Been A While

Haven't posted anything in a while, so I figured I'd do one while on break from my summer class. Yea, your boy is still at it... Good thing is in 3 more weeks I'm done! And with the B.A. degree in my pocket! That's what's up!!! But all and all I'm still doing my music thing on the side and working on this "Like A Star Without Being Famous" mixtape. I got like two months two finish it in too, which really presses me for time... But I'll get it done. If not for me, than for the fans who've been waiting for some new music from me. I promise to not let you guys down. I've been killing a couple tracks, like some on my artists, Dizzy D and Dullah, on their "Dynamic Duo" mixtape. Make sure you look out for that one too. Times are hard right now, but we trying to work harder to give you the music you want to hear. I'm off back to class, so until next time...

Too Much Work For One Weekend!

As I round the corner for the end of this semester, one thing stands in my way of completing this semester and finally getting back into my music: ALL THIS DAMN CLASS WORK!!! I have to get all this done by Monday, or I risk failing any of these classes I cannot afford to fail. I'm gradually getting done though. As of today I am done with one of the five classes, I hope, and will hopefully receive a passing grade to move on. My internship I only have to make up 3 1/2 hours, which will be light work next week, so that's basically two classes down. I have two finals on Monday in which I have to study for. I'm worried about one of them because I need notes from a friend to study with, but I'm not getting a response back to reach her. I will try again later today and see what happens. My other final I'm not stressing too much cause I have the notes and a study guide. So whatever I can't find in my notes, I have my textbook to look in. But I do have two overdue papers to hand in soon too. My goal is to finish one today and the other tomorrow night when my Dad brings me my portable hard drive. Overall, the class I'm stressing the most put toooooo much stress on each student. I have a 10 page final research paper, 4 abstracts, and 2 other papers to write. I strongly dislike that class with a passion, like many other students, but I need to get it all done. Either way you look at it I'll be a free man come Tuesday, May 18, but the work I get done determines how long I'll be free for. Wish me luck, cause I know I sure as hell need it!!!

More Songs In Progress

I'm gradually getting new songs concepts done as the semester slowly winds down to an end. Earlier last week I wrote and recorded a reference chorus for my artists' Dizzy D and Dullah's duo mixtape. After thought this week, I had a talk with them and will also be using that hook for my mixtape as well. Still debating if the track is going to be solely me, or make it a remix featuring both Dizzy D and Dullah. I'm leaning more towards is being a solo track though. I also have given a record to Dizzy D this week to sample and make beat out of it. The song to be sampled is "You Give Good Love," By Whitney Houston. I am performing for my parents surprise 25th anniversary, so you all better keep quiet, haha. Dizzy showed me earlier what he had done for it so far, and it sounds really good. He just has to fix some transitions and repetitions with the beat. The finished product may appear on my mixtape as well. We'll see what happens. I have only a week left of this Spring semester of college, which means I can finally get back into my music fully after next week is over! I'm sooo excited to finally be able get back into music mode. And with a 3 month deadline one 3-4 projects I'm working on, I need to get on my job!

Songs In Progress

As promised, here is some of the progress I've been making on some of the projects with my label.
As far as my project I finished recording a song prior to Valentine's Day. I was gonna blog about it around that time, but like a said I've been swamped with college work. Sometimes it's not easy producing music as a college student, haha. But anyway, back to the topic... The song is called "My Valentine." It is a dedication to my best and closest friend in the whole world! I'll get into her another week though... Originally the song had my younger cousin India, who was also featured on our first album, singing the chorus. But due to the fact of us not being able to come together and record it, I had to move forward with the song solo. It's a fun song and a perfect gesture for the one you love. Most of the people I've showed it too said that the hook is pretty catchy. One friend I work with even said that it's gonna be stuck in her head all day when I played it for her. My only problem I have with the chorus is that I don't like how it sounds, so I'm not sure if it will make the cut for my Mixtape. If not it will def be played around Valentine's Day next year.
I haven't had time to do recording really, but I have still written some other songs and choruses. One of such I hope to record soon is "Baby You Got Me." To me the lyrics have more a of meeting someone in the club/party feel. I believe it uses the beat from Ryan Leslie's "You're Not My Girl." It should be an interesting track once recorded. Also for my project I recently wrote a chorus for a song to be titled "Heart Of A Lion." I would envision so far that this song would be about some of the struggles I am facing in life and how I overcome them. We shall see when I get more into the lyrics for the verses.
As far as already completed songs, you can check out my labels Myspace page (myspace.com/certifiedice) for songs released songs off my mixtape, our first album, and other current projects. And feel free to leave a comment on what you think.
Tonight I'm gonna leave you with lyrics from a song I've been listening to a lot lately with the struggle I've been going through...
"Well I can't stand by the side. And watch this life pass me by... So what if it hurts me? So what if I break down? So what if this world just throws me off the edge, my feet run out of ground? I got to find my place. I want to hear my sound. Don't care about all the pain in front of me. Cause I'm just trying to be Happy..."
- "Happy" Leona Lewis

Sorry For The Wait...

I apologize to you all for this hiatus I've been on. I've been trying to balance balance Work and College along with my Music. It's been a real struggle so far. Usually getting my homework done isn't too big of a problem cause I usually have my weekends to sort out my time and what I need to do. But the main problem that doesn't give me the time is my job.
As I go to college at SUNY Old Westbury, in Long Island, and live in Queens with my grandparents, My job, Toys "R" Us, is closer to my permanent address, which is about three hours north of New York City. In order to get the money I need, to take a trip near the end of the semester, I had to work every weekend until the end of my Spring Break last week. I still had to fight for hours because retail doesn't have many hours of work after the holiday season. So basically my weeks, until last week, were basically: Monday to Thursday- College; and Friday to Sunday- Toys "R" Us. Recently I have been working on a transfer to the Carle Place Toys "R" Us as it is closer to where I reside and where I have classes. I have to stop by there today at 3:00pm to see if it will go through or not. So I'm really excited about that cause that means I'll get more of my weekends back and a better chance to save money for my trip to Florida and other expenses. Not only that, but more time to bring you guys the music you love!
To the college work, it's been a rough semester so far. Because of the time windows I've been given, I haven't had the time I need to get a lot of my work done in four of my five classes. I have a project for one that I need to work on immediately but haven't had the time to focus on a topic. Another teacher keeps piling unfair amounts of work on the class due to snow days and days off. My online class has been suffering because I'm not used to online deadlines along with these previous worries on my mind. And I've been suffering losing intern hours as well. As I now have time to turn this all around, I just hope it's not too late!
I have another problem I've been suffering from... But I'll save that for a later date so I'm not flooding you with my already heavy problems.
As far as my music goes, I'm still working on it! I will release a later post soon referring to what I have done so far and what I plan on working on as well as the projects I'm managing with my group(s). I'm not dead in the water yet! But I just wanted to give you all a sense of my struggle and why I've been on this so called hiatus from music. So the fans don't think I've forgotten about 'em!
As one of my favorite artists once said on a record, "I apologize... to you know, put you all in this position and vent to y'all but... Fourty mom always say, don't ask permission just ask forgivenss. You know, so forgive me."

Rough Start

Here I am on a new project that I just can't seem to start. It's like I just can't find the inspiration I need to get this whole thing started, and it frustrates me. I know I can do this, because I've done it before with the first project I did. I feel like I lost something over this break from making music that I've taken, and I need to find what I've lost to continue on. But the problem is I don't know what I lost, or even if I lost anything at all and just think I have. Sometimes I'm afraid that I won't even get it back. But I won't give up! I can't give up! So many people are waiting to hear new music from me and I can't disappoint them. After all, they are the ones that I do this for.