Check out the lead single “Night Air.”
Posted in Jus Buckingham's Stuff, Music
Tagged Beat Tape, British Columbia, Buckingham Records, California, Chloë Sevigny, Down-tempo, Downloads, Free, Hip/Hop, Instrumentals, Jus Buckingham, lansing, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Michigan, Nevada, Rap, Vancouver
1. Night Air
2. California
3. There You Are
FULL BEAT TAPE COMING SOON
Posted in Jus Buckingham's Stuff, Music
Tagged Beat Tape, Beats, British Columbia, California, Coming Soon, Dope, Hip Hop, Instrumentals, Jus Buckingham, lansing, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Michigan, Music, Nevada, Preview, Producing, Production, Rap, Vancouver
On March 20 2010 the beautiful and hilariously funny Sarah Morrison allowed me to interview her. We went back and forward through email for a while and this is what we came up with. PeeP son!
Jus Buckingham: Where are you from?
Sarah Morrison: Boston, Massachusetts
Jus: Being from Boston how did you end up in NYC? Then onto LA?
Sarah: I lived in LA first. I moved out here after college. I spent a few years out here working at clubs and throwing parties and then moved to New York. I worked at a girl’s streetwear magazine in Brooklyn called Missbehave. I moved back to LA after that ended.
Jus: What is it that you do?
Sarah: I am a writer. I also have a really great grasp of marketing and people hire me to do that too. I freelance doing both things from my home office.
Jus: How did you get your start?
Sarah: I wrote a personal blog every week called Sarah Morrison’s Best Week Ever. It detailed funny things people said, did, stuff that happened in my week. People enjoyed it and enjoyed reading about my life. That lead to my writing getting tighter and me getting paid to do so.
Jus: Where do you see yourself professionally in ten years?
Sara: 5 years ago I would have said as the editor of my own magazine. Now that magazines are done, I have no idea. It’s a waiting game right now with the internet. I don’t know how things will continue to evolve in regards to professional writers.
Jus: Now let’s get down to business… Nas or Jay-Z?
Sarah: Jay Z. That Kelis shit really pissed me off, in regards to Nas.
Jus: NYC or LA?
Sarah: LA
Jus: Rolling Stones or The Beatles?
Sarah: The Beatles I guess. Neither of them really appeal to me 
Jus: Twitter or Facebook?
Sarah: Twitter
Jus: Mac or PC?
Sarah: Mac
Jus: In retrospect… was Kanye right about Taylor Swift?
Sarah: Kanye is right about everything.
My kinda chick…
Catch up with Sarah Morrison at:
Posted in ARTIST ON ARTIST
Tagged ARTIST ON ARTIST, blogs, Boston, California, facebook, Jus Buckingham, Los Angeles, myspace, New York, Sarah Morrison, Twitter
I sat down with Las Vegas MC Hassan on January 18, 2010 at a bookstore in Las Vegas. I got the pleasure of meeting Hassan playing with him in the Las Vegas live hip hop group Cloth and Canvas. I always felt that he was one of the best MC’s I had ever heard, excluding no one! I got the pleasure of previewing his new album “Menace 2 Sobriety,” and I was blown away. Mark my words, this will be one of the dope-est albums to drop in 2010. You may wanna get you a copy son!
We were able to talk about where Hassan is from and putting together the album among other things. Check it out!
Jus Buckingham: First question I’ll ask you is where are you from?
Hassan: I’m from Rialto, California. Right there in Southern California. Out there by LA. Reppin Cali and been out here in Vegas for going on like five years. So, West Coastin’ it Dogg.
Jus: OK. So how did you get your start rappin? When did you get to a point where you felt like that was something you wanted to do?
Hassan: Well, I started rappin when I was twelve or thirteen. All my life I would see my oldest brother Rob do it with his groups and a bunch of break-dancing crews and all that. I was always involved with that and listening to him do his thing. Listening to all these other rappers on the radio like LL, NWA, RunDMC. And I was always interested in that. Basically I started re-writing other peoples songs and one day I just wanted to start doing my own thing. It’s been on ever sense. I really started taking it serious around seventeen or eight-teen. At that point I was doing a lot of freestyle battles, and doing a lot of other stuff. I really wanted to get into song-writing. That’s when it got to the point where I said hey this is what I want to do you know? This is life right here.
Jus: So coming up in California. Who where some of the people you first started fuckin with?
Hassan: Well, I started with my home-boy DJ Noreaga who lived out in Marino Valley. I used to fuck with him a lot. Then my boy Ron and my boy Eric and my boy Jason Sodo. And a couple cats from this crew “Multiple Carisma” in high school. “Rain Forrest” and a couple other cats. “Urban Clan” just a lot of dudes from the early days when that West Coast Underground was really taking off. With “Freestyle Fellowship” and “Pharcyde” and people of that nature. So those were a lot of the early guys I was messin with. Back in San Bernardino I was messing with this crew “The Knuckle-head Family” just a bunch of boys I knew back in San Bernardino. We used to put out mix-tapes and we did little albums and stuff on little rinky-dink equipment, but it was dope though. You know it was all for the love? No matter how drunk and high we got. We just did it. It was all about the music. But those were some of the early dudes I was fuckin’ with. Also can’t forget my boy Show. He has a beat on my new album. So be on the look out for that. One of the early dudes I was fuckin with. So much props to him.
Jus: So how did you end up in Vegas?
Hassan: I been out here for going on five years. I first came out here to move with my brother Rob. He started a business out here. I was helping him with it. We were successful while it lasted, but of course when things folded I just started branching out on my own. Trying to establish myself in music and shit. Met a lot of people along the way. I’m feeling Vegas at the moment.
Jus: So how we met each other is from the “Cloth and Canvas House Band.” How did you get involved with all of those people?
Hassan: Well, actually it just happened suddenly. One day I was with my boy Sheldon from “Thoroughbreds,” what up Sheldon. He told me there was this shop around the way called “Cloth and Canvas.” He said it was some real cool cats up there and I would go by there after going to Sheldon’s shit. And it was the whole fam like Cindy. What up Cyncha! And my boy Rico and the boy Tim. They was up in there painting and shit. They asked me what I do and am I into the arts, because that’s how they got down. They let me know they do first Friday every month. An art showcase and an open mic. I was like “word? Well I MC.” Then the dude Tim was like “bring some stuff.” I came back with a couple demos I did and they was blown away by it. And I was fuckin with Cindy ever since. Then I met dRew going to the open mics. Eventually I met Mikal. Cindy always had a vision of wanting a band. They hollered at me one day in the summer of 08. It just clicked from there. We started doing shows and then I eventually met you through Mikal, and it was on from there.
Jus: That’s what’s up. Ok. Tell me a little about your up coming project “Menace 2 Sobriety.” Tell me who you’re working with. Everything.
Hassan: Ok, well “Menace 2 Sobriety” is an interesting project. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. To really do something “legitimate” you know? I’m working with a lot of different cats. First and foremost my man Marion Wright. Just wanna say what’s up to him and the whole Flo Deep campaign. 9 Grand and all that. Because he has been really instrumental and welcoming ya boy with open arms. I mean I met him one time through “Cloth and Canvas” and a bunch of other shows and he showed nothing but love. He did the majority of the production. Working with other people like DJ Final, Dubb Knox, who’s out there in San Diego. What up my nigga! My boy Show from the I.E. He’s a dude I grew up with. My boy Trade Voorhees. He slid me a track finally! Of course you gotta track on there and you featured on one. So, there a whole lot of people on there. I’m just really looking forward to the whole project.
Jus: So, I also want to get into the project you’re working on with Las Vegas hip hop group Mob Zombie. Tell us a little bit about that and when should expect to hear it.
Hassan: Well, hopefully you can expect that soon. Spring or summertime. I’m working with Mob Zombie’s main guy Phil A. What up Polo and Bambu. You know me and Phil A man. We known each other since I met him up at Cloth and Canvas. We always clicked. They some real cool dudes. One day we talked about it like we should do a side project. So for the past month we’ve been recording and doing a lot of tracks. Hopefully we’ll have a track from my man Phil Da Agony from Strong Arm Steady on there. Got a lot of stuff happening. 2010 looks promising.
Jus: When it is all said and done. Twenty or Thirty years from now, what do you want people to say about Hassan?
Hassan: Ultimately at the end of the day, I just want people to say that dude was one of the most creative and versatile MC’s there ever was. He wasn’t scared to be himself. He wasn’t scared to challenge authority or social standards. Hassan made it cool to be you. I also wanna be known for making great music and not compromising and kissing these labels asses. That’s not what I’m about. I want this shit on my tombstone man: “That Nigga Hassan Danced To The Beat Of His Own Drum!”
Jus: I hear you. Well any parting words? Shout-outs? Anything you want to promote?
Hassan: Well, first and foremost shout out to my man Jus B! Not just cause you here and everything, but you my nigga! Shout out to Cloth and Canvas. Wish it could have lasted, but you know it is what it is. Much success to everybody. To my family back home in Cali, Florida, South Carolina and all over the world. Shout out to all the homies that were a part of the project and who’ve been instrumental in my life. And like I said hopefully early March 2010. Menace 2 Sobriety! Gotta pick that up!
Check Out Some Songs From “Menace 2 Sobriety”
Hassan / Young Summer ft. Jus Buckingham
Hassan / UNLV
Hassan / Stop Fakin’ It
On January 18, 2010 I sat down with multi-talented Actress/Director/Everything else Briana Kennedy-Coker. At a coffee shop in Vegas. This is what we came up with. PeeP it!
