CARLOS MENA: Hip-Hop Meditations

Carlos Mena

Hip-Hop Meditations

© 2004 CASAMENA (789077003328)

CD OUT OF STOCK for re-production. Expect long delays.

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"... it might even make Mos Def's: Black on Both Sides seem easy to understand." ..."Imagine Common, and Wyclef sitting down with a book from occultist Sylvia Browne and a bag of somethin' somethin'." ... Yeah, he is deep." - Rapreviews.com

tracks

1 Introducing Solrac (for Eleggua)
2 Auction Block (featuring Nonyameko)
3 Lucumi Song (Canto para Eleggua)
4 God Is You (featuring AllSeer)
5 Yemaya Meditation No. 1
6 Walking in the Light (featuring Angeleye)
7 I.T.I.S.I.N.Y.O.U. (featuring Suashia)
8 Obatala Meditation No. 2 (featuring Gabrilla)
9 Nine Haikus
10 Orisha Drink (Voices in my Head)
11 Sheets of Sound (for Coltrane)
12 Buscando Luz (featuring Speech)
13 Eggun Meditation No. 3
14 Red, White, and Blue
15 Crossroads
16 Breathe Meditation No. 4 (featuring Evelyn)
17 Bonus Track

notes

Quotes:

"Carlos Mena is refreshing and breaks down barriers in the art form of Hip-Hop"
--Speech (Arrested Development)

"... It reminded me of Mystic or Blackalicious..."
-- Mosi Reeves, Writer (Village Voice, Source, Vibe, etc..)

"Carlos Mena is one of the few people in Hip Hop who can truly be called an artist, as opposed to the millions clones in the culture today."
-- Adisa Banjoko, "The Bishop" (Rapstation.com, Allhiphop.com, S.F. Bay View)

"I found Hip-Hop Meditations to be quite impressive. The production is imaginative, the lyrics are smart and thought provoking... "
-- Bob Duskis, President Six Degrees Records

"I love Carlos' work, the CD, and the message."
-- Karen Jaime, Nuyorican Poets Cafe SlamMistress

"...the first thing I did was play it for my students. Young people need to hear this!"
-- Aya De Leon (Poet/Activist)

"It is BEAUTIFUL. . .searching, personal, provocative. . . it's MAGNIFICENT. . . start to finish. . . the kinda shit I've been asking hip hop to feed us. . . "
-- Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Carlos produced one of my top three favorite hip-hop albums last year...and it was his poetry. Concious doesn't begin to describe it. ...deep, yeah, and not that finger-snappin cliche kinda deep. Deep.
--Charles Ellik, Berkeley SlamMaster



BIO:
To understand Carlos Mena and his music, you must understand his background. Born in Puerto Rico, raised in Brooklyn, and childhood summers in the Dominican Republic, Carlos soaked up the vast array of sounds and musical idioms -from Djing house to salsa-to help form a unique foundation for his music sensibilities that can be heard throughout his music today.

Carlo's passion for music was only matched by his love for writing poetry. However it wasn't until he hip-hop became a musical entity in the early eighties that he understood how much more powerful the two were together than alone. It was the blending of these two passions-hip-hop and poetry that led Carlos to create his groundbreaking CD, "hip-hop mediations".

With a move to California in 1989, Carlos joined the Hip-Hop trio 10Bass T as emcee and producer. The group beat out more than 300 other local bands for a spot on the Lollapalooza tour, and went on to open locally for the Fugees, Counting Crows, Roots, Shoenen Knife and other well known bands.

Carlos has recently received an artistic fellowship grant from the City of Oakland for his work on Hip-Hop Meditations. Carlos is also one of the guest artists on the Second Annual End-Dependence Spoken Word Tour featuring the work of South American poets. Carlos is also the founder and president of CASAMENA, an independent production house and record label, based in Oakland, CA, that works with uncompromising artists to produce music that feeds our souls. The goal of CASAMENA is to erase boundaries that constrain contemporary Hip-Hop music and provides music to live with to the global Hip-Hop community.

