Above: My “Obama Milli Remix” song, with graphic by Brandon James.
Well, by now everyone who hasn’t been asleep for the last 6 hours has heard the news: Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center back on September 11, 2001, was finally killed by U.S. troops in Pakistan, where he was hiding out in a mansion.
Much credit has to go to the troops on the ground who were able to trap him inside by fire, then go in and get the job done. It’s been a long 10 years and it took many operations, careful planning, allying with allies that weren’t always so welcoming to us, percision and swiftness.
Most importantly, though, it took a competent leader to command the troops on when to move in. A leader who, after listening to months/weeks of intel from his army, had to choose the precise moment to give his men the “okay” to attack.
And that man, my friends, was none other than President Barack Hussein Obama.
Because of him and the brave men and women serving our country overseas, this threat was taken down in a swift manner that saw NONE of our troops get killed in the process. It is a testement to both the great leadership of this country and the training provided by our military that an operation of such high magnitude went off, in the end, without a hitch.
Back when George Bush Jr. was President, I made a prediction that he would win a second term. I didn’t think he necessarily deserved it, nor did I (or many other people for that matter) think he was doing that good of a job. However, it was during his first term that another dangerous threat to the U.S. – Sadaam Hussein – was captured. At that moment, I knew there’d be no chance he could lose.
With the killing of Osama, President Obama has all but secured his second term in office. The election is 18 months away, and the immediate effect of his actions today will be less then than they are now. However, just the fact that he was able to keep a MAJOR campaign promise (he said he’d kill Osama while on the campaign trail), one that was so important and dear to the hearts of all Americans who lived through the 9/11 time period (and even moreso for those whose relatives and friends didn’t survive the attacks) is going to make voters place him back into the White House for 4 more years.
And I, for one, am VERY happy about that. It means we get to have a competent Black man in office for a few more years, which is definitely not a BAD thing. Plus, everytime stuff like this happens, the sales of my song go up in iTunes. So thank you, Mr. President, for helping this country’s morale today AND for increasing the money in my pocket at the same time!
Well, I’m exhausted. After almost 3 months of making new videos, I’ve decided to take a break for a while. I’ve got some other things going on that will be taking up most of my time so, in terms of music videos and YouTube videos, I’ll be chillaxing a bit.
I may have one or two more videos dropping depending on if I have time, but seeing as the majority of songs on “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back” already have videos for them, I should be good for now.
I’ll still be updating this site with various blogs, though, so you’ll still be able to read up on what I’m up to. That’s all for now!
JOIN ME ON USTREAM TUESDAY, MAY 18TH 2010 AT 4:30 PM PACIFIC (7:30 PM EASTERN), FOR A LIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT MY NEW ALBUM,
“THE OBAMA MILLI REMIX GUY STRIKES BACK!” Follow me at http://www.ustream.tv/aptsongs
—
—
I performed on Saturday! It was great!
Yep, after 4 long months, I finally emerged from my cocoon to perform at the Zabumba Bar and Restaurant in Culver City. I invited some of my friend to come see me a few days before…
…and then it dawned on me that I needed to actually practice before going on stage!
So, I spent two days practicing with T. Whistle (a.k.a. my performing partner-in-crime) to make sure we had the songs and stage movements down. By the time Saturday evening came, my voice was starting to go a bit, so I drank a LOT of tea and saved my voice for the performance.
But I digress! It was great! About 13 of my friends showed up – most of whom had gone to Hampton with me, so it was like a mini-reunion – and I was the opening act. I got up on stage and RIPPED through a couple of songs from my already released album, “Attack of the Obama Milli Remix Guy!” – “What Had Happen Was” and “Obama Milli Remix” – before getting into two songs off the NEW album, “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back!” – “I Knock Your Lights Out” and “No U Ain’t.”
The crowd was energetic, the ladies were pretty hot, and by the end of each song they were all chanting the choruses – a good sign that I’m on the right path in terms of song creation.
Now that I’ve performed, though, I’m actually eager to do it in some more places. It’s definitely good promo for the album – coming out June 8 – and it’s just fun to be able to get on stage and rock out!
That’s all for now – be sure to join me tomorrow on uStream, where I’ll be discussing particulars of the album. I’m OUT!
JOIN ME ON USTREAM TUESDAY, MAY 18TH 2010, FOR A LIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT MY NEW ALBUM,
“THE OBAMA MILLI REMIX GUY STRIKES BACK!” Follow me at http://www.ustream.tv/aptsongs
—
—
In gearing up for my album – “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back,” out June 8th, 2010 – I’ve been going through tracks and trying to cut down the amount of songs on the album.
Now, in this day of and age of music where an artist can post up their own songs on iTunes, one could technically post up however many songs they want to, collectively, on ONE album. The service I use allows you to post up an album for $46.99, and the LIMIT for the amount of songs you can put on that album is – are you ready for this? – one HUNDRED songs.
A new artist might look at this and think: “Oh man oh man, that’s AWESOME! I can put up an album of 100 songs, and it’ll only cost the buyer 9.99?!? I’m going to post ALL my songs up right now!”
And logically speaking, it would appear, at first, to make sense. After all, $9.99 is a BARGAIN to pay for so many songs.
BUT…
An artist who did that would be lucky to sell even ONE album.
Placing TOO many tracks on an album – especially for an artist that’s unestablished – is a DEATH sentence for your career.
A few things new artists should consider:
Music is a activity of choice and time. When someone sees your name or hears about your music, they are making 2 choices: (a) whether or not they want to get to know your stuff, and (b) how much time they want to invest getting to know you.
If they don’t know you, they don’t want to hear much from you. This is why when record companies have a new artist, they start off by releasing ONE single at a time. It’s a way for them to say: “We have an artist you might like. We know you don’t want to hear a lot of music from this unknown artist, but give this ONE song a chance. If you like it, there is more, and we can tell you where to get it.”
If someone DOES like the ONE song you put out, they may want to test out more of your stuff by buying your album… but if there are too many songs or it’s too long, their brain starts thinking about how much time they’ll have to spend with you (via listening to your album) and they may back off.
Remember: things often work the OPPOSITE of the way we think they should. One assumes that offering more songs at a discounted price would make people want to buy their stuff, when in actuality they’d be better off putting together an album of 10 to 12 songs. The possible consumer will see the album and, instead of thinking:
“Aw, this album doesn’t have enough songs on it! I’m not gonna buy it at all!”
They will think:
“Hmm, a new artist, eh? Well, I liked that one song… I guess I could buy it. It’s only 10 songs – what’s that, like 35 minutes? I can spare some time listening to this!”
As for me… well, I’ve had a hit song, and I’ve released an album on iTunes, “Attack of the Obama Milli Remix Guy!” That album was 12 songs long, which sprawls out to about 46 minutes. It’s long enough so people think they’re getting a good deal, but not so long that people will start to get bored with me. Yes, I’m an artist and I think my songs are the shiznit, but I also know that, after a while, no matter how good an artist is, people are going to want to listen to someone else.
And if they just want to listen to my stuff? Well, having a shorter amount of songs will leave them wanting for more, which only helps me to sell the NEXT album (coming in… oh, wait, let me get this NEW one out the door first before I start talking about THAT)!
JOIN ME ON USTREAM TUESDAY, MAY 18TH 2010, FOR A LIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT MY NEW ALBUM,
“THEOBAMA MILLI REMIX GUYSTRIKES BACK!” Follow me at http://www.ustream.tv/aptsongs
- – - – -
Over the past 2 years I, Aaron P. Taylor (a.k.a. A.P.T.), have learned a lot about how to put together songs and music videos that grab people’s attention and gets lots of views. It’s the reason I’m able to get people to buy my music on iTunes despite getting limited radio play and not performing nearly as much as I should.
Now, if you’re an artist reading this who IS getting radio play and IS performing… but isn’t making any money… then I’m sure some of my info would be very valuable to you.
So, in the interest of… well, just wanting to help people out, I’ve decided to share a few secrets on here from time to time to help some of you upcoming artist out there get you and your songs the attention you need to start making people pay attention to you.
