(l-r) @seanward Me, @NaughtyByNature Vin-Rock, @pixeladdikt Greg

Greg, with Mobicartel, made Naughty By Nature‘s Android app.  Now they’re working on… well let’s wait a bit before we reveal that.

Vinnie gave Greg the heads-up that he was in Toronto and told him to bring whoever could make it from the bnotions & Harth TV family to meet him at the hotel bar. Greg and I were the ones who could make it out, so Vinnie brought us along to a private charity gig that Naughty By Nature was headlining at the Royal Ontario Museum.  Also on the bill: Sugarhill Gang, Rob Base, and Young MC.  It was amazing.  The whole roster of artists met in the lobby and went to the Museum together.  We walked down Philosopher’s Walk to a back door at the ROM.  We were led down a few halls and then took an enormous freight elevator to the backstage area where Vinnie and Kaygee encouraged Greg and I to enjoy the feast of treats and drinks that were waiting for them.

They rocked the show, and then Vinnie and Greg and I went back to the hotel to get into a long session of talking about the Internet, Naughty by Nature, and Harth TV, and then started cooking up schemes to collaborate on.

Naughty by Nature were my heroes in high school.  I had a full-page magazine ad for 19 Naughty III cut out and posted in my locker.  I had all of their tapes and even tried to shop for clothes at the mall based on what Treach had worn to a MuchMusic Rap City interview.

To be part of their entourage for an evening was a thrill.  I know how to play the game so I was cool on the outside but inside I was geeking the fuck out.  It was also a big moment of pride for me to look at it as a symbol of the trajectory my life and career have taken.

You can imagine my chagrin at my phone dying early in the evening.  These performance pictures were all I got.

But you needn’t worry, dear reader, my commitment is to you.  That’s why we’ve got a couple of epic collaborations on the horizon.  Stay tuned…

These pictures were posted over the weekend to my Tumblr blog.  I post to my Tumblr constantly.  Click here and then follow me there.

Want to know a little secret?

I’m actually really nervous about playing at Electric Christmas Freak-Out 3 next week.  I don’t really get nervous about being in front of people, but right now I feel like I did the first time I ever played live.

At that time, back in 2004 or 2005, I had a bunch of songs that I had recorded in my bedroom and only let a few people hear.  Outside of a small group of friends, no one had heard these songs before and this was going to be the moment of truth when I find out if I’m on to something or if I was dreaming all along that these songs were good.

Now it’s been a couple of years since I’ve done a performance like this and I’ve got some new songs I’ve been working on.  Before, I just wanted to make hot party music.  I was hiding the DHM (Deep Hidden Meaning) all throughout it, but this time I’m getting way more personal.  I’m coming way more overt with certain things I’m not quite so open about on the Internet, and then I follow that up with lyrics where I bare my soul about certain true-life experiences. In a couple of cases, the people involved know that those experiences are in the songs.

I was feeling really nervous about the show next week until I remembered what this felt like.  Then I remembered how I killed it then, so I’m pretty pumped to kill it now.

Back then, I developed a strategy on the spot to get the audience on my side.  I had a bunch of buttons on me for a comic book I had just released so I went around before my set to all the groups of friends in the audience, buttered them up with buttons, and then got talking to them and ‘let it slip’ how nervous I was about performing.  I asked them to please help me out and go to the front of the stage and cheer real loud so I don’t have to feel like I’m all by myself up there.  It worked like magic and it was a great show for me and for them.

Now it’s years later and people read my blog and watch my videos and I know more people than I did then.  But it’s still important, if not more important than ever, to maintain that kind of personal touch with people.

Last year, I got approached to draw comics and illustrations to accompany the new single This Chick is Crazy! by Famous featuring Melanie Durrant.  I was not prepared to see my drawings come to life in the animated video!

Great job to everyone on this project, and congratulations to Famous on the new single which is blowing up as you read this!

Check out the animated video for THIS CHICK IS CRAZY! by Famous feat. Melanie Durrant and the art of Sean Ward (me!):

For a deeper look at the making of This Chick is Crazy, watch this vlog from the day that Famous and I first started brainstorming this project:

Show your love in the comments! And follow Famous and follow me on Twitter!

For more from The Kid Famous, check out his website at thekidfamous.com

Everything together at last – The MC Sean Ward 2006-2011 box set

I have gone to painstaking lengths to find the original files for everything I’ve done in rap music:

• my first couple of tracks recorded in my bedroom
• live freestyles recorded by someone in the audience
• my first professional EP
• the first three singles to emerge out of my late night show on Harth TV

This is all totally independent material.  No record label, no government arts grants, no corporate sponsorship.  Just straight up hustlin’.

This collection is presented in anticipation of my upcoming full length MCSW Volume One mix tape.  That’s going to be done in time for the new season of The Sean Ward Show (live from Harth TV studios) starting on September 1.  It’s got to be done by then for two reasons.  First: we’re going to premiere music videos from the record throughout the upcoming season.  Second: The release of those songs sets the stage for the announcement of the record after that and how you’re going to decide what songs are on it.

