Malice (The Clipse) book signing this Friday, August 26 in Houston

Gene Elliott Thornton, Jr.'s Christian testimony is a powerful one - especially if you know his history as a member of The Clipse, a gritty rap group he founded with his brother Pusha T, who are mostly known for their witty and realistic depictions of the drug game.

Malice (his stage name) recently released an autobiography that details his renewed spiritual direction called Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked and a few months ago Relevant Magazine published portions of my interview with him about the book.

This Friday, August 26th the artist/author will be in town to sign copies and meet his readers and fans.

Details are below:

When:
Friday, August 26th

Time:
3pm to 5pm

Location:
SF2 South
7204 SW FWY
Houston, TX 77074
(713) 995 4458

If you can, definitely try and make it out to show Malice some H-town love and pick up your copy of the book. It's certainly a quick and captivating read.

The blog author and book author met in April after "Religion and Hip Hop Culture" panel discussion for Bun B's Rice University class.

Surprise: Shad beats Drake for Canadian Grammy

In a surprising turn of events Sunday night, indie rapper Shad beat out Drake (the "Best I Ever Had" / Young Money favorite) for the Rap Recording of the Year trophy at the Juno Awards for his album TSOL.

Although not on a "Christian record label" or a part of the Christian rap scene, Shad is plenty outspoken about his faith in interviews and his rhymes.

In the November/December issue of Relevant Magazine he said "Any time I read four or five verses of what Jesus said and taught, that's enough for me. It's a serious challenge. It's a way of life that's very foreign to all of us. But it resonates as the right way to go about things."

I'm curious:

1. If another rapper in the States could follow his pattern of living out his faith while in the midst of the mainstream hip hop culture.

2. If the American music scene would embrace an artist like that the way our neighbors to the north have.

Your thoughts?

theBREAX on Relevant Magazine.com

Those Cali boys theBREAX recently got some pub over at RelevantMagazine.com.

In the piece, the fellas break down:

• Being innovative


• Finding a way into the general market


• The declining state of hip-hop


• Their inspiration


• The church vs. the club

Read it here.

Updates: Procussions re-group / Pigeon John's Relevant Mag Party Performance

UPDATES:

A while back I told you that The Procussions had disbanded. Guess they're back at it again.

Here's the update from Mr. J's MySpace bulletin earlier this week:

The Procussions bout to do another album, Just a tiny note, pass it around! for a ton of reasons we had to split, for a ton more reasons we wana do another album Mr.J.Medeiros (me) and Stro the 89th Key got our solo albums coming out this summer! If you pick these up, they will help to fund the new album!

As of right now we plan on doing this straight, straight, independent, not a c.d. goes out without us signing it and personally putting it in the mail box, this means no stores, no mp3s, just hard raw material for the people who support music they enjoy.no advertising, just word of mouth, and every dime comes out of our own pocket,once we got enough money to eat, then we record the next album!

this will be 100% fan supported music!no more middle man at any level! tired of answering to those fools anyway.i mean really? how do the people who dont even listen to music, control it?shout out to the album burners! music rippers! keep that for the majors, dont screw the family, the personal, the independent one on one musician just trying to live out their career with dignity! we got no room for those people this time around.if you dont have a hard copy, (or if we decide a download) then you aint really in the movement, nah mean?

for the people who never played the bench, THANK YOU for supporting life! we got so much love for you!!!! we would not be able to survive!The Procussions, Mr.J.Medeiros, and Stro the 89th Key, nuff of this hip, quick, culture vulture, take and leave..only concrete movements here.

And remember the "Best Live Show Ever?!?" now we've got video. Check it out below.



Other performances:

• "Life Goes On"
• "Hello Everybody"
• "Welcome to the Show"
• "Identity Crisis"

Best live show ever?!? Pigeon John @ Relevant Magazine's 5th Anniversary Party

Photo by Sketch the Journalist (Houston show)

Okay, so maybe not ever, but it's gotta be pretty high up the list.

I already knew Pigeon John was capable of controlling a crowd - but my man has stepped his game UP here.

Check out his near seamless hour-long set at the Relevant Magazine 5th Anniversary Party and tell me who you know that can rock a crowd like this?

Peep how he moves from song to song, switches up the back beats, gives the DJ his set, mixes in some familiar tunes, intros his songs, gives explanation for his songs, etc. etc.

Here's the link to download the mp3.

They play the recording of his set about 25 minutes into the podcast.

Relevant has also posted some photos from the show.