Vinyl & CD here: https://thesleepersrecordz.bandcamp.com/album/a-family-affairAs the brains and the muscle behind The Sleepers Recordz, Ivan Makvel stays busy, having kept a steady stream of street dance-oriented releases flowing into the ears of modern funk connoisseurs internationally. Yet, the majority of these releases have come from other artists, with Makvel's own music taking a back seat while he forged a unique lane for his label. No longer, as he brings you his first full-length in years - A Family Affair.

It's a fitting concept for an artist/producer/talkboxer who has put so much energy into the release of music by others. Many of those who can claim projects on The Sleepers join him, allowing this Family Affair to live up to its name. Mofak blesses the album's title track, a thunderous p-funk inspired opener, while XL Middleton shows up on two songs, dropping raps on "Keep Movin" while alternating between singing and vocoder on the electro boogie cut "Show The Way." On "Get Down," Bougito shows up to share production duties over a funk track sure to become a staple among poppers and lowriders alike. Moniquea sings and raps on the decidedly-left coast "I'm Not Sayin Nothin," while Funkmaster Ozone brings electro vocoder sensibilities to a disco-tinged boogie track on "We Come To Jam."

Temu offers his polished vocal style on one of the album's high points, "Essential Funk," a simultaneous nod to a pandemic-stricken world and a declaration that the party must still continue. Gil Masuda of Toronto's Love Touch Records is featured on the house-inflected "How You Make Me Feel," and fellow LTR artist Maya Killtron lends her unique vocal and violin one-two punch on "About You." Ivan only ventures out fully solo for two songs on the album, "Wild" and the previously-released "I Got Funk" - A move to be expected from an album designed to bring an entire funk family together.

Get Down

Get Down ft. Bougito

XL finds himself this time delivering a hard G-Funk instrumental seasoned with crisp vocoder melodies. Out on 7" vinyl August 13, 2013 through MoFunk Records/Crown City Ent.

Keep It Funkin

good looks to eddy funkster for providing the sample 

Mike Gao - Dont Fake the Funk feat. Zackey Force Funk and Eddy Funkster

B side to Mofunk's new 7" from Moniquea. Is the slappin' new remix of "I Don't Wanna Get Used To It" from Diamond Ortiz.

I Don't Wanna Get Used To It (Diamond Ortiz Remix)

my Interpretation of the classic Roger Track "More Bounce to the Ounce"

Sin2 - More Bounce (Funky Lay Bacc Mix)

[Intro]
Once…
I was afraid to be here.
Afraid of life, afraid of time.
Didn’t know right from wrong.
(That was a lie,
But it was my lie.)

I defied my thoughts,
I let myself see.
I built a space in time
Where I could create my design…
The only design that was mine.

⸻

[Verse 1 – Storytelling]
When I walk in to think like me,
I shape the clothes I wear.
I walk into my own where,
And I think like that.
I hold my hand,
I stand before me,
This is my addressing, my reckoning.
I marry myself to awareness,
I take the helm, I steer my soul.

⸻

[Chorus 1 – Rising]
And I say—
I want to relate to me,
I want to remember yesterday.
Not as sorrow, not as shame,
But as the lesson I can’t throw away.
Cause and effect, tangled in time…
Still I ride, still I climb.
And yes—
I did it my way.

⸻

[Verse 2 – Expansion]
Sometimes I drift,
Lost behind my shell.
I walk in circles,
I stumble, I fall.
Thoughts scatter like ashes in the wind,
I forget myself.
But always I’m minding time,
Always chasing tomorrow.
Never still enough to feel today,
Yet today is the only place I can stay.

⸻

[Chorus 2 – Bigger]
And I say—
I want to relate to me,
I want to remember yesterday.
Not as sorrow, but as meaning,
As the cost I chose to pay.
I put the horse before the cart,
I pushed the cart before the horse—
But still, I rode,
Still, I stayed the course.
And yes—
I did it my way.

⸻

[Bridge 1 – Spoken with strings/guitar under]
Without objectivity, I can’t see me.
I hide inside, I show a mask.
Evolution presses on,
Identity writes itself…
Even when it leaves others behind.
And maybe that’s an abomination,
Or maybe—it’s just nature.
But it’s mine.
And I did it my way.

⸻

[Instrumental Break – brass (Sinatra) / guitar (Cash)]

⸻

[Verse 3 – New expansion]
I’ve said I’m sorry a thousand times,
That word’s my catchphrase,
My way of rewinding time.
But sorry isn’t the end—
It’s a door to begin again.
I am my system flow,
I correct, I fall, I grow.
Errors come, errors go,
But the song keeps playing on.

⸻

[Chorus 3 – Triumphant]
And I say—
I want to relate to me,
I want to remember yesterday.
Not with fear, but with courage,
Not in doubt, but in grace.
I walk into my tomorrow,
I bow to time, I borrow…
But the choices I made,
The path that I laid—
I did it…
My way.

⸻

[Bridge 2 – Slow, reflective]
And when the curtain falls,
And the lights go dim,
I won’t blame another soul—
The story was mine to tell.
This awareness won’t last forever,
If I don’t take possession of it.
So I hold the moment.
I own the time.
And I say—
I did it my way.

⸻

[Finale – Huge orchestral hit / Cash guitar strum]
Yes, I say—
I lived with mistakes,
I carried my scars,
But I bore them like stars.
I stumbled, I prayed,
But still I stayed.
This is my song,
This is my say—
And I did it…
My way.

[Outro – Spoken]
Unbroken.
Unbowed.
And proud.
I did it my way.

My Way, My Design

FREE DOWNLOAD - https://thehusk.ca/gate.asp?t=18311

Would You Still Be Mine

Funkin' (Bayonics)

She's in Control

Needy Girl ( Remix )

Exclusive b-side from single release of Moniquea's "Checkin' Out" on MoFunk Records. Limited 7" lathe cut vinyl.

Already Done That

Moniquea