Sunspot Discography, Part 6: Hood Certified

This is Part 6 of the Sunspot Discography series. I'll be posting a short summary about every album and mixtape that's been released under Sunspot Productions. To read every entry, check the sidebar labeled "Discography."

August 20, 2010

"Hood Certified" is C.Luk's latest mixtape. This was his second mixtape while living out in Philly, so his time there had to be evident in his songs. It starts off by Luk checking his voice mail, hearing well wishes from Fat Joe, Maino, Cassidy, Mario and Chubb Rock, and Michael Bivins from Bell Biv Devoe/New Edition among others who have tasted success in the entertainment industry.

The man formerly known as the "Asian Vin Diesel" always shows his personality while flaunting his lyrical skill. Tracks like "I Wanna Rock," and "The Checklist" (produced by G. Jonz) are examples of this. Luk also deals with many serious topics such as his struggles growing up ("My Life" and "Feel the Pain 2") and the aftermath of the 2010 Haitian earthquake ("Hero").

Along with The Chef getting a production cameo on Hood Certified, P.O.E.S. also contributed by producing "This Is How We Do." That track, as well as "Luk Out," "Keep It Movin" and "Light It Up," features Right Hook. Other features includes Liva, Scarfo Live, Showfa, Rich Nice and D'Amonte.

Click here to check out the first video from Hood Certified: Born to Rhyme. (Before you go, have you seen the mixtape cover?! It looks like a circus nightmare with an apocalyptic lava storm brewing in the background!)

Get Hood Certified by clicking here and downloading the entire project for free!

Sunspot Discography, Part 5: One Night Stand

This is Part 5 of the Sunspot Discography series. I'll be posting a short summary about every album and mixtape that's been released under Sunspot Productions. To read every entry, check the sidebar labeled "Discography."


June 1, 2010

Production on "One Night Stand" started just weeks after the release of "Check The Recipe." Sunspot headed into uncharted territory as this effort would be its first completely R&B/pop album. Runna performed most of the R&B tracks while Right Hook performed most of the pop contributions.

Due to the personal & professional relationships we've built over the years, "One Night Stand" was created with help from many people. P.O.E.S. blessed the team by producing most of this album. An up-and-coming beatmaker who goes by HNL teamed up with G. Jonz to produce "Comfortable," which was performed by Runna. As far as featured vocalists go, Right Hook teamed up with Taina and Remy Redd for the slick dance jam "Come Home." Runna enlisted his lyrical cousin (J-Dub) to create the ambiant "If I Don't Have You." C.Luk, P.O.E.S., A-Class and T-Pain (yes, that T-Pain) are also heard on these respective tracks: "To Go On," "Your Body," "Mamacita," and "Everybody Else."

A few facts about "One Night Stand" that you may not have known:
A snippet of Right Hook's "Mamacita" was first heard on Check the Recipe as a prelude for the song "Just A Little Bit Closer." The beat for Runna's "Comfortable" was actually made in the summer of 2006 and was first used as a backing track for a local slide show. Finally, "Live It Up" is the only track on this album that features both Runna AND Right Hook.

Go to the Azn Wayz Bandcamp site to listen to and download One Night Stand now!

Sunspot Discography, Part 4: Check The Recipe

This is Part 4 of the Sunspot Discography series. I'll be posting a short summary about every album and mixtape that's been released under Sunspot Productions. To read every entry, check the sidebar labeled "Discography."

December 18, 2009

The thought of creating my own "album" had crossed my mind for a few years. Since I'm not a lyricist or a regular on-stage performer, I wasn't sure how to do it. I thought about some of my influences - The Neptunes, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland - they've all come out with mixtapes or albums. Yes, they're "household name" performers in a sense, but they are primarily known as producers. As the sole member of Sunspot who had no expectations placed upon him to put out a project, I decided to finally pull the trigger.

To start, I gathered 6 to 8 R&B and hip-hop beats and emailed them to the Sunspot team, telling them my plan for what was called my mixtape, then my album... then finally, my "mixtape album." Blak C, my brother, and J-Dub, Runna's cousin, were also asked to contribute to the project. I was obviously a little hesitant/unsure about this for a while; to make sure that I was held accountable, I let the public know that I was working on this project with 5 videos documenting the making of the album.

Halfway through the production, P.O.E.S. linked up with Sunspot and showed that he not only produces beats himself, but he's also a lyricist. P.O.E.S. illustrated his lyrical ability in "Huntin For The Game" (with J-Dub and Blak C) and "You Like It," (with Right Hook) a song in which he came up with the concept.

Ro$e Marie made her lyrical debut on the album with "Let The Beat Burn" (with Runna & Right Hook) and "We Cookin It," which featured Right Hook, Blak C, J-Dub and Quiet Storm in his only showing on the project. C.Luk also made appearances on the tracks "Raw," "Check The Recipe" and "Just A Little Bit Closer," which made its debut on the "DJ Kurt presents C.Luk" mixtape. Here's the original version of the song.

R&B and pop stylings were also added to Check The Recipe with "Turn It Up" by Runna and "Caught Red Handed" by Right Hook. Thanks to everyone who supported CTR, we received reviews from other blogs. We also put out a music video for one of the strongest singles from CTR. Shout out to Kevin's Bar & Grill in Lynn (they were very cooperative in the making of the video).

Go to the Sunspot Bandcamp site to listen to and download Check The Recipe now!

Sunspot Discography, Part 3

This is Part 3 of the Sunspot Discography series. I'll be posting a short summary about every album and mixtape that's been released under Sunspot Productions. At the end of each entry, there will be a media player where you can listen to and download selected tracks from each CD. To read every entry, check the sidebar labeled "Discography."

August 2004
Mixtape: "Opposites Attrack"

Coming off the heels of a red-hot release for "Blackface," Runna and Quiet Storm continued to make the summer of '04 even hotter with this mixtape. The name of the project obviously plays off of the phrase "opposites attract." However, the R&B crooner and the street lyricist did a little "give and take" on some of the tracks; sometimes QS gave you some hip-hop to rock to ("You Better") or on the opposite end of the spectrum, Runna would give you some R&B to groove to ("Hardly Breathe"). The entire mixtape has a "summertime-in-the-city" feel with tracks like "Caramel Lips", "Step Up (Show Me Where The Spot Is At)" and "Go" featuring C.Luk. He is featured on one other track and G. Jonz also makes a cameo.

July 2008
Album: "Extradimensional"

"Blackface" was supposed to be C.Luk's last album... HOWEVER, there was an offer on the table for a record deal. That offer didn't go over well. C.Luk explains why "Extradimensional" was created:

"Beatmart, a Christian subdivision of Warner Bros. Music (they eventually went to Sony), had offered a deal. They eventually backed out because they didn't have faith in the business side of C.Luk. True story: on "Live" ft. Right Hook, there's a line that was changed about three days before it was sent to be pressed. The current line is "Hey, C, there's a booger in your nose/ hey back up off of me dude man you lookin too close!" The original line was "Hey, C. Didn't Beatmart back out of the deal?/ Quiet man I'm in denial get that crap out of here!" The line was pulled at the request of Bobby Bishop, former Beatmart recording artist and mentor in the game, who thought that the line would unnecessarily burn bridges. If you're curious, Beatmart no longer exists."

C.Luk's fourth album includes appearances by BPC, G. Jonz, Nathan Martin, Bobby Bishop, Quiet Storm, 7:13 (formerly known as Grimm the Heatmeiser), Walnut, Alex Stoyanov, Runna, Right Hook, Miguel Urena and Howie Doo. Cover art was created by Ill Day. The lead single for the album was "Bounce Back." The music video for it can be seen here.
[Refining the Recipe (02.13.11): When I mentioned the "F Wit Us" mixtape in the Discography series, I said that it had the most features we've ever had on any project. I now realize that "Extradimensional" has that honor, with 11 features. "F Wit Us" has 8.]

May 2009
Mixtape: "DJ Kurt presents C.Luk"

Months after "Extradimensional" was released, C.Luk moved to Philadelphia where he currently resides. It was there that he entered the 1st Annual Music and Entertainment Conference held by 100.3 The Beat. This video quickly illustrates that the Happy Asian MC won the Conference and got a lot of attention. When it was over, he got new management and the decision was made to release a mixtape, hosted by Philly's DJ Kurt. The mixtape churned out bangers like "Temp," "Clap Your Hands," "I'm Like" and "Fake Rappers," which is a revamped version of "Eliminate Rappers" from Luk's last album. "Eliminate Rappers" earned C.Luk a nomination for "Song of the Year" at the 2010 Underground Music Awards in NYC.

To listen to 13 tracks from this mixtape, click here for his Soundclick link.


Four tracks have been added to the Discography playlist. Play and download them for free.
blog discography by gjonz

"I'm In There Like Swimwear!"

That line is the only time people will refer to themselves as a wedgie, and be perfectly content with it.



All up in there.