Also, passive-aggression is a bad look. Don’t thank me about writing about you three if you don’t mean it. Don’t send me a heart on twitter. I do appreciate the patience it took to respond the way you did though. Anyways, I wrote about you three as a group because your guys’ general lack of professionalism / ability to engage the crowd was part of the night’s story, and made for an interesting contrast with Sandman and the rest. But shouts to Zazen actually, because he had some real nice lines and songs overall. He didn’t blow me away, but I probably shouldn’t have lumped him in and should’ve mentioned that.

Here’s more of the constructive criticism you said you wanted. You do have a presence and a kind of polished performance style, moreso than the first two acts. I’ll give you that. But you don’t present yourself as someone who really demands attention. As for the iPod, it’s just a sign that this person does not take their craft seriously enough—is not a professional. Being an amateur is not necessarily an insult though and being a professional is just a marker of experience, polish, and confidence. It’s a marker that your set didn’t have. It’s not necessary for a great act, but it helps. Further you gotta switch the flow up.

Rap is a crowded room. Make a case for why you should be there. Do it with your craft, not your self. You need to take action in order not to be “that sensitive Boston rapper”—it’s as much your fault as it is others’ that you’ve got that title. Be something beyond honest or sensitive. Be creative with it. Write more. Peace.

Let me discuss my need to fill space within my songs while Mike doesn’t. I grew up on fast rap (Masta Ace, Eyedea, Blu, etc) I love when rap is just that, minutes into serious song content. My songs are honest and about myself or my life experiences, It’s all I know and I try to actually keep it real. Lately I have been trying to slow down my rap approach, I understand that I don’t have a lot of chorus in my songs, its for a reason. I want people to listen to what I am saying, I don’t expect everyone to be able to understand every word out of my mouth, but I do want everyone to try, Mike Eagle even said that I need to write chorus’ to get people’s attention since it’s hard to grasp 3 minutes of written raps at a pace faster than normal conversation levels. I agreed with him and will possibly try to implement that.

Let me start a new paragraph while I sit in my kitchen. You seemed to enjoy each of the main acts honest approaches and I feel that is a strong trait that I carry within my stage show. While you lamented my need to mention my ipod and how terrible it is to use it, that’s just how I felt and while missing my dj, who helps out with stage presence, I felt his absence that night. Did i need to mention any of this, no, but I think out loud and always have. I didn’t beg anyone to come up front, I did ask and if no one had moved I would’ve been fine with it. If the mic cable had been longer I would’ve jumped into the crowd and taken the show to them (at one point you might have noticed me tugging on the mic cable, that was me checking the length). I hope we can meet sometime and discuss what it is I could do to help my stage show/songs/life/etc.

I wish you the best Ben.