review from Bandcamp on spiritchild maroon militant matriarch (mxn’s mirror)

"Bronx rapper Spiritchild’s fifteenth album is a thick, layered listening experience weaving together the sound of mid-to-late-‘90s East Coast rap, reggae, and other Caribbean music styles, and politically charged, aggressively delivered lyrics. On “we born free,” a menacing looped sample (either a distorted guitar or a synth pretending to be one) and a reggaetón-style beat provide a bed for acrobatic rhymes and a celebratory chanted chorus with a hook sharp enough to stick around long after the song ends. The entire album is explicitly political, but the centerpiece of both the musical and polemic aspects of the record is “gator bait (a dissertation to the soul of Black folx),” a six-and-a-half-minute history lesson, call to arms, and cultural celebration. Starting with a simple, airy beat overlaid with deep humming voices, Spiritchild’s lyrics lay out the album concept of the musician as a Maroon, using music as a weapon in the struggle for liberation and continued freedom.

Spiritchild incorporates elements of #reggae into his work, as does our next artist, though the influences of this sound are less literal here, instead becoming part of a tightly-woven fabric that is used to craft something fresh and original."

By Robert Newsome · November 05, 2021

a rEvolutionary movement mixtape combining hip hop soul and original afro beat productions. a tribute to Black August and rEvolutionary praxis.

all music and beats by Casetron all vocals, mixing, mastering by spiritchild (xspiritmental) Sample Credits: Things Taken- Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté- 56, and speech by Malcolm X at the Audobon Ballroom in Washington Heights, NY (March 29, 1964) song my nights - Peacocks Guitar Band International- Eddie Quansa free from begin- Fela Kuti- V.I.P. (Vagabonds in Power) here he come- Segun Damisa & The Afro Beat Crusaders - Suffer Dey Pygmy Huil Yanoomami - femi kuti- Look around album cover by Dorien De Vidts of Commusaic and XspiritMental management featuring images by Emory Douglas of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense spiritchild photo courtesy of Bushwick Book Club (BBC)

released by @xspiritmental ASCAP xspiritmentaleyez publishing a new black arts movement 'critical revolutionary hip hop pedagogy'

Creative Maze & spiritchild. The sound is warm and intimate allowing the listener to zone out, channel in and break free. The year of the album could time travel from the early 90's combining jazz keys upright bass grooves and J Dilla drum patterns.

Electric Cinnamon

Conceived, nurtured, mixed and mastered in Berlin. Electric Cinnamon is a 3 year journey produced by Creative Maze of Reality Check and written & performed by spiritchild of Mental Notes featuring special guest artists... Maya Azucena, Bahati Musik, Konta, Julia Amos, Kiko King, Mathieu Pe Trumpet

The project sets the mood of revolutionary sexual hip hop funk. The sound is warm and intimate allowing the listener to zone out, channel in and break free. The year of the album could time travel from the early 90's combining jazz keys upright bass grooves and J Dilla drum patterns.

Its a revolutionary taking, love making body waking sensation. Electric Cinnamon is that fire brown sugar.

Creativemaze “Promising signs and an endless creativity ... you're surely going to hear more about this producer in the shadows.” South Germany's Matthias Zwingert is creativemaze. Matze being the German nickname for Matthias, it quickly became Maze and when translated to English it's meaning fits perfectly to the way his chain of thought works.

“I often don’t know what style I produce when I start the song. It comes while I walk in the maze.“ Creativemaze had the chance to learn music at a very young age, he began with the flute, followed up with the piano and the drums. He became, during his educational years, the drummer in “Creative Break”, in which his perfectionism and brimming imagination led him to focus on the producing side of the music. He then moved to Regensburg where he successfully graduated as an audio engineer/producer and, as a logical course of events, moved to Berlin because of it’s creative musical potential.

spiritchild, as he is known, is a freedom singer from the south Bronx by way of Brooklyn, who uses the arts to cultivate a cultural revolution. He integrates activism and hip hop music production as the founder of the Movement In Motion Artist & Activist Collective. As the Rhythmic Poet of the Hip Hop Fusion Band Mental Notes, he uses his music to converse with his audience to the injustices facing the poor and oppressed, inspiring action on environmental and social justice in New York City and around the world. No one attends a session with spiritchild without leaving encouraged. His ability to draw out creativity and confidence heals those around him, and is the catalyst for deep analysis and social change. He is an instructor for songwriting and artist at several public schools throughout New York, and facilitates that process internationally on seasonal tours in Afrika, South East Asia, Europe and elsewhere.

spiritchild has assisted with organizing regional conferences on climate change, he is highlighting disaster relief and environmental justice with black, brown and other oppressed people. He has also produced and recorded with and for award winning grammy nominee Maya Azucena, legendary Les Nubians, spoken word nuyorican poets champion Ainsley Burrows, X-Vandals & Ricanstructions very own N4P to name a few.

Balance has been created by engaging and developing the youth with hip hop pedagogy as program director of One Mic and founder of One Mic Collective/Art Start working with youth offenders as well as in Children’s Village Dobbs Ferry New York Juvenile Detention Facility. He has also worked with and for intellectually disabled and psychologically diagnosed adults in the Bronx.

www.xspiritmental.com www.onemicartists.com www.movementinmotion.com

capturing the illusive stream of political consciousness

Welcome to the rEvolution of Hip Hop

Armed with their unique signature sound, New York City's original hip-hop ensemble Mental Notes has been attracting diverse audiences for over a decade.

Their eclectic fusion of old school hip-hop, funk, electronica, jazz and acid rock continues to break the boundaries of the New York live music scene.

Mental Notes has consistently added to the pulse of New York's musical and social heartbeat. They have been a previous guest on Air America Radio, appearing on Chuck D's highly praised live talk show. Most recently, Mental Notes bassist and songwriter David Dovo composed the original film score for Jerusalem in Exile (part of the "Art and Apathy" film documentary project of Eyes Infinite Films), an official selection and winner of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival. While the lead vocalist/emcee spiritchild has produced several film scores, spoken word albums for Nuyorican Slam Champion Ainsley Burrows and SmokiFantastic, as well as releasing several solo albums projects which include Dark Matters, A tribute to Nina Simone, Eclipse of Hope and Creative Politics to list a few.

Collectively, the members of Mental Notes have worked with and or shared the stage with a series of diverse artists including legendary producer Hank Shocklee, hip-hop virtuosos Dead Prez, Black Moon, soul-funk horn legends Tower of Power and Latin dance sensation Gloria Estefan.

Mental Notes vocalist spiritchild has been privileged to work with revolutionary spoken work activists Last Poets as well as Brooklyn's Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Bassist David Dovo's diverse talent has led him to create remixes for rap pioneers Public Enemy and work with such acclaimed jazz artists as saxophonist Daniel Carter and share the stage with Billy Martin of Medeski, Martin and Wood. Guitarist Fro has shared the stage with nationally recognized jazz-fusion artists Deep Banana Blackout, Garaj Mahal and the punk inspired Screaming Headless Torsos. Drummer Eran Asias toured the globe and recorded with such artists as Patty Smyth's Scandal, Will Lee and Dem Brooklyn Bums.

Together, this collection of prolific musicians create an intense listening experience that rivals any sound to come out of the hip-hop scene in recent memory. Mental Notes invites you to be a part of the evolution of sound by bringing their unique fusion of experimental hip-hop.

Mental Notes has toured internationally to Germany, France, Amsterdam, Mumbai and New Dehli in India, Egypt, National College and Community Tours throughout the states. Locally, Mental Notes has played the legendary Blue Note, S.O.B's, CBGB's, Triad Theater, The Knitting Factory, Rose Live Music, Nublu and other local listings.

booking contact ninoespiritu@gmail.com www.sonicbids.com/mentalnotesnyc www.mentalnotes.bandcamp.com

dark political and sexy

Welcome to the rEvolution of Hip Hop

Armed with their unique signature sound, New York City's original hip-hop ensemble Mental Notes has been attracting diverse audiences for over a decade.

Their eclectic fusion of old school hip-hop, funk, electronica, jazz and acid rock continues to break the boundaries of the New York live music scene.

Mental Notes has consistently added to the pulse of New York's musical and social heartbeat. They have been a previous guest on Air America Radio, appearing on Chuck D's highly praised live talk show. Most recently, Mental Notes bassist and songwriter David Dovo composed the original film score for Jerusalem in Exile (part of the "Art and Apathy" film documentary project of Eyes Infinite Films), an official selection and winner of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival. While the lead vocalist/emcee spiritchild has produced several film scores, spoken word albums for Nuyorican Slam Champion Ainsley Burrows and SmokiFantastic, as well as releasing several solo albums projects which include Dark Matters, A tribute to Nina Simone, Eclipse of Hope and Creative Politics to list a few.