SECRET #1: TIMING YOUR SONG/VIDEOS WITH CURRENT EVENTS.
What do the following three videos of mine have in common:
Music video for A.P.T.’s “Obama Milli Remix”
Music video for A.P.T.’s “Imma Let U Finish” featuring Kanye West
Music video for A.P.T.’s “Kate Gosselin is a B!tch”
All of these songs/videos deal with different topics and have different rhythms. They are also 3 videos I’ve made that have garnered over 10 million, 40,000 and 27,000 views respectively.
So what’s the common link? ALL OF THESE SONGS/VIDEOS WERE RELEASED DURING TIMES WHEN THE EVENTS AROUND THEIR CREATION WERE AT PEAK INTEREST.
For example, the first video, “Obama Milli Remix,” was released almost a week after two important events back in June 2008: the choosing of Barack Obama as the Democratic National Committee’s Presidential Candidate, and the release of Lil’ Wayne’s “The Carter III” album, which was the first album in a long time to debut at number 1 with over a million copies in the first week. The CD’s most popular song, “A Milli,” was being remixed by EVERY rapper known to man. I decided to go a different route and do a parody of it. Because I knew the right time to create and release the song/music video for it, I was able to get a TON of views from it (which I continue to get from this day).
The second video, “Imma Let U Finish,” was released 3 days after Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards back in September 2009. People began posting photoshopped pictures of Mr. West interrupting other events throughout history, and I figured it would be a good idea to somehow make a song using audio snippets from his rant while using these various pics as the focal point of the video. I didn’t even appear in the video, and it’s gotten 40,000 views – not to mention the money I made off it when I placed it on iTunes!
Now, the third video is a GREAT example of knowing when to capitalize on something going on in the news. My original video for “Kate Gosselin is a B!tch” was posted up in September 2009, before the “Imma Let U Finish” video. At the time, everyone was jumping on Jon Gosselin while their divorce proceedings were going on, and I wanted to put a song out that put the focal point back on Kate – specifically, at how much of a you-know-what she was while on TLC’s “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ show.
When I first released the video, it got an okay amount of views… however, I had released it almost 3 months after their divorce had been announced, so I wasn’t getting nearly as many views as I would have liked (about 2000-3000 or so at the time).
BUT THEN, almost 6 months later, Kate became a contestant on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” And, during her first week on the show, she started getting uppity with her dance instructor. My friend from college wrote on my facebook wall how accurate my song about her was in terms of calling her out on her attitude, and it was at that point I realized that NOW was a good time to re-post the video, with clips from her DwtS spazz-out thrown in for good measure.
Sure enough, I did. In the first 2 weeks alone, the video received over 20,000 views (now currently at 27,000).
As you can see, if you’re well-read and caught up on major current events going on, you can make songs about those subjects that, if entertaining enough, will draw people to your material. It’s really not that hard – just do what I do: go to Yahoo, find a news story you find interesting (I find most of mine in the “Entertainment” section), and figure out a creative way to express your feelings about said subject. If you do it enough times, people will start looking forward to your videos and will tell their friends all about “this awesome artist who ALWAYS gives their opinion on things going on in the world in an entertaining way.”
—
Well, that’s the only tip I have for today. As we speak, I’m working on TWO songs/videos dealing with things that are either happening this weekend or are on-going. Either way, both videos are sure to get me lots of views, which is what I need since I’m promoting my upcoming album, “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back!” (Available June 8, 2010, at online retailers everywhere.) I’ll keep u all posted on their progress!
Okay, so prior to me having this whole resurgence in blogging, I was neglecting this site for quite some time. I didn’t have much product coming out, either musically or with videos, so I didn’t do a whole lot of maintenance on this site.
Now that I’ve been at this site more often, I’ve noticed something: all of the links to my FREE mixtapes are no longer working!
I posted the majority of the mixtapes up via zshare.net which, at the time, only stored up mixtapes at their links for as long as people were downloading them. If no one downloads from said link(s) for over 60 days, they take down the link.
