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The End of the Beginning
Label: Definitive Jux
Released: February 2003
I guess the best way to describe this album is to start with the title.
I
called it The End of the Beginning for many reason. Mainly it was the end
of me doing every f'n thing myself. I had a good friend named, El-p who
believed in me enough to take the reins of my career and let me "slack
off" and be an artist solely. He also provided me with a publicist and
proper distribution, bringing an End to any indie rap heads who said
they had never heard of me. Def Jux made me visible through every media
outlet at their disposal. I was reluctant at first. But I do not
regret a day spent working with, and for the company.
Artistically
I was so excited to finally have the attention of the indie rap world.
I decided to showcase the full spectrum of my talents. So that's why you
have songs at 134 BPM's (beats per minute - such as, "You &
I") and songs at 75 BPM's ( "God's Work".) You have darker more
serious jams like, "Last Night" and more light hearted fun jams like, "Risky
Bizness feat. Shock G & Humpty Hump. I worked with various producers,
as always, in attempt to keep both myself and the fans entertained. I
actually had about 50 beat cd's and 2 beat tapes (1 from Blockhead & 1 from
Ant who both have burners now btw) for this album. I worked 8 hours a
day or something like for about 3 months straight at a pace of about 1
song a day. Some of them never saw the light of day, some never
even saw the light of the recording booth.
The actual recording of
this album took place in Minnesota, L.A. and NYC. The L.A. portion was
engineered by my boy Ariel formerly of the Hippos; a punk band of the late
90's. Anyway, he turned out to be an excellent engineer/producer and taught
me the importance of having a good dude "behind the boards;" a position I had
basically taken for granted up until this point. The NY sessions were done
at Definitive Jux. Engineered by another great dude named
NASA, here I recorded "Def Cover," "The Dance," feat. El-P, and
"Happy Pillz," feat. Aesop Rock. "The Dance" was a very memorable song and
writing experience for me because I finally got to sit down and write a song
with one of my close friends and esteemed colleagues, El-P. Most of the
collaborations and sessions for this album were easygoing and
fun. But when El and I sat down to do this one, it was extremely
intense. El is a both a producer and emcee that I hold in the highest
regard. And this was a beat he wanted for himself but gave to me and made me
promise not to come wack. Not only that, but he also wanted to rhyme on the
song, which added much weight to my shoulders. But the end result was one of
my favorite songs of all time. And for the record I think my boy killed it.
The Minnesota session with Ant of Atmosphere taught me the real meaning
of "producer." Nowadays in hiphop, people tend to believe a producer is someone
who simply makes the beat, when in actuality a producer is someone who
orchestrates the song. Meaning, Ant would make suggestions on
content, cadence, chorus and arrangement. He actually sat there while
I wrote some of the song, and actually would have probably preferred me to
write the whole thing in his presence, running it through with him as I went
along.
But the song that sticks out most on the album is "Transitions Az A
Ridah," aka the skateboard song. This was actually one of the last tracks
added to the album. And the first song to which I ever made an actual
musical contribution to. It came to be one day as I was leaving Liberty
Boardshop out in the O.C. (where I lived during the conception of this album)
and I was searching my creative mind for one more song to throw on this
album. Then it hit me: I have to make a decent hip hop song about skating. I
had been skating pretty regularly and recognized it was a far end
of that "spectrum" that definitely need some light on this album. So I
went to my Patchworks buddies and ask them to make a
beat that incorporated skate sounds grinding, sliding, popping etc...as the
actual music. Being skaters themselves, it was no problem and I think we did
a wonderful job representing both skateboard and hiphop culture. After this
album was turned in, I toured excessively and incessantly for the next 2
years straight (300plus shows). God Loves Ugly Tour, Warped Tour, My Way and
the Highway, El-p and Murs the Euro Disaster etc....
Track Listing:
- You and I
- Dibbs did this shit
- What do you know?
- The Scuffle
- The Nght Before
- Transitions az a Ridah
- Happy Pillz (feat Aesop Rock)
- Risky Business feat Humpy Hump and Shock G
- The Dance feat EL-P
- Gods Work
- Def Cover
- Please Leave
- Sore Losers
- BT$ feat Sunspot Jonz
- 18 w/ A Bullet feat Ant from Atmosphere
- Brotherly love
- Got Damned
- Done Deal feat 3MG
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