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This is so long overdue but we finally got to catch up with Lyric, and feature her as a Spotlight Artist from KICKBACK SUNDAYS Season #2.

1) How long have you been rapping?

For only about a year and a half. But I’ve been doing poetry all my life and professionally for over 7yrs

2) If I wasn’t rapping, I would be….

a traveling poet, or writer.

3) Where are you from? What is the hip hop/rap scene like where you are from?  

Born in Chicago which produced the soulful likes of Common and Kanye West but raised in southwest side of Houston, producing a distinct legendary sound. I still remember being in sixth grade and my oldest brother taking me to the screw shop to learn my history. I remember driving down Scott and seeing Z-RO drive right past me or going to a poetry event and seeing Slim Thug slip in to enjoy the show. And we all know if you don’t know all the words to the Mo City Don freestlye you slippin.
4) How did you hear about KBS and what made you decide to attend?

I first heard about KBS when I was working for a blog called the Hive Society. A friend I met there told me if I wanted to be apart of the scene I should go to SF2. There I asked about hip hop events and the rest is history!

5) Has KBS been beneficial to you and if so how?

Of course, I’ve gotten to work on my stage presence in such a great way. And I’ve gotten the chance to meet and bond with Teresa and Susie, two people who have really offered amazing advice. I’ve gotten the chance to rub elbows with the hip hop community here in Houston and make a name for myself.

6) What are you currently working on? What projects if any have you released.

I am working on my first EP “Misdirection” due this summer.

7) Did you met anyone at KBS or as a result of KBS that you look up to?

I met Kofo of GeoDigital where I was able to perform my first show at warehouse live and I met Mike from Scoremore, where I was able to create a relationship and am now about to perform my first scoremore show alongside travis scott and casey veggies.

8) Who are your influences and if you had to compare your style to someone, who would it be?

Influence greatly by Tupac, Lauryn Hill, ZRO, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Eminem, J Cole. Because I’m a female rapper who is socially aware most people compare me to Lauryn Hill. I am always humbled and flattered but I feel as though my style can’t be compared. It hasnt been done.

9) Who do you believe is the best unsigned rapper in Houston and why?

I would be a fool to not say myself. I love my music. But other than me, I’d say Doughbeezy. I am really a fan of his cadence,  hussle and stage presence.

This Sunday, May 19, KICKBACK SUNDAYS will be looking for the best in performance to open for Cyhi The Prynce of G.O.O.D. Music, when he comes to Houston on June 15th! It almost seems like a perfect fit, because the name of Cyhi’s tour is “The KICKBACK Tour”.

This will be a 3 week selection process, so artists better step it up. There will be judges in the audience each Sunday, from media partners, producers,  etc. who will be helping us find that artist who will get the opening slot. Each week, 2 artists will be selected as finalists, and on June 9th, those 6 artists will have a face off to see who wins.

We always tell artists to bring people since Kickback Sundays is a FREE event. The people who will be helping us select finalists and eventually a winner, will be looking at many things! Of course talent, stage presence and crowd participation will play a factor as well. Good luck to all of you.

The winner of this opening slot will NOT be required to sell tickets. HOWEVER, you can purchase tickets to this show at BOTH SF2 locations! There will be a MEET and GREET for CYHI at SF2 SOUTH, peep the flyer!

Follow our friends on twitter @ILOVESF2 , @IAM_SUSIE , @GeoDigitalShows and of course @KICKBACKSUNDAYS where we deliver #RealResults.

This Sunday it is Mothers Day and it is a tradition that we do not have KICKBACK SUNDAYS on this special day! Besides, do you really want your momma mad at you! Most of us take mom out to breakfast or a nice lunch, and the sign-up list situation cuts into that time. The rest of us might want to celebrate with a nice dinner. Either way, its tradition, so see all of you May 19 when we return stronger than ever!

Stay tuned because starting May 19, the selection process for an opening performance slot for Cyhi Tha Prynce begins!

There is no denying that the Cypher segment of KICKBACKSUNDAYS is always a crowd favorite. Clever punchlines including insults and jabs, mixed with emotions, a large crowd and lets not forget the clicks of homies, and what you have is a survival of the fittest mentality of anything goes, nothing is off limits.

From week #1 and 2, K DOGG had won in the final cypher so he would be the one that someone would have to face in week#3. This someone would be Johhny Lee. I was especially pleased to see Johnny Lee return to KICKBACK SUNDAYS not only for the skill level that he displayed in week#2, which Doughbeezy and I had a conversation about as we both watched him from the side of the stage, but because I felt that a few things went wrong in week#2. We usually give the artist a time limit on the mic, either a “16″, a minute, whatever the case is, we inform them of their allowed time on the mic. When Johnny Lee went up against Kab Tha Don, it was no doubt a great battle in which both guys killed it, but Kab exceeded the time limit and was allowed to do so, because I failed to grab the mic from DJ Auditory when I should have. Johnny Lee then asked for 30 seconds more on the mic to salvage things, but it was too late, Kab had control of the crowd. I mean, what is the point of having rules if we do not enforce them right? So, for 2 weeks, I hoped Johnny Lee would return because I felt that I didn’t put my foot down and restore order, if thats even possible in a cypher!

