In the beginning there was the note. From the note originated the sound. Man learned how to use his body and how to create instrumentals, digging deep into Mother Nature’s prevalent models, constantly revising and prefectionnating his techniques. The trees were some of his tools and the birds some model of organized orchestra.
I wonder if you could stand still for a minute and imagine a world without any kind of music? I couldn’t, because such a silence is rather terrifying to listen to. Taking a solitary walk in a “silent” forest during a Summer afternoon is nevertheless a symphony of birds and bees and other insects and animals alltogether.

Music can take so many forms. We are more sensitive to styles and musical forms that we particularly like. I myself love the kind of music that talks to my soul. It doesn’t always have to come from professionals, it could emerge from anonymous underground Parisian Metro or London Tube players, who are playing all the ways, whether people are taking attention or not.

I like it when an artist manages to make me understand the depth of his music. I like it when I suddenly find myself vanishing into the music and becoming the music itself: my sould becomes attentive, while my head shakes in accordance with the rhythm.

The music and I are then one.

Copyright© by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

I am sorry to tell all of you that my blog will take a little hiatus. At the moment, I really lack time to resume writing. Doesn’t mean I lost the passion for my thing. I just need to temporarily take a break. I will be back as soon as possible.

You can always check the archive in the meantime. Wishing all of you the best,

Love,

Isabelle

Good question! As a person, a good dose of enthusiasm, personal conviction, honesty and sometimes rage in specific situations. I try to always stay true to myself.

The same as above also applies to the professional person, of course. As a professional, I try to raise enthusiasm and interest and to share it with people. I am deep into what I am doing. I speak out my mind in any case, because I don’t say things to please people.
In general, people value that.

2.What is your profession and where do you think you stand among your competitors and or associates in your field?

I am a freelance music journalist. Along with this I am also a tutor of German and French. But let’s talk about what I like doing most, the writing thing.

Well, it is always difficult to situate myself in the business. All I can say is that I have improved my writing skills through the years and done some interesting interviews with artists such as Dirty Red ( who has known Eazy E personally) and Detroit emcee Dogmatic, a close friend of D12’s Proof…I’ve been published on some online magazines and written for Detroit’s ILL Mag too where I got the chance to interview Proof ( the interview got never published though), Purple Gang and Woof Pak…

It is really hard to emerge in this business, but I think I’ve done some good progress. I keep grinding, of course!

3.When did you decide to take on this profession and are you where you thought you’d be when you made the choice?

I decided to be a music journalist after writing an Eminem biography in 2002 ( kept in form of a manuscript till now), because I wanted my work to be known by people. But in the end, I find music journalism more interesting than authoring, because you are investigating even more. A journalist is a sort of detective, you know…but I love being a musical detective…couldn’t live without hip hop…

Actually Gavin Sheridan gave me my chance to prove my skills in 2003…

4.What drives you to wake up everyday and get out here and do what you do?

It’s the music and the determination to achieve something concrete in this field. One of my characteristics is a strong determination. I can get discouraged, I can feel disgusted, weak, I can fall, but I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.

5.Who is your favorite Emcee, RnB Artist & producer?

I have a few faves. The old Eminem ( I mean what he did in the past influenced me for a great part and motivated me to achieve something in my life), the D12 emcees, Eazy E from the Cpt, Nas, Ice Cube, but I also love many underground emcees like Trick Trick or I-Mac…
I am not so much into RnB, but one name caught my attention…and it is Ron Patterson, he’s quite good at it.
As a producer, I find Denaun Porter really competent. He is so much underrated!

6.If you were to compare yourself to a successful business tycoon whom would it be and why?

It would certainly be Dr Dre…I admire his competence in beat makings and producing. He’s pretty cool too and seems to have stayed down to earth, despite his giant status.

7.What are your goals for the next 5 years and how do you plan to accomplish them?

My goals are to achieve something as a writer in the hip hop business. Either I will start my own business or I will try to get more connexions to become a well known hip hop magazine staff writer…I know I still have to define my plans more precisely, they are still in the works…In any case, I want recognition for hard years of work and I know I’ll have to sweat for it for a while…

8.Who is your favorite LOCAL DETROIT Emcee, RnB artist & producer?

