"ballin! on a budget" : london

wifi in paris = squatting benches in front of closed cafes and rodent infested mcdonalds near the champs elysées, so sorry for the delay on the update on london...we are in fact still alive. post on paris to come if our man Thompson comes through.

london is the most turbo city ever, and small city dudes got completely overwhelmed and lost the second Flying Circus shuttle left us on Liverpool street, but young moneys quckly got hang of shits, forgot the exchange rate, and had a blast nonetheless.


DAY SIX: FROM TATE TO BAPE

after finding our way to the new HQ, the main dudes Terrence and Frankie quickly brought us out to the pub to meet up with the homies. it was to be one of the few early nights of the trip, topped off with turkish food. Once again, our sleeping spot is in the type of hood where if you go down the wrong street, getting stabbed is likely.

we woke up on a not so inflated inflatable bed and headed for the Tate (ANSELM KEIFER IS RUNNING GAME, as per usual). After our fill our high-end conceptual modern art, we hit up the high-end shopping joints, following a list of dope stores and boutiques provided by Terrence (Upper James St. = Bape and The Hideout). Spent the rest of the day walking around, seeing big beautiful stuff, got disapointed by our boys at the Fred Perry flagship store, and got confused by the UKs neverending Alife obsession.

As much as europe is amazing and we can't get over how beautiful it is and all that, we have been craving a few things from home: Olympico coffee, real bagels (hot salt beef, really?) and the Cobra Special. Tea, "beigel" and haggis don't quite make up for these voids, but alas, we must go on nonetheless. Day one was all the expected big and "must-see" spots of the city, and as much as the idea may seem corny, walking through London up to Buckingham Palace or the Gherkin Egg is always very much dope.

PS: In london, not only are buses and the tube part of different systems, but they cost an arm and a leg (2 pounds for the bus, 4 pounds for the tube, excluding transfers and sheeeiiiit). Our main man Terrence lent us these things called Oyster cards, which you can charge up with any given amount at bus and tube stops and corner stores. With this card, buses are 90p, and any tube travel will cap at 4pounds a day, no matter how many times you take it. Oh, and forget about taxis. You're welcome.


DAY SEVEN: PETE DOHERTY AND THE DRUMS OF DEATH

Alex of patchwork pirates and main gal Pixie took us around the Mile End of London (Brick Lane) for a good part of the day. We went shopping, checked out a Shepperd Fairey exhibition, Got FURTHER confused by the over-abundance of "streetwear" and dudes dressing like tailored grand-parents.

As phil paid for his Booty Bass records (2LiveCrew, Luke Skyywalker and Gucci Crew 2 yo!!!), dude turned around to find himself 2 inches away from Pete Doherty's foaming junkie mouth. Weird to see this "illustrious tabloid figure" in the flesh.

Met up with Terrence for drinks (on a rooftop pud downtown) with the mates, and to Pixie's dismay, Terrence invents the yet-to-be patented Infinity Beer, before Seb dropped a couple hunnid at the super-top-secret-exclusive-super-turbo Nike shop opening (Terrence got dem hookups!) Shoeboxes in hand, we ran over to the Artkandy exhibition spot to play a show at the homie Karborn's gallery opening. Too much fun and great peeps (including the Jack Bauer of the london club scene, and a main dude, MISTAH TOM MCCARTHY), carried the afterparty to some shitty pub down the street, and ultimately, THE DAWSON JAZZ BAR, aka, the safe haven within gritty Yardie territory. The Jazz Bar is the weirdest yet most awesome late-night crash spot you could imagine, with the owner on the turntables playing the corniest reggae and 80's pop jams, clumsily yet artfully crossfaded one into the next. The spot looks like a diner, but turns into the strangest sweaty dancefloor once the mojito is flowing.

After that incredible night out, and deciding to not honour our 300$ train tickets to Paris the next day, Terrence served up the best latelatelatenight food we've ever eaten, and hooked Phil up with some Bapestas he had gotten in the mail from Bape (once again, dude got HOOKUPS). oh ps: they match the hoodie.

REST OF LONDON: either later today or tomorrow. depending on how much parisian wifi hates us.

"ballin!" : glasgow

yo

so we haven't posted nearly as much as we had initially planned on because well, this shit is way too much fun.

we spent the last 4 nights in Glasgow, Scotland, to play two shows, but mainly to kick it with the LuckyMe fam and its extended peoples. Once you get past the "Compton of Europe"(-Gino) aspect of Glasgow, you can kick back, pop a bottle of Buckfast and enjoy this city for its fine qualities: amazing hip hop crew, shady clubs, knife stores, terrible weather, FRIED EVERYTHINGS ("They'd fry your hand and feed it to you if you asked them to" -Joe), and amazing record store (Rubadub fam, holler!)

We were able to finally cop some dope Wireblock, Stuff, All City and LuckyMe wax joints we had been fiending for.


DAY ONE: BALLER SOCIAL CLUUBBBBBBBBB

this jam was crazy, Darren and the Ivy are amazing (Best drink menu ever and serial food).

Not only did Rusite and Eclair play awe-inspiring sets with some gems we are always hoping to hear in the club and so much shit we had never heard, or heard of (Skwee is the future), furthermore, Rustie dropped Money Ho.

Sidenote: Montreal peoples, STEP YOUR HYPHY GAME UP, GIRLS IN GLASGOW NOT ONLY KNOW THE TRAXAMILLION JOINTS, THEY WILL SCREAM, JUMP ON A TABLE (SPILL A DRINK IN YOUR LAPTOP) AND SING ALL THE LYRICS TO THE JOINT).

