Reflections of a Year Gone By: How’d I Do On My 2008 Goals?

At the beginning of each year, I like to make goals for myself for accomplishments I’d like to achieve for the year. At the end of the year, I like to look back on what those goals were and see how far along I got in terms of reaching or nearing my goal.

In 2007, I had a set of goals I made that were similar to this year’s goals. I made grand statements about what I wanted to do, but forgot that sometimes, in order to reach a big goal, you have to first reach smaller goals. So, for 2008, I took those goals and decided to make them a bit smaller and more specific.

So, how’d I do? Here is a brief synopsis of each goal, and how I did on them…

GOAL #1: To find at least ONE wholesale source of goods I could use to further expand my eBay business.

HOW’D I DO?: Terribly. At the beginning of the year, I had more than enough money to buy a huge supply of what I thought were authentic iPods, only to find out they were fakes that didn’t have enough resell value to get all of my money back. I also found a supply source of DVDs that I thought were legit – turns out, I was wrong on that, too. I didn’t want to lose any more money on sources that would turn out not to be legit, so my eBay business was nowhere near as active as it was in the 2 years prior.

THE GOAL FOR NEXT YEAR: I still think eBay can be a very profitable business for me like it was in the past, and I still want to find a legitimate source of products I can buy inexpensively and make a profit from. I also have some of my own creations that I’ve sold successfully on eBay – specifically, my eBook – and there’s stuff available on Craig’s List, which should be an even better source of supply once I move to California.

Speaking of California:

GOAL #2: To save up enough money to move to California.

HOW’D I DO?: At the beginning of the year, I actually had enough money to move. Then, I decided that I should try to double my money before I go by purchasing items from the wholesale sources I found and sell it on eBay – that way I’d have a car to drive around L.A. Seeing as I lost all my money on the eBay fiasco, my goals for California seemed quite dim.

But God had other plans. I think I needed to stay in Atlanta a little big longer – who knows if I would have come up with the great idea of doing one-song-a-week had I not been desperate for a way to be noticed by record companies in Cali? And, as it turns out, by the end of the year, God made a way for me to afford to move to Burbank, CA after all. So… YAY!

THE GOAL FOR NEXT YEAR: I’m moving to California on January 9th. My next goal? The same goal I have every year, man – HAWAII!!

GOAL #3: To get at least ONE of my songs played on ONE radio station.

HOW’D I DO?: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

I’m laughing because, the question is not, “Did I get a song played on ONE radio station,” but rather, “What radio station HASN’T played my song??”

Last year’s goal was to try and get signed to a major record label. Again, this goal, while admirable, was a bit too big, especially considering I hadn’t really performed that much and people hardly knew me. Okay, that’s being modest – outside of my friends from college, NO one knew me.

So, I decided to scale down the goal, from “trying to get signed” to focusing on getting ONE song on the radio. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I started making songs for fun, in my apartment, in the hopes that one of my “original” tunes would have enough oomph to get on radio.

Ironically, it would be a song that was already released, combined with the popularity of a Democratic Presidential hopeful, that would help my goal get reached – and SUPASSED.

In short: I started this web site called “One-Song-a-Week, by A.P.T.” where I would post up a new song every Sunday for a full year, as well as a music video for that song. Song/video number five was a parody of a popular Lil’ Wayne song – “A Milli” – that I took and turned into “O-bama O-bama,” where I talked jokingly about all things related to Barack Obama’s campaign.

Once I post the video on YouTube… it was a wrap.

The song not only got millions of hits on YouTube, it also played on radio stations and at clubs around the world, was quoted and/or remade by major and minor celebrities, and – most importantly – helped Barack Obama win more votes in the election than his rival, John McCain.

SO… yeah, I’d say this was one goal that I FAR surpassed this year.

THE GOAL FOR NEXT YEAR: Amazingly, the reason I started doing music in the first place was to display my beat-making abilities and writing skills to others so they’d hire me out to make beats or songs for their artists. I’m really more of a private person – it’s the reason I haven’t really done many performances (I don’t want the fame, I just want the money). For next year, the goal is to shop my music around to artists in California (both underground and major). I want to sell a beat to at least ONE major artist, and write for/perform on a song with at least ONE major artist and ONE underground artist with buzz. I’ve already done collabos with a few underground artist this year, so I know it’s possible!

Oh – and I’d also like to get at least TWO songs on radio, either as the performer or producer of the songs.

GOAL #4: To quit my job and live off my own creations (books, music, etc.)

HOW’D I DO?: Eh, it was a mixed bag. I purposefully spent this year focusing on my music. Once I had a popular song – “O-bama O-bama” – I released mixtapes and, eventually, an album – “The A.P.T. LP” – that I made people pay for. Lo and behold, I actually sold about 30 to 35 copies at 4.99-6.99 each. I also sold quite a few copies of the “O-bama” single (96 and counting – not bad, considering I also had it available as a FREE download!) All in all, I didn’t make enough to quit my job, but enough for me to know that, were I to have the right advertising, it would be possible.

I also have an e-Book I wrote a few years ago. Back in 2006, I was able to successfully sell 10 copies of the book in one month at a good price range (29.99 – 39.99). But again, my focus was on music this year, so I didn’t promote this book at all.

THE GOAL FOR NEXT YEAR: My main issue was figuring out how to advertise myself to a wide audience. Had I known that the “O-bama O-bama” video/song was going to get as big as it did, I would have mentioned my website & E-mail address at the end of the song so people who downloaded it would know where to find me. (I did for the video, but some people only heard the song, not knowing their was a video for it.)

My main goal for next year is to create advertising that will bring better focus to my musical endeavors. I’ve finally figured out one way of doing this – by sending a press release out to the major media – and I will be sending out two PRs within the next 3 weeks: one for my book, and one for my album, “The A.P.T. LP.” It has the “O-bama” song on it, and since he’s being Inaugurated on January 20th, I have a small window of time where my song will be popular enough for people to want to buy it again. Yay!

