Shades of Grace

Shades of Grace recently received favorable reviews from Cross Rhythms. You may read an excerpt of the review below.

Standout song Have Plenty raises some hard-hitting questions for anyone who can relate to the lyrics “we have what we don’t want, we want what we don’t have”. It’s a song packed full of wisdom as the Philadelphia-based emcee raps, “If I have need of anything, I have need of the king.with him I have all that I need. I have plenty”. Red Baron showcases his talent for writing both serious and light hearted lyrics throughout the album. “I was getting more ‘A’s than a pack of Duracells,” he says recounting his school days on A Black And White Affair.  Southern Comfort contains more great lyrics mixed in with a brief rendition of classic hymn Blessed Assurance.

You may read more of the review by clicking here.

]]> http://paintedred.net/shades-of-grace-review-cross-rhythms/feed/ 0 http://paintedred.net/mr-incredible-video/ http://paintedred.net/mr-incredible-video/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 04:09:36 +0000 Red Baron http://paintedred.net/?p=292

Red Baron exclusively debuted the official video for Mr. Incredible with ILiveHipHop.  Check out the video here.

Red Baron was recently interviewed by ILiveHipHop.  You may read an except of the interview below.

And what are your views on how hip-hop is misunderstood by the media? How do you think hip-hop can rectify this problem to show it is a culture based on making a positive impact?

Hip-hop, when done right, is merely a microcosm of a larger cultural, economic, historical, political, spiritual struggle of African Americans in their quest for developing an identity in American society initially, and now other cultures across the world who have subsequently become impacted by that expression.  We have seen that recently with protests in the Middle East; some of its more prominent voices were hip-hop artists.  That is what hip-hop should be, an expression of the people.

The media has misconstrued some of this at times and cast it in an unfavorable light, but some of that falls on the artist and consumer.  We say this music speaks for us, then, “All we ever talk about is Ex and Coke/Sex and dope/Bling-bling and the gleam on the Lexxus spokes.”  The change has to “come from the lifeline, those who right rhymes.”  We as artists must be more responsible with our output.  If the artist will not be more accountable for their work, then the consumer must be more responsible by not purchasing music that promotes violence, denigrates women and endorses rampant drug use.  Hip-hop is more than that.

You may read more of the interview by clicking here.

Shades of Grace

I Live Hip-Hop recently reviewed Shades Of Grace.  You may read an excerpt of the review below.

Shades Of Grace is a great addition to hip hop and to my collection of music, I will for sure be keeping this album amongst the many great albums I have collected. Red Baron has done a great job in capturing his thoughts and emotions and presenting these two aspects of his personality to the world through music, Red Baron’s lyrical ability to construct a masterpiece is evident on every track of the album. Shades Of Grace tackles some real topics but has a very positive outlook, it will leave you feeling good and at the same time very open minded about the world and the life which we lead.

You can read more by clicking here.

Shades of Grace iPod Touch Contest Rules

Apple iPod Touch (4^th GEN) Regular 8G Giveaway

Red Baron is giving away an Apple iPod Touch in association with the release of "Shades of Grace." Enter for your chance to win!

Red Baron is giving away a free iPod Touch in association with the release of his sophomore album Shades of Grace!  Red Baron will simply ask his family, friends and supporters five questions related to the album.  Those who answer the questions correctly are automatically eligible to win the iPod Touch.  You may find the five questions, contest entry and official rules below.

Contest Entry Form

Apple iPod Touch (4^th GEN) Regular 8G Giveaway Contest Entry Form

General Information:

Full Name: _______________________________________________________________________________

Preferred Name (if different): _____________________________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________________________

City: _____________________            State: ____________________            Zip: ________________

Telephone Number:            (            )______________________________________________________

Email Address: _______________________________________________________________________

Date of Birth: ________________________

What is the best means to contact you? _______________________________________________

Are you on Red Baron’s mailing list?  If not, would you like to be added?

__Yes                        ____No

How did you hear about Shades of Grace?

Shades of Grace Questionnaire

Note: The Shades of Grace Questionnaire has two questions which refer to Red Baron’s debut album Paint the Town Red.  You may access Paint the Town Red on iTunes, CDBaby and Great Indie Downloads.

1. In his song entitled Southern Comfort (Hue I Am) feat. Lisa McClendon, Red Baron says he was, “[B]orn by the river/In a land where the vehicle of choice was a ‘Lac or Chevy pickup . . . In a city where blue was the hue that would color your mood.” In the same song, he also refers to the same city as, “The city that slayed the king that daydreamed.” In the next song, he later states the name of that city.  What is the name of the city, and in what song does he say its name?