People lost their minds, we nearly lost a computer, but all was well. Afterparty madness at the Subclub (where the main dude Jackmaster runs top night Numbers on other nights) and stumbling back to the hotel with main dude Joe for that crev sleep.

Baller's Social Club is a SERIAL night, big things in the works, don't sleep.



DAY TWO: LAUREN, COURTYARD snd 6AM VODKA

After practically getting thrown out of the hotel, Joe dragged the young trillies through town to holler at the local boutiques and breakfast spots. Dudes copped that Scottish heat on wax at Rubadub, but owner didn't trust us with obscure bootlegs of FlyLo shit(Y'all missed it!).

Instead of leaving us to fend for ourselves, Joe and his girl Lauren put us up at her crib, aka the South Side Castle. We were able to recollect, take a shower for the first time in 4 days and eat some real food. Joe, ever making those money man moves, got us another gig within 40 minutes of having access to a phone.

After sitting on her doorstep watching more rain fall in 30 seconds than all year long in Montreal, Lauren took us to Courtyard to do a set with Jackmaster and Gordon. Soundsystem knocked, and everyone seemed so excited to have us over. (Our man JP yelling "I HEARD YOU OUTDRANK THE LADS LAST NIGHT. YOU THINK THAT'S A PARTY, WAIT 'TILL IT'S 9AM IN A WAREHOUSE AND YOU'RE HIGH ON MD MOTHERFUCKING MA AND JAZZY JEFF IS CUTING IT UP") We quickly found out it wasn't a matter of going turbo, but going turbo EVERY DAY. Jackmaster played some of our favourite shit and is the dope DJ.

In usual steelo, went home, drank and watched rap videos 'till 6AM.
Bernie Mac R.I.P.



DAY THREE: EDINBOROUGH, CASTLES & ODDITIES

Camera was lost for this one, but google that shit, Edinborough is a beautiful city even when it's completely overrun by the Fringe Festival. LuckyMe bossman Dom Sum met up with us and let us in to the Oddities shop for some endorsement shopping. (Boutique is ILL, gifts for girlfriends and sisters=bought). Walked around the madness and showed us towering castles and buildings that used to be the biggest in Europe.

Bus Ride back to chateau Joe & Lauren = scary knive stories and plotting future shit. ("The violence isn't really that bad, just in the East...and the North...and the South...and in parts of the West" - Lauren). Maybe we're glad we stayed at Lauren's crib and not Joe's in "Govan Hell".

Listened to what will be the first LuckyMe release. Fire RnB shit.

PS: worldstarhiphop and onsmash are the next shit, waking up to top homies fiending for new Ciara videos and clips of Khaled fucking up was amazing, we all seem to have a one track mind.


DAY FOUR: GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ARTS, KELVINGROVE MUSEUM, BUCKFAST & R KELLY

Camera still lost, and 90pounds and a silver Dior clip newly lost on the 1pound train into town. Lauren and Joe, aka the mawfuckin' bawses of Glasgow and the best hosts in the world, (they share our love for Lloyd, Khaled, Ciara and Chris Brown!) took us for touristy shit. Phil makes them future plans at the Glasgow School of Arts (HOLY FUCK), no pamflets though (Y'all missed it), and we get a 10 minute tour of the museum before being thrown out for closing time (Y'all missed it!). Bought the local drank, aka "Fight Juice", after going past Victor Morris, the knife store. We kinda figure if you just banned these two things it might help, but what the fuck do we know.

Ross was still in Amsterdam (Y'all missed it!) and Russel was busy, so we didn't get to meet the mighty HudMo, but Lauren made us eat like kings and we got twisted watching Trapped in the Closet.

Isaac Hayes R.I.P...what the fuck is going on?


DAY FIVE: PARTING WAYS

Sad day where we had to leave Glasgow came way too fast. Although we barely made it through the night before, we packed up, found the camera and went to town to have a last meal together. Unfortunately shit was rushed and we had to dart for the last train in order to catch the Flying Circus (aka Air Gong Show, aka RyanAir) to London. Linked up quickly with top homie Terrence(holler!) and Frankie in London, the next few days are going to be fun.

A million thanks to the entire LuckyMe fam and especially Joe and Lauren for taking such great care of us. We had an amazing time and can't wait to come back (which is looking like it'll be sooner than later!!! details soon), and are missing everyone already. The Scottish fam should be making their way to Montreal for POP Festival in October, yeeeeee.

Next Stop: London.

uppppdate

damn.

a full in-depth update with pictures and some new music is coming in a few days, but glasgow is just too much fun. the LuckyMe fam are not only the best hosts but the most 'wid it' dudes around. live show at ballers social club was completely nuts, and Rustie and Eclair played some of the most awesome DJ sets we've ever heard (MONEY HO.) DJd an outdoor party the following night. more bass.

big up to Joe, Lauren, Russel, Ross, Dom, Darren, Jack and Gordon for superb hospitality, good times and scary stories about knives

TOMORROW NIGHT

the young dudes are going over the pond to play a few shows and hang out with some cool people in some cool cities.

if you are in glasgow on the 8th, come out to ivy, shit will go more turbo than a time-travelling CRX. (possibly some other renegade serial shit a few days later as well.)

if you are in london on the 14th, mob the artkandy gallery for the opening of Karborn's exhibition, with sounds form the mofodudes.

we roll deep. we bring big sounds.

we'll be spending too much time in airport terminals, so expect either ridiculously stupid and inane posts about stuff we're doing, seeing, eating & buying, and the occasional remix, heater, or live recording (we'll see if we can lace this up.)


TOMORROW:

9.30pm
plane leaves
10.00am
plane arrives

swervation!