Jus Buckingham: Briana, where are you from originally?
Briana Kennedy-Coker: (In a Minnesota Accent) Well I hail from St. Paul, Minnesota. Was born June 8th 1984. In Mid-Way Hospital. Next question please.
Jus: (Laughing) Ok Briana. Well we are both from the mid-west. Ehh… I don’t have anything cool to say about the mid-west. Where did you get your start performing?
Briana: Umm good question. I started performing… well the first play I got was “To Kill A Mockingbird,” at the “Great American History Theater with Ron Peluso, I was seven years old. And from there, I just did tons of theater. Park Square Theater, Children’s Theater, Stepping Stone Theater, Guthrie Theater. All in the mid-west. And I probably did Theater from seven to eight-teen. Non stop. And then I left Minnesota and moved to Vegas. I’m now starting to get into film.
Jus: Well that’s interesting. Now, how did you end up in Las Vegas of all places?
Briana: I ended up here, because my mom wanted to move here. I’ve always had the dream to move to LA, but I wasn’t ready at eight-teen. So I actually stopped U of M (University of Minnesota) midway through my junior year. I studied Film Theory, but nothing was hands on. I wasn’t learning anything, but I was learning how to critique and write about film. I wanted to do more so she proposed moving here, and I said OK. Left everybody. Left all my family and moved here, and transferred to UNLV. I then tried to build my life here, which is kind of hard, but I got hands on with the film program. I graduate in May. So that’s kind of what brought me here and the next stop is LA.
Jus: What do you think Las Vegas has to offer as opposed to other markets in our industry?
Briana: Well, I think the coolest thing about Vegas is most people come from a different place. For me, this was kind of a stopping place, to gather the tools I needed to move to LA. So you end up meeting tons of people from all over, that have all these quirky things. You have a lot of people that want to contribute artistically. I’ve met the coolest people in my film program. Young people that are talented who are looking to go to New York, LA or bigger markets. But we all come from different back-rounds, and we all just come to create. That’s the biggest blessing that I’ve found moving here as opposed to Minnesota.
Jus: In ten years or so. What do you see yourself doing?
Briana: All I want to do is just create. Create. More specifically, I want to goto LA and be a working actress. And like we’ve talked about before, anytime you tell people you want to act. Especially when you want to goto LA, they’re like: “Do you know how many thousands of actors and actresses are there?” And that for me has never been what it’s about. It’s just about working, creating the stuff that makes me happy. And you know being twenty-five, life is boring, mundane, and depressing. So if you can find that one thing that makes you happy. That one thing that makes you want to get up every day, and you can get paid for it. Pay your bills, you’re good. And that’s really all I want to do when I do go out to LA. To be a working actress in film and in television. And then eventually have my own production company. And be able to create projects and cast people that are forgotten or people don’t want to see or think they fit in a certain box. I just want to be a well rounded entertainer, and hopefully a good business woman. At the end of the day, that’s what I want to do… and win an Oscar! (clears throat) Just throwing that in their real quick.
Jus: Ok speed round. Favorite movie?
Briana: Oooo! Well I have two! “Apocolypto” and “A Bitter Sweet Life.” I think I told you about this. It’s a Japanese horror film starring the beautiful Lee Beyung-hun. His American debut was GI Joe. (Laughs) I never saw him in that. But what happens is your so brilliant in your own country, and often times you come here. Your put in like the “Cheesy Hollywood Films.”
Jus: Like Le Femme Nikita
Briana: Yeah! Well I saw the other one that they did. They did an Americanized version.
Jus: Oh, well I just saw the original, and that’s a good example. Because the dude that plays the bad guy in “Bad Boys” is phenomenal in the Le Femme Nikita. And I totally wrote him off as a “fly by night douche bag” bad guy from “Bad Boys.”
Briana: And it totally was not the case. Yeah I think this year will have to be “A Bitter Sweet Life.” Those are my top two.
Jus: OK. Favorite Actor / Actress. Go!
Briana: ooooo! You Bastard! Ok, Sean Penn.
Jus: Yuck!
Briana: Don’t look at me crazy! And of course there is only one queen of film! Meryl Streep! (pauses) You ain’t got nothing to say! I can’t believe you. Well, who are your favorites?
Jus: Robert Downey Jr. And actress, probably Meryl Streep.
Briana: Ok, well we agree!
Jus: Lets see. What else can I ask you? I don’t know maybe that will conclude it. Any final words. Anything you want to promote?
Briana: Well, parting is such sweet sorrow, but I’m working on a Blackexplotation film. With the awesome people of UNLV. Drew Mixon and Devon Byers. We start that in Febuary. And I’m super exited. We’re going to channel Pam Grier!
Jus: Pam Greir! I like the Pam Greir!
Briana: Yeah, that’s going to be a tough one! But that’s what I am working on.
Catch up with Briana:
Actor/Musician & Everything Else.
