Gavin and Ben
Sam and Ross
Greymatter, Orsii and Alexnut
Laurent Fintoni and Om Unit
Alexnut in the mix
Greymatter in the mix
Kev Luckhurst
Ryan aka Illum Sphere, Orsii & Kato
Greymatter and Illum Sphere
Ross and Kato
I had such a great time last night at Graham’s (aka Greymatter) launch party. Big up to everybody who came down, it was so lovely to see you all!! Oh and if you havent, dont forget to get the album “Mind Over Matter“!
CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY MESSAGE
So, if you are in London this Friday, I hope you know that this is where you should be at. The Brownswood fam is putting on yet another great night at East Village and it is def worth checking out! I mean, you can’t go wrong with peeps like Seiji, Mamiko Motto, my girl Ahu and my boys, Lefto & the bPm! So be there, or be square.
Good morning my friends!
How was the weekend? I hope it was good! I personally had one of the best weekends for a very long time. And yeah, I know I said it last time I came back from Brussels, but this time it was a bit different. In a good way though!
I got the chance to join Deejay Kwak live in the radio studio for his show, Back to Niceness on FM Brussel. It was a great experience and it made me feel very tempted to do a live radio show.
We were joined by Yarah Bravo, who also was the headline act at the Anattitude party in the evening. Turns out she is from Lund in Sweden (the neighboring city to Malmö, where I am from) What a small world ey?
The party was great, and I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a strictly hiphop party so much. The girls did a fantastic job putting it together, and I am now really tempted to contact some of the “music girls” here in London/UK to maybe do something similar. I was happy to see that so many of the people I got to meet last time I was in Brussels was there at the party. It made my evening to see them all, so thank you once again for being so loving and friendly!
As always, Lefto was filming throughout the day, so have a look at the video and let me know if you can spot me:
So yeah, THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL WEEKEND AND BIG UP ANATTITUDE & THE SUPAFLY GIRLS FOR PUTTING ON A FANTASTIC EVENING! Oh, and of course, a massive thank you to Julius from Laid Back who let me crash at his place and for being a lovely host. Much Love! xxx
I have had the pleasure to get to know the wonderful Kmeron through twitter. He is a very talented photographer, and I absolutely love the pictures he takes. The images above are a few of Infinitskills, and one of me, but they belong to a set of pictures he took at Release when I was in Brussels (yes we met, he is just as lovely in real life). To see all of his pictures, visit his Flickr page they are brilliant! I could (and have) spend hours and hours looking at them… Enjoy! x
So after the amazing Release party, I guess it was only a matter of time before I returned back to Brussels. This time it is with great pleasure I am attending the release party of the fourth issue of Anattitude Magazine. Founded in 2005, it is the first and only existing international Hip Hop magazine on print, to present the female side of Hip Hop culture. And we all know how I go on and on about how there’s too few females in the game raising their voices, making themselves heard, and showing off their skills. The magazine is great, and I am so happy that my path crossed with the founder, Jee-Nice, who I got to meet when I was in Brussels.
The event will take place this Saturday, 17 October. Kick off 20:00 at Le Tavernier, 445 Chaussée de Boondael, 1050 Brussels.
DJs:
MIKI (Gent)
LYRIK for A CAT CALLED FRITZ (Paris)
FATOOSAN (Brussels)
LEFTO (Brussels)
Live performances:
BEATDRUNX (Gent)
Special Guest:
YARAH BRAVO!!! (London)
Expo:
LIZAIRO (photography)
KOOL KOOR (graffiti)
B-girl performance by YIPHUN and B-GIRL STORMY
Make sure you check out the website, get the magazine, read the great post over at Laid Back and come to the party to show your support! As a little treat to get you in the mood, here is a dope mix that will knock your socks off:
Hello my friends!
I hope you are all well this somewhat grey autumn day. If you have had the chance to listen to my latest show from this week, then you will know that I went to Brussels for the first time last weekend and that this episode focuses on Release, the event that I attended and the main reason for my trip over to Belgium. However, I wanted to share my first experience of Brussels with you as well, mainly because I had the pleasure of meeting so many of you! So here it goes…
This Little Miss Sunshiine adventure started with that I overslept (due to too many Duvel’s the night before) and missed my train on Saturday morning, which I admit added a very “special” element of complete panic and stress to the beginning of my trip.
But after managing to sort out a new ticket for free (I lied to the lady behind the counter and told her I was attending a funeral…)
I checked in, boarded the train, and tried to keep all the bubbly & excited feelings inside of me in check. I was sitting on the train, looking out over the green landscape and grey sky, trying to imagine what my trip would be like. Would I get along with Alex, the person I was meant to be staying with? Would Release be successful or would I end up with a bunch of disappointed Belgians? Would people be friendly or would I feel like a complete outsider? Little did I know what great experiences and people I was about to encounter.
As the train was reaching the Brussels Midi station, Grazzhoppa’s “Vous Aller a BX” started playing on my iPod, and all I could do was smile, it was the perfect song for the perfect moment. I got off the train and my heart started racing. Julius was meant to come and pick me up at the station, but I had only met him once for an afternoon here in London in August, so I was a little a bit nervous… As I was walking down the stairs that takes you to the stations exists, I saw him standing at the bottom looking up and smiling. I felt a sudden rush of joy running through my entire body and an extreme urge to run down the stairs, jump him and give him the biggest hug in the world. However, I managed to restrain myself due to the thought of potentially crippling the poor man, so I settled for a hello and kiss on the cheek.
I was in a desperate need of a coffee, so we took the tram to Saint Gilles for some coffee and a catch up. We got to Maison du Peuple, sat down and the first thing I noticed was that people were smoking inside (which was a surprise since it’s not allowed in the UK). We stayed for about 40 minutes, talking about this and the other, and then walked around the corner over to Alex’s place.
Now, I just want to point out that I had never met Alex before, so I was very much looking forward to meeting this very talented young man who had been kind enough to offer me a place to stay despite the very fact that we didn’t really know each other. He was meant to be VJ-ing with Gunter at Release in the evening, and of course, they were not done with the visuals. Alex seemed a bit stressed out, which was understandable, and I told him not to worry as I’d happily spend the afternoon with Julius. So I left my bag and headed out on the streets of Brussels with my wonderful guide.
Im going to be honest with you, I can’t remember the names of any of places I saw… (Sorry Julius!) But it was a pleasant mix of nice areas and some parts that were a bit rough around the edges. I saw the peeing little boy, and I even managed to catch some kind of parade with traditional Belgian folk music and people dressed up like giants, spinning around on the street. (I’d like to pretend it was my welcoming party).
After a lot of walking and another coffee, it was time to head over to the Beursschouwburg to check out the preparations for the evening’s big event and also to pick up keys from Alex so I could go home and have a well deserved shower before the party. We got to the venue and I had the chance to quickly say hello to Bart from Onda Sonora, as well as having the pleasure of being introduced to LuiGi & Eric P from Infinitskills and wHo? (the very talented artist that has made some very cool editions of the Laid Back logo). Me and Julius ended up hanging out there for a little while before heading off home again to prepare ourselves for the exciting night ahead. After a shower and a huge dinner that pretty much put me in a food coma, we were finally ready to get our groove on and made our way back to the venue.
We arrived at the Beursschouwburg and there were already quite a few people inside. DJ Azer had started playing and we were cruising around the room trying to spot people we knew. First person I bumped into was Lefto, who I hadn’t seen since his visit in London this summer. He seemed a bit tired from the night before, but his spirits were still high and I was very happy to see him again. After meeting Lefto, everything seemed to be happening rather quickly, and I felt like I was attending a big family reunion. Lots of people were coming up saying hello and I was a bit overwhelmed with how friendly and open everybody was. Julius seemed to know most people there, and he was introducing me to all kinds of lovely people, who to my big surprise, had heard my show and apparently really liked it.
i-Sa kicked off the live performance part of the evening and never having heard of them before, I was very pleasantly surprised by the sounds I was hearing. When they finished, it was Infinitskills turn to take the stage and by that time, the venue was packed and filled with a great atmosphere. They started their show, and the only word that springs to mind in order to describe it is WOW. I had heard a couple of tracks from them before that I liked, but I also knew it was their first ever live performance, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But in my personal opinion, they absolutely SMASHED IT. Their music, the performance, and accompanying visuals were the perfect combination. I remember standing in front of the stage, dancing away in my own little world, thinking “Damn! These guys are fantastic, why have they never performed London!?”.
After a way too short set, Infinitskills handed over the stage to the one and only, JToTheC. He was the one I had been looking forward to the most all night, and words cannot describe the excitement I was feeling. bHe and his crew took the stage and literally blew us all away. JC has one of the most dynamic personalities I have ever come across in my entire life, and his stage presence and persona is incredible! You simply can’t take your eyes off him because you’re afraid you will miss something. They were very tight considering it was their first show and extremely entertaining, not to mention that the music was good as well. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves, dancing, laughing and joining in with the madness that was happening up on stage. I loved the idea behind the visual concept they had, having people sending in their own videos, and editing it to go with the songs. It gave the entire performance that little extra, and it felt very fresh. I know how much Alex and Gunter had been working on the visuals, so big ups for pulling it off!
I won’t deny the fact that it became slightly messier after JToTheC’s show since the Belgian beer finally started to have its effect. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed Dyno dropping the somewhat unexpected dubstep, it made me feel right at home (I am a sucker for a bit dirty dubstep).
All in all, Release was one of the best nights of my life, and I am still a bit overwhelmed by it all. It had pretty much everything: amazing music, great art and visuals, an enjoyable atmosphere and lovely people. I think the normal beer ran out at some point during the evening for a short while and there was even a queue to get in. Now if that isn’t a sign of a successful night then I don’t know what is… Much respect to all parties involved who made Release happen, you did an incredible job!
Sunday didn’t start until around 13:30 in the afternoon, but then again, we did go to sleep around 07.30, so the rest was well needed. After a quick shower, I found out that I was going to be kidnapped and taken to an exhibition by the two lovely girls, Shaerin and Vanessa, who I had met at the party the night before. But I couldn’t possibly be kidnapped on an empty stomach, so Alex decided to take me to a lovely traditional little Belgian bar around the corner from his flat. We had some nice lunch and managed to finish our second cup of coffee before the girls showed up to pick me up. Me and the girls rushed off and whilst sitting in the back seat of Shaerin’s car (who by the way was playing some wicked music!) I realised that I kind of miss having friends like them here in London, girls who are into the same type of things as myself. Nevertheless, the exhibition they took me to was really interesting, but unfortunately I had to be back at the flat by 18:00, so we quickly had to made our way back to Alex’s place, where we said our goodbye’s.
“Alex Deforce @ Release” by Peter Forret.
Back at the flat I started preparing my new Little Miss Sunshiine show whilst listening to the premier of Gav’s new show here on Laid Back. However, after some technical difficulties, I decided it was best to leave it for later, and we took a break so Alex could show me his amazing art. Before we even realised it, the time had come to have some dinner. We had decided to meet up with Julius for a last meal, and made our way to the restaurant. When we got there, the restaurant turned out to be closed, so we started walking towards Julius place, in hope that there would be a restaurant open near his place. A 30 – 40 minute walk and 6 closed restaurants later, we ended up at a little Italian pizzeria. We ordered food and wine, and I remember sitting by the table looking at the boys, and feeling slightly sad that I would be leaving them in the morning. After having filled our bellies with pizza, we started walking home again, and a couple of blocks down the road, Julius had to go his separate way so the time had come to say goodbye. I really felt like a little stone had been dropped inside my heart and all of a sudden it felt 100 times heavier. But I told myself that it wasn’t a real “Goodbye” and more like a “See you later” in order to stop crying. We parted, and me and Alex carried on walking.
When we got back to the flat, the food coma had once again kicked in. We decided to have another glass of wine together before heading off to bed, and when I had finished my glass, I could hardly keep my eyes open. So I said goodnight and went to sleep. I woke up 05.30 the next morning, got dressed and packed my remaining bits and bobs. Alex woke up to let me out, and as we were saying our goodbyes, I could feel how that little stone in my heart was becoming heavier and heavier by every beat. I got outside and it was still dark, people had already started making their ways in to work, and I was having a hard time realising that my journey had almost come to an end. I walked the couple of 100 meters to the metro, and had a quick cigarette in order to try to calm myself down. I took the tram to the Midi Station, arrived just in time to check in, and even managed to buy a coffee and an almond croissant. I got on the train, and as we were leaving Brussels, I was amazed by the fact that I had managed to fall in love with the city in such a short period of time.
As I look back on my trip now, I honestly feel like that weekend was one of the best love stories of my life so far. The way I was welcomed by you all, and the love you showed me, combined with your great company and incredible music, resulted in so many mixed, but heart warming feelings. I wish I could slice my heart up into tiny little pieces and give each and every one of you a small part. So thank you once again, I had such a memorable and fantastic time, and I can’t wait to see you all again. Much love! xxx
Good morning friends,
How are you today? Hope the weekend was enjoyable.
I got back from Brussels yesterday morning and wasn’t too happy with the weather that I was greeted by, but what can you do? I guess it’s just that time of the year when things feel rather miserable.
My trip to Brussels was incredible, so make sure to keep a look out for my complete “report” on the Laid Back website, and to check out my Little Miss Sunshiine “Brussels Special” radio show this week as well.
I am absolutely drained after this weekend if Im honest. It was a very emotional journey in so many ways, and I feel slightly lost now that I am back. The whole experience was a bit overwhelming and I don’t think I have had the time to digest all the things that happened. I’ve been thrown straight back into work and haven’t had the opportunity to take a deep breath, sit down, and just take it all in.
As I sit here and type I can honestly say that I am a bit lost for words… This extreme sense of sadness has swept over me since yesterday and I can’t determine where it is coming from. Maybe Im just tired, or maybe it is the weather. What ever it is, I wasn’t expecting to be feeling like this after such a great time I had.
Hm, this post didn’t make a lot of sense. Im sorry… I guess I just feel a bit sad, or something, I don’t know. I’ll return when I have something of value to write about. Have a nice day.
Hello!
How are we doing today? All good I hope! It’s one day left until I head over the pond and visit my extended family in Brussels. The closer I get, the more excited I am getting. Actually it has gotten to the point that I am so excited I feel a bit sick & dizzy (no lie). Don’t really know why, but I think it is a combination of traveling on my own, going to a place where I have never been, and seeing people I adore & look up to. However, to keep you all warm and fuzzy while I am away, I thought I would post last weeks & this weeks “Little Miss Sunshine” episodes, so you can tune in whenever you start missing me (hahaha!)
Little Miss Sunshine Episode 2
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I hope you have a lovely weekend! Im sending all my love to you, you’ve been so supportive and nice, I really appreciate it. I’ll try not to get in to too much trouble whilst Im away, but I can’t promise anything as I am a bit crazy (like some of you know by now). Be prepared for a full Brussels report when I get back! x
I am heading over to Brussels for the first time ever in my life to attend this event called RELEASE. It’s gonna be a great night with fantastic vibes and amazing people, all there to support independent music & checking out new talents and bedroom producers from Belgium and neighbouring countries. The event is being held by Onda Sonora and you can find all the information you need over at the RELEASE WEBSITE . I am making my way there all the way from London to show my love and support, so if you live in Brussels, or anywhere near Brussels, and you DON’T attend, I will be very disappointed! It is a must-go party if you are a fan and supporter of independent music & artists! So much love to you all and I expect to see my Belgian crew on the 3rd October at the RELEASE party, representing good music and spreading the love! x
