Friday, December 31, 2010

L.I.V.E. By F.R.E.S.H.


It's finally here ya'll... L.I.V.E. By. F.R.E.S.H!!! After the jump is the link to download the joint and read the backstory on it. For you to understand album's title, concept, and cover, I HIGHLY recommend you give it a read.

L.I.V.E. By F.R.E.S.H. (DOWNLOAD HERE!!!)


Happy New Year and on behalf of the whole H.F.P. family, we say from the bottom of our hearts and souls THANK YOU!!! None of this will be possible without your support. 20-11 will be something special. Mark my words. Soul Claps & Salutes.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

L.I.V.E. By F.R.E.S.H. Teaser Trailer


Merry Christmas to you and yours!!! I was going to wait until tomorrow to drop this, but I was so excited on how it came out, I decided to put it up a day early. We have always said that to truly experience and understand Honor Flow Productions, you must see us live. Now... you will be able to feel that experience on record this Friday, New Years Eve (12/31/10) as H.F.P. is proud to announce the release of our live LP "L.I.V.E. By F.R.E.S.H." (Lifting Intergalactic Vicious Experience By Free Rolling Ecstatics Signaling Hi-Definition).

This album features recordings from our live shows from the past year and is the sign of things to come as H.F.P. evolves as live sonic collective. Some of the records on here are new songs that will be featured on the revamp of V.I.S.I.O.N.S. dropping next year, so this is also a sneak preview of new material! This is H.F.P. as we are meant to be heard... L.I.V.E. and F.R.E.S.H. to def, ya dig?

L.I.V.E. By F.R.E.S.H... 12/31/10... @ http://HFPmusic.bandcamp.com

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Honor Flow Productions Radio RE-Mix Vol. 1: The Foreign Exchange, 88-Keys, & Strange Fruit Project

Welcome to Vol. 1 of H.F.P. Radio RE-Mix. If you wanna know what this is all about, read the back story here. For those who are already in the know, let's start it up...

Strange Fruit Project (December 2009):
As I say in the beginning of this interview, I found out about Strange Fruit Project through a friend of mine during my Freshman year of college. And these brothas for almost the last decade, has put out some of the most consistently dope music in Underground Hip-Hop. This "Best Kept Secret" has slowly but surely traveled to many of music's movers and shakers; most notably, a certain artist by the name of Kanye West. Since this interview, S1 has gone on to co-produce "Power," Ye's lead single from "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy;" which in return has brought new found critical and commercial successful for the trio from Waco, Texas (not to mention a Grammy nomination as well).

Like the 88-Keys' Interview, this one could have continued for hours as this felt like a conversation more than an interview. I try to create this atmosphere with all the interviews I conduct, but only so many turn out like that based upon the comfort level of the artist.

Interview with Strange Fruit Project (Full MP3) (Download Here!)
Part 1:

Part 2:



88-Keys (April 2009):
Without question one of the most "jewel dropping" interviews I have been able to conduct. From Mos Def's Black On Both Sides, to the legendary Blackstar LP, to stumping J. Dilla, to his unreleased work with The Pharcyde (including an song they did with De La Soul), to his friendship and working relationship with Kanye West, all the way to breaking down of his painfully underrated debut LP "The Death Of Adam," 88-Keys left no stone unturned.

What I loved most about this interview was it didn't feel like an interview. It felt like three beatsmiths/music nerds (J. Hyphen being the third) sitting around in a living room just chopping it up about what they love most, making music. 88 is still one the most ground cats I've gotten to talk to and this remains of my favorite interviews.

Interview With 88-Keys (Full MP3) (Download Here!)
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:



The Foreign Exchange (November 2008 & June 2009):
This was the first major interview we had on the show and I was a little bit nervous. Not really because I was going to talk to one of my favorite groups, but because of a no-show incident that occurred 2 weeks prior to that left me tap dancing on the air like Sammy Davis Jr. waiting for another artist to call-in. But this was most definitely the least stressful interview thanks to the work of "The Woman of 1001 Hustles," Aimee Flint, the director of operations at +FE Music, who made road to the interview a breeze and made my job that much more enjoyable.

The second interview was on-sight right after they played their first west coast show @ The Roxy. I also that night to talked to mainstays of FE's recordings & live shows, YahZarah & Darien Brockington, who are building successful solo careers in their own right. I've ran into Team +FE on many occasions in the last 2 years and it's always been love. I'm very proud of their successes & evolution musically & as a indie powerhouse.

Interview With The Foreign Exchange (November 2008 & June 2009) (Full MP3) (Download Here!)
Part 1:

Part 2:

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Honor Flow Productions Radio RE-Mix: The Introduction


To understand this new series, I have to explain a little history first. "From the bungee" (c) Big Boi, while applying for colleges back in high school, I knew I wanted to broadcast on college radio. That love for music and broadcasting led me create Marymount College's first radio station The Mount during my two year stay there and it led me to arguably, the most storied college radio station in the country, Loyola Marymount University's KXLU 88.9 FM. While I never got the chance to host this show on KXLU (more on that later), I found a home at its subsidiary, KLMU. While these two stations may be housed in the same building, their traditions and purpose are day and night.

