The election taking place today will not solve all of our differences. In fact, in some instances the election will highlight the very ugly nature of some of our differences. However, today’s election does present us with an opportunity. It presents us with the same opportunity we had four years ago. Four years ago, the idea of believing in the concept of hope/change was not simply thought of as political folly, but also viewed as childish. It was thought of as naive to believe that people–not corporations, lobbyists, or moneyed interests–could make a difference in how we were governed. We had been told for so long, “Just let the adults handle this,” that we lost sight of the fact that WE were the adults. We lost sight of the fact that political gamesmanship was childish. Four years ago, we told the “adults” to sit down and listen…and they did. Unfortunately, many of us felt that having the “adults” listen was the ultimate victory and we became disengaged. In the vacuum that followed, a lot of extreme voices/ideas took hold. These extreme voices were well-organized and well-funded. Many people started to lose hope in the face of this well-organized front. And that brings me to the point of this love letter to you all.

All of you have come to know us over the years through our music and via our interactions. Through hugs at shows, pats on the back, clinched fists in the air, and cd’s you’ve become a part of our extended family. As a result, I feel very comfortable having this dialogue with you. Hope is one of the most powerful emotions a human being can experience. It can inspire an escaped slave to risk life and limb to come back and help other slaves experience freedom. It can inspire an anti-apartheid activist to run for president after being imprisoned for 27 years. It can inspire an artist to attempt the unenviable task of trying to explain a complex emotion using just his words. That’s what hope inspired me to do four years ago. Four years ago I voted for Barack Obama and the experience was so transformative that I was compelled to write about it. I invite you to listen to the song “Hope.” It is a FREE Download. I invite you to share the song with as many people as you can–time is ticking. My hope is that it inspires you and reminds you of the most important aspect of this grand experiment called democracy…the people. I’ll leave you with two quotes from Margaret Mead that always seems to give me perspective when I need it most. First, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Second, “I must admit that I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an individual makes to her or his fellow human beings.”

Alright Good People, LETS BARACK THE VOTE!!!

Peace,
Saleem

We’ll be releasing a new single soon! We are VERY excited for you to hear what we’ve been putting together for you. In the present day political climate, I think the new song is much needed and warranted. I can’t give you anymore details or Saleem and the band will go ballistic.

We will be performing at Loyola University next week. Unfortunately, the show is only for Loyola students:-( No worries though. You know how we get down (is that a little too much slang for one email, lol). We’ll record the performance and share it with you next week.

Alright good people, THANKS for your ongoing LOVE and SUPPORT! Don’t forget to share this with a friend and please keep loving music!

Peace,
Natashia M. Heggins

I’m here to hopefully bring a little sunshine into your day. We had a blast at Sunday’s show. The crowd was great, the music was great, and the atmosphere was wonderful. Thanks again for everyone who came out to party with us at Scapescape. It was great to see long time fans and it was really nice to meet a lot of new ones. Tom Kessler filmed the performances on Sunday for Scapescape. I want to thank him for posting this footage (Saleem & The Music Lovers @ Scapescape) from our set. If you were there, you can reminisce with us on the good time we had. If you weren’t there on Sunday, here is a little something to get you jealous that you didn’t experience this first-hand, lol!

Alright good people, THANKS for your ongoing LOVE and SUPPORT! Don’t forget to share this with a friend and keep loving music!

Peace,
Natashia M. Heggins

Now, in addition to having streamlined cars driving around the areas we know and love at 180 mph (wtf), there is another event that you should check out. Scapescape is taking place this Labor day weekend and promises to be an incredible event. I’d like to describe the festival in my own words, but I thought this best encapsulated the spirit of the event:

“The Citizens of Baltimore City present Scapescape 2012, the culminating celebration of August’s Station North Arts Festival and another year of awesome local music. Better than 75 of the city’s most excellent acts will take the stage, and a host of local artwork will be on display”

Saleem & The Music Lovers will be performing at Scapescape on Sunday at 4:00pm. However, I encourage everyone to check out the lineups, because there will be a host of artists, and art, to check out. Here are the logistics:

SCAPESCAPE
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Show starts at 4:00pm-It starts on time so don’t shoot for fashionably late or you’ll fashionably miss the show:-)
1712 North Charles Street (Charles Street Parking Lot)
Online-$5
At the gate-$10 for one day pass/$20 for four day pass

Ok, I have to share something with you before I go. Saleem has been talking about this video ever since he saw it for the first time on Thursday. He’s been telling everyone within earshot about the video. I was finally able to see it and was blown away! Seriously, it’s the best video I’ve seen since Marsha Ambrosius’ Far Away, and quite possibly one of the best video’s I’ve ever seen…no hyperbole. Please check out the video Bitch Bad by Lupe Fiasco. I know the title may be a little off-putting, but watch the video before you judge the title. Once you check it out, please hit us up on Facebook and tell us what you think. I believe this is a conversation that we all need to have.

Lastly, RIP to a hip-hop pioneer. Chris Lighty died at the age of 44 on Thursday, October 30, 2012. Most of us first heard his name on A Tribe Called Quest’s second album “Low End Theory.” “What’s Chris Lighty if he wasn’t such a baby?” However, if you thought his impact stopped there you’d be wrong. Check out this article, “Remembering Chris Lighty,” written by Danyel Smith (former editor of Billboard and Vibe).

