This is my bicycle (please don’t steal it), It has been my only form of transportation since November of last year. That was the time my car died and I just couldn’t afford to fix it anymore. I was scared to death of not owning a vehicle, considering I had owned a car in some form or another since I was 16. I came from Fall River, which doesn’t have a good form of public transportation and anything of worth to visit, so as a teenager you have to drive somewhere else. I just wasn’t sure I would last without a car, I mean what would I do for touring and shows?!?!?! I decided to test myself on this one and see if I could go a year.

I love my bicycle, I don’t think I can stress that enough now. I went the full year without buying another car. I don’t mean to tell you that I could afford another car, in all honesty, I was/am dead broke from being in school and not having a solid paying job (shout outs to all the servers out there). I just figured I would invest in a bicycle and see what happens, so I sold my car for scrap metal and with that money bought a bicycle from Bikes Not Bombs (great org, check out the site). After that it was all love, I rode the bike till snow was too heavy on the roads, I know some hardcore cyclists will judge me for that but my tires, even on my mountain bike can’t handle the snow we had that year. I just took buses when I had to and rode when I could.

My family still doesn’t understand why I don’t own a car, I get calls everyday from my mother and vavo (my Portuguese grandma) asking me if I want a car, or when I will get a car, or why I keep riding my bicycle everywhere and how I should stop doing that. My friends back in Fall River don’t really get it either, I can’t say I blame them. I used to have the same thought that if I got rid of my car, I would never be able to get around, which is completely false. so how do I get out of town?

I use the commuter rail whenever possible, and actually I wish they would acquire more rail tracks so I could visit my family and friends back home. I currently take the commuter rail to providence and than hitch a ride. Now I am not saying that cars are bad and everyone should ditch them and ride a bicycle, though that would be awesome I can’t see it happening anytime soon. I just feel the world is congested enough with smog, pollution, and the like that comes from cars, that if we all rode a bicycle to get to the local spots (say within 7 miles) everyone would feel better for it, health wise and within the community. I even have a bike gang of my own that I started with friends (whats up @Ksdiesel and @Lchayner) called Circular Logic (get it?!!?!) we have fun and ride together.

Biking is cost effective (ie no real operating cost), good for the environment (no carbon emissions), and good for your body (no need for a gym when you ride everyday), its just a nice way to live. winter is rough though. My parents are starting to come around to the idea that I don’t want a car, it only took a year.

here is to another year without a car and with alot more fun. Bike Gang 4 life.

(I am the one on the right, my friend @ksdiesel is on the left)

Some random thoughts that I feel you might like to know about

I have a few shows coming up in the Boston/New England area:

I am opening for Sims, Cecil Otter, and Lazerbeak (all of Doomtree) next friday October 7th at O’briens pub in Allston/Boston, Ma ; For tickets click here for the FB event page: Here 21+

I am also playing in New Bedford , Ma @ The New Wave Cafe on October 21st: FB Event page here 21+

I am also playing Worcester on October 28th @ the 97d Gallery with good people; FB event page here all ages

It’s been a real long time since I have done more than a show a month, I want to see some familiar faces at these venues, please make an effort to show up.

I’ve been listening to a ton of the new Astronautalis album, the recent video he released is super dope and the song features Tegan from Tegan and Sara. I think you would all enjoy giving it a shot.

I’ve been looking to get some new songs done and hopefully premiere them soon at some shows, I got a few T-shirt designs I am working on and will have them as well.

My friend Trak Masta Tom just dropped his latest album featuring me on a song, you can hear the track here and buy/download the album here.

My mentor Brzowski recently released an album of epic proportion. you need to go give it a listen here.

My great friend Jesse Dangerously is running a campaign to get his latest release Humble And Brilliant on vinyl, the album is a favorite of mine and I hope you can all check out this Canadian kickstarter page thing and throw him some money.

At this very moment I should be doing my Japanese homework, but instead I am surfing the net looking for crap that is not school related. oh well. see you all soon. -Joshhw

PS if you have a tumblr, follow mine: longlivehw.tumblr.com

PPS I posted some new photos from my last photo shoot. check them out on FB and comment. I’d love to think they are good.

Over the last few years I have grown to this idea that less is more, that the downsizing of my space and clutter is good for myself, and my environment. I used to be obsessed with collecting whatever I could get my hands on, but lately I am selling my possessions off and living with what I need. I’ve learned quite a bit about myself during this process.

If you have been inside my room you would have found shelves of dvds, a sizeable amount of floor space taken by comic books and a ton of clothing just strewn around the room. I would have receipts, random pieces of paper that I wrote a song on that will probably never see the light of day, but I digress.

I read awhile back about this idea of Minimalism. the idea of clearing your life of whatever you do not deem necessary, and then making what you deem necessary, to be the best choice among the options presented to you. I started donating my clothes to goodwill about 1 year ago after I realized that most of my closet doesn’t see the outside world, while going through my closet it became hard to toss out objects I had held onto for years (my first atmosphere shirt?!!?!? but what if I learn to sew again and fix the holes!! I can’t throw it out!), but once I gave it some thought, I had to let it go, these objects are just that, and my memories are within me, not within the clothing, comics, objects, etc.

Since then I have ruthlessly given away my DVD collection and have decided that when I print out my next album, it will be on recycled paper, and with post consumer goods (look that up if you don’t know what it means, its important to your future). I know this sounds kinda crazy but my life has become better for it. I have more money since I don’t spend frivolously on objects I will never see again. I am not saying everyone should do this, but consider the amount of stuff you have in your house, now tell me what you use on a daily basis. how much of that stuff do you really need? you would be surprised how many objects get neglected.

Tell me what you think, am I crazy or am I mad?

This is my friend Kenn. he is one of the biggest supporters of the Boston local rap scene that I know about, I am almost willing to bet that if you have been to a show in the last 2 years around Boston, you have seen/spoke to/met Kenn. He has been trying to help everyone in the area for quite sometime and that’s why he recently started a charity with a mutual friend (Katrina) called Starving Raptors. But lets start at the beginning of my relationship with Kenn.

My first twitter fight:

My first interaction with Kenn was not a good one. I was opening up for Eyedea And Abilities/Themselves at the Middle East in Cambridge. I was introduced by Ricky Mortis as Cage (some background on this: Ricky had previously gotten into a fight with Cage while he was hosting a Cage show in Boston), now Ricky had let me know that he was going to fuck with me prior to introducing me on stage that night, I told him to go ahead because I am friends with Ricky and support his ideas when it comes to rap events, I have always found him humorous. So he goes on stage and tells the audience that he has made up with Cage and that he is here to personally introduce him that night. The crowd roars and out comes me. I thought this bit was funny but apparently that night Kenn was in the crowd, and started to dislike me the minute that happen. Now the show goes well for me, I feel the love from the crowd and I am completely unaware that someone out there has twitter and is telling Cage all about how terrible I am. I later find this out from Emoh.

If you know me you will know that I am pretty saavy with a computer and have a habit of scouring the net for details relating to me, now Kenn had added Emoh on twitter but never added me, this is how Emoh noticed that Kenn disliked me, which I think Emoh enjoyed. I decided to check out his feed from the previous night, turns out he really hated me, now the grown up thing to do would have been to brush it off and let it go, but I am not that type of guy. I decided to start tweeting at him (also apologies to the people who hate twitter, I am obsessed). This lead to a back and forth about how terrible I am.

I just needed to find out who this guy was in real life, I somehow found his actual facebook page and searched his music interests and minus some metal bands, we had the exact same rap tastes, this only depressed me more and more as I thought about it, essentially this man was the person my music should have connected with, but for some reason it didnt, this only depressed me.

The Cage Show:

Months had past since the first ever twitter argument for me (which actually happened quite a bit since then) by then I was performing with The Scribblenauts (the dopest group I was ever apart of, the album is on some other shit) and I had the opportunity to open for Cage. I was deathly afriad that Cage was going to hate me and tell his fans to hate our music but that didn’t end up happening (sidenote: I am super paranoid that people hate me). While the show was going down, I had floating in my head that Kenn would be there considering how much of a Cage fan he is. I got to meet him after the show and it turns out we impressed him. I was so glad to turn it around finally and make the only person I know that actually hated me, like me.

Starving Raptors:

After that, me and Kenn became good friends, and he actually became one of my biggest supporters, so much so that I call him when I have a new song or verse to share. He has since become entrenched in the local hip hop scene. So much so that he noticed where the scene lacked, that being booking solid shows and promotion. He followed this up with his first big endeavor which is called Starving Raptors. It started out when He met this woman named Katrina who wanted to help out the scene as well, her father had also died from Cancer and wanted to somehow bring everyone together for a cancer benefit that would show the world that rappers have feelings and no matter where you are from, you have felt the sting of cancer. This event is going down in NH on August 12th! at Fury’s Publick House. also with this event an exclusive cd featuring Ceschi, Myself, Defcon, Outwrite, Gray Sky Appeal, Ordeal, Recaall, Madness2012, Virtue and many more! here are some clips from the album:

My Verse:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Recaall:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ordeal:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Subtext:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This album can be only funded by your help. please consider donating and joining us for the show August 12th.

New Old album coming out, new tracks with good friends, BBQ’s in the sun and lots of personal time. This summer is shaping up to be the best one yet. read on for my rambling and a look at a new track.

I usually hate summer, not the actual weather (mostly) but the situations that occur during the summer. You see my relationships usually flounder right before may hits, I guess women like a stable relationship for the winter and want to be free during the summer. This actually stopped happening for me last year, I dated a wonderful girl who stuck it out during the whole summer and we had a great time, but I am skipping the point. This summer has been the best for me.

First off I have been actually out riding my bicycle everywhere I can think of and have decided that I am going to skip the T for the first few months of fall and ride to school. I have become obsessed with riding my bike and going green. I check out so many ways to save the earth on a daily basis by reading sites like good.is and treehugger.com. I walk around boston now just scoping out the bicycles in the area. I long for the day I can afford a sick looking bike. I highly recommend that you get a bike and ditch the car. I used to think I could never live without my car, but nature and summer have shown me that its not something I ever need again, I’ll probably buy a vehicle when a good all electric car comes around (or if nissan decided to sp0nsor me with a leaf!). I’ve become so engrossed that I am planning a trip to Portland, Oregon (Bicycle mecca!).

So my writing has shifted quite a bit recently, If you know me personally I have been talking about switching up my style for quite sometime now. I have wanted to write more technical verses, more intricate rhymes and I have slowly been accomplishing that. The first song to see that light will appear on my friend Trak Masta Tom‘s new album. here is the song in question:

I was very proud to do that song given the circumstances, You see Tom was a fan of my music from back in the day. He reached out to me on my recent tour and wanted to play his hometown with me (which I was happy about) and it turned out he is real dope and a good human being. He asked me to do a song with him and I was more then happy to, I even had to step my rapping game up to match his ability. This is one of my happier verses. I hope you enjoy(ed) it.

I got shows coming up!

July 19th in cambridge

July 25th in Boston

check the shows page for more information.

I know it hasn’t been too long since I last updated this site but I needed to tell you that I am still alive. I have been trying to enjoy life to the fullest during this last week and I wanted to share with you some good times and some inspiring moments I had this week.

NYC/BROOKLYN!

I have been seeing this wonderful woman for a small amount of time now and had a conversation about going to NYC together since I am always down for whatever and she hasn’t been enough. I got some shifts at work covered and it was on like donkey kong. I started looking into hotels and asked around twitter for some good choices and my friend PogoParker (AKA #NiceGuyTim) came through with a studio bedroom (the very one he records these awesome songs in). Tim happens to live in a very nice area of Brooklyn, Green Point to be exact and every time I have visited him (which were too few times) I have fell in love with his spanish/polish neighborhood. He showed us some good Mexican food and a serious record store (totally unorganized, probably a diggers dream). Thanks Tim for everything!