For over the past 50 plus years, KXLU has made their reputation as always being on the front line in supporting of upcoming, independent artists. The list of artists they have broken and went on to impacting careers is ever growing. However, while KXLU housed Mike Nardone's legendary Hip-Hop show "We Came From Beyond" (a show I had the chance to fill-in as co-host with Key almost a year and half ago) for 21 years, KXLU has always maintained it's sound as a Rock/Experiential station. Sure there are other specialty shows that showcase other genres of music such as The Jazz Journey (What's Up Eddie B?), Alien Air Music (Electronica), and Alma Del Barrio (which has won God knows how many awards), but KXLU is first and foremost, a Rock/Experiential radio station.

Furthermore, to maintain the purpose of the station, once a band achieves a certain level of success and notoriety, their music can longer be played on the air. This was for me, the ONLY major complaint I had about working there; especially in how the industry is structured now. Even on the major labels, artists are STILL struggling and hustling like indies. To me, these type of artists were in some sort "purgatory," where they known and loved by the underground and by a percentage mainstream music loves, but had yet to "blow up," (think The Roots Pre-Fallon for example).

KLMU's real purpose (at least to me) has always been it's a breeding ground for new KXLU DJs. As a stand alone radio station, it's looked down upon, laughed at, and honestly, seen as a joke by many if not most of KXLU DJs. But where many saw as a joke, I saw as a unique opportunity. See thing is at KLMU, the restrictions on what music could or could not be heard over the airwaves didn't exist. I could play Dr. Frankenstein and envision musically what I always wanted radio to be; no labels, boarders, the only criteria in effect was the quality of the music. If it was dope, I was going to spin it; regardless if it's "underground" or "mainstream." Which was perfect for me because I can not stand for the life of me being told what and what not to play. In other words, my vision for this radio show was completely everything KXLU was not. But beyond that, I wanted put my own spin on music interviews.

I am music nerd. It's no secret to anyone that comes into contact with me. Yeah, I'm that guy that reads or listens to a music interview and snaps out "What kind of stupid ass question is that? Fuck who his girlfriend is or who he has beef with? I wanna know the when, the where, the why, and the how behind the creation of the music." I am liner notes junkie. And I know there are people out there who are just like me that wanna know this type of stuff. I am not into Hip-Hop tabloid journalism, which has been the complaint of Hip-Hop Journalism as a whole. My focus has been and will always be the music and human component in which inspires an artist to create it. It has been this attitude that have driven my interviews and has been graciously commended by many of the artists who have sat down with me.

Although my ineligibility financially to continue my education as a student, just eight months shy of a degree cost me my director's position at KLMU, as well as later this show(You have to be a student to broadcast on KLMU), the time I spent in that booth over looking Alumni Mall spawned the 2nd evolution of this company. The places I've been, the people I've met and talked to, the privilege to be heard every single week in an open forum; without H.F.P Radio, Honor Flow Productions would not be what it has become and what it will continue to become.

For a cool minute now, I have promised podcasts/downloads of the shows that contained interviews. Some have been released briefly after it's initial airing, but this will be the first time that my eventful two year on-air stint @ KLMU will be available for your listening pleasure on-demand. Each volume will come with a brief (and I promise, shorter than this intro here, lol!!!) story behind each interview and some of my favorite tracks by that artist(s) spun at the end of the original interview. So regardless if you're a fan or not, by the end of the volume, you'll know what they are all about and how they get down musically.

As the old saying goes, "To know where you're going, you have to know where you have been." So as 20-11 is fast approaching, a year which will bring the 3rd evolution of H.F.P, allow me re-introduce you the "Real Music, Real Talk" ways of Honor Flow Productions Radio... ya dig?

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

F.R.E.S.H. State Of Mind Recap


This may have been our third time having the opportunity to grace The Roxy stage in a year (Has been only a year?!?! Seems longer), but this had to be the biggest. 60 minutes of stage time, after a night consisting our friends on the bill that so happened to be fellow dope musicians. This was the F.R.E.S.H. State of Mind Experience.

In the next coming weeks, we will premiere a short film which shows how the night went down. But in the mean time, here is a clip of the opening of our set, which is a new record called "In Full Effect;" plus our rendition of a Hip-Hop classic. Can you guess what it is? I also included short films put together by the good folks @ LA Kings chronicling Hugh's set from the night and by the homies @ Oishi Media highlighting Rhythm Natives set. After the jump is some flicks from the night.




Special thanks again to The Roxy for hosting us, Cashmere for holding it down on the hosting duties, all the artists, videographers, photographers, and crews that we're involved and YOU for coming! More to come to finish out 20-10 and get ready for some 20-11 announcements.

Photography By Carina Estera Photography

Trey Billie With Da Physics


Hugh Augustine The MC


Rhythm Natives
















Friday, December 3, 2010

F.R.E.S.H State Of Mind Host Cashmere Live W/ Digable Planets Tonight @ The Whisky!


As you could obviously tell if you were @ F.R.E.S.H. State of Mind (And oh yeah, we have not forgotten the recap. Something special starting next week), you already know the host of evening, my man Cashmere has skills on the mic. Now he's back on The Sunset Strip tonight setting it off in his own way @ The Whisky A Go-Go with Digable Planets! And yes, I'm talking about this Digable Planets. This is also the homie's birthday celebration, so it's really about to go down. So if you are looking for something to get into tonight, go support the homie rocking the stage. You'll thank me later... no Aubrey Graham.

Pre-Sale tickets are $10 and can be purchased on Cashmere's website Iamcashere.com until 6pm tonight! Tickets are $15 at the door so stop sleeping and get on it! Show is @ 8pm.