2. In his song entitled The Way, Red Baron describes religious debates he had with two of his classmates while in college.  He states in the second verse, “And one scholar he, said he had possibly read the anthologies of Kemetic philosophies/The Crito and The Apology by Plato and Socrates/He was the one who had paid his college fees and felt like he had gotten deep.”  These lines are an allusion to a song on Red Baron’s debut album, Paint the Town Red.  What is the name of the song to which Red Baron alludes?

3. On which song does Red Baron compare the search for the truth to the search to find Osama bin Laden?

4. Red Baron begins the final verse of A Black and White Affair by saying, “There’s no escaping it, ‘One ever feels this two-ness’/Two souls, two thoughts beneath this human.”  This is an allusion to an acclaimed writing of a famous 20^th Century African American scholar, historian, sociologist and civil rights activist.  Who is this person, and what is the name of the work to which Red Baron alludes?

5. Red Baron has been blessed to collaborate with a number of artists throughout his career.  Nevertheless, there is only one artist who he has collaborated with on both his 2005 debut (Paint the Town Red) and his latest release (Shades of Grace).  Who is this artist?

Official Rules

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.

How to Enter

The Shades of Grace Apple iPod Touch Giveaway contest will begin Tuesday April 19, 2011 at 12:01am and end on Friday May 20, 2011 at 11:59pm.

To participate in the contest, you may enter via the following method: Entries will be accepted twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week during the contest period.  To submit:

(1) Visit: www.paintedred.net, click on the Design (News) Tab and complete the submission form, along with the corresponding questionnaire;

(2) E-mail your completed contest entry form and questionnaire to contact@paintedred.net

1. Only one e-mail entry per e-mail address will be accepted.
2. Participants must provide a valid means of contact with their submission.

All submissions gathered with completely correct answers to the questionnaire are eligible to win. One iPod will be given away to an eligible contest participant.  Peradventure no contestant answers all the questions in the questionnaire correctly, Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG will deem participants eligible who answered the most questions correctly.  Contest winner will be selected at the close of the contest after all final submissions are gathered.

Eligibility Restrictions

(1) The Shades of Grace Apple iPod Touch Giveaway contest is open to all listeners of Shades of Grace.  Employees of Sanctifly Music Group, LLC (“SMG”), its licensee, its subsidiaries, affiliates, its advertising agencies, participating sponsors/promotional partners and members of their immediate families are ineligible to participate or win.  Subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.

(2) Only one grand-prize winner will be awarded the Apple iPod Touch.

(3) SMG reserves the right to broadcast the winner’s name and likeness for promotional purposes.  Winner is to sign a liability release form and release SMG, clients and subsidiaries involved of any liability, claims, actions of any kind due to injuries, damage or loss, to persons or property which may be sustained in connection with the receipt of the prize listed below.

Grand-Prize

(1) At the end of the contest, Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG will select one eligible contest participate to receive one Apple iPod Touch (4^th GEN) Regular 8G valued at $229.00.

(2) The grand-prize winner must claim his/her prize within ten business days of notification.  The grand-prize winner will forfeit the prize if he/she fails to claim within ten business days of first notification, and Red Baron or an authorized agent of SMG shall give the grand-prize to an alternate contestant.  Grand-prize winner may claim his/her prize by contacting Red Baron or an authorized agent of SMG and furnishing him with a valid mailing address. Red Baron or an authorized agent of SMG will mail the prize by certified US mail to a mailing address provided by the grand-prize winner, at no cost to the grand-prize winner. Red Baron or an authorized agent of SMG shall provide the grand-prize winner with all pertinent tracking information for the grand-prize.  If the grand-prize winner resides within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, or within a reasonable driving distance, the grand-prize winner may elect to pick up the grand-prize from Sanctifly Music Group, LLC located at 2424 E York Road Suite 325 Philadelphia, PA 19125.  The grand-prize winner must notify Red Baron or an authorized agent of SMG in writing if the grand-prize winner elects to pick up the grand-prize. Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG shall arrange for a mutually convenient time for the grand-prize winner and Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG to deliver the grand-prize.

(3) There is no substitution, transfer or cash equivalent for the grand-prize, except SMG, may, at its sole discretion, substitute the grand prize of comparable value or cash.  The grand prize is expressly limited to the item listed above and does not include taxes, gratuities or any other expenses.  Other restrictions may apply.

