@RafaelCasal

Rafael Feat. Sir - "I'M GOOD" (The MEAN ONES Mixtape)

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:11:00 -0400

Getback Cypher Ep. 1

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:00:23 -0400

Getback Cypher Ep. 1

Under Construction…

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:20:09 -0400

Under Construction…

Upcoming Spoken Word show - March 15th, Cal State Long Beach

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:13:38 -0400

Quick show here in LA for the folks at Cal State Long Beach, come through if you are in the area!

#getback

"‎”Money won’t make you happy.” Yeah, well having a skateboard won’t..."

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:44:33 -0500

“‎”Money won’t make you happy.” Yeah, well having a skateboard won’t automatically make you a top skateboarder either but you still need it to get started, don’t you”

- a thought from today after hearing a rich man, who has always been a rich man, speak about happiness.

Rafael Casal feat. Daveed Diggs - SKITZO (FREE DWNLD)

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:27:36 -0500

Always supportin the homie DAMEY. I think he’s killin,...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:28:23 -0500

Always supportin the homie DAMEY. I think he’s killin, another artist that one song isn’t enough to get a good impression of. On one song he’s singin some r&b, another one he’s killin some hood beat, then he’s doin some party music - an artist not limited by what people expect from him. Check him out, and grab his project STORERUN CALI.

Art, voice, stories, are at their best used to create...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:21:18 -0500

Art, voice, stories, are at their best used to create perspective, empathy, and change.

MEAN ONES MIXTAPE - DREAMER

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 01:46:00 -0500

RECENT PRESS - THE RUMPUS, 38THNOTES.COM, AND CRAYONBEATS.COM

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:55:51 -0500

Very flattered this week that 3 amazing Art & culture sites showed love and discussed my new project MEAN ONES. Up top, the article with The Rumpus was an interview with author Matt Werner about my mixtape, the Bay Area, my thoughts on the Occupy movement, music and poetry. The always supportive Crayonbeats.com gave me a track-by-track review for the entire project (I love them because even though they dig my stuff they aren’t afraid to NAY a song), and 38thnotes.com gave an insightful overview and reflection on both the mixtape, and its context.

With music, artists so rarely hear back about the songs we release. We most often survey how we are doing in a few, relatively shitty ways - we get fan mail (rare), twitter love or hate, facebook/youtube comments, and people saying nice things at shows. These comments are so, SO appreciated, but also can leave us artists wondering, “WHY do you like this song, and not THIS one? Why do you keep tweeting that line, what makes you connect with me?” That kind of insight would be so helpful for me as a writer, to make sure I never sever that connection accidentally in my evolution.

Then comes the blogs, with their compelling interview questions and honest reactions to the project. I in no way want to invite too many opinions/criticism of my art - quite frankly unless its constructive or insightful, haters can fall back. But there is nothing like a fan of your music telling you WHY they are a fan, what touched them, and what they didn’t connect with as much. A good reviewer keeps all of that in the right perportions when responding to something an artist has taken time to craft, and the 3 sites above did it in the best ways. Click the images for links, or visit the sites themselves - rumpus.net, 38thnotes.com, and crayonbeats.com

THEATER: The ORIGINAL 3D film, son.

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:14:00 -0500

There is a stigma in LA about “theater people.” As I get deeper into the film world I am mentioning less and less frequently my background in the performing arts. If I was an aspiring actor, this background would be essential to conversation, along with appropriate screen credits to display my ability to deliver on camera. But for those who direct theater, it seems that the hollywood mentality is that our medium is the confused, ugly cousin of cinema. I say “our” not out of my ownership of the theater - truth be told I have been directing film productions long before I ever stepped into the stage arena. Theater, to me, has always been a place for me to work with actors, develop scripts and test them in front of a live audience without too much bureaucracy or budget. Making a film requires at least 4 or 5 zeros to be present in the pocket, and so theater seemed the best place for me to practice the foundation of directing without that sort of backing. A place to explore action, cultivate performance, and find ways to get the story told right. After a few years harnessing that skill set, my move back to film has been met with a certain level of judgement, and doubt. This was expected, as doubt always confronts change with a waving finger of disbelief and discouragement - but shunning my background in theater? I thought not.

Perhaps one too many theater directors have ventured to Los Angeles and belittled the film directors’ skill set, as if the camera were not a new world to conquer as well. And it IS it’s own world, the camera - a daunting addition to the execution of an idea for those who have never worked with one. But for those of us who have long been involved and familiar with the world of film, why is our background in theater worthy of an eye roll? “Oh, your direct theater….well this is a whole other ballgame..” say their speculating eyes. What would theater directors know of lighting, cues, sets, lines, make-up, costumes, acting, music, pleasing an audience etc. etc. As if cinema were not the child of theater, now scowling at its father screaming, “you don’t understand me! I am nothing like you!” only to grow up and become his shadow.

