Shouts out to the homie Jay Styles and the crew for having me be a part of his podcast, "Oh Yeah We Talk" this past Saturday. We were live and direct from outside of Sportie LA on Melrose Ave and having what I call "Barbershop Talk" on Hip-Hop/Pop Culture related topics, including our thoughts on Drake and Future new collaborative album, What A Time To Be Alive; as seen in the video clip below.

BREAKING NEWS!!! TONIGHT!!! DJ Chuck "thE oLd SouL" will be rocking with the homies B-Mix and Jaycru of Coldfusion Live at The Federal Bar in North Hollywood! Last month DJisLORD repped HFP on the bill, now it's my turn. Catch those‪#‎DancefloorBurner‬ vibes as they drop jams and gems.

Chuck sets it off at 10pm. "Come On Down!" (c) The Price Is Right

You may recognize this hat as the one I was rockin' in the ‪#‎ThisThatJam‬Music Video. Would YOU like one for yourself? Here's how you can win your own HFP "Soul Train" snapback from me...

1) Take a screenshot of you sharing the "This That Jam" music video on any social media platform (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc) and tag me on it on Instagram or Twitter @thEoLdSouLHFP. Or if you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you are more than welcome to tag my personal profile lol! Once you do that, you'll be entered in a random drawing.

Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAIhYDAxWCw

2) Every time you share the video and tag me on the post, is another "raffle ticket" with your name on it thrown into the hat (pun intended) to increases your chances of winning. You can enter as many times you want and more than once a day.

3) Winners will be announced on ‪#‎WestCoastWednesday‬ October 7th!

DJisLORD, ELIMN8, and myself thank all of you so much again for your support! Good luck and *Martin Lawrence Voice* "Get Ta' Sharin'!"

- Chuck

Regardless of which art form you part take in, you should always be looking for opportunities to challenge yourself and take yourself out of your comfort zone. File this one under those characteristics with a hilarious cold sweat.

Based on the work I had done for 94.7 The Wave's "Making Waves" campaign for Black History Month in February, morning show host Pat Prescott recommend to the station's long time mid-day jock Talaya Trigueros, that I help her produce the "Making Waves" spots for Hispanic Heritage Month. While I was not obligated to compose the music for the spots (just like I wasn't obligated to create music for the B.H.M. spot either), I insisted on giving the music a shot.

Now... as a Los Angeles native, it is IMPOSSIBLE not to have some knowledge of Latin Music. Furthermore, as a working DJ in this city, it is to your benefit to education yourself with Latin Music's various styles and artists. You will have a gig or two when you will have to apply this knowledge. Plus fellas, it will help you in the dating department, trust. So my experiences in spinning Latin Music is what I was drawing on in terms of influence. This would be sorta my second attempt at Latin track of sorts; my first was the closing track on the "Beyond Boxes" Soundtrack "Carlos Marrón," which was kind of a Latin fusion track.

With that said, authenticity was my greatest concern. I did not want this to come off corny and basic. I kept in mind the grunts I would have when a "non Hip-Hop producer" would try his hand at "my music" and I would just cringe at the results. To try to avoid this, I took in some input.

First off, the foundation of the beat is a drum loop that was buried in the The Wave's vault of Music Beds that Talaya had found. I figured if she agreed on the rhythm of the track, my chances at success were higher.

So as the deadline quickly approached to submit the completed spots to the Sales and Traffic department, I found myself after hours holed up at the station running between two locations: in Studio T editing the spots and in Pat's office, creating a make shift studio between my MAC, Maschine, Oxygen 25 Keyboard, a Shure 57 Mic, and an arsenal of percussion instruments to produce the music.

Once I felt I had the music right where I wanted it, I STILL felt unsure if it was "authentic" enough. So I insisted the two cents of fellow trusted DJ that adequately knew the genre and spun it on a consent bases. I sent an inbox video Facebook message to the homie DJ Cutlos Supreme in San Diego, expressing my concerns and played him the beat. I told him if it wasn't right, to let me have it.

His exact message back to me was "Listening right now. With other Latinos. Will get back." *Gulp* I was already thinking the worst "Man, I'm going to get clowned to high heaven for this attempt."

5 minutes later, the verdict from the jury was in...

"It's a typical Hispanic beat. It's catchy, but again its typical. It's danceable. It will do for your promo b/c it grabbed our attention. Well done."

*Sigh of Relief* I will take feedback and roll with it lol! Although my favorite light jab came from a co-worker that said the beat sounded a bit "Ricky Ricardo-ish..." Babalu ya'll, Hahahahah!

