Damn... sorry it's been so long, I've been grinding full time in school and finishing my album. Which is done. Ha. Believe it. Here is a bunch of videos I've done in the meantime. Not as much as I would like to be doing. There is only so much time in a day. Enjoy.

XOXO

mom

Pro town Record Release Party!

Here is the 12" vinyl compilation record release party presented by Pro Town Records, Milk and Cookies, and Beat Box Studio. This event is jam packed with festivities, complimentary beverages, music, food, art, dancing, fun!! The art gallery will be open to showcase 15 RI artists who designed their own unique record cover for the compilation.They will be available for purchase as well as t-shirts and other merchandise. Beat Box studio will have their studio doors open for mcs and poets to record for free!! Doors open around 7:30pm on friday night to midnight. Please don't miss this event !! We are all looking forward to seeing you there.

Hosted by Swerve One.

performances by

Romen Rok
Chachi Carvalho
Moe Pope
J Strest and InfoMite
Plus a surprise MPC 2000xl showcase Feat Al-Bums Roe Diggs and Romen ROk.

Artists include.

Swerve One

Santiago rivera

Brendan Bell

Jyll Ether-Mullen

Jason Mayoh

Jim Shelton

Jesse Lampkin

Moe Pope

Romen Rok

Kepto

J Strest

Jus

Turn

Etips

Kristine Leroux

and more????

Be there!!! It will be off the hook

Milk and Cookies art gallery

250 Main Street Pawtucket

730pm-Midnight

only 5 bucks!!

On The Border XL-Erated!!!

Sake Bombin' : Kung Fu Status

Mothers Day cookout at my man JT's cribbo. Let the Kung Fu status commence. Sake provided by Cocoa Vanity.

Sake Bombin' from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

Facturas Con Iluminate!!!!

Facturas Con Iluminate!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

She's So Popular XL-Erated!!!!

Untitled from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

Cooking with producer Julienne Child!

Don't get frustrated, learn to cook with ease!!!

ILuminate Y Romen Rok Live In Buenos Aires!!!

Me and my homeboys from the Iluminate crew connected to make a banger called "Posta" which will be featured on my new project. Buenos Aires Y Providence all day!!!!!

Iluminate Y Romen Rok.... POSTAA!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

So I made a short list of things I'm gonna bring to Argentina with me. I just realized this shit would look pretty crazy to an outsider lol.

   

over the shoulder bag 

camera lens

camera bag

camera flash

 camera battery

camera memory card

2 corny ass books

one bottle of lotion

 two serato records

3 bags of marshmallows

2 bags of jolly ranchers

toothbrush

deodarant

passport

ipod be sure to load

headphones

beats

kangol

baseball cap

rainjacket

wallys

nikes

sweatpants

jeans

shorts

tshirts

socks

underwears

pajamas

pillow

travel pillow

eye mask

cannibal mask

tanning glasses

kanye glasses

eshs cd

joe beats tshirt

valiums

records

camera 

video camera

pro town cds

We just made a fresh batch of cd's of the the Pro Town record compilation, and Argentina hiphop mutherfuckers will be the first on the planet to catch a glimpse. Gotta love it.

Romen Rok and Joe Beats in Argentina!!!

Im going to go visit my lovely girlfriend in Buenos Aires, Argentina March 11 th with Joe Beats and his lovely girlfriend. During this time, we will be rocking a show or two. Maybe even djing at BA's premier hiphop club!!! I'm suped!! Big up to Pammy and Argentinian rap powerhouse Iluminate for making this shit happen!

Here's the flyer for the first show. This is the first time I've got to share my name on a flyer with Prince! Muh'fuckas aint ready pa.

DoubleMint Rhyme.

The HeadBanger: Remixed, Chopped , and XL-Erated!!

With the classic battle dj signature ending. Lol.

Untitled from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

 My brother, his friend, and I went to the Shepard Fairey exhibit today, which is located in Boston @ the beautifully, newly developed, Institute of Contemporary Art. It was real deal inspiring, especially considering I had his Andre stickers in my bedroom in 1990, way back before the world was screaming his or President Obamas name. His "Obey" campaign is twenty years in the making, and just a few years in the taking.  He says, Do not Obey  the advertisement and propaganda industry, but  defy it with  opinion and distrust....

Then, on our way out of the exhibit, all were buying his T-shirts, posters, bells, and whistles.

God bless the child that can write his own rhymes. 

Hat Trick

My ever growing family and I; bored in the summer of 2007. I made this beat in Garageband, about a year earlier.

Enjoy!

Hat Trick from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

The HeadBanger XL-Erated!!!

Punch somebody in the face to this.

The HeadBanger XL-Erated!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

"Slap & Spit"

Download the FunkBunker Fleet's award winning cd entitled Slap & Spit for free...

HERE.

Or, go buy it on Amazon for $34.99

HERE.

Beef Bee Bong XL-erated!!!

Beef Bee Bong XL-erated!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

Combination Pad Thai XL-Erated!!!

With peanut sauce, chili paste, and chopsticks please.

Combination Pad Thai XL-Erated!!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

Chocolate Skittles

At first glimpse at the new chocolate flavored skittles, you might point your head to the floor, cross your arms over your solar plexus, then proceed to faux vomit, and make a comment like... 

"Yea. OK. Ya buggin, son." 

But no, I'm not buggin. I bought some today at the bodega while my girlfriend bought a custom designed name belt-buckle that said, in bold stainless steel letters, "GHETTO". My chica is not hood and this belt buckle wasn't for her. It was for her hip-hop influenced friend who lives in Argentina. Apparently you can't cop name belt buckles in Buenos Aires.

Anyway, these new skittles are yumpin. That's yummy and jumpin' amalgamated. 

Taste the chocolate rainbow, Willy.

Last night I was outside of a bar having a conversation with a stranger about the dangerous additives in cigarettes, when another stranger from Greece whips out his pack of smokes to show us the government warning sticker. I couldn't resist taking a pic.

Bong!

Upright Bass-Heads XL-erated!!!

Enjoy!

Upright Bass-Heads XL-Erated!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

Check This Video

This is my longtime friend Gavin Castleton. He is featured singing on my new cd due out soon on a track called Laughter. He is also finishing up his new HeartBreak album entitled "Home". This video is a cover song of Prince's song "Nothing Compares" feat. Erin Hunt on cello. This shit is beastly.

Enjoy.

Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince / Sinead O'Connor cover) live

Pro Town record Complete!

We'll be shipping the master out to get the vinyl biscuits get pressed this week. Track list is as follows....

Side A

1. Intro 

2. 5 Deep     

 J Strest, Swerve One, Al-Bums, Roe Diggs, Cev Two

3. Crash  Test

Romen Rok

4. Him Go

J Strest & InfoMite

5. 50 ways

Al-Bums & Swerve One

6. AM 2 PM Remix

Romen Rok & InfoMite

B side

7. Down River Ave.

Swerve One & Al-Bums

8. Fee Fie Foe Fum

Romen Rok & InfoMite

9. Rhode Island Hospital

 J Strest & InfoMite

10. Ice Puppies

Swerve one & Al-Bums

11. Money Up Front

J Strest & Minister Ref

12. Love Is Blue

Chachi Carvalho, JahPan, Romen Rok

Nathan Thomas XL-Erated!!!!

My nephew Nathan Beating Down the MPC!

Nathan Thomas XL-Erated!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

Your Mothers Stromboli, XL-erated!!!

Your Mothers Stromboli, XL-erated!!!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

Romen Rok On Vinyl!

         Pro Town Recordings is putting out a 12" vinyl release of rare unreleased FunkBunker Fleet. There is also a song entitled "Crash Test"that is going to be on the record and on my new project which is almost complete. The record also features material from Blunts and Milk (Swerve and Dj-Albums) J-Strest, Info Mite, Chachi Carvahlo, Cev2, Roe Diggs and others. All songs are produced by Dj Al-Bums. The pressing is limited to 300 copies, so if anyone is interested, email me and I'll give you the contact info for purchase

It's Not A Road!

Here's a promotional video that I did with my homey Need Not Worry a couple years back for an event promoted by my boy Mr. Mortal who's behind the camera. Enjoy!

Days of Our Lives XL-erated!!!!

Days of Our Lives XL-erated!!! from Romen Rok on Vimeo.

For Bo and Hope!

Van Jones is the f**kin MAN!

My homeboy Ricky Rap-Star flew in from Atlanta over this past week to take part in a convention in Boston called GreenBuild. He was there on business on behalf of the Atlanta library system who are planning to build a new green library. When he came back to RI for the weekend he put me onto Greenbuild's website on which he introduced me to Van Jones. This dude Van is a great public speaker. He hits all topics with precision on what it means to be "green" and how to bring it to your own backyard. He's funny, smart and worth the listening time. He inspired me to think about how to handcraft package my new cd with post consumer materials that I can find from somebody's unnecessary waste. Make sure to give fam a listen to. The lecture he did this past week can be found here.  

On the recommendation of my boy Cas-Uno I picked up a book called "Things Fall Apart" by African author Chinua Achebe. It tells the story of a prominent African tribesman who falls into a string of curses and is exiled from his tribe for 7 years. On return to his tribe, most everything has changed for the worse. Even in the face of superior adversity his tribal principles remain intact and unmoved. This short book is a great read. In-fact, it was the inspiration for the title of The Roots album  in 1999. Support your local library and go pick a copy up son!

Ren and Stimpy XL-erated!!!!

Romen Rok XL-erated from oliver scampoli on Vimeo.

SpongeBob Squarepants XL-erated!!

Romen on the MPC 2000(X)tra (L)arge part 2

So, last night I rented a movie called Castle In The Sky from the library. Do not sleep on the library for dvds. They have practically the whole Criterion Collection there (Pvd). Anyway this is an animated film from master Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli , who is my favorite feature film animator since I was a kid. This film tells the story of two kids searching for a castle in the sky called Laputa, which was the original name of the film when it was released in 1986 in Japan. I remember when my brother went to see it in the theatre back then, and I was pissed I didnt get to go. As always Miyazaki uses a child as the main character in the story to portray innocence and love, fighting against a world of corruption and greed. Miyazaki's obsession with flight and fantasy are represesnted here in Laputa to it's fullest extent. I think everyone should should check this flick, young bucks to old stiffs. You won't be disapointeed in any thing Miyazaki makes especially my favorite jont, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Yes We Did!

For the past 3 days I've been sick at home with the flu and I been doing nothin but sleep and read. During this time I got to  finish reading  a great book called Native Son written by Richard Wright in 1940. The book tells the brutal realities of racism and social injustice in the south side of Chicago in the 1930's, through the eyes of Bigger Thomas, a young black man  trying to find his way in a white world but gets caught in a downward spiral of murder violence and rape.  It is a must read. Soulja Boy should be the first to read it after making his comment last weeek about slave masters saying, "Shout out to the slave-masters! Without them we'd still be in Africa. We wouldn't be here to get this ice and tattoos!!"

It's a sad world B.

Costume party at Blake's Tavern in the backroom on Friday Oct. 31st! Maybe we'll have a costume contest. Don't flake out!

Me and the MPC2000 X-tra L-arge!!

New Project coming very soon.

"It's almost finished son, for real."

 I  know I sometimes seem like 'the boy who cried album' but my project is seriously almost completed. There's gonna be 13-14 tracks on it with production by Joe Beats, Esh The Monolith (who just released his new cd with Labeless Illtelligence), Dj Al-Bums, and myself on the mpc 2000xl. I have a six week deadline to be finished with the recording, mixing, mastering, and artwork. I don't know the official release date because I don't know how I'm gonna officially release it yet. But, I'm real happy with the music and I can't wait to perform it live from front to back. Come back soon for updated info!            

Big shoutout to My homey Ryans little art gallery in Pawtucket called Milk and Cookies. Right now it's hosting a favorite RI artist of mine named Will Schaff who's been repping on a worldwide scale for a while. Make sure to check it out. Stop by White Electric coffee house to check my friend Smiley Jones new exhibit with crazy stuffed dolls and photos  as well.

Blake's Tavern

Come down to Blake's Tavern downtown Providence every Saturday night. I'm not there every Sat. But old crew is always in the house.

Providence Phoenix Feature!

Enjoy!

Here's the original link...
Featured the week of 9/11-9/18 by writer Chris Conti.

The Edgewood section of Cranston may not be known as a hip-hop hotbed, but that neighborhood raised a razor-sharp emcee named Romen Rok, who will finally follow through on his promise to deliver a full-length debut by the end of the year. His name has been well-known around the local independent/underground rap scene since his days with Funkbunker Fleet, who released one album, Slap & Spit, in 2003 and won the Independent Music Award for rap album of the year.

While friends and former colleagues roll in renowned camps like Poorly Drawn People and Labeless Illtelligence, Rok revels as a solo unit — particularly onstage, where the 28-year-old breathes fresh life into a show. He's his own hypeman and the madcap antics are complemented by a slick-witted lyricist who never loses focus on the task at hand. I witnessed a Romen Rok set a few months back at Jake's, when he opened for Albany, NY rhymer DEZ. Rok came out, looked over the setlist he scribbled down a few minutes before, then tore into a 30-minute serving of vicious bars and metaphors while running around with a giant pair of cardboard scissors and a Hannibal Lecter mask. I remember hearing "Ragu, Nanu-Nanu, eat cats like Alf do" all in one punchline. It was energetic, goofy, and fearlessly self-deprecating, and the 40 or so heads turned from head-scratching skeptics to all smiles by the end of his stint.

He came up with the Romen tag in 1994 while "doodling in a sketchbook high on Robitussin" at age 14. He attended Cranston East ("It was horrible") but never graduated "because of a failed history class in summer school.

"Looking back I should've just dropped out at 15 and done something useful with my adolescence, like live in South America and help people build houses," Rok told me. Writing rhymes developed from creative outlet to full-time obsession, as chronicled on "Lou Diamonds Forever," dedicated to a friend who recently passed away but left an indelible mark on Scampoli. The track will be included on Rok's debut.

"Lou rolled with a crew called Hazardous Material from Elmwood Avenue," Rok said. "I looked up to them and hearing them at the feasts back in the day, freestyling and beat-boxing, was amazing. You had to come with some serious styles to enter those ciphers. My man Lou Diamonds was the first out of them to show me love and became a mentor to my style."

And the first time he rhymed onstage in front of strangers?

"It would have to be the Pharcyde show at the Strand back in '95," he recalled. "I remember Slim Kid Tre asked the crowd if anybody rapped, I threw my hands up and he pulled me up on stage. I spit a verse and the crowd went nuts. My crew couldn't believe it."

Romen Rok has since shared the stage with indie icons People Under the Stairs, Mr. Lif, and Pharoahe Monch. He was recruited by Storm Davis, another renowned local wordsmith, for "Steps of the Brownstone" from his 2006 debut Kegstand Poetry for the Recovering Alcoholic, and has a working relationship with Joe Beats that dates to "The Clock with No Hands" from 2002's Reverse Discourse. Beats has returned the favor, producing four tracks for Rok's debut.

"Romen Rok is one of the purest artists I've ever met," Beats said, "but if it was up to him, rappers wouldn't need to release albums, they'd just say their piece on the street."

Rok sounds as if he's getting down to business; while "Poo Poo In the Pamper" and the hialrioius "White Chicks" (both at myspace.com/romenrahlo) won't make the album, Rok fed me a few lines of new material: "Hey yo, free yayo! Nah, Free Tibet/Free the minds of the youth, they obsessed with gettin' respect/It's like young bucks are too hard for their seat belts/They'd rather look real when they crash through the windshield."

Rok has temporarily pulled the plug on his live schedule as he wraps up his disc, but you can catch him and his crew spinning hip-hop downtown at Blake's Tavern every Saturday, where he occasionally rocks the mic.

"When people go out at night they want to be entertained and feel happy," Rok said. "I'm not scared to look ridiculous and make people laugh because I know I'm no joke and when it comes down to it — in the end, I'll bite your face off.


-Chris Conti