It makes sense, given that theater has so much respect for film yet little respect is returned, that they are father and son (or mother and daughter.) Yet my time in theater better prepared me to direct film more than any shadowing of any film directors I have done. In those moments peaking over a film director’s shoulder, it has always been conversations about the camera, the line, orchestrating the look of the shot, getting all of the shots needed for the day, it has been so….logistical. So task-driven. Theater directors I have shadowed are concerned only with those things as they aid the action, the performance. They scream in the faces of their leads, begging for arrival, giving grand speeches about intent, context, feeling, connection.

My move to LA has been about the marriage of those 2 extremes - knowing the technical aspects of film enough to invoke the appropriate mood and pace, while applying my time working with stage actors to get the performances I need to connect with the audience. In the theater, the audience sees the final show with the director. In film, the director must be the audience, and anticipate what they will and won’t like, months before they ever see it. Who better to direct an actor, tell a story, and please an audience, than a director who has delivered a compelling story successfully both with and without the involvement of a camera.

Don’t doubt me sucka. I got skills for mothafuckas like you. #BayBoyinLA

"One thing is certain, and must be emphasized from the outset: namely, that if any part of the..."

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:47:11 -0500

“One thing is certain, and must be emphasized from the outset: namely, that if any part of the dramatist’s art can be taught, it is only a comparatively mechanical and formal part – the art of structure. One may learn how to tell a story in good dramatic form: how to develop and marshal it in such a way as best to seize and retain the interest of a theatrical audience. But no teaching or study can enable a man to choose or invent a good story, and much less to do that which alone lends dignity to dramatic story-telling – to observe and portray human character.”

- William Archer, Play-making, A Manual Of Craftsmanship (via keithcalder)

"FALL BACK" - MEAN ONES MIXTAPE

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:18:00 -0500

Take a listen to this track FALL BACK from The MEAN ONES mixtape. click the image to listen, of HERE. The whole MEAN ONES project is FREE @ getrafael.com

"Storytelling is the knack of swiftly seizing the imagination of the audience and never letting it..."

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:33:36 -0500

“Storytelling is the knack of swiftly seizing the imagination of the audience and never letting it go. Digressions and elaborations are permissible, but only when the audience is already hooked by the promise of some satisfaction to come. The tension to that hook may be slackened now and again, but the line must be snapped tight at any moment when the dramatist senses the danger of losing his catch.”

- Alexander Mackendrick in On Film-Making (via keithcalder)

BALL SO HARD

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:43:00 -0500

In rap nowadays, there tends to be 2 main approaches to songwriting. There are rappers who talk about how hard it is, and rappers who talk about how hard it isn’t (Pause?). On the mainstream level, that winds up as rich people talking about the struggle, and rich people talking about the rich life. On the underground level, that means poor people rappin about being poor, and poor people rappin about being rich. Now, the songs you enjoy are really just a matter of taste, and philosophy - some people want to hear songs about being rich to forget that they are poor, and who better to write those songs than either a rich person, or a poor person who like you, wishes they were rich. Then, there are those of us who want to have our realities confirmed in songs that document and make public the condition of working class & poor folks in this country. Who better to do that than other working class people who know it first hand, or rich people who used to be poor. Right? sure.

So then here we have the Kanye and Jay-Z track “N*ggas in Paris” and below it, a new Mos Def cut called “N*ggas in Poorest” which serves as somewhat of a counter narrative to the Watch The Throne hit. While Jay and Ye brought the “ball so hard” feel that we all love to sing, but…keep it real…can’t identify with on any level, Mos did a more literal interpretation, painting the condition of black/brown/all poor folks in the US as it is. For the record, I am no Mos Def fan club member - dude is dope, but I don’t swing from the Mos Def sack. He is hit and miss for me, but this time he landed right on the mark. Towards the end of the song his, “Don’t get caught up in no throne” chant is a great reminder of what greed and money ACTUALLY does to people, right after the “ball so hard” moment comes the elitist, capitalist oppressive class divide that keeps the consumer poor so a chosen few can ball so hard. Props to Mos for this one.

Getback.

MATCH UP: EX GIRLFRIEND x MEAN ONES

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:59:00 -0500

Sometimes when I make a beat, I hear a few different songs over it. It evokes 2 different emotions, and 2 different ways of expressing that. With this beat, I decided to actually release both versions about a year apart - one about an x-girlfriend who seemed to enjoy that recurring role more than anything, and the second about the circumstances of stagnant young folks in the Bay Area, and my own personal experiences within that stagnancy. Very different, both stemming from feelings of frustration and gloom, which is what the music I composed made me feel.

If you hear one of my singing songs and think it would have sounded good as a rap song too, chances are I agree and already have 3-5 verses written. If there is a rap song that could have been a pop song, I probably wrote that too, and am trying to or have sold it to someone more fitting. Songwriting hype, I sing just to get the idea/lyrics out, other people can SANG sing. Enjoy the match-up of these two above, EX-GIRLFRIEND x MEAN ONES.

Getback.

