Nearly a year in the making, here is the official video to “Gone”, directed by David Damen// of Arris Productions & Walter Nini, and Premiering through my friends over at Citybeat.

This is the first definitive release for my new EP “Synesthesia: The Yellow Movement” , which will be dropping later this Summer. It’s also the first domino we’re tipping over in a *very* long line of dominoes (be on the look out for new songs, videos, tour footage, shows, documentaries, etc.)

To quote my twitter timeline from yesterday, as I’m too lazy to write more today:

This video was made for people brave (read:stupid) enough to jump off the cliff and follow their dreams & passions. Leaving my job and life behind to do this as a potential career is easily the craziest, scariest, dumbest, smartest thing I’ve ever done.  The video is also a token of appreciation for all the people, places, and memories Cincinnati has given me. Thank You.

If you genuinely dig the music and video, I just ask that you share, RT, post and spread this as far as possible. If not, don’t;)

Below is a full list of contributors who made this possible:

I knew this would be great when I first saw it on paper. It sounds like I thought it would but better. Nothing else to say. Listen.

Enjoy the commentary via Killer Mike.

This Friday, we’ll be debuting the video for my song “Gone” at Northside Tavern as part of DJ Pillo & DJ Apryl Reign‘s Selectas Choice series.

The whole evening will be amazing automatically, as Pillo, Apryl & DJ Rare Groove are spinning all night long. The video is really just the bonus.

Plus, it’s my Birthday weekend, so come out and kick it. 21 & up, FREE.

Friday, April 27, 2012
@ Northside Tavern
4163 Hamilton Ave., Cincinnati

#SynesthesiaYellow

#BeCool

This Thursday marks the return of Ohio Hip-Hop artist Stalley to his hometown of Massilon.

As part of the Ohio Takeover 2012 Tour, myself and LxE for the Uncool will be joining Stalley for his Homecoming Show at Lion’s Lincoln Theatre on Lincoln Way (hence the “Lincoln Way Nights” album).

This is a pretty unprecedented event, and I think it’s going to be really special. Our homie Jean P will be opening alongside Maaly, L Jordan & CORE.

Buy your tickets HERE

While you’re anxiously waiting, enjoy a quick recap of our show @ OU w/ Dom Kennedy & Big KRIT, and featuring footage of myself, LxE & Stalley. Just a quick summary – a full documentary will be on the way soon.

My name is Tim Gmeiner. Those of you who read my blog know me as “Ill Poetic”, a Hip-Hop artist based out of Cincinnati & Columbus, Ohio. Over the past 4 years, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to pursue my artistry as a full-time career; touring and performing everywhere from Skate Parks in Germany to Community Centers in Cincinnati. One of the greatest gifts this winding career path has given me is the prospect of meeting so many people from so many different walks of life, all tied together through our common experiences and love for Hip-Hop Music and the culture surrounding it. From scene to scene and city to city, we become families of different races, genders, creeds, and sexual preferences. We’ve become a generation of kids who’ve peeled away our forefathers’ ugliest stereotypes without even realizing we were doing so. We are a culture with a wide range of values, beliefs, and life experiences, capable of exhibiting artists with messages from all ends of the spectrum; those positive, as well as those with the negative. Yet and still, a recent experience with Central State Universities Administrative faculty has shown that 25 years later, Hip-Hop as a genre, culture and community still finds itself defending its music and lifestyle to a population of people who group millions of complex, creative and intelligent people into a single negative image of the likes that Mainstream television and radio outlets project hip-hop to be.

A couple weeks ago, Central State University reached out to the “Ohio Takeover 2012 Tour” and requested we be brought in to perform at their annual Springfest Concert. We were set to be the sole headliners on the bill. For those unfamiliar with the artists on this tour, I’ll supply a quick rundown:

Myself – a Cincinnati-bred emcee & producer who has (hopefully) built a reputation for thoughtful lyricism and an overall positive message in my music, persona, image, and actions. I’ve volunteered and performed at numerous community events, local fundraisers and food drives and have actually taught a class on Hip-Hop at Miami University (there’s a reason I’m mentioning this beyond sounding like I’m full of myself, I promise).

LxE for the Uncool – A Columbus-based emcee who is nationally known for his heartfelt and introspective writing, as well as his progressive approach to hip-hop, choosing to exclude all curse words from his lyrics. A little known fact; LxE also spends time in Columbus’s Southside working to mentor at-risk kids. Not that he puts it out there like that, I just know him enough to know that this is how he chooses to spend his free time.

Finally, headliner Stalley – Not that Stalley is the first Ohio emcee to ever gain mainstream industry attention, but he may be the first overtly positive hip-hop artist to do such on his own terms: an artist who secured a major label deal with superstar Rick Ross because he told him he wanted to invest his future earnings into farmland for his family and future generations; an artist who builds his fanbase off of the Midwest Blue Collar aesthetics of staying humble, and working hard and honestly  to reach one’s goals and aspirations.

Ok, back to Central State.

Our booking company, VoiceOfRzn Management, has been handling the booking for this Ohio Takeover 2012 Tour. 2 Weeks ago, the president of Central State’s Student Government reached out to VoiceOfRzn with interest in booking this tour. They connected our booking agent with their Office of Greek Life, who put the order in motion to make our tour the official line-up for CSU’s Springfest on April 20, 2012.

As of Thursday, April 5, all things were reported to be a go, VoiceOfRzn was waiting for the final signature of approval from CSU’s Vice President of Student Affairs. Instead, our agent received an email stating CSU was no longer interested in bringing our tour their campus. This seemed highly odd, as they’d been all for it up until that point, and to change course two weeks away from the show at the last possible second didn’t sit right.

