What's Goin' On with Me

Figured I'd get y'all up to date with my goings-on before I stay up all night with reports and homework at the library.

So my Deka Records album is completely done. I Get That a Lot. Sent in, artworked up, tracklisted, and set for release in 2 to 4 weeks. I've been told I'll have an exact release within a few days, so keep looking for that. The album will be released as digital only at first. Not sure if iTunes immediately, but guaranteed to be on iTunes. And then pressings of the actual CDs will commence afterwards. Again, no official dates or anything, but there's the generalities. Already posted the back art, but here's the tracklist again.

1. Hold On (feat. Steven Gilpin)
2. Before
3. Hannabella (feat. brandUn DeShay & Steven Gilpin) [prod. by DeShay Ali]
4. Run
5. Got Me?
6. Legendary (feat. Steven Gilpin)
7. Back Home (feat. Aaronn Ralph)
8. Kinda Fly [prod. by DeShay Ali]
9. Since (feat. Aaronn Ralph)
10. Chills
11. Enlightened (feat. Aaronn Ralph & Steven Gilpin)
12. Land of Mine (feat. Steven Gilpin)
13. Under the Rain
14. What I Thought

So except tracks 3 and 8 which are helmed by the incomparable brandUn DeShay, all compositions are from the realm of Angus Malone. You feel that other worldy vibe in the air? That's Angus Malone. With that lil' eery sense of completion in a universe of the categorizably incomplete, Angus Malone draws that perfect circle. What? Exactly. The single, "Hold On", is also slated to be remixed with contribution from (hopefully!!!) Charlie Hilton, Nova-Lyric, Ern, T-Burr, (hopefully!!!) brandUn DeShay, Lavish, and (hopefully!!!) the homie Praverb. Could wind up being an absolutely essential track covering the entire United States. I hope everybody I've reached out to enjoys and goes in on it as much as I'm hoping.

No Really, I'm a Rapper EP will tentatively be available for free download a week before my actual album release. It also will be one hundred percent original music produced by brandUn, Charlie Hilton, and Adam Braun. Short lil' tape, but a beautiful sampler of tracks that either couldn't get cleared because of it's sample or that was finished too late. Perfect appetizer for y'all.

The newly started project, Sonic the Campbellton, is in full effect. Hahaha. I love that title. It's gonna be a full-length mixtape of redubbed Charles Hamilton production. My vocals will grace instrumentals he's released and we'll just see what happens. Maybe when I send it to him he'll even give it a listen.

Another new development is The Laptop Mixtape: ReFix!!! that I'm going to try and get together when I can. I'll be redoing my entire first mixtape. All the same lyrics, but with better delivery, better presentation, better quality, and an overall better product. I feel like I've grown too much as a rapper since I recorded it to leave it as is, so I wanna make it a product I can proudly list in my catalogue. I love it now, but it doesn't reach the potential that the lyrics give it with how I rapped when I first started. Gonna be fun to relive it.

And then there's gonna be ReReRemix. It's gonna be sequel to Remix Part Three!!! in that it's me mashing together the hundred individual freestyles that every rapper and their mom puts out to whatever popular song, but with my own lil' flavor and ingenuity. And this time the joints are gonna be better produced and more concise. No 16 minute long joints. Ha. Even though I know you still listened to it.

The long-ago announced 27 Point Me is still gonna be completed one day. It's the musical comedy joint set up like a radio station with me interviewing celebrities and hip hop oriented skits. It's gonna be good, I just gotta settle in on it.

The third installment of my Laptop Trilogy is dubbed III: Laptopical. It will be the collective tale of how my life has changed in the last year since I started recording music. A mixture of everything from the freestyles to check-up interludes to poetry. It's simply the revolving door of my conscious. Don't expect it any kinda soon, but expect it.

At some point, I'm going to redo the entire Goodie Mob Soul Food album with all the rappers I know in Kentucky. Nothing can live up to Goodie, but we'll do a KY-styled version like how was already done by tons of in-state artists with OutKast's ATLiens. Tentatively called KY Whole Food.

So yeah. That's everything I can think of as of now. Well ... I gotta get on this lab report and crap. Hope y'all are all still here to support me when the album drops and everything that happens musically from then on. Peace.

... put 'em both together and you got yourself a super spork.

Read More...

Summary only...

Expectations

This pretty much goes hand-in-hand with the previous Kanye post, but I've been thinking recently about what people expect from the rappers they listen to. I think that's mainly where hip hop gets its bad rap. Hmmm ...

Why would I listen to Young Jeezy unless I was in the mood to hear nursery rhyme paraphrasing from a self-proclaimed non-rapper? Why would I listen to 50 Cent unless I want to hear him going at another hip hop figure with more talent than him, threatening to murder his siblings, household pets, and the family doctor's entire patient list? I mean, the easy counter to that point is the fact that thugged-out mother goose rap is forced down our throats as the majority representation on any urban or pop radio station. Even worse on your frequent offender TV music video channels.

But that's pretty much a moot point in that radio-intended music moves the most numbers, in turn receiving the most promotion, and furthering the watered down intentions of many musicians to cease creativity and fit in a radio-friendly brand. But for the most part, I've solved that issue in my life. It's two things mainly:

1) equipping your internet's "favorites" bar

2) having a transportable car setup for your iPod

I should write a self-help book. Goodness. I see all these rapper interviews all over the place and the most retarded question ever (and one that is always asked) is what they think about the state of hip hop. Everyone asks questions they already know. Do you really need Obama to tell you during the Stat of the Union that the economy is on par with a Lil' Wayne toilet metaphor? Radio sucks and the underground scene is whiny. What other insight do you think they have that everyone else hasn't already said? But even with all of that, there's still about a hundred dead nice emcees, vets and newcomers alike, who consistently make dope music. It's that simple.

Who are you listening to? What blogs are you hitting up? Do you leave comments in support of quality artists? Do you big up rappers on their MySpace pages? You ever try to contact an indie-type artist you actually enjoy? Too many people straight complain on end like their cries for revolt will change the music industry. But it won't. Any machine driven strictly by money will remain corrupted. But individual souls aren't corrupted.

I control the playlist on my headphones. I cop the albums I think are worth my money. I bothered brandUn DeShay and Praverb enough until they musically hooked up with me. That's what I can control.

If Lil' Boosie comes on, I expect a chalk board-pitched spelling marathon. If Lil' Wayne comes on, I expect a dope line or two sprinkled in with ish jokes and autotuned moaning while people sweat it regardless. But I'll tell you what I don't expect. I don't expect to bump Gucci Mane or Jim Jones or Birdman or a multitude of others and actually feel a passion for quality, fulfilling music through their sounds.

So lastly, I ask you ... what did you ever expect from anyone?

... put 'em both together and you got yourself a super spork.

Read More...

Summary only...

Blank

I've been dookie on updating this since I've gotten home for the semester. Truth be told it's cuz I was sleeping. And watching the Lakers send the Celtics into a dismal spurt. Hahahaha. Been waiting since June for that one.

But I can make it better.

Today [January 1, 2009] will be my day of music making. For all intensive purposes, I'm spending the entire day over at Shtee's house and we're making clash-of-the-musically-inclined-minds "compos". (c) brandUn DeShay

Everybody's been so cool to me when they hear about the lil' deal, and that's prolly given me more motivation to make the best collection of sound I can over the next two months. I want every millisecond of these songs to be a hundred times better than anything on any of my mixtapes. I want to be able to listen to my own stuff for the first time because I'm funneling it from God instead of me, and I'm very willing to listen to Him. I don't wanna disappoint me or my A&R or anybody who would actually get hyped at the potential of hearing me on wax. I've always had my words, and now I just gotta find brand new beats for them to nestle into.

Shout outs to brandUn DeShay, Charlie Hilton, Praverb, and other open-minded and well-intended musicians. You all make yourselves better every day as well as the people around you. And, not to ruin one of my inevitable 2008 lists, thanks to Charles Hamilton who achieved becoming my favorite rapper this last year. Kind of a big deal.

Kanye West - We Can Make It Better (feat. Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Common, & Rhymefest)

I just really like this song. It's my corny "ring in the new year" song I decided to choose as I rolled through my 17,423 iTunes songs.

... this was whatcha all been waitin' for ain't it?

Read More...

Summary only...