You know I was thinking. It's been a really productive past 6 mos and I've met a lot of new faces and made a lot of new contacts over the time. One thing I've realized is that a lot of people only know barely the tip of the iceberg about me, so let me give a little insight into who Mic Doja really is.
Born in Ohio in 1979, I moved out to California in 1988 to Oakland. Talk about crazy times coming from the sticks of back woods Ohio to inner city Oakland in the late 80's. Anyway, being the youngest of five really meant I was more like the only child. Kind of cool...kind of not. Let's just say I experienced a lot of first times in the Oak. My parents and I finally moved down Oxnard in 1991. A year later I got my first instrument, a bass guitar, which I learned to play by ear. I soon after started making beats on a keyboard and started writing in 1993. For the next 15yrs my music was just a form of expression and a hobby more or less. It wasn't until 2008 when I got laid off and someone suggested I made a record that I actually pursued making any of my music public. The rest as you know, is history and here we are. This is the quick version. A lot of filler was skipped but I think you all get the picture. I'm east coast born but west coast raised so my perspective in not what you might think it is. Anything else you want to know about me you're just gonna have to message me or wait till my interview on Oprah. It's only a matter of time.
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
FIVE YEARS OF BEING RAISED
The year is 2008 and it is at about the peak of the housing bubble bust and job market loss. I had planned on quitting my job in a few months down the line, but instead found myself laid off earlier than expected. At first what seemed a somewhat troublesome situation soon materialized into one of the greatest blessing in my life. I came in to work late because of a speeding ticket and was given a box to pack my belongs. As I was packing up a co-worker said to me “Hey now that you have some free time you can release an album.” For the first time I actually thought to myself, “Yeah”, I got nothing to lose so I might as well try. So for the 6 months I hit the grind to record an album and embark on the mission of setting up a brand that people can recognize and and relate to. This was the year Mic Doja music was going to rise from unheard nobody to a lyrical force.
In setting out to come up and release The Rise, the obvious hard part was creating quality material, both beat and lyrics. I was use to making beats, and I was use to writing lyrics but to actually write a complete full scale song, chorus and all was a new thing and took time to get a good handle on. But once I completed the now intro track, “Rise”, I felt so good with accomplishment for sitting down and just writing the song and making it happen. The feeling was contagious and I started coming up with more tracks. I found gradually my style and musical outlook were changing the more I wrote and this growth has continued till this day. The album itself is more of a music collection than album in my opinion. Most of the songs on the album were already written before the idea of the album and the remaining song were made to fill in or to add diversity. Some songs on the album were created from start to finish in about 3-4 hrs. Beat and all. Some songs on the other hand took awhile to be completed. “Static”, for example took about a little over a year to complete the entire process. There was even consideration of releasing a dual disc debut album, but thought better of it. Nobody wants two discs of music from someone they never heard or don't even know if they're any good. So I settled with the idea of just a single disc with 16 tracks
My other concern regarding the album was diversity. I needed to have something that nobody else seemed to offer in hip hop, diversity. When you listen to The Rise right from the first track”Rise”, you know that you are in for something different. Not only is the music different but the music layout as well. I mean there are no two songs alike on the album, every song has it's very own flavor. It is this very varied flavor that I think people find so compelling about this album. No other album has the same sound or feel, mainstream or indie. Another area is the topic range of the songs. The Rise is certainly a positive album with songs like “Rise”and “I Wanna”. Yet it has definition of strength with songs like, “I'm A Warrior” or “Here We Go Again”. It's romantic with “Phoebe”. It's playful with, “One Hit” and “Ain't Told Ya”. It'll get in those guts with “Static” or “Too Heavy”. The album has a lot to offer and is a continual journey getting deeper and deeper every time you listen to it.
Another area I wanted something different with the album was with the graphics. I didn't really want the traditional album cover of some rapper all blinged out and with stacks of money, cars, and hoes behind me. I wanted something true to me and to the art and culture of hip hop. Yet I wanted something bold that made a statement. I worked with a good friend of mine who was into graphic design and had helped in creating design ideas. At the time there were a lot changes taking place with graphic ideas and the initial design we decided on using for the album never made it to print production. A few sample were made until the decision to release the album digitally was made. At that point all graphic ideas for the actual CD face were basically stopped and instead the decision to use the album cover design as the CD face graphic was made. Now going on 5 years since the debut album The Rise will finally be released in physical CD form with a new version of the special graphics which were designed for the album.
As we celebrate the 5th year anniversary a very limited amount of The Rise:Limited Anniversary Edition will be produced and sold. Each copy of the album will be signed and numbered and feature a special card that will go into detail about the songs selected for the album as well as the story behind the graphics used. This album will be sold as part of an exclusive package deal that will include the following: a copy of the current album A.L.I.E.N. Language, a Mic Doja Music T-shirt, public recognition on social media sites, access to download exclusive music from the Mic Doja Music Archive, and free entry to any Mic Doja show of your choice. This package will be available for purchase as of July 6, 2013 but you are encouraged to R.S.V.P. yours now because these will go very fast and once these are gone they are gone for good. I will not be producing any more of these special editions of The Rise once all are sold. If you would like to support and purchase one of these packages please click the link below and R.S.V.P. The event. You MUST R.S.V.P. in order to purchase this package.
http://m.facebook.com/events/324265407679826?full&__user=0
For any additional questions regarding this please send all request to micdoja@yahoo.com PLEASE VISIT: WWW.MICDOJA.COM. Thank you for your support!
In setting out to come up and release The Rise, the obvious hard part was creating quality material, both beat and lyrics. I was use to making beats, and I was use to writing lyrics but to actually write a complete full scale song, chorus and all was a new thing and took time to get a good handle on. But once I completed the now intro track, “Rise”, I felt so good with accomplishment for sitting down and just writing the song and making it happen. The feeling was contagious and I started coming up with more tracks. I found gradually my style and musical outlook were changing the more I wrote and this growth has continued till this day. The album itself is more of a music collection than album in my opinion. Most of the songs on the album were already written before the idea of the album and the remaining song were made to fill in or to add diversity. Some songs on the album were created from start to finish in about 3-4 hrs. Beat and all. Some songs on the other hand took awhile to be completed. “Static”, for example took about a little over a year to complete the entire process. There was even consideration of releasing a dual disc debut album, but thought better of it. Nobody wants two discs of music from someone they never heard or don't even know if they're any good. So I settled with the idea of just a single disc with 16 tracks
My other concern regarding the album was diversity. I needed to have something that nobody else seemed to offer in hip hop, diversity. When you listen to The Rise right from the first track”Rise”, you know that you are in for something different. Not only is the music different but the music layout as well. I mean there are no two songs alike on the album, every song has it's very own flavor. It is this very varied flavor that I think people find so compelling about this album. No other album has the same sound or feel, mainstream or indie. Another area is the topic range of the songs. The Rise is certainly a positive album with songs like “Rise”and “I Wanna”. Yet it has definition of strength with songs like, “I'm A Warrior” or “Here We Go Again”. It's romantic with “Phoebe”. It's playful with, “One Hit” and “Ain't Told Ya”. It'll get in those guts with “Static” or “Too Heavy”. The album has a lot to offer and is a continual journey getting deeper and deeper every time you listen to it.
Another area I wanted something different with the album was with the graphics. I didn't really want the traditional album cover of some rapper all blinged out and with stacks of money, cars, and hoes behind me. I wanted something true to me and to the art and culture of hip hop. Yet I wanted something bold that made a statement. I worked with a good friend of mine who was into graphic design and had helped in creating design ideas. At the time there were a lot changes taking place with graphic ideas and the initial design we decided on using for the album never made it to print production. A few sample were made until the decision to release the album digitally was made. At that point all graphic ideas for the actual CD face were basically stopped and instead the decision to use the album cover design as the CD face graphic was made. Now going on 5 years since the debut album The Rise will finally be released in physical CD form with a new version of the special graphics which were designed for the album.
As we celebrate the 5th year anniversary a very limited amount of The Rise:Limited Anniversary Edition will be produced and sold. Each copy of the album will be signed and numbered and feature a special card that will go into detail about the songs selected for the album as well as the story behind the graphics used. This album will be sold as part of an exclusive package deal that will include the following: a copy of the current album A.L.I.E.N. Language, a Mic Doja Music T-shirt, public recognition on social media sites, access to download exclusive music from the Mic Doja Music Archive, and free entry to any Mic Doja show of your choice. This package will be available for purchase as of July 6, 2013 but you are encouraged to R.S.V.P. yours now because these will go very fast and once these are gone they are gone for good. I will not be producing any more of these special editions of The Rise once all are sold. If you would like to support and purchase one of these packages please click the link below and R.S.V.P. The event. You MUST R.S.V.P. in order to purchase this package.
http://m.facebook.com/events/324265407679826?full&__user=0
For any additional questions regarding this please send all request to micdoja@yahoo.com PLEASE VISIT: WWW.MICDOJA.COM. Thank you for your support!
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