Music
Press
FROM CDBABY.COM
The official debut album from the one and only, Guido Corleone, featuring 17 Hip-Hop Classics of pure life, death, love and soul, in no particular order. All tracks feature the rugged production style and bleeding heart lyricism of Guido Corleone.
FINALLY… IT”S HERE! The debut album from Guido Corleone, “A Day in the Life…” has been in the works for some time now, and the finished product is dark and smokey. The album takes you on a personal journey through “A Day in the Life…” of one of hip-hop’s up-and-coming rapper/producer extraordinaires, Guido Corleone, and his scarred-heart, in-flight soul, non-conformist political brand of patented hip-hop. All this swirled-in with a “Godfather-themed” collection of samples and beats, as well as many other classic film and poetry clips, make this album an instant classic in its own right. The album starts with a nod to “The Don” himself, Marlon Brando, echoing his famous introductory interaction from the most beautiful and well-crafted piece of cinema ever made, “The Godfather”, over a looming and ominous beat hand-crafted by Transducer, go-to engineer and producer of the legendary LA-based hip-hop/graf crew, The Shape Shifters, who helped by contributing his musical assault wizardry on “A Day in the Life...”. (Look for Transducer’s version of the Sublime classic, “Waiting For My Ruca” featuring the ‘Shape’s Awol One and Abstract Rude (Project Blowed) on “Look at All The Love We Found - A Tribute To Sublime, out now on Cornerstone Records.) Brando sets the tone that we are entering a world of business, heart-ache, and fantasy, that continues on past the intro on the opener called “Don’t Even Ask”, where Corleone beckons listeners to not even ask about his inspiration and hardships, dealing with a range of topics from hash bricks to being lovesick, a prophetic view of a world haunted by toxic gas and weapons of mass destruction. and a catchy hook that’ll have you’ “lovin’” Guido whether you like it or not. The album continues with its title track and theme-song, “A Day in the Life”. Guido continues to spill his guts on the track as he describes the choices, challenges, and struggles that make up an average day for the man, repeatedly claiming, “It’s Just a Day in the Life…” The song’s rounded out with a tribute to another departed musical genius and master of his craft, John Lennon, and a Beatles-esque outro from the song of the same name. And this all is in the first three tracks!!! Other instant classics include: “Trippin’”, a guide to the benefits and pitfalls of drug usage, “Old Time” and “Lost It”, self-loathing love songs where Guido evaluates past relationships and their deep-rooted meanings to who he is today, (Track 6), which is a clever three-song suite evaluating the events leading up to 9/11, placing us “caught in a Whirlpool”, and beckoning someone to end the insanity, and the last lyrical assault on the album, “The Corleone March”, a heavy, march-inspired beat, which places the listener on the streets of the Little Italy circa 1926 during the Feast of San Gannero, and brings them back to future, with Guido laying’ it all out on the table once again, with a possibility of “cosmic suicide”, “unless someone out there can give him something to hold onto…” The album is finished off with a beautiful classical guitar piece, “Vida Postmortem”, composed and performed by Guido himself, preceded by a discussion of both “Dons” and “Father and Sons”. The track echoes the Italian-American family theme of the album, and eloquently closes this well-crafted project foreshadowing a taste of what’s yet to come. In all, Guido Corleone’s flagship release form his self-propelled label, Bell Rang Records, is a breath of fresh air in hip-hop’s often-recycled themes and styles, and fits nicely into the genre as well. If your looking to get in touch with your family, and your heart, mind and soul over some beats and rhymes, ask your friends in the neighborhood about Guido Corleone, they’ll tell you he knows how to return a favor. Or better yet, listen to Guido himself – He’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse… - CDBABY
Discography
A DAY IN THE LIFE... (2006)
Produced by Guido Corleone
Mixed and Engineered by Trandsucer AKA Mike McMullen (The Shpaeshifters/Sublme Tribute: Look At All the Love We Found)
Mastered by Wynn Davis
ON THE REEL (2003)
Produced by Guido Corleone
THE FOUR TO ZERO SESSIONS (1999)
Produced by Chris Devcich
Photos
Bio
After September 11th, everything fell apart and was reborn into an undying well of inspiration and creativity, as Guido now felt an awesome force of expression released within him. His tattered remains of relationships along with the highly-charged instability that was present throughout the world provided the perfect backdrop for creative pursuit that would eventually lead to his debut release, "A Day in the Life...", released on his self-started record label, Bell Rang Records. Guido had just finished studying film production and electronic sound synthesis at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and decided to make his way back to Los Angeles to take a shot at post-production sound mixing. But little did he know that the pilgrimage back to where he came from would lead him on a journey through sound and life to come out as powerful artist, activist, and CEO of his own record label.
Born Chris Devcich in Torrance, CA, Guido grew up as a Southern California native. He started doing shows around the L.A. underground hip-hop scene with such pioneers as Aceyalone, Circus, Awol One and The Shapeshifters, Pigeon John, Rheteric and many others. While he had been playing guitar since the age of 12, performing with bands live, rapping recreationally since 94, stepping in countless ciphers and studying sound and film production in college, he felt he had finally reached a point of ever-flowing creative energy and inspiration, put that passion and power into songwriting, and took the message to the streets. Guido stepped out of the 9-5 life and began pursuing music full time through writing, producing, performing, and basically living and breathing music. While applying an unstoppable DIY work ethic, he decided the best way to release his patented brand of bleeding-heart/tattered-soul hip-hop was by starting his own label, thus, birthing the indie label Bell Rang Records. After showcasing and performing in countless shows, and working on a shoestring budget, he eventually released his debut classic A Day in the Life , which was produced almost entirely by Corleone with whatever makeshift instruments, machines, tools, outdated computers, and backhand, dont-get-caught studio time he could get his hands on. (He worked at a commercial mixing house, not a music studio!) The album was mixed and engineered with the help of Mike McMullen AKA Transducer, behind-the-scenes sound guru for LA hip-hop graf legends The Shapeshifters and producer of countless projects including Look at All The Love We Found: A Tribute to Sublime. Around this time, Guido also started up his own home studio, The Compound.
These days, Guido can be heard rhyming about every thing from the essence and experiences of love and life to playing an active part in the struggle for humanity and world peace. But this artist does not only speak about such a struggle, he truly lives it. After devoting the greater part of 2006 to saving the nations largest urban community farm, The South Central Farm, alongside the likes of such greats as Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Daryl Hannah, Tom Morello, Zach De La Rocha, Immortal Technique, and hundreds of community activists, the experience can be heard sonically transformed into his words, his music, his voice, and his spirit. A side project with local artists involved in the struggle called The Farmlife Project was formed, and he was led back in contact with an old friend, Javis Huggins (J Brave), which led to his enrollment into the hip-hop collective, the Luminaries. Their debut album, Be The Change, dropping in early 2008, signifies what the 9 members of this powerful collective of light-bearers represent: Being the change they wish to see in the world. Picking up where Gandhi left off, the Luminaries are lighting the path of truth on this planet, blending music with action as each member brings a facet of powerful, positive influence to themselves and those around them: Working with homeless and at-risk youth (J Brave and Freewill); Qi Gong, meditation, energy practice and healthy, raw foods (TruthI and Aradhana Silvermoon); and community activism and indigenous rights (Guido). When performing with The Family, Guido is known as Amore One. One Love.
Also, look for a side project Guido has been working on called Amor, with close friend and raw talent, singer/songwriter Aaron Jones (Bargain Music/Dive Bar Junkies). The project features Guidos patented lovestruck lyricism while returning to his roots, strumming a six-string alongside Jones dynamic patented finger-picking style and impeccable blues-guitar playing, not to mention his heart-filled, passionate vocals. The sound is unprecedented, but can be described as something like Atmosphere meets Sublime, with a touch of Prince and splash of Leadbelly. With Corleones words and production, and Jones musical know-how, those lucky enough to catch the rare show appearances the two have put on have left lovesick, nostalgic
Links