We had decided that we both wanted to goto the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) and see some exhibits. I had been there once before with a previous girlfriend and decided this was a solid idea since I enjoyed the time I had spent there previously. We went through the exhibits haphazardly, not truly having a direction, but this one exhibit caught my eye.  it was called “I Am Still Alive: Politics and Everyday Life in Contemporary Drawing” the main articles that kept my attention were these postcards from a Japanese artist named On Kawara. The point of these postcards were to let people he cared about know that he is safe and indeed still alive. The message moved me, I mean it just resounded within me. I have felt for the last 2 years of my music and personal life that many have forgotten about me, that some fans, friends, family, etc have possibly considered me dead to the world around them and rightfully so. I have had barely a social life in the last couple of years (especially the last one) and have been extremely distant from my friends. My music has almost come to a slow halt considering my last solo effort came out almost 2 years ago. So it started echoing in my head…I am still alive… I just need to show my friends that they matter to me, and that I am still continuing this #raplife. Another exhibit that stuck out were some South Africa paintings that were done during the apartheid era. This was a time in South Africa where racial segregation was an accepted occurrence and art was held down because of it, some of the pieces that were shown are from the period and are seeing the light of day for the first time, here are some I enjoyed:

The raw emotion that I felt when staring at these paintings was incredible. I know some of this might sound pretentious, but I really enjoy art of all kinds (even abstract expressionism apparently). check out these exhibits before they disappear.

While I was out in BK I had to give my friend Molly Burkett a call! I had yet to visit her in Brooklyn and I decided one fateful morning at 2am that the time was right. I turned out to be the backseat to the excursion that would occur that night, My girlfriend and her bonded over their love of Jewelry and suede products.

Truth is I didn’t belong at this fabric party. but I nonetheless enjoyed petting her quiet cat while they took photos of each other wearing jewerly, I would post a photo of it, but I am sure its not a good idea. I must mention what occurred next made the trip super memorable and by that I mean we got a sketchy cab ride. I want to preface this with: I don’t take cabs anywhere, If I am not on my bicycle then I take the subway. If that is not available I find a friend for a ride, but regardless I don’t like the idea of spending money for transportation when I can walk. Well it was a long night and we opted to order a car (which apparently is slang for a cab out in BK, whatever) and what pulled up outside of the precinct we were standing near (yes precinct as in cops and such) was a black unmarked car which beeped and supposedly was a cab. long story short: the man didn’t speak english, didn’t know where he was going and didn’t have a fare meter. We ended up asking him to let us out and we huffed it the rest of the way. it cost us $13 bucks for our lives that night. totally worth it.

some other highlights from the trip were seeing Avenue Q for the 2nd time (I like theater, go figure), which is a raunchy play with puppets…seriously watch this clip and you will understand. The play was great and even better cause I had row 3 seats dead center. The one bagel I got to eat out there was amazing! for some reason blueberry cream cheese just does not exist outside of NYC, I have searched forever and even issued a challenge to friends to find me some. If you know anything about me, you would understand that I love to eat bagels, so much so that people are starting to tell me that I look Jewish. I don’t see it.

Also this past tuesday I opened up for Brown Bag Allstars at the Middle East upstairs. this crew has been killing the battle scene (AKA Soul Khan) and tracks lately (Check out Koncept). It was an honor to ride the bus home from NYC and rock a show with family (AKA Virtue, Emoh, Seveer) and I got to rock a sweet Rocko’s Modern Life shirt (courtesy of my girlfriend, that shirt in the photo above). The show was decent for me on a personal level, but I felt like I lost a few people towards the end. I have no idea if anyone else on the show felt it,but I loved each of them.

It is literally 3am in Watertown while I write this post and I want to let you know I just recently put up a song I did awhile back in March. I waited possibly too long to put this free track out, but I would love your opinion on it.

Hello out there, I hope you didn’t forget about me.  I have been stupid busy with school since last we spoke. now the summer is upon me and I have some shows coming up I want to update you on first:

June 14th @ The Middle East Upstairs, 472 mass ave, cambridge, ma – I am opening for one of the dopest crews out of NYC, The Brown Bag Allstars (Soul Khan, Koncept, ETC), I am also performing with my good friends Virtue, and Seveer. This show is not one to be missed and I will be selling tickets for it so please email me or purchase one online.

June 18th @ The Space, Portland, ME – I am playing my good friend Brzowski’s CD release show. I cannot tell you how heavily I am influenced by Big Brzo. I would love it if you came to this show and supported one of the biggest supporters of me. buy tickets here

now on to some personal bullshit you may not care about (aka my actual life)

November, 2010: This was the month life went to pieces…actually it was just the month I decided (aka being broke) to get rid of my car. I have never gone very long without having a vehicle. I am originally from Fall River, where if you do not have a car, you do not go anywhere. I have always wanted to get rid of my car, but my touring, music, life (I thought) depended on it. its been over 8 months without a car and I am happy about it.

I have always wanted to be just a cyclist (aka bicycle rider) since the days of my early anime watching, sitting up and watching an episode of Golden Boy (do not judge me anime fans) and thinking it would be sweet to be just a cyclist/pedestrian.  The transition was rough at first but over time I learned to deal with the issues, that being getting up on time to leave my house.

I toured in march: I really should have updated all this shit much early and as I am writing this, its hard to think of all the cool things I saw when I went on the road with Shane Hall and Jesse Dangerously. I was actually quite depressed due to some relationship fighting back at home (but there is no need to jump into those details) and due to the fact that my social life up until this tour was a mess (I wrote a song or two about it). I trudged through and had some of the best times on the road with some amazing people. Here are a few of the videos I created while out there.

Shane Hall diffuses a drunk:

This was a good time watching Shane control the situation, we were in Pittsburgh at 2am at this diner that only opens after midnight. its run by a really cool punk rock crew. shouts to StillBorn Identity for all the help that night.

While I was on the road, I was trying to apply for a scholarship and needed help expanding on my essay. Me, Shane and Ryan (From the North Decade) worked on it and created this. Turns out I couldn’t send the essay because I could not find a fax machine. but this essay is being sent next year.

– This video is my favorite from the trip. we ended up in Cleveland and had nowhere to play due to the venue we booked closing, luckily Chris Parks came through and allowed us to host up on his couch and live stream. someday I will put those videos up. This was the highlight of the tour for me. I wish I had documented the tour more. Chris has some great footage of us all performing are songs in a different way. I will post it up very soon.

Also I need to give a huge shout out to NiceGuyTim (AKA PogoPark): this man made the first leg of the tour the most fun times ever. I have never felt so close to someone I had never met previously. He is dope.

There are plenty more times that we had out there but Shane Hall wrote probably the best tour entry and quite frankly I cannot top it.

So it’s a Wednesday morning at 3am in some random motel between St Louis and Bloomington.  The man in the photo that you can actually see is Shane Hall.  We are currently on the way to Springfield, MO for a rap show.  I might have forgot to mention that I am currently on tour for the “Break A Branch Off The Crazy Tree And Beat Your Dick To Death With It.”  We are currently 6 shows into the tour which will last till March 23rd.  I have been having some of the best shows to date in the states, starting off in Boston! I will update this post when I have more time.  But I really need to sleep.  see you on the road.

I somewhat recently wrote an article for Hiphopfiend.net about the state of rap music and my personal views with it.  I got some great responses and some less then stellar ones as well.  Here is the link for the article. (Big Ups to Grant for allowing me to do this)

Here is the newest song that I have made, I sent it out through my email list a few weeks ago and now you can have it.  If you enjoy it please be sure to share it with friends on twitter or Facebook.