New Dessert

It's Ash Wednesday!

Recently I encouraged an audience to bake a dessert in exchange for a vinyl of unreleased raps. The raps were produced by Peanuts aka Logic. The two of us met for the first time backstage at his Philadelphia concert after sharing support for human decency. I selected a few beats from his computer and he sent them to me via AirDrop. I recorded over the 5 beats shortly after. When I sent them back to Logic he seemed genuinely excited…

This happens all the time, mind you. Two artists collaborate, rappers and producers record together and the songs NEVER COME OUT! It’s happened with me & Pharrell, myself and Pete Rock etc. etc. So, it’s an enormous testament to Logic for being down to release the recordings - and in an unconventional way! Bobby and I both share experience with major label music distribution - so we were eager to tinker with different ways on how to get the music to our audience. Typically when an album or a song is released by an artist we support - we’ll get a push from whatever streaming platform we have on our phones…maybe. Maybe we listen to it. Maybe in headphones or maybe right there through smartphone speakers. Maybe we like it. Maybe we don’t. Maybe we add it to a playlist we created to organize our favorite songs. Maybe we’ll listen to it again.

But wouldn’t it be more fun to get unreleased music directly from the artist you’re interested in? And the only way to hear raps no one else has heard before is to bake a white chocolate raspberry bread pudding. Then send video proof of you attempting to bake the dessert to the artist. It’s the first time you’ve ever baked anything! And even though it didn’t look good, it tasted ok. So the artist gives you a digital dap and mails you a 7’’ vinyl of Unreleased raps over Logic beats.

Some odd days later you receive a handwritten package in the mail that contains the vinyl. You’re excited because getting mail is exciting. And not so long ago you bought a turntable because vinyl music is fascinating and - how does it even work? A needle runs along a groove on a wax rotating disc and sound comes out? That doesn’t even make sense! So you take off your recently played Van Morrison vinyl and replace it with the 7’’ you just received in the mail for baking a dessert. It’s the first time you baked anything and now you want to bake more! Wasn’t that fun!?

Well, for those who didn’t think so - your time is now. Today I’ve made 50 signed ‘New Dessert’ vinyls available on retrohash.com. As well as tickets to a bevy of east coast shows at the local City Winery. We’ve paired our dessert with City Winery to bring a fun, intimate evening of storytelling this May!

I’ve been really encouraged by the participation in the ‘New Dessert’ baking challenge. It’s been a fun experiment releasing music on vinyl only. I doubt I’ll do physical-only releases forever as it’s always great to be able to listen to new jams on the move. But it’s been extremely valuable connecting with my audience and personally sending them the latest recordings.

If you’re interested in first dibs on future unconventional releases - you can stay up to date here. And, as always, our Discord is full speed ahead with daily conversations and collaborations. I look forward to seeing you while I’m out on the road. Maybe we can catch a baseball game together!?

Happy Ash Wednesday!

<3

apr