ON SET: "OCCUPY" PSA

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:37:12 -0500

Got called in last-minute to help on another shoot today, this time for a PSA for the Occupy protesters. We shot a collection of soundbites and testimonials from 99 percenters and their opinions on educational funding, healthcare, business start-ups, and the American dream. A room of well-intentioned folks trying to create a piece of media that would inspire participation and growth of an idea. I was all for it. 2-camera shoot - one wide, one Mid Shot taken simultaneously, and posing/action b-roll sample of each speaker. Simple, somewhat standard, easy to execute.

"I will not live life in fear of death. I will not let a looming death force me to rush my life. I..."

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:42:00 -0500

“I will not live life in fear of death. I will not let a looming death force me to rush my life. I will live life as if it is long, because I plan for it to be.”

- Today

UCLA PANEL DISCUSSION: THE DIGITALIZATION OF HIP HOP

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 02:45:00 -0500

The other day I was invited to be on a panel about the digitalization of Hip Hop at UCLA. Among the Panelists where Domino from renowned music collective Hieroglyphics, 106 KMEL’s DJ Amen, the creators of music blog CSNoWheaties.com, an A&R from Columbia records, and myself. This question is one of my most popular among music folks -Producers, artists, promoters, etc. - “what will we do with music in this new era of internet music?” Labels are struggling to stay relevant, there are no universal working models anymore, and everyone has an opinion on how it should/could/will proceed. There is also a generational divide, as there always is when a structural shift drastically changes the playing field in any industry - a generation of folks that miss the era of CD sales and an (arguably) working model of music distribution, and a new generation that are enjoying more free music, and the independent hustle.

For the independent artist, it has become almost mandatory to provide a certain amount of free music to get fans invested. We throw concerts, do kickstarters and sell merchandise - this ends up being how projects and artists are funded. A large part of our conversation at the panel became about: should music be free? Why are labels struggling? Are blogs a good thing?

To be frank, I am long exhausted by questions like this - our opinion about IF music should be free is irrelevant - at the moment it IS mostly free, and until they find a way to stop people from trading music, the industry should adapt. Labels are struggling because they won’t adapt, and are too far removed from the music to come up with a relevant strategy. Blogs ARE the new labels. You pay them, they push your music, end of story.

And what are broke, independent musicians left to do if they don’t have start-up money or a great connection at a blog that might help you go viral? Bombard. Artists bombard their friends, fans, followers, fellow artists, and blog reps, hoping to gain support and catch a break. We have all had it happen - suddenly there is a music video on your Facebook wall, or a reply to one of your tweets with a link that says “Bruh, check out my new video, I swear I’m the greatest! New song: pussy poppin + link.” It’s not any more fun for the artist to spam you than it is for the recipient to be spammed, but when left with no other options, this is what bands with time on their hands resort to.

And why do artists do it? Fame. Fame has become the equivalent to currency in the independent rap game. The more twitter followers, youtube subscribers and Facebook LIKEs you have, the more shows, support and social currency you have to try and make other opportunities for yourself - sell tickets and merch, and hopefully get enough followers to eventually sell something with very little overhead. A noble goal, considering that if you keep say, 100% of your album profits, selling a modest 10,000 digital copies at $10 a copy could net you 100 grand.

Two major problems I wish I had discussed on the panel, but there wasn’t enough time to really get into it: 1. The lingering rap ego. The old industry we all grew up on, the one with big chains and expensive houses showcased on MTV is gone. Perhaps it was never entirely a real thing, but it is definitely a facade at this point, and any new rapper you see flossin is putting on a good show for you. This myth, combined with the new fake-it-til-you-make-it mentality is a main cause of stagnancy with new artists. Get off your fuckin’ ego trip dog, chill out and just make good music first. If you look at any good cult following, whether it be Jim Jones (not the rapper) or die-hard Wu-Tang fans who STILL rep hard, they bought into an idea, a culture, and felt included in the journey. Artists like Kendrick Lamar, Nipsey Hussle, Mac Miller, Nicki Minaj are perfecting this, and it hasn’t been through holding up markers of success or getting ahead of themselves, it has been through over-proving themselves time and time again. Proving their worth to an industry that doesn’t want them to succeed because the industry can’t make a fortune off of artists like them right now.

2. The music industry is not the only artistic field that is struggling, and it would be foolish to think they aren’t all connected. Theater sales are down, book stores are closing, art programs in schools are being cut. The millennial generation is unfamiliar with theater, doesn’t read, and doesn’t have a means to invest time in the arts in schools (public schools, but let’s save the class divided convo for another day.) Why should anyone expect the new music audience to have respect for the value of music and pay for it, when there is no education about the importance of art of any kind?

Something to chew on for my artist folks reading - how will you inspire your audience to value what you do, and support your growth?

Thanks to UCLA for having me, and big s/o to my fellow panelists. They are all available on twitter and have great opinions about the subject matter if you want to follow up with them.

@djamen3000 @clutctronica @hierodomino @joebxCSNW and of course our moderator @frolab

Getback.

Thought I’d make a read-along for the title track of my...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:50:36 -0500

Thought I’d make a read-along for the title track of my new project MEAN ONES. Check it out and re-post if you can. This was a verse I was sitting on for a while…wrote pieces of it in moments of intense frustration, anger, surrender and reflection.