In my week since meeting a Hip Hop producer hero, Saint Alan The Alchemist, I wanted to test whether there was some kinda of energy transfer in the embrace. I headed home, dug out my DJ mixer from 2006, grabbed a vinyl from the shelf and tried to make a sampling vinyl banger using my AKAI Professional MPC Live 2 Retro.

As much as my Sunday sess didn’t produce anything worthy of sharing, aside from this cool picture, I did realise how powerful the sequencer on the MPC is for generating ideas. I tend lose interest once I get a loop as my other production weapons of choice feel restrictive. The MPC workflow is flexible enough to support mute, solo and editing once a sequence is duplicated. Going from a loop to a song feels so much more intuitive than others.

The following 5 days were spent exploring this box of delights pre and post shift, watching AKAI’s playlist on YouTube using the #mpc Live 2 on my lunch break and commutes to and from work. My eureka moment came on Day 4 when I finally figured out how to record vocals into the MPC Beats software, when using the Live 2 in controller mode.

On Thursday, having finished early, I raced home with the intent to record a piece of poetry I wrote, about a gloomy April morning, called Modest in Monochrome. I was going to stay in my comfort zone, which was to open a VST of the drum machine DAW in Logic Pro X, but I decided to break the pattern and stretch myself to learn something different. I’m glad to I took the 5mins to learn how because it means I can decrease my dependence on rerouting across software.

TLDR: How one chance encounter with someone can serve as a reminder to make time to explore your hobbies and interests.

After a long and pretty arduous day at work I came home, greeted my girl, showered and propped myself up in front of OBS to rearrange the layout to accommodate my Akai MPC Live II. I had this drum pattern in my mind that I wanted to create whilst walking down the hill to home but somehow forgot what it was. I spent ages trying to get the alignment correct with the transport box, there must be a much more straight forward way to do it.

Also I’ve programmed OBS to transmit the whole screen rather than being able to do actual apps which makes it difficult to stream because if I open OBS it does that 20million infinity mirrors of the display. I definitely need to watch some more videos to work it all out. Some considerations need to be made for how much power my peripherals are drawing from my Mac too because when I attempted to use my iPad as an additional camera alongside my iPhone being connected, it couldn’t power both of them plus a machine. That was the moment when I figured that the GoPro Hero10 has to be the next investment alongside a more flexible desktop tripod that can be connected or attached to my desk. Probably wouldn’t hurt to look into some lighting either. Let’s face it, at this point I’m really going into broadcast territory like serious serious hobby going into professional setup type of thing.

During all of this desktop arrangement activity I helped my girl prep the Lamb dinner and made quite possibly the wickedest gravy for what was to be lamb chops, potatoes, parsnips and rice. I diced up half a giant onion, 3 cloves of garlic, a tomato, some granules of lamb gravy (well what was left), sprinkled some lamb seasoning, dried mixed herbs, salt & pepper, and the crowning glory was the juice from the lamb itself at various times through cooking. There were periods where I thought I’d lost my way on the flavour journey as I’m somewhat of a mad professor when cooking; no method to the madness just chop, add and taste. At the point where we were satisfied to leave things on the stove to do their thing, I retreated to the workspace and began to record a quick session rather than to stream.

Currently making lamb for my Sunday dinner and thought I’d make a drum beat whilst waiting for dinner to be ready. Thought it was a great way to test my MPC Live 2 layout in OBS.

Catch me on YouTube and Twitch.

The funniest thing about Saturday’s edition of Khalism Live is that I somehow managed to get a stream in and also pop into central. Usually its one or the other with me so to get a likely beat session in and a shopping trip, dayaaaaam I’m on some different ish.

The morning started just like any other. I woke up and had a glass of water and popped some boiled eggs on the stove. I jumped into the shower and got dressed. Once my boiled eggs were finished I served them up with some smoked salmon. I felt mega nourished. My girl popped out with her friends and I meanwhile was in two minds of what to do with my day. On one hand I wanted to make some music but on the other I really had no idea of what I wanted to make, on the other hand I wanted to grab a Maharishi and iPhone 12 Mini that I had been looking at online the night before. I was sure that it wouldn’t be in stock at END. if I went into the store so I made a plan to visit a Maharishi store which needed to also be near a Nudie store to pickup a pair of jeans. I had no idea of the type of jean I was after specifically but I was deffo wary when stepping out because I know that at the moment I’m losing weight so I wanted to try a few options.

Whilst eating my breakfast I rewatched Ep.003 and found myself amazed at how good the riddim sounded so at that point I was like “ok you’ve got about an hour to do your business and catch the train into Victoria and head to Oxford Circus”. I popped the 12 Mini onto the Joby TelePod Pro, opened OBS, popped the Maschine MK3 on the stand and got started…

My day was maaaad. It was different. I went out with a plan to go to Maharishi and Nudie. I was determined to grab myself a new beanie and maybe grab a new pair of jeans however when I got to Maharishi I spotted a lunchbox that I had been interested in for a long time so I copped it. Is £45 a bit much for a lunch box? Yes, but it is what it is. The beanie cost £60 and in hindsight it had me realising how easy it is to spend money, especially since I’ve been on self-imposed austerity since the start of 2020 to get my finances in order.

I walked from Piccadilly to Soho and landed at Nudie however I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice, how hot I was from walking and then putting on a mask, before just realising that I didn’t even know what I was looking for in a packed store. I aborted the mission and headed home to venture to East London the next day. On the way home I continued to watch what i had done earlier and I got GASSED!!! I had it in my mind that I’m going to head home and stream again.

This stream was special because I had someone tuned in from Canada who was really giving suggestions and responding to the choices I was making. It was the first time I had also been logged into my stream manager on a separate device and could interact with a viewer. It was a real eye opener because I felt encourage and it also made the stream more dynamic. I think what also helped is that I had a camera focused on me and I was talking my way through it from time to time so it added a new and more personable dynamic.

Hope to see you in the comments section of the next live stream: Twitch / YouTube

Autobiography of a Nobody commemorates 20yrs in retail come August 2021 and features satirical songs I wrote and recorded during my time in the sector. All tracks were made between 2004-2012 and were produced by myself. The concept of the project was birthed in 2012 but it wasn’t until earlier this year when I was going through some kind of burnout and vlogging my way through it that I set myself a goal of releasing it on my birthday August 25th.

Comparatively it’ll sound like a collision between Peep Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm with a grime backing track. It’ll arrive on your favourite streaming services on August 25th 2021 via link below.

Let me know your thoughts and whether you’re going through the same tribulations with your job sector.

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/khalidomari/autobiography-of-a-nobody-struggle-raps-on-grime

After sitting on the idea for a few years I’ve decided it was time to release Autobiography of A Nobody to coincide with my 20th anniversary in the retail sector and my futile attempts to escape the trap.

Following a train of thought that everyone is trying to buy their freedom whilst merchants are earning a living by branding themselves or their ‘products’ conduits to freedom.

Before starting my journey into learning a language I wished I’d of considered these three important things.

Woke up early on the second day of my May bank holiday weekend to get out and enjoy the sights of Brick Lane. First stop was to see what the food situation was on the Lane, then we hit up Green Machine to see what the CBD store had to offer, headed back to the lane from Boxpark to get some Tibetan Dumplins and Jerk Chicken, head to Dark Sugars for gelato and some hot chocolate before heading home via Spitalfields.

As per usual no edits were made to this footage and no adjustments were made to the settings in my DJI Pocket 2, this is how it shoots out the box and that’s why I love it!

Follow the journey: https://whereisko.com/about

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eBooks: https://whereisko.com/shop/

Podcast: https://whereisko.com/khalism/

True stories, I probably had one of the most unconventional spiritual journeys but I’m always willing to learn how to do things properly.