As good music fanatic, I’d certainly like to think that I do a fairly good job of keeping my ear to the ground and staying up on quality artists. Soon after I was introduced to Julie Dexter’s music in 2002 by a friend of mine, I ended up purchasing her Dexterity album from Amazon.com… To this day, I have “Faith” and “God Bless the Dub” on my iPod (I may have embarrassed her by showing her this. lol It was all in fun… and respect). So I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a lil hyped up when I received a call from her manager a couple summer ago inquiring about music. Of course I have material ready. Let’s run it…! Some months went by before hearing from him again, but when I did, I received word that Julie had written to one of my joints and was ready to record. She happened to be in town in June, came on by the house with her manager… and we got to work. The music was pulled up, tracked out and ready to be recorded on before she got there……. and only two hours later, we were finished and cracking jokes… well, I was anyway. Talk about EASY to work with… Preparation y’all, it goes a LONG way in the studio. Anyway, glad to finally have this joint out here to share with y’all….. Enjoy.
Author Archives: Zo!
Refuge: Zo!’s Secret Stash, Wed. 11/18/09
This entry comes via DJ Stylus…
Everyone has this project, right? It’s free. It’s awesome. What are you waiting for?
Zo!’s work is a Refuge staple and should be heavy in your personal rotations. There’s surely no shortage of it, with his nine solo albums, numerous features and high profile collaborations that are among the best modern soul releases of the last 5 years.
Zo! has stepped up to a new level since joining up with Nicolay and Phonte as part of the Foreign Exchange Music imprint. This partnership has so far yielded Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80’s and Leave It All Behind, with more to come in 2010.
With all this creative output, I know the homie has to be sitting on some nuggets that have never been outside his home studio or graced ears other than his own. Thus was born the idea for Zo!’s Secret Stash.
Zo! hosts a listening session of rare highlights from his body of work. They could be joints that have never come out and might never see release. They could be in-progress joints. There might even be a sneak peek at some of the material from his upcoming solo project, if we’re lucky and he’s comfortable with that. For the early shift at Refuge, we’ll be turning the spot into Zo!’s own screening room where he handpicks material to share exclusively with Refuge fam.
Maybe there might be another one of these in the chamber.
Wednesday, Nov. 18
Tabaq Bistro (basement)
1336 U St NW, WDC
9pm – until
21+, no cover
Zo!’s Secret Stash begins at 9:30.
‘…just visiting too’ Has Been Making Its Rounds…
I decided to put this list of sites and blogs together mainly for my mother so that she has everything about the album in one spot. Please feel free to add to the list, or hit me up and let me know of any more …just visiting too sightings…
Questlove Takes ‘…just visiting too’ and Passes it Around
I REALLY planned on going to sleep last night at a decent hour (for me, that means before 1am). BUT, I just happened to be wrapping it up on Twitter at about 12:30… and saw a tweet from the brotha Questlove on my timeline that said:
meet Zo @Zo3hree5ive, your favortistist producer. the evidence?http://www.theforeignexchan…!-just_visiting_too.zip
12:40 AM Nov 4th from web
So I’m looking like, ‘Maaaaan, that’s dope! He just shouted me out along with the album…’ But then, it was brought to my attention by a friend of mine that the link he gave out was messed up and didn’t work… DAMMIT (little did I know, this was probably the best thing that could have happened). I sent him a DM (direct message on Twitter)… thanked him for the shout and provided a working link. The next thing I know, not only did he retweet it… but ended up passing the link to individuals making sure they downloaded the album and listened for themselves…
?uest sent the JV2 album link that I sent him to about 14 individuals to begin with…
And even started ‘introducing’ me to a couple of his people…
He apparently was hit up by a few people who wanted him to do the same for them… lol
Finally shutting it down…
A few folks responded…
Teedra Moses – music lovers get involved with @zo3hree5ive extremely refreshing music (MUSIC!!!!!!)
@Zo3hree5ive @questlove blessed me with ur beautiful music… just wanted 2 let u kno i luv it…
@questlove i kno im sooo L8…. but thanx 4 that refreshment u sent. GOD… that blessed my ears, heart n soul
Jody Watley – @questlove Downloading now. Really digging them, heavy rotation with me..I wanna do bv’s (background vocals) on next one! Thx
Bevy Smith – @questlove What a lovely soundtrack 2 wake up 2, thanks for hipping me (I’m 43,I can say hipping)! @Zo3hree5ive divine music, merci baby!
@questlove since you’re probably sleep or having a morning dalliance I googled Zo! He’s giving me Roy Hargrove & “Babies Making Babies” HINT
Rachel True – Super groovy, wanna hear more!!! why would i doubt @questlove & countless others!
Stephen Hill – @questlove || appreciate this, my MJ shirt partner!! love good listening!
Huge shouts to Questlove once again… He didn’t even have to do this…. but he DID.
Zo! – ‘…just visiting too’ + FULL Album Credits
Zo!
…just visiting too
…just visiting too via Bandcamp
01. Perfect Angel featuring YahZarah
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Vocals by YahZarah
Vocals Recorded and Mixed By Phonte at the Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Music Recorded and Mixed by Zo! at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD
02. Nights Over Egypt featuring Carlitta Durand
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Vocals by Carlitta Durand
Vocal Production by Phonte
Vocals Recorded and Mixed by Khrysis at Chopp Shopp Studios, Durham, NC
Music Recorded and Mixed by Zo! at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD
03. Crazy You featuring Sy Smith
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Vocals by Sy Smith
Vocals Recorded and Mixed by Grant “G-Nick” Nicholas at Rumbo Studios, Winnteka, CA
Music Recorded and Mixed by Zo! at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD
04. Holding You, Loving You
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded and Mixed by Zo! at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD
05. My Flame featuring Phonte
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Lead Vocals by Phonte
Background Vocals by Carlitta Durand
Vocals Recorded and Mixed by Khrysis at Chopp Shopp Studios, Durham, NC
Music Recorded and Mixed by Zo! at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD
06. Somethin’ Special featuring YahZarah
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Lead Vocals by YahZarah
Background Vocals by Phonte
Handclaps and Fingersnaps by Phonte and YahZarah
Vocals Recorded and Mixed by Phonte at The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Music Recorded and Mixed by Zo! at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD
07. Highways Of My Life (Parts I & II) featuring Darien Brockington
Produced by Zo!
All Instruments by Zo!
Electric and Acoustic Guitar by Omar Hunter-El
Vocals by Darien Brockington
Backing Vocals (Part II) by Phonte
Vocals Recorded and Mixed by Darien Brockington at Chopp Shopp Studios, Durham, NC and by Phonte at The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Music Recorded and Mixed by Zo! at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD
…just visiting too: The Originals
01. Perfect Angel
Written by Stevie Wonder
Originally Performed by Minnie Riperton
From the Album “Perfect Angel” (Capitol Records, 1974)
02. Nights Over Egypt
Written by Cynthia Biggs and Dexter Wansel
Originally Performed by The Jones Girls
From the Album “Get As Much As You Can” (Philadelphia International Records, 1982)
03. Crazy You
Written and Originally Performed by Prince
From the Album “For You” (Warner Bros., 1978)
04. Holding You, Loving You
Written and Originally Performed by Don Blackman
From the Album “Blackman” (GRP Records, 1982)
05. My Flame
Written and Originally Performed by Bobby Caldwell
From the Album “What You Won’t Do For Love” (Sin-Drome, 1978)
06. Somethin’ Special
Written by Rod Temperton
Originally Performed by Quincy Jones; Lead Vocal by Patti Austin
From the Album “The Dude” (A&M, 1980)
07. Highways Of My Life (Parts I & II)
Written by Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley, Ronald Isley, O’Kelly Isley, Rudolph Isley, and Chris Jasper
Originally Performed by The Isley Brothers
From the Album “3+3” (T-Neck, 1973)
“…just visiting too” To be Released on November 3rd / Cover Art
And finally y’all… My next release, …just visiting too will be available for $free.99 this coming Tuesday, November 3rd. First, I must give you a look at the cover art for the album…….
…just visiting too
features vocals from…
YahZarah, Phonte, Carlitta Durand, Darien Brockington and Sy Smith
Get ready.
"…just visiting too" To Be Finished Within the Week
I feel like I’ve been talking about my next two albums forever…
…just visiting too (the follow-up to 2006’s vinyl-only EP …just visiting) is finally set to be completed within the next week. I have a very short list of “to do’s” in order to tweak and finish the EP. It’ll consist of seven joints and a track listing will be released by the end of this month. DAMN, I’m excited… Y’all just don’t understand yet…!!
Questlove Shows My 6th Period Class Some Love…
This past Friday, I promised my students in the 6th period class that I would take my video camera in if they proved to me on Thursday that they were ready to present some music. On Thursday, we practiced and practiced some more… and they sounded GOOD. So, in keeping my word, I took the camera in the next day (mind you, when I saw them throughout the day they bugged the HELL outta me from the time I arrived until class time – “Did you bring the camera today? Did you bring it?!!?”… YES dammit! LOL). 6th period finally came, I got a good take of them introducing and performing The Roots’ joint “Break You Off” per THEIR request (how ’bout that?). I took the footage home, edited it, and put it up on YouTube Sunday night and tweeted about it. A few folks checked it out, a few others replied and gave the kids their props…
Sunday night, I also decided to DM a link to brother Questlove via Twitter. I figured, if he saw it and said nothing at all… At least he would appreciate what these kids wanted to play, while sounding pretty good actually playing it. Low and behold, Monday night I’m on Twitter and I read via ?uestlove tweet…
now THIS RIGHT HERE?!! is why i don’t mind 18 hour days http://bit.ly/2nOcGF thank you @zo3hree5ive
Yep, it was a link to my students’ video.
I took a screenshot of the tweet and emailed it to myself so I could show the class on Tuesday (I needed a picture because, they wouldn’t have believed me otherwise). When I saw the kids throughout the day, I kept telling them, “Make sure you’re in class today, I’ve got a surprise for y’all.”
Once the class came in, I had them gather around the computer and I asked them if they knew who ?uestlove is – half of um did…pretty good for a group of 16 and 17 year olds in my book. Once I explained that he was the drummer for The Roots (and damn near everybody else), I told them, “Well, he showed y’all some love on Twitter last night.”
Of course then the question became, “How YOU know?!”
So I double clicked the .jpg screenshot of the tweet that he put up…
The entire class in unison…. “OHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!……..”
In Class With Zo! (Vol. 1 – 4th Period)
I’m now going into my 4th year as a music teacher and as soon as we got a drum set in the classroom it was like tossing two rocks in the middle of a circle of heads. These kids literally swarm to the drums… the funny thing is, they ALL play the SAME BEAT when ever they sit down on the set – a ‘bounce’ beat which is a cousin of DC’s Go-Go music. I guess it’s what the younger kats listen to… different songs, same beat…
Anyway, being that all of my students think they’re damn Dennis Chambers, I decided to have a competition between three of my students in my 4th period class… The rest is history.
Phonte and Eric Roberson Freestyling Over New Zo! Instrumental…
Tay told me last night that this video would be available today… So check this out and feel free to put the pressure on kats to bring an official version of this joint to fruition…!
Zo! 