It's Here!!!!! The Nina Mosley Experience

Here it is....FOR DEE FREEEE!!!!! Tracklisting below

Download here is embedded player above doesn't show up


1. Persistence
2. Say Yes
3. The Highest
4. Pretty Brown
5. Newness
6. Unthinkable
7. Time Flies (produced by Doc for Rough Draft Ent)
8. Valentine
9. Betterman
10. I Need You
11. Make You Love Me
12. Paint Me Over
13. Again
14. Not My Girl
15. Do You
16. Dealing
17. Never See Me Again

The Nina Mosley Experience...

In honor of Valentine's Day (and more specifically because I've been extra sappy this week) I'm releasing a free mixtape tomorrow entitled "The Nina Mosley Experience". If you're not familiar with the story, Nina Mosley (Nia Long) was the love interest of Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) in the 1997 film "Love Jones". In the movie, Darius seemingly had himself together, but realized he was missing something. When he met Nina, he knew that she was a valuable missing piece to his puzzle. The story weaves in & out a realistic tale of love, hurt & confusion. I've noticed that every year more & more people are bitter around this time. People are either alone or in unfruitful relationships. And with the year that I've had, I've realized that all relationships, whether they be good or bad experiences, always come with valuable lessons that mold you into a better person. There's a little Darius in all of us; once we find out what it is we are purposed for, the next stage in life is to find our Nina Mosley. In that search comes a pleathora of emotions, endless highs & groundbreaking lows. But it's simply a part of life. The experience...in our search for Nina Mosley.

My Digital Music Store Is Up!!!!

Dreaming Out Loud is available DIGITALLY at armondwakeup.bandcamp.com. In addition to that I'll be uploading older music & mixtapes of mine as well as new music to download for free...I apologize for the delay

Speaking of new music...I've got something on deck for Valentine's Day


*pets cat*

This Is The Day...

Three years ago I remember sitting in the parking lot of a friend's apartment complex talking to God. I remember people in Spokane, WA (where I was stationed at the time) were starting to dig Wake Up 2.5, but I wasn't in that space spiritually anymore...I had outgrown those clothes, in a sense. I remember telling God I wanted to do something new, something that would show my growth, show people that He had really been working on me...clear as day I heard Him say "Monday Morning"...

Over the next few months, He began dropping reasons why I should call this project "Monday Morning". He began giving me song ideas, just to get the motor in my mind running. If you remember during that time I was putting out songs daily on my old imeem page (stupid myspace)..."Changes", "Better Man", "Newness", "Can't Stop"...I was on a roll.

Then life happened...

While not going into all that craziness that was 2008 & 2009, I remember more than anything not being able to write...at all. And everything I wrote was horrible, depressing, I was holding back. The decision I made to really submit myself & leave myself open & vulnerable (as I knew how...different blog) to Christ is what unlocked the door...

And here we are...Monday Morning became Dreaming Out Loud

February 9th...the 1st of MANY projects from me. This is like my baby. My daughter...both of my kids don't live with me, but this CD feels like I have my 3rd child with me. Your children say a lot about you. Your kids can tell your story better than you ever could.

When I listen to Dreaming Out Loud, I'm taken to a time where I was unsure...not unsure of who I was, but it's like I'm riding shotgun in my own car & had NO clue where I was being taken. Along the way I'd see landmarks, we'd visit rest stops & I'd document what I saw, how I felt, and how I thought about it.

And that's Dreaming Out Loud...

With this CD you'll see an long look into my dreams...my aspirations, my goals, my desires...and I hope I give you the encouragement to follow yours...

Below I want you to tell me your dreams...what do you wanna do not just in life, but this year period??? What will it take on your end to get it accomplished??? I wanna agree with you on those dreams & pray with you that a simple comment on my blog would be a planted seed, & that it would be the 1st step to seeing your desires come to fruition...

But before you do that, order my CD first

My Interview With the9elements.com "I Have A Dream"

Here's an interview that was conducted last night w/ the9elements.com. DJ Koast & IGOD have been supporters of my music for years & they've reached out quite a bit to get the word out about Dreaming Out Loud. We're working on some stuff in the VERY near future...stay tuned



http://www.the9elements.com/2010/02/armond-i-have-dream.html

Religion and Hip Hop have had a tumultuous relationship to say the least. With the misogyny, materialism and other vices that a lot of artists have shown over the years, religion and Hip Hop have more than once found themselves as adversaries. With that being said, there are Christians who live this culture and express their love for both God and Hip Hop in their music.



One of those artists is Armond out of Columbus, Ohio by way of the world. He went from using Hip Hop as a coping mechanism to now using it as a way to truly channel his creativity and just let people know that being yourself is the true meaning of "keeping it real" and this will be on full display with the release of his new album "Dreaming Out Loud" which drops on February 9th. I recently got a chance to interview him where he spoke on his beginnings, Christian Hip Hop and what keeps him grounded musically.





the9elements: Tell us a little bit about yourself?



Armond: My name is Armond. Some of you might've known me as epideMIC, I went by that alias from 2002-2007. I'm a writer, a speaker, an artist and father of two. I enjoy hamburgers, day old popcorn from the movie theatre and peanut butter M&Ms. I have a project "Dreaming Out Loud" that's being released February 9th courtesy of Elohim Media Group.



T9E: Your faith is a very important part of your life. It has a very heavy influence on your writing, especially for some of your latest projects. Have you worked with any other artists who may make gospel music or religious heavy music?



Armond: Honestly, nah not really. And that's not to say I wouldn't, because I'm sure in the future I will. The reason I used to do music was to hype myself up. I'm the illest, I'm the best. When really it was a front. I was a scared little boy. I didn't know who I was. I tried to authenticate myself through lies I'd tell in my lyrics. It's like nowadays, I see the same thing in a LOT of MCs and people in general.



My purpose for making music now is to show people it's ok to be you. We were all created different, yet we're choosing to act like robots. I think Christian Hip Hop has potential, but there's an identity crisis within the genre. You've got cats sounding like (Lil') Wayne and Jay. Then you've got other cats sounding like Kurtis Blow and Mellie Mel. Then again society as a whole has an identity crisis. People have to know who they are before any type of real change can occur.



T9E: Many artists credit going to church with having an influence on their music in general, is that something that you have experienced as well?



Armond: I heard somebody say "saying you're a Christian because you go to church is no different than standing in a garage and saying you're a car". The people in your life that you love, they are who they are because of the time you spent with them & the experiences you shared with them. And that's what God wants with all of us. Learn about God; who He is, what makes Him tick, the things He has for you. You can't just sit in a crowd once a week for 2 hours and experience everything that God embodies. While church is definitely necessary, what you do once you leave is just as important. You may be the only Bible somebody reads. You can go to church & once you leave nobody would have any idea that you even stepped foot in one. It's like taking a shower and you still stink once you get out.



Honestly a lot of Christians share the same disdain for religion that others do. We know the institution of church has become stagnant. We see the self-righteous and money hungry pastors. We see the lukewarm people condemning everybody to hell and still sleeping around. I don't think the world has really seen who God truly is. At the same time you'll never hear me claim to be perfect. We've convinced the world once you become a Christian you're instantly perfect. That's a lie. I still have problems, I still struggle, as a matter of fact I probably have MORE problems than you'd assume. But I'm good with knowing that God isn't gonna beat me up for falling short. It happens.



T9E: You've been working with the produced Doc for a minute, since about 2007. Are you guys personal friends, what is that relationship like? You guys seem to have good chemistry on records.



Armond: Doc's a good dude. There's a mutual respect between us. We just trust each other. I can't get beats from just anybody, I'm very picky. The glove's gotta fit. There's a trust factor. I trust Doc's ear for my style & Doc trusts whatever I do to his beats. If he sends me a wack beat I'll tell him. If my song is trash, he'll tell me. We push each other to get better because we wanna see each other succeed. He produced my first single "Rearview", as well as my favorite song on the album "Child Of God". We're gonna be doing a LOT more work together this year.



T9E: Who else have you worked with in Ohio and is there any artist in particular that you think have a chance to blow up on a national level?



Armond: Being a military brat and having served in the Air Force myself, I've been fortunate enough to travel around the world and work with a lot of artists. From Toronto to Chicago to Japan to Germany, DC, Connecticut, Turkey, NY, everywhere. I've only been in Ohio for maybe a year and a half. I think nowadays the goal for a lot of independent artists isn't even to "blow".



You look at Drake and he had the perfect setup and he's the #1 guy right now. But then you look at artists like Joe Budden who establish a solid fanbase, sell 20-30k everytime and do well off of that. The music biz is wide open right now. If major labels don't totally overhaul the business, they'll be gasping for air very soon.



T9E: What is the number one thing you find annoying in Hip Hop right now?



Armond: Only one?!?!?!?!? I would say the internet allowing a flood of mediocre music. It's getting harder to comb through the blogs to find dope artists. Everybody's got a youtube, everybody's got a twitter and everybody's trying to squeeze through the same door. Nobody's creative with their approach. What separates you from 9 million other artists?



T9E: Where can people find out more about you?



Armond: I blog…a lot. My website is www.armondwakeup.com, you can order "Dreaming Out Loud" there. Also I'm always on Twitter acting a fool all day at www.twitter.com/armondwakeup.



T9E: Koast wants to know if you still have the old "Hova" freestyle from back in the day? He said you can send it directly to him on twitter.



Armond: Nah I don't. Doc has it but he's gotta look for it. I don't have any of my old SOHH stuff. I don't want anybody making an album off that either (laughs).

February 9th (Dear Moleskin)

Usually after I complete projects I take a break from music. But, because prior to Dreaming Out Loud I was on hiatus for nearly 3 years I still have plenty to say. Basically this is like a continuation of Scared Of Me where I kinda just vent about issues going on in my life right now. My daughter's uncle being sentenced to 11 years in prison, a friend returning to my life after 7 years, our own petty desires (comparing a phone call from a girl to the Haiti crisis), etc etc. I really like this record, almost wish I'da made room for it on Dreaming Out Loud.

We Talking About Practice??

We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about practice. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game last it's my last but we're talking about practice man. How silly is that?

The infamous (and hilarious) words from AI back when he was a 76er (oh wait...). I don't know why, but for whatever reason his speech was stuck in my head this morning. I realized I never really paid attention to what he was saying. He was basically saying practice isn't important as playing in the game.

I disagree.

Regardless of how we feel about Beyonce, you can't deny she's a performer. Is she a great performer based off natural talent & ability?? Meh, to an extent. But when she's NOT performing, this is her 12 minute workout regiment.

MINUTE ONE: BASIC CRUNCHES
MINUTE TWO: BICYCLE CRUNCHES
Lie on floor, legs extended at a 45-degree angle. Bring bent left knee toward chest, reaching right elbow toward it. Alternate right and left knees.
MINUTE 3: REST
MINUTE 4: LEFT TWISTS
Lie on back, knees bent, hands behind head, elbows out. With feet on floor, curl up, aiming right shoulder at left knee.
MINUTE 5: RIGHT TWISTS
MINUTE 6: REST
MINUTE 7: PLANKS
Lie facedown. Support your weight on toes and forearms. Keep elbows directly beneath shoulders and body straight.
MINUTE 8: REST
MINUTE 9: PLANKS
MINUTE 10: REST
MINUTES 11 and 12: CAPTAIN'S CHAIR
Do 3 sets of 20 at a gym. Grip handholds and press lower back into pad, letting legs hang. Slowly lift bent knees to chest.


She also does the following:
Every day except Sunday, she does a 4 mile, 40 minute jog. After a warm-up, she increases the treadmill incline to 2 percent and switches the speed from 6.0 mph to 7.5 mph and back every 30 seconds.
After the treadmill comes a 20 minute dumbell session.

She's training her body so that when she's on stage she's not running out of breath, looking flabby & sick. When people tell you to read your Bible, and stay in prayer & worship, it's no different than Kobe taking 10,000 shots, or Beyonce running 4 miles six days a week. We're all preparing ourselves for the game.

You ever have that bad friend that only comes around when they want something?? You see their name pop up on your phone & you instantly know they're gonna bug you?? They need money, they need advice (about the same thing they were dealing with 2 months ago, and they STILL haven't taken the advice you gave them back then), etc. That's how a lot of us treat God. We don't approach Him or seek Him until we're in absolute need of something from Him. And what we do, is we end up limiting what it is He can give us because we're not trained up.

When I was in the military, one day during basic training we had to pack our bag with uniforms, boots, & supplies. 50 lbs were on our backs & we walked 3 miles to a campsite. In August. In San Antonio, TX. But nobody passed out, nobody faltered. Why?? Because from the first day we got off the bus we were doing pushups, situps, lifting weights, running, & eating right. We didn't even know we were going to be hiking that day. One day our instructor was just like "pack your bags" & we went. But we were ready at a moment's notice.

A lot of times we don't know when challenges will spring up. If we're being attacked on all sides & we're not trained up properly, God can only give us 20 lbs on our backs. And while that may sustain the enemy, it's gonna take more than 20 lbs of supplies to defeat him. If we were already ready, God could give us all 50 lbs to make the hike. We can only get by on "natural talent & ability" aka grace, but for so long.

Besides...do you want Jesus to hit ignore on his Blackberry when He sees your name pop up???