RIP MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON 1958-2009

So where were you when you heard the news? Just like Elvis, Kurt Cobain, Tupac, John Lennon and more, this is the question that will be asked for years to come. What were you doing when we lost the greatest entertainer the world has ever known?

I was in Toronto on tour. We had just moved into a new hotel somewhere downtown for the last two days of our trip, and I had no wifi there, so was disconnected from Twitter and all the means by which I would usually be the first to hear any news. Suddenly, a barrage of calls and texts urging me to turn on the news. I turned it on and my world has not been the same since.

I know you all saw it too and most of you were shocked. Some didn’t care. Some cruel individuals immediately set out to make jokes. Me? I cried. I’m still crying on the inside. Not only had Michael almost made himself the living personification of childhood itself, he was also the personification of MY childhood.

Since I could walk and talk, and until I was a teenager, my life almost completely revolved around MJ. My room could have been considered a shrine. I listened to his music every day, and if I wanted a break from it, I’d listen to the Jackson 5, or Janet Jackson, or 3T, or something somehow related to Michael. I even remember buying Brownstone’s album purely because it had been released through Mike’s label. If I wasn’t listening to music, I’d be watching Moonwalker, or playing the Moonwalker video game. My cousins would tape hours and hours of video from MTV when it was "Michael Jackson Day", with backstage footage from the Dangerous tour. I’d spend hours trying to style my hair like Michael’s or learn impossible moves from his videos (Smooth Criminal forward-lean, anyone? Yes, I fell flat on my face a number of times).

I remember my excitement at asking my father for tickets to the HIStory tour and him saying yes. That concert was just insane! I must have been grinning like a cheshire cat for weeks! I remember running out to the shops the day Blood On The Dancefloor was released, and the day the Ghosts video came out. Years before that, I remember being very small and watching the Black or White video premiere on Top Of The Pops, the only time in the UK that the full uncensored, car-smashing, crotch-grabbing version was played on terrestrial TV.

I could go on for hours and hours about all the things I remember, and in the days after his passing, me and my bandmate Sups (also a huge fan) did exactly that. Quoting Michael without even thinking – "Do you remember the time……" We shared our memories. We sat in a hotel room singing MJ songs acoustically until we decided that, at our show the next day in Toronto, we would sing "The Way You Make Me Feel". (little did we know then that thousands of MJ fans were already planning to convene in the same location we would be performing at for a mass public tribute, and would all stay for our performance too……ever had 5,000+ people watching you and singing along with every word?)

The thing is, my memories of Michael were shared by millions of people. But as Sups said, "He made you feel like you had a personal connection with him", and it’s absolutely true. How many artists can you say that about? Really, when you think about it?

Michael……I hope you knew that there were those of us that never stopped believing in you. Throughout the trials, public and media hostility, and the times you felt alone, we were there, never faltering, knowing the truth and defending you wherever we could. We would do anything for you. We have never, and will never stop loving you. You gave us a sense of identity. You were a role model for any of us that ever felt lost or alone. Most importantly, you gave us the hope to carry on.

I hope you can rest safe in the knowledge that in death, you will forever be larger than life without the pressure of living up to the impossible standards that you yourself set the benchmark for, and we artists worldwide have been trying to live up to ever since.

To the media – choose your words, and pictures carefully, because we are watching you. There are those of us that have grown up absolutely disgusted with the way you have treated Michael, and other icons, and we don’t forget. We have the power over you, because we aren’t children any more. Unlike Michael, most of us don’t have the status or the money to hold on to our childhood, much as we might want to. We are forced to live in a grown-up world, but there are people and things we will always hold close to our heart, and we won’t let you continue to slander a man, who despite his flaws, was a good, kind, genuine, warm human being, and a king in all of our hearts. 

Oh yeah, one more thing.  I have watched literally thousands and thousands of music videos in my life and I have yet to see anything that matches the brilliance of the full extended Moonwalker version of  "Smooth Criminal". That video really makes me think that Michael was sent to us from another planet. I don’t believe there will ever be anything better.

We’ll always love you Michael. Rest In Peace, the true King of Pop.

Tweet This 

So here I am, standing in Heathrow Airport waiting for the rest of Swami to check in, and I begin to think about all the humorous airport and plane experiences we’ve shared as a band, and on my own too!

I’m gonna share a couple of anecdotes with you today

The first one comes from the Swami tour of India in 2007. We were on a Kingfisher Airlines flight from Delhi to Hyderabad (the only airline in the world sponsored by a beer company?) and got to our seats when we noticed something hilarious. A little perspective first – I’m mixed race, half Indian (Punjabi), but on my mothers site, so I have an English surname. Liana from the band is English with Irish roots and our manager Luc is French. When we got to our seats, me, Liana and Luc were sat together, and there were 2 white tourists in the same row…..and the rest of the plane was Indians!! So they had put all the people with non-Indian names together! Here’s the best part – this was obviously standard practice on this airline, so when the staff/crew walked past, they saw all the white folks, and then me sat with them! (Although I’m half English, my skin tone and features are clearly not “white”). So they were all looking at me with confused expressions! It was hilarious!

