What the fuck!
Those of you who know me personally know it’s unlike me to a) talk shit about people and b) make stupid sentences like this one. But damn man I’m not sure what’s going on here with this Yo Majesty business but someone has their shit all wrong and I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I’m calling people out in this post. Let me begin at the beginning. (Just a heads up, I’m on tour with Yo Majesty currently writing this in a shitty hotel somewhere in North Carolina).
In early 2007 I received a myspace message from David Alexander (the cat who produced Club Action, part of HardFeelingsUK) saying that Yo Majesty was in town (Austin) three emcees deep during SXSW wanting to hop on shows anywhere they could. Me being nice offered them a spot at a couple of shows I was putting together. (In retrospect having a producer from London hit me up about a gig is kind of out of the ordinary in the sense that it should be, oh I don’t know, maybe their manager). It turned out that they didn’t have a dj and were just rapping over a show disk (which I personally find lame, you can do that shit in the street, but i’m mad so hold me to that). I, again, being nice offered them my humble services for not one not two but four other shows on top of the ones I had going on. Brought my own turntables, ran sound and everything. Well the girls (at the time Shun B, JWL B and Shunda K) were in a hoof by the end of the week at my ‘grind‘ and offered me a chance to dj for them on the road. It was glamorous. It was Saturday night I think, at beauty bar for the Iheartcomix showcase. We killed it. Got off stage and A Trak came up next with a less energetic show blah blah blah. They promised this that and the other. It was awesome until their manager at the time sized me up real quick and said that I wasn’t the guy. Oh well, too bad for me. They went through three other djs, maybe four, several tour managers and finally their manager when I heard back from them. At this point Shun B had been kicked out of the group, how?
Apparently due to an engine failure Shun B was forced off a plane ride to London in two fluke emergency landings. Before the third she turned around and never looked back. The other girls purchased her a ticket to Turkey where their next show was but she didn’t show. When they got back to Florida they called a meeting to which, again, she didn’t show. That was it for Shun B who, to my understanding, contributed little to the original content of the groups material anyways. She was kind of like a hype woman, simply dropping lines and verses that either Shunda or JWL would write for her.
Basically since they now didn’t have a manager, tour manager or any other manager they thought it was appropriate to call me back into the fold. Yay.
So my first real experience with what i’m talking about was when we played in France early last year. At this point it was just JWL and Shunda and a lack luster team of not so helpful industry fuck tards. You think I’m playing. Do this for me then. Go to the Yo Majesty booking agents page here. As you can see the photo is antiquated, picturing Shun B who’s been out of the group since before The Agency Group was called something else. The photo does not represent the group as it is on the road now. But i guess that’s okay for them seeing as they have thousands of artists they represent. It kind of makes you think about who else is going through the same. I digress. I mean their tour manager in France was shady too and before we even got to the first show in Dijon, France, JWL was arguing about some dumb ass myspace password talking about ‘i’m not doing the show until I get that password’. It was funny cause there I stood in the beautiful country side of France about to go have fun at this swank little club for hipsters and heads alike and here this girl is going off on a mental melt down. I knew then what I know now, JWL needs psychiatric help. But whatever that’s none of my business, shut up Orion and do your job. And I did and it was awesome.
So now not only is Yo Majesty’s agent fucking off, their record label as well. Domino Records, who so kindly refuses to provide any tour support for Yo Majesty has no problem not releasing Shunda K from her contract either. See JWL B got arrested in Florida not two days before this tour was supposed to start. Some shit about pulling a knife on her brother or someone, and has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The girl is not coming out and if/when she does, touring is not on her list of things to take care of. So, knowing all this information both the agents and the label continue to give Shunda K a hard time. See Shunda and I, with the dancers combined, can put an awesome show on that folks will remember but here’s the catch. There are no turntables for me. Something I should have inquired about you say? I did and it was said that I would have em, ‘just email me your tech rider’. Psst. Not only have the last couple of clubs been without turntables, upon requesting that THe Agency Group help me attain said tables for shows this was their response. “This is an issue as these shows have been confirmed with the understanding that turn tables would not be provided.” No fucking shit. Were they confirmed with JWL being in jail?
This is where I get furious cause now I’ve canceled all my gigs in the coming months in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Corpus and I’m on the road not knowing if I’m even going to play in the next city. It’s partially my fault for believing in this shit. I believe in Shundas’ hustle like nothing else but it seems The Agency Group and Domino have no desire to hear her out or help her out. I was under the impression that, and it made sense at the time, that without JWL and Shun B the supporters of this would help Shunda keep things moving. HA HA HA. Oh how wrong I was. Turns out industry fuck tards are just that, Fuck Tards. You heard it first here.
So what the hell is my point. We’ll besides being a little relieved to get this off my chest, I think the valuable lesson here would be to hold your own shit down. You don’t need a booking agent or a record label. Have you heard of the internet. Learn how to make beats and be an engineer, learn photoshop to make flyers and imagery, be good and have dedication. It is so many peoples desire to get signed to this that and the other with out even considering the ramifications. DON’T DO IT.
I give you the EP cause I can
Track Listing
01 Club Action
02 Kryptonite Pussy
03 It’s A Warning
04 Hustle Mode
05 Feline IBD
06 The Monkey
07 Feline IBDisco
08 It’s a Warning
