CharliEE's Words

Many heads will remember the classic released in 1991, "Brenda's Got A Baby" which highlighted the social ills and challenges adolescents faced with teenage pregnancies.  However, only a select few may have known 16 years later Median, an emcee from the Justus League team (Little Brother, Chaundon, Joe Scudda and others), continued the storyline about Brenda's baby. Rose is her name and she is all grown up. "Brenda's Baby" was released in 2007. Respect due to Median for putting this together. "Even through the concrete Rose found roots to grow..." Brenda's Got A Baby - Tupac Shakur Brenda's Baby - Median

In the days when the weekend newspapers included audio CDs, I decided I wanted to try out some new techniques with samples. These are the fruits of my endeavour. If you recognise the samples leave a comment. Enjoy!!

To start the Hip Hop Sequels posts I thought I kick start with this.... Note: Lyrics contain Adult Content Can't Stop The Prophet The Return of The Prophet  

The EP is finally ready. This body of music is the first collaborative project of mine with G-R-A-D-E at the production helm. A the time in my life there was a lot of changes happening in the world broadband was introduced over dial-up modems and DSL, gun and knife crime was on the rise (Operation Tri-in-it was in effect), among other factors, the concept of a Shining Light project was just that a light shining. G-R-A-D-E at the time was going by the moniker Mason Free and Scattered Sounds was the banner he was using for his music. United Kings projects were on hold, Kayos and JagWah put in a lot of work into S.T.O.P (Story Of Pain) and Manor Details and I on The Mind Gap. Thus, Shining Light provided an opportunity to progress at a different pace. Which brings us to this five track short-player. Starting off with Sirens which I produced a video for and posted on YouTube over four years ago, wow time flies! This song was one of the first songs I put together so was the logical pl...

On 11th February 2015 London-based producer G.R.A.D.E released GRADE All Stars, featuring an array of artists G.R.A.D.E has worked with over the years, All Stars line-up includes Big J, Funkineven, Ad1, Bress Frame, MC Johnny Wae, Zero, SB Live, Bow Man and myself, Oscar CharliEE.   I remember 9th Wonder once said (and I'm paraphrasing this):" It's not what you use to produce a track, it's how you use it.", and that ethos resonated with G.R.A.D.E. For me, he was the first person I knew who actually used a PlayStation for more than just playing games, he was looping and chopping samples on it. PS1 was decades ago and I know G.R.A.D.E had moved on to a more conventional setup and this is what you get when you listen to this All Stars album, a varied of sonic soundscapes. From the hard-hitting tracks like "Vtec" and "Bangshot", to the mellow "Offbeats", to the in-your-face "Inbreed", to the creeper "The Return...

" Hip-hop you're close to 50, when can we grow up? " What a question!  I recent years I listened to Hip Hop music less and less. The main reason for this being that many artists' lyrical content nowadays are usually very similar to their content of yesteryears with only a small minority progressing i.e: discussing social issues, personal challenges in adulthood, no longer rapping on the same things they did 15+ years ago.  This seems to transcend music genres and traces of the 'Peter Pan syndrome' entered society, in general. I mean, do we really need people over forty years old suggesting we should party hard, or get yours first.  As Mos Def said "...that's the kinda illin' fillin' up the cemetery".  In Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth, he proclaimed:  "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things." ...

Freedom as a word I can not describe Can you feel the shackles of proprietary? Somehow we're all owned by a company. There was a minority that found it distasteful. Some even felt that it was shameful. The majority dismiss that it even exist. A handful tried to nurture it, but with their own little twist. Unknowingly some don't want it. The question is... Wouldn't we all eat from that same  Tree of Knowledge? =========

Please support the initiative. On February 26th till Saturday 28th February Lee Rabjohn ,  Brendon Bateson  and team of cyclists will be cycling a 152 mile ride from Southampton FC to the Hawthorns Stadium as bike part of the 2015 Tri Albion Challenge to raise money for The Albion Foundation . The Tri Albion Challenge consists of three challenges Lee is taking part in the first part and will be completing the ride with a team of cyclists who include Club Legend Brendon Bateson, GB Blind Paralympian Darren Harris and local blind celebrity Dave Heeley. Full details of the Tri Albion Challenge ( #baggiebaton ): Bike -  152 mile ride from Southampton FC to the Hawthorns over 3 days. Walk - The WBA Blind Football team will walk around ALL the schools in the Sandwell area. Run -  Blind Dave will take on his most daring challenge to date – The Marathon des Sables – 156 miles in 5 days across the Sahara Desert. The Albion Foundation is a le...

I made my own Cardboard VR headset following the template found on the Google Cardboard website.  For those not familiar, these 'Google Cardboard' headsets are virtual reality headset where the primary material is, you guessed it, cardboard. The rigid type that comes as a parcel box not the thing type like cereal boxes. There are a number of companies selling pre-made ones, but I thought it would be cool if I made my own, out of bits around me.  So I started pretty much from scratch. Printed out the diagram ( download template ), stuck it to the cardboard with sellotape. It's recommended to use glue, but I didn't have any at the time (DIY ethics). Then proceeded to cut out the template with scissors. Two hours later all the pieces were cut out. Then, I folded the cardboard piece and made the headset frame. My cardboard headset I don't expect to win any awards for it, but it is mine.The white fire retarded tape is just to reinforce t...

Football Fighting Ebola was founded by Godfrey K Torto (Ask Godders Group) and Carlton Cole (West Ham FC and England) in the wake of the Ebola crisis to unify the spirit of the football world to the combating of this terrible disease. There is an ongoing online campaign called Trick and Donate ( #trickanddonate ) that you can see on the Ask Godders TV  youtube channel. The hope is that the football community of players, fans and supporters will come together and stand  against this disease, raising enough money to support the work of King's Sierra Leone Partnership and the Carlakka foundation. Please visit www.kslp.org.uk for more details on the fantastic work the medics and volunteers from King's College London are doing in Sierra Leone. For more information and to donate you can go to   http:// m.virginmoneygiving.com / FootballFightingEbola Or by texting ' STOPEBOLA ' to 70030 to automatically donate £10 There are many othe...

St.Jock and Sterling get busy on this track right here. It's the closer for their long play debut SUSPEND YOUR DISBELIEF. No matter when I play it it always sounds fresh.