The second story I’ll share today is from when I flew to LA with DJ Semtex and his producer Julie to make the 2Pac documentary for BBC 1xtra. Myself and Julie were in the queue to board the plane, when her phone beeps. She pulls out her phone and has gotten a text from Sem, and loudly exclaims, right in the middle of the airport, “Oh! Semtex is on the plane!”. After she said it she realized how that sounded to everyone else!!! (For those who might not know – Semtex is a type of plastic explosive!)

Haha….

Anyway, flights about to take off, so I’m outty!

Peace!!

S

Tweet This 

Hello neofunkateers. Just wanted to give you all an update of what’s going down with me and the band at the moment!

We’re set for a very hectic few weeks. Next Wednesday (the 17th) we will be performing a set on an outdoor stage outside the BBC White City complex in London, it’s for BBC World and is being recorded for later playback and is hosted by Bobby Friction and Nihal. Straight after that we fly to Toronto for a short but busy tour of Canada.

On Friday the 19th, folks in Mississauga will be able to see an exclusive S-ENDZ solo performance at Rock The Coliseum 2009.

I will be premiering selected tracks from my album live for the first time including She’s Like My Shadow, Electric Man, and the forthcoming single Do U Wanna Come? It’s a free event and I’ll be performing at 4PM, so hopefully I’ll see some of you guys there.

The next day, Sat 20th, get yourself to Mississauga for the Swami headline performance at Mosaic Festival 2009. I think we’ll be performing at about 8 or 9PM, but the festival has stuff going on all weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) so show up whenever you want to and have some fun, just don’t miss our performance, it’s going to be something special. The line-up for that event is Diamond on decks and guitar, myself and Sups on vocals, Liana on keyboard and vocals, Az on bass and Pravin on the drums, it is going to be a killer set with classic and new material, all performed fully live. Both of those performances (the Swami performance and my own solo set) are free entry, so if can get there there’s no excuse for not coming!

If you’re in Toronto and you can’t make it to Mississauga, we’ll be performing in Yunge-Dundas Square in downtown T-Dot at 4PM on Sunday 21st as part of North By Northeast Festival. Check out the site for more information on ticketing etc. There’s some very cool acts performing there including GZA of Wu-Tang Clan and Cool Kidz, so it should be pretty awesome. This will be a special show as it isn’t just a Swami set, but a Swami/Fell On Deaf Ears set. If you haven’t heard, Fell On Deaf Ears is Diamond (DJ Swami)’s new alternative rock project with Florida based rock singer Josh Lyons and we’ll be doing a collaborative set, with Diamond on guitar, Pravin on drums, Az on bass, myself and Sups on vocals (for the Swami half) and Josh on vocals (for the Fell On Deaf Ears part). It’s going to be a sick show. Those of you interested might like to know that some of the Fell On Deaf Ears tracks of course started out as Swami songs with myself, Sups and Diamond. After determining that the direction of those songs didn’t match with the direction of Swami as an existing band, they were re-shaped and re-written by Diamond and Josh for their new project. (The Fell On Deaf Ears material is incredible, btw). So if any of you guys can make it out to this show, you’ll witness history in the making.

The following Friday (the 26th), we’ll be doing another Swami performance in Yunge-Dundas Square as part of the Global Grooves event. That will be a more electronic set with Diamond on decks, and myself, Liana and Sups on vocals. Come check it out and get down the with the equalizin desirockin grooves!

Keep checking out my Twitter and the band Twitter account for live updates, pics, and maybe even videos from on the road!

What else…….oh yeah, a brand new Swami song, called ‘Sugarless’ will be premiering on desihits.com very soon…..so keep checking for it!

Peace……

S-Endz

Tweet This 

First of all, my apologies for the damn-near month that you lovely neofunkateers didn’t get an update. Did ya miss me?

Needless to say, I’ve been busy, and you’ve probably been keeping up with my tweets anyway. If you haven’t, shame, fire and brimstone on you (just kidding). Let’s rev up the gears a bit and post a new Throwback Photo of the Week!

[L-R : S-Endz, Sups, Stormz]

This is an interesting one. My hair was braided AND dyed at that point. There’s not many photos of that iconic piece of style right there!

This was taken in Lille, France, either before or after a gig at the Lille3000 festival in late 2006. Noteworthy fact – a photoshoot at that same gig led to the images that would become the basis for the four drawn faces of myself, Diamond, Sups and Bobby on the ‘Equalize’ album cover. I might have mentioned that before though.

