So, hopefully by now you’ve checked out the Otherside Remix featuring our good friend Fences. Below is the artwork that Ryan Lewis and myself made for the leak.

But, sometimes it takes a while to execute a vision. Sometimes you’re stuck in front of Photoshop forever, brainstorming. Starting. Stopping. Picking up the mouse, throwing it against the wall, picking up the pieces and continuing on the click, click, drag, click drag that is design. And then, every blue moon you hit a streak of genious.  The colors, the concepts and the paintbucket are filled to the brim with ideas.  Your hand becomes the mouse, the mouse becomes your hand.

For this project, that is exactly what happened.  I created 2 bonus ideas that were so good it was almost impossible to decide which one would be our main graphic.  These were the 2 runners up that Ryan Lewis ended up cutting last minute.  But in most ways, mine are better.

I put me and Fences in a boat. It was a metaphor. Powerful.

This time, I wanted to play off the boat idea.  But instead of the previous design where it was BOTH of us rowing I decided to JUST put Fences in the boat and put me on land. Different, yet the same?  You bet.  Powerful, but this time it’s only Fences. Did you notice how his hat is the same color as his life jacket?  Did you?  You think that’s a coincidence?  Yea, you’re right.  It was.  But that’s the thing about art.  It’s subjective man. I’m not even in the boat. Not this time.  That’s the trippy thing.  The beauty.  I’m chilling somewhere else, most likely in a different boat.  But that’s up to you to decide.  Imagination.  Where do YOU want to go?

Here it is! 5 tracks off the VS. EP remixed by Ryan Lewis, Jake One, Budo and P Smoov. We’ve also included some bonus material and “The Town” remixed by Sabzi. Physical copies available for order in the Bengal Yucky store, or digitally on iTunes. Thank you all for the continued support and love.

This is my iMovie debut as a director, cinematographer, editor, first boy grip and soundtrack scorer. I shot the entire thing on a Sony Cyber-shot with an Optical 3x lens. Using all 8.1 of my mega pixels, I viewed the footage in real time on my 2.5″ LCD monitor. I transfered the footage into my MacBook using new technology called a USB stick, and got to work.

Last year on tour throughout the land that is known as the “Midwest,” my friend Grieves gave me an iMovie tutorial. At first, I was hesitant to open the program and try my luck, almost a year after my initial lesson. But I think we can all agree, I did my thing thing baby.

I’ll be applying to couple festivals in the fall with this bad boy, including Snohomish Carnegie International Film Festival (SCIFF) and The Watcom Falls Home Video Challenge (TWFHVC). Wish me luck yall! And don’t forget the most important part…buy the T-shirt!

*Shout out to Inner City Empire! And no, JR was not really sniffing anything

The king of all things Ballard is back! DA Grynch (aka Grynch) teamed up with the extremely talented Stephen Gray (see Fresh Espresso’s “Big or Small” video) to create some brilliant visuals for his ode to the VOLVO. That’s right, the car that your parents forced you to car pool in when getting to and from soccer games, with the kid who never scored a goal and whose real passion lied in “Magic The Gathering,” is now the leading vehicle in a post modern, 12th wave, rap game take over. With it’s catchy/sing along melody and relatable lyrics “My Volvo” has been a crowd favorite around local shows for a while now. Delivered by a man with a voice that sounds about 10 years older and 7 shades less honky then what you would expect, Grynch is to Ballard as what Sam Perkins was to Sonic’s fans who smoked weed.

But what is Grynch REALLY trying to say by making a cut about his beloved Swedish import? Is he dissing Bentley’s and the rappers that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to stunt on the next man? Is he claiming that even though his whip has yogurt stains on the carpet from the mid 90’s, Volvo’s are still preferred over waiting for the bus? Or, is Grynch taking a swing at the current most controversial means of public transportation the Seattle Hip-Hop community has ever experienced: THE SPACESHIP??