Carlos has a generous and riveting stage presence and has performed in a wide range of spaces from Oakland's Black Box and Bruno's in San Francisco. Carlos's not too shy to tell you that while he wants to makes you dance, he also wants to save your soul.



Carlos has shared the stage with Authors, Hip-Hop, Rock, Jazz and Spoken Word artists such as, The Roots, Counting Crows, Gangstarr, the Fugees, Arrested Development, Run-DMC, Shoenen Knife, Pharoah Sanders, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Charlie Hunter, Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ Shadow, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Taalam Acey, Ishle Yi Park, Saul Williams, Zion I, Mystik Journeymen, Blackalicious, Aya De Leon, Sekou tha Misfit, Timothy Leary, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Beau Sia.

- 2002 Recipient of Artist Fellowship Grant for Spoken Word and Storytelling

- Only Spoken Word performance on Ubiquity's debut release Home Cookin'

- Selected from over 300 artists to represent the Bay Area at Lollapalooza

- Performed everywhere from Lollapalooza, the Nuyorican and the World Famous Fillmore.

- Performing at universities such as, UC Berkeley, Cornell, UC Davis, Columbia U., Stanford, UC Irvine, U. Southern Connecticut State.

reviews

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  • ...Soul food, baby. Hip Hop Meditations is food for the soul. The sound is raw
    author: Alicia Phillips

    ...Soul food, baby. Hip Hop Meditations is food for the soul. The sound is raw, yet polished and clear. The message is elevating. The lyrics are spicy and rich. The feeling is good all over. With Hip Hop Meditations, Carlos Mena takes the hip hop listener to the path which leads to peace, creativity and empowerment.

  • Carlos Mena has a unique Hip Hop style that is very easy on the ears.
    author: Somine Nia-Rae

    Hip Hop Meditations, explodes with spiritual energies and Hip Hop Funk that easily enchant the ear of the listener. I must say that when I heard the cd I was taken aback by Carlos’ willingness to be open and experiment with the many different ways hip hop can be represented…. The track that is most astonishing to me is the Breathe Meditation No. 4 (featuring Evelyn). Her voice was so calming and soothing I damn near thought I was somewhere else. I can honestly say that a cd has never had that effect on me. I love it when I am relaxin’ in my home but also want a little pizzazz going on and I have a cd like Hip Hop Meditations to listen to. You can pop it in and press repeat! I would recommend it to everyone that loves Hip Hop…I even bought it for my mother!

  • Buy this CD ! Support the healing of hip-hop.
    author: Gaiachild

    I first heard Carlos flow on 90.7 KPFK Divine Forces Radio, and his style was so right I had to buy this CD. His beats maintain an underground and world fusion hip-hop sound, and his poetry is brilliant. It's like apples and oranges to compare but his lyrics are more street wisdom and Less abstract and intelectual than Saul Williams. Less anger and more vulnerable than KRS-1.

  • C, intouch, moving and honest. thank you for your blessings.
    author: Ruben C. Gonzalez "the madmexican"

    C, your lyrics and grooves rise soulfully, honestly landing in the heart of true artistry. It's nice to hear some wonderful hip-hop not hip-pop. peaceandlove, Ruben C. Gonzalez

  • The perfect hip-hop album...
    author: The Colonel

    Where has this guy been hiding? Solrac's debut record is one of the best albums to come out of Oakland in quite a while. It's funky, jazzy, upbeat, stylish and just hip as all hell. Makes you groove, makes you relax, makes you think...makes you play it over and over again. Go see him live, too. He's a hell of a performer. If you're feeling at all jaded about the state of indie hip-hop, this record will feed your soul and make you a believer all over again.

  • author: jordan tyler

    this is one of the best hip hop cds I have picked up in a very long time! I love this and you will too so buy it now!

  • Spiritual, Deep, Musical, Needed, left me fulfilled...
    author: Tony

    I didn't buy this CD here, but I bought it at one of Carlos' shows. What a performer!! When I listened to the CD, it took everything to another level because the music on the CD matched the words perfectly... Anyone who really loves Hip-Hop should own this CD. Tony

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