Harry Potter and the Boring A$$ Camping Trip of Magic

^^^The poster pretty much sums up the movie

Alright, let me start this off with saying I dig the Harry Potter franchise.  I will admit, when the books were blowing up I thought it was stupid and didn't understand the whole thing behind it.  (much like the Twilight hype) 

Although I saw the 1st two films in the theater, I honestly didn't really like the series until the 3rd installment.  The 1st two films suffered from UBER Chris Columbus family itis and honestly that was the main demographic for the early books and films.  But, like many franchise films, after the basic characters are developed, the later films can just kick it in 5th gear and drive.  (much like many of the comic book films... X-Men, Batman, Ironman etc.)  This is what was able to happen by the time "The Prisoner of Azkaban" hit.  The characters were pretty well developed and the ultimate storyline throughout the books were set in motion. 

Sit, and enjoy the ride. 

"Prisoner of Azkaban," "Goblet of Fire" & "Order of the Phoenix" all kept everything in motion as Harry dealt with the problems given to him in each installment.  By the time "The Half Blood Prince" was finally released, after about 6 months to a year after it was finished, the films took a different tone.  Not on action, but on moving pawn pieces.  Granted you had your splashes of action here and there, but the focus was more on drama and setting everything up for the ultimate showdown.  (which will be the final and 8th film)

Enter "The Deathly Hallows" (part 1)  Granted the last book has a lot to cover and from where we leave off after the last film, the crew has to really get down to brass tacks if they're really going to wrap it up.  So, what to we do with SO much stuff to cover?  If we have one movie that's about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, it's too short to really cover what's in the book and if we split it into two films... well, much like the two Matrix sequels it feels really disjointed.  The only time I've seen a film/series that did this and it worked well was with the Kill Bill films.  Between Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 you had two completely different films, styles and tones that ultimately would have made one real disjointed movie if it was released as one.  So, that's the elephant in the room with the latest Harry Potter book.  What do we do?  We break it up.

The result is a film that finds our heroes on the run and trying to discover how to defeat "you know who."  It starts off with a great pace, but then loses steam after they narrowly escape those who are chasing them.  The majority of the rest of the film then is mostly dialogue with little action as they are dealing with inner conflicts within their circle and trying to figure out how "you know who" can finally be destroyed.  When looking at the bigger picture, I understand that the film maker is trying to put our heroes at their lowest lows before wrapping up the 3rd act in "The Deathly Hallows (part 2)" BUT, with this film it does not translate like "Empire Strikes Back" or "The Two Towers" where you can look back and argue that it's the best film in the series. 

Now does that mean that this film is a complete let down?  No.  Although I didn't like the pace of the film and thought it lost steam after the one hour mark I understand where this film sits and how it plays in the ultimate storyline.  This may end up being one of those films that later on when everything is said and done, I'll probably dig it more, but I don't know and can't say at the moment.  I will say that when watching this in the theater I honestly wanted them to wrap it up and I haven't felt like that in a movie theater in a long time.  Maybe it is because this film is all build up with no release and therefore the audience, i.e. me, feels cheated.  The payoff that we want we don't get for another half year, so the 2 1/2 hours we spent in the theater was all just to prep up for the summer.   It reminds me of when I went to see "The Fellowship of the Ring."  There was a middle-aged couple sitting in front of me and when the credits rolled the husband turned to the wife and said, "3 and 1/2 hours and that's it?!"  "There's 2 more movies," the wife replied.  "DAMNIT!!!"

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1)    3/5

Dawhud goes to the movies!!!

I'm a big movie nut.  I always have been.  My 1st job was even at a movie theater.  At one point I was working at a movie theater during the day and a video store at night.  Those days were long, but are what paid for my Technics 1200SL and Vestax 06 Pro.

Anyway, I was thinking, this spot doesn't ALWAYS have to be about hip hop.  So, I will be posting reviews of movies I see.  Some, that are in the theater and some that I see on video. 

I got this idea when I kept throwing up very short reviews of movies on my Facebook page.  Why reserve that only for Facebook or Twitter?

I'll be posting some reviews shortly and fell free to comment on the reviews as I'm down to turn them into an open discussion.

Dawhud Drums from the EPS

Back in June I threw up an SP1200 kit with drums that were featured on "Basement Sessions" along with some other dope kicks and snares.  A lot of cats DL'd the joint and I heard several cats use them in their mix.  I'm glad cats were diggin' the drums that were straight off of my collection of disks. 

Back then I said I was thinking about putting together drums from my EPS, MPC etc.  Well... after finally getting some time and having the right person to get me motivated, here are some classic drum kits off of disks from my EPS Classic. 

These drums are NOT from projects, but instead classic kits that have been run through the EPS to get that 12bit sound.  You MAY have these drums from another source, but do you have them from an EPS?  My guess is no. 

Check it out

Alesis HR16B
Alesis SR-16
Boss DR550 Mk2
EMU Percussion kit
EX7
Korg M1
Korg T1
Roland JV-80
Roland MC-303
Roland R8
Roland TR 808
Roland TR 909

Dawhud EPS drum kits (12bit) link here

Dig the drums and I'm hoping to put more up soon.

Keep it LOCKED!!!

If you're having issues with the link, throw a comment in the post and I'll find another site to upload the folder.

F-R-E-S-H DIPPED IN A PAIR OF CHUCKS!!!

This is a joint from the "Dub Styles" project.  Those of you that heard the leak of "Dub Styles" got to peep it.  I'm not sure if its on the myspace, but that joint's been forgotten.  Anyway, I wrote this track because I was just remembering the types of clothes I wore back in the day and how things have changed.  Then when I was at the beatbattle earlier this month there was this kid there with a hightop fade and an Oakland A's baseball jersey.  Now it was kind of fresh, I'm not going to lie, but duke couldn't remember when cats wore that ish.  I myself do and the circle of cats I was in jokingly mentioned that these kids should bring back Hi-Teck/Jodici boots.  HAHA

Things have changed, things have stayed classic and somethings have come back without their original meaning.

Well... for you kiddies, here's this joint. 
FRESH (in the day) by Dawhud

Here's another joint I wanted to share and show the side by side of the original and the redux version.  On the "Lost & Found" comp I had the original version of "Lyrics & Beats" I did around 97/98 and mentioned that I reused the hook for another song.  Funny, because the hook ended up on this total redux of "Lyrics & Beats" and elements of one of the original verses ended up on "Come Equipped" on the "Dub Styles" project.

Lyrics & Beats (from untitled Dawhud project)
Lyrics & beats by Dawhud

When hearing this version it's on some gutter/basement boom bap.  Simple yet effective... some just want lyrics & beats.

Lyrics & Beats (Original Version)
Lyrics & Beats (original version 98) by Dawhud

Here's the original version from 97/98.  The horn sample came from a porn movie that a friend of mine brought over to my house.  I honestly hooked my tape player up to my VCR and taped the sample off of it.  Later when I got my SU10, I loaded it up and looped some drums.  I always dug the basic elements of this song, but it just didn't come out the way I really wanted, I guess that's why I kind of gave it the redux and chopped up verses to use on other tracks later on. 

Dawhud - Lost & Found (1997 - 2000) demos (free DL)

LOST & FOUND (1997 - 2000) Demos, Skits and Lost Joints.


A few months ago I started uploading old demos on the blog with pseudo commentary/behind the scenes info of the tracks.  I have compiled all of the tracks with pics and flyers in a single DL for you to enjoy. 

These tracks were recorded between 1997 and 2000.  Some of these demos were reworked for the "Basement Sessions" LP.  This collection works as a companion to the "Basement Sessions" LP and really gives you a glimpse of what that project came from. 

Click Here to DL Dawhud - Lost & Found (1997 - 2000)



If you are having trouble with that link, try the Bandcamp page and DL the comp there. 

Lost & Found (1997-2000) Bandcamp page


Lost & Found (1997 – 2000)

1) It's the Click (SYA) (98)
2) Is You Gunna Come Witt (97)
3) Purification (98)
4) Most Don't Come Close (98)
5) Look, Listen & Focus (97)
6) Lyrics & Beats (98)
7) Wild Style (98)
8) Do You Wanna Rock Wit Me (98)
9) T.E.C.H. (98)
10) Deja Vo (skit) (98)
11) Elements of Hip Hop (99)
12) T.E.C.H.in' 2 (98)
13) World Premier (99) original 4 – Track version
14) The Mob Comes Equipped (98)
15) From This Moment On (00) original 4 – Track version
16) Cheeseburger Delux - Grand Buffet (skit) (98)
17) From This Moment On (00) digital 12 track version w/o Just Be vox (bonus)
18) World Premier (99) digital 12 track version (bonus)

BRAINS!!!!!! (sneakers, zombies and wack costumes)

It's that time of year to dust off the Halloween Pro-Keds and kick it.  Yep, Fall is in full effect.  Just before I was going to head out on Saturday I realized that there was that brief window of time that I could still rock those kicks.  BLAM!!!  Went back to the closet and pulled out these bad boys. 