Well, the last mixtape I uploaded was in April 2009. The project ended the very next month and, aside from 2 or 3 more videos, I didn’t blog much here or give people a reason to check the site. So, people stopped downloading my mixtapes from the links, and they eventually expired
I didn’t think anyone would be interested in downloading my old mixtapes. Not that they’re really THAT old – only about a year or so – but I just figured the fans would be searching out for newer material. It just dawned on me, though, that if those fans hadn’t heard those mixtapes yet, the music would STILL be new to them.
So, will I be posting the mixtapes back up on the site again?
Eh. I haven’t decided. Truthfully, there is an advantage to not posting them back up – namely, I can re-use some of the lyrics from those songs and post them on “new” songs with beats that I own or can use in a sellable song (as opposed to when the songs were on the mixtapes with beats made famous by someone else, meaning I can’t sell the song unless I get resale rights that I can’t currently afford).
However, there is something to be said about giving people new (old) music to hear to tide them over while waiting for my NEW album, “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back” to come out on June 8th. Hmm…
Hypothetically, if I DO decide to put them back up, I’ll have to find a more reliable source to post them where they won’t be taken down so easily. I’ll do some research on it and see what’s what.
In the meantime, I’ve got some EXCITING musical ideas and videos to share with the fans, some of which will be dropping very, VERY soon. But I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s blog – adios!
Today’s video is for the song, “Frontin’ in L.A.” (beat by Mister K.A. beats).
INSIGHT INTO A SONG:
Aaaaaand I’m back!
So, I’ve been in song-writing mode for a while now, and I’m putting together a new album called “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back!” I’ve been recording on professional equipment, courtesy of my new roommate.
However, my roommate left town for a couple of days, and took his equipment with him. While he was gone, I began thinking of song ideas, one of which became this song, “Frontin’ in L.A.”
I was listening through some of the beats I’ve collected on various online sites, and came across a beat by Mister K.A. beats that stuck out to me. I didn’t know what the song topic would be, but I know I wanted to use the beat. Then – literally, out of nowhere – I thought of a chorus:
“The cars, the clothes, the jewels, it’s nothin/’Cause everybody out in L.A. stay frontin’/Wooooo!”
As for the topic idea, I think it actually stemmed from a conversation I had with a friend of mine in Hollywood whose been getting his grind on heavy. I won’t divulge names (Hollywood is already a gossipy enough town, and you never know who knows who), but my friend told me that a particular person who used to be pretty well-known had just asked him for money to pay his rent. I thought this person was doing pretty well, so it was shocking to hear that this person had asked my friend for funds.
And that’s not the first time I’ve heard of that happening. There are so many stories of famous people who, upon first glance, seem to be doing well… until a story comes out about them being bankrupt, or being involved in some type of money scandal. Then you realize just how much of a front people really put on out here in Holly-weird!
I thought it would be a good topic to do a song about. In the year and 3 months I’ve been here, I’ve learned all about how phony people here make their lives out to be just so they can put up the smoke-screen of “success.” It’s just the way the game is played out here, people!
Some Interesting Song Tidbits:
1. There are SO many truthful statements in this song. Just a short list:
I have been on video sets with “stars” who don’t have much money
Anytime you ask someone “So, what do YOU do?” they always feel the need to come up with an answer that’s impressive
Statements I hear WAY too much: “I’m working on various projects;” “I know so-and-so” (why am I supposed to care?); and the oh-so popular “My project is about to BLOW!!” Yeah, it BLOWS, alright…
I have gone to clubs to perform where I had to put on the “costume jewelry,” i.e. the Folex watch, the $10 chain
I WAS in a Tyler Perry movie – “Meet the Browns” – as an extra in the school basketball scene
2. I downloaded this beat last year. I was going to lease it, but didn’t have the money at the time. It has since been purchased, meaning I can’t legally sell the song. I may end up recording it over another beat, or just releasing it for free…
INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT
So, after I wrote the song, I was going to put up another simplistic video, much like I did with “Mini Me.” But for some reason… I don’t know WHY I was needing to look up Tiger Woods’ recent Nike commercial, but I was, and I started thinking: “Hmm, maybe I could use the part where his Dad asked him if he learned anything, and use it as a way of segueing into what I’ve learned about people frontin’ in L.A…”
I set up my camera in front of my green screen, dressed up in some clothes similar to what Tiger wore in his commercial (hat, vest, nice dress shirt), and filmed it. Then I downloaded some pics to fit certain parts of the song, pasted them all together, then made the whole thing black-and-white. Oh, and I also added in captioning so people could read the lyrics to the song.
It all sounds pretty simple, but editing this thing together probably took me a good 6 to 8 hours. It made me remember why I’ve taken such a long break from making videos, but it was worth it for the end result!
Some Interesting Video Tidbits:
1. I decided to go with the chipmunk-sounding voice over as a contrast to the deep voice Tiger’s dad had in his commercial.
2. The REAL reason I used captions? I wasn’t able to use my roommate’s studio mic, and had to go back to my USB radio mic. It’s an okay mic, but it doesn’t always catch the end of words well, despite my excellent enunciation. So, I put them in to make sure people knew what I was saying.
3. Also: I used pics in certain places because I had only finished recording the song the day before, and didn’t really know it. So, on the parts where I messed up the wording, I could use pictures.
4. Because I didn’t know the words that well, I had to print them out and place them on the top of the camera. However, I couldn’t make it look like I was reading the words, so I placed the camera farther away from myself. The words were placed above the lens.
5. There are several pics in this video with me and celebrities. Specifically:
There’s a pic with me and the guy who played “Mini Me” (taken at a Playboy Mansion party I attended – for FREE)
There’s a pic with me interviewing former music video vixen Vida Guerra (whose name I pronounced incorrectly – thanks a LOT, Game!)
There’s a pic with me and The Archbishop Don “Magic” Juan
I placed them in the video, not to show off, but to stress the point: all of these people are famous… however, that does NOT mean they’re rich, or well-off financially. That’s all part of the “front.”
6. The picture used on the line “How else u gonna score an L.A. chick” is Jovana, who I went to college with and now lives out here. (And, in case you’re curious, her dress is yellow – but u can’t tell that since she’s in black-and-white.)
Aaaaaand that’s it! Okay, so I’m clearly doing videos again. This time, though, there’s no schedule for them – I may put another one tomorrow or next week or next month – but they’re all leading up to videos for my upcoming album, “The Obama Milli Remix Guy Strikes Back!”
This week’s video (if you can call it that) is for the song “Ambition (Remix)” off “The Great Black Hope” album!
AVAILABLE ON “THE GREAT BLACK HOPE” ALBUM – Click HERE for download info!
INSIGHT INTO A SONG:
There’s really not too much insight into how this song came about. These two guys, whose performance names are Z-man and T-Bone, wrote me and asked if I’d be willing to do a song with them. They told me to check out their music page and listen to their songs; if I heard one I liked, I could message them back and request the beat and song so I could jump on the song.
When I checked out their page, the first song I heard was a track called “Ambition.” I liked the lyrics to the song and the concept – they were talking about making it in the music biz despite all odds since they had the drive – and, since the title of my album was called “The Great Black Hope,” I figured it would be a perfect fit.
On my end, I kept their lyrics in the first two verses, then placed my verse at the end. It actually didn’t take me long at all to think up the words making up my 16 bars. I just talked about the stuff I had gone through over the years while trying to get on, all the way up to the “Obama Milli” song, which, against all odds, was played worldwide. Thus, my story shows off how success IS possible if your ambition is strong enough and you don’t give up.
Some Interesting Song Insights:
1. At the end of the song, I was going to mention the group’s myspace name… but it was too long, and at the time I was going to say it, I couldn’t pronounce it. So, I did like I said in the song: I put them in my Top 8 so people who hear the song can just go to my page and click on their picture!
2. When I got the track, the original one didn’t sound mastered properly. Luckily, I have a program that allows me to tweak sounds and make things sound better. On their page, they have the original “Ambition” posted as well as the one I did, and the clarity and spiffiness of the sound is very apparent.
3. My favorite line is one people probably won’t even get. It’s the part where I say “Philip Banks security threw me out on the lawn (AAAAAAA!)” On the show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Will’s friend Jazzy Jeff was always getting thrown out of the house by Philip Banks. Hopefully that reference isn’t too “Old School!”
INSIGHT INTO A MUSIC VIDEO:
Actually, for this week it’s more like “Insight into an unmade video!”
After 41 videos, it’s starting to get hard to think up ideas for videos all the time within the given time frame of a week. Especially when most of those videos involve me and only me.
This particular week was made more difficult by the fact that I had other things to do in terms of other sites I’m setting up. In addition, the time I would have spent editing today was spent doing an interview for a TV show pilot…
But realistically, I hate excuses, and I’m sure I could have filmed a video earlier in the week and edited it. I should be more prepared and stop doing things last minute, especially now that I’m starting to gain some momentum out here in Holly-weird…
With that said, though, I couldn’t put up nothing at all, as the commitment was to do a video each week for a year. (Technically, I could take a two-week break, as there were two weeks when I did two videos and am ahead a bit). I wanted to post up a song that I didn’t have too much of an idea for a video for, yet was still good enough to warrant posting up.
Then I remembered the “Ambition” song I did. I had guest rappers on the song, and they live in a different state. Therefore, I couldn’t have them in the video, and I couldn’t think of a “video” video I could do to it. So, I figured I’d post it up.
BUT…
I didn’t want to just post up a blank screen. So, I filmed the footage of the tape recorded “Family Guy” used this week when they went all postal on Christian Bale’s ass by re-using his rant. Seemed like a good thing to use when just playing a song!
Some Interesting Video Tidbits:
1. I was actually going to use another song this week, and use the Christian Bale rant in-between the song. But honestly, it would have stretched the video out to almost 7 minutes, the song wouldn’t have been continuous, and I would have ended up filming another video for it anyway. Besides, I HAVE an idea for that particular song, so I’ll be doing THAT one next week.
2. Estimated edit time: ha! Barely under an hour. But again, it’s not really a “video” video!
That’s all for now! Only 10 (real) videos left to go – see ya next week!
Now that I’ve gotten a bit of a fanbase, there are people out there who have requested some of my videos for download so they can re-post it on their YouTube site. So, I’ve decided to test this idea by allowing some of my videos to be downloadable for FREE!
Below are 7 of my more popular videos along with the download links, including the oh-so-popular “Obama Milli” video and the “Goodbye Bush (Na Na Na)” video!
All I ask is that you do the following when reposting:
Post “A.P.T.” and the song’s title in the title line and in the keywords section
Provide the link to my website – www.APTsongs.Wordpress.com – either on the right side of the YouTube page or in an annotation on the video
That you post the video as it was originally made – no alterations, please!
Feel free to send me an e-mail at aptsongs@hotmail.com to let me know you’ve reposted it!
Assuming these videos get a good amount of people downloading and reposting them, I’ll put up some of the other ones later on! (Note: if you have a request for a video not yet available for download, send me a message at aptsongs@hotmail.com!)
This week’s video is for the song, “What Had Happen Was,” produced by ME!
Available on A.P.T.’s “The Great Black Hope” album – Click HERE for download info!
INSIGHT INTO A SONG:
During the time I was coming up with songs for “The Great Black Hope” album, I was still living in Northern VA, working as a server at Chili’s Restaurant. There’s a lot of downtime at these jobs when the server is waiting for a customer, especially near the beginning of a shift, and it was during these times I would either walk around thinking up song lyrics or talking to some of my co-workers.
One afternoon, I walked into the kitchen area to find a fellow server named Joe telling a story about something that had happened at a party the night before.He began the story by saying: “Well, what had happen was…”
I don’t know what it was, but something in the way he said it made me (a) laugh, and (b) think it would be a good idea for a song.I’ve heard that phrase hundreds of times, but this was the first time I heard it said that made me think it would make for a great chorus!
After he said it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day.I kept repeating it over and over again in my head – “What had happen was… what had happen was…” – and eventually made it into a full-on chorus that was catchy!
What made it even better is that I already had a beat in mind for the chorus – it was a jazzy-type beat I had already made using a horn sample I’d gotten from one of my brother’s friends favorite musicians.The part where the verses would go were beat-box like while the chorus was a long, drawn out horn, with a drum pattern that would definitely fit the groove of the song!
Once I have a chorus and a beat down for a song, I HAVE to make it into a song.With a title idea like “What Had Happen Was,” I thought about going in a few directions.The first one was to have each verse tell a mini-story of something that goes wrong, and when someone asks me about it, I’d go into the “what had happen was” chorus.The second idea was to have the song be one long story, where each part of the story would coincide with things happening during one day.Something would go wrong in each segment, with the chorus once again being me reiterating the same sentiment.
But, neither of those ideas were fully developed, and I was having a hard time thinking up a story/scenario to write about.So, I marinated on the idea for 3 weeks while I wrote other songs.
Finally – like, one day before I decided to record it, and about 3 days before the album was to be released, I came up with an idea!
Actually, part of the idea came from a conversation I had with my Mom about girls and dating.I think I asked her a question about why some girls don’t mind dating a guy even when, while chasing after his dream, he doesn’t have a lot of money.To which she replied: “Some girls can just sense when a man is about something, and can see that he’ll be successful later on based on how driven he is.”
That got me thinking about the past year, where I had already been successful doing things many of the girls back in college never thought I’d actually do (get a song on radio, be interviewed, make music videos, etc.).Then, it dawned on me that I was able to do all this stuff despite not having any connections to the music industry OR radio people.
THEN, I started thinking about all the people who DO have those types of connections, yet still aren’t (a) famous, or (b) at the very least having a song of theirs played on worldwide radio. And, in thinking about what their response would be if I were to ask them what their excuse for all this was, the only answer I could see them coming up with was…
“What had happen was… what had happen was…”
THAT’s when I knew I had a song idea!
The song is split up into 5 parts, with the first three verses being 8 bars, the breakdown verse being 8 bars, and the last verse being 16 bars.
In the first verse, I talk about how much drive I have, as evident by making videos with a small Kodak instead of being lazy like other MCs.
In the second verse, I mention how I was able to get noticed unlike other MCs who, despite their connections with DJs who promote them, still aren’t that well-known.
In the third verse, I talk about “Obama Milli” (you KNOW I had to) and how, despite my less-than-stellar recording equipment, I was able to do what most MCs who are signed can’t even do: get radio play, ringtones made, and club heads boppin’ to my song, WITHOUT having to do much advertising.
In the breakdown, I go through a litany of excuses non-successful people use, and tell them to get over it because ALL people who become successful go through problems too.
In the fourth verse – the longest of the 5 – I breakdown the REAL reason they’re using excuses, mention the line my Mom told me about “ladies sensing when a man is about something,” give them a verbal jabbing about how much “bread” I have (not completely true yet, but I’m getting closer than they are!),and mentioning to them one more time that, if I could go from broke to not broke, they have no REAL excuse.
The song is JAMMIN’, and one of my favorite ones off my new album, “The Great Black Hope!”
Some Interesting Song Tidbits:
1.Now that I’m getting attention to my videos, I’m beginning to think about branding, i.e. what companies I’d like to sponsor me once I create a new music website.One of them is Kodak – for all my videos I’ve used their camera, and would like them to know about it.That’s why, when I do my credits on my videos now, I mention that the camera I’m using is by Kodak.There’s a line in this song where I say: “I make videos that’s been seen by millions/All from a Kodak.”Now I know why rappers mention products in their song – it’s good promotion for both the company and the artist!
2. The line in the second verse where I say: “How the heck your sorry behind still on the block/When you had DJ so-and-so yellin’ your name…” is in reference to the hundreds of MCs I see on TV who have a well-recognized DJ that’s supporting them (no specific names, ‘cause a LOT of DJs do this) and saying “OMG, they’re the next best thing coming out!”… yet those artists never drop an album because, though they might be a good freestyle MC, they can’t make a good single to save their lives.Meanwhile, I’ve made at LEAST 38, with two of them getting high recognition!
3. I mentioned “Obama Milli” in the 3rd verse for a few reasons: (a) because EVERYBODY knows me for that song; (b) because people always ask me how I recorded it (which is mentioned briefly in this verse); and (c) because there are people making songs in expensive studios who can’t even get their Momma to play it, while my lil’ home recording got played in different countries.Seems like a good thing to mention when talking about my success!
4. My favorite line in the song: “I gets that dough, that cake, that bread…”To hear the rest of the line, play the video!!
INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:
It took me a couple of weeks before I figured out how I wanted the video for this song to look.Then, it dawned on me: since it’s a video motivating people to make their own success, why not do it like one of those “You Can Do It, TOO!” DVDs/programs!
So, that’s what I did: I set it up to look like a motivational DVD, where “successful A.P.T.” is giving a motivational talk to the viewer AND to the unsuccessful musician in the video, “thug A.P.T.”Yes, people, I get to be a thug!I didn’t think I could pull it off, but now that I’ve grown a beard I almost look authentic playing one!
The shots were very easy: I did a take of me sitting at a table for the first verse, in front of a microwave for the second verse, on the couch for the third verse, at a piano keyboard for the fourth verse, at a laid-back rocking chair for the fifth verse, then back to the kitchen table for the outro.
Mixed in with that footage are shots of me in thug pose, reacting to what “successful A.P.T.” is saying.I also wanted to throw in some hilarious footage of “thug A.P.T.” as it pertained to lyrics in the song.Thus: the shot of me looking “bummy” while reading a Playboy magazine; a shot of me recording with a studio mic; and a shot of me knocking on a door “outside, beggin’ to get fed.”
And, to give it that video feel, I added in some grainy effects in post-production!
Overall, this was a fun video shoot! I haven’t done a video with a “real” plot since video #34 (“Can’t Leave Rap Alone”), and I hope you all enjoy it!
Some Interesting Video Shoot Tidbits:
1. Near the end of the video, there is some fancy footwork going on where I shot my feet doing dance moves. They’re pretty impressive, and they’re done by me – no dance doubles necessary!
2. There’s a shot of me banging on the door outside.I had to shoot this twice because, in the first take, you can see my apartment number.Definitely do NOT need people to know where I live!
3. The “doo rag” on “Thug A.P.T.’s” head is actually a black shirt. Gotta work with what I have, man!
4. For the microwave shot, I was able to place a camera in there AND a bowl of oatmeal because the microwave has a shelf in the middle.And yes, that is REAL oatmeal – it’s my favorite snack!(And, for those of you who know me and might be curious to ask: NO, there is no applesauce in there – I had used the last of it on a previous oatmeal bowl L )
5. As you can tell, I’m not actually playing the keyboard in the video.Come to think of it, there aren’t any keyboard or piano sounds in the song.Why the heck did I make that shot?!?
6. The picture of the microphone in the video is the actual one I’ve been using since December 2007.It’s main purpose is actually for talk radio recordings, but it does a decent job of recording my song for now…
7. …speaking of: the studio mic used by “Thug A.P.T.” is a REAL studio mic I own.However, my Compaq Presario isn’t built to handle the amount of power it takes to use, so – until I get a MAC – it’s just sitting around…
8. The Playboy magazine in the video is the ONLY girlie magazine I own.I don’t really like to pay for porn (they get my money, and – aside from good visuals – they give me nothing in return).However, the issue in question had the beautiful Garcelle Beauvais in it (she played Foxy in “The Jamie Foxx Show”), and interviews with Paul Rudd and Chris Tucker, who hadn’t done a magazine interview in YEARS.Wow – I really DID buy it for the article!!
9. Editing this video was a NIGHTMARE. I got up early – 8 AM – so I’d have time to edit it, and it took me almost ALL DAY due to my computer either stalling, not wanting to start, slowing down, or not playing back a part of the video after I had added a clip. I can’t stress this enough people – I. NEED. A. MAC. Send your donations!
That’s all for now – Only 14 more videos left to go! See ya next Sunday!