You will can hear the commercial spots that this music accompanies between now and mid October on-air on 94.7 The Wave. And now, at least I'm some what prepared for the day I get the call for a studio session with Enrique, Marc, or Prince Royce.

- Chuck

All Instrumentation and Programming By DJ Chuck "thE oLd SouL" For Honor Flow Productions

That moment when your music appears on a website you have checked damn near every day for over 10 years. Thank you so much for the write up HipHopDX!!!

Please watch, comment, share, and rate the video (5 Stars if you so please?) on their site by clicking HERE!!! 

Long awaited and highly anticipated. Took us all summer to get it to level we all push to have it at and finally, the wait is over... THE FIRST MUSIC VIDEO from Boombox Sketches is here! There are so many story lines that went to creating this song as well as the video that I will disclose fully one day (maybe for that book 20 years down the line) but I will tell this little bit... 

First off, you can thank my Moms for creation of "This That Jam"‬. After 3 straight days of making beats and demos with ELIMN8 for the EP‪,‬, we had a couple records almost ready to go. But I still felt in my gut that we were missing something. Overhearing what we've been working on, Moms says to me, "Chuckie, you made a couple laid back records already (one of them being "The Life"), you should make something upbeat." 15 minute later, to her approval, came this beat. Right after that was "@ The Speed Of Light. " It is really true "Mothers Know Best." Thanks Moms for setting the tempo.

I wanted to make something that felt like home. It felt like sunshine. It felt like palm trees. It felt like riding down the street with my windows down and my stereo system on blast. I wanted to create the same feeling I get anytime I hear Kurupt's "We Can Freak It" (Thank you Battlecat) or anything by DJ Quik. The bridge is honestly one of my favorite things I have ever written as a songwriter. I tried to channel those old Parliament records that Lord, ELIMN8, and myself all grew up listening to with those big group vocals (ELIMN8 and I actually mustered up the nerve to sing back up on this, lol!), with a hint of Dam-Funk (Invite The Light, his new album, go get that by the way).

I also love it because this is the world's introduction to what the three of us consider "our best kept secret," the powerhouse Singer/Songwriter that is Luna. It took three years from the time we met her to finally record with her; in which those three years she called me at least twice a week, every week, ready to work, and she still does actually lol! Thank you for being patient with us, me in particular, and stepping up when the time came for us reintroduce ourselves as a band.  The girl is a star and you will all see that within the next year.

As working DJs, Lord and I as of late in conversation, have criticized that the current club scene has somewhat lost it's "communal" vibe: everyone is on their phones filming themselves on Snapchat, not dancing with others, and clearly are just their to be seen with the most overpriced bottle of alcohol for Instagram props.  I'm sorry, but narcissism in a communal setting is not only unenjoyable , but just flat out annoying. So that is why the mad scientist at OISHIMEDIA and us decided to center the vibe of visuals around the grand tradition of a backyard boogie/house party. A party is where all barriers are removed and people come together to "Sweat out all the problems and troubles of the day." (c) Andre 3000. This is what Lord and I are all about as DJs and this is the message of this jam here.

Thank youOISHIMEDIA again for always being incredible to work with, thank you Sis for being the second eye behind camera, thank you Grandmommy for giving us our "office" for the day (and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!), thank you Taicha for being clutch last minute with the make up.

Last but not least, thank you to our friends and family that made up "The Party People:" Tyler, WISE, Julian, Justina, Jamal, Jay, Neil, Arissa, Aris, Asa, Jarron Sr and Jr, Mitchell, Ten, Kanary, Renegade, Aram, Chyka, Justin, Lorina, Rowell, Vanessa, David, Chris, and Ethel. This video would NOT be what it is without your positivity, your energy, and your love. You all are just as much the stars of this flick as ELIMN8, Lord, Luna, and myself. We are forever in debt for taking time out your lives to be a part of this. THANK YOU!

I know I said this was going to be short, but fuck it... it's 4am, I excited as hell that this video is finally out and I wanted to share this story with the world. 

So "Free your soul, roll with us." 

Soul Claps and Salutes.

- Chuck

And this is how HFP Sound System wrapped up our "Summer Madness" 20-15 run in August...

1) Gladys Knight and The O Jays at Microsoft Theater with 94.7 The Wave
It was pretty crackin' that night at Microsoft Theater for Gladys Knight and The O Jays! The people were dope and the jams were bumpin. That's how 94.7 Soul Patrol Street Team and I do we when link up. Thank you having us out!

By the way, dudes that's cha-cha-in was during the last song of the night, which was The Temptations' "Ain't To Proud To Beg." .

- Chuck