I was out on a late morning run today - a couple blocks from my house, before lunch, a whole gang of 老百姓 (older Chinese working-class folk) congregate on about a block and a half of street corner for a street market, selling old books, watches, magazines, used shoes, etc. etc.
Well usually it is nothing that I would even pay attention to! But today when I was running by a pair of shoes caught my eyes and I stopped dead in my tracks!!
These joints are super limited... super exclusive... who knows why they turned up secondhand on a street corner in Beijing! But the stitching + details look legit, plus the price was right! I didn't have any money on me but the 老头儿 (old head) who had em on the back of his wheelbarrow held them for me while i ran home, showered, and biked back for em.
Copped for 5 RMB = ~70 cents!!
If you know, you know!!! Feel free to hate!
Peace everyone;
For those of you who do not know... the last week has been really crazy up in here... pollution that was literally beyond hazardous (For 2/5 of the week it just read "Beyond Index"), pollution-induced illness, two-year-old bill payments being demanded, shady landlords, upcoming evictions, unpaying debtors...
I was riding the subway tonight and my emotions on the situation just started writing themselves into a verse...
The Devil tryin' to lie to me - friends try to get high with me
People asking favors then turning a blind eye to me...
So I came home tonight and recorded then mixed this song about the emotions I've been feeling over the last week. I wanted to be honest and put myself out there in front of man - but more importantly, in front of God. You could say that Peace of Mind is a prayer of sorts... when I was feeling frustrated and absolutely knew that I would only get thru this with strength beyond what I myself could provide.
Peace of Mind is streaming on my Youtube channel right now.
-jglc a/k/a Grand Master Chu
Hey everyone!!
Some of my crew and I had a DOPE Christmas Night show at Section 6, Beijing's legendary hip-hop party, and I just got around to getting the footage up on youtube...
The song below is my remix of Airplanes Pt. 2, by B.o.B. featuring Eminem and Hayley from Paramore. I got my friend, Korean singer DK Choi, to sing the chorus, and we reworked the lyrics + chorus, which are copied underneath..
We performed this song on our Christmas Night show, the other three songs are also available on my youtube channel if anyone is interested:
1) Asian Streets (Hard in Da Paint remix)
2) 黑色黄色 ft. MC D-One (Black + Yellow remix)
3) Faster ft. MC D-One
As always, if you enjoyed it, please follow my Facebook and youtube accounts! MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
LYRICS:
Chorus:
I've been flying on an airplane through the night sky
Like a shooting star
I just wish I was home right now,
home right now, home right now
x2
Breakdown:
I'm dreaming... dreaming
I'm falling... falling
x2
Verse 1:
How can I catch the ears of America?
Play a stereotype, or a character?
Maybe if I was more what you want
I would have a better chance of standing up in the front
But could I stand that? Well, can I stand this?
Ten years rapping, with no impact
At least I got mentioned on some blogs
Wish that I could tell the whole world to pause
Life's real, my homey's kid had a fever
He was screaming, MY BABY, like Justin Bieber
At the hospital all day, at the end, there was nothing left to say,
Baby passed away.
So I fly on an airplane, and I land somewhere out in LA
Standing in the runway, playing MJ
Watch the sun fall as it fades at the end of the day.
Breakdown
Verse 2:
Seeing three time zones in a single week,
Not even sure what language I oughta speak
And I'm not just talkin reckless
Yellin "Fire!" in a house with no fire exit
Check the seats for attendance
And pay attention to the flight attendants
Watch the windows as we take off,
then watch the clouds wash over the wings as we take off...
Caught between two different homes
I find rest as I silence my cell phone
Wake up like, did I ever even sleep?
Or was the whole long trip just another dream?
Out the window, I'm staring at night lights
As the in-flight movie plays on
Through the long night, am I on the wrong flight?
Should my life have gone left, or did I choose right?
Chorus
After my trip thru the states I hit Beijing hyped up to take grand master to the next level. But determination must inevitably face trials if it is to be refined... that's why we say, Hiphop and you don't stop! So it came as no surprise that my perseverance was tested soon after I returned to the Beijing hood...
Last Sunday afternoon, three days after I returned to China, my producer hit me with a text letting me know that he had a new job and needed the mic setup I'd been borrowing from him (BIG thanks bent!!)... So my home studio was disappearing :/
This setback could have slowed the movement down... But no, we kept it hopping! Monday night I chopped it up with my Model Minority brother D-One a/k/a David Fung and benefited from his research and thought, then spent a couple of hours on Google hitting up the audiophile and recording gear message boards! A lot of good options came out of the woodwork, but in the end I know that I wanted something (a) reliable (b) within my budget and (c) that I could find and get set up ASAP to continue making that good music (no kanye west [but sometimes i wish i were])!
After doin the groundwork online, I hollered at my church buddy JOSH ONG who majored in music and runs the music teams for one of the church locations in town, I knew that he would have the hookup! And he did, he had a place that he usually goes to cop gear... right near the church location, actually. And even going above and beyond, the man offered to come hang out with me Sunday afternoon and walk around to see what might be available.