And that’s it! Overall, 2008 had many highs and lows for me (with the end being mostly low, seeing as my current living situation sucks ass and our electricity just got cut off – thanks a LOT, you landlord a-hole!), and I’m SO glad 2009 is only hours away!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

Myspace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

I Quit My Job Today (a.k.a. Countdown to the Big 3-0…)

Another week, another video in the can…

That’s 33 videos so far, and only 19 more to go.  Yesterday’s video, “Hooptie,” was extra special because, in order to have the 9 hours needed for me to edit it, I decided not to go into work!

That’s right – I quit my job today! (Well, yesterday – but the word “today” sounds better in the title.)

Honestly… I just couldn’t do it anymore.  I mean, physically, I could do the job… but the last time I worked, one of the managers was acting like a jerk and treating me with disrespect.  And people, I’ll be turning 27 next week – at this age, I don’t feel I have to take that kind of crap from anyone, ESPECIALLY some manager who’s in constant PMS mode and wants to take it out on people at any given whim.

It’s funny – I called my Mom yesterday and told her about me not showing up to work.  At this point, she doesn’t ever say “shame on you” or “how could you” since I’m a grown man.  Still, there was a slight pause of “oh… okay.”  I knew she didn’t approve.

But I didn’t feel like I had a choice.  One, I committed to doing this “one song/one video a week” think WAAAAY before I got the job.  And two, I didn’t feel any passion in what I was doing. I was more excited about finishing up my video and putting it on YouTube to get a few hundred views than I was about earning a few bucks doing something where I’d be miserable the whole time.

And three – quite honestly, life is too short to be doing something you don’t want to do.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, people will give you crap about “well, you may not like doing such-and-such, but you gotta do crap sometimes to support yourself until you get to where you want to be!”  My question is, at what point are you able to start working towards where you want to be?!?

I’ll be 27 on January 7th, but I’m already looking at the next big age milestone: the big 3-0.  It’s only 3 years away, and I always said that I wanted to have enough money in the bank by then to (a) retire comfortably, and (b) do whatever the heck I want to do.

I guess that’s why I’ve been so rebellious lately – getting fired from my last job, then walking away from this one.  Okay, for ME it’s rebellious – I tend to be the responsible one who does stuff by the book.  Now, I look at my life and I say, “I’ve BEEN following the book, and the times I was most successful was when I was doing what I REALLY wanted to do, not what I thought I should be doing or what others think I should be doing.”

This move to California should be good for me.  As such, I don’t have a job out there yet, and, in my mind, I keep telling myself, “as soon as you touch ground in Burbank, you have to start looking for a j-o-b (which, in case you haven’t heard me say it before, is short for “Just. Obey. Bitch.”).” 

At the same time, there’s another part of me that no longer wants to have a job ever again.  Actually, my entire BEING says i don’t want to have another job ever again.  At least not one that feels like a job.  Making songs isn’t a job to me.  Making videos isn’t a job to me, despite the long hours of editing.  Writing books isn’t a job for me.  And I’m learning how I can make money off all of these things – so, why get a regular job, then?

I guess what I’m saying is, I know what I want to do when I get to California – the only matter now is actually getting it DONE.  I have no idea how that will happen – but for me, that’s usually the best part.  That’s about the time that God intervenes and figures out a way to make it happen, so I try not to worry about it too much.

That’s all for now.  Tomorrow, I’ll be doing my year of the end “so, how’d I do” summary, so stay tuned!

-A.P.T.

E-Mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

One-Song-a-Week: Song #33 – Hooptie (Produced by ME!)

This week’s video is for the song “Hooptie,” produced by ME!

Available on “The A.P.T. LP” – Click HERE for purchase info!  Also appears as a bonus track on “The Great Black Hope,” available January 7, 2009!

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

Finally, a video for “Hooptie,” and the last song off “The A.P.T. LP” that needed a video!  But first, some song insights, shall we?

Way back in 2005, I was driving around in a wonderful Honda Civic.  Unfortunately, I also had a sales job selling a cleaning system (similar to a vacuum, only it uses water) where I wasn’t making many sales.  As a result, I wasn’t able to make payments on the car, and it got impounded.

I still needed a car to drive, and it just so happened that one of my grandma’s friends, who was in his 40s and worked at a car dealership as a mechanic, had an old 1982 Cadillac that he was willing to give me for free.  The car had many problems with it, but, at the time, free was what I could afford, and I was just happy to have a car to drive.

At least I was for the first month, when it worked.  In December 2005, the car broke down, to the point where fixing it would cost oodles of money that I didn’t have.  Thus, I ended up selling the car to a mechanic in Richmond, VA for about $50 bucks.

Fast-forward to August 2006.  After living at home for nearly 10 months, I decided I wanted to move to Atlanta.  I had been selling items on eBay for 7 months, and was making enough money to afford a $500 apartment deposit, 1^st month’s rent, and – if I was lucky enough – a car that could, at the very least, help move me down to Atlanta.

While doing my normal routine of going to yard sales on Saturday mornings (to buy stuff to resell on eBay), I saw a car with a “FOR SALE” sign, along with a price tag of $500.  I immediately called my Mom and told her I found a car I wanted to look into buying.  When we met up with the people, we found out more about it: it was a 1987 Cheverolet Celebrity station wagon, had 125,000 miles on it, and needed to be sold.  After giving it a test drive, I decided to buy the car.

In between owning these two cars, I was working on some new songs for the “Check the Resume” album.  I wanted to do a car song, but I don’t like to do songs that everybody’s done, and most rappers make songs about their expensive cars with the 20-26 inch rims, leather interior, etc.  That’s not my reality (yet), so I thought it would be funny if I rapped proudly about owning a Hooptie, i.e. a really messed up car!

For the beat, I sampled… hmm – on second thought, I’ll keep that to myself for now.  Because of the way I mixed it together, you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s the song I sampled if I told you.  All I know is, when I heard the beat, I knew that this song was the perfect one to use it for.

I wanted to make the song a sing-songy type of song – one where the verses sound like they could be sung just as easily as the chorus.  I slowed down my rapping speed, and emphasized words at the ends of sentences so that they’d stretch out more when people said them. 

I also wanted to infuse humor into the song by going on and on about owning this wreck of the car.  The lyrics are basically me giving a description of the two hoopties I actually owned – in fact, listening to this song made me realize just how f—ked up those cars really were!  But, seeing as I don’t have a car now, I was just happy I had something that could get me from Point A to Point B in a fast amount of time (as opposed to now, where I have to walk or catch buses and trains, which aren’t always reliable).

FYI: I intended to film a video for this back in November, but since I took so long to make a video for the song, it’s being included as a BONUS track on my new album, “The Great Black Hope,” out Wednesday, January 7, 2009 (i.e. MY birthday!)

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1.  The original chorus for this song was, “I drive a Hooptie (what!), I drive a Hooptie, n!@@a!”  However, even though it sounded crunk when sung, I’ve always had problems with other artist using the N-word in their songs.  It sounded like the right word to place in there, but the last thing I want is to be performing a concert, and hearing white kids in the audience yelling the N-word lyrics back to me.  So, when I re-recorded it for “The A.P.T. LP,” I changed it to “I drive a Hooptie, homey.”

2. The person saying “Yeah, man, that car is tiiiight!” is my cousin Sheldon, who came down to the south this summer to visit! It took quite a few takes for him to say the line on beat, so I had him record the same line over and over again about 9 times before he had it to where I could use it!

3. About 85% of the song lyrics are based on the two cars I had.  Specifically: the having one headlight, the engine smoking, the locks not working, spending 3 minutes opening one of their doors, having a couple of windows either not roll down or roll up, my car shutting down when driving too fast, having different colored smoke coming out of the tailpipe, my trunk being so wet due to rain leaking in that it smelled like fish, my bumper’s having rust, my car cutting off after being in reverse…

4. …and the line about “some joker hit and run the front side of my car” – I had just finished up the song, and thought, “Hmm, it still needs a few more lines.” I went out to make a quick run and, sure enough, there was a dent in the front part of the door where someone from across the street had backed out their driveway and hit my car.  This happened less than 24 hours after I had gotten my second “hooptie!”

5. My favorite line in the song is the very last line in the second verse, but I had to edit it for video purposes so my cousin could actually watch it.  You’ll have to listen through the song to see why!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

The reason I waited so long to shoot a video for “Hooptie” is because I wanted to get my cousin Sheldon in the video.  I figured it would be cool to get him in one of my videos, especially since he had a line in the song.  The plan was to catch a bus up to Philadelphia and spend Christmas with him and my other cousin, Samantha, and, in the process, film a video.

But of course, just because you plan something doesn’t always mean it’s going to happen.

In this case, Mother Nature changed my plans: at 5:31 AM I got a call from Samantha telling me it had rained the night before, and that the roads were iced over.  Furthermore, one of the major highways had been closed off by the city, and there had already been a report of one Greyhound bus accident – the same bus line I would have caught to go up for my visit.

Seeing as I didn’t want to die, I had to cancel my plans to go up north – and, more importantly, to film my video up there.

As luck would have it, though, my brother had asked our Mom to get him a Wii for him and his fiancée to play.  Upon getting the system, the first game he bought was Mario Kart Wii, a racing game featuring Nintendo characters. He opened the game the night before Christmas Eve for all of us to play at his apartment, and it was fun as heck!

The next morning, while waiting for my brother to wake up (I spent the night at his apartment), I started playing the game again to see how many new racing courses and/or characters and/or rides I could unlock.  Somewhere, in the middle of playing the game, I thought: “OMG – I could make a video for ‘Hooptie’ by filming myself playing ‘Mario Kart Wii!’”  It made perfect sense – it was a racing game involving cars (okay, karts – still, same thing!) and “Hooptie” was a car song, so they could go together!

I started filming the TV screen while playing the game, and decided that I didn’t just want to see a video with me winning all these racing matches.  Since the song was funny, I wanted the video to be funny as well – so, I decided to play the game as badly as possible, crashing into things, getting hit by stuff, falling off of cliffs – to match the song’s mantra of owing a crappy car.  After all, if I’m doing so badly on the races, my car must not be that good, right?

And, since I filmed it during Christmas week – and because my bro had Christmas decorations all over his apartment – I decided to film it like I got the game for Christmas, opened it up, played it, got frustrated, and gave up by the end.

All in all, it’s an okay video – I still wish I had been able to film the version with my cousin… but when you’re on a deadline, sometimes you gotta go with whatever options are available!

Some Interesting Video Shoot Tidbits:

1.  Shooting this video was pretty easy, but the longest take was me filming myself playing all these races with different characters. I wanted the camera angle to be the same for all the races, so I kept the camera on continuously.  The take ended up being 29 minutes long!

2. The TV used is actually my brother’s roommate’s TV.

3. For the first driving take, I was actually playing the game with the Wii wheel.  For the other two takes – the ones where I’m either going frantic or off-the-wall with the wheel – I wasn’t actually playing the game.

4. My brother came in the room while I was filming one of my races.  He asked me if he could get a DVD out of the machine, and I said, “Sure, I’m trying to play bad anyway.” While he was getting it out, I started yelling at him for getting in the way, then had to remind him that I was doing that so I could, hopefully, get it on video (thus adding to the whole “I’m playing this game VERY badly” shtick)!

5. In order to get the shot for the TV, I placed my brother’s ironing board in front of the chair I was sitting in, placed a DVD case on the ironing board, then placed the camera on top of that.  Same thing for the shot of me next to the Christmas tree.  Like I always say, I ALWAYS find a way to get the shot I want.

6. At the end of the video, I say “Aw, screw this game – where’s that ‘Bust My G.A.T.’ game?!?”  Those who have regularly viewed my vidoes each week will recall that video 16 – “Bust My G.A.T.” – was a game I played on Wii in an EBGames store.  Actually, now that I think about it, the game was actually called “How to Be a Rapper: The Action/Adventure Game.”  But saying the song title was still a better choice!

