Journeyman

journeyman - one who has completed an apprenticeship and is fully educated in a craft or field of study but is not yet a master.

Twelve months ago I was at a tipping point. I had just had a birthday. A year older and supposedly wiser yet still uneasy about a couple things. One thing in particular was the state of my muscial journey. I had all but forgone the ritual late night crate-diggin' and the endless quest for the perfect beat and flow. The banging of MPC keypads and scribbles in my rhyme book had ceased and months long dust accumulated undisturbed on my equipment. It wasn't supposed to be like that. According to the talking heads around me I was supposed to "make it" a long time ago. You know how when you hear something long enough it's possible to start believing your own hype. Well, I was never fully vested in what others said anyway but at the same time I started feeling like I could have done this or that and maybe had a career in music. Ha. Well it all smacked me in the face 12 months ago when I realized that not only was I wasting my talent by not using and developing it, but that I had fucked around and had gray hairs growing out of my nose. Not that I'm trying to give away my age (or hide it necessarily) but let's just say I've put some time in with this hip hop thing. I remember the Crash Crew, The Treacherous 3, Cold Crush, RunDMC and all that. I pop locked in white gloves and tagged on public transportation. I was there in the so called Golden Era in the 90's. What? Cats trying to sound old school now? Really? I am old school. And new school. And no school. My first crew was VERBAL THREAT. Not to be confused with a later group who used to fuck with DJPremier. No. After I moved from Laurelton Queens, New York to Virginia way back when, I was thirsty for anything New York, especially Hip Hop. Cats was on some other type shit here at the time. Mostly bass. No disrespect, it just wasn't my flavor. I eventually found like minded cats who were into DJing, beats and rhyming and graf. All the stuff I missed from NY. Eventually formed a crew with some friends and came up with the name VERBAL THREAT. I wanted a name that sounded ill like a punk rock group. Kinda like Minor Threat and Verbal Abuse. Bong.

Over a 10 year period the crew grew from 2 to 3 back to 2 to 4 then 8 with a live band. We were signed to an indie label out of Brooklyn called Idlers and were labelmates with the Jungle Brothers. We released a couple singles, "Black Woman" and "Iron Man" on Idlers but never a full album. We then went "in business" with a drug kingpin looking to "legitimize" some of his money and built a studio and made some music. Let's just say that that didn't end well. Ah, good times. After that episode we released two EP's, "Conspiracy Of Silence" and in '96 the well recieved tape called, "The Essence." We would go on to do many shows from Philly to North Carolina opening for Public Enemy (on four occasions), RunDMC, Main Source, 311 (before they were huge), and many others. We did several radio spots and a few interviews and a couple times even got treated like kings. We had been through so many wild episodes with clowns, quacks, chickenheads, charlatans, drug dealers and skinheads but it all made for great memories and experience. And music. But, as they say, things fall apart and we disbanded in 2000. It was time. Cats was older with developing families and diverging interests and needs. That's just what it was. Gray Dayzz [prod. by Arthritis] by COR STIDAK I kept going with my man Damon (Big D, RIP) who was the guitar player in the group and another cat from Bad News, VA who sold alot of weed and played keyboard on the side. Not ideal but it was a spot to jam at and chill and be creative....and smoke alot of weed. Later on after dude got raided I found out just how much weed he was selling. Had I known I wouldn't have been just chillin' up in there like that. But you know what they say about babies and fools. I was kind of burned out and languishing musically. My little brother, Mike (shout out lil nigga, ha), knew what I could do and the direction of my vision and he was kinda wise with his money so he fucked around and bought me a MPC and a keyboard. I saved my pennies and got an Akai studio mixer and I already had vinyl (dust head..always hunting) and started making my own shit. In '04 I recorded an EP, "The Secret Science" named after a book I was deep into at the time. But it was basically just something a few heads heard. By few I mean a few. After that, my relationship with hip hop was very on again-off again, like an old girlfriend. This is where we eventually get to the tipping point. My friend, Bobby Blunt, was putting in work musically. I really didn't know him very well. We had a mutual friend who we were both trying to get beats from but it was like pulling teeth so we decided to get together and collaborate. The first song we did was a tune called, "Dunk Smack." It was a beat he got from Grand Ear out of the 'Burg and we both wrote verses and recorded it in one day. Bobby was already making music with his groups and promoting on sites like Soundcloud and Bandcamp and had his own website and merchandise. I didn't even have a laptop. But I had made a few pretty good tracks. It took a while to get right with a computer and I joined Soundcloud. I just had, and still have, a real do or die, now or never mentality. Gray hairs be damned. Now. The first connection I had on Soundcloud was Akademik aka Les Braun of Lurk Music and of course Bobby. I had actually linked with Akademik a bit earlier on the Stone's Throw forum. We eventually went on to collab on a gem called "The Bootlicker Lullabye" which was included on my first album. It remains one of my favorites. From there I connected with the homie Keor Meteor. What a talent!! Our first trans-continental offering was the joint "Crown Chakra" and again it was very well received. Crown Chakra (prod. by Keor Meteor) by COR STIDAK That collab opened a few doors because Keor had been putting in serious work and already had about 4 or 5 excellent releases at the time, so cats was already feeling him and some of them listened and loved the song. This lead to a connection with MISHAP and eventually my first feature. The song is "Oyster & Stout" and came out on MISHAP's album "The Science of the Sun" on Ugly Boy Music. More than 20 collabs later and I have no plans of slowing down. Here's a list of the artists I've had the pleasure to build with this year: Akademik, Bobby Blunt, Blase, MISHAP, RenRok, Keor Meteor, Handbook, Fadee, yahn LOOKE picard, Melodiesinfonie, *IMS*, 2ndNature, Pepil Pew, funkload, Ben Official, Mr. Mamadou the Pi Art, Rendition, Arthritis, Light, Nalm Myerz, Anomeric, King Boom, SHANE GREAT, Beat Machine Aron and Prof. Logik. There may be a couple more before 2011 bids us adieu.

2012 will hopefully be a busy year. Look for collabs with /Art Vandelay, Brock Berrigan, DJHellblazer, RediBrown, RaSun, Symbo Science, mudloop, Lee Spacey, JDigital, Buddy Hotshot, Ehberto Talice, Prof. Logik, blazeitdown, B. Lowe and of course my friends Bobby Blunt, Keor Meteor, Akademik, King Boom, RenRok and MISHAP. RenRok and I have formed a group called, THE FOUNDRY and are working on a release called, "The Single Malt EP". I'm not sure on a date but a fair guess would be around March. Also in the works will be a project with music by Keor Meteor, and possibly another EP with the homie King Boom. Look for a new beatstrumental EP, "Higher Branches (stidakstrumentals vol. 2)" around OCT. But all of that is neither here nor there. I'm taking it one day at a time, one song at a time. If it doesn't mean anything to anyone else, it means something to me. Visioner by COR STIDAK One love to all the music makers and the music lovers. Cheers (*raising a dram of Jura single malt*) and I hope to keep making music people enjoy and feel good about. Happy Holidays!! Heavy Karma [prod by Prof. Logik] by COR STIDAK Official releases: