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A few years in the making, Smoke drops appropriately on 4/20, 2010. The project serves as Phatal Records' and Blastphumis' official debut. "The album is called Smoke for a lot of reasons," he says. "Smoke is always the first signal that a fire is coming. [It also symbolizes] I've inhaled life and I'm exhaling it." All tracks on the project were produced by Phatal Record's very own in-house producer, Michael "Awkward Silence" Saltzman. Local collaborations include tracks co-written and performed by GYPC ("Crooked") and Yung E ("All My Life") of Likeblood Entertainment, and album cover art work by Felix Osuchukwu and Miles Bumbray -- all of whom, along with Blastphumis and Awkward Silence, are alumni of Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. Also featured on the album is Eze Jackson, frontman of Baltimore's experimental hip-hop band, Soul Cannon, in "Show Me Love." "I want [listeners] to understand that this is my 'early work,'" Blastphumis says. "I hit a lot of real life subjects; for this first project I had a lot of sh-- to get off my chest real quick." Phatal Records is celebrating the release of Smoke with a release party and show at Bohemian Caverns (2001 U Street NW) starting at 8:30 PM on April 20, 2010. There will be live performances by Blastphumis, Soul Cannon, Likeblood Entertainment, Dior Ashley Brown and others. (Smoke EP Release Party and "Joint" Show EPK available here.)
April 10, 2010 marked the unveiling of the cover art for Phatal Records' and Blastphumis' debut EP, Smoke. The artwork combines an original oil painting of Blastphumis by D.C. artist Felix "Flex" Osuchukwu and alluring graphics by D.C. graphic designer Miles Bumbray. This collaboration among the three graduates of Duke Ellington School of the Arts was the final piece in making the Smoke EP project complete. "The music [on Smoke] is very cerebral," says Arielle Jordan, Phatal Record's Director of Marketing, "the cover art is reflective of that. It's letting you know that you're about to step into Blastphumis' world."
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 | Blastphumis (Jason Wright) is a recording artist, skateboarder, and actor out of Washington, D.C. but began his artistic career in his hometown of Los Angeles at the age of 13. He is the founder of the D.C. based entertainment company PHATAL INDUSTRIES which is comprised of Phatal Records, Phatal Films and Phatal Sk8boards. A graduate of D.C.'s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Blastphumis has worked with other recording artists such as Yung E, Gypc, and Mbea da 1 of Likeblood Entertainment, SmCity, David "Professor" Burl, Deja Belle, EZ Jackson of Soul Cannon and others. When he isn't skating at Freedom Plaza he is in the studio or out performing and networking with the rest of the Phatal team. His debut EP with Phatal Records is entitled Smoke with the LP, Mirrors, to follow.
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 | See what the critics are saying about the EP here.
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