Now, I'm not a HUGE sneaker head, BUT I do have a few pairs of shoes that I keep in the box and rotate with what I'm doing.  These bad boys I copped off of ebay because they were out of season.  F-R-E-S-H!!!  I'm not a big fan of orange and most people aren't, but the Jack-O-Lantern and Headless Horseman on the side are ILL!!! 

Another thing that's cool about these kicks are that when you open the box the tissue paper on the inside has blood splatters on it.  HAHAHA  Just dope!  Knowing how much I love these kicks, I should see if I can cop the other limited Halloween joints they made.  (Friday the 13th and Dracula kicks)

Speaking of blood on my sneakers...

Classic track!!!!!!!



After donning the shoes and having a full day, Kath and I went to Broad Ripple to get  dinner and were greeted by a sea of humanity... or zombies that is.

I knew in Ballard they would do zombie walks, but I never happened to be around when one popped off.  I grabbed my phone and hit record. 

Please note: Zombies will break character for beer.



After the large throng went past we made our way closer to our destination and saw more of them waiting on the other side of the street.  Please note: Zombies apparently obey traffic laws.






Even in large numbers zombies will allow oncoming traffic through their large mobs.  Interesting.

Outside of the sneakers I will not be doing anything special for Halloween, but I will show you one of the wackest costumes I have ever worn.  Now I don't remember this costume at all, but I always remember the picture in one of those incredibly embarrassing photo albums your mom makes to show your girlfriend.  The best part of this costume was the fact that my mom obviously was working hard on it because she crocheted the mask/wings.  Now that's not what's funny, what IS funny is that she just plain said, "forget it" and threw a garbage bag over me to finish the costume.

Now this is just ONE example of all the wack costumes I've worn over the years.  There was the one year I went as a vampire.  Now I didn't have a vampire costume, I had a poncho with a picture of Dracula on it and vampire fangs.  I couldn't talk with them in my mouth so I either had to mumble "trick or treat" or take them out of my mouth.  Then there was the year I wanted to be Batman and we got the "bootleg" Batman costume that my mom altered because she thought it was TOO dark to be wearing at night and sewed a large Batman logo with glow in the dark puffy paint on the cape.  (hey mom... see picture above for example of a dark costume... honestly a black garbage bag isn't going to say, "Hey driver, don't hit me.")

I could go on and on, but I don't have any pics for ya'll.  (I digress)

Anyway, have a Happy Halloween suckas!!!!!!!!!!

Beat Battle

Boom!!!  Yesterday I was in the Broad Ripple Music Festival's Beat Battle that was sponsored by Heavygunblog.  Indy has some serious heatmakers and they all brought it for this battle.  The night before I was up till 1am working on some beats to throw in the mix.  One of them was a sample challenge beat for the battle using theme songs from the 80s.  I went through some 80s soundtracks I had and came across this.

Dawhud - Ghost flip for Beat Battle by Dawhud

It wasn't until the day before that I realized that the battle started at 1:30pm and went all the way till 9:00pm.  The moment I found that out I honestly couldn't help but think, "damn... phawk braggin' rights, let me get eliminated."  HAHA  Don't think I "booby trapped" myself, but when I didn't advance I called up my wife and was ready for a sandwich and a nap.  HAHAHA  No joke I was eliminated by a cat that goes by JP.  He looked like a "hippie'd out/Yoko'd" John Lennon with a green leisure suit.  He played some dope stuff, but in my opinion they were more on some DJ Cam/Krush chill beats than some battle joints.

This is the 1st joint I played and the beat that I actually did at 1am before the battle.

Dawhud - Battle joint by Dawhud

Unlike most beat battles I've been in there was no back and forth, they just had me play my 2 beats and then JP played his.  The judges made their decision and that was that.  Also, the sample challenge beats weren't played until the 3rd round, so unless you made it to the 3rd round, nobody got to hear it.  However, J. Brookinz and Heavgunblog is putting a comp together of all the sample challenge beats with some local emcees over them.



Here's the 2nd joint I threw in the mix. Looking back I would have picked something else, but that's what I picked because I had no idea what JP was going to come with.  So, BLAAAM!!!!

Dawhud - 2nd battle beat by Dawhud

All in all it was dope and after taking a "disco nap" I was recharged and met up with Joe Harvey, Longevity, Blake Ali, Rusty and a bunch of the cats from the show earlier at Locals Only.  It was kind of an after party for the joint. 

More stripes... dig the beats.