Congrats to the homie Shad on the Juno award!

Last night at another classic Drake Underground Skratch Bastid 4AM-licensed banger, Shad hopped on the mic to freestyle, fresh off his Juno win for Canadian Rap Recording earlier in the evening.

Last year I was fortunate enough to visit and play in the beautiful country of Japan. It was a great cultural experience on many levels – the music, the food, the people… everything was so unique. I played 3 shows (Tokyo, Kyoto & Mie) and setup shop in downtown Shibuya on the back of a truck.

It was so fun. The visit changed my life, and it truly saddens me to see what’s happening over there right now. They are such nice people and for such a heavy disaster to be sprung upon them as a country is just unfair.

Keeping it on a positive note though, earlier this year I coordinated with DJ Sancon, who did shows with me in Kyoto and Mie, to come over and play some shows in Canada in a ‘DJ exchange’ of sorts. Sancon’s hometown of Kyoto was lucky enough to not be affected by any of the tragedies thus far, and he will still be able to come rock some shows with me in Canada this weekend. And as a treat he will be bringing a few crates of records to play a vinyl only set. Dedicated!

Friday March 25th, we will be in my hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia at The Paragon Theatre. Also jumping in to show off some Canadian talent are MCs Quake and Tachichi. A classic Halifax hip-hop show with a Japanese touch. RSVP on Facebook.

Saturday March 26th, we will be at The Drake Hotel in Toronto, Ontario. It’s a big weekend in The Big Smoke as it is the weekend of the Juno awards, and so the bar will be open until 4am to celebrate. We’ll be joined by the inimitable Your Boy Brian and, well, you never know who. It’s Juno weekend, and there are a lot of people in town. Something tells me there will be some surprise guests as well…

As loyal fans, I would like to give you the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to the show you will be able to make it to. 1 set of tickets will be given away for each show and here’s how:

Head over to my Facebook page and come up with a caption for this photo.

Just leave your caption as a comment on the photo to enter, as well as #TO or #HFX to indicate which show you’re able to make it to. We’ll choose winners later this week.

Only thing that I ask is when you come to the shows, make some noise… because the guy doesn’t speak english!

A portion of the proceeds from each show will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross to aid relief efforts in Japan. We’ll also have a donation box if you’d like to dig a little deeper. You can also order one of James White‘s amazing “Help Japan” posters (pictured below) by clicking here. All profits from these sales will go toward relief in Japan.

UPDATE: Great news! Halifax-based visual artist James White (who in his initial run of posters generated $7250.00 in donations) will be coming out to this Friday’s show at The Paragon Theatre (featuring Japan’s DJ Sancon) to setup a booth to sell his awesome poster (above) and raise money for earthquake relief in Japan. We will be combining proceeds from the door, poster sales & donation box to make a big lump donation to Canadian Red Cross.

We will also have a donation box set up at The Drake Hotel on Saturday night for those in Toronto looking to contribute. Let’s help make a difference in a country in need, while enjoying some of it’s musical export. Please come out and support.

See you this weekend!

UPDATE: Thank you for all of your generous support. Thanks to the fans, artists, staff and everyone involved, we raised $1184.25 for Canadian Red Cross in support of Eartquake & Tsunami relief in Japan/Asia! Big thanks to James for taking time out of his busy schedule ($15,000 in fund raising!) to participate in the event. And thanks to Sancon for keeping high spirits and contributing to the international vibe of the night in person! Here is our official donation email:

Juno Hoops was a great event! We had a strong squad: The Score’s J.E. Skeets and I held down the PG position like anvils, while Devo Brown had a big start to the early 2nd half with 3 3′s in a row, Ryerson University’s Jordan Gauthier threw down a huge 29 with a few thunderous dunks, while his ladies team colleague Alexandrea Tkaczyk took home MVP with some great play down the stretch. Drake’s DJ Future The Prince also came alive late in the game with some insurance shots to solidify the win. 2-time World 100m Champion Donovan Bailey was out with an injury, but still contributed in raising the spirit of our passionate squad. MC P. Reign, UMAC‘s Will Strickland & Globe & Mail’s Michael Grange all contributed in their respective positions, to the approval of coaches Roy Rana and eTalk’s Tanya Kim.

All of this together led team “Bounce” to the 89-79 win over the Ray Robinson-led “Groove” squad to take home the first ever Juno Hoops basketball title. Here’s some coverage in the VANCOUVER OBSERVER, RAPTORS HQ, and a video blog over at The Score with J.E. Skeets & Tas Melas.

Read the rest of this page »

CBC has been doing a TON of articles pertaining to Canadian hip-hop on it’s Radio3 blog over the past few weeks. Some really interesting stuff has been written. Fellow Canadian hip-hop artist (and writer) Mindbender (pen name: Addi Stewart), ever critical with the pen, has been posting at a solid pace and wrote some very kind words about me over there this week.

Skratch Bastid (né Paul Murphy) humbly honed his craft in his bedroom like the legends who laid the groundwork for all modern DJs; he carries on tradition while reinventing the wheels of steel. Minds as creative as Margaret Atwood and Mordecai Richler would be hard-pressed to find the right words to describe the visual and sonic impact of the Skratch Bastid Concert Experience.

Slow down, son, you killin’ em! Read the whole article over here: Mindbender’s Masters of Rhyme: Skratch Bastid.

The CBC Hip-Hop Summit will be filmed March 29th and airing April 1st on CBC. Check the line-up in the affore-hyperlinked blog post.

Once again, it’s on.

Some time around 2003 I played an ill little snowboard jam out at Mont Saint Sauveur in Quebec. Mark Frank Montoya and I slayed a packed house in the middle of the woods… mosh pits and topless chicks. I missed my flight the next day, and I’m usually on top of that stuff!

Well, that little snowboard jam has snowballed into a multi-continent competition and weekend of events. The Shakedown is now in Germany, the United States and of course Canada, backed by Ride Snowboards and a slew of other sponsors. I’m teaming up with my good buddies Team Canada DJs as well as my old Montreal friend DJ Psychology.

Check the dope flyer below… and see you there. As a bonus, I’ve included a Team Canada classic that I still play to this day. As championed by DJ AM (RIP), Z-Trip and many, many more. Click ‘Read the rest of this post’ if you don’t see it below the flyer. Peace!

Read the rest of this page »