Enjoy!

S

Tweet This 

S-Endz appears in the new issue of Anokhi magazine, out now in the US and Canada! So to those of you on the North American continent, go out and grab a copy! If not, no fear! Check out the article right here!

So now it’s official! Emanate dropping in the fall with the first single ‘Do U Wanna Come?’ bustin out the airwaves soon!

Thanks to Jay at www.bhangraw.com for the scan!

Tweet This 

Here it is folks. The final cut of my ‘Johnny J – Remembered’ piece, recapping the interview I did with the late legend back in 2006. Thanks to Sam Coley, without whose help this would not have happened. I hope you guys enjoy this.

Part 1:

Part 2:

History:

Back in 2006, I flew to LA to make a documentary about Tupac Shakur for the BBC. I interviewed many cool people, from David Banner, to QD3, to Candyman 187 (Havenotz in this MF!!!),  but one of the experiences that I have the fondest memories of is the 3-4 hours or so we spent with legendary hip-hop producer Johnny ‘J’ at his studio just outside LA.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Johnny had been one of my all time favorite music producers since I was a young kid. I started listening to ‘Pac when I was around 10 years old, and just as I’m sure many other fans would tell you, the soul of Johnny’s productions stood out from the beginning. Tracks like ‘All About U‘, ‘Hit Em Up‘, ‘Picture Me Rollin‘, ‘How Do U Want It‘ were bonafide classics since the day they hit the radio, and even after ‘Pac passed, Johnny’s posthumous productions were generally the ones that we fans held close to our hearts – songs like ‘Until The End Of Time‘, ‘Letter 2 My Unborn‘, and ‘Ballad Of A Dead Souljah‘.

Johnny turned out to be one of the coolest cats I ever had the pleasure of kicking it with. We sat back and chopped up the state of the current hip-hop scene, our grievances with the remixing of Pac’s music by Eminem et al, and much much more. We must have spent about 2 hours talking, not including the interview we did which lasted over an hour. We took photos of Johnnys studio, his platinum plaques and I even kicked a few rhymes in the booth, busted out a few licks on Johnny’s Fender Jazz Bass, and gave Johnny a copy of the Swami album ‘So Who Am I’ that we had recently released through Sony BMG.  Then we jumped in Johnnys car and he dropped us off at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood.

Over the months that followed I spoke to Johnny a few times and we had every intention of meeting up next time I was in LA. Unfortunately this never happened. In 2008 Johnny got arrested and locked up for 6 months, the official documents unearthed suggest for a DWI, but the sentence seems overly harsh for it to be that simple. A few months into his sentence, he died. The jail claimed suicide, but I didn’t believe that for a second. The real circumstances may never be known, but I and others believe he was murdered after a racial altercation. For those who may not know, in the California prison system, fraternisation betweens Latinos and Blacks can get you killed. It is thought that Johnny may have been called out by other Latinos who may not have been too happy with Johnnys work with black artists. Johnny was not the type of person to back down and unfortunately this may have been what got him killed.

Since his death, I had been pondering the idea of some sort of tribute, aside from what I wrote at the time on my blog. A few months ago, a friend of mine who teaches Radio and Communication at Birmingham City University stopped by at my place, and we hit upon the idea of editing down the interview I had done with Johnny, recording some new parts to explain what had happened, and syncing it with unseen photos from my trip, as a recap of the interview, and a tribute to Johnny.

Fast forward to now, and it’s done and will be going online in a few days time. Watch this space – I hope you guys enjoy it.

RIP JOHNNY J – ‘UNTIL THE END OF TIME’

Peace,

S-Endz

Tweet This 

This will not be on my album. It’s just something quick, some words I felt I had to get out. I flipped one of my favorite samples into this beat in about 15 minutes, wrote, recorded and mixed the vocals in 2 hours after that. Hope you enjoy.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tweet This 

EDIT – The article is now online. Click here to check it out.

Tweet This 

Time to break out the purple champagne.

Prince’s new 3 album set (consisting of his ‘LOTUSFLOW3R’ and ‘MPLSOUND’ albums and the album ‘ELIXER’ by his new protege Bria Valente) has debuted at #1 in the Billboard album charts.

This is particularly impressive because the album set is only available in two places – Target retail stores in the USA, and the lotusflow3r.com website (and the website sales do not count towards the Billboard chart).

As the man himself says on ‘Ol Skool Company’ from the MPLSOUND album – ‘The white house is now black….it’s time to take the radio back!’

Congratz Prince! Now, where’s the party at?

Tweet This 

What is a plumber without a wrench? And what is an rapper without a mic? Answers on a postcard please!

Tweet This