#concussionchronicles

The Concussion Chronicles: 30 Days, 30 Slept On ET Joints

That one time I auditioned for VH1 & ego trip's “Miss Rap Supreme”...

||#7 of #30: “The Girls Look So Good (LIVE, UNRELEASED)” – Eternia & Chesney Snow ||

https://youtu.be/YJ4fyFAq84g

I auditioned for VH1’s & Ego Trip’s Miss Rap Supreme TV show… and got accepted on the show! But I’m getting ahead of myself, rewind selektah! In 2006, shortly after I moved to NYC, my best friend Azar Shahsavarani Bogan - who also happened to have a masters in music biz from Columbia University & was at Universal Music Group at the time - started managing me. The same year I met beatboxer Chesney Snow via myspace & we started doing shows together. A lot of shows. From the beginning, Azar, Chesney and his lady were ride or die; my chosen NYC family. “The Setup” (2007) was a product of Azar believing in me & convincing other people – studio owners, producers, rappers, club managers, promoters, engineers, etc. – that they should too. Sonically “The Setup” was a smorgasbord. I didn’t know what my sound was yet, I also didn’t know who I was - or maybe I had just forgotten. I was pretty lost. NYC will do that to you: up is down, left is right, right is wrong, virtues are liabilities. In my first few years there I was swimming up stream trying to figure it all out (and partying a lot). That’s what you may hear when you listen to “The Setup”. Around the same time “The Setup” dropped, I auditioned for Miss Rap Supreme. Chesney rolled w me & we performed this track live as our audition piece. It was held in a restaurant, open concept, the auditions were behind a wall divider but you could hear everything. My manager pulled some strings & they bumped me to the top of the list; I walked into a full room, 40-50 ladies trying to get on the show, and bypassed every last one to audition immediately. We went in and MURKED IT. It was obviously strategic: they want drama on set, I’ma give it to ‘em (I told you I was still figuring myself out - lol). When I walked out of the audition room into the larger space full of folks… you could hear a pin drop. Girls waiting to audition were dappin’ me as I walked down the long aisle to the front doors to leave. It definitely felt triumphant. Shortly after, the producers contacted me, like “Congratulations! We want you on the show!” They were helping me process my paperwork, as a Canadian, but the same time the show was scheduled to be filmed in LA I was offered to go on a European tour with Pharoahe Monch, O.C. of D.I.T.C., Reef The Lost Cauze & more. It was a tough decision, but the delay with paperwork was a sign for me: I went on tour with my heroes. To be real, y’all, I usually forget I even auditioned for Miss Rap Supreme. I never regretted passing the opportunity up. This video is from “The Setup” release party at Plan B in the Lower East Side, July 26 2007. We performed the same audition piece. It was a memorable, high energy night; a lot of people came thru from different states to show their love & support! Buckwild of D.I.T.C. showing up to support was a personal highlight of my night, it was the first time I met him. It’s been an interesting path, gotta *SMH* at myself looking back, but it got me to today so I wouldn’t change a thing.

The Concussion Chronicles: 30 Days, 30 Slept-On ET Joints

“See! Andy knows me!” 

|| 11 of #30: “Wrestlemania in Queens” – Eternia & DJ Sav One ||

https://youtu.be/3bAbgY8lmXk

Today marks the 7th year anniversary of the release of “At Last” on Fat Beats Records worldwide. But how did we get there?

The very first Road to Release Episode dropped June 8, 2009 to little fanfare. However, it was definitely a slow burn ember that fanned into a flame. The story goes like this: Sav and I are literally just hangin’ out on a Friday night in my hood. I have on my Queens uniform: my sweats. I always said I live in sweats until I hop on the train to leave Qeens & that’s when I put on “real clothes” ha - I loved living in a neighbourhood where I didn’t have to watch what I looked like when I stepped out of my door, people just accepted me for me. So on this night we are bored, and silly, and probably just talking sh*t (the recipe for most brilliant ideas) and out of the recesses of my closet appears the famed luchadora mask. LOL! Once on, it was like it a part of me. I transformed. I didn’t really want to take it off. We walked all the way to McDonalds on Steinway Ave (a good 5 blocks) ordered fries there & all that, chillin like “huh? U lookin at me!?” *tears* This is a silly side of me that only special people know, comes out usually when I’m too exhausted to care, my best friend & business partner Sav saw it on the regular since we always worked 'til exhaustion lol. Anyways, he pulls out the flipcam & just starts taping. The rest is history. Nothing about this first episode was strategized, if it was I would have removed the laundry from on top of my bed (hahaha). But I did promote the record – as I did whenever any camera was on - spit a verse, and thus began the Road to Release journey. Sav and I had a mantra: we KNEW if heads heard “At Last”, they would be believers. We just had to figure out how to get them to listen. The Road to Release was ahead of its time at the time - no one else was doing it like that - and certainly accomplished that mission. We featured people and places viewers would want to see, if they didn’t know me. We leaked a little snippet of a song off the album at the end of each video. Consistency was KEY, we did this for a YEAR, 2x a month, and the viewers grew. It was hard work. We had no idea how the album was coming out, on what label, or when. Road to Release episodes ended up on every major Hip Hop blog you could name & ultimately caught the attention of Fat Beats. Low and behold, one year later we were releasing the album on Fat Beats Records worldwide. God is the planter of great ideas. You just gotta be still – or silly enough - to listen. 

;-)

The slept-on joint of the day is "Catch Me". MoSS's least fave song on the album. But i did really like my verses, i went in, it was so me, my personal 'round-the-way-girl' anthem: https://eternia.bandcamp.com/track/catch-me

The Concussion Chronicles: 30 days, 30 Slept-On ET Joints.

What we're gonna do right here is go back. Way back. Back into time:

|| #26 of #30: “That’s Wsup” – YOR123 & Skandaali ft. Eternia, Dan-e-o,DL Incognito & Tona Tencreddi (prod. by Tone Mason) ||

https://eternia.bandcamp.com/track/yor123-skandaali-ft-eternia-d-l-incognito-dan-e-o-tona-prod-by-tone-mason