While chilling in Brussels, I asked the promoter what music was from Brussels. He told me something about “New Beat,” a style of house/techno that came from Belgium in the 80′s. I looked it up and came across this song “Phantasia Forever” by Belgian techno musician, Praga Khan. I liked the synth intro so I took it and flipped it!
Missed a day of Daily Dosage yesterday due to technical problems at hotel in Holland, so today will be a DOUBLE DAILY DOSAGE DAY!!
Was at a club the other night, that didn”t start til 4am!! They were rocking to a lot of dub step, techno, and house music. That Euro vibe starting to sink in on me. Had me thinking about making music to make people DANCE!! Then, an adventurous night in the streets of Paris lead to this creation. I linked up with French vocalist/instrumentalist Emilie Lesbros, laid a beat and just let creative juices flow as the sun rose in Paris. The beat started off in one direction and I actually took it to a whole nother place.
Heres #1.
Been taking long drives through France and Holland so far on tour. Looking out the window at everything from countrysides to inner cities to suburbia. Also looking out my hotel window, seeing new environments, recognizing the similarities and differences between these places and back home. Realizing the world is just full of people, trying to survive in their daily lives, and find a little sunshine. 
I made this instrumental with those thoughts in mind, a cool sample and I added some drums, piano, and strings. I made this beat while in Holland, and originally came across the song from this Dutch singer, Henny Vonk. The version I sampled is from Dionne Warwick’s version, “Windows of The World.”
After talking to one of the opening act M.C.’s in Nijmegen, Holland, and realizing that a lot of the venues we were playing at in Europe the DJs were spinning mainly old school hip-hop, it had me reflecting on the Golden Era of hip-hop and how much it had impacted the world and still does so today. The art of sampling, digging, finding drum breaks, and spittin hard, clever rhymes, is still very much respected in Europe, almost more so than in the States. A Lot of artists who are long forgotten in the states still are revered in Europe and some can still make money touring here. It just had me thinking about the Golden Era of Rap, late 80′s to mid 90′s, when there was consciousness and a certain respect of the skill level heavily present in Hip-Hop. So I found a classic drum loop, chopped up a sample, and just spit, Old School style.
For the weekend submissions of the Daily Dosage Euro Edition, I will post videos rocking on tour live in Europe as opener for The Coup. The first clip is from tonight’s show at Ubu in Rennes, France. I’m performing a version of my soon to be released single, “Make Believers,” to a captivated French crowd.
Loving the vibe in France. Went into a music store this morning and found this piece of music called “Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn,” one of the definitive solo recordings from one of my favorite classical composers, Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937).
The chords and melody are beautiful, and I’ve attempted to play it before. I decided for my first “instrumental” Daily Dosage, that I’d take this piece and make my own version of it.
Funny, as I was buying the sheet music, the clerk behind the counter said in a strong French accent, “you sure you want this, it’s not funky,” implying that he thought I didn’t realize I was getting a classical piece. He ain’t knowin’! I had to sit down at the piano and show em something real quick. Crazy……Hope you enjoy.
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