"Blue Man Group meets hip-hop meets your face meets the floor." -El Keter

18 MP3 Songs in this album (56:50) !
Related styles: HIP-HOP/RAP: Old-School Rap, BLUES: Blues-Rock

People who are interested in Atmosphere Sage Francis should consider this download.


Details:
This CD is a compilation of my first three Music with Friends EPs.

Production includes work from Purify, Brenn Beck (Left Lane Cruiser), Agent Orange (Wordsmiths), Geno, Ebro, and Jon Ross (Superhunk).

-------------------------BIO------------------------------

I enjoy finding dope beats and writing raps to them. URB magazine selected me for 2008's Next 100 and dubbed me the vanguard of new crunk. I have no idea what that means.

----------------------TRACK BY TRACK----------------------

MWF1 (Agent Orange, Purify): tracks 1-8

It was none other than the driving force behind 2007's "The Tortoise Hustle" who suggested a download-only release. El Keter of imageyenation and okayplayer fame hit me up suggesting we use beats he had in his archives. Me being me, I got overly enthusiastic and impatient. Fortunately, I opted for the route of not bugging Keter about beats and reached out to two folk I know-AO (formerly Agent Orange of the Wordsmiths) and Purify. I'd not worked with AO before, but he exhibited perfect timing in looking for collaboration. After laying claim to an unfair share of his beats, I then hit up Purify to see if he had any beats sitting around. I'd previously worked with Purify on the song "Iowa to Indiana." Once I combed through each producer's stash, I sat down and put pen to paper. About 3 weeks spanned the time between my getting the beats and calling the project done. I've always placed an emphasis on working on music with friends and hopefully this is the first of many installments.

Just Rap- Nothing like rapping for however many bars in a row with no break for the listeners to open an EP. Just Rap is along my more traditional fare, though the line "found a beautiful wife and then started a home" would not have been found anywhere near the vicinity back in the days of breakneck and beatjackolantern. Let's hear it for beautiful and determined women.

Human Vending Machine- I wrote and recorded a verse a while back for a possible Can-U collaboration with some of the Plague Language folk. The concept was already there-scene set at a casino. I chose the character of an old man too far gone to change. Fortunately, it worked out where I ended up sitting on the verse and finding a different outlet. The juxtaposition of what could very well be a standard format radio hit beat and a character study still makes me smile. I first recorded this song in a more subdued tone (fitting the concept), but rerecorded in a more animated manner to better fit AO's production.

Live from Fort Wayne- The first of Purify's contributions to this EP was initially written as a "rap all the way through" track. Good thing I decided to take a couplet and strong arm it into being my de facto hook. The good thing is, the end of the original song isn't on the track and can thus be used elsewhere when a suitable context presents itself. Two baseball references in one song must be a personal record. Odds are good it'll never happen again.

Rime and a Grin- I tried the Rose McGowan's Face lyrics over this beat and it didn't feel right. I can always trust driving to and from work with a burned CD of studio sessions to let me get a good measure of material. As it turns out, I'd already written and recorded a song to AO's beat. It's a shame I can't record more often with this more conversational tone of voice. The third verse counts as my favorite, as the lyrics bounce around the rhythm in unexpected ways.

Rose McGowan's Face- I was combing through that mysterious land referred to by some as the internets and chanced upon a picture of a Rose McGowan I didn't recognize. After a few stops over in googleville, I discovered she'd had some post-accident surgery. Thing is, I didn't recognize the new her. Figured this was as good an opportunity to strike while the inspirational iron was warm and write a song about it. I'd been sitting on the "customized hips, lips, bust and thighs" line for a while and found it to be a suitable starting point for hook work. The EP was all but done and I realized I still had another AO beat. Luckily for me, the beat worked out perfectly. If you check out the HOK section, you might even see a video.

Nachos- A wholly organic song courtesy of my rime book. I really have been meaning to keep my rimes in one area and have taken to carrying around a little notebook that is full of random scribbles. I'd record a bit of the song, stop, find another page, and record some more. I figured it only right to throw in a shout out to Henry's (local tavern) best nachos for the hook. Nothing rings true quite like a plate of deluxe black bean nachos.

House of Games- Here's me fixating on people needing things again. I'd originally conceived of the song consisting of just 2 verses, but started writing a hook that didn't stop until 16 lines had passed. Said sixteen lines became the second verse. Proof of my patchwork method being the last line of verse one riming with the first line of verse three. Titlewise, I couldn't resist a nod to the Mamet flick.

Our Song- The first song recorded for this EP and probably tied (with Nachos) for my favorite. The vocal sample seemed to be a perfect way to close out the EP.


MWF2 (Brenn): tracks 9-13

This project came about as an offshoot of the quickly defunct group Lenin's Jukebox. Brenn, drummer for Left Lane Cruiser, was still interested in collaborating and had been honing his one man band skills. Thus the group Fun with Chicken??? was born. Fort Wayne has a great Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon which lists ingredients under each menu item. My favorite dish was noted as containing chicken followed by three question marks. Of course, Saigon has since gotten new menus. Thus was born Fun with Chicken???. Brenn recorded one man band stuff in his living room, burned it to CD and handed the sucker to me. I figured the Music with Friends series would be a good outlet for the tracks. After releasing Music with Friends 1, I determined it would be best to stick to my original plan of each EP being between 4-6 tracks. Best to leave folk wanting more than to overstay one's welcome.

Commodore 64 Imapala- A fine chance for me to goof off, bust out a song title I've been sitting on a while and drop some of those rimes which were on scraps of paper and never found a home. Brenn's singing the hook in his best drive through dragon impression.

Shark Jumpers- The three times I've had a can Guiness, I've not been able to resist breaking it open to get to the personal flotation device. It was either good for ping-pong or fake eyeballs and I'd already done my Slick Rick crack on Still Means Something's "A Handful of Words." Much like Music with Friends 1's "Nachos", this song built itself up quite organically.

Instant Karate- Though I spent a good deal of thought when naming Still Means Something's songs, I imagine this release has the majority of world championship song title title belts. Brenn came over with a garbage can, banged on it, I got too excited and was shouting over it when it was being recorded, then laid straighforward "better than you" type raps. Nice and simple.

Every Hero Needs a Theme Song- After realizing how many times I mentioned our group name, I realized this song could have but one title. The only question that remains is "How did he go to the bathroom with all that stuff?"

Orange Electric Lawnmower- Inspired by my former neighbor Eric Tarr and his tidy yard habits. I was chatting with Keter looking for something to start the song and he suggested "Peter Griffin fighting a giant chicken." I took his idea and ran with it, enjoying some syllable slicing en route to the final FWC??? track



MWF3 (Joe Harvey, Jon Ross, Geno, Ebro): tracks 14-18

I've been lucky to continue finding dope beats to make songs for your ear holes. After the rambling nature of Music with Friends 2, round 3 found me a little more focused.

Cholestreol- I swore when first hearing this beat that the guitar lick was from Cake. Joe Harvey (Twilight Sentinels world champ) assured me it is not. There are certain song snippets which stick in my mind, one of which was Ice Cube's verse on the DOC's "Grand Finale." It, right next to Nas' "Verbal Intercourse" verse, ranks as my all time favorite guest spot. As Cube is in the midst of running rampant on his rampage, he utters the line "I stay on your ass like cholestreol. Cynics would point to such an instance and automatically disqualify the verse for all time badass status, but I disagree. I have thus called one of my songs "Cholestreol." I made sure to spell it out during the hook to clarify that, yes, I was indeed in the house that Dan (sic) Quayle built. It's true, I really did ride my bike one day on a "hey no hands...eyes...hands...feet" jag. Thankfully, youtube had yet to be invented.

Geetar- I went over to Jon Ross' house with no plans whatsoever other than to work on music. He plays drums, piano, guitar and a lot of some online war videogame. I was most vague in saying what I was hoping to get out of our basement studio sessions and he came up with this accoustic guitar piece. Clearly, the part of my brain which summons awesome song titles short circuited. As luck would have it, said short did not prevent me from putting battle type raps over a guitar for the hell of it. This is the song I listen to and play loud knowing that I won't get pulled over for making other people listen to rap. Think of it as accoustic ninjacraft care of the multitalented Jon Ross.

Fearless Jones- The internet is a strange place, full of names and aliases connected to transient personalities. Such is the case with Ebro, a guy I knew by said name online from years ago whose more recent moniker didn't get the seven degrees of net Kevin Bacon treatment from my brain. I can't keep score of real world names, let alone rap aliases that shift with time and the underlying given names. Ebro hit me up talking about a beat he didn't like and I bugged him until I got to hear it. I thought it was dope, asked to rock it and happened to be on a Walter Mosley tear. Verse one is me recapping his book Fearless Jones while the rest of song ambles along with thoughts on disposable culture.

Bumper Stickers- Another Joe Harvey production. Apparently, this beat had made the Indianapolis rounds and been passed on. I will forever be thankful to those Indianapolites for letting me get a fresh beat. Much like material on The Tortoise Hustle, this song was driven by my dislikes. In this instance, craw stickers included the south will rise again, abortion, and counterculture. The song is pretty self-explanatory and my advance apologies to Nick Fabini over at Cardinal Tattoo for possibly spilling more beans than desired.

Hopalong- This is what happens when I have a day off, inspiration, and a beat. Geno worships at the analog temple and has been sending me dope snippets of works in progress for years now. I bugged him one day saying I might just take a snippet and make a song. Soon as I got permission, it was done. I would like to take this opportunity to let you know Geno has much grander plans than this. As the song is an ambling type, I figured "Hopalong" would make for a fitting title. This song is heavily indebted to the Nonce. There's nothing quite like the warmth of a crackly record.