One-Song-a-Week: Song #24 – Blow It All (Produced by Swollen Drumz Productions)

This week’s music video is for the song “Blow It All” (produced by Swollen Drumz Productions).

THIS SONG IS AVAILABLE ON BOTH “THE O-BAMA MIXTAPE” AND “THE A.P.T. LP!”

DOWNLOAD “THE A.P.T. LP” HERE, ONLY 6.99: A.P.T. Presents: “The A.P.T. LP” (Sent automatically after payment)

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

When I was shuffling through beats for song consideration for “The O-Bama Mixtape,” I came across this beat called “Blow It All,” courtesy of Swollen Drumz Productions. The beat already had the chorus in place – and thank God it wasn’t a sample, as it meant I didn’t need production from an artist like Jay-Z or some record company conglomerate in order to resell the song.

The beat itself is pretty short in time length, but it was the rapid pace at which the beat went that initially attracted me to it. I tend to speak at a steady medium pace when I do songs so that people will understand me… but when I’m not doing songs, I tend to talk like the rapper Twista. It’s been a problem for many years, and I think it stems from trying to interject my thoughts into conversations when I was younger. I was rarely able to get a word in edgewise when in a group of people, so I would say what I had to say really fast when there was a small space of silence.

26 years later, and I’m still talking like a speed demon!

Even with the fact that I talk fast, it was still a bit of a challenge to record the song. The goal for me was to record it in one take; however, by making that decision, it meant I had to start over from the beginning if I made a mistake during the song. Oftentimes, I’d get to the third verse, and have a small lyrical misstep that would force me to cut the recording and do it ALL over again.

Since the chorus was already determined – “I came to blow it, blow it, blow it all” – I had to make the song about trying to spend a lot of money. I created a scenario where I got a big wad of cash, and decided to go on a trip to Vegas for a high-roller weekend.

In terms of word-choice… people think rapping a song at a fast pace is hard, but it’s really not. All you have to do is pick words that sound similar to each other, then place them next to each other. Choosing the right words will allow you to flow the words together pretty easily.

For example, “pick a winner in winter” or “get a pickle at dinner” are easy to say fast because they have what I call “Sticking point” syllables. The “k’s” and “n’s” roll off the tongue easy, and can therefore be said a lot faster than something like “went to the bakery for some bread,” which, when saying it fast, causes the tongue to trip over itself.

This is what I call a “skill track.” It’s one of those songs that’s meant to prove I have rapping skills, writing skills, and the ability to flow with a track. I thought it was important to include this type of song on “The O-Bama Mixtape” because it was a vast contrast to the other songs I had on there, which were either parodies, remixes, or songs where I talked at average speed.

After I released “The O-Bama Mixtape,” I started putting together songs for “The A.P.T. LP” which came out a month later. In putting together songs, I realized I didn’t have a song that had a fast-pace feel to it like “Blow It All.” So, I figured, “hey – why not place that song on ‘The A.P.T. LP’ as well!” It’s the only song that appears on both albums.

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. Even though the song is on both “The O-Bama Mixtape” and “The A.P.T. LP,” there are differences in the recordings. The sound of the beat on the mixtape version is of a lower quality. This is because I didn’t need to purchase any leasing rights to include it on an album that was being released for FREE download. However, I had to purchase resell rights to the beat in order to sell it from “The A.P.T. LP,” which also meant being sent a fully mastered/mixed beat.

Another difference between the songs: I did more adlibbing on the mixtape version as a means to hype myself up. However, on the album, I tried to let the songs introduce themselves in via the beat, without talking at the beginning of every track. Therefore, the adlibs weren’t re-recorded.

2. My favorite line in the song: “Now my pockets getting bigger, ‘cause I made a lotta figures/Never thought that I would win it, coulda sworn it was a gimmick…” I like it because it’s the fastest rhymes in the song. They were also the hardest ones to say, as the words “now” and “my” do not flow together easily. In the album version (which is used in the video) I have a small flub there. I was going to re-record it… but I’m lazy at times when I record, and, after recording it so many times, I just said “screw it – leave it in!”

3. Even in the midst of rapping a song about blowing excess money, I felt the need to show fiscal responsibility. Thus, the line where, after I win a lot of money, I mention putting half of it in the bank!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

I had so many ideas for this video… but, seeing as I make all these videos by myself, AND have a limited budget, I had to go with a fairly simple idea.

In case you were curious, though: my main idea was to do a remake of a Richard Pryor movie plot, where he inherits a lot of money but has to spend it all within a certain period of time. I was going to film myself going to different places in town to buy stuff, but I figured it would be hard to get people to agree to let me film them and me buying stuff, then putting it back and wanting the money back. Plus, most places of business require a filming permit, and I wasn’t trying to deal with the hassle.

At any rate, I won free tickets to see a fashion show at Howard University. Like I always do, I took my trusty camera with me to film some footage. I knew I’d use it for a music video at some point – I just didn’t know which song I’d place it with.

While watching the fashion show, it gave me the inspiration to write another song that could be used at events such as the one I was attending… but… sigh… well, since I’ve moved and now have house mates – one of whom is a woman that looks like Jabba the Hut (for those of you not familiar with “Star Wars” characters, she’s as big as an elephant) who almost NEVER leaves the house – finding time to record new songs is almost impossible. Oh sure, I can go over my brother’s apartment when he and his roommate aren’t there and try to record stuff, but even that requires catching buses, walking, and I have to do it on a day when I’m not working.

Sigh…

Anyway – I say that to say, I couldn’t record a new song that would have gone specifically with this footage. So, while walking to work one day, I realized that I could just use the fashion show reel for my “Blow It All” song. It’s about spending money, and the clothes in the fashion show were expensive and/or well-known brand names, so I figured the two would gel well together.

I also thought it would give me a chance to show that my songs could actually be used in other formats. During the show, they played a lot of songs that I’d never even thought of as being runway songs. And I thought to myself, “man, that would be cool if one of my songs could be used for a show like this.” Now, I have an example of doing such a thing!

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. This video is only 3:36 minutes long.  I had to pick and choose which footage to use froma reel of about 15 to 20 minutes of video.  I may end up placing the remaining footage on YouTube – there was just so many interesting outfits and/or scenarios, and I wish the song was longer so I could “Show It, show it, show it all!”

2. There was a small bit I filmed showing the audience and myself, but I had to leave it out due to timing.  In that footage, I say the name of the song I was going to record for this footage, but since I didn’t have time to record the song, I thought it would be best to leave it out…

3. Incidentally, I won these tickets by going to a forum held by www.AllHipHop.com.  I answered a trivia question correctly (“What was the first rap group to go platinum?”) and next thing you know, I have a free pass to an awesome show where I got to film a video, too!

4. Edit time for the video: subtracting the time it took me to transfer the files into Windows Media mode, I’d say the whole thing took about 3 or 4 hours. 

5. FYI: I spent the majority of my day helping my Mom move stuff into storage and into her next living space.  Despite all the driving, lifting, moving, and cleaning I’ve done today, I STILL managed to get this video up before midnight.  Now THAT’s dedication, people!

That’s all for now – see ya next week!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com

 

Lyrics for Songs + This Week’s Video

A lot of people have been commenting on my page asking for the lyrics to my songs.  I always hoped my songs would become popular enough to where people would actually want to know the words I was saying in them, and I guess it’s a pretty good idea to include them somewhere on this site!

So, starting this week I will be including the lyrics to all the songs I make videos for.  This also means I’ll have to retroactively go back and paste the lyrics to my songs on the previous 23 videos’ pages.  Ugh.  On second thought, maybe I’ll just put together a lyrics page where people can have access to all my song lyrics in one spot.  Yeah, that sounds easier!

In the meantime, this week’s video will be for a song off “The A.P.T. LP” AND “The O-Bama Mixtape.” It’s the only song that’s on both albums… to find out which song, why not download the mixtape and purchase the offical LP??  It will consist of footage I got while attending an event here in D.C…. and that’s all I’ll tell you for now!  But hey, the video will be up tomorrow anyway, right?

That’s all for now – see ya Sunday!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

One-Song-a-Week: Song #23 – True Lyricist (Off “The O-Bama Mixtape”)

This week’s music video is for the song, “True Lyricist,” from “The O-Bama Mixtape.”

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON “THE O-BAMA MIXTAPE” – Download for FREE by clicking the “Mixtape” link at the top of this page!

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

In terms of song quality, this is one of my favorite songs that I’ve written.

I wrote this song around the time that Lil’ John was popular. For those of you not in the know, Lil’ John is an Atlanta “rapper” whose rhymes consisted of repeating offensive phrases (example: “I DON’T GIVE A F–K!” and WE’LL CRUSH THEM N!@@AS!!) in an extremely hype manner. His wordplay was definitely NOT up to par with rappers like Common or Talib Kweli, whose raps tend to delve into sonnets with deeper meanings about life, love, and helping our fellow man.

However, Lil’ John was able to sell millions of copies of his albums, something the other aforementioned rappers – and others like them – weren’t able to do.

This sparked a LOT of criticism from the hip-hop community. People like to think they are better than they actually are, and many of these people were hating on the fact that a guy like Lil’ John was barely saying anything in his songs yet selling tons of records, while artists who had “something to say,” i.e. “Conscious Rappers,” weren’t getting regular radio play or going gold off making songs that had meaning to them.

For me, though, I’ve always been a believer that just because people SAY they want one thing doesn’t mean they wouldn’t prefer another. It’s like a fat person saying they WANT to lose weight, that they NEED to lose weight… but they’re saying it while eating a whole box of Oreo cookies!

Personally, I’ve never had a problem with what people consider to be “commercialized” rap. I’m in this for two reasons: (a) for the love of the music, and (b) money. In order to make money at music, you have to be willing to adjust (read: not sell out or change, but adjust) your musical taste so that you can reach a larger audience of people.

Part of the reason so-called “Conscious rappers” don’t sell well is because they’re so stuck on this “Well, I’m going to do this rap thing MY way, and hope that people eventually catch on to it” crap that they can’t get anywhere.

A perfect example: too many of these rappers use beats that are slow, don‘t have a danceable tempo, and use words that even people with a college degree can’t understand. That’s great and all when you’re performing at an open-mic poetry night; however, the average listener isn’t going to listen to it if the beat isn’t bangin’, they can’t dance to it, and feel like the words are flying over their head. These are just some of the reasons why their songs go unheard by the masses.

These rappers, in my opinion, have a serious attitude problem. They can’t sell records doing rap the way they do it, so they get jealous when they see someone spitting out so-called “dumbed-down” lyrics (see: Lil’ John, Soulja Boy, Young Chris, Flo Rida, etc.) and start hating. HARD. They like to put together songs talking about how these types of rappers are killing the industry, how they have no talent, and why the stuff they’re putting out pales in comparison to the “real” music they, as a “Conscious rapper,” are putting out.

(BTW: I put that term in quotes because I think it’s a stupid term. Anyone that’s walking around speaking normal sentences tends to be conscious, and you can be just as awake talking about the government as you can be when talking about sexing someone. Morons).

So, in retaliation to all that – and, because I like to be different – I decided to make a song explaining WHY these types of rappers can’t get radio play.

The summary of the song: they can’t get radio play as easily as some other rappers because:

1. They try to hard to sound “deep”
2. They use words nobody can understand
3. They don’t realize that it’s not WHAT they’re saying that matters, it’s HOW they’re saying it
4. They don’t want to change for fear that they’d be “selling out”
5. They don’t want to consider using a different flow
6. They sound BORING!

The only thing I forgot to mention in the song was that they use beats that nobody can dance to. Sure, they can vibe off the beat, but when I’m at a party trying to get my groove on… sorry, Talib, but unless it’s your “Just to Get By” song (produced by Kanye West, a rapper/producer that can sound deep AND do it to a good beat), I ain’t trying to hear you at no party!

For this song, I already knew which beat I wanted to use. It’s the beat used by Tupac for “Ambitionz as a Ridah” off his double-disc, “All Eyez on Me.” The song has been reused by many MCs for the purpose of mixtapes and albums, and with good reason: it’s one of the most infectious west-coast beats ever produced. EVER. It’s one of those beats that just BEGS for someone to spit on it, and when I came up with the chorus for the song, it matched up with the beat only too well!

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. In the original version, I said the line: “You mad ‘cause Lil’ John got a record deal…” However, Lil’ John’s been off the scene for a while due to legal issues with his former record company. Luckily, Soulja Boy gets the same types of criticism about his music that Lil’ John did, so I used his name instead.

2. The part of the song where I rap all fast like a “Conscious rapper”? That’s pretty much how fast I talk in real life when I’m not recording songs. For some reason, I’m able to speak the words of my songs at a normal pace, yet when I talk I have to try and slow myself down. Can’t figure out why that is…

3. My favorite line in the song: “I’m not gonna spend my time trying to guess/Every syl-able you said…”  The way I said the word “syllable” is not in the way it’s normally pronounced – it’s akin to something Eminem would do, and I’ve always been a big fan of his, too!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

In terms of video quality, this is NOT one of my favorite videos.

This is video number 23, and, quite honestly, it’s starting to get harder and harder to figure out how many videos I can do where it’s just me on camera. Part of this is because I haven’t been able to record any new songs due to my recent move, and the fact that one of my housemates, who is a fat-ass and won’t ever leave the house to find a job (or do anything else for that matter), means I don’t have the alone time I need to record new stuff without bothering people.

In short, that means I have to make videos with whatever I already have recorded.

So, the video isn’t the best one I’ve made. However, since I like this song, I knew I needed to make something to it, if only to have it posted on YouTube and/or my websites for people to hear.

My original idea was to make it look like an underground video, with me dressed up in a hoodie and some jeans while spitting the song into the camera like I’m “hard.” However, the angles I wanted for it would have meant getting someone else to record me and move the camera around while I did the song.

Yeah… NEXT!

Then, I realized that my new room has a closet door with a big-ass mirror on it. I’ve always been fascinated as to how other directors were able to get mirror shots in their videos/movies without the camera showing in the background. I messed around with my camera a bit to see if I could do it; lo and behold, I could! This gave me a simple enough idea for a video, where I could have 2 versions of myself: the “real life” version of me who wants to be a “True Lyricist,” and a mirrored version of me who knew it would be better to try and figure out how to make people actually want to HEAR the music.

The rest of the video just kind of came about without too much planning. I shot the scenes of “mirror me” dressed in a grey hoodie with blue jeans, while the “real-life me” had on a blue shirt and pajamas. He’s at his laptop trying to record another “conscious rapper-like” song, and gets interrupted by “mirror me” in the process. The “True Lyricist” song is the talk that “mirror me” has with “real-life me” about switching up his style a bit so that it relates to others.

Like I said, a pretty simple video.  With the way I edited it, it actually came out looking pretty good.  Still, I’ve done better!

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. I no longer have my camera stand – it wouldn’t fit in the box when I moved – so I had to use one of my packing boxes and my big suitcase for the camera angles.

2. In the opening of the video, I do an example of what most “Conscious rappers” sound like by recording a “written” rap into the mic. However, that is actually a freestyle I came up with at that very moment off the top of my head. I didn’t know whether or not it would come out sounding good, but it’s actually not that bad!

3. To keep the camera out of the shot, I had to place the camera towards the far-right side of the mirror situation, then angle it in. The hardest part was trying not to swing my arms in front of the lens while recording, thus giving away the fact that I wasn’t in a mirror. Wait, what?

4. I filmed this video in my new room!

5. I decided to add some c-walking into my video. Since the song uses a beat made famous by a now-dead west-coast rapper (R.I.P. Tupac), I figured some west-coast dance moves were in order. Hopefully I didn’t butcher it too much – I don’t want any gangs finding me and beating me up for doing the moves the wrong way!

That’s all for now – enjoy the video and the song, available exclusively on “The O-Bama Mixtape!” See ya next week!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

The Road Less Travelled + This Week’s Video…

Another week, another video in the can…

I’m glad I had my camera with me when I saw that guy dancing on the train last week, ’cause I had NO idea what I was going to do in terms of a video otherwise.  This week’s video is a little more planned out – it will be a video for a song off “The O-bama Mixtape,” shot simplistically with some good camera angles, and I’ll try to make it funny, too.

Anyway… in making these videos, I realized something: a lot of the decisions I make are spontaneous.  The idea for this site was an idea that I had for about 2 days before I made it, and most of my videos aren’t usually thought of too way in advance.

But it’s not just videos; it’s other decisions I make in general.  I had the idea to move to D.C. in late August, and by the first week of October I was catching a bus up here in hopes of finding a place to stay.  I repeat: in HOPES of finding a place.  I didn’t know if I actually WOULD, I just assumed it.

That’s another thing I’ve been realizing: I put a lot of faith into doing the things I do, oftentimes “assuming” that the things I want to happen will happen, regardless of if there is evidence of that thing actually being able to happen.

A perfect example: everybody – and I mean EVERYBODY – told me that it was expensive to live in D.C., and that there was NO WAY I’d be able to find a place to live in the price range I wanted, which was between zero/month (ha ha ha) and $600.  Even when I told people I’d be willing to have roommates, they STILL said I wouldn’t be able to find anything for under $700, and that I’d probably be living in the ‘hood, i.e. a bad area of town.

I looked in apartment magazines as well as various websites, including Craig’s List, for almost a month before I moved to D.C., and, admittedly, most people were right – it WAS hard to find a place for under $600 a month.

Fast-forward to last Friday, when, about 5 minutes before I had to run to work, I checked Craig’s List one more time and found a person renting a room in a town house for $500 a month plus utilities, in one of the nicest areas near D.C.!

So now, I have a place, and it’s next to all the best shopping centers, movie theatres, restaurants, and malls, and I’m a 15-minute walk away from the train station.  Who knew I’d be able to get in a place surrounded by everything I needed.

Oh that’s right – I DID.

It’s funny because, last week when my future was uncertain and I didn’t know how long it would take me to find a place, my brother asked me if I liked living this way, where I don’t always know what’s going to happen or how I’m going to get to my next destination.  And I thought about it for about 2 seconds… then I turned to him and said:

“Yes. Yes I do.”

Because, in my opinion, too many people go through life trying to be comfortable at all times.  They get into a job they feel is stable, or move to a city/suburb and just “settle” in, and they get some comfortable that they stop challenging themselves.  They have dreams they want to chase but are afraid they’ll fall on their face. So, instead of trying to do what they REALLY want to do and risk uncertainty, pain, and struggle, they stay in the same place and stop growing.

I like to think of myself like a caterpillar.  They eventually become butterflies, but in order to do so, they have to wrap themselves in a cocoon, then fight and push their way out of it so they can become the beautiful creatures God intends them to be. 

A caterpillar would never become a butterfly if they just said, “I want to be a butterfly, but I don’t want to have to struggle a bit to do so.”  Instead, they would just stay a caterpillar their whole life – which wouldn’t be long since, without the cocoons to protect them they’d just die off when winter hits.

Anyway, my point is, I don’t like staying stagnant, and when things start to get too easy for me, I have to change it up.  My life in Atlanta was steady, secure, safe, and BORING.  Once I started having a regular routine in ATL, I knew it was time to move.  Call it “taking the road less travelled,” if you will.

Now that I’m in D.C., I’m sure I’ll eventually have a routine of some kind – but for right now, I can travel so many more places here thanks to the train system here (much more established and far-reaching than ATL’s MARTA system), and I can expand my horizons a bit.  And – God willing – I just may hang out with some friends, too!

That’s all for now – see ya Sunday!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

One-Song-a-Week: Song #22 – What We Do (feat. A Man Dancing on the DC Metro)

This week’s music video is for the song, “What We Do,” produced by ME!

DOWNLOAD FOR .99: Click HERE to purchase (Automatically sent after payment!)

AVAILABLE ON “THE A.P.T. LP”: Click HERE for purchase info! (MP3 Download or Mail-Order CD options available!)

INSIGHT INTO THE SONG:

A good musician understands that they must please two audiences: themselves, and the (hopefully) millions of other  people they want to become fans of their music. 

Any good artist, therefore, will do their best to make songs that talk about real situations based on their life and/or other things that people can relate to.  At the same time, though, a good artist will also realize that not EVERY song they make need to necessarily have a story, a major point, or anything relating to something involving real life. 

Thus, the “filler” songs on albums.  I hate the word “filler” because, regardless of how a song was written or what it is about, they all take time to write, create, make/find a beat for, record, mix, master, and present to the public in a way that it will be received by a large group of people.

In short: filler songs should really be called “fun” records because it allows an artist full rights to be as creative as heck, say whatever they want to say, all the while having a good time doing it.

This song – “What We Do” – is one of those songs. 

The song is basically a meshing together of various freestyles I’ve written and saved.  In total, the verses of the song have a written history as far back as 4 years ago.  In other words, between my journal and hotmail site where I send songs to myself, I found verses I had saved over the years and clumped them together for this song.

This is one of those songs where I’m talking about how dope I am on the mic.  Pretty simple, right?  But the history of the song is a bit longer…

I originally wanted to do this as a posse song… but I don’t know a lot of people, and trying to find 3 random guys to rap on the track – people I’d consider to have “talent” at that – was hard.  So I decided to do all the verses by myself!

I also had another beat for this song that I found online.  Then, while tinkering around on my Fruity Loops one day, I made a beat that I thought would sound perfect for the song.  The beat was made around the time P. Diddy’s first “band,” Da Band (a now defunct rap group), had a song out that was popular as heck… but it had a beat that used minimal instruments.  I wanted to make a beat similar in sound, and once I did I figured “What We Do” would be a good song to attach to it.

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. The second and third verse have been the same for some time now.  As for the first verse, I didn’t have it written for almost 2 years from the other verses.  Then, while I was freestyling to a Justin Timberlake beat (for his song “Summer Love”), I re-listened to it after it was done and said “This verse would make a GREAT first verse for this song!”

2. My favorite line in the song: “On the mic, I fight like Ali in his prime/Leave you shook like Ali since 1989.”  Yes, I came up with that on my own, and I’m very proud of it!

3. In the second verse, I say a line – “Leave you stripped, like Judy Winslow.”  She was the young but forgotten sister on the first 3 or 4 seasons of “Family Matters.”  A few years after being dropped from the show, she did a couple of porno movies.  So sad how the mighty fall…

INSIGHT INTO A MUSIC VIDEO:

I just moved to D.C. from Atlanta this past Sunday.  I devoted so much time to finding a place to live and starting work, I didn’t think I’d even HAVE a video this week. 

Luckily, I keep my camera on me at all times when I travel.  While catching the train back to my brother’s apartment (where I’m temporarily staying), this young-looking guy got on the train… and proceeded to hip-hop dance for almost 20 minutes straight!!

After the first 3 minutes of him doing this, I thought to myself: “OMG, get your camera out NOW and film this!!”  And so I did – and I got 6 minutes of footage of him doing all kinds of crazy dance moves that you just have to see to believe!

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. Aside from the edits I made where he was standing around figuring out what to do next, there are NO tricks added to this video.  All the things you see him doing in the video – from the hanging on the pole to other various moves – were on his own accord.

2.  You’ll notice my book bag in the bottom left corner of the video.  I was doing my darndest to make sure he didn’t see me filming – I didn’t want him to stop, or suddenly get startled and ruin his groove!

3. Estimated editing time: about an hour and a half.  Also, since I still don’t have a place to live (not ‘til Monday!) I had to edit the video at a 24-hour laundry mat.  Why? Because I decided to stay out all night instead of going back to my brother’s apartment.  Now that I’m extremely tired (as I’m typing this it’s 4:02 AM), I wish I had gone home earlier.  Now I have to wait until at least 5 AM for the next trains to come.  But I digress…

That’s all for now – see ya next week!

-A.P.T.

My 1st Week in D.C. + This Week’s Video

I’ve been in D.C. for a week.  I still have no place to call my own, and the only place I can seem to afford is in the ghetto.  I have a job, but most of money is spent traveling around on the train during my days off so I can look at apartments.  I’ve been staying with my bro for a week, but I can’t live here and have to be out this weekend.  I have a temporary place I can stay, but it’s far from the train station, and the money I’ll spend on cabs will eat away at the money I could be saving up for my own place.

Right now, life is sucking a big fat one.

I’ve barely been here a week.  Last week I was chillin’ in my apartment in ATL.  I had enough money to get by, but no mobility.  Here, I have a bit more mobility, but it eats up the money I need to get by. Blah blah blah, complain complain complain, you get the idea.

Part of the reason I wanted to move, though, was because my life had become too routine.  Yes, its secure to get into a lifestyle where you’re doing the same thing day in and day out everyday – in my case it was “go to work, go immediately home, watch TV, create something, surf net, go to sleep, and repeat” – but it also gets BORING, and it doesn’t allow a person to grow.

So, I got up and moved. And now my life seems to be in disarray.

As much as I hate the feeling I have now – of feeling helpless at times, or not knowing what I’m going to do next – I had this same feeling when I first moved to Atlanta, and was on the verge of having to move back home.  I worked through it then, and I’ll be damned if I can’t figure out a way to get through it now.

Man, I wish I had a publicist or someone to get my stuff out.  The “Obama” song is starting to pick up steam again (thanks to all the debates and the election being less than a month away) and I STILL don’t know how to better capitalize on it.

I think this song will end up being a lesson for me about how NOT to get a buzz for a song.  I should have been charging money for the song from the beginning instead of offering it for free.  I should have placed all my contact info on the video for the song in case people in the industry wanted to contact me about performances.  I should have… well, I dunno – I never thought it would get as big as it did, and I wish my entertainment lawyer would have been more helpful.

Ah well… I don’t really like writing blogs that are depressing or pessimistic.  Complaining about life feels good at times, but it doesn’t really get you anywhere…

On the positive side: through all of this train-traveling and apartment-searching, I DID manage to film my video for this week.  It’s for one of the songs off “The A.P.T. LP” – a dance song – and the video footage I filmed for the video came about by chance.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and… well, I don’t want to give too much away, except to say that I’m NOT in the video at all, nor should I be.  Yeah, that’s a pretty good teaser for now…

-A.P.T.

Moving Sucks Major Ass + This Week’s Video

Another week, another video in the can…

Okay, so I filmed a whopping 21 videos while living in Atlanta. I moved to Washington D.C. over the weekend to be closer to my bro, who is a DJ and can get club gigs for me to perform at.  Frankly, the move has already worn me out, and this is the first day where I’ve had time to simply be alone by myself.

I’m staying at my bro’s apartment with his roommate right now, but I can only stay for one more night.  Since this isn’t really my bro’s place, but rather his roommates, I know all about the creed of not wearing out one’s welcome.  Personally, I thought I’d be staying in a hotel until I found a place, so the fact that I was able to spend even 3 days here was a blessing to me, as that is 2 days worth of hotel fees I didn’t have to use money on!

So, I’m still looking for places to live.  A girl I work with mentioned that she had a room I could stay in for $500 a month. Right now it’s looking like the best option – of course, she also told me the “bad” things I may or may not like about the place (i.e. it’s kind of messy, she’s a pothead, she has bands stay over some time), but I’m only looking to stay some place temporarily while I get my money together for (a) a deposit on a better place, or (b) a car so I can get around D.C. easier.  If I do decide to stay with her, I’ll probably go with option (b), getting a car. My bro says if I had transportation I could start doing DJ gigs – and he makes a LOT of money DJing parties.  Probably the better option, as I could then use the DJ money to get a better place, and then a better car, LoL!

Anyway… so, in moving here, much like when I went to ATL, I have friends here that seemed all excited about my move and ready to see me.  Well, I’m here – still no phone calls or “hey, let’s go out now that you’re here” emails from my college friends, but I’m still trying to settle into a place so it’s not all bad.  What IS interesting, is that other people from my past that I haven’t talked to in a while seem more willing to help me in terms of finding a place and/or visiting.  It’s amazing to see what people want to spend time with me, but who knew it would be the people I haven’t talked to on a regular basis?

D.C. is definitely a filming town, too! In riding the train/bus around, I saw many different places I can shoot music videos.  As for this week’s video… I. Have. NO. Idea.  What. It. Will. Be.  I don’t know what song I want to do, where I’ll shoot it, if it will be an already recorded song or a completely brand-new song… it’s all up in the air right now, and I’m pretty sure I won’t even know until Thursday or Friday what I’m doing.  Actually, it will probably be a song I’ve already recorded, either from “The APT LP” or “The O-Bama Mixtape,” because I shipped my microphone via FedEx with some of my other stuff and the packages haven’t arrived yet!

I’ll keep you posted!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

One-Song-a-Week: Song #21 – Fly Chick (Produced by Hi-Fly)

This week’s music video is for the song “Fly Chick” (produced by Hi-Fly), from “The A.P.T. LP!”

DOWNLOAD THE SONG FOR 99 Cents: Click HERE to purchase – MP3 song automatically sent 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:

I was looking up beats one day and came across this beat, produced by Hi-Fly.  The beat was called “The Beautiful One,” and, based on the title of the beat, I started freestyling a song scenario where I was talking about a girl.

When I got to the chorus, the words that came out were: “My one and only fly chick/uh huh, she got the keys to the new whip… my one and only fly chick, my one ride or die chick, always by my side, yeah!”

The chorus was really catchy to me, but the last part – “always by my side” – helped me to invision what the whole song should be about.  Namely, a girl that’s always been there for a guy since before he got famous.

I record all my freestyles, and the words I had said were pretty close to the ones I was going to use. However, I somehow managed to accidentaly record over the freestyle!  Needless to say, I was pissed off.  Because the song was erased, I had to go back and actually write the verses.  Good thing I still remembered the chorus!

Writing the song wasn’t really that hard, though.  All I had to do was think back on my own dating experiences, specifically to those girls I dated that didn’t mind me not having a lot of money, or wanting to see me even when I lived at home with my mom, or didn’t have the best job in the world… the point is, these girls were willing to go out with me simply because of my charming personality (and, hopefully, my stunningly good looks).  Although I haven’t dated that many people, there were a few out of the ones I dated who had the traits I talk about in the song, and I figured guys who currently have girlfriends sticking with them through the tough times would be able to relate. 

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. This is one of those songs that doesn’t have a regular flow to it.  It has a flow, but a lot of the words run into each other at times, and there are a lot of pauses.  This is actually how I freestyled the original one, and for some reason this flow just seemed to go well with this beat.  I’m sure I could have done the song a bunch of different ways…

2. My favorite line in the song: “Did I mention that the girl can cook? She cooks Japanese, Chinese, maybe even Siamese…”  I just thought that sounded funny!

3. Like I said, most of the stuff in the song is based on a few women I dated.  I did date a girl who would come see me regularly when I lived with my mom who could also cook oriental food; I dated another girl who would be willing to drop whatever she was doing to see me (yet still managed to get her school work done); yet and still, there are girls who I haven’t dated but have made me feel extra-special in our friendship (not in that way, people!).  Ultimately, the goal is always to take those emotions and try to make them relate to others!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

This video is bittersweet, as it is the last video I shot in Atlanta before moving to Washington D.C.!

Since this song is about me giving praises to my “one and only fly chick,” I wanted to have a girl in the video.  My original vision for the song was to film me and a girl going around town spending time with each other.  As you may know, though, getting people to help me out with these things can be a biaaaaaatch!

However, I figured I could try and ask for some help.  My friend Jessi, who I went to Hampton University with, also does music and is constantly filming herself doing random things and placing them on YouTube.  Since she was already doing these types of things, I shot her an email and asked her if she’d like to be in one of my videos.

Imagine my surprise when she said “Yes!”

Of course, this was about a month ago.  She told me she’d send some footage within a week.  2 weeks later… LoL.  Ah well, I had some other videos to shoot, but she finally sent me some footage that she shot from her MAC computer (and I am insanely jealous that she has a MAC!).

Once I had her part, I had to figure out how I was going to do mine.  The scenario I had set up was that I was on the road touring, but had taken time out to send my girlfriend a song called “Fly Chick,” which she then made a video of herself dancing to, along with shots of her doing other stuff around her house.  I had to figure out how I wanted to show myself as if I was on tour.

