Steven Lopez Launches The After Midnight Series – First Installment Features Erykah Badu!
Respected Los Angeles artist Steven Lopez will begin work on his latest piece in the “After Midnight Series” featuring soul goddess Erykah Badu. The After Midnight Series is a personal excursion for Steven to combine his two passions, music and art. It is this combination that has inspired the After Midnight Series and in the process brought Steven together with such musical greats as Chaka Kahn, Sade Adu, Aretha Franklin, India Arie, Jill Scott and his first inspiration into the After Midnight Series, Erykah Badu. Steven researches each artist’s photo history, discography, and live performances to begin the creative process. Once versed visually and aurally, Steven selects a favorite and many times inspirational song to focus on and begin the painting process. His manner of painting synergistically with music is heavily influenced and constantly nurtured at the world famous Mint Club in Los Angeles where he performs his craft in front of a live jazz audience regularly. Jazz, soul, funk, and hip hop are all ingrained into Steven’s artistic style beginning with his days as a respected graffiti artist and to his current exploits as a contemporary artist with a unique vision. Steven works with many of the top agencies, brands, and record labels including Reebok, Nestle, X Games, Coachella, Vans, the United Way, Global Inheritance, and Spy Optics among others. His art has also been featured on such networks as BBC, The Discovery Channel and FUEL TV among others. Steven is excited and honored to work with Erykah Badu, saying “Erykah is one of my favorite artists of all time and I’ve been looking forward to interpreting her music since I saw her perform in 2005 during the “Sugar Water” tour stop at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.”The After Midnight Series will include 100 limited edition giclee prints signed by both Steven and Erykah. The signing will take place on March 24th in Badu’s home town of Dallas. They will be available for purchase, Midnight April 15th exclusively through www.aftermidnightsoul.com.
A portion of proceeds will be donated to Badu’s charity organization, Beautiful Love Incorporated Non Profit Development — or B.L.I.N.D. Beautiful Love Inc. was established in 1997 and provides community-driven development for inner-city youth through music, dance, theater and visual arts.
Time lapse video of the actual painting can be found at HERE and for more information check out www.aftermidnightsoul.com!
For those that don’t know, J Dilla was a great music producer who died of lupus. Now his mom has lupus and needs help with her medical bills. This Obey (Shepard Fairey) collaborative poster with B+ will benefit Dilla’s mom “Ma Dukes”. It is an edition of 400, measures 18 x 24, and priced at $55. Goes on sale Friday, Feb 20th at obeygiant.com so get that wallet/creditcard ready. Source: Individual Sole…more after the jump.
Last year me and Nev where at the Black Soil movie festival in Rotterdam when we briefly met DJ Spinna. He is a humbling example of what it takes to truly succeed within the framework of multiple fields. A steadfast work ethic, an obsessively extensive vinyl library and the willingness to pursue the full extents of his roots (Funk, Soul and Jazz), foundation (Hip-Hop) and future (Electronic/Dance music) with no restraints.
Now I’ve always been a big Spinna fan and he’s in my top 5 of best hiphop producers ever. Maybe some remember Spinna from when he teamed up with Kriminul to form the Jigmastas. Others might have been deep into the Beyond Real Experiences or his Here To There album. The last couple of years Spinna has been producing a lot of dance music, but you might have recognized his sound on Eric Roberson‘s Butterfly Girl.
Anyways…I asked the good man what 2009 would bring and he told me he was working on The Beyond Real Experience Vol. 3! I can’t wait to hear a whole new album, but luckily I stumbled upon this Spinna remix he did for Panacea. To be honest I only like how Flashback To Stardom was produced and it gives me some hope for future Spinna releases. I really missed his sound a lot and hope he’ll make a big comeback this year.
Panacea – Flashback To Stardom (DJ Spinna Remix)
[audio:http://moovmnt.com/moovmnt/Panacea_-_Flashback_To_Stardom_(DJ_Spinna_Remix)_MOOVMNT.mp3]
The debut full-length offering from Mark Pritchard’s Harmonic 313 project follows on from a couple of great 12″ releases. Koln is one of the tracks with a classic Warp electronica sound whilst ‘Battlestar’ adds a rap track from Phat Kat & Elzhi (Cold Steel), with a gritty, sampled break. The album launch party will be on February 28 in Amsterdam. Get it at Rushhour.
