Quantize: The EP

May I introduce our debut EP, "QUANTIZE."

All tracks recorded at The Pump, Kitts Green
Tracks engineered & mixed by James "Vice" Kennaby for Street Soul Productions
Thanks to Curtis Clacey, Ben "Alto" Smith and Eudina Jarrett for session support
Graphic design by Vice
Photography by Imke Daugs

Quantize Live at the Vibe!

 On 17th December we were welcomed to the Vibe to launch our CD and perform some of the tracks live. We were joined by Ben the amazing sax player and some talented young musicians from the Vibe. Even though there were some technical hitches and some problems with timings, we had a great evening of music, from hip hop to rock, indie, jazz and metal. It was great to see so much support from the local community, family, council workers and young people coming to cheer on our music-makers.

The young people that we have been working with over the past few months put a lot into this performance - it was the first time a lot of them had performed in public. This whole project has been about learning new skills and working together with new people to create some music - and this performance was a celebration of that. I can't believe the change I've seen in some of our young men - going from hardly knowing anything about music to writing and confidently performing in just a few months; it's an amazing achievement!

In moody black&white because the camera's busted and made everything purple. Also it looks cool.

As well as the young musicians, a lot of people have worked really hard to make this project happen. Our music leader James has been a brilliant creative producer, working round the clock at times to make this CD and performance happen. Esther is a dedicated project leader who can bring out the best in anyone. Thanks also to our youth workers: John, Zainab, Tanvir and AG. The staff and young people at the Vibe were supportive and welcoming to us, and thanks to them for hosting the performance. Finally thanks to our guest musicians and workers who've helped over the course of the project. Now it sounds like I'm accepting an Oscar. Enjoy the video of a few highlights of the performance!

PHOTOSHOOT!

Guys, this is so exciting. Our photos have arrived from professional photographer Imke Daugs. They are amazing. View more at our facebook page: facebook.com/music4hh

 

Rapping!

We've come to the end of our sessions on rapping, beatboxing and lyric writing. Here are some of the tracks that our young people have created with James!

These two are from the youth clubs, so James had more time to work with them on lyrics and got their input about what the backing should sound like. He also sampled some of their beatboxing and included that too.
Naseby crew - Drastic by Music4HH
Arceus - character rap - norton hall session 2 by Music4HH

And these are from the sessions at the hospital:
Mckenzie - character rap - heartlands hospital session 3 by Music4HH
Haider AND Baabar - The Adventure by Music4HH

James's music class! - Filmed by Nafees (thank you!)

Rapping with James

We are lucky enough to have another brilliant rap artist to run some sessions with us! James Kennaby is working with our young people in the hospital and the youth centres, helping them to write their own lyrics and create their own music tracks.

James encourages our budding rappers to write about what they know by thinking of different things about their lives: activities and hobbies, their family, their thoughts and feelings. Often he gets the young people to compose a section each and adds them together to make a longer verse.

Here's some lyrics that the young people came up with and James has set to music (which I will upload later!)

The Adventure

His name is Red Arrow
He lives in London
And he really loves jumping
He wears adidas
Cos he's all class
He wears red from morning to bed
And because he tried parkour
He's got a broken leg

His friends call him odd
Because he loves playing COD
And when he's online
He talks to his friend Todd all the time

He says he drives a Subaru but that's not true
Instead he's learning to drive in a Daewoo
He fancies a chew so he goes to his friend's barbeque

He travelled to Australia to meet his friend Dalia
Whose washing machine had a recent failure.

Isn't that great? I'm particularly impressed by the washing machine reference.

Curtis at our youth centres

Curtis also led some sessions at Hutton Hall and Naseby Centre, focussing on what the young people wanted to talk about. The young people wrote their own lyrics, a minimum of 8 lines was set as a target. Here are some examples of their work!

Curtis with Forid and Mahfuz, last week's official best rappers!

Curtis at BHH take 2!

Curtis came back to the Children's Ward at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital last week (2nd July) for another session rapping with the young people on the ward. He rapped with Baabar in the sensory room, creating a rap based on things that Baabar likes. First he brainstormed some ideas, then wrote the rap in super quick time!

Hi I’m Baabar, trainers on my feet

Love a bhangra beat and a little doner meat

Loving all the nurses, yeah there’s a few

If I ever bought a car then it would be a Subaru

Can’t beatbox but I’ve got a DVD

Christina went and videoed and made a vid for me

Lights in the room tell me colours that you see

Purples and pinks and there’s blue like the sea

Long limousines and they call it a stretch

All of the nurses I’ll go in and fetch

Baabar’s niece who he loves have you seen her

Amina’s her name but I call her Ameena

But I better wrap it up here

So we can record and we all give a cheer

Lay back now in the chair go to sleep

Press play whenever to hear my little beat.

Next Curtis co-wrote a rap with Morgan, whose twin brother is a rapper too! Curtis took the same approach, first making a chart of all the things Morgan likes and then encouraging him to write about them.

Morgan is my name I won’t tell you again

I text real quick on my black BBM

59 plus in my contact list

And I got a red label around my wrist

Love the Lazy Song by Bruno Mars

And I don’t know why but I’ve got it in my stars

I live in Birmingham with my mom and my brothers

House too small so no room for others

Play football on the big green grass

I’m way too quick so I don’t need to pass

I have a favourite player who is Marlon King

He runs down the pitch and has a good swing

12 inch pizza yeah it’s a beast

Pepperoni and a large meat feast

Box so big that I can’t see the telly

Wait til I’m done see the size of my belly.

Curtis and Brandon's rap at BHH

Curtis Clacey is a brilliant young rapper from Leicester who came in to Heartlands Hospital to work on the Children's Ward to create raps about their lives. He's an amazing freestyler and wowed everybody!

Brandon here is one of the young people he worked with to create this rap. Brandon was wonderful, really enthusiastic and really good at coming up with rhymes! He wrote all of his lines himself. Unfortunately Curtis made me join in too and spoil everything.

Our first rap session!

Our next few months of sessions cover a few different styles and we have invited 3 young artists to lead workshops in beatboxing and rapping. Our first music leader, Curtis Clacey, helped our young people to write their own raps after wowing us all with his freestyle skills!

Here's a selection of some of our young people's work on a subject of their choice:

I got a favourite wrestler called AJ Styles 
He can run a mile but never has a trial
He never fears with no tears so he turn up his gears until he cheers
He calls his rival Mangi-Ray then whacks him with a tray
Until Mangi-Ray pays
They always fight when they have the highest height
before night they feel tight after they become bright but not white

Mans go gym to get hench get slim
Flexin muscles on the road with the fresh trim
Thanks to habus for the skin fade now I can rock the black shades
Rollin on Alum Rock Road keeping beef to myself like am told
Life isn't about the money or the fame being in the game without a big name

 There are mini cats
In school I learnt my maths
I just passed my SATs
I wanna work in a bank
Not to get fired and get a spank

Everyone always blame me
I go on flame I'll go on my game
I always lose on my shame and my game is so lame
and I'm always in pain on my game

And here's a video from Naseby - with a bonus demo from Curtis :-)