Sayanora Houston?

Yeah man I been waiting to say anything official, but it's about to go down. Me and the family are moving to Austin. SXSW offered me a real gig and I took it, so there ya have it. I go to Austin literally once a week anyway, so I will come back to Houston quite often and am even keeping a room here at my friends apartment so I can still come here and do what I do when I need to do it. Events and such.

My going away party is Dec. 8th at The Proletariat and GRIMY STYLES finna come back and rock that ass.



Click the flyer to see it full size.

I haven't talked about this much to people, cuz I don't like to discuss things a lot, I just like to do things, hence, the move will commence as soon as this house is sold and I'm quite excited for this.

I kind of see it like this anyway, I couldn't live in Houston if there was no Austin and I couldn't live in Austin if there was no Houston. Both cities have their qualities, and their problems, but in my eyes, they work hand in hand with each other.

Living in Houston, we found ourselves driving out there quite often not only cuz most of our family is in Central Texas (Mom, get down here please) but because Houston can get a lil crazy, sticky, loud, and such. Austin has beautiful lakes and Barton Springs and a job with benefits staffed by a lot of people who I really like a lot. Soooooooo... it's about to go down.

That being said when I lived in Austin in 1995 I literally came to Houston EVERY WEEKEND (I'm not a 6th Street kind of guy). Like seriously, I stayed in Austin like 10 weekends that year. Of course I was single and on a lot of drugs at the time and didn't have much in the way of responsibilities, now I'm married with children and looking forward to living in a quiet Austin neighborhood, riding my bicycle to work in some cut off shorts and never cutting my hair again... (last part is a joke, I ain't no fuckin' hippy. I mean, I am a fuckin' hippy, but with a proper haircut).

Also I'ma go vegan, have a solar powered house, make jewelry out of oatmeal and hemp rope, buy a lot of 7" vinyl and possibly start a 'zine.

Actually I'm not gonna do any of that shit (except the solar powered house). As much as I wanna go vegan, them chickens keep calling and nachos suck without cheese, so yeah, I mean, I don't know. I hope I don't get lynched. I heard that in Austin the vegans chase you in the night.

I hope it's not true. I also heard they can smell the pork fat in your sweat. IT WAS TOFURONI I SWEAR!

Alright, enough of the Austin inside jokes. I actually love that town. I love Houston too. Not much is gonna change except that tomorrow is gonna be my last Damage Control. I'll come thru and host with Chill and Golden Child every now and again, but lately I've had a hard time getting off my couch in Houston on a Wednesday night and making it down to the station, probably won't be driving in from Austin on too many Wednesdays. Some, but not all.

I mean real talk, I am sure that my regular listeners have noticed that I have not only missed a lot of shows lately due to travel, but when I have been there, my hearts just not in it man. I hate to say it, but the way we do things down there worked for a while, but um, in 2007, we may need a bit more filtering.

The whole reason for Damage Control was to give everyone a chance. If you're making rap music independently and have no in's to commercial radio or any of that shit, you could always come down to DC and get a spin. Let the world know you are out here. I love that concept, it's the best, it's in my heart, but today man... it's just not worth it.

There's always been great rap music and there's always been shitty rap music. I honestly never cared if it was good or bad, I was more than happy to support real people trying to do real things. Real people making art, that's what I love. But nowadays man, 99% of you people who are trying to rap are weak minded and in the wrong place. I hate to say it, but literally 99% of the people out there rapping are copy cats who lack vision and passion. I hate to be so blunt, but it's true.

I can't listen to the copy cat shit any more, and real talk, the stuff people call conscious and progressive half the time is some bullshit that sounds like 1992 and still calls women bitches and hoes and is fairly worthless cuz no one but the deepest hip hop nerds will ever want to hear it, if them.

Feel me? I'm going off a bit right now, but please understand my position. It's hard to sit at KPFT and smile anymore when people give me their discs. I have a lot of respect for a lot of the people I've met over these past 5.5 years and have discovered a lot of great music and art during my time at DC, but man, these days I get so much shit that sounds like so much other shit. We are 6 years into our war with Iraq. Shit is crazy ugly from sea to shining sea and all so many people can think to rap about is their cars and some bitches ass shaking. Look here fools, it's been done. Open your eyes, there's more out there. I like cars and ass too,but not so much that I want my entire CD collection populated with songs about such things.

And a lot of our "conscious" rappers don't know what the fuck they are talking about. I'm sorry but it's true. Bun B should teach a class.

Anyway I'm goin goff on a tangent here and i need to stop. Hip Hop Ain't Dead but it sure seems like a lot of motherfuckers are working very hard to smother it out of existence.

And no Mr. Banner, I'm not talking about Al Sharpton and Oprah. I'm talking about the lost minions who think that getting on TV will save their lives. Hip Hop is eating itself alive from the inside out and that's some real talk right there.

I recycle cans and paper, not art.

So with that, get ready for the new jump off. HoustonSoReal will still exist and I will still post to it when I have things explicitly Houston to report, but the new jumpoff is AustinSurreal.com. No link yet cuz it's not up, I just started building it. AustinSurreal will be the new site and HoustonSoReal will be a subsection. Until I can get on the radio in Austin I'ma do a weekly podcast or two. One will be all new music from all genres. All sorts of shit. The other will be more Damage Control like cuz people still need to know about the real shit, however skint the selection may be.

I'll still do events in Houston and Austin. I'd like to get some more jump offs popping in New York again. I'll still book my people in Europe is the opportunity is worth it and will put money in my pocket rather than take it out and I'ma still be MattSoReal. Unless they really do put LSD in the water in Austin on Fridays. Then I'ma go all MattSurreal on y'all, but don't worry I won't become a raver. I swear. I like the French and all, but I'm no raver. (TAKE THAT HOW YOU WANT IT!)

So yeah, ain't nothing changed but the address, and my phone number. WHich is a good thng. So good for my soul. Apologies to all who's calls I have missed. I really really hate the phone. I'm a writer, not a talker. So it is what it is.

Anyway, the hip-hop portion of SXSW is gonna be bigger and better than ever next year. I'ma get all the good ones in one place at one time and we gone ride on the enemy. I'm working to bring some serious international flavors that you need in your life and a lot of our favorite DJs and such will be there as well. Seriously SXSW 2008 is gonna be ridiculous. Get your passes now.

So yes, I have a real job now and am about to move to Austin. Come celebrate this fact and see my favorite band in the world on Saturday December 8th at the Proletariat. More info coming soon.