One-Song-a-Week: Song #20 – A.P.T. (What’s My Name) (Produced by HiFly)

Above: My video for “A.P.T. (What’s My Name?),” a parody of Diddy’s “Swagga Like Puff” video.

Above: Diddy’s video for “Swagga Like Puff,” which my video parodies.

This week’s music video is for the song, “A.P.T. (What’s My Name),” produced by HiFly.

DOWNLOAD FOR 99 CENTS: Click HERE to purchase – Song will be sent automatically after payment!

GET “THE A.P.T. LP” AS AN AUTOMATIC MP3 DOWNLOAD OR MAIL-ORDER CD: Click HERE for info/download link – MP3 Download sent automatically after payment!

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

Snoop Dogg. Dr. Dre.  Lil’ Boosie.  Eminem. Lil’ Wayne.

All of them have one thing in common.  Okay, actually, they have a few things: they’re all rappers, they have lots of fans, and have made LOTS of money off their stage names.

Part of the reason for that is because they’ve drilled their names into people’s head through song.  And not just the occasional self-mentioning of their names in a few of their tunes.  I’m talking about the fact that they’ve made popular songs where their name is the chorus of the song.  People hear these songs in the club, and – through the power of direct suggestion – become familiar with the names of the artist repeating his/her name.

When I was recording songs for “The A.P.T. LP,” I knew I wanted to have a song where my name was in the chorus.  Actually, I figured that out WAY before this CD was even a thought, and the chorus to the song – “What’s my name? (A!) What’s my name? (A!) What’s my name? (A. – P. – Taaaaay!)” – has been in my head for almost 4 years, along with the opening lines, “Lights, camera, filming and ACTION/A.P.T.’s back with a passion…”

That’s all the song I had for 4 years.  I would walk around freestyling the rest of the song, and was eventually smart enough to write down some song lyrics during one of my typing song sessions (where I type out random lyrics and hope they will fit into a song).

I had an idea of how I wanted the beat of the song to sound, but I couldn’t seem to actually make the beat.  Then, I went online and found a guy named HiFly who had an array of beats.  There was a beat he had that sounded simply epic – it sounded like a beat that should open up an album and announces to the world that THIS is the official start of the album. 

When I heard the beat, I knew I wanted to use it for a song, but didn’t know which song.  After I started trying to think of a chorus to go with it, I realized that the “What’s My Name” chorus would go perfect with the beat.  I gathered together some lyrics I wrote, and WHAM!  I had a song!

This is one of those songs where I have to talk about how cool/good/better than others I am.  After all, my name IS in the chorus.  So, nothing too deep – just some entertaining stuff!

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. The second-to-last line in the first verse – “I’m like milk on a shelf, I’m legendary” – I came up with YEARS ago, and have been dying to use it in a song.  It’s one of those play on words that have to be explained, which I actually do in the next line of the song (“Milk – dairy? Legde – shelf?”).  I figured no one would get it otherwise.

2. The second verse of the song is what I called a “verse countdown.” The first line is “I spit a mean 16 on the mic…”  for the first line, and so forth, until the 16th bar when I say “No ONE.”

3. I wrote the last verse a few days after Issac Hayes died while exercising.  In retrospect, the line “I have you slumped over and limp like Issac Hayes” is probably too soon… but heck, I liked it, so I put it in!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

It just so happens that Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy, a.k.a. Puff Daddy, a.k.a…. Okay, I could type this all day… the point is, he has a video blog on YouTube, and for one of his vlogs last week he put up a video for a remix song he did called “Swagga Like Puff.”  The video was so simplistic and basic, yet hilarious… and since this happens to be MY 20th music video, I just KNEW I had to do a parody video of Diddy’s video!

Once again, doing a parody of anything takes work.  I had to study the stuff Diddy does in his video, and watched it at least 20 times before I got the flow down of all the stuff he does in the video.

BTW: My video is much funnier if you’ve actually seen Diddy’s video, which is posted above.  I made some “changes” to the things he did in the video (for example, showing off Pinot Grigio instead of Ciroc Vodka), and it’s pretty hilarious!

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. The king crown worn in the video is from Medieval Times, which I went to back in July with my friend Michele.  I always try to keep props I get when I’m out – ya never know when they might come in handy!!

2. Yes, I actually poured oatmeal into a bowl, mixed it with orange juice and took a bite.  What you don’t know: after the video was done, I actually microwaved the oatmeal with the O.J. in it and ate it.  Prognosis: it really does NOT taste good!

3. The Pinot Grigio bottle in the video? Camanile.  I don’t drink wine, but I had the bottle, and poured water into it. 

4. The dancing at the end is BAD.  But so was Diddy’s dancing.  Perhaps, since this was a parody, I should have done some GOOD dancing, LoL!

5. Edit time for this video: less than 2 hours. Heck, I shot the whole thing today AND edited it within about 3 hours total!

That’s all for now – this song appears on “The A.P.T. LP,” and can be downloaded as a single at my soundclick site, www.soundclick.com/APT! See ya next Sunday!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

One Week Left in Atlanta + This Week’s Video

Another week, another video in the can…

Wow.  19 videos. Well, 19 “official” videos – that doesn’t include the various paperstyle videos and other ones where I’m talking to people.  But 19 videos is a LOT – heck, there are industry artists that don’t put out that many videos in a year, and I’ve done it in almost 4 months!

I’m glad I’ve been doing it, though, because, aside from being a way to express my music visually, they’ve also been like little postcards for myself showing me different aspects of Atlanta.  Now that I’ve got a week (and 2 days) left here, it’s nice to look back and have reminders of this town.

Truthfully, I wish I didn’t have to move.  I really like living in Atlanta.  Unfortunately, I have to face the reality that it’s hard for me to make the moves I’d like to make in the music biz when I (a) don’t have a car to get around to various spots to perform, and (b) when you have no connections.  There seems to be a better opportunity for me to get on in Washington, D.C., so I’ll be heading up there for at least the next year.  My bro is a DJ, and between his ability to talk that talk and my ability to create songs that make people want to rock out (or “rap out,” LoL), we should both be able to get farther ahead in what we’d like to do.

In the meantime, I’ve still got 2 or 3 videos I’d like to film here.  I don’t know what will happen during my transition period, but since I’m commited to doing this exercise for at least one year, I figured it would be wise to film some videos ahead of time just in case I don’t have the ability to film anything during the weekend of my move (though why I wouldn’t is beyond me, but ya never know!)

Last week’s song is already proving to be a success – it’s already gotten 237 views in 2 days as of this writing (the same amount of views “Obama Obama” got in its first 2 days back in June) – but I expected that to happen, given that the song deals with John McCain being a pimp.  As for this week’s video, I’ve already got the idea, and I’m working out the technical details of the video right now.  It’s going to be a stylistic video parody of another popular YouTube music video, put out last week by…

Hmm.  On second thought, I’ll leave that surprise for next Sunday!  I will say this, though: it’s for a song off my album, “The A.P.T. LP,” and if you ain’t got it yet, you’re missing out!

That’s all for now!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

One-Song-a-Week: Song #19 – John McCain is a P.I.M.P. (Produced by Shah Bros)

This week’s music video is for the song, “John McCain is a P.I.M.P.” (Produced by Shah Bros.)

DOWNLOAD 4 FREE: A.P.T. Song – John McCain is a P.I.M.P.

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

On June 22, 2008, I released my Lil’ Wayne “A Milli” parody, “Obama Obama,” a song that, much to my surprise, took on a life of its own.

I created a video for it and provided it as a free download.  Little did I know that making that song would result in worldwide radio play, as well as a few radio DJs and “in the game” MCs (I’m looking at YOU, Tyga) wanting to take it and make their own versions.

Most importantly, though, the song is STILL being played 3 months later, and everyone from middle schoolers to college graduates have been writing me telling me they’ve been hearing my song in their school hallways.

I also get a lot of fan mail as a result, and one of the questions I’ve been receiving lately has been: “So, are you going to do a song about John McCain?”

And, to be quite honest, I wasn’t really planning on it.  I made the “Obama Obama” song because it made sense to make it at the time it was created (one week after he received the Democratic nomination, and one week after Lil’ Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” sold “a milli”-on copies in a week).  I didn’t want to just create a song about John McCain simply because people were asking me to, especially since I didn’t want it to come out sounding like crap.

And then, John McCain threw me a musical lifeline by choosing Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate for the White House.

Mr. McCain has a history of dating fine ladies, and it seems to me that he always has hot girls around him.  His wife was a hottie when they met (so much so that he dumped his first wife just to be with her), and still looks pretty good today considering how old she is.  And then, when it’s time for him to choose a potential vice president, who does he pick?  A woman who is an ex-Beauty Pagent participant!

Clearly, McCain must have some kind of knack with the ladies. 

So, much like with the way I created the “Obama” song, I was at work one day when I just thought of a random chorus:

“He got a hot wife, and a model V.P./That boy John McCain is a PIMP…”

And, once again, I burst out laughing.  Clearly, the chorus alone meant the song had potential.  The question was, what kind of song should I make it?  I was going to do it as a parody… but I didn’t know what I’d make it a parody of.  Plus, I didn’t want to deal with the hassles of having to remake a beat for a song that I wouldn’t be able to legally sell.

So, I decided to look through the catalogue of beats I had stored up on my computer.  I actually had about 3 or 4 beats I could have used, plus I went online and heard a few more.  All and all, though, I wanted to make it an upbeat song to counteract against John McCain’s “old guy” image. I.E. make a song that’s hip so McCain would sound hip.

As for the song itself, it really didn’t take long to write.  I think I was watching TV or something, and suddenly decided that now was the time to write the song.  I went to my hotmail site, typed up some lyrics, and e-mailed it to myself.

