Marcus Tells All weekly Blog

It's Tuesday and Marcus is working hard on creating and appreciating music all around him. Marcus took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for the fans. 

Lettey: Good morning Marcus. So the fans are excited for and anticipating this new project you have coming out. What are you currently working on with the album and who are you listening to musically for inspiration? 

Marcus: Hey morning Lettey. So right now I'm about 5 concepts/songs into the project. I'm just working on tightening up the mixes. I'm adding little things to make those tracks bigger. Right now I'm listening to Ratatat for that beauty in their electric guitar mixes. I'm trying to find how I can change how people listen to certain instruments. 

Lettey: What musical experience has most influenced you over the last 5 years and who has been a big mentor to your during that time? 

Marcus: The past 5 years...hmmm... Well within the last 4 years it's been my creative family from college. The experiences I've had with those people are priceless. From finding myself to finding my inner funk, it truly was a blessing meeting them all. 

Lettey: If you could have anyone do a guest spot on the album, who would it be and why? 

Marcus: Macy Gray. I actually need her on this album. Like yesterday!! She fits the texture, other than that, Tech definitely. My creative family, Clergy, some of the homies from AGO and that's about it. But yes, Macy Gray for sure. 

Lettey: If any major label were to offer you a contract, who would you be excited to hear from and why? 

Marcus: If I start my own label, I'll offer myself a contract (haha). It's so confusing with this music business, Lette. Which is so unnecessary. 

Thanks for taking time to answer some questions with us and until next week. 

Marcus and Krizz Seattle WA 2.21.14

Bloody Kutty takes on Portland Oregon! Interview by Lettey Buchanan

Lettey: Tell me how you came about this tour that your currently on, and in Portland tonight? 

Kutty: Well I came about this tour when my dude, Cross Eyed Joe, he’s been booking some shows for me and he’s been reaching out to certain people, certain promoters out here, and got these five shows put together.  Seattle, Eugene, Portland, Spokane, and Albany. I’m gonna be here till I leave Sunday. 

Lettey: Are you looking forward to seeing anything while your in Porltand? 

Kutty: I’ve been here so many times. I’m looking forward to seeing my boy, DJ Chill, and I haven’t seen him in a night. I mean that’s all I really wanna see. I’ve been to any strip club you wanna see out here, and ate at any place you can eat out here. We always come here on tour and perform at the Roseland, its almost like a second home away from home anyway. 

Lettey: Do you have any projects your working on right now? 

Kutty: I am re-manufacturing my Flamez mix tape, cause a lot of my fans been wanting that so we pressed it up with three extra tracks on there. When I get home I gotta do three tracks on the new collabos with Strange Music called Strangulation. I gotta get in the studio and do that and then I’ll be working on a mixed tape that I will be doing, and a Flamez Part Two mixed tapes. So two mixed tapes, as well as getting on the collabos with Strange. 

Lettey: How has working in hip hop changed your life? 

Kutty:  I can guarantee you it’s a lot different than anybody who works a 9-5. This music shit man,  its crazy, it’s a fun thing, the only thing is you be gone from your family a lot. In the end it all pays off, when you get your money in bulk like a musician does, it’s a lot different from having to clock out 9-5, probably in a job you hate being at, but I love doing this. This is me. I am music. I sleep, shit, eat, drink it. You know what I’m saying? Music is my life, so it's paying the bills. I ain't had a job since 2000, so Ive been eating and living off music. So whatever. I wouldn’t trade it in for the world. If everyone could wake up and do whatever they wanted to do man, the world would be a better place.  

Lettey: Many artist have a flow to their albums that changes as they grow in their music. Do you predict any changes in your flow up ahead? 

Kutty: Always. If you ain't elevating, you declinin., You know what I’m saying? From my first album B.E.L.E.I.V.E, to my fourth studio album Black Gold, the style just kept increasing. I think if you aren’t progressing, you doing something wrong. You can’t be staying, you gotta get better as you go and its just gonna keep elevating for me. Each project I do, I try to make every song better then the last. Your only as good as your last song, so I try to make every one better then the last. 

Lettey: Who inspires you in the music scene at this moment? 