Alright good people, until next time. Thanks for your ongoing love and support of GOOD MUSIC! Please tell a friend and continue to help us spread the word!

Peace,
Natashia M. Heggins
Artist Management,
Sowl Music L.L.C.
443-804-8587

I know you suffered through Saleem’s latest novel last week, so I don’t want to beat you down with another, lol. I just wanted to let you know about the show taking place tonight. Our good friend Wendel Patrick reached out to us last week about performing at a Boom Bap Society event in October. However, a few things fell through and he asked Saleem if he could perform this week instead. Wendel Patrick is fam, so we most definitely had to do it. There are several other guest emcees on the bill for tonight, so it should be a blast. If you haven’t been to a Boom Bap Society event, you need to go…seriously…like yesterday:-)

The Boom Bap Society was created by Wendel Patrick and DJ Double8. It’s basically a hip-hop improv. I know what you’re thinking right now, “Oh, just a bunch of dudes freestyling for nine hours…Yeah(sarcastically of course).” It’s far from that. The Boom Bap Society brings in live musicians, vocal percussionists (beatboxers for us old school folk), and emcees to blend together in an unrehearsed format. They have different musicians and artists every single time. While you might think this would lead to chaos, that’s far from what takes place. Usually, the combinations are so flawless that you find yourself asking whether the sets are improvised or rehearsed. Here’s a promo to get your juices flowing, Boom Bap Session Three. BTW…IT’S FREE!! Here are the logistics:

The Wind Up Space
12 West North Avenue
Baltimore, Md 21201
Door open at 9:30pm
8-8-2012
Show starts at 10pm on the dot with Saleem

Alright good people, until next time. Don’t forget to download and share the new songs we’ve posted on ReverbNation. Also, hit us up on Facebook and tell us what you think. THANKS for your ongoing love and support of GOOD MUSIC! Please tell a friend, and continue to help us spread the word!

Peace,
Natashia M. Heggins
Artist Mangement,
Sowl Music L.L.C.
443-804-8587

I begged Natashia to let me in on a little Hump Day Train love. So many things have happened since last we talked and I wanted you to hear from me directly. The short story version is…life happens:-) The long story version is a little more complicated. You are family to us, so we’ve always endeavored to be as honest as possible with the ups and downs of life. In this case, we’ve been incognito because we just burned out. Sounds simple huh? On paper it seems pretty straight forward, but there’s a background to that statement.

Most of 2011 was spent in the basement working on our eventual EP-Live Free or Die Trying. We put a lot of energy into making the EP a reality. A lot of planning went into the presentation, packaging, promotion, and projections (I know, enough with the p’s:-). We had flow charts, SWOT analysis, targeted marketing strategies, weekly goals, monthly goals…the list went on and on. This may sound like great preparation on our part—and it was—but it was also incredibly draining. More to the point, we lost ourselves somewhere along the way. We started being all about the “business” of the music business, and not about the ACTUAL MUSIC. Instead of quarter notes and similes, our minds were filled with stats and graphs. So our artist selves started rebelling against our business selves and after our EP Release party we did the most counterintuitive thing imaginable…we went into hibernation. There were no follow-up gigs, no write ups, no radio interviews, etc… We didn’t do anything to support the EP release and it ended up being one of the best things we could have done because we got back to the basics—which is making music.

Although we hibernated, we were still really busy. We performed with our great friend Wendel Patrick at his CD release party. We performed at one of Loyola University’s storyteller sessions. I performed at a Boom Bap Society event—big shout out to Max Beats and DJ Double8. We rocked out in Delaware at the Mojo Main club. We performed with Wendel Patrick and Dice Raw of The Roots. Caleb and I had the pleasure of performing live at MPT’s Chesapeake Volunteer drive—everyone there was incredible! We performed at Center Plaza for the Downtown Partnership. And finally, we traveled to Pittsburgh last weekend to perform at the famed Shadow Lounge.

Pittsburgh leads us to where we are now and the title of this lovely essay. The Shadow Lounge show was one of the most enjoyable musical experiences we’ve ever had. The owner/soundman Justin welcomed us in with open arms. Actually, everyone welcomed us in with open arms. The sound was incredible. Justin made sure everything sounded crystal clear. The atmosphere was electric. Without a top ten song on the radio, a glitzy video on television playing twice an hour, a Times Square billboard, or a full page magazine add, everybody in the club listened to Saleem & The Music Lovers. They weren’t sold a bill of goods or forced to listen to our music ad nauseam until they had to like it, they just loved music enough to listen. And we’re thankful that they loved what they heard. In fact, we’re happy to tell you that they loved what they heard enough for Justin to have us pegged for a follow-up visit later this year. And that’s why we do what we do. We don’t rehearse every week for four hours, write until 4-5am in the morning, and challenge ourselves to get better every day for projection sheets and flow charts. We make music because we love it so very dearly. We make music hoping that it moves you. We make music because it’s what we were born to do.

