#05 for 50

 So, to celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th birthday, I decided to break down 5 of the most played CH songs. There's a playlist on YouTube that has about 40 or so songs with thousands of views on each song. I didn't realize so many people were listening to my music. Thank you. I'm randomly selecting the song, breaking it down, and posting a link to the video/song.

So here we go:

#5: The Sun Is A Liar

This song was written during the Hamilton, Charles sessions. Literally, between sessions. I was waiting on George Astasio to show up. I had the engineer and my bass player (Brian "B Magic" Cockerham) in the studio already. I felt it. I found the sample "Sun = Liar" in a techno folder of records I have on my drive. I psychically chopped it up. I laid the drums down manually on ProTools (Polow da Don kit). I plugged in the Yamaha Motif and laid down the synth and piano. The whole beat is drums, synth, bass and piano. But I laid the drums, synth and piano down for 8 bars, and had Brian play the bass (with a particular melody) throughout the song.

Then I wrote it.

Technically, I freestyled the 3rd verse. Just to see how it would feel. The first 2 verses were focused battle verses. The last verse was a feel good, free flowing poem. From this song, I found the difference between writing and freetsyling (even though...). 2014, once again.

#4: Baby Says I Want

The beat was produced while Briana was around. She would listen to... her music, I would listen to Gene Loves Jezebel. This beat caught her attention. She was in my room, I was in the house studio. She came in the room dancing. All I could do was smile. This was 2009. I recorded the song in 2010, after I broke up with Briana and tried to holla at Karen Civil again (2nd verse). It was just a random song, but it got picked for the Normalcy project (a Charles Hamilton album without a concept).

#3: Cold Chillin'

This is the instrumental to "Pleasant Overthinking". I'm aware that Mos Def used the same Tom Brock/Barry White record. He did his thing, his way. I actually stumbled upon the record by accident one night. I didn't want to over chop it, but I wanted to make a solid groove with a build-up that I can lyrically SPAZ on, as well as flex my vocals. So I wrote 2 verses with the intention of ending Drake, after rumors of him raping reached Harlem. I wasn't sure, but I sent warning shots just in case. Listen carefully to the song when you get a chance. But yeah. I figure, if Drake is gonna go the Electronic Hip-Hop route, I'm gonna bring Soul to Elektro. Like I was already doing. At least with this song.

#2: The Incubator

Anytime I recorded a song toan #Incubeat of mine, I would consider it for the at-the-time not-yet-recorded "At Most I'm Just...". I planned on the album since I first heard Morning View in 2001. The title was originally "Incubeats". But the lyrics made it deeper. So it's ...

"At Most, I'm Just..." an Incubus fan.

Written during the Awkward sessions in LA (Tom-Tom Club!!!).

I just wanted to go in.

...again. Random selection.

#1 Clowns

I wanted to be a worthy opponent for Eminem, at least for a 3-round battle. So I dove into the world of The Juggalos. I watched Juggalo Championship Wrestling, listened to ALL of ICP's albums... and ended up having a great time. I was clearly depressed and wanted to get slaughtered, but I made great friends with The Juggalos. So I wrote a song dedicated to them.

There is a remix of "Clowns" out there, with ICP ON IT! I don't know when it will ever get heard, but it does exist.

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Well, thank you for your time, Hip-Hop. One thing I can say, while spanning my career through music to make this post. I stayed true to me throughout all of these songs. I started to put NewGirlfriendMusic on here, but it wasn't on the playlist. I'll probably blog about that another time. Anyway...

Out!