J.A.M.E.S. WATTS | THE GAME NEEDS J.A.M.E.S

Today, as on most days, I was combing the Google Reader to check up on what’s new in my world. Usually, I let the number of posts for each site build up a bit before I dig in to the latest, and I’m always pleasantly surprised to see what I missed. What I found today was no exception.

Milah B. of the Gas’d family (shouts to Imani Waddy) dropped something recently that gave me words to feelings I’ve been having for a minute now — and a lack of words isn’t something I usually have problems with. I’d like to echo her sentiment, but there’s no need; she said it all.

I’m not going to lie… There just isn’t too much to blog on my side of the planet. Right now, I am on a serious verge on going into a major hiatus. Its that time again, folks. Time to rethink, recharge, and revaluate alot of things in my life.

Lately, I find myself at an all time artistic low. I don’t have the energy nor the urge to create and very little around me is inspiring me. I don’t know if it because of my surroundings or because I feed off the energies of other humans. Everytime I turn on the T.V another bullshit reality show it on, degrading women, or stereotyping black people. JUST ALL AROUND BULLSHIT!

The newest mixtapes doesn’t mean anything to me, never have, never will. What Kanye West wore to an award show means nothing to me. I feel like there is more out there than just this normal everyday “blog” shit. Its overrated and now everywhere you look, somebody else has a blog. Someone else trying to keep up with “whats hot or not” But NOBODY seems to be trying to create, and change, or do anything NEW! Gosh, do I hate trends!

I feel like I’m in a bubble, and something out this “bubble” is waiting for me, but I just can’t seem to grasp onto it just yet because I haven’t completed something else in my life. We are so taught to think linear. You know, after you graduate high school, you pick a career and go to college, after you graduate college, you get a job. After you’ve made enough money, you have kids, and so on and so forth. But as an individual, I have trained myself to think in a slopes, in a upward motion. But something is holding me back from my increase.

Its almost like God has put me in this limbo of neutrality and I’m just here waiting. Waiting for my break, waiting for my time. I know this person and that person, but name calling means NOTHING if you’re not doing that shit yourself! Its frustrating. Because as an artist, I want to create, I want to be inspired, I want to inspire others. However, I have a feeling that something is holding me back.

So, forgive the slackness. Hopefully, my friends will hold it down. In the mean time, I’ll be in the lab cooking up some real medicine for ya’ll. I’m out to save lives.

I know what SOME of you are thinking: “Haven’t we been here before? Damn, you JUST dropped the 12 Minute Mixtape after a long ass hiatus.” I get it. I’d be thinking the same thing.

Still, a true story is a true story. And unlike Milah, I’m NOT sorry.

What do you think?

As some of you may have read, I had a few less-than-nice things to say about SoulDiggaz/Mosley Music Group/Interscope artist Izza Kizza few days back, primarily concerning some of the similarities of our mixtape covers and a song title we both shared. Kizza responded via the comments section of this page to defend his position on the matter.

Today, I stand before you to humbly admit that I was wrong. Not so much in how I felt about the situation, but how I went about it.’

Yesterday while in New York City I received a call from SoulDiggaz’ own K-Mack to talk about all of this; he explained to me how things like this can be damaging to a new artist such as Kizz, and that what I said creates bullshit divisiveness in the eyes of the listeners, both his and mine. K went on to explain that, aside from the obvious confrontations that can arise from things like this, having an issue between two artists on the come up can alienate potential fans of BOTH of them. I told him that I was planning to e-mail Kizz after he left the comments that he did even prior to his call, because I wanted to clear the air between to he & I.

So I did.

In the e-mail, I left Izza Kizza my phone number and told him that I wanted him to call me if he could. He did. To my surprise, dude was the NICEST guy you could possibly talk to; I told him how I felt about the the entire thing, and given my position in the game relative to his, I would hope that he could understand why I reacted in the way that I did. He responded by saying that he DID get me, and recalled stories of similar things happening to him on the road to where he is now; as an artist, he was sympathetic to my struggle and work, and he let me know that. True story, after this, I was floored by talking to this guy — it’s rare that you meet someone THIS genuine in this business. Kizz, for that, I tip my hat to you.

What was even more nuts was the fact that he took the time to actually listened to joints from the 12 Minute Mixtape, even quoting some of one of the songs. He told me that he liked that I was doing, and that he knew I wasn’t a hater — in that, Kizz said, “that’s not you; leave that to other people, because I can tell by listening to your music that’s not the kind of person you are.”

He’s right. My post was honestly just a vent out of aggravation; I never meant for it to be hurtful or possibly damaging to ANYONE’s career. I’m glad I got the chance to straighten things out with both Kizza AND K-Mack. I’m not going to delete the post from the site, because I want it to serve as a reminder to the power that words have, and I want people reading this to understand the context of this post, and to understand that power for themselves.

So, Kizz, I must I reiterate — “I’m sorry” — and again, I wish you nothing but the best, homie. I close out by saying MUCH respect to you, the whole Souldiggaz camp and the Mosley Music Group. Whether you realize it or not, I learned a lot from you yesterday.

I close this out with what I feel is an appropriate and necessary way to end this all: A music video featuring Stewie Griffin of The Family Guy fame rocking out to Izza Kizza’s “Red Wine”. Let’s GO!

Not that it’s a big deal, but you may have noticed a new little header on the page — I couldn’t sleep (that’s what 2 Excedrin PM at 9:30pm will do to you), so I got to “playing”. I also freshened up the dot com just a bit. Only one URL necessary to find me everywhere I “be”.

On on another note, thanks to NUMEROUS conversations about the future with my various associates, and the past three days at the office (yeah, they got me in a desk…well worth it though), I feel like something has changed for the better. We’re not totally there, but the vision has gotten clearer, and will be broadcast in HD when the time is right. If it’s not making ANY sense right now, just bare with me (as you always seem to do); I’ma take care of it.

I’ve never been one to post party pictures…ANYwhere; I think they’re overdone as far as the internet is concered, and a tad generic. I mean, is a club the only place people flick it up? Hmmm…most likely — now that I think about it, it’s a good way to make people who don’t know you believe you’re more interesting than you are and that you have a life (when in fact, the other six days of your week, if not spent in a club, are pretty bland).

For this occasion, however, I said fuggit — I was feeling left out. Plus, it’s rare that you have a venue able to hold so many cool people at once…I couldn’t let this historical moment pass me by.

This past Saturday, some of NYC’s best came out in celebration of the homie Hasan Insane’s birthday — apparently, the kid wasn’t even having a party as far as anyone knew, but at the last moment, a celebration spontaneously combusted. Gotta love that.

Now, I know what you MAY be thinking — where’s the relevance? For those who have been living under a rock for the past couple of years, Mr. Insane is one of New York’s most well-known and celebrated independent producers. He’s brought a slew of classic mash-up/remix tapes to the world, including The Pink Album, Perfect Strangers, and most recently, Black Ceasar, a remake of Jay-Z’s American Gangster LP. His soul-infused sound has kept him working closely with such notable indie artists as Skyzoo, AC and Jesse Boykins III; I myself have yet to formally touch down on a Hasan Insane track, but trust, there are a few things in the pot for the near future.

But about those pictures — shouts to E*Star, 1/2 of the Street Cosignors for cockin’ back the Canon!

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To my faithful, I apologize for the late post — between picking up eats for the evening and withstanding Jersey’s recent bout with the sweltering heat, the kid slipped up on his usual early afternoon posting session.

Nonetheless, I come with the second edition of the “Made Me Everything I Am” blog series; the first paid homage to New Jersey hip-hop legend Reggie Nobel. Today, I remove my hat in respect for the robots in disguise, the ones who waged their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons….and to protect the planet Earth. Uhh…well, actually, I’m paying respect to Megatron’s evil legion as well (yeah, they were pretty dope too), but who’s counting…

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