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By Nakia Abreu

It’s hard to listen to 26 year-old, Fort Lauderdale, Florida native, soul singer Urban Mystic without getting the distinct feeling that he’s been here before. He is what folks refer to as an old soul. With a raw, powerful and spiritual voice, Urban Mystic is a modern day soul man that is set to take the music world by storm. Urban Mystic �rst hit the airwaves six years ago with his debut album, Ghetto Revelations, which featured the 2004 Billboard R&B hit, nostalgic jam, Where Were You. ISM monthly had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Urban Mystic during a recent tour stop, where he spoke to us about everything from growing up singing in the church, to “sing-o�s” with K-Ci of Jodeci to the historical election of President Obama and how he chose to honor the monumental event.

ISM: I understand that when you �rst came out, people didn’t know whether you were a band or a group, where did the name Urban Mystic come from?Urban Mystic: I didn’t want to just throw a name on myself, so when I signed with SoBe Entertain-ment in 2004 they decided on the name Urban Mystic, so I did some research and the name pretty much described me as a person. Urban represents where I come from, I’m from an urban area, I represent the urban wear, the urban music and Mystic has a spiritual related meaning behind it and that’s me as well. I was brought up in a church; my dad was a minister, that’s me all day; very urban and very spiritual. ISM: How long have you been doing music?UM: I’ve been singing since I was 5 years old, started in the church, like all the greats. My �rst professional record, I cut when I was thirteen. I’ve been doing it all my life.ISM: How did you get into making music at such a young age?UM: My older brother, Po Boy from Miami, had a record out with a company by the name of Big Baller Records. They were doing their thing. I always used to sing around the house and one day bruh said, “Let’s take him in the studio.” I went in there and we dropped the hook and everybody was gone.

Urban Mystic

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UM: My older brother, Po Boy from Miami, had a record out with a company by the name of Big Baller Records. They were doing their thing. I always used to sing around the house and one day bruh said, “Let’s take him in the studio.” I went in there and we dropped the hook and everybody was gone. ISM: Vocally you’ve been compared to Bobby Womack and K-Ci of Jodeci. How do you feel about those comparisons and how would you describe your sound?UM: You know I feel great about that, to be compared to greats such as Bobby Womack and even K-Ci. I feel honored to actually be compared to the greats. I describe my music just as what they described theirs, good soul, R&B with that Gospel feel because that’s where we all come from. I actually had a chance to run into K-Ci, we met, we hung out and we kicked it a few times. ISM: Did he want to do a sing o�? UM: Yeah and it was cool because we hung out in his hometown of Charlotte, NC. We went to �ve di�erent spots and every spot we went to, he wanted to sing, he was trying to put me out there, but it’s good!ISM: That is good! I know you mentioned growing up in the church and that having a lot of in�uence in your sound, how would you say it shaped you as an artist?UM: It de�nitely shaped me as an artist. I tell a lot of singers that church singing, that’s some of the best training you can get. Sister Brown, Sister Mattie Bell, ain’t gone mind telling you that you’re too loud of or you were o�-key this Sunday so when I get on stage, I bring that training with me. A lot of people tell me when they see me on stage that, “I can tell you came up in a church,” I put that into my play on stage.ISM: What else do you do artistically?UM: Yes, I write a lot of my own songs. I play keyboard and drums. I produce as well. ISM: You’ve also worked with a lot of well-known Hip-Hop artists, Rick Ross, Pitbull, Trick Daddy. How would you describe the relationship between what you do as a soul singer and Hip Hop?UM: Right. “Real recognize real.” We hear each other’s music on the radio or listen at clubs, we always seemed to run into each other and wanted to collab. The rappers are always looking for some real singing to go on the hook as well as us as singers; we like to get features with rappers. Rick Ross and Trick, we go way back, they knew me before I was Urban Mystic. It’s a good relationship deal going on. Shout out to the Boss!ISM: Word up! You have two albums that were released, Ghetto Revelations and Ghetto Revelations Vol II, which featured Where Were You and I Refuse. When can we expect some new music from you?UM: Right now, I’m in the studio working on the new album. The new album is entitled Love Interven-tion, it’s going to be coming soon. I have a mix CD that I dropped featuring some unreleased music and some new music and that’s called Mysti�ed. You can download it from my website http://sobeentertainment.com. I’ve been on tour for the past six months and the video for “In the Morning” is complete. ISM: Who all have you toured with?UM: I went out with Kem, Jaheim, Ginuwine, Angie Stone and Anthony Hamilton. It was great.ISM: Around the time of the election, you reworked “A Change is Gone Come” by Sam Cooke. Why was that important for you to do at that time?UM: It was very important; we were here, everyone, not just me, but everyone who witnessed experiencing a black president. That song got people through some tough times. I took that song and changed it a little, to basically say, what we were singing about and talking about back then, we’re actually seeing it, “A change has come.” Sam Cooke’s daughter Linda Cooke-Womack actually called the record label herself. She was very impressed by it. It was a good deal.ISM: Nice! Do you have any advice for upcoming artists?UM: De�nitely. Number one, keep God �rst in your life and everything else will �nd its place. De�nitely, stay humble, stay down to earth. You never know who anybody is. Work hard, stay in the studio, do these interviews. Talk to the radio stations; let the people know that you are a people person and they’ll buy into you.ISM: Okay and where can we �nd more information on you?UM: You can check me out at sobeentertainment.com. I’m on FB: UM. I’m on Twitter, @urbanmystic1, and it’s actually me on it talking, I reply to my fans so y’all check me out, stay tuned!

URBAN MYSTIC CONTINUED

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Out of The Ashes

During lunchtime on May 3, 1901 in Downtown, Jacksonville, Fl. a spark from a near by kitchen ignited Spanish moss to be used in the production of mattress furniture, on this day the Great Fire of Jacksonville was born.

The smoke from this great fire could be seen as far away as Savannah, Ga. The fire destroyed over 2300 buildings and 146 city blocks. The Governor at the time was William Jennings. Jennings declared martial law and the state militia were sent to Jacksonville to keep things in order. The fire was finally under control on May 17, 1901 and the city was returned to local authority. By 1912 Downtown Jacksonville had been reconstructed and made its way in American History yet again.

The City of Jacksonville has its fair share of contributions to American history such as the largest land mass, home of the Afro- American Insurance Company and the Timiquanan Preserves that takes position in seven land masses. One of which happens to be American Beach. Jacksonville has contributed The Ritz Theater, The Lavilla Museum which features a permanent display of African American History or how about one early map which shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville.

On May 17, 2011, 110 years after the great fire of Jacksonville which nearly destroyed the heart beat of Jacksonville, Alvin Brown rose up from the troubled ashes of Duval County as Jacksonville’s first African American Mayor. It was a tight run-off. The official count was updated May 27, 2011. Mr. Brown was the obvious underdog to 95,645 voters in the 2011 Mayoral race against the long time career politician Mike Hogan.

Mayor-Elect Brown ran an unusual campaign with precision and methodology. Mayor-Elect Brown took a step outside the box of traditional campaigning with efforts such as meeting his constituents on their turf. The Pub, First Friday need I say more? Mayor-Elect Brown’s fresh but not new ideas about campaigning are the fresh not new ideas the City of Jacksonville needs to turn this city in a new and fiscally positive direction.

Under the watch of Mayor Peyton we have seen reckless spending such as the downtown court house which was 160 million over budget in 2008.

Mayor Brown has his work cut out for him and won’t be an easy task however 97,307 voters have confidence in Mayor-Elect Brown. Mr. Brown’s victory comes at a troubled time for Jacksonville residents.

Mayor- Elect Brown will have to face issues such as the $660,000 tax payers just spent on ONE soccer park in Mandarin, Losco Regional Park. There are currently three soccer parks in that district already. You can thank Councilman Art Shad for this one folks! City Councilman Gaffney expressed his outrage because the recreational areas in his district are in despair. It’s my opinion that Mayor-Elect Brown may need two terms to make a difference here.

By C.D. Young

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Czar Black is a Full Grown MCBY NAKIA ABREU

Miami native, MC and Beat maker, Czar Black has been putting in work in the industry for years. Although I “discovered” during the Cypher segment of The Lyricist Hour, a little bit of research proved that this cat was more than just a quick witted and dope free-styler. Czar Black has quite a fascinating background, having been mentored by Professor Gri� of Public Enemy and Mr. Mixx, one of the cofounders of Miami’s legendary 2 Live Crew at a young age and he has stories for days about his experiences in and out of the music industry. With deep roots in Miami and Northeast Florida, Czar Black is a “Full Grown MC” who puts on for his community and is one to watch. Check it out.

Nakia: Tell me a little a bit about your background?

Czar: Well basically, I go by Czar Black formerly known as Nomadic. I started my career in Miami, Florida under the tutelage of 2 Live Crew, that’s like the big uncle. Started o� doing production, DJ’ng and also a little emceeing. I just grew and I grew and I grew and now I’m a full grown MC.

Czar Black: Since I’ve been in Duval I’ve received the accolade as freestyle king of Duval, I got that actually, by Bigga Rankins. And that’s because a lot of the freestyle competitions they threw back in the day at Cool Runnings, basically I entered and I won every last one of them from like 95 to 2000. I wasn’t even old enough to get into Cool Runnings, but I’d go out there, sneak in and do my thing. Other than that, I’ve just been putting in practice, I moved to the city and met the likes of Paten Locke, Mal Jones aka Malecule, Wax Hines also known as Waxwell, 80 Mercury; Free 80! We linked up, we started a little crew, I was doing beats, I had a little SP1200 and we just linked at started working. And I built o� of them and I’m pretty sure that they built o� of me and honestly I just grew. I got around people to help me grow.

Nakia: Okay in 2004, you were in The Source as The Unsigned Hype right?

Czar Black: Actually it was The Unsigned Hype Freestyle competition. It was an And1 Mix tape series and I won that competition in two cities, it was here and in Atlanta.

Nakia: Ok, now what have you released since you’ve been a full grown MC?

Czar Back: I’ve been doing music production since I was about 14 and I’ve done ghost production for a lot of artists out of Miami during the Bass era, when that was popping o�. I moved to Jacksonville, started doing my thing and I just released a single last year that was titled, You Can Get It. And it took me pretty much around the country, I did a lot of cities. I did a full �edged promo tour with Young Berg. He was promoting his single Sex in the City and I was performing my single, You Can Get It. It was actually called the You Can Get It/Sex in the City Tour and we had a lot of fun. We had a ball...READ MORE AT THELAVILLAPROJECT.COM!

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