What you write is an extension of your spirit.
So stop selling your soul!
Stay true to your heart and you will never fail.
-Morbius
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
AFRIKAN POETRY IN MOTION WITH THE SARGONITES.
The Sargonites doing it once again at The Afrikan Poetry Theater "FREE DA MIC "event in Jamaica, Queens.
Warren Britt!
Warren Britt!
Your host and our Uhuru Family, Fyc!!
Desperado Soul!
Somebody Close the Door: Reactions to Arizona Immigration Law Misses the Big Picture
Clarence B. Jones
Scholar in Residence, Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute at Stanford University
A good doctor knows to treat the disease, not the symptoms.
In the discussion about the new law passed in Arizona directed at addressing that state's problems associated with illegal immigrants from Mexico, the protests concerning the legislation are directed at the wrong parties, in the wrong direction. The pro-immigration community, some church groups and many Civil Rights leaders are all calling for a boycott of the State of Arizona based on their belief that the new Arizona law is focused on "racial profiling" as the method for identifying possible illegal Mexican immigrants.
As an African-American who lived through and before the Civil Rights Movement, I'm no fan of assessing people based on their skin color. But holding a struggling State's feet to the fire on tactics is missing the point . Why are protests not being directed to our national government and the government of Mexico? Why aren't these groups demanding that our porous border with Mexico be closed, once and for all? It's not impossible. We have the most sophisticated surveillance and monitoring technology in history, the most formidable military in the world, yet we are unable to stop the daily intrusion of illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States? This is a failure of policy, not one of capability.
Congress has been unwilling to pass an immigration bill, the first priority of which is closing the border. Why does "immigration reform" now demand a higher national priority than the crippling unemployment that is devastating the economic base and precipitating wide spread home foreclosures in our communities? President Obama said the health reform was the first priority of his first term. Now, he is turning his attention to financial reform of the banking system. Meanwhile, cities like Phoenix and many cities in the State of California and elsewhere are drowning in red ink with an ever-growing population demanding ever-more city services.
Arizona is now being depicted as the official state of "racial profiling," with anti-Hispanic and anti-immigration swirling around it like scarlet letters. But the passage of its bill to prevent the continued influx and presence of illegal immigrants in the State appears more like an act of desperation than racially motivated legislation.
The pro-illegal immigration amnesty movement shuns the classification "illegal" immigrant; preferring instead the term "undocumented immigrant." This is, of course, framing the debate. The "undocumented" immigrants entered into the United States illegally. When apprehended, deportation back to their country of origin is the customary legal procedure. Now, however, an intermediary process is advocated in lieu of deportation: an undocumented immigrant who, after following certain prescribed procedures, including the payment of taxes, will be permitted to remain in the United States. This constitutes de facto amnesty for the "undocumented immigrant." As such, it relieves the government of Mexico from any financial responsibility for the economic consequences associated with the cost of medical care, public education, public housing, welfare, police, and social services provided by the cities, counties and states in which such initially illegal immigrants choose to reside.
Well-intentioned people are quick to denounce Arizona and call for a boycott of business transactions or travel involving the state. Why are they not calling for a boycott of Mexico? The truth is that Mexico is exporting, or at the very least facilitating the export, of its poverty in the form of illegal immigrants to the United States.
Any version of amnesty for illegal immigrants and efforts to organize a boycott of Arizona will detract from the number one priority affecting substantial segment of the American people: unemployment. Moreover, it will blow a hole in the projected operating costs and budget deficit projections in the new health care bill.
Why don't the pro-amnesty undocumented immigrant leaders join forces with the "anti-illegal immigration" leaders and bring the Government of Mexico to the table? The annual cost of maintaining and providing services to illegal or "undocumented" citizens should be tabulated, assumed and paid by the Government of Mexico or credited against the annual cost of oil we import from them until such time as immigrants from their country become U.S. citizens.
Let's face it: right or wrong, the Arizona legislation is treating the symptoms of an international disease that needs much stronger medicine.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
SNEAK PEEK VIDEO OF "OPERATION:X" OFF SON OF SATURN'S UPCOMING ALBUM, FEATURING "THE SARGONITES!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xooZRkLjyHI
If a voice in the back of your mind is questioning you, and asking ARE WE STILL AT WAR? Turn your T.V. off for a moment and really dig deep, because in the minds of THE SARGONITES, there is no second question!
And in honor of our falling soldiers they collaberated with long time musical supporter SON OF SATURN http://myspace.com/sonofsaturn and did a song together called "OPERATION: X". A song dedicated to soldiers who we feel are dying in vein.
SON OF SATURN's upcoming album is dropping May of 2010, featuring THE SARGONITES.
REALDEALRADIO WINNERS! BATTLE OF THE SEXES!!
WE ALMOST FORGOT TO CONGRATULATE THE MEN OF REAL DEAL RADIO 201 (Shout out to the RealDealRadioWomen for giving the men a great fight)!
The Men, Winning the 1st annual RealDealRadio Battle of The Sexes!
And Im pretty sure if you ask The Sargonites on how the men won, they would probably tell you, "The shirts" had something to do with it.
Keep watching and stay tuned in HTTP://myspace.com/REALDEALRADIO201 for that true hip hop!
CONGRATS GUYS!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
NINE INCH NAILS Frontman Says His Record Company Is Run By ‘Thieves’
Posted by TyCohen
As far as the both the music industry and the economy goes, for incredible numbers of individuals (maybe even you), this is the year of lost faith, hope and self confidence.
As with most things, in order to have a true sense of ownership and/or to create *Real* wealth, you have to own what it is that you make a living from. These are just two of the reasons why for the last 10 years I have continuously stressed the importance of owning your own label, taking the DIYS route and avoiding signing to a major label.
So with that said, it did not shock me much to hear the leader of one of the music industry’s most well known groups, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails say that his record company, Universal Records is “Run By Thieves”, lets take a look at that interview and then at the very end, I want YOUR comments. (we need to get at least 20 great comments to keep this type of information coming at you… Thanks!)
Oh and by the way if you are not familiar with who Trent Reznor and/or NINE INCH NAILS, the band has been around since ‘88, have recordings that have been nominated for 12 Grammys, they won two of those Grammy Awards and they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, with 10.5 million sales certified in the US alone.
NINE INCH NAILS is primarily an industrial rock group, but this story will benifit everyone who reads it, even YOU because it shows you the direction that the industry is headed in and how you can reap huge benefits by just doing things right and as I tell you.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails lets it rip at ignorant record companies to NEALA JOHNSON
ON stage at the Metro on Monday night, it seemed you’re enjoying being a rock star again. True?
It’s funny you’d say that ‘cos that was not one of my favorite shows.
It went downhill at one point.
Yeah. I enjoy playing these days. I try to make the most of it and sometimes it’s great fun and sometimes, like Monday night when it was crippled with technical problems, it made it not fun. I couldn’t hear what was going on, s— was breaking . . .
Fools in the crowd were yelling . . .
Yeah, mixed feelings about that.
I mean, if you want me to go off on a tangent . . . I’m kind of in a weird space right now. I’m not real centered. We’ve been touring for a long time. I went from the record right into the tour, nine weeks in Europe in winter, which I don’t recommend in any circumstance for anybody. I’m moving. There’s some stuff in my personal life that’s up.
It must be an odd time then to have a new album, Year Zero, out?
It’s a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there’s so much resentment towards the record industry that it’s hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don’t look like a greedy asshole. But at the same time, when our record came out I was disappointed at the number of people that actually bought it. If this had been 10 years ago
I would think “Well, not that many people are into it. OK, that kinda sucks. Yeah I could point fingers but the blame would be with me, maybe I’m not relevant”. But on this record, I know people have it and I know it’s on everybody’s iPods, but the climate is such that people don’t buy it because it’s easier to steal it.
You’re a bit of a computer geek. You must have been there, too?
Oh, I understand that — I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t. But it’s tough not to resent people for doing it when you’re the guy making the music, that would like to reap a benefit from that. On the other hand, you got record labels that are doing everything they can to piss people off and rip them off. I created a little issue down here because the first thing I did when I got to Sydney is I walk into HMV, the week the record’s out, and I see it on the rack with a bunch of other releases. And every release I see: $21.99, $22.99, $24.99. And ours doesn’t have a sticker on it. I look close and ‘Oh, it’s $34.99′. So I walk over to see our live DVD, “Beside You in Time”, and I see that it’s also priced six, seven, eight dollars more than every other disc on there. And I can’t figure out why that would be.
Did you have a word to anyone?
Well, in Brisbane I end up meeting and greeting some record label people, who are pleasant enough, and one of them is a sales guy, so I say “Why is this the case?” He goes “Because your packaging is a lot more expensive”. I know how much the packaging costs — it costs me, not them, it costs me 83 cents more to have a CD with the colour-changing ink on it. I’m taking the hit on that, not them. So I said “Well, it doesn’t cost $10 more”. “Ah, well, you’re right, it doesn’t. Basically it’s because we know you’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever“. And I just said “That’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard. I’ve garnered a core audience that you feel it’s OK to rip off? F— you’. That’s also why you don’t see any label people here, ‘cos I said ‘F— you people. Stay out of my f—ing show. If you wanna come, pay the ticket like anyone else. F— you guys”. They’re thieves. I don’t blame people for stealing music if this is the kind of s— that they pull off.
Where does that extra $10 on your album go?
That money’s not going into my pocket, I can promise you that. It’s just these guys who have f—ed themselves out of a job essentially, that now take it out on ripping off the public. I’ve got a battle where I’m trying to put out quality material that matters and I’ve got fans that feel it’s their right to steal it and I’ve got a company that’s so bureaucratic and clumsy and ignorant and behind the times they don’t know what to do, so they rip the people off.
Given all that, do you have any idea how to approach the release of your next album?
I’ve have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it’s done in the studio, not this “Let’s wait three months” bulls—.
When your US label, Interscope, discovered the web-based alternate reality game (ARG) you’d built around Year Zero, were they happy for the free marketing or angry you hadn’t let them in on it?
I chose to do this on my own, at great financial expense to myself, because I knew they wouldn’t understand what it is, for one. And secondly, I didn’t want it coming from a place of marketing, I wanted it coming from a place that was pure to the project. It’s a way to present the story and the backdrop, something I would be excited to find as a fan. I knew the minute I talked to someone at the record label about it, they would be looking at it in terms of “How can we tie this in with a mobile provider?” That’s what they do. If something lent itself to that, OK, I’m not opposed to the idea of not losing a lot of money (laughs). But it would only be if it made sense. I’ve had to position myself as the irrational, stubborn, crazy artist. At the end of the day, I’m not out to sabotage my career, but quality matters, and integrity matters. Jumping through any hoop or taking advantage of any desperate situation that comes up just to sell a product is harmful. It is.
Is the Year Zero ARG something labels will copy now?
Well, their response, when they saw that it did catch on like wildfire, was “Look how smart we are the way we marketed this record”. That’s the feedback I’ve gotten — other artists who’ve met with that label ask ‘em about it: “Yeah, you like what we did for Trent? Look what we did for Trent”. They’ve then gone on to try to buy the company that did it to apply it to all their other acts. So, glad I could help them out. I’m sure they still don’t understand what it is that we did or why it worked. But I will look forward to the Black Eyed Peas ARG, that should be amazing.
Be sure to pick up the Nine Inch Nails Album, “Year Zero” (on Universal ;). It is out now and it is an AMAZING CD.
*********************************
Back to Ty Cohen
*********************************
Now what you just read here applies to ALL genres of music, I have to say that because I can already see you trying to find a way out of taking your career into your own hands and being fully responsible for it.
Much Success!
P.S. If you make it a HABIT to do something towards bringing you closer to your goal, Every Day.. You’ll be light years ahead of 99.9% of everyone else, because very few others have the discipline and self motivation to do this…. Other then those people who are ALREADY where you want to BE.. And the way they got there is by being Focused! Start now by leaving a comment, as well as your name and website info for the world to see and read…
Stay Focused, Stay True to Your Dreams and You’ll Make It!
As far as the both the music industry and the economy goes, for incredible numbers of individuals (maybe even you), this is the year of lost faith, hope and self confidence.
As with most things, in order to have a true sense of ownership and/or to create *Real* wealth, you have to own what it is that you make a living from. These are just two of the reasons why for the last 10 years I have continuously stressed the importance of owning your own label, taking the DIYS route and avoiding signing to a major label.
So with that said, it did not shock me much to hear the leader of one of the music industry’s most well known groups, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails say that his record company, Universal Records is “Run By Thieves”, lets take a look at that interview and then at the very end, I want YOUR comments. (we need to get at least 20 great comments to keep this type of information coming at you… Thanks!)
Oh and by the way if you are not familiar with who Trent Reznor and/or NINE INCH NAILS, the band has been around since ‘88, have recordings that have been nominated for 12 Grammys, they won two of those Grammy Awards and they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, with 10.5 million sales certified in the US alone.
NINE INCH NAILS is primarily an industrial rock group, but this story will benifit everyone who reads it, even YOU because it shows you the direction that the industry is headed in and how you can reap huge benefits by just doing things right and as I tell you.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails lets it rip at ignorant record companies to NEALA JOHNSON
ON stage at the Metro on Monday night, it seemed you’re enjoying being a rock star again. True?
It’s funny you’d say that ‘cos that was not one of my favorite shows.
It went downhill at one point.
Yeah. I enjoy playing these days. I try to make the most of it and sometimes it’s great fun and sometimes, like Monday night when it was crippled with technical problems, it made it not fun. I couldn’t hear what was going on, s— was breaking . . .
Fools in the crowd were yelling . . .
Yeah, mixed feelings about that.
I mean, if you want me to go off on a tangent . . . I’m kind of in a weird space right now. I’m not real centered. We’ve been touring for a long time. I went from the record right into the tour, nine weeks in Europe in winter, which I don’t recommend in any circumstance for anybody. I’m moving. There’s some stuff in my personal life that’s up.
It must be an odd time then to have a new album, Year Zero, out?
It’s a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there’s so much resentment towards the record industry that it’s hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don’t look like a greedy asshole. But at the same time, when our record came out I was disappointed at the number of people that actually bought it. If this had been 10 years ago
I would think “Well, not that many people are into it. OK, that kinda sucks. Yeah I could point fingers but the blame would be with me, maybe I’m not relevant”. But on this record, I know people have it and I know it’s on everybody’s iPods, but the climate is such that people don’t buy it because it’s easier to steal it.
You’re a bit of a computer geek. You must have been there, too?
Oh, I understand that — I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t. But it’s tough not to resent people for doing it when you’re the guy making the music, that would like to reap a benefit from that. On the other hand, you got record labels that are doing everything they can to piss people off and rip them off. I created a little issue down here because the first thing I did when I got to Sydney is I walk into HMV, the week the record’s out, and I see it on the rack with a bunch of other releases. And every release I see: $21.99, $22.99, $24.99. And ours doesn’t have a sticker on it. I look close and ‘Oh, it’s $34.99′. So I walk over to see our live DVD, “Beside You in Time”, and I see that it’s also priced six, seven, eight dollars more than every other disc on there. And I can’t figure out why that would be.
Did you have a word to anyone?
Well, in Brisbane I end up meeting and greeting some record label people, who are pleasant enough, and one of them is a sales guy, so I say “Why is this the case?” He goes “Because your packaging is a lot more expensive”. I know how much the packaging costs — it costs me, not them, it costs me 83 cents more to have a CD with the colour-changing ink on it. I’m taking the hit on that, not them. So I said “Well, it doesn’t cost $10 more”. “Ah, well, you’re right, it doesn’t. Basically it’s because we know you’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever“. And I just said “That’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard. I’ve garnered a core audience that you feel it’s OK to rip off? F— you’. That’s also why you don’t see any label people here, ‘cos I said ‘F— you people. Stay out of my f—ing show. If you wanna come, pay the ticket like anyone else. F— you guys”. They’re thieves. I don’t blame people for stealing music if this is the kind of s— that they pull off.
Where does that extra $10 on your album go?
That money’s not going into my pocket, I can promise you that. It’s just these guys who have f—ed themselves out of a job essentially, that now take it out on ripping off the public. I’ve got a battle where I’m trying to put out quality material that matters and I’ve got fans that feel it’s their right to steal it and I’ve got a company that’s so bureaucratic and clumsy and ignorant and behind the times they don’t know what to do, so they rip the people off.
Given all that, do you have any idea how to approach the release of your next album?
I’ve have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it’s done in the studio, not this “Let’s wait three months” bulls—.
When your US label, Interscope, discovered the web-based alternate reality game (ARG) you’d built around Year Zero, were they happy for the free marketing or angry you hadn’t let them in on it?
I chose to do this on my own, at great financial expense to myself, because I knew they wouldn’t understand what it is, for one. And secondly, I didn’t want it coming from a place of marketing, I wanted it coming from a place that was pure to the project. It’s a way to present the story and the backdrop, something I would be excited to find as a fan. I knew the minute I talked to someone at the record label about it, they would be looking at it in terms of “How can we tie this in with a mobile provider?” That’s what they do. If something lent itself to that, OK, I’m not opposed to the idea of not losing a lot of money (laughs). But it would only be if it made sense. I’ve had to position myself as the irrational, stubborn, crazy artist. At the end of the day, I’m not out to sabotage my career, but quality matters, and integrity matters. Jumping through any hoop or taking advantage of any desperate situation that comes up just to sell a product is harmful. It is.
Is the Year Zero ARG something labels will copy now?
Well, their response, when they saw that it did catch on like wildfire, was “Look how smart we are the way we marketed this record”. That’s the feedback I’ve gotten — other artists who’ve met with that label ask ‘em about it: “Yeah, you like what we did for Trent? Look what we did for Trent”. They’ve then gone on to try to buy the company that did it to apply it to all their other acts. So, glad I could help them out. I’m sure they still don’t understand what it is that we did or why it worked. But I will look forward to the Black Eyed Peas ARG, that should be amazing.
Be sure to pick up the Nine Inch Nails Album, “Year Zero” (on Universal ;). It is out now and it is an AMAZING CD.
*********************************
Back to Ty Cohen
*********************************
Now what you just read here applies to ALL genres of music, I have to say that because I can already see you trying to find a way out of taking your career into your own hands and being fully responsible for it.
Much Success!
P.S. If you make it a HABIT to do something towards bringing you closer to your goal, Every Day.. You’ll be light years ahead of 99.9% of everyone else, because very few others have the discipline and self motivation to do this…. Other then those people who are ALREADY where you want to BE.. And the way they got there is by being Focused! Start now by leaving a comment, as well as your name and website info for the world to see and read…
Stay Focused, Stay True to Your Dreams and You’ll Make It!
Monday, April 19, 2010
"The World Is Yours" Cd Compilation Listening Party!
Are you a true fan of Hip Hop?? You like Hip Hop Music with a message?? Then tune in tonight for "The World Is Your" CD Compilation listening party ft. Some of the nicest independent artists/groups!! Like Us!! @www.stickam.com/krazyrace 8-11pm PST.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
OPEN SOUL SESSIONS EVENTS ARE STRONG!
On Saturday April 3rd 2010, The Sargonites attended OPEN SOUL SESSIONS in Jersey City, New Jersey. Artists, Musicians, Film Directors, Poets, Authors and Producers alike all showed nothing but Love to The Sargonites.
Check Out how the night went down.
Morbius with the world renowned,Fred Ho
Sargonite Fan
Blackwaxx Family U-Savoir, Nana Soul & Soul Sessions Host Jihan Ponti
Morbius with Film Director,Susan Harris
Author of "Hip Hop Intellectual Resistance",Shahid Stover
Sargonite Fan
Check Out how the night went down.
Morbius with the world renowned,Fred Ho
Sargonite Fan
Blackwaxx Family U-Savoir, Nana Soul & Soul Sessions Host Jihan Ponti
Morbius with Film Director,Susan Harris
Author of "Hip Hop Intellectual Resistance",Shahid Stover
Sargonite Fan
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