Live performance and losing loved ones.

Philly Phil Williams with the super support, and later on, giving a phenomenal eulogy.

All Falls Down Cover (ft. Noble Nobu)

Last Tuesday, Oct. 11th, I had the honor and privilege of performing live at the Amityville Music Hall because of the wonderful folks at the Earwaxx Sessions. I've always been skeptical of pay for play, but its a great chance to touch a stage. Honestly, truly.

I had 7 days to let people know I was performing, and within that same time frame a hurricane hit Haiti, and my former college professor, director, and life coach passed away. Needless to say... its been a rough week for your boy.

I kind of explain this in my concert video, but I decided to dedicate my performance to those people. Yeah, it sounds pretty cheesy when I write it on paper, but being able to think that my performance was for other people really helped me keep me grounded.

Skipping through a week of promoting and following up with every person individually, I have to say that paypal is clutch. Also, people really enjoy bundles where they get two or more things for the price of 1. I show up to Amityville with a guestlist of 50 people who had already paid to come see me perform. Support is real, God is good, family is everything, and the movement is growing! Sheeesh!

My turnout was so huge I got pushed back to perform closer to the Headliner. Also, it got me booked AS a headliner next time I come out there. Soooooo... thanks to you guys supporting, we have more shows coming in Amityville!

But that's just the recap for people who missed it. There's two things i REALLY wanted to talk about, and they're both in the title, so I might as well address them:

1. Live Performance: i will never accurately be able to describe the feeling of stepping onto a stage, looking around, and understanding that everyone's focus is solely on you. Its humbling, intimidating, nervewrecking, and it feeds the ego quite a bit. Normally, I would be so nervous of disappointng everyone who came out. (I have this thing where I forget random lines in my songs smh. Still working on it.).

This time though.... the real fear was not properly doing justice to the people I dedicated my show to, particularly Tim's memory. To avoid that, I did some research on what makes a live show effective (google's your friend bruhhhh). They all said the same thing: give people moments... Technically I only did 1 song, but I tried to break my set into these pieces that people could easily take away with them. My biggest thing is audience participation. I always thought it was dope how major artists get a room full of people to wave their hands in the air or spit back their lyrics. Its kinda tricky when nobody knows your songs yet, but where theres a will, there's a way. Also, my theory on this is... dont give your crowd too many directions. Especially in NY. People are tired b, let them vibe out.

Overall though, nothing replaces live music. You can make great in studio records, but once someone sees it live, it can really change their life.

2. Losing Loved Ones:

It sucks. It just does. There is no filter for that. Regardless of whether you saw it coming or not, its difficult to process, accept, and move past. What helps though, is positive memories.

When I think of Professor Tim Amrhein, I think of a man who could see our hunger for the stage, and showed us how to fuel it the right way. Our fb page says it clearly: The Label Noir wouldn't exist without Tim. He essentially adopted a bunch of young creatives and gave us the freedom to figure it out. I have songs I recorded in his office, or theater classrooms, because he knew I just needed a space to try things out. He allowed us to network and ask questions about art industries, and he never judged us as our songs started out mediocre and SLOWLY progressed. (Speaking personally. Solomon's songs were always good lol). I read a djbooth article about Odd Future, and Pharrell, and Kanye and all these artists who were able to perfect their craft because their parents. I can't say that about my real parents (who are amazing, supporting and loving people. They just hate hip hop). Tim was that way for us. He gave us the opportunity, he showed us how to balance our dreams along with real life. The best thing is, Tim knew this already. So I don't regret not saying this to him directly, because it was already understood.

But... if you have people like this in your life, make sure they know. Please. Before its too late.

That's it for this week! Shameless plug! Go to our website, subscribe and buy a t-shirt! www.thelabelnoir.com