CharliEE's Words

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? =========