This collection represents a big part of my life during the last five years.  It’s kind of emotional for me to see it all collected together for the first time.  I buried my dreams, fears, designs on success, and deepest questions in the lyrics and the beats.

FYI: the strongest feedback I got about this stuff was about the Paid To Party EP – Ladies, apparently it’s the best gym music you’ll find this year.

Listen to everything and download all of it at MC.seanward.net

The 10th Episode Spectack was huge.  We had a huge party in the studio at the Harth TV palace!  Special guests Talwst Santiago, Hunter Collins, Nat & Marie, SidePonyNation, Alice Quinn, DJ Splattermonkey on the ones and twos, all enjoying beer thanks to my friends at Molson, all helping me give away a grand prize of dinner for 2 at St. Louis Wings & Ribs.

This was such a great party in the studio, and I’m really proud and happy that it was a great show too, based on the feedback I’ve been getting!

Originally, I was going to call this record The Reinterpolator.

But what happened was that my stage band, Sean Ward & The Realness (me, Shaun Downey, and DJ Human Kebab from Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker) was representing Toronto at a Toronto VS Hamilton CFL Grey Cup party (The Hammer was duly represented by B.A. Johnston).  The promoter gave us our fee plus a mittful of drink tickets, and told us that if we need more later we should just come find him.

We were wild party animals that night and we drank those drink tickets away pretty quickly.  I went to see the promoter about more drink tickets and he explained that he was out of drink tickets.  He asked if it was OK to hand me $60 cash instead.  I said that was OK.  I went back to the band and handed them each a twenzie.  We, enjoying the moment, adopted the catch phrase “paid to party” to describe what we do.  Paid to Party became the giggly catch phrase of the night and at some point I said “That should be the title of the record!”, and everyone said “Yes it should!”

The reason I bring up the story of the title is because you can now listen to my rap EP – Paid to Party - on Grooveshark!

Click here to download a .ZIP file of the whole record in MP3 format – including a Digital Booklet complete with full lyrics!

Watch for the new mixtape coming soon…

Saturday night was the world premiere party for the SidePonyNation SUGA WET video, with yours truly as your humble DJ.

I will confess: I had a hidden agenda when I agreed to be the DJ for this event.  I have hung out with Tanya from SidePonyNation (on the left in the picture above) a few times and I had a hunch about the rap duo she’s a part of, and I wanted to see what SidePonyNation was all about.  And DAAAAAAMMMMN!  Hot ladies, hot show, they’ve got it.

SidePonyNation is the shit.  They’ve got the look, they’ve got the flow (kind of like a vintage Salt N Pepa thing), they’ve even got their own Suga Wet dance to go with the song!  I cannot wait to do another show with them.

See the couple sneaking a kiss in the dead center of the photo above?  That’s album cover material, for real.  You’re welcome, SidePonyNation.

At the end of the night, SidePonyNation raffled off a bunch of prizes including autographed pictures (above) and the pink t-shirt sported below.

Remember these cupcakes?  They were out of this world.

The cupcakes were made by Sarah, posing with her creations below.  She is cool, and her shop – The Wedding Cake Shoppe at Ossington & College – smells like what you would imagine Willy Wonka’s factory would smell like.

The party took place at Lit Espresso Bar.  They want you to follow them on Twitter!

The coffee is good, and the little card that comes on the front of the package is a nice touch.

I do not DJ very often, so I spent most of the evening cueing up songs and frantically trying to get the beats to match.  I only got photos while the ladies were on the microphone, but one of their homeys was shooting pictures like crazy so I’ll add some of those to this post when I see them appear on Facebook or whatever.

Next time SidePonyNation and Sean Ward do a show together, do not miss it whatever you do.

Christopher Wallace

a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G.
a.k.a. Biggie Smalls
a.k.a. Big Poppa
a.k.a. Frank White

May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997

The kid DJs of today might brag that they were rockin’ Hypnotize before it was trendy, but I was boomin’ Juicy while they were still watching Sesame Street.  I still remember being in the car when the news came on that he had been murdered.  It was a shock, but also a wake up call to a whole generation whose imagination had gone out of control.

Here is my review of the Biggie Smalls biopic Notorious

Download Ready to Die: the O.G. Edition

My performace of Party & Bullshit (Biggie’s first official release on a major label):

BEHIND THE MUSIC – NOTORIOUS B.I.G.

BIGGIE’S TEENAGE STREET CORNER FREESTYLE

JUICY

BIG POPPA

SMILEY FACES HYPNOTIZE

Sean Ward exclusive interview with Chali 2na from Jurassic Five

Backstage at Hip Hop Haraoke Toronto‘s 3rd Anniversary Party

Check out my performance from that party – CLICK HERE

Jurassic Five:

Here we are at Hip Hop Karaoke Toronto’s Third Anniversary party at Revival. Special Guest – Chali 2na from Jurassic Five!

Let me just state right here that Chali 2na is one of the coolest dudes ever. He is so down to earth, and he hung out at the end until everyone that wanted to greet him got their chance. He loves his fans, and you can tell he has a lot of fun performing.

Watch for my exclusive backstage interview with Chali 2na tomorrow!

In the meantime, enjoy one of my favorite videos of all time featuring Mr. 2na: