Behind The Music

Album Title “The Culmination”

I was originally planning on naming the album “Nothing’s Changed.” But it sounded so boring and plain. Then I woke up one morning and the word culmination stuck in my head. It means I’ve reached my peak. Although I hope to go further with my career, I felt this album was released at a peak in my career. Careers have peaks and valleys, ups & downs. This is just one peak in my career.

1. Intro?

There’s a couple reasons why I chose to do the intro or (non-intro) this way. I think this is my first release without an intro. I just wanted to introduce the record differently. I wanted the album to be similar to “City I Luv” mainly for the fans that have stuck with me for all these years, but I also wanted it to feel a little different from what I’ve done in the past. Also, an artist is defined mainly by the music itself so I wanted to get right into it without too much filler.

2. Til I’m Gone

Like most of my tracks, this song started with the beat. I came up with the hook by just freestyling some ideas with AutoTune. i started spitting some of the lines and the theme of the song just developed from that. I started thinking about why I do music and who I do music for. I laid the hook and my verse and sent the track over to Persyce, another Orlando/Oviedo, FL artist. He’s been doing music probably longer than I have. We’ve always lived in the same area as eachother but never really crossed paths. But so many people I knew personally knew him as well, and his music, and I was always impressed by his talent so I wanted to get together with him to do some music. I was even best friends with one of his cousins growing up. Went to the same elementary, middle, and highschool together. (It’s a small world!)

3. Record Execs (Interlude)

I came across this interview with a local college radio DJ and Eliseo from Treal. They were discussing the Orlando Hip Hop scene and all of a sudden the topic of me and J. Cash pops up. I’m always trying to express to haters and non-believers that we are making noise in the game despite what they think or make themselves believe so this was a good sound byte to throw in the mix. It also introduced “All Luck” rather nicely.

4. All Luck

This track was the type of track I’ve been wanting to record for a while. Just had to create the right beat for the topic. The beginning of the song was originally the hook but it sounded more like a breakdown or intro than a hook. So for the hook I tried simpler and catchier ideas and what I came up with seemed to work well. The verses came pretty easy. I knew what I wanted to say so they just came out. There’s actually a little more I wish I had said in there but I’ll just have to save it for another track.

5. Bad Girl

D.A.B. was on Vh1′s Miss Rap Supreme. She reached out to me on MySpace saying she wanted to do a track together. She had the concept pretty much already so I just knocked out a club sounding beat and penned the hook. I sent her the track with just the beat and hook and I worked on my verse while she worked on hers. I didn’t really try anything too different on this except maybe my flow.

6. Day In The Life

I always like doin tracks like this. Good to ride out to. Bump it during Spring Break or whatever. It’s hard to jam tracks like “Enough” when you’re ridin out to the club so I try to throw in a good amount of tracks like these on an album. I made the beat first and laid the “Day In The Life” part and filled in the rest later. Cutta Man is an artist that I worked with at a car wash in Oviedo, FL. I was workin there up until I got signed to Defient Entertainment. He’d also been helping out my boy J Mor, givin him studio time n what not. I kept in touch with him over the years and I been wantin to feature him on somethin’ so I sent him this track and he knocked it out real quick.

7. Enough

I can’t lie, the style of this track was inspired by Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreaks album. I’ve been using AutoTune since about 2003 but I like the way he utilized it on that album with the EQ effect & everything. The theme of “Enough” was something I’ve been wanting to touch on for a while. You don’t really get informed about STDs like you used to. People kinda just ignore it. And how people make their situations more difficult by having too many kids with people they don’t plan on staying with. Life is already hard as it is.

8. Every 4 Months (Interlude)

This is more from that same interview. Just another good way to introduce the next track.

9. Hoopty

I’ve been a fan of Z Ro for a long while now and I always loved that line that I sampled for this track. “i got a buncha records sold and yall aint sold shit/ your foreigns at a stand still but my hooptys on the road bitch.” That’s kinda how I feel. I’m riding around in a pretty decent Cutlass. I live comfortably, I dont have to worry about running out of money really. I’m far from rich but atleast I’m doing good at something I love to do. I did this beat in Acid Pro. It’s way easier to chop up samples in Acid than it is in Logic Pro (in my opinion). I usually use that program anytime a sample is involved. Although a new track me and J. Cash just knocked out has a sample and was done in Logic. So I’m startin to get the hang of it!

10. I Luv This Shit Feat. $hamrock

This track actually started out with the hook. I was toying around with the gas price thing and how we still riding classic cars n shit. And the “I Luv This Shit” phrase just popped in my head. Cuz I really do love this shit, it’s why I do it. So the next step was to reach out to my boy $hamrock. We were long overdue for another collab. I knew he would dig the concept and he hopped on it. Thanks $ham.

11. Take A Chance On Me

I did this song a while ago. Before “A New Era” album n all that. A fan had hit me up saying to do a song about breakin’ up or somethin (it was a long time ago). It was definitely a concept I could relate to. Everyone has a breakup that they wish didn’t happen and tries to win someone back. It’s a pretty universal concept. I think that’s why this track has been so successful. I guess you could say it’s my classic style. Laid back beat, autotune hook, you can’t go wrong. I put it on “A New Era” and “The Culmination” because of the demand for the track. I knew I couldnt drop a new solo release without puttin this on there.

12. Head On Swoll feat. Down Bottom

In this type of business there’s people that are successful and there’s people that pretend to be. People get one radio spin and think they’re the shit so i had to knock em down a peg with this one. I wanted it to be pretty straight forward so I kept the hook simple. I got Down Bottom on this mainly cuz I’m a fan of their work and I knew they would come hard on this.

13. So Lost

I always try to dig deep and expose some personal situations that I’ve been through. This kinda touch on several situations. My lack of confidence in myself after losing 2 major label deals. Something like that would discourage anyone. My mom getting cancer when I was in 12th grade. I lost focus on just about everything. It’s really difficult to see someone that means so much to you go through so much pain. Also my anxiety disorder. I get a lot of anxiety in social situations (not good to have this condition in the entertainment business!). Being in music has helped me a lot with this, sometimes I think it’s the main reason God led me on this path. I kept this track straight forward as well, just wanted it to be simple and powerful.

14. Like A Pro feat. J. Cash

I always liked my opening line on “Dance Floor.” Cuz you always see chicks dancin that make you say “she gotta be a pro, or a stripper” or somethin. So that’s what inspired this track. We actually did this song before “A New Era” but we always like to keep some tracks in the can for future releases. This song sounds so good in a club, I finally heard it when we did our show in Junction City, KS.

15. Aint Shit Changed

This was done just to show some of my early inspirations. The beat was kinda inspired by Outkast’ ATLiens album. Just wanted somethin old school soundin. And I wanted to express that I’m pretty much the same dude that came out with “City I Luv.” Hence the title/them, Aint Shit Changed. This might not be a huge single for me but people that think like me will dig this!

16. Another Try

I dropped this I think right after “A New Era.” I hadn’t done any tracks in a while after wrapping up “A New Era” so I put this together. I was jammin that Usher “Love In This Club” and I liked the ‘gate’ effect Polow Da Don used on it. So I messed around with that. The concept wasn’t really anything too personal. But I have been dumped in the past and tried to win the girl back. So it’s a little similar.

17. I’m Good

This track was originally done on a similar beat to “Aint Shit Changed.” I made both beats in the same day so I was going for the same vibe. It sounded good in the crib on the monitors but when I took it to the whip the beat just didn’t seem right. I also don’t like too many tracks too sound the same so I imported the accapela into Logic Pro and tried out some different ideas. I actually kept the same melody that the original beat had I just used different instruments and stripped the drums down a lot to give it a new feel.

18. Winners (interlude)

This was recorded right after we won the Best MySpace Artist Award at the 2008 Orlando HIp Hop Awards. We were being interviewed at the after party at Club Element in Downtown Orlando.

19. If You Need Me Feat. J Mor

I did this beat a year or so before the song was completed. I had given it to J Mor and he wrote the hook for me. He came to my spot and we knocked out all the vocals in like one day. It was a track for his mixtape “Thoughts On The Takeover.” I wanted to help put his name out so I included it on my album. The concept was really just to all the people that are jealous and envious but dont put in any work. You can’t expect to make any noise unless you make some noise!

20. Lose Yourself

I recorded this track right after “Another Try.” I was trying out some new ideas and drum patterns. I found a nice drum loop so I layered some more drums over that. I didn’t really have any direction as far as the concept. Just another freestyled hook. I rarely write hooks prior to recording. I usually write them as I’m recording. Verses I can write and record em later. It’s just how I do it!

21. Live Show (interlude)

I think this was audio from our show in jacksonville, fl. This was one of our biggest crowds at the time. Everyone was singin along so I thought it’d be a good way to reintroduce the almighty “City I Luv.”

22. City I luv (remastered)

I had to include this track only because I’m still underground. This is one of the biggest tracks I’ve ever done so I didn’t want a new listener to get ahold of “The Culmination” and not hear this song. It’s also remastered so it sounds clearer and it’s shortened some, mainly due to time constraints. “City I Luv” was recorded in early 2004. I knocked out the beat, writing and recording all in one night. I didn’t plan the song, it just kind of happened. I really didn’t think it was anything too special at the time. But people seem to like it.

Available on iTunes