PROMOTING THA NATIVE IN EUROPE
Over the last couple years an effort has been made to promote Tha Native in Europe, especially in Hungary. Are you familiar with Hungary? Does Budapest ring a bell? Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and the tenth largest city in the European Union.
It’s known as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It’s near impossible to search for lists of most beautiful cities in Europe without coming across Budapest on probably every list. Go try it.
It’s known as the Paris of the east. Anthony Bourdain did an episode on his CNN show featuring Budapest and was in shock at the amazing buildings and how they seemed to be endless. You can walk for blocks and blocks in any direction and never come up short on beautiful architecture. Just look at some these non-professional photos taken on my iPhone 6.
And what about cobblestone streets and street cafes. They are in unlimited supply as well, although here are just a couple photos. I don’t feel comfortable photographing strangers.
So, what do you know about Budapest or Hungary in general? Attila the Hun? Ya, he was a real person and a vicious warrior that struck fear in every ruler in Europe including the powerful Romans. Yes, he apparently settled in Hungary and there are still children to this day being named Attila. But the current people are not quite so related to this past warrior.
Currently, they are quite non-combative and are known as a very peaceful nation. Not a threat to any other nation around. And in general, Budapest is one of the safest places you could live in or visit. Trust me, I spent roughly six months living in the center of Budapest. I never felt unsafe no matter the time or the neighborhood. You also rarely see police around or talking to anyone, but I did once see some military guys strapped with some interesting guns on their hips.
Something you also may have heard was regarding Queen playing in concert in Budapest and the rumor that Freddy Mercury wanted to buy their parliament building. I wish I had a great photo of the Parliament building, but I mostly have videos. Here are a couple photos I took, though, but imagine seeing it in person. Wow!
By the way, two fun facts about Budapest. Well, two famous names: Rubik and Houdini. Yes, Rubik as in Rubik’s Cube. The inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, originally released in Budapest in 1977 as the Hungarian Magic Cube, is Budapest born Ernő Rubik. Do I need to tell you more about Houdini? I’ll just tell you this, he was born in Budapest and there is a small museum there in his honor. I never went.
Budapest is well known for the Danube river that splits the city in two. One side known as Buda, and the other Pest. Hence, Budapest. It is also well known for the beautiful bridges that link the two sides together. One of my favorites is the one I lived just a few minutes walk from. During July, or maybe it was August, they would close it down for Trams and cars and hold events on it. And during a certain holiday that included fireworks, all the bridges were closed down. Here are some random photos of the the bridge I lived near, Liberty Bridge, and some other random photos along the river and nearby.
And let me just throw out a few more photos without explanation and just let your imagination go to work.
Did I mention how popular and how nice looking McDonald’s is in many parts of Europe? Check out their location next to one of the big train stations in the city center.
Would you have believed me if I tried to explain in person? No way! One more thing before we move on to Tha Native. Budapest is a great place to drink. There are bars everywhere. And there are pretty much no rules about drinking. No roped in area that you can’t leave. Just be 18 or look 18 with some friends who are 18 and you’re set. If you can’t finish your beer and it’s time to go home or move on, then just carry the bottle or can with you. No one will blink.
Also, the beer is usually really cheap. Like, I would be surprised that any big name beers from Germany, Austria or the Czech Republic would cost more than about a dollar or so in the store and maybe $1.40 to $2.00 in a restaurant or pub. And the beers are usually 0.5 liters unlike in the US where they are usually about .30 or .33. So you could easily drink about 2 liters of beer in a restaurant or pub for maybe $7. Yes, 2 liters. That's the size of those huge containers of soda.
So where was I going with all of this? Oh yes, promoting Tha Native and his music in Europe and especially in Budapest, Hungary. And did you ever notice in one or more of his songs on YouTube, the background is the Danube river in Budapest. https://youtu.be/SiKo28Rqgzo
One of the most recent things I did was create 35 small posters to place all over Budapest; especially in the busy areas where there is a lot of foot traffic. These posters were created to specifically promote Tha Native’s new song Gangster. I created these posters with two QR codes at the bottom of them. When scanned by a smart phone, one code jumps to Tha Native’s Instagram and the other to his Gangster video on YouTube. https://youtu.be/F3bNQN6qu-E
I took some photos of the first few I posted around the city. While they might look small next to the other posters in one of the photos, they are much larger than a regular 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper. They are more like 11 X 18. Whatever the case, I think they do the job and I really like how they came out. I must actually thank my wife for them. I explained to her what I wanted and she did it perfectly. Also, Alex, the graphic designer who made the image to begin with, did an awesome job I think.
POSTER 5, 6, 7 ,8 , 9
Another idea I had, especially being surrounded by several universities in my neighborhood, district 5, with thousands of new students starting school in September, I thought free bookmarks would be popular. And I had a brand new shirt made with the same graphic from the music video and that I used on the poster and bookmarks. I wore this shirt as I passed out free bookmarks to hundreds and hundreds of students. I even dropped off about another 200 at local print shops that the students frequented. They kept them near the cash register so the students could grab one or more if they needed them. Also notice the bookmarks have the same QR codes as the posters.
If you really love the bookmarks and you personally know Tha Native, I sent some to him by mail from Hungary. Maybe he’ll hook you up.
Well that’s it. Thanks for reading this far down and I hope you enjoyed the photos and learned a little something about the amazing city of Budapest. Unfortunately my visa expired and I had to get out of dodge and find a new place to live. Now, I will look for more ways to keep promoting Tha Native besides the blog and helping get all the recent videos made. What videos? I’m glad you asked. Here’s a link to Tha Native’s YouTube channel, enjoy and thank you very much for your support… https://www.youtube.com/user/ShortDawgThaNative
Wait, would you like to see more of Budapest? Here are two nice videos I just found real quick to include in case anyone is curious. I recommend a visit there if possible. It’s really cheap in the off season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C28cebLkAg
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