Again, I could name several names such as Trick Trick ( I love his gangsta style), Dogmatic and of course Proof ( he was amazing), I like I Mac who renamed themselves I Dash, Mu, Journalist 103 and many more…but generally speaking and particularly on the Detroit scene, I like it raw and gangsta…
In non hip hop artists, I think that Monica Blaire is very talented…she deserves to be known better!
Again, I really value Mr Porter as a Detroit producer, but should i classify him as local or not?

Copyright© by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Why am I doing this? Because I’d like my readers to know me better, to understand my motivation as a writer and music journalist…in short, to know better who Isabelle, whose articles you’ve been reading now for years, actually is.

I promise to be honest in my way of answering…stay tuned, folks…it’s gonna be cool:)

Isabelle

Robin Hood appeared as the worst outlaw to the privileged . He was nevertheless poor people’s Santa Claus in many people s mind.

While some all in pink dressed Barbie girls dream would like to attract an unrealistic bad boy prince, one can consider that the antihero with an outlaw spirit is the person who dares to break society s dictatorship and, thus, can powerfully catalyze some determinant changes.
When those changes occur, people are suddenly cured from their usual blindness. One word, one different view of our world will have a domino effect on groups of individuals.

It is James Brown’s powerful « Say it loud, I’m Black and proud » that allowed black people to regain confidence and self pride after years of racial discrimination from the white community in particular.

It is NWA’s controversial introduction of the N word, its offensive attitude against police s discrimination that allowed black folks to view their condition in American ghettos differently. Powerful weapon, better than submission, many Blacks knew they could oppose a real attitude in front of the police.

It is indeed Malcolm X with his Afro centrist views, who created more unity among his folks.

The apparent harshness, the sharpness of antiheroes’ rough discourses is a solid consciences awakener. Without it, society would die a slow death. Too many people are the submissive instruments of their government or society.
Within years of sleepiness, somebody needs to wake up and raise his voice with a powerful no.

The antihero character fascinates me more than the so predictable hero a la Schwarzenegger. The antihero is merely the representative of the weak and the voiceless. He doesn’t want to raise your sympathy, nor does he claim to be your role model. The antihero acts the way he does, because he thinks it is right to do so.

No matter what you think about them, many antiheroes actions have made history.

Copyright© 2007 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Read Donna ‘s interview for She Unlimited here and learn more about talented hip hop fiction writer ContelBradford.

Simply because they seem to always reach the goals they set. Targeting a large scale of customers, the tabloids manage to catch their eye in any case. Moreover, and despite their lack of intellectual topics, they are certainly the best selling papers all over the world.

How come The Sun is more popular than the intellectual The Guardian? How come most people prefer losing themselves into The National Enquirer than reading The New York Times, for instance?

Well…maybe because the tabloids the common citizen s curiosity better.

Can t beat the tabloids? Learn from them! You can use their tactics- with better working ethics, though.

Just buy one of them tabloids. Have a deeper look at the newspaper s very conception. Ask yourself what would make you wanna buy it.

First of all, any clever journalist ought to know that a well built headline makes any article, report or story, no matter what the subject line is.
So before you start gathering ideas and finding a proper architecture for your article, take enough time to think and rethink your title.
If you look at it very carefully, behind each successful article lies a cleverly handled headline!

Second, remember that a picture is worth a thousand words! Yes, this is probably one of tabloids least hidden secret. Try to insert a picture that will illustrate your words.

Third, go straight to the subject. Don’t drown your article into a myriad of superficial details that might be of interest for you, yet a boredom for your readership. In short, offer a precise, structured article.

Fourth, quote them people into their own quotes!

To add credibility to your article or report, it is always useful to possess people s original quotations. Those are the ingredients that will help spice up your article.
However if you wanna be considered a journalist who is worth his weight, don t follow tabloids shameful example: never ever spread any gossips.
You are unsure of your source? You’d like to inform your readership, though? In that case, sentences like  it is rumored or an unofficial source says (yet it is unconfirmed) can help you out of any form of embarrassment.

Beginners might consider looking at tabloids as a waste of time. However, any experienced writer will confirm you that only an acute sense of observation combined with a strong will to perfect one s craft will make a professional writer/ journalist of you.

Copyright© by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved