I'm currently sitting at my kitchen table, by myself on my laptop. It's about 10:45 on sunday morning and myself and the rest of the crew is about to leave to go to downtown Nashville for the last day of a three day swim meet. My girls are extremely good swimmers and they are in a year round "swim school" that has trained olympic swimmers. I'm not saying that they are olympic swimmers, but they're in this program that grooms those athletes. Anyway, these meets are very long and very arduous! They've done well up to this point, so I imagine they'll continue down that path. At any rate, it's quiet in the kitchen so I had time to do some thinking, reflecting and listening. So, I went over to Sonofmack's blog page and listened to his podcast where he's interviewing Dkun Frost. If you guys haven't checked out his podcast . . . you should! It's really entertaining and informative. Plus, the sound quality is pleasantly high. If you're not familiar with his podcast site, it's http://remixingbeatmart.libsyn.com. Trust me, it's worth it! Also, be looking for new swag sometime this week in the Beatmart store at beatmart.com. The picture is of my twin girls at the swim meet . . . OH, the joy! B's up!

Here's #17 right on the heels of #16 because we wanted you to hear and experience the heart of Rob Hodge. He answers the tough question that dealt with the "arrogance" issue. Son of Mack drops the hard and poignant questions that gives you the inside scoop. Thanks to J. Rippa for another hot track, eventhough it didn't have a hook and you guys know how I feel about hooks! :-) Get your songs in for the Big E contest by Sunday midnight. Plus, make sure you start getting in those submissions in for volume 3. Voting starts July 1st. Lastly, I want to say a special Happy Birthday to my brother and partner Troy Collins. He's 35 today, so you guys make sure and get on the message boards and wish him a happy birthday.

Alright y'all, this is the end of a 5 day stretch in which we had the Philadelphia Flyers in town to do some photo shoots, recording, and relation building. Japhia Life, Rob Hodge, and Pettidee were all together at once to do some recording and be in front of the camera. Things went EXTREMELY well and the creative juices were flowing in more than a few ways. Thanks to all the guys that helped out in a bunch of different ways. I can't wait for you guys to see some of the shots we got of the fellas. They turned out extremely good! Hope this finds all of you doing well out there in "Beatmart land." The picture to the right is of J. Life, Me, and Petti outside of my studio. Don't forget to get those songs in by midnight on Sunday the 26th. B's up!

Okay guys, It's 11:10 pm and I'm thoroughly BEAT from the past days' activities. I want to do something a bit different here. I met a huge supporter of Beatmart today that we invited to come down and be a part of the shoot and to help gather content for you guys. I asked him to summarize his thoughts of the day, not knowing what I would get. It was so moving to me, that I wanted to share it with you. Here it is, from Ky-Ill. "WOOOOO! B's up! The catch phrase so often used by those who rep the the B. Well, today there was an all new meaning brought to B's up. B really was UP today in Nashville, TN. After a 6 1/2 hour drive, I arrived in the great city. From the moment I arrived till the moment I went to bed, Beatmart was moving and so was GOD. Upon arriving, I jumped out of my vehicle and jumped into Troy Collins' vehicle. We then went to this gully COUNTRY restaurant! I sat around the table with Todd Collins, Troy Collins, Rob Hodge, Japhia Life, Pettidee, Sonofmack, Eddie, and 2 other guys that I don't remember their names. They will have to forgive me for that. So we ate, A LOT! I mean this place was so COUNTRY that we had to pass the food around the table. It was a soul food place, but anyway. We rolled out from the restaurant holding an extra 10 lbs. and headed off to do some photo shooting with Rob, Japhia, and Petti! So we shoot these shots and I get to know Japhia, Rob, and Petti a lot better in this happening and actually get to see these guys away from the pictures. This was when GOD really started moving in on me. My exchanges with Rob were almost as if he was like a big brother. Punching and pushing each other, just joking around, being boys I suppose. It was really cool, to feel like a part of the fam directly after meeting these guys. So we moved on throughout the day and we hit up this one area with a huge blue wall in the hood. I'm talkin' the ghetto! I mean as soon as we rolled up, people started looking at us and we actually walked up to this corner to get this picture of the guys by this phone and what not. So all these people start rolling up asking who we are and what's going on and this is where you see the minister in all these guys unleash. Rob, Japhia, and Petti just start ministering to these people, showing them love, telling them about their ministry and what they do, etc. I mean, I was moved spiritually, I had to take a minute to praise GOD for the opportunity to observe what was going on and be apart of it. So, it was cool to get to see these guys actually living out what I hear in their music. I got to cop a sneak peak of all of their upcoming albums, and I have to tell you, despite anything I may have said. . . ALL three of them are coming with heat and you definitely want them bangin' out of your trunk! Ok, this goes out to all you cats wondering what Todd and Troy are like in person? Well, they are ordained ministers of GOD, whether they know it or not. I was ministered to by these guys in more ways than they know today. I got to actually watch Todd in the works of some stuff with Japhia Life and just how open and willing Todd is to work with people is amazing.. Troy is probably one of the most encouraging guys I know, I'm actually chilling at his house tonight and I met him about 10 hours ago. That alone means a lot to me, but I'm going to wrap this up. Today was a great day and I was glad to be apart of it and hopefully there will be many more to come. Beatmart is a great ministry, GOD had definitely put His hand on it.. Today, June 20th, 2005 I can truly say B's UP and understand it entirely!" Ky-ill

Today was ANOTHER meeting-type day! It seems I'm having entirely too many of these. I've GOT to be in the studio in order for our label to have any chance of surviving! At any rate, I got up very early this morning to go to my bible study at 6:30. I was up till about 2-ish. Therefore, I'm extremely tired right now. After the bible study, myself and Troy had a meeting dealing with the Songs of December record (our Christmas "product" record done by me and Big E). That went well, then I went to my next meeting with Steve Lotz. He's the guy that does most of my mixes for my records. He's done a ton of stuff and he's got a great ear . . . plus, he's just a good friend. So, we had lunch then came back to my studio to do some work on some of the studio gear to keep it updated and current. In the spirit of the meeting that I had this morning that dealt with a "Big E involved project," I figured I'd post a picture of my man sitting behind his desk at Nike doing his "corporate" thing. Don't get it twisted, there's a reason why the "E-man" is a very powerful man at the #1 marketing company on the planet . . . he freakin' knows what he's doing when it comes to marketing! B's up! p.s. Be on the lookout for the Philadelphia Philosophers to be in "Cashville!" Japhia Life & Rob Hodge arrive on saturday for their photo shoots. More info on the way!

This one's a shortened version just to keep you guys up to date on the happenings around Beatmart. This one is only about 7 and a half minutes long, so I hope you guys find it informative. Tons of stuff going on! Get those submissions via the cd in as of today! You can start sending in the songs to be judged for the first round starting July 1st! Also, get those songs in for the Big E song contest. Send those to: wrgopodcast@gmail.com. Please DO NOT send songs for the submission process to wrgopodcast@gmail.com. They will not get submitted for the contest! B's up!

Alright guys, here's the downloadable song for the "Big E Song Contest." Download the song and do your version of a song with vocals on it, then send your version back to wrgopodcast@gmail.com to be voted on by myself and Big E. The winner will then be put in touch with "Mr. Nike" for some special gifts. Good luck, and remember the track will not be posted for very long so spread the word. B's up!

This show is chocked full of music, info, questions, etc. Don't forget the "Big E Song Contest" for some Nike gear. Keep checking back here for the track that will be posted shortly. I've heard the track from Big E and it's cool, so I'll be interested to see what y'all come up with and who wins. Tons of stuff is going on with Beatmart. It really feels like there's a lot of stuff that's about to start poppin' off! With the Lord's will, there feels like there's a lot of successes in Beatmart's future. Keep us in your prayers . . . . we certainly need it. The picture is of some of the players on our men's indoor flag football team that went to the championship but lost! From left to right is: Rayna Stewart (former Tennessee Titan), Curtis Zackery (CZ from Best of the Submissions Vol. 2) Brent Rose (Franklin Police Dept.), & of course Me! Not pictured is; Kevin Dyson (Washington Redskins), Marcus Robertson (Tennessee Titans).

The weekend's here and I'm ready for the rest! Big E, out in Portland, has issued a challenge or contest of sorts. He's supplying me with a track to post here so that you guys can download it and make it into a full-fledged song. You guys will then, upon being finished, send it back to me to judge at wrgopodcast@gmail.com. The winner will then receive some Nike gear direct from Big E himself. As soon as he supplies me with the track, I'll post it here for everyone to download. Speaking of Nike gear, the picture is of custom made canvas Air Force One's for the 2004 Final Four. These were specifically made for the "Nike" teams' players and coaches that were in the Final Four. Hope all's well with everyone and y'all look for a new podcast (a for real one) sometime this weekend . . . hopefully. B's up!

Hopefully, this is just about the end of an extremely busy week of meetings and positioning for Beatmart. A lot of things are happeing aroung beatmart land and, Lord willing, some (if not all of them) will come to fruition. Today was another "meeting" day with our web people on "big picture" type issues regarding the website. There's a lot of great things in store and on the way at beatmart.com. I think you guys will really be diggin' what's to come. Such as, us loading up the e-store with merchandise and other goodies to purchase. . . including beats from the beatmart vault for purchase! That's just the tip of the iceberg. I'm also going to get a "for real" podcast, hopefully by the end of the weekend so be on the lookout. I'll put up some songs, answer some questions, and talk about some issues. The sneaker in the picture is the rare Air Force 1 Premium snake skins. Thanks for listening and stay tuned in. B's up!

This is #13 brought to you from the road in the car while traveling between meetings. I'm going to get you guys a more "professional" cast sometime in the next few days. The picture is even from the resturant that we were having a meeting at. There's a wifi hot spot in the resturant so even the upload is from the road. There's a ton of info in this one, so listen carefully. Hope you guys enjoy! Special mention goes out to Battleaxe. . . welcome back homie! B's up!

Okay, okay! I know . . . it's been a while since I podcasted another show. I promise I'll get a new one out in the next day or two. It's just that things with the label are moving so quickly, that it's hard for myself and Troy to keep up with everything. But trust me, there's a LOT of potentially big things that are in the works that I can't legally speak about until things are finalized! Of course, you guys will be the first to know. One thing i CAN say is that, within the next 7-10 days there will be new merchandise on the website that you guys can choose from. There'll be a sweatshirt hoodie, t-shirt, hat, and all of the other assorted merch items that include 3 other shirts in different styles. So keep checking beatmart.com to get your exclusive Beatmart gear! Also, if you haven't signed up for the street teams, phone text messages for updates, or the message board, you can also do that at beatmart.com. So go check out the site and surf around and stay a while. I don't think you'll be disappointed. As for the picture; it's Dkun Frost and his son after a performance at the Underground 101. I posted Dkun up here because there's some big things about to pop off for him, so stay tuned here and you'll be the first to know. B's up!

Back at home . . . finally! It was a long but productive week in Portland, OR. Apologies go out to Soul Plasma. I was going to hook up with Soul, but the schedule in the studio didn't end up working out. Sorry about that Soul! The hymns record is now finished and ready to go to mix and mastering. Mix starts later this week as I get tracks ready to go for he Fresh Digress record and I also have to finish 3-4 more tracks for the much anticipated Japhia Life record that will FINALLY be coming out on Beatmart. Go to Beatmart.com! The new site is up and running quite nicely. There's still some tweaks left to fix, but over all, it's going rather smoothly. If you haven't been to the site, go and check it out and stay a while. We feel confident that you'll really dig it. Let us know what you think. PLUS, send in your pictures to wrgopodcast@gmail.com and you could possibily get yours posted. . . yours are coming Dkun! The picture is of a rare pare of limited edition Nike Dunk SB's that I brought back from my trip to P-town. Props go to my main man Big E for the love! Check out the pink limited edition box. Y'all don't know nothin' bout that! B's up!

Aiight y'all, beatmart.com is about to launch in the next 24-48 hours. I urge all of you to go and re-sign up on the message board, street teams, etc. We need your help to deliver traffic and keep things flowing. It's going to be bigger and better so let us know what you think. For those of you helping out with being a moderator, you should have received an e-mail from Troy Collins regarding info and responsibilities. This next year is going to be a big year, so get ready for the ride. It'll be stressful but I'm in it for the long haul and I'm keeping focused on the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow. Myself and Big E are still working on the hymns record and things are going well. The record is sounding extremely good! I'll keep you posted as to the completion of it and how & where you can hear it. The picture is of me on the phone (doing what I do well) while still working. B's up!

Right now at this time, I'm sitting in the back of LabWest on this LONG comfortable couch sitting and thinking about what I'm going to bring you guys. Big E is in the captain's chair tweaking an arrangement of Amazing Grace on the piano. He's in his element right now, loving life! He's constantly turning looking for approval as if he's not sure of his abilities. The thing is, he's more than qualified and certainly doesn't need me to tell him what to play. For those of you who like chill-out type of music that's a laid back type of trip-hop, this would be a record you would enjoy. It's relaxing "headphone" music of songs that most of grew up on. . . church hymns. Trust me, it's unlike any way that you've heard hymns interpreted before. Things are going quite well in the P-town up in the northwest. Hope all is well and everyone had a great Memorial Day. The picture is of my man Big E at the keyboard doing his thing. B's up!