Whoa. Another week almost flies by without any internetting being done by ya boy. I tried to connect at both hotels whilst in Canada but for some reason my computer wouldn't catch the signal, and well, I was in a British Columbia state of mind, I was in no mood for trying to troubleshoot and think things out.
Especially not after our extreme shake down at the border. Shit was crazy. We got off the plane in Vancouver, so excited. Ready to hit the city. Devin and I were sent to different lines to clear customs. His moved fast, mine didn't move. All of a sudden I hear Devin call for me to come up to the kiosk and we begin getting the third degree. "Why are you here? What are you doing here for two days?" Type shit. All the while a um, drug dog was sniffing all aorund us.
We go through the rigamarole and are then sent to a second check point in another room. Waited in that line sweating like "Man these fools could just send us back for no reason if they wanted to." But they didn't. This particular woman was extremely nice. Not a lot of questions she just waved us through. Things were looking up.
So we exit that room, and I make a joke. I says "Only one last check point to gooooooooo."
Ha.
Went and grabbed Devins bag and began to walk towards the door when we were confronted by two customs cops. One a cute little Canadian girl and the other the dude with the dog. Seems as though someone in our travelling party might have smelled a bit like weed. They separated us and questioned us and basically took us to another room. Which was ill. They took Devin through one door and told me to keep walking off to the left. I'm thinking oh shit what are they gonna do to Devin? Am I free to go? What do I do here? And so I walk a few feet through the door and um, well, end up in the same room.
They basically splayed out all of our shit onto these tables, went through everything, asked a million questions and swabbed all our ID's and credit cards to "See if we've been blowing any lines." My favorite questions were "Does your buddy like to smoke the ganja?" And "Have you ever used Crystal Meth?"
Fucked up thing was, I adamently denied having ever smoked weed to two different cops. Not that it mattered, but I wasn't about to give them any fuel for their already riging, bullshit fires. So we're going through all these questions then they open my suitcase. First T-shirt they see says "Free Tommy Chong." Then a little bit down in the bag was my Algierz "Blasted" shirt with the Jamaican astronaut floating through space blowing a huge blunt.
They finally told me that I was free to go and set me free. I says to the pig "So can I just wait here for him?" And he said "No you go out there, don't worry about him. He'll either join you out there or get sent back."
Then I really started to sweat. 15 minutes later though he was out the door and two minutes after that, boys was smoking on the highway.
Fuckers.
Anyway, I just want to start out by thanking them good good Canadians who brought the Dude out to the Wesside for these two exclusive shows. Shit was off the chain. Louvens, DreamEyes, Josh, DJ Seanski, Mark, Stace, all y'all out there really put it down.
SoReal. (Photos Screwed and Chopped by Matt Sonzala)
Started the trip off with a visit to the Beat 94.5. My man J-Swing was spinning a lil after drive time set and he and his partner FLip Out wanted a lil interview with Devin. That's Flip Out above and
This right here is J-Swing. I met J-Swing at Canadian Music Week in 1997. He was out there I think with the Rascalz and well, we bonded like how I bond with everyone I meet in that superior nation to the north. Over much um, coughee. Real good to see him again, boy doing big thangs.
I don't know if this has any significance or not, but once again I got a room that practically screams "HOUSTONSOREAL BOYS IN THIS BITCH." Yep, the 420 Suite.
Where it really was always 4:20.
Vancouver is ill. Them liberals up there do all sorts of things to make their people feel good. Like here in the states, we got politicians and the like cutting music and art programs from schools and in Canada they got government agencies giving rappers money to make videos. Like $35 G's and shit. They also have this thing where on Halloween night from 6 - 9 p.m., you can blow fireworks off anywhere you want.
And people sure as fuck did.
I mean serious, we were walking from the hotel to the venue and it was like a warzone. All in good fun, but fools were blowing these thang thangs off in the middle of the street. Like, right next to cars. Right next to houses, apartments, whatever. Shit was insane.
All this madness was happening outside Atlantis, just before Devins soundcheck. That's actually the proprietor of the club and his boy getting ill on their block. Crazy thing is, they were throwing these little bottle rockets, but also letting off some seriously loud ragers. Many of which would explode directly outside peoples windows in the high rise apartment building across the street. I mean like, extremely loud fireworks were going off like inches from peoples peaceful dinners.
The residents of said apartment complex decided to retaliate though and began throwing water balloons at us. Seriously, no shit.
I didn't shoot nothing off. I don't even like fireworks. I shot one bottle rocket into the air back in the day by hand and it came right down and exploded on one of my sisters friends fathers heads. Later I found out he was a member of the Ku Klux KLan and my mom wouldn't let my sister hang out with his kid anymore and I didn't feel bad anymore. Fuck him, I got another bottle rocket ready for his other ear. Fucker.
Anyway, our good good homey Wendy Morgan met us in VanCity as well and tried her hand at throwing a few fireworks. She's from Toronto, and this whole concept of freewheeling fireworks in the streets was a little crazy to her too. This particular bottle rocket hit a car and exploded.
Which wasn't as bad as the bottle rocket with multiple explosions that somehow came down directly behind a couple walking down the street about 30 yards away from us (that's almost 30 meters you canucks). I don't know who threw it, but that bitch came down on this couple and man they jumped like they were auditioning for a Broadway adaptation of the Tom and Jerry show. Maybe even Itchy and Scratchy. Boy were they pissed. I then went inside.
These folks in Canada and their love of everything 420. I'm telling you, if I wasn't allergic to snow and cold, I'd be a Canuck. Fuck the dumb shit. They know how to do it.
Otay, more on Wendy Morgan. She's definitely SoReal Family. Like for real. Check out her site and you'll see she's a video director, artiste in general, man here's an ill lil animation fo dat ass.
We first met her with the man RoryThemFinest at Pop Montreal and she happened to be in VanCity for the Halloween show. Respect due WendySoReal.
So then after a few of them 420 beers and 420 thang thangs we hit up the club and met DJ Neoteric who came strapped with that original Odd Squad "I Can't See It" 12" in tact. Whoa. Old school classic.
The club was packed, maybe even over packed with a diverse array of kids whylin the fuck out with or without costumes. I'm telling you shit was intense. Devin got straight mobbed. I mean mobbed. Like them Beatles and shit...
The big homey Josh Martinez opened the show with an intense set of bangers complete with dancing girls and like 6 costume changes. Maybe only one change, but at least one change.
Dude is ill. We'll be seeing him in Canada again (Dec. 9 T-Dot, 10th London, 11th Ottawa? WhatTheyTalmBout?)
Backstage, Devin, Mark Kesten and Josh Martinex cold coolin'.
Then the Dude hit the stage. I'm telling you (scared promoters listen up) The Dude has a serious following. Everywhere we go people show up and pack the fuck out of the club. Most of the folks know EVERY LYRIC TO EVERY SONG and it is very clear that they are there for one thing and one thing only. The Dude. He's killin' em internationally.
Leading the way for all these young bucks who may or may not even understand that foreign money is real money and that you won't be bombed by terrorists just because you happen to be in Ottawa.
Oh yeah, I think Moscow is not gonna happen till next year now.
Boy killed it.
Even added a few jams to the repertoire. Most notably "See What I Could Pull."
These girls in the front straight up scrapped the whole time. Seriously. They were shoving the shit out of each other like ragge hockey players gone wild. For real, it was great.
I wanted her to fight somebody though.
Man....
These girls didn't fight.
Not at all, they behaved themselves quite well.
Then all of a sudden a smoking monkey with a shower cap and brush jumped on stage and did a little hype man work. He's hired. Peep Devins face.
Jeah these the good folks who brought us to VanCity. Cass from Camobear Records, Devin and Louvens Remy. Thanks so much y'all.
The next day we hooked up with COncise and Checkmate in the studio. Devin laced a lil "Mary Jane 2006" type jam for them boys and just basically vibed with the Canadian Wesside rappers.
Dude
Me
Checkmate y Familia
Concise
Boys was smogging so steadily.
And here's a better photo of WendySoReal. Big time director girl.
Why she always lighting thangs?
After the studio we headed to Moe Joe's in Whistler. What I thought would be a one hour drive or so was more like 2.5 hours. DJ Seanski told me that but Iw as looking at the map like "WHat this is so close." But really it's up the side of a huge mountain on these crazy windy one lane roads. Like whoa.
It was dope though. It's basically a little ski resort village (Cancun for Canucks?) where like, man, I don't know. I was looking for the Gingerbread man and the wicked witch, Hansel, Gretle, all them. Really beautiful place.
The crowd was smaller than usual, but the small venue was packed. Ski season doesn't start for a few weeks and well, it was a lil dead in the city. Like I really didn't see too many other people outside the club. Shit was dope though, a gang of great folks, all singing along and screaming the praises of the Dude. Serious, like sometimes these smaller bars are where its at. Good folks all around up in that Moe Joe's and in Whistler in general.
The door man said a BEAR walked right by the club as Devin was performing. I would have stopped the show to see that shit. Whoa. I believe it too. We were in their hood.
For real.
Here's Josh after the gig having one last smoke session with the boys. Crashed hard after this and well, that's it....
Boston stand up. You got the Dude in your city tonight. And Ontario, seriously, get ready ready.
Then last night, landed inHouston at 10:45, arrived at KPFT at midnight and di the fund raiser for the station.
HERES LAST NIGHTS DAMAGE CONTROL WITH BIG MIKE, ICE MIKE, TRE 8, DJ STYLES and more. Almost all Houston and New Orleans Music last night. You Will LuhDat...
Photos coming in a few. Look for the tight update. Off to Niko Nikos...
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