Sooo….

I was informed last night (Friday, April 6), that the Vice President of Student Affairs chose to veto our show because we’re Hip-Hop artists, and he didn’t want “our negativity” influencing the CSU Student Body. Instead, he preferred them to just “put some R&B artists on” instead. We would continue to find out that the VP has not reviewed any of our music, videos, or bios and is not interested in finding out who we are and what any of us stand for. He would be more comfortable canceling CSU’s annual Springfest Concert than having us perform.

   Now, I only know this to be the deciding factor by the reasons given to myself and our booking agent, and if so I commend his efforts to be cognizant of images and influences they subject the CSU Student Body to, but to deny access to an entire preeminent form of art solely off of an unwarranted stereotype of what “Hip-Hop artists” are and represent comes off as a very close-minded opinion to say the least. If he had taken the time to do any research on us as artists, it would be clear to him that we are precisely the type of artists that they should want the student body to be aware of, which present an alternative to all of the negative examples rampantly available to them each day. Not to mention, R&B isn’t exactly a beacon of piousness and purity rings. But I digress.

I want to write this to the CSU student body population: Before the CSU faculty announces that we will be unable to perform at your Springfest, I as an artist set to be on this bill would like to tell you we were stereotyped out of performing at your college. We were all extremely excited to give you an amazing and positive experience on April 20^th. We’ve already begun work on band rehearsals, set visuals, lighting and other performance elements designed to give you all as great an experience as we can.

So I ask all CSU Students who were looking forward to your Springfest Concert this year to peacefully and eloquently write, call, email and converse with your Student Affairs Office (specifically the Vice President) on why he feels a group of artists he’s never actually researched would cast a negative influence on your delicate college minds. Present him and them with examples of progressive hip-hop. You have the power and right to demand of your faculty an open mind to all forms of art, music and culture. You have the power and right to demand of your faculty the same things they demand of you: a dedication to learn about that of which they’re ignorant.

If you enjoy Hip-Hop you are Hip-Hop. When Hip-Hop as an art form is stereotyped, the entire culture is stereotyped, regardless of race, class, or gender. I’m not writing this out of anger, but out of a need to help those with outdated and false views of what we represent to see what and who we are. We are a complex, thoughtful, creative and intelligent population and deserve to be treated as such.

Central State University Facebook Page

Department of Student Affairs Contact Page (office numbers are available)

Department of Student Affairs Email Address  studentaffairs@centralstate.edu

- P.S. – In my years of performing, I’ve never once called out nor do I ever plan to call out a promoter or institution for poor business practices. If something isn’t handled properly, we settle it behind closed doors. However, I felt compelled to write this because  an entire genre and culture, not to mention the CSU student body is affected by this decision for practices I feel to be bias and unfair.

A while back, my homie DubMD reached out about hopping on an EP he’d be dropping titled “Requiem”. The record is now prepped to see the light of day this Summer, and he decided to leak our song as one of the first singles. I’m really glad this beat found a home (I always wondered how an emcee would’ve approached it).

If you’re not hip to DubMD, he’s done mixtapes for everyone from Columbus’s Dominique Larue to SlaughterHouse’s Royce the 5’9″.

Enjoy the song and download free HERE

As we prepare to announce a few more dates for the Ohio Takeover 2012 Tour w/ myself, LxE & Stalley, I figured I’d pass along the link to Stalley’s new free “mixtape” (read: album) “Savage Journey to the American Dream” (insert Hunter S. Thompson reference).

Download HERE. Hit the jump to stream live and watch the “Party Heart” video that was packaged alongside the album release.

I came across this compilation a couple days ago and have been listening pretty steadily. Plug Research is a label home for a really diverse array of artists, ranging from Sonnymoon and Bilal to Hawthorne Headhunters (a dope-ass group featuring St. Louis artist Black Spade).

“This is a free compilation that we wanted to share with everyone. All brand new musiccoming out on plug during the spring quarter of 2012. We have been at this for the last 15 years and at some point this year, we will have had our 200th release. This is the year of letting go. Opening the flood gates of Plug Research for all to enjoy all of the wonders we have in our vaults.”

DOWNLOAD HERE

I love the shit out of El-P’s music. Finally, a follow up to ISWYD (which was his masterpiece to me). Dude has been sorely missed in hip-hop these past few years. I posted about his insane joint “Drones over Brooklyn” a few months ago. Now, “Full Retard”.

New Album “Cancer for Cure” on deck.
Download the song HERE. Peep the change up at 2:42. This dude is so on some other shit.

Peep the Camu Tao/PRZM  “Lil Bitch/Count These Bars/On the Floor” Reference. Boom.

I usually don’t like posting about things everyone else has already posted about but….every once in a while something of genuine quality actual gets the attention it deserves. “Forever-N-a-Day” is the genuinely amazing record that is actually garnering this attention. I honestly didn’t expect to like this record as much as “Return To 4eva”, but I think I may like it even more (which is saying A LOT). Plus, I got to hear KRIT soundcheck “My Sub”  at the show a couple weeks back in Athens and I got all pumped and shit, so I’ve been in a big KRIT mood anyway.

KRIT’s writing keeps getting better and better. There are points in this record where I genuinely feel like I’m losing my breath at some of these verses (see “Red Eye“). KRIT’s (self-built) production is always on point. He’s diving into live instrumentation which is only adding to the lushness of the music behind him. Dude is EVERYTHING I love about Southern Hip-Hop. He gets it. I love his mind frame and where he’s headed. I don’t see him folding for much of anything to complete his sound and vision. That alone deserves attention in this day and age.

Oh yeah, and it’s FREE.