The song is broken down into two parts.  Since the song is called “John McCain is a P.I.M.P.,” I figured the focus should be on the two women whom he’s “pimped” already: namely, his wife, Cindy, and Sarah Palin, who came from out of nowhere to suddenly be thrust into the limelight by siding with McCain.  You can hear the song for yourself to hear how I did it, but I tried not to be TOO disrespectful to the women (I learned THAT lesson from the frenzy that insured after the comments I made about Michele in “Obama Obama.”  I’ll probably still get letters, though ).

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. For the chorus, I was originally just going to say “He got a hot wife and a model VP/That boy John McCain is a PIMP…” but I figured that would be extremely boring.  So, instead I decided to add at least 2 other lines I could say, thus the addition of “I don’t know his policies but I know one thing…” and “Got girls on his arm everywhere that he be…”

2. Again, like the Obama song, I wanted to do a song with things that related to things mentioned during his campaign.  Thus, the mention of the Straight Talk Express, his wife’s rich bank account, the fact that Sarah Palin looks like Tina Fey from “30 Rock”/ SNL fame, and, of course, the mention of how many houses he has.

3. For the Sarah Palin part of the song, I was originally going to make it 24 bars… but the beat I had only did it in 16-bar format, so I had to cut a few lines.  Luckily, they weren’t really too important!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

I was actually going to do this same video for a different song!  However, with the election less than 50 days away, the timing for this song was much better than it would have been next week.  I mean, the campaigns would still be going on, but you gotta get these things in as early as possible!

I wanted to do something simple, i.e. something that wouldn’t have me editing for 8 or 9 hours like I did with the “Obama” video (as well as a bunch of other videos I’ve made). I didn’t know what the video would actually be until I was watching Conan O’Brien one late night and said: “Hey… I can do it like a talk show!!”

And, since I still don’t have many friends helping me out, I decided to play the host – Johnny Wilkins – and the performer (duh), A.P.T.!  The host would introduce the performer, who is supposed to be on the show performing “Obama Obama,” yet decides to change the song at the last minute for a new song he wrote about John McCain.  The host decides to let A.P.T. perform the song, unaware of what type of song it would be.  Wise decision, Johnny.

Again, I didn’t want to spend too much time editing it, so I decided to do the performance part in one shot, then add a bunch of effects to it (pan shots, color changes, mirror shots, etc.) so that people wouldn’t get bored just watching a single shot.  BTW, it’s funny how the mind works – it will get bored watching a single shot for 5 minutes, yet if you cut and chop it up a bit the mind will think “wow, look at all the scene changes!”

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. People always ask if I have a camera man helping me.  The answer is NO, but you’d be surprised how I’m able to get shots with a little creative thinking.  For the performance shot, the camera is slightly tilted and bobs up and down a bit.  How did I do that?  I placed my mic stand on my mini-table I use to eat on, then placed the camera on my pop filter (the round think I place between me and my microphone so the “p”s and “t”s will be softened when I’m doing a song).  Because the pop filter is filmsy, it bounces up and down when I move around on the floor.  Smart, ain’t it?

2. I actually did a second film take where I shot myself doing the song from a side angle, but decided not to use it because it would have added to the editing time.  I like making videos, but I’m also LAZY, and have other things to do besides edit a video all day!

3. The beat used at the end of the video is a beat I made!

4. The ending of the video… I thought of that at the last minute.  I thought it would be funny to have the show go to standby, and just have that be the end of the video.

5. Editing time for this video: a meazly 3 hours, and I spent most of that time playing Goldeneye (yes, I still have a Nintendo 64) while transferring the files into Windows Media format.  Good times!

That’s all for now – enjoy the video!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

New Diddy Song, “Swagga Like Puff” + This Week’s Video

Above: Diddy did a remix to T.I.’s “Swagger Like Us” called “Swagga Like Puff” – and it’s hilarious.  Check it out!

Another week, another video in the can.

Actually, I didn’t have any idea what I’d do in terms of a new video for this past weekend.  Luckily, I have videos already stored up just in case something like that happens.  Now that I’ve got a few ideas in my head for upcoming videos I can go back to making some new ones; in the meantime, I have one or two more videos saved up just in case my mind goes blank again.

Now that I’m about to move, I’ll probably shoot some extra ones just in case I don’t have time to film any during my transition.  I don’t think it will be too much of a problem, but you never know what will pop up when you’re moving to a new place.  Oh yeah – I’m moving from ATL to D.C. in 12 days, and I still have to sell some of my stuff and/or throw it out since I’ll only be traveling with my clothes, recording equipment, and my camera (of course).

Anyway… so, this week’s video was one I thought of at the last minute last week, and was going to film, but I think the idea is much better planned out now than if I had shot it last week.  It’s a nightime video, meaning I’ll be shooting all of it tomorrow evening, then editing it on Saturday.  Luckily, this one won’t be too hard to edit since their won’t be too many cut-away shots.  Of course, I’m saying this now, but lord only knows how long it will actually take me to edit the damn thing once it’s finished.

In the meantime, enjoy the video above that I found while looking at other WordPress blogs – it’s a remix that Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy did to Kanye’s “Swagger Like Us” called “Swagga Like Puff.” Hilarious, and I may steal this video idea for one of my own videos. 

Later!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

One-Song-A-Week: Song #18 – Where My Money At (Produced by Mister KA)

This week’s video is for the song, “Where My Money At” (beat produced by Mister KA).

This song appears on the following mixtape:

THE NEXT BLACK PRESIDENT (a.k.a. BACK ON MY GRIND)!

Featuring the hits: “Go Hard Remix” with DJ Khaled, Kanye West and T-Pain, plus “O-bama O-Bama MegaRemix” with Tyga, “#1” with Jay-Z, “Where My Money At” and more!!

FREE DOWNLOAD! Click HERE for mixtape and download info!!

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

I don’t normally do songs that could be considered “hard” or “ganster rap-ish.”  I’d like to think that my “lane” in this rap game is the funny, comical guy that can also make raps saying something while keeping the mood light.

However, if I DO decide to do a song not normally in my nature to do, I’ll only do it if (a) I can use it as a means of making a commentary about something (i.e. “Bust My G.A.T.” where I rap about shooting people as a means of showing how dumb it is for rappers to rap about guns), or (b) if it relates to something I’ve personally experienced, to the point where the emotions in the song I’m writing can come across as believeable since I’ve gone through them.

And so it is with this week’s song, “Where My Money At,” a song where I’m basically out for revenge against someone for doing me wrong in one of the worst ways possible – by stealing my money.

I found the song for this beat online, and was originally going to do a song called “I’m Sorry, Mama,” where I’d rap about some of the things I did wrong as a kid (nothing big, but ALL kids do stuff to annoy their parents while growing up).  However, life often throws curveballs that make one idea turn into something else.

When I wasn’t doing music stuff, I spent a LOT of time selling stuff on eBay, and I was always looking for a wholesale source to buy goods anywhere I can.  I put an ad up on Craig’s List – in the New York City section - where I said I’d give anyone a PS3 if they could give me a legitimate source for wholesale iPhones (since, during Christmastime, I had bought other name-brand phones from people off Craig’s List and made a LOT of extra money re-selling them on eBay).

I got contacted by someone in New York who said they had a source, so I took my free plane ticket and flew out there.  He showed me the source online, and even showed me where he and some of his relatives had made a purchase for goods.  It seemed legit enough, so I gave him a PS3, flew back home, and began saving up to buy some phones from my new source.

I could type this all day long, but here’s the short version of what happened next:  I got into contact with the person, ordered a wholesale lot of iPhones, and – with the help of a college friend of mine – sent a check to the person in New York.  I figured the phones would get to me within 2 to 3 weeks.

Then 2 weeks passed.  Then a 3rd week.  Then a 4th week.  Then a 5th week.

By the 6th week, I started to get worried.  I contacted the guy and, according to him, the person he gets his phones from – in the United Kingdom! – had sent him a set of iPhone knock-offs.  The phones themselves worked, but since they were an unknown brand and were of cheaper quality, there’d be no way I’d make nearly as much money back on these phones as the Apple ones. 

I asked the guy if I could just get my money back for the transaction, to which he replied that because it was a check and he had already sent the guy in the U.K. the money, the only thing he could do was send me the non-name brand phones.

I. Was. FURIOUS.

All I could think about was all the money I’d lost.  Not only that, but I also had to think about all the money my friend had contributed that HE lost.  Well, scratch that – I made him a promise prior to making the transaction that, regardless of what happened, he would, at the very least, get his original investment back.  I had to work extra shifts at my job for 3 weeks, but I made sure he got every last penny back.

Anyway… so, after I got the news about the phone, I had to go to work.  And I had my T-mobile Sidekick phone with me at the time, so I flipped to the note-taking section and just started typing out the words:

“Got a connect in New York, I sent his ass some cash/he sent me a message and the news was bad/His connect sent the product – that shit was fake? Oh great…”

From there, I started typing out a scenario with a very simple question: if I had the means to do so, how would I handle this situation?  To find out, you’ll have to hear the song!

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. I curse a LOT in this song.  I don’t really like to use bad language too much when I’m making songs since (a) I know I have family members that watch my videos, and (b) I really don’t cuss all that much when I talk to people.  However, when I wrote this I was so pissed off – think about it: I not only LOST money, I had to work extra hard to earn back money for someone else, AND I wasn’t going to make any profit on the whole deal.  I think that warrents a lil’ bit of cursing!

2. My favorite line in the song: “Hit ‘em with my umbrella – ella – eh/’Cause A.P.T. don’t mess with gunplay.”  Even though this could be considered one of my hard-core songs, I’m still me, and, seeing as I’ve only shot a gun at shooting ranges, I figured I wouldn’t be holding up some guy with one.  Plus, it’s hard to get on a plane with a gun these days!  However, I figured I’d have to cause harm to this guy in someway, and the umbrella idea seemed funny, plus I knew it’d be something people would sing along too, even if they didn’t remember how the rest of the song went.  Yes, I put THIS much thought into certain song lines, people!

3. The last part of the song - where I mention how I spent $5000 trying to get 3 grand back – stems from an episode of “South Park” where Stan and Kenny catch a plane/bus to Mel Gibson’s house to get back the money they spent seeing “Passion of the Christ.”  On the way home, Stan mentions that they spent more money actually trying to GET their money back than the refund itself - but at least they proved their point!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

There’s really not too much insight.  I had gone to visit my brother up in D.C. for the weekend back in late March (and to see Stephen Colbert’s portrait in the National History Museum), and, as I was driving back early in the morning, I got bored and decided to film myself singing along to this song (because, as you can imagine, all musicians carry their latest songs on them at all times).

I posted this video on YouTube a while back prior to the start of this whole “One-Song-a-Week” thing, but it hadn’t gotten many views.  Rather than just re-post it, I decided to add a grainy-looking black-and-white effect to the film to match the mood of the song.

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. You’ll notice that, as the video rolls on, the white areas of the film become more and more prominent.  When I shot this it was near dawn, and I just happen to pick the time to film this when the sun was starting to rise, thus affecting the light outside, and therefore the white in the film..

2. I still had hair in this video!  I had grown it out for 6 months, and got a hair cut shortly after this video was filmed.

3. Edit time – HA!  Barely an hour and a half.  All I had to do was add the black-and-white effect, the beginning and ending, and BOOM! Done!

That’s all for now – enjoy the video, and I’ll see you next week!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Random-@$$ Blog: How Much Longer Will This F–kin’ Take?!?

Forgive me, but it’s late, I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I suddenly feel the need to vent.

So, I started this whole “One Song A Week” project in May.  So far, I’ve made 17 music videos (soon to be 18).  I’ve created and released not one, but TWO projects worth of material.  I had song number five – my Lil’ Wayne “A Milli” remake “Obama Obama” – blow up like crazy, to the point that radio DJs and other rappers were trying to create their own versions, and I was getting it played on radio stations and clubs in the U.K., Germany, and abroad.  I’ve spent countless hours racking up MySpace friends and YouTube video subscribers.

All of which begs the question: how much longer will this whole “making a living off music” thing f–kin’ take??

I mean, GEEZ – including the years leading up to this one, I’ve been going at this on and off for about 4 years now.  This is the first year that I’ve really started to make some serious headway, yet I still feel, at times, like I’m being held back.

Part of it is my own circumstance.  I don’t have a car, so I can’t go to gigs (at least not in Atlanta, where the buses stop by 12:37 AM and the trains stop at 2 AM).  I don’t know a lot of people down here, so I have no connections.  I have an entertainment lawyer who, while great at her job, doesn’t really seem interested in helping me.  Heck, I went to her office when the “Obama Obama” song was taking off to get her advice, and while the small talk we had was great, she still has yet to pass any of my stuff off to any of the big-head names she knows and regularly works with.

All of which has me asking: how much longer will all of this f–kin’ take?!?

There are other aspects of this whole situation I could bitch and complain about, but honestly, what’s the point?  All I know is, I’m still not where I want to be just yet.

At the same time, I know all of this takes patience.  At least I was able to get a song played on radio – it was one of my New Year’s resolutions for this year to make that happen, and I’m glad it did, even though it wasn’t in the way I expected.  There are bands and groups that spend DECADES trying to get that done, and it only took me 4 years.  So, in that respect, it’s all good.  

But I want to take this to the next level, people!  I hope my move to D.C. will prove to be a more fruitful experience than Atlanta has been, both musically AND personally.  I’d like to be able to have friends to actually hang out with, people to go to clubs with, and connections to people who I can network with for gigs.  I also hope to finally get a car, so that, should I decide to move again in a year (and I probably will) I’ll be able to have some road power, instead of Nike power

Okay, I’m done ranting – I have a video to shoot (finally thought of an idea for this week), food to eat, and sleep to get.  Adios!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Moving Issues + This Week’s Video…?

I’m movin’, movin’, up, up, to D.C, D.C.!

Yes, people, I am moving.  Atlanta’s been fun, but opportunity knocks in other places, and that place would be our nation’s capitol.

It aaaaaall started back in July, when I went to visit my brother in Washington for his birthday.  He bought out a restaurant/bar and threw a big ol’ party for his 25th birthday, and - seeing as my “Obama Obama” song was getting more and more popular – he wanted me to perform it at the party.

So, I did what I had to do: I went to the party, DJed for part of it, then did a performance of the song that KILLED.  Everybody came up afterwards telling us what a great job we did, and it felt GOOD.

But what felt even better was when, a week later, I get a call from my brother saying basically the following:

“Hey man – I got a permanent DJing gig at the place I had my party.  By the way, there were some club promoters there asking about us… they asked if I was the guy who performed the ‘Obama’ song last week, and I said ‘no, that’s my brother, and he’s in Atlanta.’”

That’s AWESOME, I thought – club promoters were actually interested in me and my bro doing performances…

Then reality sank in: “But I’m STILL in Atlanta!!”

And so, an opportunity passed.  And it felt like CRAP.

But that’s not why I’m moving up there now.  I figure that opportunity has passed.  No, the reason I’m moving up there now is because my brother is starting to get more DJing gigs, which means he’s starting to get contacts in the ‘biz with people that are important – namely, club promoters, other DJs, etc. – and it will be easier for me to make moves being around these types of people, as opposed to here in Atlanta, where I don’t have access to those types of people directly.

Furthermore… life in Atlanta, while fun for me, can be lonely at times.  I moved down here knowing that there were a few people I’d be able to hang out with (i.e. friends from Hampton, family members)… yet, when I moved down here, the majority of them never seemed to make time for me.  Not that it’s a HUGE problem, since I don’t mind spending a good amount of time by myself… it’s just that, for those times where I DID want to hang out with people, there weren’t a lot of options, and even with those people, they were still fairly busy most of the time.

So, I’m off to D.C., where I’ll have a brother to hang with (who has a CAR ), a job that will pay a lil’ more than it pays down here, and friends from Hampton who will (hopefully) want to hang out with me.  And, most importantly, I hope to finally be able to accomplish my REAL dream of being a touring musician - or, at the very least, performing at clubs around the DMV area (D.C., Maryland, Virginia – I just learned that nickname 2 days ago!)

As for this week’s video… well, last week’s video took me a whopping 9+ hours to edit, so for this week I’m keeping it as simple as possible.  Oh yeah – another advantage to moving is that I will, hopefully, have people helping me out with some of these videos, so they can be even more entertaining and extravagant!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

My 1st Collaboration Track!

Another week, another video in the can…

17 videos filmed in the span of 16 weeks, not including the various semi-videos I’ve made for freestyles and paperstyles. 

One advantage of all these videos is that they give me exposure to other artists who are looking for collaborations. I posted up a YouTube video telling people to E-mail me if they wanted me to jump on one of their tracks.

Lo and behold – someone did!

This group from Cleveland, OH called “Black & Broke” wrote me and asked me if I’d do a verse for one of their songs called… well, I won’t give it away yet since I just finished it, but they sent me a track with their two vocals recorded, and the song was so hilarious that I had to be on it. 

I don’t know how well-known these guys are – I think they’re relatively new – but hopefully the song will blow up and become a huge song in their city, then spread like wild fire until we all become famous in the process. 

In the meantime, though, I discovered something while recording the track: recording for someone else really makes me get competitive in terms of thinking up words to a song.  Not that I’m out to outshine the other guys on the track, but it kinda feels like it – like, you’ve heard 2 verses, and you have to come up with something equally good or better, or else you’re not proving that you’re deserving of even being on the track.

I guess what I’m saying is – I have to find other people to do some collaborations with so I can improve my writing!  Then again, maybe I should just act like I’m competing with someone when I write new stuff….

Nah! I think I’ll stick to plan A: finding others to collabo with.  It’s a good way for me to get my name out there, and gain new fans in the process.  As for this track – once I get the okay, I’ll definitely post it up somewhere for the world to hear!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

One-Song-a-Week – Song #17: Bust My G.A.T. (Produced by ME!)

This week’s music video is for the song “Bust My G.A.T.,” produced by me, A.P.T.!

SONG AVAILABLE ON “THE A.P.T. LP” – Preview it at www.Myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

This song is four-and-a-half years old, and has been on every album I’ve put together, from “The A.P.T. EP” to “Check The Resume,” and now, “The A.P.T. LP.”

Why, you ask?  Because I just really, REALLY like this song! Plus, it’s hilarious as heck, and any time I play it for people, they usually end up laughing their ass off!

The journey for this song begins in January 2004.  I was still in college, and was starting to take this whole “wanting to rap” thing seriously.  I had been on tour the year before, and had bought myself a drum machine and an interface device that I could record songs on. 

I made a song called “Imma Skitzo” which used a very minimalist-type beat – just drums, a few taps and a long hold note for the chorus.  One day I went to tweak the beat I made for the song, and I inadvertently came up with another lil’ jam using the same chords, only at a different pace and with a different pitch.

I also found that this particular drum machine also had sound files with sound effects, one of which was a range of gun shots.  I thought it would be cool to make a beat using the drum shots.  However, there was just one smaaaaall problem: I’m not exactly a gangsta rapper, and beats with gun shots in them are usually reserved for an MC that’s talking about bustin’ proper on his haters.

Yeah, I can talk that slang too, yo!

Furthermore, one of the concerns others had about me being taken seriously as a rapper was that I wasn’t… well, I wasn’t a LOT of things: I wasn’t from the hood, I wasn’t hard, I didn’t have a hard life growing up, I didn’t “sound” black enough to be a rapper (what a f–kin’ insult – what, I gotta sound ig’nant to be black?!?)… and so on.

So, in finding this gun shot sound, I thought it would be funny to put together a song with the following question in mind: “If I really WAS trying to be a hard-core gangsta rapper, and I claimed to have a gun like all the other ones do, how would I go about using it?”

From there, the song just kind of flowed out on its own.  I typed up 3/4 of the song in Hampton University’s library (when I should have been doing REAL work), and came back the next day to finish up the rest.  The hardest part was trying not to laugh as I was typing up the lyrics – they just seemed so damn ridiculous and funny to me.

4 years later, and the song STILL cracks me up!

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. Rappers like to say lines that are similar to an old-school artist as homage to their rap forefathers. And I am no different; the opening lines of the song – “Now what you hear is not a test, I’m rappin’ to the beeeat/It’s just A.P.T., and his gun, we gon’ knock you off your feeeeeet” – is similar to the very first popular rap lyrics spoken by Sugar Hill Gang in the song “Rapper’s Delight.”

2. A LOT of people get killed in this song – not to mention animals, objects, and other MCs.  I figured the more absurd I made the song, the better I’d be able to get across my point of how stupid I think MCs are who rap about using guns like it’s a GOOD thing.

3. Incidentally, I eventually sold my drum machine when I needed money for something else.  I saved the beat somewhere, but I have no idea where.  In other words, this song has only been recorded once, and the same version has been placed on all my albums ever since.  I hope to find the beat and re-record it, but to be honest with you, the song always sounded good to me ever since the first time I recorded it.

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

This song was NOT going to be made into a video. 

I want to make a video for all the songs on my album, but for this one I had NO idea what I’d do.  In fact, I was supposed to be shooting another video this week, but I’m still waiting on footage from a friend of mine in Cali to do that other video (hit me up, J!).

I hadn’t gotten the footage by Tuesday, so I started thinking about other videos I could do.  And “Bust My G.A.T.” kept coming to mind.  I have a Nintendo 64, and my original plan was to be completely lazy and film shots of me playing “Goldeneye 007,” which is a first-person shooter. 

Then I thought: “Hey, wait a minute: instead of filming a TV screen with ‘Goldenye 007′ being played, why don’t I film a real-life version of it instead!? I could walk around town, holding a gun at the bottom of the screen like in the game, and ’shoot’ the various people/things/animals mentioned in the song!”

One problem: I didn’t have a gun.  Of any kind – no real gun, toy gun, water gun, nothing.

And I try to keep the budget of these videos to ZERO if possible, so I didn’t feel like spending money on a gun I’d only be using once.

Then, it hit me again: “Why don’t you just use a Nintendo 64 controller as the ‘gun?’”  Now THAT sounded hilarious!

Once I had the basic idea, I started searching on the Internet for the items I mention in my song.  Pictures of nuns, pee-wee baseball leagues, cashiers, models, other MCs – I wanted to make it a “game” where the player walks through the city shooting people as a means of gaining street credibility, and thus, increases his popularity as a rapper.  Every time one of these items pops on-screen, the player would shoot at them, thus gaining points.

In terms of the playing aspect, I really, REALLY wanted to use a Wii controller so I could act like I was actually shooting the objects on the screen. One problem (at this point, hasn’t it really been more like 3 or 4 problems?) – I don’t own a Nintendo Wii.  Oh well, I figured – I could just act like I’m playing it on the N64 with a regular controller.  No big deal.

I had everything mapped out, and I wanted to shoot during the daytime on Friday… but then I had to go to work.  CRAP!

“But wait!” I thought to myself, “Since you have to walk to work anyway, why not just take your camera with you and film the damn thing while you’re out and about and/or on break?”  And so, I did! 

The funniest part of this whole shoot was seeing people’s reactions as I was walking around with a camera in one hand, and a Nintendo 64 controller in the other (with the wire going into my right pocket).  Nevertheless, I was able to get the shots I wanted throughout the course of the day.

Of course, not only did I have to shoot the scenes where it was a video game, but also the scenes of me playing the game.  While on break from work, I decided to head to the mall and film scenes of me buying the game – “How 2 B A Rapper: The Action-Adventure Game” – from an EBGames store.  After filming one or two shots, I remembered that the store had a Nintendo Wii kiosk set up for people to test out some of the games.

And it hit me: OMG, I could film myself playing the Wii in the store, and act like I was playing “How 2 B A Rapper” on it!!  The Wii has gun games out where the motion-censored controller is used as a gun, and this would be a perfect fit for what I wanted to do in the first place!!

I placed the camera on the shelf next to the Wii kiosk and filmed 2 minutes of me doing various “reactions” to the game.  And it came out PERFECT.

Once everything was filmed, I loaded up the footage on my computer and worked on the graphical look of the video-game portions of the video.  Because it’s supposed to be a game, I had to type in all the parts where you see “Status,” “Life” and “Street Cred Points.”  I also had to right down what sequence everything was in so I could place the right point numbers on the right footage.  For example, the shots before the nun getting shot had to have a Street Cred point reading of “000,” whereas the footage immediately afterward would have to say “010,” or 10 points.  It was pretty easy keeping all the info together, and I’m glad the ability to type text onto the screen (as well as include the water-color effect of the video to make it look almost like “Grand Theft Auto”) is already included in my two video-edit programs.

All in all, this has to be one of the more ambitious videos I have shot in a while, even more so than “Smooth Talker” and “Obama, Obama.”  And, so far, it’s one of my favorites!

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. Shout-outs to two of the girls who participated in the video (both of whom I work with): Michelle, who’s the girl paying for our date; and Dolly, who, sadly, gets killed for the benefit of me earning more points for Street Cred!

2. The parts of the video where I mouth the words to the song came out pretty good, especially considering that I had NO actual music playing in the background.  I thought I’d be filming my parts for the video at my apartment, so I didn’t bring any audio equipment with me.  Yet, lo and behold, the mouthing of the words match up perfectly with the video.  Why? Because I KNOW THIS SONG THAT DANG WELL!

3. The area for the shots took place in Midtown Atlanta, Dunwoody Mall, and the Dunwoody area of Atlanta, which is actually a bit outside the Atlanta loop… but let’s not be picky!

4. The ending of the video was spontaneous as well.  In the song, the last line is, “How come u in prison, dog?/I bust my gaaaaat.”  Problem was, I didn’t know what I could use for a jail.  However, I thought it would be sweet justice if, after having spent a whole day killing people, I myself were to get shot at by day’s end.  So, while walking home from work at night, I filmed the last part of the video.  In keeping with the “Goldeneye 007″-type theme, I get shot, the gun goes out of screen’s view, and I do a dizzying fall to the ground. Ha ha, hilarious!

5. For the grocery store scene, I went to Wal-mart (why I end up shooting a Publix employee is beyond me), and filming myself with a gun while trying to push a shopping cart proved to be quite hard.  The small footage I used in the video is the best out of a whopping 1 minute and 42 second shot I took where I kept trying to avoid pushing the cart into the actual groceries!!

6. I have no idea WHERE I found the shot of the cat shooting with a gun, but it sure does look funny!

7. It may be a bit blurry in the video for the part of the night scene where I’m standing in front of a big lit-up sign.  That’s the Woodruff Arts Center, where they hold plays, concerts and other things involving performance.

8. Edit time for this video was LONG. Between having to add in elements like graphic effects, pictures, etc., the whole thing took me about 9 hours.  All for a 4-minute clip – what kinda bull-crap is THAT?!?

That’s all for now – enjoy the video, download “The A.P.T. LP” today, and I’ll see ya next week!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Video Strain + This Week’s Video

Another week, another video in the can…

Man. That’s 16 videos so far. I did 2 this week, one for a video called “Shine 4 Obama” which got taken down by YouTube because it featured Luther Vandross. I’m sure Sony probably caught wind of that one… I re-post it on a different site and then post it up on my MySpace page, so it’s now a “MySpace Exclusive.” I’d post it here, but this site doesn’t allow HTML.

Friggin’ sux.

Anyway, people really seemed to like the “Smooth Talker” video, and I couldn’t be happier. At the same time, while people are watching that video I’m already thinking of next week’s video – and, to be quite honest, thinking of a video every week can be straining at times.

Sometimes, these ideas will come to me waaaay early in advance. I had the idea for the filming of the “Smooth Talker” video as far back as July. For this week’s video, though, I’m still thinking up ideas of how I want it to come together.

I actually had another song in mind for this week’s upcoming video, but it requires one of my friends to film her part for me – from California – and then send me the footage to edit. I don’t know if she’ll have filmed it in time for Sunday, though, so I always have to have a “just in case things don’t come through” back-up plan video. Of course, I didn’t start thinking about that until Tuesday, so trying to pull an idea out of my ass is, as you can assume, quite painful (as would pulling anything out of your ass in general).

With that said, the video is for a song that’s on “The A.P.T. LP,” and over 4 years old. The song is quite hilarious, and the idea I have for the video it is semi-ambitious. If I can pull it off, though, it will be AWESOME. I start shooting for the video tomorrow – I don’t have to work tomorrow night, which will give me Friday night/Saturday afternoon to film it, then Saturday night to edit. I’m going to try and actually write out a plan for the video this time (usually I just film on the fly) so I can save myself some time.

That’s all for now – see you all on Sunday!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT