a minute. "Can we get out of the light before the cops see us?"

"Man, ain't no cops around here. You're always paranoid" said Ant, his hands reaching into the large pocket in front of his favorite, black San Francisco Giant's hoody. He touched through the short stack of folded papers in his fingers, barely paying attention to what he was saying.

"Besides, bigfoot here would just sit on them if they came up."

"I’ll stomp on them if they get crazy," Z said again with a snort, finally getting up and walking towards the spot where they normally kicked it. Arnel followed behind, while Danny and Ant took up the rear. Each boy exhaled a gust of chilled air in the thick night.

Danny took a seat near the ledge, his back facing the school swimming pool and about a 20 foot drop into some extra-cold water. Ant sat on Danny's right hand side, throwing on his hood and giving a quick shiver, a reaction to the valley cold. It was the end of summer, school was going to start and already the fog was doing its worst to prepare Salinas's young people for an autumn of discontent.

"Man, we live in Cali and we still get shitty weather out here," said Arnel, taking a seat on the ground just to the left of Danny. Zamudio dusted off his brown khakis and oversize army jacket before plopping down next to Ant. The four boys huddled on the dank rooftop as part of their Sunday night ritual, all hoodies and tennis shoes and hormones and misguided innocence, trying to warm up without letting the other one know they were cold.

"It's the curse," Ant said to Arnel. "The curse of John Steinbeck."

"What you talking about? That ain't true. That's like one of those old lies, like the haunted tree on Old Stage Road and shit," said Danny. As he talked, he pulled out a small tin box that contained his personal possessions: a bag of weed, a pack of cigarettes, rolling papers, scissors, a round shredding device, and eye drops.

"It is true. And that haunted tree on Old Stage is where they used to hang Mexicans back in the day," Ant said, defensive and matter of fact in one shot. "The curse is true, my dad told me about it."

"What is it?" said Z, who now had his arms wrapped around his knees to try and ball up his body for warmth.

"It's the spirit of John Steinbeck. He wrote all these books back in the day, like the Red Pony and The Pearl. Stuff they made us all read in school," Ant said, as all three nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, back in the day he used to write all kind of stories that pissed off the rich farmers in Salinas."

“Man, I remember the Red Pony," Arnel said, his voice a pubescent screech. Arnel was the smallest and least developed of the crew. "That stupid book where the dad kills his kid's pony or something like that?"

“No, dumbass, the pony dies and the dad doesn't do anything to console his son," said Z out of nowhere. "What was up with Steinbeck pissing people off?"

"Anyway, he used to write these books that, like, talked about poor people. Farm workers and stuff. He would write them and the white farmers here all got pissed because he was dissing them. And, anyway, they burned his books and Steinbeck got pissed and kept writing, and he left Salinas and never returned. But before he did, he cursed the city because they didn’t support his work. So when he died, he said he didn't want anything named after him, but they went ahead and named the school after him. He got so pissed that he gave us all this fog and crappy weather. That's why it's never sunny here in Salas, because even though Steinbeck never returned, his spirit refused to leave. That’s why it's the curse of John Steinbeck. That’s what my dad told me."

The boys sat silent for a second, save for the sound of Danny rummaging through his weed box.

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Sincere/Nima Fadavi video teaser. "The Calm Before The Storm" project coming soon

A little late on this one. Here's a video trailer for "Each One Teach One," the single from Sincere & Nima Fadavi's upcoming project "The Calm Before The Storm." Hopefully we can get Sincere or Nima (or both?) for an interview soon. The full video is set for a Sept. 5 release.

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TBS Cancels "Lopez Tonight"

Just read on the wire that TBS is canceling "Lopez Tonight." Thursday will be the show's final episode.
You can read the LA Times article HERE.

In announcing the cancellation, TBS released the following statement:

TBS has reached the difficult decision not to order a third season of Lopez Tonight. Thursday will be the final episode of the show. We are proud to have partnered with George Lopez, who is an immensely talented comedian and entertainer. TBS has valued its partnership with George and appreciates all of his work on behalf of the network, both on and off the air.

Lopez is scheduled to perform with Carlos Santana Sept. 24 & 25 at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View. Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com.

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Video: Monterey's The Sauras w/Illmaculate vs.Feelgood, Tricky P @ King of the Dot 2x2 rap battle semi-final

The 831's own The Sauras, two-time everything, links up with his partner Illmaculate for this 2-on-2 battle against the home team of Feelgood and Tricky P.
This is a great exhibition for both sides, and for the KOTD battle league in general. Each side seemed genuinely impressed with the other, which made for a cleaner, more exciting battle. It's great when battle rappers can appreciate one another's work while simultaneously giving an honest effort to destroy the opposition.
BTW, the IllSaurus team is going to win the tournament.

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Playlist, links for DJ Kazzeo's Aug. 8, 2011 Wednesday Wreck show

I'm a bit late with the playlist and links from last week's Kazzeo show. Kazz brings the old school heat ("1999," "MC's Act Like The Don't Know) with a few contemporary bangers.

You can download the podcast HERE and HERE. Playlist is below.

Randy Kazzeo Novelli posted in DJ Kazzeo's Wednesday Night Hip Hop Show.

Randy Kazzeo Novelli 4:56pm Aug 5 PLAYLIST FOR 2011 08 03 common feat. sadat x - 1999 notorious b.i.g. feat. method man - the what nas - ny state of mind smoothe da hustla feat. trigga the gambler - broken language edo g. - i was there soul brotha feat. blaq poet, nyg'z, & krumbsnatcha - real mc's d.i.t.c. - the enemy gangstarr feat. inspectah deck - above the clouds canibus - get retarded royal flush - movin' on ya weak production krs one - rappaz r n danja a plus feat. del - californication black moon - i gotcha opin group home - the realness family tree - virgo blahzay blahzay - danger gza feat. ghostface & masta killa - 4th chamber o.c. - my world m.o.p. - breakin' the rules gangstarr feat. rakim - the militia (remix) raekwon feat. method man & ghostface - ice cream

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Tix still available for Saturday's John Waters stand-up show at HML in Big Sur

Director/creeper John Waters will give a one-man stand-up show Saturday night at Henry Miller Library in Big Sur. Tickets are still available.

Per a press release, Waters said "I talk about everything. I talk about show business, fashion, religion, terrorism, everything you need to know to be a happy neurotic."

Below, the Lonely Island/Nicki Minaj video for "The Creep," featuring Mr. Waters.

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"Watch The Throne" downloaded, waiting for play

I pre-ordered a copy of "Watch The Throne," the Jay-Z/Kanye West album. The download was available at midnight, but I couldn't keep myself awake that long. Woke up and found the download ready and waiting for me.

The album is now sitting on my laptop, waiting for me to listen. I'll try and tweet some thoughts as the day goes along, but not sure how much I will share.

In any event, the album was released without a digital link. Hov and 'Ye should be commended for giving music fans something to look forward to, building anticipation and making it a reward to stay loyal and actually purchase music. It's sad to say, but it's a feat that artists can actually, you know, get people excited to buy music.

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Author Luis Rodriguez coming to Salinas Sept. 21

Luis Rodriguez, author of "Always Running— La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA” will visit The National Steinbeck in Salinas at 7 p.m. Sept. 21. More info to come.

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Video: Ghambit "See The Light"

Watsonville's finest, Ghambit, representing with the official video for his single "See The Light." S/O to G and his Villderberg company. Recognize.

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El Tri, Molotov coming Sept. 10 to Salinas Sports Complex in Salinas

Rock en Espanol legends El Tri return to the Central Coast with Molotov for a pretty huge concert, Sept. 10 @ The Salinas Sports Complex. Visit www.salinassportscomplex.com for tickets and info.

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