(4) Grand-prize winner shall hold Red Baron, SMG, its authorized its licensee, its subsidiaries, affiliates harmless in the event the grand-prize is lost, stolen or damaged while in transit.

Winner Selection and Notification

(1) Decisions of Red Baron and SMG and/or its authorized agents with respect to the contest are final.

(2) The winner, and one alternate (peradventure the winner forfeits the grand-prize), will be hand drawn after the conclusion of the contest on or before Monday May 23, 2011 at noon.

(3) Odds of winning are dependent upon the number of entries received for the drawing.  Eligible participants must correctly answer each question in the Shades of Grace Questionnaire.  Peradventure no contestant answers each question correctly, Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG will draw names of contestants who answered the most questions correctly.

(4) Immediately following the drawing, the grand-prize winner will be contacted via the means the grand-prize winner provided.

(5) The grand-prize winner will be announced after Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG receives confirmation that the grand-prize winner received the prize.

Conditions

(1) By participating in the Shades of Grace Apple iPod Touch Giveaway contest, the grand-prize winner agrees to have his/her name, voice or likeness used in any advertising or broadcast material relating to the contest without additional financial or other compensation, and, where legal, to sign publicity release confirming consent prior to acceptance of the prize.

(2) Prior to the awarding the grand-prize, Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG, in its sole discretion, may require the grand-prize contest winner to sign a liability release, agreeing to hold Red Baron and SMG, its authorized agents, its licensee, its subsidiaries, affiliates harmless against any and all claims or liability arising directly or indirectly from the prize or participation in the Shades of Grace Apple iPod Touch Giveaway contest.

(3) Red Baron, SMG its authorized its licensee, its subsidiaries, affiliates reserve the right to make changes in the rules of the contest, which will become effective upon announcement.  “If due to circumstances beyond the control of Red Baron, SMG its authorized its licensee, its subsidiaries, affiliates, any portion of the competition or prize-related event is delayed, rescheduled, postponed or cancelled, Red Baron, SMG its authorized its licensee, its subsidiaries, affiliates reserves the right, but not the obligation, to cancel or modify the Shades of Grace Apple iPod Touch Giveaway contest.

(4) Failure to comply with the contest rules may result in an entrant’s disqualification solely at the discretion of Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG.

(5) Red Baron and/or an authorized agent of SMG are not responsible for typographical or other errors in the display or printing of the Shades of Grace Apple iPod Touch Giveaway contest or the announcement of the grand prize.

(6) Contest of the written contest rules and announcement of the grand-prize winner (when selected) will be available during regular business hours at:

Sanctifly Music Group, LLC

2424 E York Street

Suite 325

Philadelphia, PA 19125

(4) An electronic copy may be provided upon request.

Shades of Grace received favorable reviews from Chican’s Choice.  You may read an excerpt of the review below.

A BLACK AND WHITE AFFAIR-LYRICS-5 PRODUCTION-4 FAVORITE BAR(2 WAY TIE)-”YOUR NOT WHITE, WHY ARE YOU USING PIECES OF PEACH?” “I WAS GETTING MORE As THEN A PACK OF DURACELS” This also is one of my favorite Red Baron tracks. Once again, Red Baron gives you a jaw dropping piece of art on “a black and white affair”. He speaks on racism and streotypes on both sides of the specturm. I can personally relate to this song-so it speaks to my soul. This song would make a great video and is a universal song that people of all races would appericate. Powerful song.

IF HIP HOP IS DEAD-LYRICS-LYRICS-5 PRODUCTION-5 FAVORITE BAR-”IF HIP HOP IS DEAD, IT’S BECAUSE YOU KILLED IT” All I have to say is…WOW! I feel as though Red Baron is in his lane on this track and when the beat breaks down…classic sound and classic flow. He took it back to the essence and sounded like hip hop it’s prime.

You may read the entire review by clicking here.

“Pour les Amateurs de rap conscient et real hip hop a decouvrir Red Baron Premier opus bientot dans les bacs.”  Check out Red Baron’s latest feature on Rap-As Tv‘s Blog One.  Rap-As Tv’s Blog One is the official blog for Rap-As Tv, the largest urban music television broadcast in Europe.  The television program and its corresponding websites provide daily coverage of news in entertainment, along with exclusive interviews, music reviews.

Have Plenty feat. Tomeka Carroll (available on iTunes, Amazon, Zune, Rhapsody, etal)

To read the concept behind Have Plenty feat. Tomeka Carroll, please click here.

Have Plenty feat. Tomeka Carroll is the Session 1 Grand Prize Winner in the Hip-Hop Category of the 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Competition.

-Written by T. Welbeck, R. Welbeck and T. Carroll; Instrumentation Written and Produced by David Liciaga; Additional Arrangements and Production by David P. Stevens-

Biblical References: Psalm 23, 31:1, 37:1-5, 73; 119:36; Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 3:7-9; 4:5-13; I Timothy 6:6-8; Hebrews 13:5; James 5:1-8

Verse 1

It would seem the life we most want is the one we don’t live/We throw fits jonesing to keep up with the Jones/And shape our lives to live the way the Jones live/We want the Jones’ home, we want the Jones’ kids/We don’t know who a Jones is/Yet we cleave to the hope that what’s theirs is ours for us to go get/And when we go get, all of the things the Jones get/It will be the very day that all of our goals end/But there is no end to this most embarrassing pursuit/When I am only doing better when I’m doing better than you/We forgot it’s our possessions that are weighing us down/They leave a burden on our shoulders and keep our feet on the ground/But we lay our covetous dreams in nests, knowing in fact/They hatch, then they go and take an orbital path/Fall and crash then begin eluding our grasp/We may get what we reached for, but we lose what we had/What do you have

Hook

We have what we don’t want/We want what we don’t have/With you I have everything I need/I have plenty, I have plenty (repeat)

Verse 2

I’m told our days are often full, but are rarely fulfilling/Rarely are thrilling, and we can say that barely we’re living/Running endlessly to stack all of our cares to the ceiling/We’re obsessed with what cherish and cherish what we are getting/Forgetting none of it was with us there in the beginning/And forgetting none of it will be with us there in the ending/We brought nothing into this world, we take so much from it/It is ours for a moment, then the generation coming/But we pass pieces of earth, believing the grass is greener/Not glad for what we have, not even glad for we were/Imprisoned in picket fences, we never see and believe/We risk what’s most important for the more fleeting of things/Knowing the richest is the one who has the need of the least/If I have need of anything, I have need of the King/Even when what I want isn’t even within my reach/It is with Him I have everything that I need/I have plenty

Hook

We have what we don’t want/We want what we don’t have/With you I have everything I need/I have plenty, I have plenty (repeat)

Outro

With you I have everything that I need/You are the air I breathe, the life I lead/I love you, I love you/I need you, I thank you/For everything You’ve done for me/Lord I give You everything.

"Shades of Grace" April 19, 2011

You may read the concept behind Life is Beautiful feat. Tomeka Caroll by clicking here.

Written by T. Welbeck and T. Carroll; Instrumentation Written, Produced and Arranged by David P. Stevens

Biblical References: Job 7:6-7; 14:1, Psalm 8:4; 88:3; 91: 16, 103:4; 118:24, Proverbs 8:33-35; 14:27, Ecclesiastes 12:1, Matthew 6:25-34, I Thessalonians 5:16, James 4:13-15

Verse 1

I remember the days when I was just a younger lad/More than a decade before
I ventured to undergrad/When my days were filled with He-Man and Thundercats/At times when I wonder back, I want them back/Because this life’s not what it used to be/When we were little kids, Katherine, it was you and me/No matter what we down, no matter how it happened/It was me and you, Tim and Katherine/I remember them bringing you home/I’ve got the date remembered/When Mom and Dad said, “You’ve got a baby sister/Love and encourage her when you’re playing with her/And when this life is difficult, face it with her”/Our days were simpler/We would go and play: tag, Mother May I, and roller skate/And ride our bikes all over the place/We let no ray of sunshine go to waste—those were days

Hook

Life is so beautiful, life is so beautiful (repeat)

Verse 2

I remember the days, we were babes, smaller in number/When each and everyday that would fall in the summer/Found us glued to televisions, or wallowed in slumber/Was life really simpler then, I bother to wonder/Because even in days when Happy Meals were in every car ride and G.I. Joe was the way that our day would start right/This world we lived still came upon its hard times/We just only looked as far as the days of our lives/I mean all the way up until ’93, the bulk of all of our sibling rivalries were fights to watch more television than the eye should see (our lives were sweet)/We were still old enough to play hide and seek around the second time we heard the letters H.I.V./It wasn’t Magic, it was closer than we’d like to see/When our uncle told us, “This time it’s me”/We learned that this life could leave as relatives died in threes/They left us within months of each other/Leaving us at home to struggle and wonder/Should we have been seeing those months in the summer/We had no fear of death, but wondered what would become us

Hook

Verse 3

I’m told the tragedy of life isn’t the pace of its ending/But lies more in the fact of how we wait to begin it/For the sake of making a living, men will forsake that they’re living/And glory in the days that they were misbehaving as children/Looking back to the future/Praying the past occurs presently/Ignoring the gift of the present as flirt on dates with destiny/We unearth our legacy as we move at this reckless speed/Working our fingers to the bone, so it’s in death we rest in peace/Scheduling meetings after meetings, appointments, agendas/We miss the beauty of this life when the point is its splendor/This life is beautiful, and though time is moving slow/It’s still moving too swiftly for any of you to hold/And we say that about the future as it moves at it blessed pace/Knowing that today was tomorrow yesterday/That makes today a gift, that’s why we call it the present day/And of a truth that’s why the elders never neglect to say/”Carpe diem, forget what becomes of what we’ve done/For in truth, life is beautiful, death is peaceful—it’s the transition that’s troublesome”/And it troubles some at last when we prevail and then we grasp/This life is a test we’ll continue to fail until we pass—on…

©2005

"Shades of Grace" April 19, 2011

You may read the concept behind A Black and White Affair by clicking here.

-Written by T. Welbeck; Instrumentation Written, Produced and Arranged by David P. Stevens-

Biblical References: Genesis 1:28; 5:1, Acts 10:9-35; 17:26, Romans 2:11; 8:14, II Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 3:26-29, Colossians 3:11, James 2:1, 9; 3:5-8, I Peter 1:17, Revelation 7:9-10

Verse 1

Mrs. Crowder approached two dozen kindergartners/With boxes of Crayolas, bins of markers/Sheets of paper, and the tender charge of/Make a self-portrait and splendid artwork/She needed say no more, my attention sparked up/And I raced to create the images she brought up/Her boxes overwhelmed with their assortment of hues/But I continued as an artist with a portrait to do/My hand found a brown, then I caught a glimpse of hazel/Then a peach, ignoring in consequential labels/I labored over each line for what seemed the span of hours/Slaving to perfect it, I  kept on glancing downwards/And while my schoolmates scribbled and played, I trickled away, when soon would come the rants of doubters/And through the clamor it seemed that all they took the chance to shout was,/ “You’re not white, why are you using little pieces of peach/You’re black, you should have drew your picture with these”/To bewildered to speak, I didn’t disagree/I didn’t even respond or try to answer back/I was too busy hearing them say, “You’re not white, you’re black”

Hook

You’re black, you’re a black(repeat 3x)

Verse 2

At an age when most youth seem to prove unruly/I differed from the pack, pursuing approving in schooling/I hung off my teacher’s every word, and I rarely found lectures dull/And fairly soon the respect would grow for the young man with the spectacles/As the kid from the second row who took the best lesson notes, with a keen intellect you would expect to see in adults/Even when the teacher talked about how empires back in Europe fell/I was getting more A’s than a pack of Duracells/And my parents would show their pride saying, “Son you’re doing well”/And I would glow inside just because of how good it felt/My peers would tease, but most times I withstood it well/Until one faithful day a student, he stood and yelled,/”Timothy this isn’t deep, why is it that you read/Your pants don’t dip down to your feet, and you sound different when you speak/You need to get it together, you better start acting right/Otherwise we’ll say you’re not black, you’re white…”

Hook

You’re white, you’re white (repeat 3x)

Verse 3

There’s no escaping it, “One ever feels this two-ness”/Two souls, two thoughts beneath this human/Two striving, two fighting, two vying with two grips/Two warring ideals that peel the hubris/That reveals one voice that speaks through two lips/And tell the world which of the two is truest/Which of the two will choose him/Which of the two is you Tim/I heard black, and thought of the color of asphalt/But I didn’t see how that color fit me at all/I tried to escape it, and it came wandering back/And I lot the name “Tim” for the moniker “black”/But after we embraced, it changed place for a different word/I know I’m not black, because I feel in love with literature/And you know black people don’t read unless they pictures first/And I know I’m not white, I’ covered with a reminder/So torn, what I took the chance to find was/The Father, He is my definer long before the color line was/So I cannot let it concern me, what the world will term me/I let the hours pass as the world is turning/And color my response with this reaction/I am a man of God the world wants to call a black man

Hook

You’re black, you’re white/You’re black, you’re white, you’re  . . .

©2005