So far i've heard good feedback from people who've heard this, which really means alot. I started writing this back in February when the producer Real8 offered me one non-exclusive beat. He actually originally named the instrumental 'Back In Da Day', and while i'm not sure exactly what influenced him to name it that, it directed me as far as a topic when i heard this amazing beat.
If I were to attempt to describe this song to a deaf person, I would tell him/her the instrumental starts with a very quiet loop of a bass-laced sample of the song, from hardly noticeable, to a reasonable volume right before it crashes and delves into a daring swoop of flight as the strings fly upward from the ground. Quite courageous. I'm not great with music termanology but after that the strings hold, ascend slightly while intensifying. It then hits with the same intensity at a lower pitch chord.
It is very much like watching an elegant bird catch an amazing air drift/draft (forgot what they call that). When I heard it, i wasn't sure if it's implications of the mood were supposed to be courageous or inspiring, fight or flight...
The drums are initially a simple 1-2 kick-snare pattern, with the shakers and tambourine
inspiring a tight and rigid rythym.
The bass is a long wail that slowly [and almost unnoticeable] slides down and up in accordance with the strings, with a few holes right before each fresh set of 4 bars.
I think this successful juxtaposition symbolizes something harsh.
An opinion that is likely to offend, but nonetheless, unrelenting in the face of adversity. Almost to the point of saying, this is the same effect of "Here is something you can't understand: How I could just kill a man!".
So upon hearing the instrumental, i knew I wanted to speak on something harsh....something that a foreign people to this lifestyle would not understand. I envisioned a great story being told over the cinematic strings. Probably in the same way Lupe told a great story about a skateboarder over a beat with cinematic strings.
I can't speak for other people, but to me, the violin is extremely moving. When I was younger, I couldn't help but tear up upon hearing the weeping instrument. I believe that to some degree, this is true for other people, which is why they use it so much in soundtracks to guide or evoke people's emotions.
I definitely isn't rocket science, but I used the producer's original title and threw it in the oven with my stray thoughts and emotions of the beat.
I couldn't think of anything to write, but I knew a general direction. I listened to the beat anytime I had a chance, and since I didn't have a topic, I started expirementing with what might be the most effective placement of flows. I noticed that there is 8 bars as the intro that could potentially be used as a chorus, but I envisioned only fragments of the chorus, prefering not to subject the audience with too much information in the beginning. Let them familiarize themselves with the beat--let them appreciate that.
At the time, I hadn't decided I could use that slow buildup to set the stage. But I knew that when that quarter bar string loop hit, I would want to use that momentum as efficiently as possible to get people's attention.
just a sidenote: i have alot of respect for mc's, rappers, whatever you want to call them. Alot of people prefer to just listen to music for the music--the rythym, the melody, the BEAT. It is the mc's job to not only match these factors in some multiple in an attempt to compliment them, but he/she also has to draw them into the lyrics, use words at certain times so that they can easily follow it. Now for some rappers, this process is unconscious, but me being hyper-mental at times (thinking too much), I tend to break down these steps frequently and make sure they stay equal like a math equation.
I remembered my flow on 'BacktoBmore', and how it successfully grabbed people's attention---even sometimes to the lyrics (which is a bonus). And I decided I would need to
1) maintain a consistent rapid-fire flow
2) maintain a cosistent rhyme scheme--without being too simple or too complex.
basically i had to put the flashiest flow in the beginning, not necessarily the most powerful story.
I admit being a little scared about not knowing whether I would finish writing the beat I promised i would finish for Real8, but i knew I couldn't force the process, when it blooms naturally it's such a great feeling.
I was narrowing down on the topic now, as I took the song title, beat, and my stray thoughts and emotions out of the oven.
I would do a song relating to our generation, and how we are misguided, miseducated, and misunderstood. Realizing that this could come of preachy, I ruled out the option of me rapping about what you shouldn't do--this would be perfect for a story.
But what is a moving story? Something that is basic enough to be the posterchild of this small 'movement' of words, gathering in protest.
I had the flow, now i needed the content, I was literally sitting in front of a notepad with a title and a blank page...the first line is always the hardest.
I'm not huge on divine intervention...but somehow in the midst of this I was placed in a situation that was directly related to one of my brainstormed potential verse topics. It was incredible...well I mean...not really, but for a camera man, it is...
So I actually played a small role in the first verse, but i was definitely mentally recording the scenes...
I believe it was around this time that I decided to make this song into a documentary. Even the chorus sounds like it's jeph talking...and it originally is, but it's definitely open to interpretation in the sense that it could be perceived as jeph in character, well--not in character since it's a documentary, but jeph as being part of his own research study, jeph being the customer of his business, or part of the generation he has casted....even though it's supposed to be documentary--yes, the 3rd verse was more imagination than inspiring memories. 1st and 2nd verse stories--all 3 of them, were all directly inspired by specific people and/or events.
There was a so much more I could have said in the stories, more topics I had in my head, but I think this was good practice for now, I can save all the best ideas for the next album, which I plan on publicly blueprinting hopefully on this next blog.
For now, here are the lyrics...aka the song's Nutrition Facts:
Jeph - Back In The Day (Produced By Real8)
seen a little
heard about it
even read and
learned about it
he was set to
live without it
like he should
even
in the middle
of a crowded
weed-clouded
row housing
youngn's shouting
"wanna hit?"
"naw, im good"
as he stood
in the corner and watched
he couldn't help but
think about his momma and pops
how they would tell him
wrong and
right but
why cant
he be the judge
lemme take a look in pandora's box
+whats so
+wrong with a little peek at pandora's box
i swear
you cant always blame us
for living dangerous
0when time changes
you cant compare if...
it wasnt like that back in the day
cuz it wasnt like this back the day
oh yeah...
go head'n blame us
here we are now
entertain us
whats real to you aint always real to me
thats why i reached out to real8
so yall feel me
she was a trend setta
named Eva
easy girlfriend getta
those who oppose
get vendetta
homo-sexual
she was down
for what-ever
cigarettes and sex
a life full of pleasure
Old []folks would tell her
that they didn't get her
but []what they didn't know is
she grew []up with a molester
certain []things you could never forget
so when she []thinks about a penis
she thinks []she gonna be sick
somewhere []in another city
there's a []dude on a bridge
with a paintroller and a can
doin it big
he understands it aint puttin
food in the fridge
but this []is his voice
he could only do it for him
in []general he expresses his mind
...even though[] it's ephemeral
but []so is the weather
so []let it go
life is short
through his art, he'll let'em know
and if he gets caught
he'll look up at the judge and say this
(hook)
(bridge)
barack obama excerpt from 'Dreams Of My Father'
Young man with a purpose
i mean not yet, but he's lookin and he's searchin
landed on his earth with nothin
he feels worthless
nada to his name till he met up with a merchant
(he grew up the same person as me)
he was inspired by the fortune
the empire and torture
the environment taught him
to get power and flaunt it
and
with nothin to lose
it's everything he wanted
and somethin to prove
any man should want this
the man loaned him a pistol
and some baggies of crack
and said "remember, i own you
dont come back without stacks
he did, but he did it so well
that he felt
he no longer needed old man's help
far from worthless, he's determined to be
demanding his own respect in this urban city
he put the steel to his chin like "you workin for ME"
cuz that's what's real to him...unfortunately
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