Kutty: Who inspires me..hmm..let me see .There ain't to many that inspire me, cause I feel like I be better then 95% of the musicians out here, aint knocking nobody but the music industry has kind of become saturated with a lot of simple rhyme. Which theres nothing wrong with it, cause they making their money. So shout out to everyone who got the simple songs, cause they making their money. What I’m saying is, as far as inspiration, I like TI, you know TI is a good inspiration, he’s a real dude and he actually has lyrics man. I’m a TI fan. I like, um, Rich Homie Quan, for the most part I like listening to what I like listening to on the radio.  You know, you hear the same people all the time, all day. To where you don’t get to hear new, you know what I’m saying? So there ain't to much out there thats inspiring to me besides that.  I may pop in some of my stuff, or I may pop in some Strange Music stuff or whatever. Cause I feel like we real high caliber lyrics and content and subject matter. So if it ain't TI or something like that I’m listening to man, then it ain't to much out there that inspires me except for self motivation.

Lettey: Do you find any opposition with anyone in music right now? 

Kutty: Nah. I ain't got no beef with nobody man. I can go from city to city, wear my KC stuff everywhere I go man. It's like I feel I’m respected as an artist, and as a person too. Cause it's like what I rap about is real life, what I rap about is my life. What I’ve been thru and even what I’ve been around, you know people hear it and respect if through the music. So I don’t have any plexes from nobody out there and I don’t think I got none either, wither it some bloods or crips or some folks or whatever. I’ve been respected by every angle of the game man. I have no oppositions or no beef out here with nobody. 

Lettey: What do you think of the current state of hip hop and what direction its going in right now? 

Kutty: It’s on a respirator. To me its on a respirator. I know they're cats out here making money, but to me it's like, hip hops on a respirator. And until I’ve succeeded past this underground status, or whatever man, you know what I’m saying, get a little bit higher on more of a mass audience type of level. I think its gonna stay on a respirator, I’m gonna come back and revive it, you know what I’m saying? I’m not saying I’m the best out here, but if you aint confident in yourself then what you doing it for. So I feel like if I get the chance to do what I need to do, like a lot of these main stream cats is doing, I’m gonna be a breath of fresh air for a lot of people. 

Lettey: How do you feel about how the chiefs did this year? 

Kutty: Awe, I can’t be mad at them. Andy Reid, I got love for the coach Andy Reid, I mean he turned a 2-14 team to a starting off 9-0 man and took it to the playoffs to do what they did. They really had a turn around you know. You know I feel like we got cheated the first playoff game. Iit was too many men on the field with the Colts and it didn’t get called and whatever. But I’m proud of the Chiefs. I’m the Kansas city Chief and a die hard Chiefs fan. Win, lose, or draw you gotta be with your own team. We’ll get em next year. 

Lettey: Where are you looking to be in the future? Any tours coming up? 

Kutty: I got a mini tour starting Feb 16th. It's gonna be starting off in MN. Its gonna be a 20-25 day run that I’mma be doing. It's gonna be called the Self Preservation Tour. So along with the two mixed tapes, I gotta do and record for the Strangulation collabo. I also got a tour. I got a lot on my plate, enough to keep me busy for the beginning of the year. 

Lettey: Can you tell me anything about the Strangulation collab? 

Kutty: There ain't much I can say, but that it’s a collabo called Strangulation and I’m on three tracks, Imma go in and do my business cause I got a whole lotta businesses coming up. So I gotta get in and get out. (Chill jumps in and adds “And he’s putting the industry in the choke hold”) Kutty laughs and says,  “ Ya putting it in the choke hold, you know what I’m saying, a rear naked choke hold." 

Lettey: What motivates you? 

Kutty: I got a six month old son now, and you know, I look at him and I got a new home back at home. I’m married of course, and a new little boy. So it's like, getting on the internet, getting on Twitter and Instagram, seeing all these new people keep following me or whatever. And a lot of people, A LOT OF PEOPLE , these last two tours I haven’t been on, possibly three, and hearing people say its not the same without Kutt up there, They need the three, the trio, so for people to be missing me and for them to be mad I'm not on these tours, they’re coming out supporting me on my solo run. You know, that’s motivation enough. I wake up every morning and I thank God for the home I’m living in and for my family, for a healthy son. That’s motivation enough for me to keep doing what I’m doing and to get out here and work my tail off til I feel like I’m am what I need to be. And even then I’m not gonna stop. I’mma keep on moving and keep on writing, and keep on rapping and doing my thing. 

Lettey: Any chance you might be working with Marcus any time in the future? 

Kutty: Ya, man, Oobergeek better holla at me you know. He better get in touch with me , or Uncle Ike you know what I’m saying. He got me in his phone, he got me logged in. Oobergeek Holla at me man, I remember when he was just dancing, so you know he came along way and the boy is talented too so, Holla at me oobey, you know who it is boy.  

KRIZZ KALIKO AND MARCUS YATES JAN 2014

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!!

BETTER GET REVERB FEVER CONTEST!

So we have another contest coming your way for some amazing prices! 

Each day from now until 8/28/13 I will update my Reverbnation status post several times a day. The next day I'll ask you on my Facebook what the status was during a certain hour on a certain day and if you get it right, and you are a fan of the Reverbnation page, you win an autographed photo of me. Then you will be entered into the grand prize drawing (to be drawn on 9/8/13) to receive a free copy or download of the EP when it is released if you are the winner!

Keep checking Reverb and Facebook and be the first to respond. 

MARCUS GETS A TASTE OF CLOWN LOVE!

Marcus Yates set to perform with Krizz Kalico at the 14th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos!

Marcus Yates has the extraordinary opportunity to perform with Krizz Kalico at the 2014 Gatherining of the Juggalos in Cave In Rock, IL. Marcus will be performing on Thur 8/8/13 on the Underground Stage from 3a-4a. Great time for everyone who is getting into their parties hard and ready to rock!

Don't miss out on the great opportunity. Go to http://www.juggalogathering.com/ now and buy the one day pass for only $175 and see all the Gathering has to offer, or purchase an event pass and see everyone who's coming through!

The Gathering is getting a very talented musician with Marcus and if you miss this then you are missing the event of the year!

Tech N9ne Aligns With the Doors for 'Strange 2013' By THE ROLLING STONES MAGAZINE

Check out this exerpt from Rolling Stone Magazine written by Kathy Iandoli
posted today, June 24th 2013
Tech N9ne Aligns With the Doors for 'Strange 2013'
Rapper offers inside look at the collaboration for his upcoming LP 'Something Else'

Check out the Youtube feed by clicking HERE!

In 2010, after playing his first show in Paris, Tech N9ne headed straight for Père Lachaise Cemetery. The Missouri rapper sat down beside the gravesite of Doors
frontman Jim Morrison, cracked open a bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a glass for the late singer and himself. "I told Jim, 'Thank you so much for the inspiration,'" he recalls. "It saved my life."
Tech N9ne has been a Doors fan for years – when he launched his independent record label in 1999, he called it Strange Music in tribute to two Doors classics, "People Are Strange" and "Strange Days." "If I didn't listen to their music and their fusion of sounds, I probably would've never called [my label] Strange Music," he says. "I have Jim Morrison to thank for that. Who would've fuckin' thunk it years later that I would work with his homies?"

500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The Doors, 'Strange Days'

Tech N9ne is talking about "Strange 2013" – a new version of "Strange Days," created in collaboration with the surviving members of the Doors for his upcoming studio album, Something Else (due out July 30th). The track came together through producer Farid "Fredwreck" Nassar, who got to know the band after working with them on Snoop Dogg's 2004 cover of the Doors' "Riders on the Storm." "I told [Strange Music], I know the Doors, so if you really want to do a song with the Doors and you have the budget for it, then maybe I can call them," Fredwreck explains. "I figured, let's get the real guys to do it."
Last year, the surviving band members – guitarist Robby Krieger, drummer John Densmore and organist Ray Manzarek – gathered in L.A.'s Village Recorders studio to record the track. Tech N9ne had initially suggested reworking "People Are Strange," but Krieger had another idea: "I said, 'Why not do "Strange Days"?'" recalls the guitarist. "That has more of a driving beat." They cut the new version in under a week, using instruments including tablas, guitars, sitars and the original Gibson/Kalamazoo organ that Manzarek had played with the Doors.

Manzarek died on May 20th of this year, leaving "Strange 2013" as one of his final recordings. Tech N9ne still remembers turning to the keyboardist over a glass of Pinot Grigio during last year's sessions and asking him about one of Morrison's lyrics in the original recording. "At the end of 'Strange Days,' Jim Morrison says, 'As we run from the day, to a strange night of stone,'" says the rapper. "I asked Ray, 'What was Jim talking about when he said that?' And Ray turns to me and says, 'I don't know, man – you'll have to ask him.'"


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/tech-n9ne-aligns-with-the-doors-for-strange-2013-20130624#ixzz2XGMYQpPC

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P.S. This article was NOT written by Lettey Buchanan, but was passed on to me and I had to share it!!

OFFICIAL SUMMER OF STRANGE 2013 NEWS

So Its official people!! Oobergeek will be on the Summer of Strange Tour with Krizz Kaliko. Check out all the dates and see Oobergeek on each show below.  Make sure and catch Oobergeek in a city near you. Spread the word and lets get ready to party Strange Style!

06.05 WICHITA, KS ... COTILLION BALLROOM
06.06 SPRINGFIELD, MO THE OUTLAND
06.09 TULSA, OK CAINS BALLROOM
06.11 ALBUQUERQUE, NM SUNSHINE THEATRE
06.12 TUCSON, AZ THE RIALTO THEATRE
06.13 TEMPE, AZ CLUB RED
06.14 FARMINGTON, NM THE TOP DECK
06.15 LOS ANGELES, CA LOS GLOBOS
06.16 SANTA ANA, CA THE YOST THEATER
06.17 BAKERSFIELD, CA B RYDER’S
06.18 SANTA CRUZ, CA THE CATALYST
06.19 SACRAMENTO, CA ACE OF SPADES
06.20 MODESTO, CA FAT CAT MUSIC HOUSE & LOUNGE
06.21 RENO, NV KNITTING FACTORY (RENO)
06.23 PORTLAND, OR ROSELAND THEATER
06.25 SPOKANE, WA KNITTING FACTORY (SPOKANE)
06.26 BOISE, ID KNITTING FACTORY (BOISE)
06.28 GRAND JUNCTION, CO MESA THEATER & CLUB
06.29 DENVER, CO MARQUIS THEATER
06.30 COLORADO SPRINGS, CO THE BLACK SHEEP
07.01 FORT COLLINS, CO AGGIE THEATRES
07.02 CHEYENNE, WY FORUM 619
07.05 SAINT PAUL, MN STATION 4
07.07 SIOUX FALLS, SD BOONIE’S BAR & BBQ
07.09 DES MOINES, IA HOUSE OF BRICKS
07.10 JOLIET, IL MOJOES
07.11 LOUISVILLE, KY THE VERNON CLUB
07.12 SAUGET, IL POPS
07.13 COLUMBIA, MO THE BLUE NOTE
07.14 INDIANAPOLIS, IN OLD NATIONAL CENTRE
07.19 CLERMONT, FL CLUB BOA
07.20 SAINT PETERSBURG, FL STATE THEATRE

 

 

VIP Packages available that include all this: For $85 plus shipping you can roll like a VIP - you'll get complimentary admission with front of line access to the show of your choice, a one-hour Meet & Greet with the artists, a limited edition VIP shirt (XL only), along with other kick-ass merchandise worth over $150! Click HERE!

 

WHAT IS AN OOBERGEEK?

The definition of Oobergeek hasn't been defined yet. Not in the Urban Dictionary or any google accounts across the board. That's because Oobergeek is just getting started and he's writing his own definition as he goes.

Oobergeek's not new to the game. He's been loving and living music in some form since a small child. You have seen him featured on Strange Music's blog site and in their artists videos.

The man behind the name is going to be making a break out. With a new video on the way and thousands of fans who are realizing his musical genius, its a good time to get ready to write down that forming definition.

Stay glued to this new blog site. We will have up to date Oobergeek information, photos, videos, and tour information. You will get to know him as the man and the exquisite name.

Before you know it. You will all be a little bit geeked out.

Check out Oobergeeks Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/Oobergeek?fref=ts

Keep checking back for the release of Oobergeeks new video "No Touching" and information to order music from CDBaby.com.