Highlights of CTR2, Part 4: Ebbony Davis & POES

Check The Recipe 2 is my latest mixtape which features 18 musical talents from the 781 area and beyond. I'll be giving some background info on two of the people involved in CTR2 in this entry. Sit back and take in some insight on the Recipe.

At just over 18 years old, Ebbony Davis, who sings Air to Breathe on CTR2, has proven that she is a youth with ambition. She first began recording songs under the tutelage of G. Jonz and Thright Hook about 7 years ago, but she's been singing since she could talk. Since then, Ebbony has been honing her craft with voice lessons and has become a more well-rounded entertainer by joining Runna's ITM Step Squad. As of this writing, she has already sung with one of Berklee College's Music Groups at Boston's former Mayor Menino's retirement party. Below is footage of Ebbony with others on the first of Berklee's "Corner Spot" video-bio series.

The man known as POES (People Only Envy Strength) has worked with Sunspot for years. He first made waves with the Sunspot team by performing on the first Check the Recipe project, blessing us with lyricism for "You Like It" and "Huntin For The Game". Later, he impressed the masses again with his production skills by composing 8 out of 13 songs on One Night Stand, Sunspot's first R&B/pop album. Since moving to New York, POES has not slowed down as he has linked up with Perfect Connect and other notable names in the music industry. While in New York, he was still able to help out G. Jonz by laying down lyrics to the CTR2 song, "Nobody Has To Know". He's a talent who won't let anything stop him from his goals. Below, POES takes a Moment to Speak in the heart of the city.

Highlights of CTR2, Part 3: HNL & Seth Chaos

Check The Recipe 2 is my latest mixtape which features 18 musical talents from the 781 area and beyond. I'll be giving some background info on two of the people involved in CTR2 in this entry. Sit back and take in some insight on the Recipe.

Seth Chaos is a major name in the underground music scene in the Boston area. You've heard of the Six Degrees of Separation theory, right? Well, it'd be very rare for you to find someone in the Boston underground hip-hop scene who hasn't heard of Chaos. He's been working on music since the 90s and is involved in nearly all aspects of music peoduction. Rapping, vocals, DJing, filming - Seth Chaos is a man that wears many hats.

HNL has been under the learning tree of music production for years, honing his craft and coming up many different R&B beats. His earliest beat that has been released can be heard on the One Night Stand album on the track, "Comfortable". Since then, the quick study that is HNL has also lent a hand in producing the Intro track for CTR2 and single-handedly composed the beat for "Take A Walk" from the Morning After album, featuring the voices of Runna, G. Jonz and J-Dub.

Just Badass

Years ago, I wrote a blog entry about the toughest SOBs on the planet having the initials J.B. (Sorry, Chuck Norris.) Here's a shortened version of that entry:

Jason Bourne

Jason Bourne, hand to hand combat. Like a BOSS.

James Bond

This is part of the parkour chase scene from "Quantum of Solace." I wasn't able to link the entire chase, but if you want to see the whole thing, click here.

Jack Bauer
If you know me at all, you KNEW Jack was making this list. I had 8 seasons and a movie of Bauer-badassery to choose from, so I picked this one clip:
It's real simple: Talk or die.

In case I don't get the chance to blog before the new year, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Life Is Always In The Mak'n

If you're a dancer, or know anyone who's a dancer, tell em to clear their schedules on Sunday, October 2. The ITM Step Squad & Dance Team is holding their annual fall auditions at the Lynn YMCA at 12 PM.

No age limits. No creative limits. If you're in the North of Boston area, bring your sweats and be ready to work! Watch the video for more:

Shout out to BossLadyTee Films for this great video.

One Night Stand: One Year Later

June 1, 2011 marks exactly one year since Sunspot dropped "One Night Stand." I thought it'd be interesting to get some insight from the lead artists from that project, Runna and Right Hook. I thought it'd be even more interesting to ask them the same questions about it separately. The video below shows what they said when I asked them these questions:

1. What's your favorite "Runna" track?
2. What's your favorite "Right Hook" track?
3. Has working with the other affected your singing/writing style? How?
4. What's next?


Listen and download One Night Stand for free.

My Favorite "Office" openers

With the Season 7 finale of The Office airing tonight, I wanted to share some of my favorite cold openers (scenes before the title credits) from The Office.

Season 6
The "Parkour" Opener
This was shown on the Season 6 premiere. "Parkour, parkour!"



Season 5
The "Cheese Puffs" Opener
This was during the Michael Scott Paper Company story arc of Season 5. I still can't imagine how many takes it took them to do this. Especially the trick at the 32-second mark!


Season 3
"Future Dwight"


Season 3
Entourage



Honorable mention:
The Super Bowl-episode (Season 5) opener of "Stress Relief" where the entire Dunder-Mifflin staff is trapped, and panic when they think they're surrounded by a raging fire that's "shooting at them." I actually wanted to include this one in the list, but I couldn't find it on YouTube and didn't feel like searching too hard for it elsewhere on the net.

I know there are other great openers than the ones I mentioned. Which are your favorites?

Walk For Hunger Shenanigans

This post will mostly be pictures with blurbs about them. "Shenanigans" is a fun word to say.


I dedicated certain miles to certain things and people. Mile 1 was for Emely. Mile 20 was for Michael Scott. Mile 4 was for Big Jo and Little Jo. It seemed like Little Jo gave up at about Mile 12. We thought Big Jo had given up too, until we saw Jo's signature on the Mile 19 sign. It was an inspiration to our team.

Chestnut Hill Reservoir. The girl in the picture is my friend Sammee. Her blog is LoST.

Like "shenanigans," "tac0cat" is also fun to say.

Here's my fake smile. Take the picture and let's move the f*ck on. My feet are NOT happy feet.

Mile 17 was dedicated to my friend, Dave. There's no special meaning behind number 17. It was getting late in the Walk and I remembered that he really wanted to Walk For Hunger, but couldn't because he was working in a different state. This one's for you, Dave.

After I declared Mile 17 as "Dave's Mile," Mile 18 was declared John's Mile. The man actually took a bus to DC just hours after we finished this walk! Now, that's a hustle. John is also the mastermind and director of the "Kill Greg" film.

I just thought it was cool that there's a band out there called "Henry Gale." Did you know there's also a band called "Not Penny's Boat"?

Closing in on 20 miles, the cold air cut through us on the Mass Ave. Bridge. From left to right: Sammee, Huy and John.

And about those shoes...

Kill Greg

I was going to type out a backstory to this, but I think I'll just let the film speak for itself. I'll answer questions (if any) in the comment section.

A Taste of My Past Concoctions

"Huntin For The Game" is one of my favorite tracks, performed by P.O.E.S., J-Dub & Blak C. I produced this for my debut mixtape album, Check The Recipe.


I believe this is Sunspot's first music video. Bounce Back by C.Luk - produced by me.