You dudes can’t match my work ethic man….
My heart’s poundin’ out my chest
I can’t breathe, My Mind’s Racin’
So I’m leapin out the bed
I hit the floor and start pacin’
I Walk downstairs
I take a glimpse in the mirror
My contacts so I can see a bit clearer
Reflection ain’t the same
It still appears a bit blurry
Losin focus
Grab some water
Feelin like I gotta Hurry
Say I rap about work and
Always workin’ on rappin’ But Failure Ain’t an Option
Gonna Make this thing happen
I’m laughin at myself for being up at four thirty
Always push it to the limits cause success is so flirty
Forge & Amen - 101
Three years later, this song still rings true. I wish I was still crankin’ out beats like I was then, and I wish we were still turning out joints like this on the regular. Life goes on I suppose. That said, A has started his own blog revolving around his aspirations to write screenplays. New outlets and avenues are never a bad thing. Hit him up…
Upon uploading this zip file to zshare, I came right back to type an entry about me and A’s ill-fated album, and I’m drawing a blank. There’s so much for me to say about this that I don’t know where to begin. Let’s just start from the beginning….
A and I started working on this album sometime in late 2003. We recorded so many more tracks that didn’t make the cut. Our first few tracks were really rough but we could both see the promise in what we were doing. The intro to the album is actually one of our first few tracks and we decided to keep it to kick off the album (ironically the last track was recorded early on as well).
The tracks on this album were recorded in about a one year span, the last one being recorded sometime in december of 2004. We had it all set and came close to a couple of deals but nothing ever really solidified. So we just kept it moving and dropped more mixtapes and tracks for other projects, all the while holding this one in the wings. We held it with the hope that at some point a label would be willing to drop it. Instead we heard the same thing time and time again, something to the tune of “the album is great, but you guys can’t guarantee us any sales. you don’t have any names associated with the project.” With that said, we intentionally kept the features list short because the album had been planned for 12 tracks ever since we first named it. The emcees we featured are three people we truly respect and people we felt like shared our vision and hustle. So to Dan Johns, K-Hill, and Kenn Starr, thank you for your (dope) contributions to this album.
Also a HUGE thank you to Drama, A’s roomate at the time, for the incredible amount of time he lended in recording these songs. Since A and I live in different states, it wasn’t really easy to always record together. Our formula still hasn’t changed much. I send a beat, it gets two tracked at Entourage Studios, and then if it’s kept for a project, I provide a proper breakdown and mix. The mixes on this version of the album were pretty much a collaboration between Drama and myself when I drove down to Columbia one weekend. This album would not have progressed (and I’d wager not much of anything else we did would have either) without Drama, so again, a HUGE thank you to you sir.
Huge thanks to Shaw (Bumrush) as well, for seeing our vision and trying to convince other people to see it our way too. Thank you for helping our single reach #2 on the college radio charts. I really can’t say enough for what you helped us accomplish during the recording of this album.
It’s almost 5 in the morning. There’s so much more I want to say but I digress (for now anyway, I’m going to post more in a couple of days, and A is as well). But for now, as an ode to this album and the memories involved with it, I’m going to crack open a bottle of Newcastle AKA “God’s Tears” (c) Amen and call it a night
Yes! After a year of not recording, and hardly making beats for anyone, the dynamic duo may be returning! A said he was cleaning out his car and found an old beat CD of mine, and whaddya know, he went and recorded a song to it. As mentioned in the song, the beat is circa ‘05, but the heat is very ‘07!!!!
