#shadowleague

Where do I begin with this project? The aptly titled Never Die in January is a body of work that showcases my crews diverse range, and unwavering UNITY. This is an EP that felt to all of us like a mixtape, and also our purest GROUP tape thus far due to how the selected tracks came together.

The Journey started in November, where we had all decided to take a work trip to NY to get some work in with ProjectPorter, who had a couple of cuts lined up for Big J CSB. It ended up that last minute myself and Estebang weren't able to make the trip for personal reasons. What resulted from those sessions was Midas Touch, RAW, and Dream, with J, Scrue, Jak, and Cornerboi shining throughout the session

Back Home in Miami, Bang & I were locked in the realm working on a collab tape fully produced by our homie Digitale. These sessions helped build our chemistry and felt dope knowing we were all getting work in, even in different states.

I gotta give credit where it's due.. This tape really came together due to Jak Maker's urgency. He saw the opportunity to put the NY sessions together for something bigger. He also was able to focus solely on rapping as opposed to producing, arranging and mixing as he usually does and has showcased before on projects like Dante's Garden. These are some of personal favorite verses from Jak, He came out of the gate swinging on Midas Touch and really set the tone for the rest of the tape.

The 2 other tracks from the tape featured myself and Bang on Mink Coat Draggin' and Curtain Call, produced by Joe Robbie Stadium and J/S respectively. I met Joe Robbie at a session I had with the Homie Nick Garcia for a song we got together called Therapy. I had peeped his work online and it was dope getting to chop it up with him. We have a lot of things in common including our love of Miami Sports teams, especially the Dolphins (Hence the stage name Joe Robbie Stadium lol).

Shortly after the Nick Garcia session, the homie came through to watch a myself and Scrue rip the stage at Unseen Creatures brewery where I was able to further chop it up, we left that night eager to work together and would shortly after start cutting some of the dopest tracks I've been a part of, one of these tracks ended up on the tape (Mink Coat Draggin').

The reason I say this tape is aptly named Never Die in January, is for a few reasons. I suffered one of the worst bouts of depression I had ever faced in my 29 years on earth. I dealt with issues I thought I had left in the past, and had to face new realities that I thought I was prepared for, but my actions showed me I clearly wasn't. I might sound crazy but my entire life, I never truly put much thought to my own mortality. I know I bleed just like everyone else, I know my bones might break, I know at any moment disaster could strike.. But I always thought I was invincible.. Think Superman but with a buzzcut, a sports jersey and a giant [d] for [dru] plastered on my chest. Whatever the situation, in my mind I was good. I was hit with some news that changed my entire perspective and I really had to accept that my way of thinking had to shift.

I know I can physically die at any moment, but what ensures that I live forever are the reasons I get up and step into that booth. Every line I’ve written, every verse I’ve laid down—even in my darkest moments—adds to my testimony. Long after I'm gone, my words will echo FOREVER. I'll die by that.

I didn’t die in January.

I'm still here MF.

It's a [dRuWorldOrdeR]

Yours Truly,

-[dRu]

Cooking in the Realm, cooking in the Kitchen..

Never Die in January

To answer this question, I would have to know which book is my favorite. Hmmm… Nope, I can't remember a single book that I liked more than the other fantastic books I've read. There are way too many, you know? I mean, I could pick out one series that really blew me away for the first time, but... well, like I said, it's a series. And I haven't even finished it yet because the last book hasn't been translated (which, to answer your question, is one of the things I don't like ;).

Anyway, the series I'm referring to is the "Shadowleague" series by Maggie Furey (who sadly has already died). And it was so incredibly boring at the beginning. You can't imagine what a struggle it was to keep reading the first book. So many points of view, so many main characters, so many plot lines - I read two pages, complained about how boring it was, read two more pages, and complained again. For at least two hundred pages.

But holy shit. After that interminably long introduction, it's so damn good. Sometimes, at least. The pacing is bad, the descriptions way too broad and there is a lot to keep in mind, but once I started to care about the characters, I was in love with the books. The whole series has its ups and downs, but all in all it can be seen as one of my favourite book series. And in the end, in the last book, everyone came together and played their part, which was so freaking brilliant. Or they, well, died beforehand. That happened a lot too, but more characters came along, so it balanced out.

Oh, and it definitely wasn't appropriate for my age (I was eleven when I first read it, and I'm still traumatized because I realized too late that I could just skip some parts. I am (or was until this book) a very dedicated reader). So I wouldn't recommend it for minors.

Veldan has a highly noticeable scar down her face.

This scar is hardly ever shown on the front covers of the books. 

During the first half of the first book, she wears a veil or mask of some sort to cover her face, as the scar is, to her, a hideous thing that is a mark of failure. 

This, too, is never shown.

It’s a disappointing thing, because the books are very well written, with many myriad major and minor characters, and various female characters of different ages and races and backgrounds, and in all other ways the cover art is good - the dragon is shown just as I imagined on the American version, and the human characters are shown realistically - not sexualised. Even the female ones.