That’s right, Grynch hates spaceships. “My Volvo” is a not-so discrete jab at all the 4th/7th and 17th wave folks that are sonically rolling around on hubbercrafts. “Come back down to earth” Grynch seems to be saying “and I’ll give you a ride to Ballard High School, where there are no aliens. It’s better here.” You see, Grynch comes from the 3rd wave, KEXP, WWF revolution of Seattle Hip-Hop. An era where the modern man still has a car, a pair of Dickies and loves Chop Suey. And although Grynch didn’t comment on anything I’m writing right now, his Volvo hates Mad Rad.

All in all, the Volvo IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CAR TO COME OUT OF SEATTLE IN THE LAST YEAR. Not since The Blue Scholars “Coffee and Snow” video where the duo rolled around a Beacon Hill winter wonderland in some sort of what looks to be Toyota or potentially Chrysler Mini van, has a car made such a ripple in the city. Grynch has captured the essence of his car, and Stephen Gray has added the perfect touch of visual Nostalgia to it.

As for the underlying diss towards all the ET friendly medley’s that are popping up around capital hill? “Fuck a martian” Grynch would most likely say. “I’m out here. In this Volvo. In real life, dealing with situations in Ballard. I don’t have time for no space ships.”

*Grynch didn’t say any of this, but it makes for a better story.

I’ve posted about Saunjay before. He is Bean’s son. Last time I checked he was 7. He miiiiight be 8 now. I use to impress him with my Tech Decking ability. Now he can do my tech deck tricks…on a real skateboard…that is almost bigger then his body.

If Manik, Goods or 35th doesn’t sponsor this kid, I’m going to start making boards just so I can. Thrash on young blood.

The main reason why I haven’t been posting on here the past month and a half… I’ve been making this T-Shirt. It probably took me over 50 hours to design this. Each Icon was individually drawn in Photoshop, using 2 different grays and a black. I wanted to pick people that are from Washington that have made an impact on our region, and given the Northwest a reason to be proud. That’s why I picked Steve Pool. That motherfucker is a legend.

This is the second T-Shirt I’ve designed and I’m hella happy with the way it came out. I printed up 130 of them for the back to back shows at the Showbox and they sold out before the Scholars hit the stage during the second show. I just put in another order, and will be getting a brand new shipment by the end of the week. They are instant collectors items and I’m pretty sure one day they will be hung in the Museum of Flight. Get yours in the store section under merch.

*RATIONALIZATION I was trying to figure out what women to put on the shirt. It was a tough call. After a Twitter vote, the most famous women from Washington happen to be Jean Enerson, Amanda Knox and Amelia Erheart. You can’t have 2 newscasters on there and Steve Pool trumps Jean everytime, no question. Amanda Knox is being wrongfully accused as a freaky ass killer which is really messed up and all, but including the Seattle Prep Alumni on the T-Shirt might have made Bill Nye pissed and messed up the chances of getting Mike McGinn to wear this when he’s out at Hip Hop shows (yes, he was at the Showbox). Amelia Erheart is really good at flying, but let’s face it…nobody knows what she looks like. I was doomed to be a sexist before I even started designing it. There was a lot of people I wanted to put on, but honestly you can’t include everyone. I have to start writing raps again. So I am deciding to make this the first design of a 2 part series. The other shirt will come out in the summer for our next show, and feature everyone else that deserves to be on here. Until then, rep Seattle, wear it with pride and make your city look good. It will look perfect on you.

Maybe I should make a “Free Amanda Knox” shirt in the mean time…yep

Yes, the rumors are true.  There’s been a lot of speculation going around Twitter, Perez Hilton and Chatroullete about where I’ve been the last month and a half.  Some people thought I was doing shows.  You are wrong.  Some people thought I was taking time off to focus in the studio.  You too, are off base my friend.  The truth of the matter is, I took time off from posting on bengalyucky.com to reconnect with my spirit animal (da orca), remember why I am a blogger and more then anything else, direct my time and energy to these new white kids I just adopted!

Stay At Home Dad by macklemore-1