Hit producer CHOPS works with the best established & aspiring Asian American & International music artists.
Wanted to share this link with everybody... growing up, love from The Source was one of the things all hip-hop artists aspired to:
Also, the album is OFFICIALLY available to the public via Amazon, iTunes & other online outlets for download starting today!
Hey everybody, this Friday the 28th I'm spinning at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for part of their new Treasures from Korea program. The event starts at 5pm with a themed fashion show (Art Institute student designers, Wilhelmina models), continues with a dance crew performance, and finishes with a dance party where I'm playing a mix of K-pop and American music.
More info on the museum's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/683216028384319/
This event is free (with paid museum admission) for the general public.
As of today I still have room for more guests (totally free admission), message me if you'd like to be on the list!
FREE signed Strength In NUMBERS posters for the first 50 to attend!
Also, if you haven't checked it out recently we have some new interviews up with Strength In NUMBERS artists on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/strengthnum
Feels like time for a check-in.
First I'd like to mention one of the best things about the Kickstarter for me: the opportunity to get back into writing music to picture. Our project reached director Ursula Liang and I got to score her film "9-Man" along with kickass composer and guitarist Adam Rubenstein. More than just a cool sports movie, it struck me as being about people trying to maintain and establish identity, and preserve culture in an increasingly homogenized America. "9-Man" is playing at several upcoming festivals including Boston, Honolulu, Toronto, San Diego, New York, Austin, Philadelphia, and Virginia/D.C.
Check out the trailer!!!!
Get tickets to see "9-Man" via this link: bit.ly/9Man8screens
Through Ursula and "9-Man" I also got to score the trailer for another great film, Ryan Murdock's "Bronx Obama" which airs tomorrow on Showtime at 7:30PM
(see the Bronx Obama trailer and hear my music right now at this link):
http://www.sho.com/sho/video/titles/33375/bronx-obama-trailer
I'm happy to report I've been working on music with several Strength In NUMBERS artists including Ann One, Paul Kim, Connie Lim, Decipher, Joanlee, and Rekstizzy. The project itself is also being worked to film and tv music supervisors so hopefully we'll get to hear some of the tunes onscreen in the future.
One thing I'm not proud of.... The shoutouts and rhymes for Kickstarter backers were supposed to be the easiest part - they were the only thing dependent on me alone. But after dealing with manufacturing, shipping, etc. (most of it solo) I was burnt out, and workwise really needed to focus on other things. Giving thanks is super important, I'm gonna try and finish it by Nov 2, the anniversary of the Kickstarter. Better late than never I hope!
Last but not least I have a free EP project dropping Friday (Halloween) with San Francisco rapper San Quinn. Unlike Strength In NUMBERS it's not an Asian American centered project but it's all my tracks and features vocal appearances by an Asian American artist... me!
Thanks again everybody
CHOPS
One year ago today a whole bunch of friends, family, fans, and supporters helped push the Strength In NUMBERS Kickstarter across the finish line.
So many of you showed love for the project. As I mentioned in the most recent update, I'm happy to be still working with some of the Strength In NUMBERS artists and others I met during (or because of) the campaign. I'd love the chance to connect more in the future!
Bambu, who played a big part in assembling the lineup for Strength In Numbers, has a new album out called Party Worker which you can hear and purchase here: http://beatrockmusic.bandcamp.com/album/party-worker
I got to see Bambu and Brother Ali perform at the Philly stop of their tour, it's a great show be sure to catch it when it comes your way!
In the last update I also mentioned my new project called "Loosies" with San Francisco rapper San Quinn, which you can download FREE here (also streamable on Soundcloud and Datpiff): http://www.mediafire.com/download/6tjiidtg8uq7bc0/CHOPSandSanQuinnLoosies.zip
I'm glad to be able to say I finished the bigwig backers' rhymes and shoutouts this morning, which I believe takes care of the last of my Strength In NUMBERS Kickstarter duties!