My first idea was to film myself singing the song while riding a bus around Atlanta.  But, anyone who lives in Atlanta knows that a touring musician who is popular is NOT catching a MARTA train around ATL, and nobody would believe I was using it as a tour bus!

After much thought, I decided I could film it at the Hartfield National Airport, located at the end of the southern trainline in Atlanta.  I could act as though I had a few hours before my flight took off, so I decide to use my laptop to check my email, and – lo and behold – my girlfriend sent a video to me as a “thank you” for the song!

Pretty simple concept.  All I did was go down to the airport, film myself walking around singing the song, then film myself on my laptop.  To my surprise, though, I didn’t even need my laptop.  It turns out, the Airport supplies pay-per-minute computers with internet access.  So, rather than pull my laptop out the bag, I simply filmed myself “using” one of their computers (at an angle where you couldn’t see the screen so that I didn’t have to actually use the computer, and have to pay $10 for something I didn’t really need to use.  It’s called “creative filming,” people!)

I didn’t have time to edit the video until Saturday due to the time I spent trying to unload my apartment and move.  I thought it might be an easy video to edit – WRONG AS USUAL!  Between me catching a bus to Richmond to visit my Mom, then catching another bus to D.C., eating, trying to find a place to live AND finally getting back to my brother’s house, the video almost didn’t even make it up on YouTube Sunday.  But, like I said, I’m dedicated, and got it up on the site with 20 minutes left to go!

Some Interesting Video Tidbits:

1. My friend shot her footage on a MAC, and her colors were – no pun intended – imMACulate.  I had to add a bit of color boost to my footage so that it would match up with her color scheme.

2. Yes, I actually walked around the airport mouthing the words to my song.  And yes, people were looking at me funny while I did it.  But what do I care??

3. Incidentally, the song was playing through the headphone set around my neck.  It actually played the song pretty loudly, and I was surprised no one walking near me said anything!

4. I actually brought two suitcases with me to the airport.  I was going to use the smaller one as my carry luggage, and use the bigger one to sit my camera on for certain shots.  When it came time for me to sit at the internet terminal, I stacked the small suitcase onto the bigger one so I could get a good angle.

5. Edit time for the video:  eh, I don’t really know.  I did a lot of moving around this weekend – if I had to guess, though, I’d say about 6 or 7 hours.

That’s all for now – enjoy the video, download the song at www.soundclick.com/APT for 75 cents, and I’ll see ya next week!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

2 Days Left in ATL + This Week’s Video

Another week, another video in the can…

And, one of the last few videos I’ll be doing in Atlanta.  Awwww!  I’m moving! I don’t want to move! I LIKE living in Atlanta!

I swear, if it weren’t for the fact that I think I have a better chance of getting club gigs in D.C., I wouldn’t even leave.  At the moment, though, I’m getting to know myself a bit better, and I’ve come to a realization…

I, Aaron P. Taylor, am a loner.

Please don’t read that and think of it as a bad thing.  It simply means I like spending time alone with myself, which, in turn, gives me time to create.  It also explains a lot about my personality, like why I don’t mind going places by myself (movies, parties), or why I’m happier hanging with a small group of people (2 or 3) as opposed to a large group of people, where I tend to be less vocal and appear withdrawn.

I don’t mind being labeled as a “loner” because, like I said, it’s not a bad thing.  Loners are responsible for some of the world’s best inventions (i.e. Thomas Edison), entertainment (i.e. Dave Chappelle) and artwork.  However, in recognizing this character trait of mine, I also realize the DOWNSIDE of being a loner:  it’s uncomfortable for me to meet new people.

Why? Because I don’t just rush out and talk to everyone without having analyzed them first.  Unfortunately, this proves to be a hinderance when it comes to having to hob-nob with people in the music industry or making the contacts I need to get to the next step.  Why? Because that’s time I could be spending CREATING instead of TALKING.

Luckily, there are people you can hire to do these types of things for you.  Of course, you have to find those people and talk to THEM about talking to others, which means… well, it’s a lot of talking involved.  With that said, my brother is a DJ in D.C., and he knows how to talk that talk.  We’ve been talking about working together for a while, so I figure now is as good a time as any to see what we can accomplish together.  I figure, between his ability to talk to people and my ability to create… well, I think I’ve said all this before, but you get the idea.

Anyway, while I’m here, I figured I should shoot a few more videos.  I don’t know what locals will be of interest for me to film stuff in D.C. for the first few weeks, and I’ve got 2 days left in ATL to film some stuff, so we’ll see what I can come up with. 

As for this week’s video, it’s already been filmed! I filmed it at the airport, and one of my friends was kind enough to film some clips of her for me to use in the video!  It’s one of the songs off “The A.P.T. LP,” and it should be a hit!

That’s all for now – see ya Sunday!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

Myspace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT