50 Legitimate Reasons To Be Vegan For 2016

In no particular order...

1. Vegetarians are not healthy

2. The top causes of pollution are the manufacturing of meat and diary

3. The top cause for wasting water is manufacturing meat and diary

4. Meat and dairy gives you cancer

5. Meat and Diary gives you diseases

6.Meat and Diary lowers your immune system

7.Meat and diary are difficult for your body to digest

8. Science proves humans we're created to be herbivores/fruitarians

9. Plants and legumes contain just as much protein as its meat equivalent

10. Being vegan repairs your DNA strands (in other words helps you evolve)

11. Being vegan helps you understand your body better

12. Being vegan helps you be more creative

13. Being vegan helps you lower your carbon footprint

14. Being vegan encourages you to make better changes to your lifestyle that better suit you

15. Being vegan encourages you to eat more variety

16. Being vegan keeps your body at optimum health and fitness

17. Being vegan increases your stamina, concentration and reflexes

18. Being vegan is the best way to heal your body

19. Being vegan is the best anti-ageing formula

20. Being vegan gives you better memory and awareness

21. Being vegan encourages you to learn more

22. Being vegan helps animal extinction

23. Being vegan saves the planet

24. Being vegan are the preliminary steps to healing your mind, body and soul

25. Being vegan automatically makes you a winner

26. Being vegan is normal practise in many religious cultures

27. Being vegan is cheaper depending on where you live

28. Being vegan is more self sustainable

29. Vegan food can be planted and regrown to eat again

30. Not being vegan in 2016 doesn't make sense

31. Most vegans live with no signs of ageing

32. Healthy vegans are lean muscle

33. Animals really like vegans

34. Vegans have no body odour

35. Healthy vegan excretion smells like plants

36. Vegans have impeccable memory

37. Vegans are ways slim and eat as much as they want

38. Vegans always have unlimited amounts of energy

39. Vegans are usually much happier then other people (usually because there bodies are happy)

40. Celebrities are vegan (if that helps float your boat)

41. Your not missing anything

42.You can eat as much as you want without getting fat

43. You always know what's in your food

44. Vegans don't get heart disease

45. Vegans don't get diabetes 

46. Vegans don't count calories or watch cholesterol

47. Everyone loves vegans

48. Vegans taste like fruit

49. Vegans are humble

50. Meat = Fruit in the bible

Veganism vs Green Veganism article coming soon..

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Delilah's Festive Apple Crumble

                                            Prep time: 30 minutes Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

3 cooking apples

100 grams almond flakes 

100 grams oats (or porridge mix)

2 Tbsps Chia seeds

5 Tbsps raw honey
3 Tbsps agave syrup

1/2 cup flour of choice

1 tsp cinnamon 

Sprinkle nutmeg

Coconut oil

 1 cup Oat milk

1 tso Vanilla essence 

(Optional: Blueberries - Blueberry sauce, Handful sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, Handful flaxseeds or granola)

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C
2. Heat 1 cup of non-dairy milk on a medium fire, when heated stir in raw honey, agave syrup, chia seeds, vanilla essence, cinnamon and nutmeg
3. Stir flour into the milk slowly to desired thickness
4. Dice apples into small squares
5. Grease a deep rounded dish with coconut oil and add the apples layered with flaked almonds.
6. Pour the milk into the apple and almond flake mix.
7. Layer the top with oats and seeds. (Granola is optional and best added first with the oats and seeds on top)
8. Sprinkle with melted coconut oil and cinnamon 
9. Place your apple crumble in the oven, bottom shelf at 200C for 10 minutes, to give the crumble a golden colour.
10. After 10 minutes turn the oven down to 180C and cook for another 10 minutes.
11. (For optional blueberry sauce, heat a handful of blueberries in 2 tbsps on honey and leave to sit for 5 minutes)
12. (Pour over the top)

Best served with milk, ice cream or whippy cream

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients:

Blueberries    Apples    Agave

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5 Minute Apples With Honey

                         Prep time: 5 minutes      Serves: 2

Ingredients:

3 Organic Pink Lady, Granny Smith or Cooking Apples (Usually green)

Raw Honey

Sweeeeet

1. Core and slice the 3 apples until you have thin slices. (As seen in photo)
2. Get a small bowl or cup to pour the honey into. 
3. Dip the apples slices into the honey
4. (Optional - Sprinkle with cinnamon, I drizzled mine with agave)
5. Done!

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients here:

Apples       Honey        Agave 

Delilah's Festive Apple Crumble - Recipe Coming Soon

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How To Live Within Your Means

We all have too many things, too many belongings. Way more then we could ever use or need. We hoard things and keep things in case we may need it in the future. We live in a consumerist society. Any material thing you need is easily accessible and always available, at your local shop or shipped to your door. We all behave as though the finite natural resources we have will last forever, much like having good health when you are young. 

The earth's magnetic field is deteriorating, there a gaping holes in the ozone layer, increasing earthquakes and sinkholes, not to mention the global temperature rising, animals are facing extinction at the fastest rate known to man. It would not be far fetched to say, you should know at least some of these things. 

So how can you make a difference?

Start small, do what you can do instead of nothing at all. Here are a few of my tips to start living within your means: 

Recycling

Keep 2 bins in your house and 2 bins outside. One for recycling and one for non recycling. You'll find that the bin used for recycling will fill up much quicker then the other one, so eventually I used my other one for food waste.

Keep a small sealed food waste bin. Keeping in mind that a lot of your food scraps can either be regrown, composted or eaten by pets which would also be a good way of living within your means. Throw away anything that will decompose inside this bin, you can buy counter top ones if your not going to eat that much.

Reusing Things 

I do this with everything including cosmetic and make up bottles. Sometimes I buy products just for the containers, you'd be surprised at the amount of household items that have reusable packaging even if you don't like the product. Old honey jars or sweet jam jars, lip gloss containers, I favour anything in a glass container, because glass containers preserve things very well. 

Do It Yourself

It's actually better for you to consider making your own cosmetic products or at least buying it from small businesses that do. Traditionally many cultures across the world, made their own cosmetic products and passed the knowledge down to the later generations. Buying toothpaste in tube or shower gel soap in a bottle was unheard of. It's healthier and ecofriendly, to do it yourself.

Giving To The Needy

Face it, we all have way more then we actually need. My simple rule is if I cannot fit all my belongings into the storage I have (with extra space left over), then I have too much. If I don't use something weekly or monthly I don't need it. Apply this rule to all your belongings and give them to people who need them, you'll be surprised how easy they are to replace when you do. You should be able to fit all your precious belongings on your back to carry around with you, any more then that and you have too much. 

I usually give to charity every season, so 4 times a year because of how easy it is nowadays to accumulate things.

 Support Small Businesses/Charity Shops

Buy Reusable Bags

I have always reused plastic bags, but the time has come to buy some quality reusable bags and actually remember to use them for shopping, no more purchasing plastic bags that ruin the environment.

Get On Your Bike

Cycling more, if your only going somewhere local within a 5 mile radius, try cycling. It's fulfilling, it gives your body a good work out and you actually learn more about where you live, scenic routes, different bike paths, small shops etc.

Eat Vegan

Plant based eating is one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint, the amount of manufacturing that meat has to go through to get to our shops is ridiculous. It's also by far much easier to grow produce then farm animals. If you had to hunt or farm your own food, this would be a much easier decision for you to make.

Grow Your Own Food

Which leads to my last tip. If you have a garden or even just a sunny window seal. Grow your own food, there are really no excuses, change your food with the season and taste the difference between the GMO versions that are sold in the shops. Start with spring onions, celery or leeks, try herbs that grow easily if your unsure where to start check out my article on growing food at home

Ultimately the more self sustainable you are, the lower your carbon footprint. Try to live within your means, for the planets sake and your own.

Thanks For Reading

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Vegan Banana Blueberry Pancakes

          Prep time: 30 minutes      Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Pancakes:

1 Cup Wholemeal Flour (Milk of your choice)

1/2 Cup Oat Milk (Milk of your choice)

1tsp Chia Seeds (Egg replacement)

1 Banana

Blueberries

1 tsp Baking Powder

Coconut Oil

Cinnamon

2 tbsps Honey or 1 tbsp Maple Syrup

(Makes 6-8 pancakes)

Blueberry Sauce:

Handful Blueberries

(Optional: Fruit Sugar or Cane Sugar)

Pancakes:

1. Combine wet ingredients in a food processor or bowl and blend. Including the banana and 1 tbsp of melted coconut oil to the mixture.
2. Combine wet with dry ingredients including chia seeds. Do not add the blueberries.
3. You should have a thick consistency, this is ideal for these pancakes because too much banana will stick to the pan.
4. Stir blueberries into the mixture.
5. Heat a large frying pan on medium heat with 3 tbsps of coconut oil for the pancakes. (Add more when necessary)
6. Pour mixture in an cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until bubbles start to form in the pancake. (Be aware, you must peel these pancakes off the pan, the banana makes them stickier then normal pancakes, to avoid this add more flour)

Blueberry Sauce:

1. Get a handful of washed blueberries and put in a small pan on low heat.
2. Add 1 tbsp of honey or maple syrup and warm until the blueberries have burst. 
3. Take of heat and leave mixture to cool down and thicken.
4. Pour on top, you can then had cinnamon, almonds, desiccated coconut and any additional toppings of your choice.

Enjoy!

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients:

Banana        Blueberries       Almond

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How To Know If You Really Love Yourself

Reality is, no one really loves you. Nothing in this physical world will really love you, the way 'you' desire. No material possession can love you. Nothing in this realm can love you more then you should love yourself. Many people believe in the notion of self love, but do they actually practice it? 

The straightforward answer is no and it's self evident. Nothing in existence should come between you and how you feel about yourself. It's really that simple. When you truly love yourself wholeheartedly, you honestly feel like there's no one and nothing better then yourself. There are no valid reasons why you can and should not feel this way. Apart from negative conditioning, i.e. we shouldn't idolise ourselves, we shouldn't admire ourselves and believe in ourselves. Yet if we had more people that honestly loved themselves, there would be less conflict and insecurities among us, to say the least.

When you love yourself more then anything in the world, there are no points to prove, every essence of your being believes in you and your greatness.

Mere words cannot trick you into disconnecting from that love and that feeling within you.

Yet what helped me was placing importance on the notion that no one and nothing is going to be there for me apart from myself. When things are difficult and I am low, unless I speak about it only me. myself and I can be my solution. As time went by it gradually became clearer. I've lived all my life and I'm am here now, I am happy, I am perfectly healthy and I am free to do whatever I please. Me - myself - has got me this far, no one and nothing else. I have my intelligence, my knowledge and my wisdom, my creativity and my beauty. Everything I need is right here within me.

You will search for ages trying to fill that missing space inside you, thinking that it's someone or something. You will walk endless lonely roads that feel like torture listening to the words of others and believing in their actions, instead of controlling your own actions. When you truly love yourself, nothing else matters. Let them talk, let them judge, it doesn't matter. While they focus on you, you focus on yourself, while you focus on yourself they focus on you. The system will not love you before you love yourself, ultimately nothing will before you do.

Positive Affirmations 

When your feeling down say kind words to yourself, I love myself, I am amazing, I am the best, I don't know anyone who's as special as me. Remember you do not need to enforce these ideologies on other people. When you truly believe these things your actions, words and energy will speak for you.

Start A Journal

You can fill it with anything, how you feel at the time, what you accomplished in that day, what your goals are, what your weaknesses are, lists repeated of affirmations, drawings. Whatever it is, it has to be a depiction of how your feeling at the time. When you record something on paper, it brings it from the spiritual realm into the physical realm. It affirms your thoughts or feelings at the time, your goals or your affirmations because you have transferred it from your subconscious to your conscious memory. You have instructed yourself to bring it into physical existence, you have created it and it is going to remind you what you we're doing at that present time, bringing your mental and spiritual thoughts into physical existence. 

Using your mind, body & soul or 'your trinity'.

Your journal becomes a story of you, that only you can decipher and understand. It shows you your strengths and weaknesses and it makes you more conscious of yourself, to learn yourself better. 

Put Yourself First

Ask yourself what you would like to do and respond to the first thought that comes to mind. If you find yourself forcing things ask yourself why, ask yourself what you would rather be doing and prioritize things from there. Remember the journey to true self love is about balance. 

It's about putting yourself first and making sure that the spirit within you is happy, you can only be at full potential when you really love yourself because you are an asset to others not a liability.

Now is not the time for insecurities, you must overcome your weaknesses. All those little thoughts inside you, those little complaints you have about yourself, things that have happened in life, how you have been treated by others, totally disregard it. 

If it is not valuable or important to your life, it has to go.

Be aware that it shows, when you don't love yourself. Your inner peace is easily disrupted by the words or actions of other people. You pre-judge and disrespect others, you are easily made jealous or envious of others. 

Ultimately when you love yourself, there is absolutely, nothing any living thing can say or do to you that will disrupt your inner peace. You may slip up sometimes, but this is the ultimate goal, since no one is worth making you feel any less then being the best version of yourself.

Thanks for reading 

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Lime Green Beans

                                              Prep time: 10 minutes Serves: 3

Ingredients:

2 Packets Green String Beans

1/2 Onion

Black pepper

Sea salt

1 Lime

Unusual Combination!

1. Boil salted water on high heat.
2. Add 1/2 onion to the water, cut into large chunks.
3. Heat for 5 minutes, then add the washed green beans.
4. Cook for 5 minutes, then drain and season with black pepper & juice of 1 lime (season to taste)

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients:

Cucumber    Avocado   Okra  

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Banana Almond Sandwich

                   

                                                Prep time: 10 minutes      Serves: 2

Ingredients:

4 Large Ripe Bananas

Almond or Cashew Butter

Cinnamon

Honey

(Optional: Chia seeds, Sesame seeds, Desiccated Coconut, Almond flakes, Nuts...)

Healthful, Sloppy & Sweet

1. Slice your banana's in half length ways
2. Then Slice Horizontally to make small portions (As seen above)
3. Spread with almond butter, serve open or(closed with a banana slice on top.)
4. Drizzle honey, cinnamon and any other optional ingredients. (My favorite is Chia seeds & desiccated coconut)

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients:

Coconut    Chia Seeds   Almond Butter

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Japanese Okra Salad

                         Prep time: 10 minutes      Serves: 3

Ingredients:

1 Sliced Cucumber

5 Large Handfuls of Okra

1/2 Diced Onion 

Black pepper

Sea salt

1 Lime or Sesame oil

Soy sauce or coconut secret(non-soy)

Mixed Herb Seasoning (optional)

I like this recipe because you can add or remove ingredients and it still tastes great. Sometimes I don't use sesame oil and replace for lime, soy sauce etc...

(Caution: If possible try to use an alternative for soy sauce, such as coconut secret or braggs amino acids. Soy sauce is very popular and soy is a well known mass produced GMO product.) 

1. Begin with slicing the okra into thin slices and leave them to dry out. (5 minutes optional: Prevents the gluey texture)
2. Slice a whole cucumber in half length ways. Then slice it into thin slices horizontally.
3. Dice onion into tiny squares.
4. Season with sea salt, black pepper, mixed herbs, Drizzle soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. (Season to taste)
5. Stir

A Japanese Delicacy with a twist

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients:

Cucumber   Okra  Cous Cous   Buckwheat 

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Raw Cucumber Crackers

                          Prep time: 10 minutes      Serves: 3

Crackers:

2 Sliced Cucumbers

Topping:

1/2 Diced Onion or 2 Spring Onions

2 Large Avocado's

2 tsp Paprika

Black pepper

Sea salt

1 Tsp Diced Ginger

Drizzled Lime juice or Sesame oil

Mixed Herb Seasoning (optional)

4 Diced Cherry Tomatos (optional)

My favourite thing about these crackers are that they are cheap, healthful and quick to make.

Topping:

1. Begin with dicing 2 ripe avocado's and mashing them in a bowl with a fork.
2. Drizzle sesame oil or lime juice to taste and stir.
3. Add your finely chopped onion and ginger to the creamy avocado mix.
4. Season with paprika, sea salt & black pepper. 

Crackers:

1. Slice the cucumbers in half and then slice length ways to make long cucumber strips. Then cut those slices horizontally to make the base resembling the crackers on the right.
2. I prefer my cucumbers sliced in half and using a spoon I scoop the seeds out of the middle of the cucumber. Resembling the slices on the left. (Leaving space for the topping.)
3. Add the creamy avocado topping.

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients:

Cucumber    Avocado

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Creamy Soba Noodles

                            Prep time: 15 minutes      Serves: 2

Sauce

1 LargeAvocado

1 tbsp Sesame Oil

Sea Salt to taste

Chilli or Black Pepper Seasoning

1 spring onion

Base

100 grams Buckwheat(Soba) Noodles

1 Packet Closed Cup mushrooms 

1 tbsp Coconut Oil

2 tbsp Sesame Oil

2 Handfuls of Spinach or (Dulse/Wakami Seaweed)

1 Sliced Garlic

Chinese 5 spice seasoning (Optional)

This is a healthy, hearty snack that's so creamy and addictive.

PLEASE NOTE: Many buckwheat noodle manufacturers sell buckwheat noodles mixed with wheat and other ingredients such as chocolate powder. For best results use 100% buckwheat noodles.

Base:

1. Begin boiling are large pan of lightly salted water and a sliced garlic clove. (To flavor the water)
2. Heat another pan on high with coconut oil.
3. Once the water is boiling add 100 grams of buckwheat noodles to the boiling water, then turn it down to medium heat to cook for 5 minutes.
4. Wash your mushrooms, but do not cut them. Throw them whole into the hot frying pan with sesame oil and sea salt. (and Chinese 5 spice seasoning - Less seasoning is more)
5. Fry mushrooms on high heat for 5 minutes.
6. Drain the noodles and rinse with warm water (important!)

Sauce:

1. Sliced ripe avocado into cubes and mash with a fork.
2. Drizzle sesame oil, sea salt and mix.

Combine the noodles, avocado sauce and mushrooms together!Drizzle with sesame oil to taste, Bon Appetite!

Explore more plant based recipes with these ingredients

buckwheat noodles    avocado

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6 Random Things My Dog Taught Me

4 Month Old German Shepherd

Ashanti (Shanty) is my loving German Shepherd. I bought her at 8 weeks old, and she's just over a year old now. In all honesty I'm not really a dog person, I much prefer cats but I wanted a guard dog and she turned up at just the right time. Shanty turned out to be one of the smartest dogs I've ever seen, many people that know her believe the same. I have never needed a leash for her and somehow she developed her own protective instincts, which worked great for her guard dog qualities. 

Looking after an animal made me realise that humans have been living outside of their natural balance for way to long. A German Shepherds descendants come from the wolf family. So you have to maintain a sense of leadership over them. You have to appear more strong and agile even if your not, you have to appear as the leader and recognise when she believes she out ranks you. The stronger she play fights, the harder with her you have to be. It may seem abusive but she is complete lean muscle, with a mouth much like scissors. Once she realises herself, she will need to be kept inline. She has taught me to be strong and remember that I have to be evolving and growing at all times. Tough love and difficult circumstances are the best ways you can grow to the next level. Forever evolving.

5 Random Things Even A Dog Can Teach You:

1. Stretch Out All The Time!

There is no designated time for stretching, stretching can and should be done several times a day and whenever you feel a slight muscle or joint tension. This means paying close attention to your body. Whenever I observed her moving from a stationary position, Shanty would thoroughly stretch her limbs before moving around. 

So Now I stretch religiously

Whenever I have been sitting down for too long in an unnatural position, I make a conscious effort to feel for any tension in my body and stretch it out. This allows energy within my body to flow freely, increasing blood circulation.

2.Don't Be Greedy

Even when she was going through massive sprouts of growth, Shanty was never greedy. She is the only dog I have seen turn down, some of her favorite treats if she is full. I have seen Shanty fast when she is ill and when she is not tired or has not exercised to her liking, she will not eat at all. In the past I have gobbled twice as much and stayed in bed all day. Talk about greedy!

3. Have No Fear

One day I went to the beach and took Shanty with me. She would have been no larger them a 8kg bag of rice. I picked her up and dipped her slowly into the water, deeper then she could stand and kept my hand underneath her. To my surprise she swam away, I stood there for awhile waiting for her to get tired, but she didn't. No one taught Shanty how to swim, somehow she knew what she needed to do, she never had any fear. 

if ever she is scared of something she goes back to it and tries to figure it out, figure out what it is and conquer her fear. 

4. Love Unconditionally

No matter what you do to her, Shanty will never turn down love and affection. She has such a protective spirit and no matter what happens she always looks after her owners and young children. She never holds grudges, I believe dogs are better at forgiving then most humans.

5. Practice Makes Perfect

Shanty learns quickly, I toilet trained Shanty when she was 10 weeks old. She learnt her name and commands at round 4 months. From 5-6 months I taught her tricks and how to communicate. I have never needed a leash with shanty, she knows not to stray far away from me. Shanty will repeat what she has learnt over and over again, until she feels she thinks she better at doing it then you are. She applies what she learns and uses it to communicate with us. It's Incredible to watch.

6. Trust Your Instincts

When we are out in the forests or in the wild. She comes into her own, her sense of smell and hearing are far beyond my own and she is incredibly strong and agile. She has encouraged me to increase my muscle strength because I can see her being gentle with me, and other people. 

Shanty knows when something is not right, she can sense from afar when someone or something is within her territory and she knows just who and what she trusts. If shanty doesn't like someone, I trust her intuition and leave the situation, Shanty can smell you and tell if your ill or how you feel. She lives through her senses alone, her mind has no voice to talk her out of what her intuition is telling her. 

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The Highly Anticipated New Mix tape Release: 'WIDE AWAKE' by The 67thking 13/09/2015

The Eagerly Awaited New Mix Tape, From The UK's 'The 67th King' 'Wide Awake' Exploded Onto The Scene 13.09.2015! #wideawake

This mix tape is a bringing in a new and unique sound, that the 21st Century has never heard before. The 67th King brings hip hop back to its conscious roots. Highlighting political and controversial topics, while telling a story to the listeners. Bringing diversity with every track, it's a mix tape that must be listened to from start to finish. This mix tape packs a punch, delivering a message loud and clear. With deep mind elevating sounds, that make you question the common perspective on life! Discussing the depths of humanity and the cruel truth of the world we live in. The 67th King also tells a story of his own, hard times and his journey of awakening that encouraged him to pursue his purpose and how he's grown from the past till now. Everyone should be excited about this new artist and the message he has to bring. 

#wideawake

Artist Background:

The 67th King was born in West Africa and raised in Western Europe. He has travelled and seen the very best of both worlds. Influenced by the legends of our time, he resonates with music that has the same effect on you, as the first time you ever listened to it. 

I have been inspired by musicians that create timeless music.

The 67th king has always been fascinated by art, choosing to take it up in higher education. Music has always been something The 67th king would do to pass by time, until now. 

'I've always been pulled towards music, because whenever I hear a beat or a melody, I always try to synchronise with what I hear, I listen to instrumentals all the time, instrumentals have no words so you really have to create a scene from the vibe that it gives you'

For The 67th King making music came naturally;

 'I created my first studio in my mums house when I was younger, so I started experimenting from there'

I will listen to the instrumental for weeks, before I start writing for the song, so the music just flows because I know the beat inside out.

The 67th King's long term goals are for his music to be his legacy, he wants people from the future millennium to listen to his work, and think about the new sound he created ahead of his time.

Listen to Wide Awake (Full Mix tape) now 1

Listen to Wide Awake (Full Mix tape) now 2

Download Wide Awake (Full Mix tape) here

Insta: @67thking
Soundcloud: @67thking
Google+: +67 King Bey  
Twitter: @67thking

#wideawake

• For any personal enquiries please email: 67thking@gmail.com
• For any events, performances or bookings please email management (Delilah) with all complete details: moormonde.enquiries@gmail.com 

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