Performed at “The WOW” on March 14, 2010. From their upcoming project entitled “_____ _______”. This is Scottie Spitten’s (From HISD) favorite song this year. That’s a direct quote. That’s Scottie sticking his head thru the backstage curtain.

Footage from a recent show that finds us performing crowd-favorite “Untitled” from the Universal album. Tough crowd that night, but we still did our thing. Appearances by D Rose and The Niyat. Filmed by (DJ?) Remix.

D. Rose – “Revolution”

From the album Taster’s Choice

Written by: D. Rose

Produced by / Cuts by: DJ Cozmos

Directed by: Damien Randle

From Damien -

My wife burst into the room as I was touching up the final edits on the video. I immediately hit her with “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Who’s doing the scratches on that song?”

“Coz.”

“Really? Coz?”

“Yes. Coz. He’s been a DJ all his life. He’s pretty good at doing cuts.”

“You don’t have to be an ass!”

“……….”

“Anyway, his scratches sound FABULOUS! I miss hip hop like that.”

Coming from my wife, that says a lot. If there’s one thing that’s indicative of hip hop, it’s the sound of a DJ moving the record back and forth in a rapid succession that creates the sound that we know as “the scratch”. And even though I was being an ass to my wife, I have to admit that there is something about the sound of some good cutting that puts me in a good place when it comes to listening to hip hop. It’s all but extinct in most music we hear today.

All of this brought back memories of the long days in my home studio where Tasters Choice was crafted. D Rose would make the 60 minute commute from the northside to write and record his vocals; Coz would lug his MPC into the room with a crate full of disks, disks that contained every track in his arsenal. I can’t even tell you how many we all listened to before they settled on the choice cuts that would become the album.

I also thought about the night that Coz came through with the mixer and turntable, and we listened to record upon record to find the right cuts for the right track. It’s funny, because what you hear on the final version of “Revolution” might have been the 5th or 6th set of cuts that they decided on. The others were equally as impressive, but this set just brought it home. And before you ask – no – there won’t be a leak of the alternate versions. You’re listening to the version that was meant to be heard.

I admire D Rose’s work ethic as much as one can admire anything. After a few false starts, he found the resolve to put together an album that I feel is timeless in its own right.It’s rare these days to see an MC and a producer helm an entire project together. Think of Gang Starr; Pete Rock & CL Smooth; Kool G Rap & Polo and so on. In today’s world of albums littered with scattered offerings from so many “super producers”, it’s refreshing to hear an album that has a consistency and warmth that can only be created under these settings. I’m saying that and I was in the room the whole time.

When D Rose hit me up for the video, he said that he wanted something “simple and elegant”. No frills, no bells & whistles. And that’s what you have here: a clean, vibrant look into the soul of a man who stands alone, but is always in the company of others. The city of Houston serves as a beautiful backdrop to his narrative. This was the one video that he had to do above and beyond any other on the album. It may be the song that best defines who he is.

I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

-D-

On Feb 5, 2020, H.I.S.D. is releasing the first single from their highly anticipated album, “The Weakend”. A video is also forthcoming. Joining them for this behind the scenes look is Snap (of the Niyat), who served as director.

Get Your Space Up!!!

Yep – it’s coming! “Revolution” from D. Rose’s critically acclaimed “Taster’s Choice” album!

The last in a series of clips from our recent performance with D. Rose and The Niyat. We saved the best for last – “There Can Only Be One”.

From Remix (who was holding the camera):

“Ya know, when we walked in through the backstage, I had the camera on the guys the entire time. You could see that they weren’t taking themselves too seriously. They’re a group of regular guys with their own identities and personalities who have talents. They know they’re not pseudo-celebrities, or arrogant artists who can’t see through their own egos.

When we all hit the stage, the crowd was definitely expecting Tech Nine, but within 2 verses the boys won them over. Once ‘There Can Be Only One’ came on, they started really WATCHING. They were looking at the stage at first, but after a minute or so, they were intently watching. It was an interesting change.

As soon as the set was over, the boys all went back to being the same people they were before we went on: quiet, humble, funny, witty, interesting people capable of holding ACTUAL conversations and not feeling themselves because they can jump on stage and rap. They were normal people with no egos or misconceptions about who they are and what they do. Immediately we went back to talking about whatever inane, unimportant topic we were ranting about earlier, probably picking on each other.

A lot of the magic of these guys is really lost through the camera, but hopefully we can show it somehow over time.”

-Remix

The KO Show – Episode 2.2: “The Science” from Ethos Music Group on Vimeo.

Talk about irony – after knowing the members of The Niyat for over 15 years , this was the first time that we actually shared the same stage at the same time. Sure, we’ve had showcases together where we perform on separate sets, but this was a milestone for us.

This particular performance is a good study for younger musicians. No matter where you are in your career, you’ll occasionally come across crowds that are largely unfamiliar with your music. This show was a perfect example of that. Over the years, i’ve seen a lot of less experienced artists run into this situation, and are shocked because the audience isn’t really reacting to their show. Then they berate the audience and tell them “ya’ll ain’t feeling me” or “I thought {insert name of city here} knew what real music was!” Wrong move.

If you look closely at the video here, you’ll notice that the crowd – who has no idea who we are – are just kind of standing there and studying us. Listening. They came to see Tech N9ne. And when it came time for the crowd participation, they were right there with us. That’s a good sign.

So don’t get discouraged if you’re faced with an unfamiliar crowd and they’re not jumping through the ceiling for you. Do you best show, get them involved on some crowd participation, and if you’re opening for the headliner that they came to see – shout out the headliner.

Enjoy.

This is the first of a special 3-part edition of The Show, co-starring D. Rose and The Niyat. We take you behind the scenes of a recent performance.

The KO Show – Episode 2.1 “Before The Show” from Ethos Music Group on Vimeo.

On Nov 3rd, we opened a show with Slaughterhouse and Tech N9ne as the headliner. We knew that it was going to be a pretty serious show, so we brought in D. Rose and The Niyat to make sure that the heavy hitters were represented. We’d heard about Tech N9ne’s fans and the Juggalo culture, but never really experienced them for ourselves.

Yeah…

They’re… interesting, to say the least. When you look at the video, you can tell that we’re a little apprehensive right before we hit the stage, but it turned out to be a good performance.

“Cameos” from members of Slaughterhouse.

This is part 1 of 3. Tomorrow we’ll premiere the performance of “The Science”. Thanks again to D. Rose and The Niyat. We’ll definitely have to do this more often! Thanks to Remix for the camera work.

In this week’s episode: Coz is still MIA; D. Rose writes another classic in the studio, and reveals some info about the lineup for the album.

D. Rose’s Weekly Journal: Episode 03 – “Next Next NEXT Week” from Ethos Music Group on Vimeo.