7. Video discrepency alert!  For the part of the video where I race as Mario, I’m playing the 100 cc Race Cup.  However, on the “Better Luck Next Time” screen, it says I “lost” while playing the 150 cc Race Cup.  This is because, after playing badly as Mario on the 100 cc Cup, I went back and played an actual Grand Prix race so I could get the ending screen – only I accidentally played it on 150 cc!  If I had a Wii I’d go back and re-film it… but I don’t, so I can’t.  Dang it!

8. Estimated time for editing: Let’s see: I spent about 2 hours this morning before getting ready for work… then I decided that I was tired of being treated rudely at my job, said “Screw them” and stayed home… then I worked on it for a few more hours while watching “Sister Act II: Back in the Habit” and a special on E! about Saturday Night Live.. meanwhile, my computer was extra un-cooperative today, slowing up and/or stopping altogether at times… so, what should have been about a 3 or 4 hour edit time (the amount of time it usually takes when I don’t have any mouthed words to link up with music) took about 9 hours.

The funny part? I could have gone to work today to make money, and instead, I stayed home and edited this video while making NO money.  I didn’t want to risk working on this thing bpast a time where an internet place would be open for me to post it up.  I don’t know if that’s craziness or dedication… either way, when I get to California, I am DEFINITELY going to puruse a job as a video editor (a good job to have while I’m working towards not having a job, and one I seem to enjoy doing!)

That’s all for now – only 19 more videos to go! See ya next Sunday!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

 

 

The Power of Influence: Lessons Learned From The “Obama” Song

It’s Christmas morning – 3:08 AM to be exact – and I can’t sleep.

Not that I wasn’t tired a few hours ago. I was taking a mini-nap about 3 hours ago when my brother came in from his Christmas party at his fiance’s parents’ house, thus waking me from my start-of-sleep.  I decided to surf the ‘net before I went back to sleep…

…and then a thought kicked in my head.  As I mentioned in a blog prior, I was sought out by a man named Rob Tillman to come up with a theme song for his web page (still in progress).  In the talks we’ve had back and forth, he mentioned that, given the number of repostings of my “Obama Obama” Lil Wayne “A Milli” remake currently on YouTube, it’s probably gotten well over 3  millon views.

So, being the type of artist who likes to know what type of audience he’s attracting, I thought, “hey, why not see how many instances I can find of people reposting their own home-made videos involving my ‘Obama’ song?”

3 hours later, and I just finished looking at a good majority of them. Man, oh, man…

Above: Two girls singing along to “O-bama O-bama.”

Okay, there’s a little something you should know about me: I tend to underplay my importance on other people’s lives.  I’m the person who will pick up and move at the drop of a hat without saying “goodbye” to people – not because I hate them, but because I figure, once I’m gone, they’ll eventually get over me having been there, and it will be like I wasn’t there at all.

Above: A girl running around in an “Obama” mask campaigning.  And guess what the background music is??

So, for me, when this “O-bama” song dropped and took off, I really, REALLY didn’t think it would last that long.  I thought it would be good for a few thousand YouTube views (not MILLIONS); that it might, if I was lucky, play on a few morning radio stations where they usually play parody songs (as opposed to getting play on WORLDWIDE radio stations); that a few people might visit my site and download it (over 8000 downloads of the song between the song itself, the “The O-bama Mixtape” downloads and sales of the song at 99 cents each); and that, maybe, just maybe, a famous person might come across it and hear it (as opposed to rappers, DJs, radio hosts and celebrities quoting my lil’ catch phrase ad nausea).

Above: Two kids from Chi-town rocking out in their… I dunno, basement?? – to the “Obama” song!

Furthermore, since I did the song almost as a joke, I had NO idea it would have any influence on the election at all.  It might sound cocky to say that, but in looking at the videos I just saw on YouTube, it can’t be understated that the song definitely got some butts to the booth to vote.

Above: Two teens at a high school in Las Vegas beat-box the “Obama” song!

And what did I see in these videos, you ask?  People of all ages, races, religions, and backgrounds… posting up home-made videos to my song.  I saw:

•  A video of an older Latino woman listening to it on her computer
• A video of two younger white girls dancing in their kitchen to it
• Young kids in their den rapping along to it
• Countless video blogs where people used the song as their intro
• A video of a homecoming rally where a guy was dancing to my song in the middle of a gym
• Countless videos with people wearing Obama masks, doing silly things on camera while my song played in the background
• An awesome video of a guy trying to persuade young people to vote by hip-hop dancing to my song in his living room

I could literally be typing for another 30 minutes about the videos I saw posted that included my song.  Clearly, it made a MAJOR impact on people’s decision to vote for Obama! (BTW: CUT THE CHECK, BARACK!)

Above: A woman from France – FRANCE! – drawing a picture of Obama while my song plays!

So, what have I learned from all this?  One, it’s made me very, VERY confident in my abilities to be successful.  They (whoever “they” may be) say it’s hard to become successful, and even harder to duplicate it.  I don’t want to duplicate it, I want to go BEYOND what I’ve already done with this one song.

Above: At SVHS (I’m assuming that’s a high school), the “Obama” song was played during their homecoming rally!

Two, I’ve learned what it takes to make something that will affect a large group of people.  Even when I made the song, I knew that if there were people out there who (a) liked Obama, and (b) liked Lil’ Wayne, they would definitely like my song.  The secret, then, is to do a focus of the audience I’m trying to reach, and figure out what will best connect with them.  This relates not just to my music, but other things as well: books I want to write (or have written), ideas for inventions/products I may have, and so on.

Above: Jerrell Puttin, of “The Obaminators” dance crew, encouraging others to vote by dancing to my “Obama” song!

And three, I’ve learned that, regardless of how much I may try to downplay it sometimes, I do – and can – play an important role in the lives of others, both good and bad.  Personally, though, I prefer it to be on the “good” side - this is why I try to keep my music as upbeat and positive as I can.

Above: DJ Ice chops and screws “O-bama O-bama!”

As a sidebar: if there’s one regret I have, it’s that I didn’t get to perform the song live. Actually, I performed it live one time – at my brother’s 25th birthday party in July – but, aside from the countless times I did it in my apartment, I was working so much to support myself while in Atlanta that I didn’t find the time to go out and perform it.  Plus, with the way the train/bus system was in Atlanta, I wouldn’t have had a way to get home were I to go to clubs because most open mics started late (around 10:30 PM), and most of the buses stopped around 11 PM.  Kinda limits a person’s performing ability. 

However, I DO hope to be able to perform the song a few times once I get to L.A. – heck, once I get there, it will still be 10 days before Obama is officially sworn in, so I’m sure demand for the song will be back up (not that it’s gone down - people are still posting up new videos to my song to this day.  Believe me, I’ve already checked!)

That’s really all I have to say.  After seeing all those videos, I feel really good about myself, and even more positive about my move to California.  I know I’ll be able to impact even more people for the good once I get out there, and I look forward to seeing what develops.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

Spending Money on Christmas Presents Sucks…

…especially when you’re trying to conserve your funds for a big move like I am!

I was really, REALLY not planning on spending money this year on anybody for Christmas.  Not because I don’t love them or anything – it’s just:

• Christmas feels more and more commercialised to me every year, to the point where finding the gift is more important than the meaning behind it; and
• Moving to California means having to conserve as much money as I can

Right now – as in, at this very moment – I have just enough for a deposit on my new place, plus two months rent.  The last thing I want to do, then, is spend money I may need to survive while getting settled in California, especially since its such an expensive place to live (or so I’ve been told).

However, everyone kept asking me what I wanted for Christmas.  You would think this is a good thing, right? WRONG! 

I have found that the only reason people ask you what you want for Christmas… is so that you will then turn around and ask them what THEY want for Christmas.  It would be nice if I could say to someone, “Hey, I love you, but I can’t afford to get you a gift right now ’cause I’m about to move,” and they could turn to you and say, “That’s okay – I’ll still get you something, and won’t expect anything in return.”

But, of course, this isn’t the way things work.  The way things work is, if someone is going out of their way to get me something, it’s an unwritten rule that I must get them something as well.

This year, I kept the gift-buying to immediate family – mom, brother, brother’s fiance – and it STILL cost me a good bit of money.  How much? Eh, not important – just know, it was more than I had planned to spend, especially since, again, I’m MOVING in two weeks!

I don’t feel too bad about it, though.  Both my Mom and my bro helped me out financially when I moved here to D.C., with way more money than I spent on their gifts.  So, even though I’m not paying them back those monies (since they did it out of the goodness of their heart), I figure, at the very least, I can buy them gifts costing a fraction of what they gave me.  Plus, they’ve both always encouraged me to follow my dreams and make it, which I am doing, and their support means all the world to me.

But for everybody else – they ain’t gettin’ nothing! Hopefully, though, they’re not getting me anything either…

…but if they are, I could certainly use some Cinnabon coupons, and a copy of the “Sex and the City” movie on DVD

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

Advertising + This Week’s Video

Another week, another video in the can…

So, I’ve done 32 videos so far as part of this 52-week, year-long experiment, and, so far, the one that continues to get the most views is the remix I did to Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli,” “O-Bama O-Bama.”  The song continues to get comments on YouTube, both from my Youtube page and the countless others that have reposted the video (or, in many cases, just the song).

I don’t have a problem with this – as long as it keeps giving me exposure (and money, as the song continues to sell on this site – thanks for the help, everybody!), it’s all good – but I wish that some of my other videos would get the same amount of attention.  The “O-Bama O-Bama” video only took an hour to shoot – I have other videos that took most of my whole day to shoot, be it going to various locations or having a more interesting concept in terms of story-telling… I even have songs that, in my opinion, are better than the aforementioned song, or, at the very least, on par with it.

Of course, all of this is the “artsy” part of me.  Almost all artist who have that one hit song usually end up seeing it as a gift/curse.  Bobby McFerrin, the guy who did “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” was a musician who could play dozens of instruments; yet, to this day, he’s always been slightly pissed off that his greatest hit was, ironically enough, one that didn’t even use any!

Still, I think the main reason some of my other videos – the ones outside of my parodies, which ALWAYS get plenty of views – may not get as many views is because I’m not advertising properly. 

I see channels on YouTube with videos that get thousands of hits within the first day or two of being up – and these are people that aren’t “famous” like Diddy or Obama, but everyday Joes and Janes doing video blogs and/or other stupid stuff – and I always wonder what they did to grow that kind of audience.  I thought the “O-Bama O-Bama” would get people checking out my other stuff – and it did, but not on as large of a scale as I would like.

I’m learning more and more about how I can get word of my stuff out to other people on a larger scale, so I know I have some time.  And even if it doesn’t happen by the time I finish filming all my videos… well, the good part of that is, I plan on setting up another website where I can post up all my videos and then REALLY start to advertise them as a means of… hmm, on second thought, I’ll keep that to myself for now. 

The point is, since I’ve made a conscious effort to make the majority of my songs/videos about things that are always relatable and constantly current (minus all the “O-Bama” or “G.W. Bush” stuff), I can still advertise for my videos as a means of (a) showing off my talents and (b) other things I won’t yet mention.

And of course, if you’re reading this, it means I’ve, at the very least, figured out how to get a few loyal A.P.T. fans – all success has to start from somewhere, people!

As for this week’s video, I’m going out of town for the holidays to see my cousins – including the one who had a small line on one of my tracks on “The A.P.T. LP” – so, with any luck, I’ll be able to film a video for it (finally) thus completing my goal of filming a video for ALL the songs from that album.  Since it’s been a while since I’ve done any videos relating to that album, I’ll be adding the song as a bonus track for my next album, “The Great Black Hope,” dropping Wednesday, January 7th, 2009.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to advertise for the album.  Hmmm….

-A.P.T.

E-Mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

One-Song-a-Week: Song #32 – “The Next Black President” (Produced by Chris I, Inspired by Diddy’s “The Future”)

This week’s video is for the song, “The Next Black President” (beat produced by Chris I).

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON “The Next Black President (a.k.a. Back On My Grind)” mixtape! Click HERE for download link!

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

Since I decided to give my newest mixtape the headlining title of “The Next Black President,” I thought it would be fitting to make a song with the same title.

I actually had the idea for the song about a week before Obama won the election. At the time, I didn’t know if he would win or not, but since it was so close to the election, I started thinking of other presidential songs that had already been made (see:  “O-bama O-bama” by me, “My President is Black” by Young Jeezy, etc.).

Amazingly, I kept thinking back to a song that Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy, had made on his album, “Press Play,” called “The Future.” There’s a line in the song where he says: “The potential to be the first black president/I-tunes, download me in every residence.”

Above: Diddy’s infectious song, “The Future,” from his “Press Play” album.

I kept singing that line over and over again, and thought it would make a good chorus for a song. Of course, I couldn’t use the line with the word “first” in it if Obama won, but I figured changing it with the word “next” would still make for a good song.

And then Obama won. And so, I had to change “first” to “next.”

As for the beat, I had downloaded it about 2 or 3 months prior to using it for this record. I go to a website called Sound Click (www.soundclick.com) to download free beats for use on my mixtapes. An up-and-coming producer named Chris I made this beat that was pretty simplistic, but jammed so damn hard – it sounds almost like some military marching stuff!

What I liked about it, though, was that it didn’t have the normal beat set-up of 16 bars/Chorus/16 bars/Chorus. Instead, the beat was set up to change in sound after every 8 bars. So, for this song, I did it where I’d rap 8 bars, then do the chorus for 8 bars, then I’d do another 8 bar verse, then 8 bar chorus, then 12 bars, then a final set of 8 bars for the chorus.

The words themselves took a few days to come up with. Right after he won, I thought of the opening 4 lines of the song… and didn’t have anything else for the next few days. Once I decided to interject the chorus after every 8 bars, the song actually became much easier to write.

The song attempts to convey the thought that, now that a man of color has been elected, it really IS possible for another minority of any race to be elected in. I also interject some humor in the song by mentioning things like him technically being “half” black, yet still an acceptable “black” candidate, and other things that you’ll have to hear for yourself!

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. The second-to-last line of the song… I almost didn’t include it in the song. I’m a believer that the words we speak can come true, so I try to stay cognoscente of what I say when I do these songs. However, seeing as this particular sentiment has been said by almost every well-known black comedian, it’s already been vocalized, so I kept it in. Hopefully it’s not too controversial – but if so, it makes for good publicity!

2. The date 2025 would not actually be the campaign date – it would be the year I’d start my term as President were I to win the election in 2024. However, the word “time,” used at the end of the sentence in the line prior, rhymes better with “five” than “four.” Plus, I figured that (a) people wouldn’t really pay too much attention, and (b) seeing as Obama starts his term in 2009, I can always say that he was technically campaigning for that year’s Presidential opening.

3. My initials – A.P.T. – and the word “apt” are spelled the same, so I decided to play off it in this song. For those of you who are curious, my initials actually stand for my name – then again, you really should know that by now!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

I knew I wanted to do the video like a campaign TV commercial. I was actually planning on dressing up like a candidate and mouthing the words into the camera as the video.  I also had the idea of setting it up to where I’d be debating myself, but since I chased myself around in last week’s video (“Killed the Beat“), I didn’t want to do that two weeks in a row.

I also had other things I was working on this week – songs for other people, visiting friends about to go on vacation – and I didn’t have time to shoot a video that would require long hours of editing.

Then, at the last minute – like, about 10:30 PM last night – I had an idea. For the initial idea, I was going to interject my speaking parts with pics of Obama, only instead of his face it would be MY face pasted over his. I was going to use that as my “examples of me out on the trail” shots… but then it hit me that, between the “O-bama O-bama” and “Shine 4 O-bama” videos, I had enough pics of him downloaded on my computer to make a whole new video!

Consider this “video recycling” at its best. The pics of him I used in those previous videos are made anew, thanks to me simply pasting a picture of my head over his. The “shoot,” if you will, consisted of me taking a picture of my face, then pasting it onto pictures of Obama. I actually took about 6 or 7 different pictures with my head turned at different angles, but the one of me with a goofy-looking smile on my face was so funny, it was the only one I decided to use!

I also have a newspaper from the day that Obama won the election. I used it as the opening shot and ending shot, only in the ending shot I… well, you’ll have to watch the video to find out!

Some Interesting Video Shoot Tidbits:

1. I thought I’d save time on “filming” by simply printing out Obama photos, placing my head on his and re-taking the photo. Boy, was I wrong. After I took the pics of my face, I had to make them different sizes to match up with the various sizes of Obama’s head in the photos. Then, I had to print and cut them out. THEN, I had to place them properly and take the pics, of which there were 30. Then, I had to load THOSE photos into the computer. On the plus side, there was NO film to have to re-edit.

2. Once the pics were in, you would think it wouldn’t take long to edit, right? WRONG. Admittedly, it didn’t take as long as some of my videos have, but considering I was just using photos, it still took me about 3.5 to 4 hours. The reason? Figuring out what order to place the photos in, as well as what movements and/or alterations should be made to each photo, takes time. And that’s not even including the voice-over parts of the video!

3. And yes, that is an actual copy of the first page of a newspaper I got from the day after Obama won the election.  How did I obtain it you ask?  Let’s just say, I have people that look out for me in terms of getting me what I need…

That’s all for now – only 20 more videos left to go! See ya next Sunday!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT
Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

Evictions, Europe + This Week’s Video

Another week, another video in the can…

I’m certainly glad I was able to use most of the house for the “Killed the Beat” video.  For all I know, it may be one of the last times I film in that house.

Why? Because me and my housemates have to move out!

Unbeknownst to us, our landlord wasn’t actually using our money to pay the mortgage, so the house got sold in a foreclosure sale last week.  According to the bank that bought the house, we have 2 weeks from the date of sale to move out. (Thought they said they would try to see if they could extend it a bit to give us time to find a place to live.  How nice of them.)

So, where does that leave me?  Right now, I have NO idea.  I’ve been pondering what I want to do next… and what I really, REALLY want to do is move out to California.

Actually, I wanted to move out to California after Atlanta, but I didn’t have enough money saved up.  Now that I have a little bit of money, I figure I could probably do a few things and complete a few goals at the same time.  What goals am I talking about?

GOAL #1: DRIVING ACROSS COUNTRY

Okay, so I don’t have a car, meaning I wouldn’t drive. But I could catch a bus or train and do the same thing, going state-to-state and seeing different parts of the country.  Of course, I had wanted to do this during the summertime when it’s nice outside, but hey – a trip is a trip!

GOAL #2: MOVE TO CALIFORNIA

Given the number of talents I have that are art-related – directing, acting, writing, etc. – it just seems like I’d have a better chance of getting noticed – or, at the very least, an agent/manager – if I went to a location where that stuff was more prevelent.  Not that I couldn’t get discovered or be successful in D.C. – I just prefer the weather out there, sunny and warm vs. rainy and cold like it is where I am right now.

So, I have a few things to think about.  In the meantime, some good news: I received an e-mail from a record label in London asking me if I’d be willing to perform for them.  They also said they’d be willing to pay for my travel expenses.  I don’t know if it’s a joke or not (I’m always skeptical about these sorts of things), but they sent phone numbers and web site addresses, and the site they had looked REAL professional, so hopefully it’s legit – just the fact that they’d pay for my travel makes the trip more than worth it!

As for this week’s video… once again, it’s one of those things where I have NO idea what song or video I want to do.  I only have a couple of songs off “The Next Black President” mixtape I could do videos for – I just have to figure out where and how I would film them.  But you know me – something will be up by Sunday!

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 #31 – Killed the Beat (Featuring/Produced by Myxtape)

This week’s video is for the song “Killed the Beat,” featuring (and produced by) Myxtape!

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON “The Next Black President (a.k.a. Back On My Grind)” Mixtape – Click HERE for download info!

INSIGHT INTO A SONG:

First things first: the guest artist on this track is Myxtape, a 17 (or maybe 18 now) up-and-coming MC and producer from Philly.  His songs are awesome, and his production skills – as you’ll be able to hear in this song - are incredible.  His website is www.myspace.com/Myxtape.  I did this song and the video for it because (a) I believe that you best help yourself by first helping others, and (b) his stuff is pretty good!

After the “O-bama O-Bama” song started getting big on YouTube and on the radio, I began getting messages from people asking me to collaborate with them on tracks. This wasn’t completely surprising to me – I figured that other people would hear the song on their local radio stations, track it down on the net and then try to do songs with me in the hopes of getting themselves on radio as well. Just imagine: “Hey, play my song – it features the ‘O-bama Milli’ guy!”

At the same time, I figured if I started to do some collaborations, it would also help me to expand the listening audience for my music. Think about it; if I do a collaboration, the person I do the song with is going to try to get at least a few of his friends to listen to the song. If those people like my verse, they might try to find more of my stuff. So, in a sense, doing collabos would help both me AND the other person out!

I put a video up on YouTube telling people I was looking to do collaborations. I told them if they wanted me to do a song with them, they needed to send me the beat, an idea for a song, and that, if I liked what they sent, I’d have it back to them within 24 hours.

Lo and behold: I got quite a few people who sent me messages. One of them was an artist who goes by the name “Myxtape” (pronounced “mix tape.” I’m sure you could have figured that out on your own). He asked me to collaborate on a track he had made the beat for called “Killed the Beat.” He also sent me the beat, along with one simple instruction: that I “kill it,” or in layman’s terms, “do a really, REALLY good job on your part of the song.”

I took a listen to the beat… and I LOVED it. It has a bluesy kind of feel to it, yet just jams when you play it.  He added his own drum pattern to the sample (I forget which one), and he was also kind enough to place his verse on the first half of the track. All I had to do was add in my verse on the second part, and the song would be complete.

I listened to the track quite a few times before I actually typed anything. As is the case with collabo songs, I always feel pressure to try and match up to, or outdo, the person I’m collaboration with. I consider it “friendly competition,” but it’s even more important to come strong with a verse when you’re the last person on the track – otherwise, the next time people hear the song, they’ll listen to the first verse, then turn to another song without listening to your verse ever again!

After a long thought process, I decided to take the title of the song – “Killed the Beat” – literally. I mapped it out like I just got confronted by the cops for actually “killing” the track, i.e. doing such a good job on it that I murdered it and had to be taken to trial. I don’t want to give too much away here, but because I took the title of the song literally, I was able to come up with a pretty awesome scenario for the verse that would, unbeknownst to me at the time, pave the way for an equally impressive video idea later.

So far, this is my favorite “official” collaboration track that I’ve done, and one of my favorite songs on “The Next Black President” myxtape – er, mixtape!

Some Interesting Song Tidbits:

1. In the first part of my verse, I sound kinda like Busta Rhymes when I say, “Shoulda SEEN the way I did it…” He always emphasizes his words like the way I said “seen,” and he’s one of my favorite rappers. I think I was thinking about his technique when I wrote that line.

2. My favorite line in the song: “…and I keep coming back like a porno star’s ass, riiiiight?” This is what rappers call a “double entendre.” I hate explaining rap lines, as I like people to get the insight on their own, but… this line is smart because I say “I keep coming back,” i.e. I continue to stay rapping, but in reference to the second half of the line – “like a porno star’s ass” – it’s funny because, in adult films, a woman will oftentimes end up having her partner’s man juice on (or in) her rear end. Yes, it’s a disgusting line, but it’s also quite clever and funny!

3. And yes, in case you’re curious, I was able to deliver this back to Myxtape within 24 hours. Once I came up with the rhyme, it took me two hours to type up, record, mix and master… and then I had to wait until the next day to go to Panera Bread to actually send it to him!

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

When putting together “The Next Black President” mixtape, I KNEW I wanted to add this song on it. I also knew that, despite not living anywhere near the artist I collaborated with for the track, I wanted to shoot a video to it.

I’ve actually had the video I idea for this song in mind for about a month, though I was only recently able to finalize my vision for the visual. Because the beat reminded me of something I’d hear out of a detective/spy movie, a la “James Bond,” I wanted to shoot a video where I was a policeman out looking for the person responsible for killing – what else? – a “beat” for a song.

I didn’t know it at the time I recorded my verse, but the scenario I painted in the song allowed me to further play off the whole “searching for the murder” theme. Originally, I was going to be a cop or a detective for the video, but I don’t have any of those types of clothes at my disposal, and I definitely was NOT going to buy them.

However, I DID have the right clothes to dress up like a suave spy! Black suit jacket? Check! Black pants? Check! Black tie? Check! White shirt? Check! Black shoes? Check!

Furthermore, doing the whole “spy” thing would allow me to get away with things in the video that cops and detectives can’t, like breaking into places unannounced. And who’s place would I be breaking into?

My alter-ego, of course! Yes, once again, I took on duel roles as both the spy AND A.P.T., the recording artist who “Killed the Beat.”

Incidentally, playing 3 roles in a video – spy, me, and director – is HARD work. Because I was interacting with myself, I had to mentally plan out my shots in advance. Furthermore, it was raining outside, and there were scenes where either the spy or my regular self would come in from the rain – but I couldn’t shoot those shots and then do a shot of me where I’m dry, as it would look odd when editing it later on.

I did about 43 takes for this video – easily the most takes I’ve done for a video since “Bust My G.A.T.” – and most of those were due to having to go back and re-film something as a result of forgetting how a previous shot I took wouldn’t match up with a current one.

As for Myxtape’s part – the guest artist on the track – I used pictures of him I found on his myspace page in the parts where I’m looking up info on A.P.T.’s laptop. I wanted him represented in some way in the video so he’d get some face exposure – hopefully this will help him get some views on his page, as he is a very talented artist!

Some Interesting Video Tibits:

There are actually so many interesting tidbits for this video, I have to try and remember it shot-by-shot…

1. As I’ve said before, I have NO help directing these videos.  Every single camera angle was done using a chair, a suitcase, an ironing board, and mini-boxes, all stacked in different ways and angles to get the shots I wanted.

2. The phone ring song is “C.R.E.A.M.” byWu-Tang clan. Yes, I actually have that song as a ringtone on my phone!

3. Anything you hear where my voice sounds extra clear was done in post-production.

4. Somehow, a good majority of my videos have bathroom shots.  What the dilly, yo?!?

5. For the part of the video where I chase myself into my room, I had to film myself in A.P.T. clothes running into the room, then allow the camera to keep filming while I changed into my spy gear.  This is why the shot looks so seamless!

6. It was raining HARD for most of this shoot. However, when it came time to me to film the part where I’m outside as the spy, it had stopped raining.  Talk about good timing!

7. Incidentally, I had the entire shoot for this thing mapped out in my head, and didn’t shoot it in the order it’s seen on film.  However, this did cause a few problems.  There were certain shots I couldn’t use or had to cut short to keep the continuity of the video in tact.  For example, the shot of me coming into the house as A.P.T. had a full shot of me opening the door.  However, when I did that, you could see the screen door behind it.  The problem, however, is that at the end of the video I shot it to where it looked like that door didn’t exist.  Therefore, I couldn’t show the whole shot of me coming in because people would wonder later why there was no screen door when I finally get caught!

Also, there’s a shot where, after rolling into the house to look for evidence, I roll back up and walk into the next room.  However, in that shot, the cardboard box is still on the plastic holder. If you remember, that same box got knocked over when I went to look for evidence.  Therefore, the other shot couldn’t be used.

8. Estimated time for editing: a LONG time.  Like, about 8 or 9 hours, mostly due to adding in post-production sounds.

That’s all for now – only 21 more videos to go!  See ya next week!

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT

Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT

Get Paid to do WHAT?!? + This Week’s Video

Another week, another video in the can…

Okay, so I’ve done 30 videos now. As a result, I’ve been able to: (a) have a worldwide hit single, (b) get my music to a wide audience, and (c) collaborate with other up-and-coming MCs. I’ve also done a lot of other cool things – I just don’t feel like listing the whole alphabet here

However, the one thing that has eluded me is actually getting PAID to work with other people via my music. Oh sure, I’ve sold some albums and a LOT of copies of the “O-bama O-bama” single. But the whole point of this project is to get noticed enough to have OTHER people want to pay me for use on their projects.

And yet, it hasn’t happened… UNTIL NOW.

Imagine my surprise this week when, upon checking my hotmail account, I get a message from a guy (name withheld for now) telling me he wants to PAY me to come up with a theme song for his website! I won’t go into details until the entire project is complete, but I will say this: he is a multi-millionaire who is looking to help others find ways to make their fortune via his books and speeches, and – important to me – he wants to PAY me for my services!

As to how much I’ll get paid… well, we’re still negotiating that part. But regardless, it’s nice to think that someone out there actually thought enough of my music to say, “Hey, ya know what? Let me give this guy a shot!”

So, I’ve already completed the song… it’s weird doing songs for hire because it’s a completely different beast from a creative standpoint. I usually come up with my songs just out of the blue, and I can take as long as I want on them because… well, they’re MY songs. Having to write a song with a deadline is different – it’s almost like “forced creativity,” which isn’t a bad thing. However, it certainly does add a bit of pressure for a person to write something that, not only will they like, but the person they’re writing it for, as well as their audience of people AND your audience of people.

I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, this week’s video is going to be AWESOME!! I’ve actually had the idea in mind for the longest time, and it’s going to be EPIC. I try not to make my YouTube videos too long (people have short attention spans these days), but who knows what will happen once I start filming??

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

-A.P.T.

E-mail: aptsongs@hotmail.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/NotoriousAPT
Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/APT