PROJECTS 4 Album Release

The young folks from AWOL's music education class The P.R.O.J.E.C.T.S. had their album release party last night at the black box theater. It was dope. The kids performed a couple songs and killed it. Then they talked about the program and answered questions from the audience. The class is a 22-week class that covers music history, creative writing, positive conflict resolution and more, taught by Lloyd 'KidSyc' Harold and I.
Once we get their minds open, the kids are set loose to create their own album. The results are pretty amazing. This is the program's fourth year and each year has brought about completely different results, although all of them have been impressive in their own way.
Here's one of my favorite tracks on the new album, although I'm biased because it's on one of my beats.
"The Cypher" featuring KJ, G.Lyric, Jesse Smalls, Two Face and Crown.


Visit AWOL's Website for more info.

Slipping Through The Cracks

Check out this dope mini-documentary about AWOL.

Slipping Through the Cracks_Awol from Kendall Rumph on Vimeo.



Check out more from the filmmaker on vimeo.

Success

Chilling at the AWOL office and this popped up on one of the computers and I had to stop what I was doing because it was so dope. Damn Kid Syc, you're killing it right now.

"Success"



Grab a copy here .

2000 Strong - Help Change Lives

Big up to AWOL, Paragon and everyone who helped bring this project together.

 The billboards are going live tonight on Hodgson Memorial near Spanky's. Check them out. Also check out the campaign launch party at Lulu's Chocolate Bar (42 MLK Jr. Blvd) on 12/6 from 6-9pm. Support a good cause and have some amazing homemade desserts.

PROJECTS 3 "Dirty Water"

AWOL's sound design program, the PROJECTS, has just graduated it's third class, which means it's time for them to drop an album. The album is called Dirty Water, and is written and performed by local youth who completed the 6 month program.

Here's the title track "Dirty Water":



And here's a track "Just Friends" that I did the beat for...



Their album release is at Lake Mayer on Friday, June 26th. Check it out. Support the young people, grab some food, check out some music...

Hip Hop Salutes the Harlem Renaissance - March 7th

It's time yet again for AWOL's Annual Hip Hop History Play...This is the 4th year they've done the play, which is always a really great show, and having already done shows about the birth of hip hop in NYC, the ties between hip hop and the African oral tradition, and the similarities between the hip hop generation and the civil rights generation...this year's show is going to look at hip hop and the Harlem Renaissance.

If you've never seen one of the previous years, then you need to mark your calendar and go down to this show at the Trustees Theater on March 7th. They have a cast of over 60 local youth who spend 6 months giving up 2-3 nights/week and a bunch of weekends to be a part of this show. I've seen 2 of the last 3 shows and every year I'm astounded by the level of work and devotion that goes into this production. I'm not exactly an objective critic, since I've been part of AWOL's sound design program for a couple years, but I've never seen another show that so effectively integrated history lessons with popular music and amazing choreography...

Here's the commercial (via AWOL's YouTube page):



Check out more info on AWOL.