They're all posted in this private link on my Soundcloud page (private just means only those with the link have access... they can be shared and embedded but I wanted to leave it up to you the backers to decide). If you're owed a shoutout or a rhyme, it's here... THANK YOU again, my apologies for the slowness, and I hope you dig! https://soundcloud.com/chopsmusic/sets/ksrhymes/s-gh5Xh
Lastly, the Strength In NUMBERS project was always meant to be about promoting the artists onboard. With that in mind, I'd like to ask one last favor... if you haven't already, please SHARE the Strength In NUMBERS project with anyone and everyone you would like to hear it! Sure it's still possible for people to support via iTunes etc. if they want but money was never the main purpose.... reaching ears is the important part!
Download link is here (feel free to spread!):
http://www.mediafire.com/download/b67oqhji40cwsbc/Strength_01.zip
The album is also streamable for free on Spotify, and just for kicks we've uploaded a TORRENT as well. If you're a torrent user, help a brotha out and SEED!
Thanks yall!
CHOPS
Happy Lunar New Year everybody! Recently I got to catch up with Strength In NUMBERS participants Dumbfoundead, Decipher, Rekstizzy, and Peril-L from Mountain Brothers, and wanted to share some photos (taken by Daniel Wooden dnlwdn.com)
I got to experience Rekstizzy's song "Kawaii" (which I produced) performed live for the first time in Philly! (terrible pic below courtesy of me, Rek is in front making the OK sign)
Loved seeing everybody's progress since even last time I'd seen them.
BAY AREA folks: Ursula Liang's documentary "9-Man" (which I co-scored with composer Adam Rubenstein) won Directors' Choice Award at Seattle Asian American Film Fest, and is screening in both San Francisco and Oakland for CAAMfest! http://caamfest.com/2015/films/9-man/ I'll be joining Ursula at the Mar 13th screening of 9-Man:
The Great Star 636 Jackson St (at Kearny St), San Francisco at 6:45 pm
as well as hosting the CAAMfest Directions In Sound music event later that same night, assembled by Marky Enriquez featuring Awkwafina, Suboi, Kronika, DJ Vinroc, and DJ Bluz!
Mercer, 255 Rhode Island St., San Francisco 21+ | 9:30pm-2:00am Tickets: http://caamfest.com
I hope to see you there!!!!
I'll be around a few days to check out the fest and connect with folks, so friends let me know if you're in town... If we run into each other please say hi!
In Kickstarter and CAAM-related news I'm also scoring Ben Wang's film "Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story". I really enjoyed the documentary "Aoki" Ben made with my good friend Mike Cheng, who connected us. I'm excited for the chance to score a film in its entirety, and the opportunity to stretch out musically (this one's not hip-hop based)!
Last but not least please check out the Kickstarter for ZOMBIE TED:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1235727329/zombie-ted-the-movie
Project looks killer, definitely something I'd love to see fully executed (see what I did there):
-Their Kickstarter is OVER IN LESS THAN 2 DAYS. They still need a serious amount of pledges or they receive none of the backers' money... knowing how stressful that is, I wanted to help spread the word as best I can!
-Writer director Anne Welles supported the 9-Man screening in DC
-Exec producer Christian Oh is a friend and champion of AsAm talent for many years -lead role is: 1) a zombie 2) named Ted and 3) played by an Asian dude, which is still rare and awesome (Roy Huang from Joyful Noise, which my kid just saw!)
-The clincher though, Hemky Madera aka THE VERY BEST CHARACTER FROM WEEDS
Only thing that could make it cooler for me personally is having music in it... haha https://www.kickstarter.com/…/12357273…/zombie-ted-the-movie
One thing great about Strength In NUMBERS is I've gotten to meet & hear a bunch of great musicians I didn't even know about during the making of the project... a couple of them recently asked "what's up with a Strength In NUMBERS 2?".... hmmmm...... maybe.... maybe not just yet lol, but...
Stay safe everybody!
CHOPS