doug - evergreen park wrote:
Well, I have had a bit of a unique experience....I guess.
(experience)
So...gotten to know him? Not really. I'd like to though. Just play guitars for a few hours...wouldn't even have to talk.
ha, i can totally relate to that story. after i met acey b4 his june 08 show, he ended up doing his set absurdly early (i think 88 keys went b4 him, then large professor and dilated after him?) and at the end of it when he was done and getting his applause he gave me the finger point and ran up for a high five before departing the set. when there's a quality rap show on stage i reckon i know how to "represent" --- hell, there's one time where my old friend brian (the venerable robust) was doing an in-store at whatever that hiphoppy clothing store is on ashland just north of milwaukee.... and while he was running late some trio was up there killing time doing their show, so in the spirit of providing the best atmosphere possible (there's gotta be a fundamental irony of saying that in relation to white rappers =) i was standing near the front into the music hands in the air like htey aint had to tell me.... and they ended up pointing me out like MAN Y'ALL SEE THIS GUY?!? THAT'S HOW YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ACT AT A RAP SHOW....GET HYPE! they then invited me up on stage to freestyle, which i did up until robust walked through the door and seemed very genuinely surprised to walk into a place with me rapping up on stage. this is natural, of course, cuz during my very early days of freestyling he told me "don't make a rap album. everyone and their mom raps nowadays.... if you wrote a book i'd read it"
incidentally, i've heard "if you wrote a book i'd read it" so many times that might as well be the name of my first mixtape (early 2014! get hype!) at this rate.
acey indeed remembered me and would go on to listen to a handful of "tracks" i recorded in 08, giving solid rap advice. shit, i can remember sitting on the bus exchanging twitter DMs with acey on the way to my DUI outpatient sessions, tho he eventually blocked me when i cracked a joke that some twitter "ranking" service rated vanilla ice as better than him. proclivities of an artist i suppose..... but a year or so later he got over that and still follows me to this day.... he's invited me to record a song for a project blowed weed smoking mixtape, but i had quit smoking by then and hit what he's termed as "the freestyler's curse" in that when you toss me a beat i can actually rap off the cuff, but i can't write a song to save my life. anyone who's heard my shit would prolly be in some level of agreement with that diagnosis.
hell, and last year he was claiming that there'd be a special @sinicalypse6 freestyle set @ a haiku d'etat show in chicago.... the problem was that i already had a trip booked out to new york. i never really followed up to see if he was joking or anything, but much like you said it's a bucket list thing to freestyle with aceyalone b4 it's all said and done.... don't need a stage or anything, so hey who knows maybe i'll troll around the venue a few hours earlier and see if fate has another chance metting in the books.... cuz holy shit, i forgot to mention that there's a funny little subplot to meeting acey in june 08...
back in the summer of 06 i saw acey tour with rjd2 on the magnificent city (LP) tour. after the show i was hanging out up front dead center talking to rjd2. i asked him why acey didn't do "the takeoff" live and he chuckled and said "he doesn't have the breath to do that one out of studio.... he smokes too much" so i'm like "ohhhh man how much weed does aceyalone smoke in an average day on tour?" and he chuckled and replied "i don't smoke weed"
the hilarious backdrop to all this is that while we're talking we're doing it continually being interrupted by a line of bearded white kids in new balance shoes walking up to say "rj, dude, i just wanted to say that you inspire me so much man... i make beats and i wouldn't be doing that right now if it wasn't for you" and rj is professional enough to be used to that sort of adulation, although the str8up queue of people lined up to say "OMFG RJ YOU INSPIREME SO MUCH" was downright hilarious.
so when he was done unhooking the cables up front on the stage, i was asking him something else about acey and he said "ha, dude, why don't you just ask him yourself?" and he motioned over to one of the bouncers to give him a piece of paper and he wrote down something like "this guy is cool to chill backstage with us - rj" and pointed me out to the bouncer and said "come on back and meet him"
the problem was that my friend, who drove us to the metro that night, had been struggling with the then-recent 100% revocation of smoking privileges in bars/venues. you used to be able to go downstairs to the smart bar and smoke, but now you had to wait til the show was over to go outside. my friend wanted a cigarette. i showed him the de-facto VIP pass and said that we've got a chance to go backstage and chill with acey, to which he replied "i'm sorry dude, but i've been here for ~3 hours and i need a cigarette and that means we gotta go, so we gotta go. i'm so sorry dude, but you're gonna have to meet aceyalone next time"
i didn't challenge him, probably anticipating the whole fanfaced "uhhh how's the tour going?" nightmare i had when i did in fact meet him next time, which makes it a wonderfully roundabout way to tell this story. then again, i'm not going to campaign to acey on twitter all OMFG DUDE WE GOTTA MEET UP B4 THE SHOW AND FREE cuz you gotta have a modicum of style and at least act like you've been in the endzone b4.... cuz i aint trying to stunt so i can always namedrop "I GOT TO FREESTYLE WITH ACEYALONE YO".... i mean, shit, i can always namedrop the whole "acey's been willing to listen to my songs/frees over the years and give me quality advice" thing and that works out for me.
all in all, ^^^^that^^^^ experience readied me for meeting my 3rd favorite musician of all time, the mighty ceephax acid crew, in 2001. the gig was @ some arthouse on morgan in the 30s (the co-prosperity sphere) and since it was in informal venue the $2/each cans of ice cold PBR were a-flowin and since he was hanging out in the crowd during the flahbulb's set i was able to stand around and shoot the shit, get my picture, and kinda sorta get to know one of my favorite musicians a lil bit. i went up to milwaukee the next night with a couple'a watmm dudes from indiana to complete the ACID WEEKENDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it was an honor and a privilege to make sure ceephax's beer was perpetually refreshed during his hourlong set, i mean, shit.... dude's given me countless hours of entertainment, not to mention all kinds of influence to mould my musical anima (cuz jung's concept of the anima, aka the perfect woman/10/etc is totally apropos when it comes to how one views music) so at the very least when ceephax is in town and i've got the ends he aint paying for a beer in my presence.
if i ever get around to learning how to make/play/recite music/rap/etc, i hope i get a chance to meet aphex twin somehow. that's the holy grail for me.... hopefully i'd be respectable enough to the point where he isn't offput by thanking him for his contributions to the world of music cuz i wouldn't be where/who i am today if his music didn't come along and tantalize my imagination when i was a wee child of 14+ years.
tl;dr = it's daunting, but if you can get past the whole stereotypical fan thing.... odds are if someone's music/lyrics relate to you on a really deep basic level you'll prolly get along with them quite well seeing as people tend to put a varying amount of their soul/essence/etc into their music. so i hope that your eventual dream of jamming with corgan works out for you.... and i'll be sure to let the world, let alone the hip hop song of the day thread, know if i ever do get to kick that freestyle w/acey
_________________
Curious Hair wrote:
Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?
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