We thank you all for loving music enough to JUST LISTEN to us. Thanks for giving us a chance to win your hearts and minds. We PROMISE to take great care of them. I’d like to leave you with a few songs we created while in hibernation. One is a remix that Wendel Patrick did for one of the songs from the EP. One is a short song that our own Tangie B remixed. You can download both from our Reverbnation page. We’ll be sharing a lot of new material with you in the upcoming weeks. It’s our small way of saying thanks for everything. Oh, I almost forgot…TGIF Ya’ll!!!!

Yours truly,

Saleem

First, I have to send a warm welcome to EVERYONE who joined the MOVEMENT. From NY, to Delaware, to the internet and beyond, thank you for loving music enough to listen and join us on this musical journey.

I guess we’ve got some catching up to do. Thank you to everyone who came out to the EP release party. It was really incredible. Everybody was rocking out and enjoying the vibe. The Bluez Brothaz (DJ P-Funk and DJ Swyft) debuted their live show, Wendel Patrick rocked out for us with a new drummer in tow (Ethan), and Saleem & The Music Lovers took the energy through the roof. It was so good to look into the faces of the crowd as they heard the new material from Live Free or Die Trying.

Next stop was the legendary Mojo Main where we received an amazing reception. Delaware treated us really well. Jonathan took care of us on the boards and the sound was incredible. Seriously, I’m talking some of the best acoustics we’ve experienced anywhere! Thanks to Crossing Oceans and The Difference for the support. You got the energy going with your performances and you stuck around to rock out with us the rest of the night.

Saleem made a quick stop at Loyola the next night to perform with two immensely talented artists/friends, Wendel Patrick & Caleb Stine. It was wonderful hearing some oldies, but goodies from Outgrown These Walls, and Wendel and Saleem did their techno wonder thing onstage to the delight of all of the attendees. Sorry Wendel, but Saleem won again, lol!

Next it was on to Joe Squared at the Power Plant where Scott took care of us on the stage and in the crowd. I’m pretty sure he had his hand up the entire set. Thanks to everyone at Joe Squared. From the bartenders to the waiters, we were treated like family–and judging from the fist pumps, they really liked the music tooJ. The patrons were definitely vibing with us as well. We were able to tear them away from Tim Tebow and the Jets to get a couple of “Yes, Yes, Ya’lls !”

It’s been great to get out on the road. It’s been wonderful meeting new people and seeing new sites. It’s been incredible seeing the music start to spread out. We released the single “What The Fans Want,” and people are really starting to talk. You’ve been such a big part of that so I thought I’d share a few comments:

“We’ll definitely be getting this in rotation…thanks for the hookup!” – Cristina – WSJU

“I’m really diggin the Saleem & The Music Lovers record.  I love the flow.” – Lisa B. – WXIN

“Nice man, sounds a bit like a Pete Rock track but I guess that ain’t a bad thing!” – DJ Seryus – Ram Jam Radio – London, England

“Nice one from Saleem & The Music Lovers.  I appreciate their formula.  This works.  This will get spins!” – DJ Jason D – KRBX/KHDC

“Amazing!  Love this shit.  Obviously the production is reminiscent of some good 90′s shit.” – Jon?Doe – KCPR

“Dope.  One of my top 5 adds.” – DJ Kazzeo – KHDC

“Got this one on the show!” – DJ Phat Phillie – Blackout Radio – Zagreb, Croatia

“Dope song. I’m going to add it to my play list.” - Phil Jackson – WPRB

“Good record.  I like what they’re doing.  Definite spins here.” – DJ Mickey Sweet – KSYM

“Really feeling this Saleem record.  I put it in rotation.” – Patrick S. – KCSC

“Saleem & The Music Lovers were phenomenal! I’m a fan, seriously. One of the dopest sets I’ve seen. They gotta come back!” – Scott Altpeter – Asst. Mngr Joe Squared at Power Plant Live!

“Great sound, Great band, very professional” – Sean Gibbs – Parkside Lounge-Sound Engineer

“…the love child of The Roots, The Fugees, and A Tribe Called Quest...” – DJ K-Swyft – The Bronx Blend King WTNRRadio

“Opening for talent like KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Wu-Tang Clan and so many others is indicative of the fact that this group can hold its own with the heavyweights.” – Barrett King – Whatsupmag.com

Last, but not least, please come out to the Windup Space, 12 W. North Avenue, this Thursday to celebrate our last show of the year at Wendel Patrick’s CD release party. It’s going to be a blast with Eze from Soul Cannon dropping in and DJ Swyft on the 1’s and 2’s. Get your tickets here.

Don’t forget to get your copy of the new EP-Live Free or Die Trying. Then hit us up on Facebook and let us know what you think.

Alright good people, until next time. Thanks for your ongoing love and support of GOOD MUSIC! Please tell a friend, and continue to help us spread the word!

Peace,
Natashia M. Heggins
Artist Management,
Sowl Music L.L.C.
443-804-8587

Last, but not least, every member of our Hump Day Family will receive a link tonight to get the EP: Live Free or Die Trying before anyone else. We’ll send it out tonight, so keep an eye on your inbox

Peace,
Natashia M. Heggins