So, I’m putting together some new things that will help me to earn some more money doing the things I like to do. While sitting here pondering some of my next ventures, a random thought came to my brain that I felt would be beneficial for me to share…
I live in Los Angeles now, where I make my bread and butter off music, video editing, producing and background extra work. And yet, what I’ve noticed is that all of the stuff I make money from are things I used to either do or give away for free.
Take, for example, my music. When I lived in Atlanta back in 2008 my goal was to give away a song a week for a whole year, for free. By the 6 month mark, though, I had people not only willing to pay me for my music, but also hiring me on for projects to create music for them.
And then, there’s my video editing. I was making videos for myself simply because I thought it would be a good platform with which to display my creativity and get my music out there. When I got to Los Angeles, people saw some of these videos and asked me to edit a few things for them here and there – for free. So I did; and, over time, I started getting paid for this skill, to the point where now it’s how I make most of my money.
And then, producing. As I upgraded my equipment I was able to learn how to make music and videos on quality equipment. A lot of up-and-coming entertainers I’d run into didn’t have the stuff I had to make a good-sounding album or video, but were willing to pay me to use my stuff. So I started charging people for it – and, lo and behold, people were actually willing to pay me the price I asked for!
And lastly, acting. Although I do mostly music stuff now, I went to school for a Fine and Performing Arts degree. That meant years and years of doing theater stage shows and NOT getting paid. And yet, all the skills I acquired during that time are ones that now help me when I’m creating content out here for myself and others. It’s also what’s allowed me to discover background acting here in L.A., where I can be on set and still enjoy acting as a “hobby” while getting paid something for it.
The point of all this is that if you want to be successful, you have to constantly be doing what you love, even when you’re not getting paid for it. You never know who’s watching you do what you do, and you never know who’s going to come to you one day and say: “Hey, I like what you’re doing and would love to give you some money for it.”
Now, most people want to get paid upfront for anything they do; however, unless you’ve been in an industry doing something for years and have a proven track record of excellence, you’re not going to start off getting paid that much. However, the irony of doing something you love regularly for free is, when people are able to see the high quality work you’re putting out when you’re NOT being paid anything, they will think to themselves: “Geez, I can only imagine how much better their stuff would be if they DID get paid…” and throw money at you.
Anyway… just thought I’d share that thought with you all. Best of luck in your journey towards success!
So, the last video I posted on here was for the 2 Chainz parody song “I’m Chrisitian (I’m Diffrent Spoof).” Since that time, I’ve been mulling over what I want my next step to be music-wise.
These days, though, I find that the majority of my bread and butter comes from creating stuff for other people. I’m in the process now of finalizing a deal with a popular knife maker to create parody songs and videos for their company, which will help to generate a lot of income, but also take up a lot of my time. Aside from that, I’ve also been doing video editing work for people here in H-wood, both for people on the come-up and bigger names. In looking back almost 5 years ago, I still find it hard to imagine that I’d go from being in a studio apartment in ATL creating stuff for myself to actually being a well-respected content creator in Los Angeles.
With that said, my desire for creating my own songs – like, not just parodies but original songs – is still something I want to do. I have an arsenal of original beats ready for me to create songs to, and I’ve been listening to them for the past few weeks. At the moment, though, I’m still trying to figure out what it is I want to say. I don’t want to re-hash the same kinds of concepts or ideas I was having back in my mid-20′s, but I still want to create stuff that is entertaining, a bit off-kilter and, in some cases, controversial (but not just to be controversial).
I’m also trying to figure out how I want to present them to the public. Part of me would love to go out and perform my songs live in front of an audience; and yet, another part of me loves being able to just stay home, create videos for my songs and present them that way. I’m very aware that putting together a GREAT performance takes lots of practice, coordination and time – things that, to be honest with you, I don’t care to make time for. I’d rather just be able to memorize the song, go on stage and perform it… but even that would require me to, at the very least, work out enough so that I could get used to performing these songs without running out of breath on stage. So far I’ve done okay for myself in terms of profiting off my videos (thanks, YouTube!) and iTunes (thanks, “Obama Milli Remix” and “Vote Obama Style!”), so I’d rather be able to get the money that way.
I also like the idea of creating songs and/or beats that could be used in realms outside of the performing arts. Many artists make good money selling their tunes for use in commercials, TV shows, movies, and other forms of media. This is the pathway I’d prefer to do. The crux of that, though, is that when I create songs I have to think of them from the angle of how they would best sell, and not always from the angle of expressing my inner thoughts as an artist. Eh, so what – if I want to do that, I can always blog on here, right?
Anyway… so, I’ll have new music coming at some point. In the meantime, I’m definitely down to collaborate with other artists on their albums – I find it’s a good way for me to practice my writing skills, while also giving me motivation to record my own stuff. Once I’ve started recording some new tracks I’ll be sure to announce an album date, but it will probably be in the latter part of this year. Stay tuned!
The election is in two days! I’m already starting to see a spike in video views, song sales and blog traffic, so I figured I would put all my Obama-related stuff in ONE place for you guys to look at, buy, repost, retweet, email and share!
First off, all my current Obama songs can be found on my NEW album, “The O-Bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style!” Here’s the full track list:
The Next Black President
Vote Obama Style (Gangnam Style Parody)
I <3 Nicki Minaj
Imma Fool Wit It feat. Kaptain Kutta
I’m Never Ever Gonna Vote for Romney (We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Parody)
Words With Friends
Pick Up Your Face feat. Snake Eyez and DJ-T
Christmas in Paris feat. Non Juan (Ni**as in Paris Parody)
Zone Out
Your Mama Is So Ugly
Obama Milli Remix 2012 (A Milly Parody)
Rich Man’s World
Ooh, I’m a Model feat. Genellyn
Black President (Rack City Parody)
You can download this album or the individual songs from a plethora of online retailers – here are the links to all of them:
ITUNES – Click HERE! AMAZON – Click HERE! eMUSIC – Click HERE! GOOGLE Play – Click HERE!
But wait! If you’d like to get the 99 cent “Vote Obama Style” ringtone, you can either go to the online link and get it (click HERE) or text VOTEOBAMASTYLE 1 to 69937!
Now, check out the videos for some of the album cuts below!
VOTE OBAMA STYLE!! (GANGNAM STYLE PARODY)
I’M NEVER EVER GONNA VOTE FOR ROMNEY (WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER PARODY)
OBAMA MILLI REMIX 2012 (A MILLI PARODY)
BLACK PRESIDENT (RACK CITY PARODY)
CHRISTMAS IN PARIS (NI**AS IN PARIS PARODY)
Thanks for all the views and shares, and don’t forget to VOTE OBAMA STYLE on Tuesday, November 6th!
NEW ALBUM, “The O-bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style” now on iTunes! Click HERE to preview/buy it today!
Hey all!
First of all, I don’t know why I’m still shocked that people actually stop by my webpage and read stuff. I’m definitely thankful, but considering I don’t advertise my website nearly as much as I probably should, it’s cool to be getting an average of 20 to 30 readers a day looking to see if I made any updates.
Well, readers, here’s some stuff to tide you over for a while!
For starters, the “Vote Obama Style” video is doing very well. On average it’s getting somewhere between 6000-9000 views a day, and even that number is starting to rise. Between all the channels I have the video on (my two youtube channels, plus some guy who downloaded the video and posted it up on his page – don’t worry, I made sure he provided the iTunes link so I could still get sales off his viewers), the video’s currently up to 150,00 views in less than 3 weeks! Best of all, I’ve had a couple celebrities re-tweet my video – Brandon T. Jackson and Vivica A. Fox – both of which definitely helped boost my video views. So… yay!!!
I also got some more good news this week… um… dang… but I don’t want to jinx it until it actually happens. What I can say is, I’m doing another video shoot that I will insert into the current video, one that will result in me being able to get even more exposure for the song and video. Yeah, that’s a good way to word it for now!
Lastly, now that the album – “The O-bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style (Gangnam Style Parody)” – is up on iTunes, I still have a few more videos I need to do to make sure I get good sales within the next month. I’m realistic in my understanding that there may be a dip in sales for Obama-related stuff once the election is over, so any Obama songs I have need to be out with videos before November. To that end, I have 2 more of those types of videos coming up – one for my Taylor Swift parody, “I’m Never Ever Gonna Vote for Romney;” and, a video for a song people have been asking me to do since 2008: a remix to my “Obama Milli Remix” song (I guess that would make it a re-remix? Would that be a double negative? LoL!). That’s right, there’s a 2012 version of “Obama Milli Remix,” which means I had to make a video for it. That one will be released on October 3, the same day as the first debates, so be on the look out for it!
That’s all for now, peeps! Be sure to get the album, on sale at iTunes now – just click HERE to preview/buy it today!
This is the album cover for my NEW album, “A.P.T. Presents: The O-bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style!” Shout outs to Joe Hollywood for the instagram pic, as well as http://www.Cartoonize.net for implementing the oil paint-style look!
As for some album info, the album will have 12 songs* on it. Most are original songs but there are a few parodies on there too – obviously “Vote Obama Style,” but also “Black President,” “Christmas in Paris (Jay-Z and Kanye West Parody)” and one more parody I’m currently working on that I won’t reveal just yet
Once I record the last parody, I’ll be sending the album to iTunes and other stores for you to purchase, but it will definitely be sometime within the next 7 days. Stay tuned!!
-A.P.T.
*12 songs is the current amount planned, but may change.
Well, after YEARS of trying to repeat the success of “Obama Milli Remix,” I have finally done it!
Yep, my new song/video, “Vote Obama Style (Gangnam Style Parody)” is taking off better than I thought it would! It’s already reached 40,000 hits in a week’s time, and continues to get thousands of hits each day!
Since I got a buzz going with the song, now, it means I need to release an album. And, since people STILL remember the title of my first mixtape – “The O-Bama Mixtape” – I’m going to release part 2 in the series sometime next week!
The album title will be… hmm… well, right now I’m deciding between two titles: The one I’ve had in my head for years, “The O-Bama Mixtape II: Back in the White House”; or, a title that correlates with what will be the most popular track on the album, “The O-Bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style.” I figure people will probably go to iTunes and type in “gangnam obama style” or something similar, so it may be a good look to have that somewhere in the title.
As for the songs on the album… my last mixtape, “Justin Beeber Must Die,” had a LOT of good songs on it, but the album didn’t get downloaded as well as I wanted, mostly ’cause I had no videos for it and no real promo. So, I’m going to take some of the songs off that album and put them on this album. I’ll also include previous parodies not ever placed on an album – i.e. the Eminem “No Love” parody “No Glove,” Rack City parody “Black President,” and a few recent ones I did featuring Non Juan. I also plan to record at least 2 more parody songs and 1 original song, possibly as it correlates to the election.
The album will be released later in the week, and I’ll add a promo annotation to the “Vote Obama Style” video letting people know it’s out. I’m just glad to have a buzz-worthy single helping me get the word out about it!
Hi! Remember me! Well guess what?!? I’m making videos again!!
I actually have another video I made before this video, BUT… since this one is of the utmost urgent importance, I’m putting it up first. So, without further ado….
Today’s song insights are for the music video, “Vote Obama Style,” a parody of Psy’s “Gangnam Style!”
I’m going to assume everyone who’s on this page has heard Psy’s “Gangnam Style” song. In short, Psy’s a Korean rap/pop artist who’s “Gangnam Style” song/video have received over 100 million views (and counting) on YouTube, and has been seen on various TV shows. If you haven’t seen it, here it is:
I forget how I ended up watching the video – probably after seeing it posted on Yahoo, Google and friends’ Facebook pages – but when I saw the video and heard the song, AND saw how many views it was getting, I knew I HAD to make a parody of it.
I went through the usual process, trying to find things that rhymed with “Gangnam.” “Condom” was the easiest thing to think of, and I almost went this route (“What’s Your Condom Style?”) but didn’t know how much mileage I’d get out of it. I thought of a few funny things here and there, but nothing that was really popping off in my brain enough for me to want to record anything…
Then, I took a mini-trip to Palm Springs for the day. While relaxin’ in my room, I got a chance to look at the video again, and as I started going over parody ideas, it suddenly hit me:
“Vote Obama Style!”
There it was – the elusive hit I’d been looking to parody an Obama song with. I thought I had done it with my “Rack City” parody, “Black President” back in January, but by then the song was actually starting to die down in popularity. (Had no idea it had been out since summer 2011. So much for being on the radar anymore!)
But THIS – this song had the same elements that made “A Milli” such a sure-fire winner. Infectious beat? Check. Crazy artist saying cool stuff that didn’t make sense (unless you know Korean)? Check. Worldwide popularity? Check. The only REAL question was, could I write a song to it?
The only thing really standing in the way was the language barrier – aside from “Heeeeey, sexy lady,” I have NO idea what the rest of the song is saying. Then I realized, when I make parodies, I don’t really base the words I use off what the other artist wrote, so much as I try to follow similar song patterns and syllables. As long as I could make my ending rhymes sound phonetically similar to what Psy was saying in Korean I’d be good.
So, I got to work. I went into work on Saturday night and just started coming up with ideas. As per usual, I thought of the second verse first, then went back to the first verse for a bit, got stuck, worked on the 3rd verse instead, then went home and worked out the first verse. By Sunday, I had a full song written and, later that same day, recorded (after finding a remade instrumental online)!
For this Obama song, I focused on two things. In the first verse, I talk about how Obama is at a turning point after 3 years, then mention how I’m going to vote for him on election day. In the second verse, I talk about Mitt Romney looking like a super villain, then listing a few of the various accomplishments made by Obama in his first term. On the refrains, I talk about Obama being the better candidate and how people should vote for him instead of Mitt Romney.
Pretty simple stuff, all said in ways that are funny, insightful, and thought-provoking. What can I say, it’s what I do best!
Some Interesting Song Tidbits
1. The way I say “Vote Obama Style” sounds similar to the way Psy says “Oppom Gangnam Style.” I was doing the best impression of him that I could for that part. It’s also the only part of the song that’s not layered with other vocals.
2. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out what I was going to replace “Heeeey, sexy lady” with. I finally settled on “Heeeeey, Romney’s shady,” mostly ’cause it was the best thing I could think of. If I could put something else there that worked better I would, but it’s a fine replacement for now…
3. I added in the line about Romney looking like a super villain because I think I saw a picture comparison of him and Magneto or some other villain on some fake news show (Stewart or Colbert, I think).
4. Believe it or not, the hardest part of the song for me to think of was the 4th line in the first verse. I was trying to rhyme words like “election,” “introspection,” and needed a forth one… but couldn’t think of anything. I finally decided on the word “objection.” Then, I had to think of what rhymed with… whatever those words were Psy used in the first half of the 4th verse that sound like “Good or bad.” Finally, I said “screw it” and decided to mention Michelle Obama’s fineness once again. I don’t think I’ve gotten through a whole “Obama” song without mentioning it, so why start now?
INSIGHTS INTO A VIDEO SHOOT
Once I finished recording the song, I KNEW I wanted to make a video with an impact. However, at the time all I knew was (a) I had a flip camera, a green screen and a camera tripod to use.
My original plan was to take my tripod with me around town to various spots, set up my camera, and dance like a madman while mouthing the words to the song. It would have been an “okay” video, but nothing like what I ended up shooting…
You see, as it turns out, in the 3+ years I’ve been in Los Angeles, I’ve made friends with people who will actually show up for video shoots. And who have state-of-the-art cameras. And who don’t mind making a fool of themselves for the purpose of a video. These are the people I call “friends,” and they help make what could be an “okay” video something that’s worthy of showing to other people.
And so, I looked through my phone list and sent out a mass text… and, the people who I truly wanted to be in the video were able to show up, including my friend Tamika (you know her from… well, MOST of the videos I shot last year). She moved to Texas late last year but was in town for a friend’s wedding and agreed to show up for an hour and shoot stuff.
As for my camera, I didn’t even have to use it for the majority of the shoot. My friend Joe Hollywood (who makes a cameo in dang near ALL of my videos) had gotten a new camera the same day I wanted to shoot, so the video ended up being a tester for the camera (and man, oh man, does it work GREAT). Aside from a few pick up shots here and there that I got via the Flip, the rest of the shoot ended up being done on a Canon T2 camera.
Anyway… the shoot itself ended up being 3 days at various times. Day 1 shoot day was at the La Brea/Expo train station, where we did a LOT of outside shots mocking Psy’s original video: The elevator shot, the shot with him and two girls walking forward, and the dance sequence at the end of the video were all done at this one location. As we were filming it, Joe’s battery died, so we had to wait until the next day to shoot.
Day 2 shoot was LONG. Joe and I met up at the Culver City train station at 10 and shot a few more train shots, both outside AND inside the train. Then we went to Fox Hills mall, where we shot inside Target and at the food court. Next, we went back to my apartment to dump the footage and get some shots of me in the pool and next to the pool. Then, it was off to the park to shoot the opening scene (as well as a cool dance scene with me on top of a picnic table). Next, we went to the Rave cinema (a.k.a. “The Bridge”) to use their parking garage as an imitation to Psy’s garage usage in his video. Before we left there, we also filmed a short bit of me doing the famous “arms crossed while galloping” dance from the video. Finally, we went back to Joe’s apartment, dumped some more footage, and filmed one more scene before I headed home.
I was able to take Joe’s camera home and film some additional stuff. My roommate wanted to be in the video, so we filmed a scene where she was opening the door and I was bursting in; plus a cool scene where we danced side by side doing some more goofy dancing.
At this point, I figured my filming was done… but then I mentioned to my roommate that I had wanted her son (a.k.a. my Godson) Ajani to dance in the video. That’s when she mentioned an Obama wall painting downtown that ended up being a PERFECT backdrop for the opening of the video, as well as getting a few clips of Ajani dancing.
Good grief, that was just the short version of what happened, and I haven’t even gotten to the editing part yet!
Well, in short: it was a LOT of color correction, adding things in so the video would look as bright, joyful and colorful as Psy’s video. I added in subtitles typed in “Hobo Std” font (I wish I was making that name up) so people could understand all the words being said.
I also made sure to add in things like my YouTube station name, as well as where viewers could buy the single (on iTunes) as well as past Obama songs and the “Vote Obama Style” T-shirt. I have found that my videos sometimes get “borrowed” and uploaded to other people’s channels; I figure, if it’s going to happen, might as well use them to send people back to my page and to buy my merchandise, right?
All in all, a very, VERY ambitious video, and one I’m proud to have made!
Some Interesting Video Tidbits:
1. This is the first video I’ve made in a LOOOOONG time that didn’t use green screen or excessive pictures! I really wanted to give the feel of it being a “real” video, and those elements can take away from that effect.
2. On Day 1 after Joe’s camera died, Tamika wanted to get Roscoe’s chicken and waffles for lunch – the same place Obama got food from when he visited Los Angeles last year. I had my Flip Camera on me at the time, and figured I should get some shots in there for the vid. Thus: The shot of me with a waffle house menu, and a shot of me pointing at the picture of Obama with the Roscoe’s staff hanging above their register!
3. If you notice, in about 90% of the video, the words I’m saying don’t match what’s being said. This stemmed from the elevator scene, when I realized I didn’t know all the words to my own song (since I had only just recorded it the day before)! So, I decided to act like I was speaking a gibberish language and being subtitled so people could understand me. I wish I had known the song better, but the video still came out lookin’ dang good in spite of the situation!
4. While filming the dance sequence, the cars on La Brea kept honking at us. The majority of them were cheering us on… and then, one random guy yelled out “stop that!” LoL!
5. I wanted to get a video shot in the train since Psy had one in his video. We met up at the Culver City station because it was the end of the new Blue line, which meant the train would be stalled there for 10 minutes and we’d have time for me to film inside the train with no one there. Only problem: when we got there, people WERE in the train. I didn’t want to interrupt them or make things awkward, so I nixed the idea. Turns out, though, fate was in our favor: as I was shooting a solo scene at the station, another train pulled up. This meant I now had TWO trains in the solo shot; more importantly, though, when the train arrived, EVERYONE got off, meaning I now had time to shoot a scene on the inside of the train! We only shot for 2 minutes, but I made SURE to make them shots that could be used in the video!
6. My friend Joe was leery about shooting in Target – having to sneak around to get various shots, possibly having people walk up, etc. – but had no problem wanting to shoot in the mall food court. In fact, that suggestion is what got me the shot next to the bamboo trees in the food court!
7. The pool used in the pool scene is in the courtyard of my apartment complex.
8. For the park scene, I didn’t know of any little kids that would be available to dance in front of me like in Psy’s video. We later found out that one of Joe’s nephews was actually home during the day of our shoot and could’ve done it. Um… shouldn’t he be in school?!?
9. In the parking garage scene, I kicked Joe in the allzbeys by accident while dancing. Terrible for him, GREAT for film footage!
10. While filming the scene where I’m dancing while crossing the street, Joe’s camera battery ran out of juice. Luckily, it shot just enough of what I needed for me to use – where it cuts off in the video is where it cut off while filming!
11. The line about Mitt Romney looking like a super villain prompted me to want to find a pic of him being compared to one online. Instead, I found a pic someone made of him looking like he was wearing Bane’s mask. Worked for me!
12. We went to 3 different toilets when trying to figure out where I could shoot the infamous bathroom scene. We first stopped at a library next to the park, but it had a homeless guy in there shaving and washing up. The next place we went to was a hotel that had a GREAT bathroom… but bad lighting. Finally, we stopped at a bowling alley. I was going to use their handicap bathroom stall, but when we opened the door we saw crap sitting on the seat. So, I ended up having to use the small stall instead.
13. The kid in the video is my Godson, Ajani. That kid usually has so much energy, yet on the day we needed him to dance he didn’t really want to do it. Thus, the reason he’s only in snippets of the video. Ironically, once we got him home, he was all ready to be bouncing and dance. Darn that kid’s bad timing!!
14. Estimated editing time for this video… I can’t even tell. I started on Tuesday night, which went into Wednesday morning before I fell asleep at 2 A.M., then woke up at 7:45 A.M. to continue on… then I shot some more stuff for the video, so… eh, let’s just say it took a long-ass time. I thought not using green screen would make this stuff easier!
I’m very, VERY proud of how this video turned out! Even if it doesn’t get as big as my “Obama Milli Remix,” I feel the effort put into this project makes it a winner. But really, now, PLEASE share this video with your friends!
As I type this, I realize I barely have time to type this. My life has been so busy lately: filming, starting a business, relationship stuff… it’s gotten to the point that I enjoy my days at home doing nothing ’cause it feels like I’m always doing stuff…
Anyway… so, I haven’t put out any new music of my own in a while. Not because I don’t want to, but mostly because I’m so focused on creating stuff that will make me some serious money, and at the moment music isn’t that thing. Yes, I enjoy making music immensely, but from a money-making standpoint I’ve never really wanted to do all the things artists have to do to be really, REALLY “successful” at the music game.
What do I mean? I hate the idea of having to do interviews; interacting with fans on a regular basis; having to uphold a particular image; being told by a music company what I’d have to create; performing on a night-to-night basis… the list goes on and on.
When I started doing music, it was with the hopes that I’d be recognized for my beats so that I could stay in the background and make music for others to enjoy. When I found I didn’t know how to meet artists to give my beats to, I started rapping on them in the hopes that artists would hear them and want to use them. I didn’t know it would result in me having a hit record, or having my music well-received by both peers and strangers.
Nowadays, most of the work I do involves me being in the background. I film/edit for other people; I make beats for various productions; and my puppet, Non Juan, allows me to be a puppeteer AND do voice over work – neither of which requires my face to be at the forefront of it. I also do background extra work for various shows here in L.A. (see: “Glee,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” various movies and commercials, etc.). I don’t have any desire to be a major actor, but I still like mingling with the crowd and it pays decently (especially if I have nothing to do that day – better to be getting paid to do something that sitting around not earning money).
Because of all this, putting together the kind of music I like to make has become harder and harder. I recently listened to my first two albums – “Attack of the Obama Milli Remix Guy” and “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back” – and I still think they are both really good albums. Not only are the beats bangin’, but the various topics and song ideas I had still sound different than what most artists are putting out. Back then, though, nobody knew who I was, so I was doing all I could to say things to create a stir, controversy, whatever, in the hopes of getting noticed. And it worked, too.
But now, it’s become more challenging to think up those kinds of songs. And when I do, sometimes it feels like I’m doing it purposely to cause a stir as opposed to doing it to make a point. I guess it’s easier to think of those kinds of songs when you’re close to broke and no one believes in you – once you start getting money in and people KNOW you can do it, those songs become harder to write.
Still… I DO have at least one more album in me. I’ve been talking about making the “Organized Chaos” album forever – heck, I even have a cover made for it – and I definitely want to record it sometime soon. I’ve already got beats lined up for it as well as a few song ideas I’ve written but haven’t recorded… so I’m sure it will come out at some point.
Most of my focus these days, though, is on launching Non Juan. He’s starting to get a buzz as an “Unofficial Spokesman” as well as regular business, plus I use him to create most of my parody songs now. I think that as Non Juan comes more into focus, the A.P.T. side of music will become more of a hobby and less of the main focus of my life…
Regardless of what happens, though, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time doing music. People spend their whole lives hoping to get put on in music, trying their darndest to make that one record or one song that changes their lives. I was blessed to have been able to do it by my 5th song (i.e. within 1 month of officially starting my music video journey) and for that I am forever grateful. Here’s hoping for even more success in the future, however it may come!
On Monday, Rihanna released a remix to her unfinished album track, “Birthday Cake,” featuring none other than her ex-boyfriend and abuser, Chris Brown.
Having heard about this collaboration, I couldn’t help but think of another female recording artist who also used to get beat up by her male collaborator. So, I decided to put together a little video imagining what that studio session might have been like…
I put it up on YouTube. 24 hours later, it was already at 1800 views. Then it got placed on www.WorldStarHipHop.com where, as of right now, it’s at 90,000 views and counting.
A good majority of people found the video to be hilarious (and how could they not – I basically just re-dubbed the scene in “What’s Love Got to Do With It” where Tina Turner gets slapped around in the studio by Ike). However, there have been a large amount of people that thought the video was not funny (my brother being one of those people, lol).
Specifically, they said it was “dark,” “disturbing,” and “wrong.” They also thought it was something that shouldn’t be joked about. To all those people, I say…
WELL, DUH!
Of COURSE this video is dark, disturbing and wrong – but that’s the POINT of the video!
Look, people: it’s been 3 years since Rihanna got beat up by Chris Brown. Since that time many people in the public eye have been able to forgive Chris for what he did and listen to his music again, and that’s fine. I know God teaches forgiveness, and the man shouldn’t have to be chastised for the event everywhere he goes.
BUT…
What I’ve had a problem with is OTHER people treating the incident as a less-than-serious event. The majority of people who have made comments about not liking my video have been Chris Brown fans. These are the same fans who, in the last couple of weeks, have placed comments on CB sites saying things like “Chris Brown is so fine, he can beat my ass up anytime!” or “Beat me up, Chris, I love you!”
To me, these types of comments aren’t funny. Even LESS funny is that the victim of his abuse, Rihanna, has also started treating that incident as a “non-event.” She could’ve dang near died at his hands in the car that night – but, lo and behold, 3 years later and there she is in pics with him again, hugging up lookin’ all cozy, while flipping off the camera in photos as if to say, “Yeah, I know y’all don’t think I should be around him, but F–K YOU!”
What she fails to see, perhaps as the result of being too love-struck to care, is that abuse is based on a pattern of events. Once those patterned events start happening again (i.e. small arguments, then small fights, then big fights, etc.), it won’t be hard for an incident such as the one in the above video come to fruition.
Anyway… that’s why I made the video: it’s more or less a humorous (or “not-so-humorous” depending on your view) warning to her about what COULD happen if she keeps acting like Chris won’t try to hurt her again. He may not, but why take the risk?
- A.P.T.
P.S. Oh yeah – someone on my YouTube page made the comment that “domestic violence isn’t funny.” They’re right, it’s not. But situational irony is. This is more or less playing out like the Ike & Tina story, which everyone knows about. The fact that Rihanna knows that story yet doesn’t feel the need to learn from it is pretty funny (and sad) to me. Blame it on my years of watching “South Park,” LoL.
During the week when I’m not working on a project, I’m usually playing “Words With Friends” on Facebook. I play it so much that I figured it would be worth me making a song about.
Writing the song itself fun; making the beat for it, though, was a chore. I wanted to use sound effects from the game to make the beat, but couldn’t find them available for download anywhere online. So, I had to go through the daunting task of playing the game against myself and recording the sounds as they came up.
The main sound in the song – which you first hear when the song opens up – was the last one I tried to get. I heard the sound once while playing, then couldn’t seem to get it to pop back up when I wanted to record it. I didn’t figure out until late in the process that I could get the sound by simply starting a game then resigning. Go figure.
Anyway… so, aside from the base drum and clap sound, every other sound – from the tapping to the bubbling up tile regeneration sound – are from the game. Once I got the beat, it was just a matter of figuring out what I wanted to talk about specifically in reference to how I play the game.
I’ve gotten into the habit now of taking more time when editing my songs. I’ll write a complete song, then sit on it for a minute and see if I can go back and take out things that were just okay to make room for something better. With that said, I re-wrote parts of this song quite a few times just to make sure I had a song that was funny and getting my point across (about just how much I like/play this game).
Some Interesting Song Tidbits:
1. I wrote this song at the very end of the week. How can you tell? The last line of the song has a mention to Don Cornelius’ passing. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you what the line is…
INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO:
I didn’t have much time to really create the video I wanted to create, especially since I had shot another video that week (for my “Rack City” parody, “Black President”) and didn’t really want to edit together another video involving a plot.
That’s why the majority of this video is just me standing in my room rapping the song, with the occasional shot here and there of different things happening. As I have discovered time and time again, though, even the most simplistic of videos take a while to edit. Between the 1-shot take of me rapping the song and the various pics used, I still put in a good 5 or 6 hours completing this video. Eh, go figure.
Anyway… that’s all for this week’s video. Check it out and enjoy!