Collectively, the members of Mental Notes have worked with and or shared the stage with a series of diverse artists including legendary producer Hank Shocklee, hip-hop virtuosos Dead Prez, Black Moon, soul-funk horn legends Tower of Power and Latin dance sensation Gloria Estefan. Mental Notes vocalist spiritchild has been privileged to work with revolutionary spoken work activists Last Poets as well as Brooklyn's Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Bassist David Dovo's diverse talent has led him to create remixes for rap pioneers Public Enemy and work with such acclaimed jazz artists as saxophonist Daniel Carter and share the stage with Billy Martin of Medeski, Martin and Wood. Guitarist Fro has shared the stage with nationally recognized jazz-fusion artists Deep Banana Blackout, Garaj Mahal and the punk inspired Screaming Headless Torsos. Drummer Eran Asias toured the globe and recorded with such artists as Patty Smyth's Scandal, Will Lee and Dem Brooklyn Bums.

Together, this collection of prolific musicians create an intense listening experience that rivals any sound to come out of the hip-hop scene in recent memory. Mental Notes invites you to be a part of the evolution of sound by bringing their unique fusion of experimental hip-hop.

Mental Notes has toured internationally to Germany, France, Amsterdam, Mumbai and New Dehli in India, Egypt, National College and Community Tours throughout the states. Locally, Mental Notes has played the legendary Blue Note, S.O.B's, CBGB's, Triad Theater, The Knitting Factory, Rose Live Music, Nublu and other local listings.

booking contact ninoespiritu@gmail.com www.sonicbids.com/mentalnotesnyc www.myspace.com/spiritchildmentalnotes

Rhythmic poetic hip hop that explores and expresses the sound and hearts of social movements, love, the streets and the people.

ECLIPSE OF HOPE... an album I've been working on for the past year, on and off is now available and released :). you can hear some tracks on www.myspace.com/spiritchildmentalnotes I've work with producers from Vermont like Essential k, to my peoples out in Ramallah Palestine ramallah underground and of course my new friends over in Sweden, Holigan. I'll include more material online as i know most of us are out and about and most of our interactions and transactions have been online...(still trying to figure out how to break that mundane routine). but regardless, I'll also have the CDs up on itunes, cdbaby and all the usual online thing thing. the album contains 21 tracks its about 79 min or so worth of material.

Spiritchild Rhythmic Poet of Mental Notes. Leader of The Hip Hop Jam Band Mental Notes (the universal hip hop evolution). Founder & Chair of Movement In Motion Artist & Activist Collective. Creative Consultant for Eyes Infinite Films (www.eyesinfinite.com)

Xperience, Performance 1 international tour to Mumbai, India Winter 2004 hip hop film documentary 2 National Tours, Fall 2003 Northeast to Midwest Creative Politics Spring Tour 2005 West Coast 8 years in the local, national & international live scene with jam band Mental Notes. CBGBs, Knitting Factory, Bowery Poetry Club, Izzy Bar, Nuyorican Poets Café, Triad Lounge & Theatre, BAM Café.

Xperience, Production 3 Solo Album (written, composed & arranged by Spiritchild) A Tribute To Nina Simone (The EP) 2004 Creative Politics Chapter 1 reports from the rhythmic poet (mixtape) 2005 Eclipse of Hope (The LP) 2007 2 Albums for Mental Notes (all lyrics & arrangement by Spiritchild, music Mental Notes) Close Your Eyes & Open Your Mind 2001/ Event Horizon 2002 / spring 08 new album. Compilations for Movement In Motion 8 Volumes Of Music for Collective 2003-2007 see www.movementinmotion.org for details 1 Spoken Word With Music Album Cataclysm 2000 Ainsley Burrows 1 Tibetan Hip Hop Album Liberation 2004 Namgyal

Xperience Film, Video The Art of Love & Struggle (the documentary) 2005 produced movie soundtrack Act Accordingly (the movie) 2003 produced by Eyes Infinite Films Viewed at the ; Ladies On The Mic film fest 03, International HipHop Film Festival Philly 03, Howl Festival 03, Hip Hop Odyssey Film Festival 04 award nominee First Leading Acting Role Produced, Composed & Arranged Original Music Soundtrack with Mental Notes Film / Video Producer for Eyes Infinite Films 2004 Passin Me By a hip hop theater production score produced and arranged by Spiritchild

Xperience Community Freedom Academic Movement (2007-2008) instructor for hip hop music production and songwriting as well as artist development for TMA in harlem and HS in the Bronx Mentor for Youth Advocate Programs (2004-2005) Creator & Facilitor of Hip Hop A Political Science I.C.E. After School Program 2005 Event Coordinator, Promoter Hip Hop Activist Organizer, Researcher for J.U.i.C.E. New York Chapter www.rampartjuice.org an LA based after school program

Contact 646 319-6523 ninoespiritu@gmail.com www.movementinmotion.org www.eyesinfinite.com www.mentalnotesnyc.com