So, with that bit of history, here we are week#3 and the play by play.

This weeks cypher was hosted by SMS Audio and Queen Bobbi, who we are very grateful they provided wonderful giveaways for folks in the crowd and for the winner of the final cypher, a pair of some dope headphones!! The winner of Cypher #1 was “A1″, Cypher #2 was John Dough and the winner of Cypher #3 was Johnny Lee. These 3 artists would face the returning champ, K DOGG, in the final round. Queen Bobbi made it clear that she wanted “no struggle bars” so you really had to be on top of your game. Before the cypher started, the 3 challengers were spread out on different corners of the stage with their game face on. Johnny Lee was in the far right corner with the stone face, A1 was leaning against a wall staring with no blinks, somewhere into the distance,  K DOGG was chillin on the stage and John Dough was pumped up as well. A few members of the Headwreckas were shouting from the crowd, urging K DOGG to do his thing, random comments from all parts of the crowd because it was the final cypher!

K DOGG was first up, which is usually not how things go, since he was the reigning champ but he grabbed the mic, and set the bar high. All of the artists displayed some quality bars, but in the final round it became a showdown between K DOGG and Johnny Lee. Since it was such an issue of who goes first, Suzie did a coin toss and K DOGG was the artist who would go first! This would be a great battle of skills! Once again, we always go off the noise of the crowd, and a lot of people felt that Johnny Lee was the winner before we did a final showdown But I suppose deep down inside, we never want the battle to end! I personally couldn’t call it and it became a back and forth opinion swap, and Johnny Lee stepped forward and said he had no problem going again. I couldn’t believe it was another week#2 situation all over again. And speaking on the week#2 situation, it was obvious that there were some unresolved emotions on both sides between Kab and Johnny Lee, from the comments I was hearing from the crowd, so with that being said…we would have to settle things with a final round.

So now the stage is set. It would be K DOGG vs. Johnny Lee in a final round. Both artists did very well, but in the end, Johnny Lee would take the cypher as the new champion. Being that the crowd decides at KICKBACK SUNDAYS, this has always been an argument as unfair (usually brought to my attention by who loses or people who claim to roll “1 deep”).  We tell people to bring people ALL the time, it is after all a FREE event! Also, you can’t be mad at an artist who have teams, like VERSE Records or the Headwreckas. Those teams are built like all teams, friendships, relationships of individuals who take pride in what they represent. For me, hope was restored last night because it is rough for someone new like Johnny Lee to step into an environment like KICKBACK SUNDAYS, and face a 3 season KICKBACK SUNDAYS veteran, who everyone knows and loves, but lets face it, K DOGG is so good. In fact the two guys were talking at the end of the show and we got a quick snapshot of them in their “I KILLED IT AT KICKBACK SUNDAYS” shirts.

NOW, for the clincher. Throughout the night during the final cypher, Kab Tha Don had made comments. Words like “rematch” were tossed around the room, and Johnny Lee, who was still on stage after winning his prizes, grabbed the mic and thanked everyone for staying to support all the artists, but added his own final comment that he would be back next week to challenge Kab Tha Don because he felt he was robbed in week#2! I couldn’t believe it, the smile I had on my face turned to, oh damn, “sh#t just got real”. The entire KICKBACK SUNDAYS erupted!!!! There was no controlling the emotions in the room!! Queen Bobbi looked at me and said, did I cause this! I assured her, that these were carried over emotions from Week#2!! People were demanding a rematch IMMEDIATELY at that moment! The Headwreckas were outside on the patio having discussions, ET from VERSE Records was going nuts! The crowd was more intense about it than K DOGG and Johnny Lee who were inside taking pictures. All I can say is, This sunday will be SOMETHING. I have learned my lesson… today, I will be purchasing my own wireless mic for this Sunday.

Follow these people on twitter! Johnny Lee: @noaveragemc, K DOGG: @KDOGG_BNFA, @QueenBobbi, @KICKBACKSUNDAYS  and of course @ILOVESF2.

The wait is over, we are officially back! Our first show of season#3 was highly anticipated and it was crazy!

Usually, the sign up situation at SF2 North builds to long lines and artists showing up earlier and earlier to secure a spot on the performance list. However, this season, the line to sign up was very long for the first week. We can only imagine that this season will be very interesting if we are already starting out this intense! The sign-up list filled up within 20 minutes and the cypher sign up filled up fast as well. There were still artists left, so a “maybe” list was created in the event that someone who had made the original list was not at Club Numbers when their name was called. Sounds crazy but there were actually 2 people who got to perform from the “maybe” list!

The show started off full of energy. Sir Splexx and Dewayne Wavy set the tone for the evening by engaging with the audience and utilizing the entire stage. By the time the third cypher started, the crowd was warmed up and ready. We can’t say the specifics, but by 9:30 we had a head count of 274 with others outside on the patio as well. And the people kept coming! No parking for 4 blocks! Verse Records returned with new material and a more aggressive stage presence. We were excited to see ShoStoppa perform, he really did a great job. He looked the part and he delivered. There really are actually quite a few artists that made their mark early on this season, and we pulled a few of them to the side to let them know that we’re watching!!

We also incorporated a rap battle, that was exciting and just fun! To see everyone gathered around 2 guys battling was like being a kid again! I was standing there trying to squeeze in between someone to see, when I looked to my right and saw Doughbeezy and Propain! We were all there like big kids after school watching a fight go down!!!

We also had  rounds of cyphers and the winner was a KICKBACK SUNDAYS veteran, K DOGG! The crowd decides at KBS, so you better tell your people to come out and support!!!

I really could go on and on, but let these pictures speak for themselves, we took a bunch!!!

WINNER OF THE FINAL CYPHER —– K DOGG!!!

Today was just a fun time and I must say, we had some spitters in the building!!

Although the main reason why we all gathered today was to accept artist submissions for a summer showcase as well as other shows we are working on, we added some fuel to the fire by hosting 4 cyphers!!!

A lot of people submitted music, some from as far away as Austin, TX! We can’t express how excited we are to see artists who are hungry and serious about their craft. Artist Submissions were from 2pm – 5pm and we never had a moment where someone wasn’t walking up to get involved. At one point the line was pretty long and we had to take breaks in between the cyphers to keep things flowing.

We can’t help but get excited around the return of KICKBACK SUNDAYS, its in our blood! DJ Mankind was spinning and talking the talk, while Tia grabbed the mic and started things off with a “friendly” cypher. Friendly meaning, everyone could get on the mic and showcase skills while we waited to start the official cyphers! I must say, we had some spitters in the building today!

We got a few pics from today but there were some blogs in the building as well. Much love to the fine folks at Drank Epidemic for hanging with us today.

The program that gives underground artists a chance to gather, network, and perform returns for its third season! We had a great 2nd Season and hope to deliver those real opportunities again, for those who are hungry to take it!

Remember, we welcome everyone! KICKBACK SUNDAYS is NOT only for underground artists, it is for DJs, Producers, photographers, videographers and anyone in between! There are always promoters in the crowd looking for new talent, so we encourage you to bring any type of promo material.

THE BASICS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1) Everyone is invited and Anyone is welcome.

2) We encourage networking, so to get the best out of your experience, bring all of your promotional material ie. CDs, flyers, business cards etc.

3) There is a sign-up sheet that opens on Sunday at 12NOON at SF2 NORTH (215 W. GREENS RD. Houston, TX 77067). HOWEVER, people do come early to secure a spot on the list, so be there as early as possible or have someone line up for you. People travel from out of town to get on the list, don’t miss out! YOU MAY NOT LINE UP IN FRONT OF THE STORE UNTIL 10AM due to safety reasons enforced by HPD. PLEASE FOLLOW these rules.

4) Underground, unsigned artists, may either sign up for a performance slot which is 5 minutes. In those 5 minutes you can do whatever you want.

5) You may also sign up for one of the 3 cyphers that we have.

*It is recommended that you follow us on twitter @kickbacksundays because we announce updates as well as changes if any should occur.

This Easter Sunday, after you are done hunting eggs, stop by SF2 South from 2pm – 5pm for some cool happenings!

We are having quite a few festivities!

FIRST, we are accepting artist submissions for a Summer Showcase that we are throwing. Please bring a CD with 2 of your best tracks to submit. We are looking for a few artists who are able to travel to other cities as well. Bring your best music, we will take it from there!

SECOND we will have 4 cyphers. Three regular and 1 final round. We wanna see the best since this is the weekend before the return of KICKBACK SUNDAYS. We wanna see who is serious! Who has the juice! The winner of the Cypher will automatically be in the FINAL ROUND as the wild card for the following week when KICKBACK SUNDAYS RETURNS!

THIRD, we have an in store Meet and Greet with AER. Look these guys up! They are really about to blow up! They are on a 30 city tour opening for Hoodie Allen! The next time these guys return to Houston, they will be so big you might not get this close! GO DJ Mankind will be running the music and Red Bull will be providing the drinks!!