So this blog is called Transformation...

Well..my transformation from Ilyas to "I-EL" has begun...first I did something with the head...


Then with the beard...Thanks to friend Angela Maria for coming up with the design.


I've been wantin' to do something like this for a minute. I was going to wait but then I figured...what's the point in waiting? I see why Andre3000 went through that change now. When you feel different within yourself, at some point you want to express that change externally as well. And if I'm a truly unique individual. When I'm truly embodying who I am, shouldn't I be the only that looks and dresses like me? and with that statement TAADAA!!!



Yeah I'm goin' through some changes but it will make sense eventually. How do I know it will make sense at some point? Because it's me expressing me...

SPRING MOVIES!!

So I saw Iron Man opening day. It was rather dope I must say. Much in part to Robert Downey Jr. doing a superb job. He really brought the Tony Starks character to life with a considerable amount of flare. This is a must see for all comic book fans. I would say this takes 3rd place in the comic book hero movies. Batman leads the charge obviously (the new ones not the gay over Hollywooded versions that dared cast Arnold as Mr.Freeze sheesh). 2nd is Spidey (but y'all were trippin' on the 3rd one people...Spidey doin' his best John Travolta impression was LAME!) And Terrance Howard being a part of the Iron Man films is not a bad look. For those that followed the comic. Yes Terrance will be playing "him" in the sequels at some point.

Speedracer was fuckin' incredible. They did an excellent job at bringing the cartoon to life. All the characters were chosen well. The special effects were beautiful but not over done. I wouldn't advise you to see this if you're prone to seizures though...no really...there were ALOT of flashing lights. This made me feel more like a kid again than the Transformers movie did. This movie was perfect. Nuff said...

The Forbidden Kingdom on the other hand...sigh...man...I'm hurt. How do you fuck up with 2 Kung Fu action legends on the screen together?! Jet Li and Jackie Chan? Together? Fucking Hollywood....they throw in a geeky white dude and tried to make it like Karate Kid meets Chronicles of Narnia and it just didn't work. The MAIN character was the geeky white dude too. Dude was annoying as hell. You should watch this movie for one scene though. Jackie and Jet go toe to toe. Its OFF THE CHAIN!! Thats about 40 minutes into the movie so feel free to leave after that because its pretty much downhill from there. Also what's odd is this was supposed to be a children's movie sort of. Why in the 1st 5 minutes were white dudes using the racial slur "Chink"? Imagine if somebody used the word "nigger" in Harry Potter...yeah...you get me? Either wait for this to hit Netflix or do what I did sneak in after you finish watchin' one of the above movies. lol Keep it 100!

Okay time to keep it real...really real...

I have been unenthusiastic with blogging to be honest but I realized that this was my own fault. I tend to write about superficial events taking place around me when I am a very introspective person. I am constantly focused on the world within and see the world around me as the effect of the world within...an extension of it. So let's talk about my world within. Shall we?

Recently, I've been feeling confined creatively, in life, socially, etc. This was also my fault i guess in being that I feel I nonconform in a way that suits my social environment. There's a whole lot goin' on in the head of one Ilyas Nashid. And soon many will see those "things" in my head start to leak out through music, video, writing, etc. I'm not the exhibionist type but I feel compelled to "release" it in a sense. Let it pass through me out into the world. If all that I've learned just stays in my head then I guess its kind of useless and also selfish on my part.

So here goes....

Since a young child I've always been pretty "different." Strange dreams, etc. I've always been extremely intuitive...see things before they happen in my dreams. For example, believe it or not I saw the whole 9/11 thing a year before it happened. Well basically I saw the 4 buildings just standing in a dream in NY. At the time I was livin' in NC and rappin' with Donwill, so my dumbass thought it meant there would be 4 labels in NY that wanted to sign me and Donwill. LOL When I saw that visual a year later it shocked me. Yup....so I'm pretty "different."

Anyway, my life has kinda played out like the young...something...preparing to do...something...one day. Pretty vague hunh? Yeah I've been equally confused. So I've learned to be a chameleon. When you're incredibly intuitive its easy. You can kinda connect with peoples minds and being on some level where you know how to fit in with them in any environment. The most challenging environment I was in was when I worked at a mental institution. It trained me in a sense. In that environment people's minds aren't as static as the average persons. They're minds are in chaos..constantly changing. Amazingly enough all the patients loved me for the most part. I guess because I'm a little off too. LOL

So some years ago I had a ruuuude awakening of sorts. Like getting pulled out of the matrix for the 1st time. Since then I have experienced tons of bizarre phenomena. The 1st of which Carl Jung coined "synchronicity."

I see numbers all over the place right before stuff happens. The most notorious of them being 211. Usually when I see this it signifies chaos. An unexpected change in
how I perceive things happening. Sometimes its good but usually it sucks. Like my car will break down. My flight will get delayed or cancelled. Somebody will call me and argue with me. I predict that in the year 2011 a bunch of madness is going to happen to really openly signify extreme change.

There are many more numbers that I'll get to later. Many try to characterize it as a mental illness with an obsession with numbers. Or many will say you must be looking for the number and are more conscious of it. That's Bullshit. If one of the most progressive forefathers of modern psychology experienced it and dedicated the better part of his life's work to studying it...then it's probably real. And Quantum physicists have begun studying the phenomena. Synchronicity has proven to me that as chaotic and random as things seem this reality is very ordered and structured.

I see synchronicity...more specifically numerical synchronicity kind of in a video game sense. You see certain code when certain forces or patterns are forming.

Chew on that for a bit. Look up synchronicity if you dare. You should because many people are starting to experience it. Some call it a mass awakening of sorts. I just call it a shift into higher consciousness meaning many are becoming more "conscious" of their intimate connection with this reality and the world around us.

Until the next blog...

All-in-one update!!

Okay, we had a pleasant tour for the most part. We sat in the truck alot. Alot-alot!
That part sucked as did sitting at the venues several hours because being amateurs we would show up to soundcheck on time. That we've learned is a no-no with certain venues. You do your check. They change the settings for the openers and when you're onstage its back to the drawing board.

So we've learned that soundchecks don't help that much unless you have your own soundman or the venue is that on top of it. But usually it doesnt matter with the Hole-in-wall spots. "This rockin' the Hole-in-wall club shit must stop! like Freeze. We makin' the crowd move but we ain't makin' no cheese." - Outkast on Elevators. I understand now Big Boi. I understand.

But we opened for De La Soul in Charlotte. That was dope. Look below.


Yeah North Carlina is my old home of 7 years. I miss it a bit every now and then.
I don't miss the bizarre canned meat products in the gas station though.


Roadkill-in-a-can. Ugh! Anyway coming to Ohio for a portion of the tour was dope! Felt good to rock for home. In Cleveland one of my homegirls had this though.

What the hell is this?! Ain't that the scariest toy you've ever seen. Its eyes and head rotate and it makes some ghastly noise. This could have easily been Chuckie's sidekick in Child's Play. LOL!!

So once the tour was over me and my boy Pytell went out to kick it. Pytell kicks it professionally. But unbeknownst to me he kicks it on a James Bond type level now. We downed a bottle of Paul Masson at a party and as we proceeded to the next party, Pytell pops up his backseat and voila!



Dude has a secret compartment under one of his backseats to stash liquor. My nigga!
Hahaha! Anyway, that was a dope night. Went to a dope afterparty minus the druggies. Overall, November has been a great month! That's all for now folks!!

Beat Thieves 2 complete...

Well it almost is. Waiting on Low Key to to finish the mix *ahem* lol Anyway I want it to be a plague of sorts. This is a nice prelude to what's coming up ahead. Round 2 for Tanya is going to be full of surprises...especially being I'm editing down a new video right now for us. I'm sleepy..sorry...don't feel like blogging really. Until next time....lol

A brief update

My bad I got kinda Hollywood on y'all after Vegas. lol But being in Jacksonville has brought me back down to earth. Gone are the nice high rise suites, sharing the stage with celebrities (well today atleast), and ballin' outta control (yeah right lol). Anyway I promise I'm gonna update this blog thoroughly. Much has happened in the past weeks in my little sordid life. We're on our way to Asheville, NC now and tomorrow we may be opening for a legendary act. I'll keep that hush for now until it materializes. Well the guys are eager to leave. Von just fled from the room because there was a small 6-legged lifeform crawling on him. LOL Until next time. This is I-EL signing out!!

The Fans...correction...The Fam

Vegas here we come!!

Thank God for the fam. When nobody is lookin' out for you, when your label abandons you, when you question why you're even doing this...there's always the fam. Its the fam that's gettin' us to Vegas. Its the fam that got us on MTVU. Its the fam that helps keeps our names out there.

I know many have this perception of Tanya Morgan as part of some fine tuned music industry machine or something. Honestly, its just Donwill, Von, and myself. We get a little aid from friends we've made in the biz here and there...but for the most part we're on our own.

This is a great opportunity for us because our little bit of hustle paired with an entity that has our back would have the potential to do something HUGE. Brooklynati is the MONSTER we're trying to create now. Its been difficult with all the stress over the past year but I have a feeling that stress will subside for a minute or atleast shift to a different area of our lives for the moment.

When nobody believed in us, the fans did...correction....the fam did. Thanks you.