Harmonic 313 – Battlestar Feat. Phat Kat & Elzhi
[audio:http://www.moovmnt.com/download7/Harmonic_313_-_Battlestar_MOOVMNT.mp3]Harmonic 313 – Koln
[audio:http://www.moovmnt.com/download7/Harmonic_313_-_Koln_MOOVMNT.mp3]
With the help of ArtDontSleep and Mochilla, Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood Ferguson have produced a four song orchestral EP of music originally produced by James “Jay Dilla” Yancey. the pair will also perform the EP, along with other Dilla compositions, with a 36 piece orchestra at a live concert in Los Angeles on February 22nd with the help of VTech. The EP is already available on 
and all proceeds go directly to Ma Dukes. Thanks to Sweeneykovar.
VIMBY and Uponthingz.com presents The New Classics Mixtape produced by Cook Classics and executive produced by Mario Rangel, droppin Feb. 18th. The main focus of the mixtape is to showcase the skillz of the independent artists that we’ve featured on VIMBY.COM. This will be the first volume in a series of mixtapes connecting emerging producers with up and coming mc’s. The mixtape is sponsored by Keys 2 The City and 2dopeboyz.com who are hosting a contest giving an emcee a chance to get featured on a bonus track for the mixtape.
To enter simply visit http://www.imeem.com/thenewclassics
1. Download an incredible instrumental courtesy of Cook Classics HERE
2. Drop your hottest 16 bars on the beat
3. Upload your track to THE NEW CLASSICS imeem page
4. Grab the link to your song (entry) and drop it in THIS POST on 2dopeboyz.com. The best song as chosen by Shake & Meka of 2dopeboyz.com will be added to the mixtape on February 18th.
Waxpoetics Issue 33 is the Philly Issue, and cover stars Gamble & Huff and Teddy Pendergrass give you only a taste of the Philly soul inside the two covers. Additional features on The Stylistics, ?uestlove, Odeon Pope, Jneiro Jarel, and more make this another winning issue..
ON FEBRUARY 19TH Stones Throw x Kid Robot will be releasing the new Quasimoto figure at select retailers. Blind I
With issue #32, WaxPoetics puts the legendary and elusive Sly Stone front and center, and with two different covers! An excerpt from the exhaustively researched Sly & the Family Stone book from Jeff Kaliss leads the way, along with a big feature on reggae maverick Jimmy Cliff (who appears on the back cover!). Additional features highlight the work and character of Large Professor, pianist Ahmad Jamal, designer Cey Adams, electro kings Egyptian Lover and Arabian Prince, and lots more! Get it now on Fatbeats
Detroit’s own R&B soulster Dwele has just released a new tune for McDonalds McCafé promotional campaign. The smooth yet catchy song almost makes you forget that your listening to a radio commercial and leaves you wanting to hit repeat on your ipod. Dwele produced and wrote the jingle for McDonalds, and also produced two other McCafé songs, one which features Cleveland soultress Conya Doss, and the other a duet between the two.
It seems as if McDonalds is targeting hip urbanites, and lucky for us, they chose Dwele to represent the new McCafé line and this wonderful song was born.
McCafé is a coffee-house-style food and drink brand, located in McDonalds restaurants. The McCafé chain started in Europe and has now expanded to the states. McDonalds is known for diversified marketing and this latest campaign featuring Dwele is right in line. McCafé is set to be a tough competitor for favorites such as Starbucks and Caribou Coffee, with prices at a fraction of some of the other leading chains. Urban Examiner
Dwele – McCafe Liquid Love
[audio:http://www.soulbounce.com/audio/dwele-mccafe.mp3]and on request..the long lost song from dwele’s son..
[audio:http://www.moovmnt.com/download3/Dwele_-_beep_me_find_me_MOOVMNT.mp3]
