C.L.E Radio features Marv4morebeats

C.L.E Radio interviews Marv4morebeats, one of the hottest Christian Producers currently working. He has a ton of credits out there right now, but did you know he has dealt with pride on many levels? What does it feel like one some of the most well known artist call you to get tracks produced for their albums. Since we are all sinners and deal with pride it can be a testy situation by the natural flaws we are challenged by. Marv really shares his heart on this interview. We also talk to BJ from Fellowship Memphis as he explains how pride can effect our daily walk and how it can block God from using us daily. Whats really cool about all this is that we also still offer the free mix-tape with this show…that’s right all beats!!!! 20 minutes of blends from Marv and DJ Eklectic.

Here is the Free Mix-tape link!

http://www.mediafire.com/?mm3tm5ttnzz

C.L.E Radio Featuring Chell

C.L.E Radio Features Chell! Chell has been through a lot in his life growing up but also has found that through all these things we become Wise. Check Out the new show and see what were talking about.

Use the link below for the FREE mixtape!

http://www.mediafire.com/?vdwmme0t4iw

Distinct Sound

Back at the blog again… Have you ever heard a song for the first time and in the first few moments you knew exactly who the artist was? I was running some errands the other day and I heard a new song with a guitar riff for the intro. I thought it sounded like 3 Doors Down, sure enough it was. Next song had some heavy drums, I thought it sounded like Linkin Park, it was LP. A couple other artists come to mind with distinct sounds, beats from G-Styles have a certain sound, Doc Watson has gun shots in every beat(That’s a joke!). So it got me thinking as a DJ can I have a sound that is distinct. Can someone hear one of my mixes and say that sounds like DJ Eklectic without knowing that it was me? I dunno if I’m there yet but that’s what I’m building towards. In whatever you do, try to be different from others; you don’t have 2 go overboard but don’t be a carbon copy of someone else. Be yourself, different, original, and natural(lol)

Ya boy, Eklectic

C.L.E Radio interviews Alpha Projects Excelsius

Check out C.L.E Radio as we chop it up with Excelsius from the Alpha Project!

Make sure you check out the show first and then download the free 20 minute mix..

Brought to you by the good folks at C.L.E Radio! By the way, good look on the graphics by G-Notes for ink candy!

Download the mixtape Here

http://www.mediafire.com/?ytkjmxdmox4

I Wish I Was a Secular DJ

Yeah ya’ll, its ya boy DJ Eklectic, sorry I haven’t been on, I’ve been very busy. I’m gonna work on bloggin more often.

So onward to the topic of why I wish I was a secular DJ, before somebody gets angry at me and puts me on blast let me explain where I’m coming from. This has nothing to do with the message behind the music, I, like a lot of people, hate the message being put forth in secular music, especially the top 40. But I do see something in secular music that I don’t see in Christian Hip Hop, although to be fair things are getting better. Support for the DJ, I hear rappers give love to the DJs all the time and thats awesome, but one thing we really need is instrumentals and  a capellas!

I’m blessed to be a part of two mix shows, CLE Radio here on HolyCulture & Real Talk Radio on Dasouth.com. Picking songs for the shows is always a tough task because there is a lot of good stuff out there! I get a lot of music through the Kingdom Affiliate Record Pool and other sources. To be honest though, a lot of hot tracks don’t get played because I don’t have a way to mix them. I understand that rappers are on a platform and have a lot they want to say. But if you talk on your track from beginning to end and i have no way to mix your track in you probably won’t get played. I’m not saying that every track on your project has to have an instrumental or 8 bars of the beat at the beginning or end. But if you come out with a single it would be very beneficial for you and helpful for the DJs if we had some way to mix it.

I was chopping it up with a label owner about this, and one thing he told me is “There was a time when we weren’t organized enough to be doing that”. I get that and thats cool, but I think overall in HHH there is a lack of support for DJs as far as mixing goes. This is not a blog 2 put anyone on blast or 2 hate on anyone but just pointing to a place where the genre can be improved.

A few of artists I’d like to shout out for hooking DJs up(and i know these are the only ones), CLE(Pro, Andale, Kingston), Mark J, theBREAX, Sean Slaughter, Kaboose, & Tre9. I know there’s more out there, thank u 2 all those who are.

If u got any questions, comments, whatever hit ya boy up @ djeklectic@gmail.com

Power Of Music

Whatsup world,

Sometimes when doing music its easy to forget how powerful it is. How much it influences so many people. We may hear that song and it doesn’t impact us but it will rock somebodies world. Or we’ve heard it 100 times and so its not as powerful to us now. Its easy to get in autopilot mode, saying “This song is about God, its a cool message, I’m gonna play it” and we don’t even think of its impact. In this past week I was reminded of the power of music.

Its been a rough week, a lot of things have had me down. I’ve been frustrated, annoyed and discouraged. Ya’ll know what I mean, its not just one thing going wrong but its a lot of things adding up. I only seemed to get more and more frustrated until I threw on “Joyful Noise” by Flame. At the moment all my trials seemed smaller and I took my eyes off my situation and put them where they belonged, on God. I had to do this repeatedly, I played “Joyful Noise” at least once a day. Another song by Flame, “War of the Minds” has helped me out over the years as well, but thats another story.

There are a lot of people involved in Christian Hip Hop beyond the rappers, there are producers, engineers, radio hosts, webmasters, on and on. While our voices may not be heard, we are still ministering. We gotta remember that our work has an impact on so many people. I know my radio shows, and my mixtapes have had an impact on people. We may not hear about it but God is working through us. I’m gonna leave u with a verse, God Bless.

Romans 6:13
¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

2nd Round Knockout

Whats good world,

I am a big MMA fan, I watch it whenever I can. I actually trained in MMA Grapping for a couple months before things got really busy with school & music. Its interesting to watch and analyze match-ups and the different techniques fighters use. Every now and then I’ll be watching a fight and a fighter gets instructions from his corner but he completely ignores them. For example the corner will say, keep it on the feet the fighter immediately takes the fight to the ground. A lot of times when this happens the fighter loses.

The same thing can happen to us as Christians. We all sin, and we will continue to sin as long as we are alive. But some sins and some situations are avoidable. We have been given clear instructions through the bible  and we know whats right and we know the wise decisions. And yet we ignore what we know and we do what we want. Later we look back and wonder what happened. How did we get here? We got here form ignoring our corner. We always tell non-believers that the bible isn’t a set of rules to keep us from having fun but it allows us to experience true joy and true happiness. Yet sometimes we don’t believe it ourselves. “We say it won’t be bad this one time” or “Its not that big of deal” Next thing we know we’re a deep situation and it seems like there is no way out. Praise God for His forgiveness, mercy and patience. That He still loves us and cares for us when we don’t listen to His instructions. He always gives us one more chance.

God Bless,
Eklectic

Weapon of Righteousness

Whatup ya’ll its ya boy DJ Eklectic, I DJ for CLE Radio wit my dude Doc Watson. I also DJ for and produce Real Talk Radio wit my boys D-Kan & E. I doin this blog thing on Holy Culture; hoping to share perspectives on life and what God is showing me. Today I’m gonna talk about the big lesson I learned last year, and what I’m still learning every day.

2008 was an interesting year.  I began getting more visibility as a DJ; particularly on the secular scene. I should say that I was a Christian before I was a DJ and God led me to become a DJ, I always had a passion for music. I often thought about if it was bad for me to be playing secular music particularly the materialistic & sexual themes in today’s popular songs. I never really had a concrete opinion so I was out there playing whatever whenever.

In the summer of 2008, one of my boys hit me up about playing for one of the secular radio stations in town. I wanted to be a DJ for a radio station for awhile; it seemed like a great opportunity. I began seeking the Lord and talking with my friends about it. I got a lot of opinions on it. My boy Edgar aka E(from Real Talk Radio) was against it and he brought more than just an opinion, he gave me a few scriptures. It was Romans 6:13 that really stuck out to me.

“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”

Its interesting that the word “instruments” could also be translated as “weapons”. This was very challenging; for me to walk away from this opportunity meant walking away from money and exposure. Now I don’t really care about fame but I do want to get out there and let my music and talent be heard. It also meant walking away from some paying gigs; trying 2 get by in college isn’t easy, every dollar counts. I spent a lot of nights wrestling but I knew that in the end I had to stop spinning secular and give my dreams to the Lord and trust Him.

The Lord had taken care of me up to that point, He would continue to provide. I began to see secular music for what it was, I didn’t want 2 make a few bucks or get exposure by disrespecting the Lord with that music. And make no mistake about it, most of whats on the radio disrespects the Lord! With that battle won, I played at a lot of outreaches throughout the summer and continued seeking the Lord. As far as things went with a radio show, things didn’t pop off right away. I really had to wait for the Lord to move. October came around, D-Kan, E & myself started “Real Talk Radio” Its been going strong. Then back in February-ish Doc Watson hit me up about doing CLE Radio. Its been a blessing to be a part of both radio shows.

All this to say that, when you seek God and surrender your dreams to Him He does incredible things. I could’ve been making money by giving glory to sin. Instead I am giving glory to God! And thats more rewarding than any amount of money.

Peace & Love
Eklectic