When I linked with Josh at the Zhongguancun subway station, I knew exactly what I was looking for... throughout the week, I went back and forth on what I wanted to cop and how much loot I wanted to drop on it - my thoughts ranged from a super basic entry-level setup for around $100 total, to a super advanced setup that would run me around $600 (in the US where electronics are cheaper... even though they're all made in China anyways, smh).
I finally settled on a top-quality vocal mic, the Rode NT1A ($230 MSRP, only one level down from the $800 Rode NT2A adjustable mics I bought for my college studio at Yale) and a slightly cheaper preamp/audio control interface, the M-audio Mobilepre ($150 MSRP for an OK preamp but most importantly, an audio => USB interface).
Of course, knowing what I wanted and finding it could be two COMPLETELY different things. After all, in China, brand names are not only often misrepresented, but viewed as even interchangeable. Not to mention, the quality of equipment that I was looking for - in terms of reliability and brand recognition - was a cut above what you usually find in China, super local brands like ISK and Takstar. Not bad, but not something I would be wanting to use 10 years from now.... whereas, decades from now the Rode could still pull its weight.
Right around the ZGC subway station lie several large electronics markets... I'm talking multiple buildings, multiple floors, all crammed with tiny booths and slightly larger but equally transient retail layouts, 20 service workers all trying to pull you towards their shops as soon as you set foot on the floor, etc. You might have one modestly sized store selling Sennheiser headphones (super high quality, my favorite brand) right next to a tiny booth jam-packed with low-quality karaoke equipment and unbranded webcams, mouse pads, USB gadgets etc. I really wasn't looking to roll dolo through this environment so I was really happy Josh came through with me...
Anyways we linked up and walked in and asked one of the first market workers we saw where we could buy a 麦克风 (microphone), and she said 3rd floor so we walked up to the 3rd floor and saw nothing... i'm talking super simple joints, even the few microphones were the local ISK brand junk (OK for a podcast, something like that, but nothing even touching pro quality!) but that was just in the front of the floor. The more pro-level shops are in the back: with no impulse buys in stock, they don't need all that foot traffic and they can have a quieter and more professional atmosphere for buyers looking to drop more than a couple hundred RMB (~20 bucks) on simple gadgets.
Walking back, Josh and I were approached by another persistent worker, trying to draw us into his store... well we weren't going to have it but I just said "you guys got microphones?" to the worker and he said yeah, plus the store looked on the up-and-up and large enough to have good 关系 (connections) with suppliers large enough to stock good brand names. So we went in and he had me write out exactly the model numbers of what I was looking for, then went running around to various stockrooms pulling out exactly what I wanted.
Eventually they had everything I wanted out there... the Rode NT1A package with pop filter and shock mount, plus the Mobilepre preamp/Audio interface package. Haha, the salesman even asked me BOTH TIMES about the price like "are you sure you want this one? 这种有点儿贵" (This kind's a little expensive). But I told him I knew what I needed, and I was willing to pay for the quality.
But remember I said that things usually cost more in China?? Because of taxes and general shadiness on the part of foreign brands, etc. So they were asking 1850 RMB ($278) for a $230 mic package and 1380 RMB ($208) for a $100-150 preamp... ummm not cool. But with the equipment lying right in front of me, in good condition, I felt like making my move. After all, time was burning and the sooner I got my new studio setup done the better, right?? So I put my 8 semesters of Mandarin into play and bargained/cajoled the worker into hitting me with both for 3000 RMB total = 450 USD. NOT CHEAP but not expensive either, especially given how shipping the two from the US would have cost > $80 plus potentially taken weeks! AND having to go collect the package at some post office, plus the possibility of its breaking en route.
And you know the way I knew it was a decent price, the salesman wasn't happy with me after we sealed the deal! When we walked in talking about buying a high-level mic they were all getting us seats and bringing us hot water... but you know, if the staff is smiling at you and acting happy once you put the cash on the table, you did NOT hold up your end of the bargaining in this town!
We wrapped up the interface and mic in plastic bags, and i transported them back on the subway... soon you'll get a chance to hear how that new home studio sounds! By my estimates I'm thinking 10-20x the vocal audio quality.....
PEACE y'all!
BONUS FOOTAGE: I hung out with China's #1 hiphop DJ, 3x national DMC champion DJ Wordy this last week... kickin it in the studio, building on the musical level, and killing Nazi zombies in CoD! I got some footage of Wordy mashing-up, mixing, and scratching for me!
Thanks to my 妹妹 Kiki we have a shot of D-One and me during our recent MV shoot this past weekend in 五道口... this one goes out to every 留学生 who has passed thru BLCU, PKU, Tsinghua, or anywhere in Haidian!
Please believe me when I say that this video + single is going to be MAJOR and I hope that a lot of people enjoy seeing some familiar sights! We were out all afternoon in pretty much 0 degree Celsius weather but it was worth it!
I arrived at Beijing's Capital International Airport at 4:30 this evening... grabbed my bag and took the airport rail line back home... hit church to link up with my Embassy fam, then went home...
And what did I do there???
Forget going to sleep, D-One was jumping on a track so you know we HAD TO GO IN!
Check it out... Black & yellow... for our people worldwide:
and download the MP3 at http://grandmaster.bandcamp.com/
