Hey, wait a minute: where’s the video? Oh, wait, that’s right – YOU CAN’T SEE IT!
So, I woke up this morning to upload an ad for my album, “The A.P.T. LP” onto YouTube. Imagine my surprise, then, when I go to click on my YouTube page… only to find that it’s been disabled!
Yep! They disabled it. ALL my videos were taken down, and my account was suspended.
Why? Well, after reading through the site’s terms of use, I think I may have broken quite a few rules, including:
Using other people’s copyrighted works (i.e. any remixes I did to other people’s songs without their expressed written permission)
Using the site to advertise my projects for the purpose of making money (i.e. telling people how much my album was vs. just telling them where to get it without mentioning price).
So… talk about bad timing! I mean, I JUST released my album yesterday, and now all my videos and ads for it have been taken down!
Oddly enough, I’m not frustrated about it… yet. I think for right now I’m more in the “What step do I take next” mode. The first thing I’ll probably do is open up another account and try to repost some of the videos with original content. The only thing that sux is, I had so many subscribers on my channel, and now I’m essentialy going back down to zero.
On the plus side, I have a lot of MySpace friends now, so I’ll probably just work on cultivating more of them. And, for future videos/content, I’ll know to only film or release stuff that I personally own. So, in essence, it’s a learning experience, and at the end of the day, I’m just glad I didn’t get sued!
I’ll keep you all posted – in the meantime, get the album, “The A.P.T. LP!” Only 5.99 for the MP3, 7.99 for the CD!
This week’s music video is for the song “Tha Hood vs. The ‘Burbs” (Produced by ME!)
INSIGHT INTO THE SONG:
This is one of those songs I created backwards. Usually I’ll have a song idea and try to either make or create a beat to go along with it. In this case, I was messing around on my Fruity Loops program and created the beat, and, in the process of doing so, came up with the song, “Tha Hood vs. The ‘Burbs.”
The song came about because I was tired of hearing people complain about how hard life was for people living in low-income areas, more commonly referred to as “the ‘hood.” People always assume that those living with little money are the only ones with problems. However, as a person who grew up in the suburbs, I knew that there were just as many issues being faced by suburbanites as there were for people in the hood.
Growing up, I lived a fairly privileged life: I lived in a planned community, went to private schools (high school and college), and have been very good at keeping the amount of drama in my life to a minimum. Even so, hardships hit people in the ‘burbs just as bad as people from the hood. My Dad died when I was nine; I got sick a LOT as a kid; and, because I didn’t think like most of my peers (especially when it came to doing stupid stuff), I got teased a LOT.
Furthermore, it was hard to get along with other black kids, who were either trying to act like they were hard (courtesy of their perceived ideas on what it meant to be “black” – thanks, rap videos!), or who grew up in the hood and thought I was trying to act White simply because I spoke good. Er, spoke “well” – did u catch that?
Anyway, with all this life experience, I figured it would make good fodder for a song.
Some Interesting Song Tidbits:
1. There’s a line in the song where I say: “Down south in Virginia, born and raised/In the suburbs is where I spent most of my days.” It’s a play off a line from the opening of Will Smith’s TV show, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (“In West Philadelphia, born and raised/on the playground is where I spent most of my days…”). I don’t think Mr. Smith gets the recognition he deserves for bringing rap to the forefront of people’s consciousness via his family-friendly raps, so this line is a shout-out!
2. All the stuff I mentioned about either me or my brother’s experiences growing up in the suburbs are true. Our neighbor from across the street had a daughter around my age whom he didn’t want playing with my brother and I because we were Black. (Our Mom told us to respect her parents wishes, so we stopped playing with her for 2 days. She wanted to hang out with us so badly, though, that her parents finally relented. I think they were shocked that we were actually respecting their wishes!)
And the incident with my brother happened more than once while he attended James Madison University. He’d be a passenger in a car full of white people, and the car would be pulled over so cops could search him – and ONLY him – for drugs. Ain’t that f–ked up?!?
3. My favorite line in the song: “(In the hood) Whole neighborhoods get shot up/(In the ‘burbs) Whole colleges get shot up!” It’s tragic, but it’s funny when you think about it!
INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:
I actually shot a video for this earlier in the year, back when I had grown my hair out for 6 months. I was on my way to get my hair cut off, which meant I would have to go back to my ol’ stomping grounds, Campbellton Road. For those of you not from ATL, this road is like a dividing line between the hood and Black suburbia. When I first moved here I live in a basement apartment on the suburban side of Campbellton; however, whenever I had to catch the bus or go grocery shopping, I had to walk a block up the street to the ghetto portion.
I live in Midtown now, which is much nicer area, but since this was the only place I knew of that had a barber shop I liked, I decided to head back to the ghetto and get my hair cut. Whilst doing so, I figured, “hey, why not get a video of yourself getting your hair cut?”
Then, while I was on the train, I said, “hey, why don’t you film a video for your hood vs. burbs song?”
For the video, I wanted to do a contrast from what people normally expect when they think about the hood. People’s minds automatically go to gun shoot-outs, drug dealers, prostitutes, and other negative images; however, having lived around it, the majority of people in the hood are much like those in the burbs: they’re decent people simply living their lives day-to-day trying to survive.
The shots I took in the video are from areas surrounding the barber shop: the grocery store, laundry mat, Chinese food place, and – of course – Church’s Chicken. You ain’t in the ghetto until you see a Church’s Chicken!
Some Interesting Video Tidbits:
1. I hadn’t got my hair cut in 6 months. The place I went to in the video was now owned by new owners – they still cut hair, but man was I surprised!
2. Amazingly, as many shots of people that I got in this video, most were unaware that I was filming. Odd, ain’t it? Guess it’s a good thing my “filming” cam is also a picture cam – most people probably aren’t even aware!
3. Check out the shot of me at the end of the video with my half-hair, half no-hair scalp!
That’s all for now – this song is on “The A.P.T. LP,” so go get it!
This project has been quite a learning experience, and a true labor of love for me! I just spent 32 hours up straight putting this album together, and a lot of hard work went into making these songs!
Here are all the important links you need to know:
*** To purchase the MP3 Version of “The A.P.T. LP” (5.99): Click HERE!
You will be greeted at my Payloadz site by three men dressed as hunchbacks named Sam. Okay, not really – but you will be able to pay and immediately get the download file for the album!
*** To purchase the CD version of “The A.P.T. LP” (7.99): Click HERE!
CDs will be shipped out every Tuesday and Friday (I don’t have a car yet, so I have to schedules these types of trips to certain days.) It will arrive in your mailbox in an envelope, which will contain a CD inside a packaging sleeve for added protection. The CD will have a cover with a list of the songs on the album.
Oh, yeah – here is a list of all the tracks on “The A.P.T. LP”:
Intro – “And the Award Goes to..”
A.P.T. (What’s My Name?)
Hooptie (Guest Appearance by S. Stephens)
What We Do
Tha Hood vs. The ‘Burbs
Smooth Talker
It’s Over
Stop Cockblockin’ (feat. Ms. Theory)
The N-word Song (a.k.a. The KKK-ramer Song)
Fly Chick
Blow It All
Skit – An Interview w/DMX (feat. Mr. Smallwood)
Bust My G.A.T.
Retirement Home
A Commentary on Each Album Track
BONUS TRACK: F–k New Orleans (feat. G.W. Bush)
I’m still working on getting each of the songs posted as an individual purchase – for right now, though, GET THE ALBUM!! It’s hot!
Ladies and gentleman… “The O-bama Mixtape” is here!
Yes, after being asked over and over again, “Hey, are you going to release a mixtape??” for the past couple of weeks, the mixtape songs have been completed!
Putting together a mixtape was HARD. Not because I didn’t have enough songs, but for the opposite reason: I had so many songs, and wanted to put all of them on this mixtape! I was going to put dang near close to 20 songs on there, but then I remembered that mixtapes are really meant to be teasers, an appetizer, if you will, for the actual album. Plus, I figured it would be nice to have more material to put out another mixtape should I decide to do so!
With that said, the mixtape will probably be 12 to 13 songs, most of which are songs I made using beats from popular songs. Most of these are NOT parodies – they are real songs I just happen to make off other people’s beats using my own flow (i.e. not purposefully copying anyone). With that said, there are 3 songs on there that are parodies: “Erectile Dysfunction” (a parody of Snoop Dogg’s “Sexual Seduction”); “I Get Honeys” (a parody of 50 Cent’s “I Get Honeys”), and – of course – “Obama, Obama” (a parody of Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli,” just in case you haven’t heard it by now!).
I also have a couple of songs on there that were produced by me that I was going to save for the album, but they use vocal samples from other recorded songs. Since I don’t own the copyrights to those songs I can’t legally sell them – but I CAN release those songs for FREE and still get people rockin’ to them! I will also probably record a few other songs this week – they may not make this mixtape, but they could always be used at a later date…
I still have some small parts to record, like the intro, the small interludes between songs, and the parts near the beginning and end of songs where I mention my upcoming album. If you think the mixtape is hot, just wait until you hear the album! (Coming out in late August – to find out the name of the album and its release date, DOWNLOAD THE MIXTAPE!! HA! Now you HAVE to get the mixtape!! But it’s free, so you might as well get it anyway!)
So, mark the date people: Sunday, July 27, 2008 – “The O-Bama Mixtape,” the hottest mixtape to be released this year!!!
MULTIPLE “Obama, Obama” Ringtones Now Available!! Preview Them HERE: “Obama, Obama” Ringtone – 2.99 *Only 1.99, this week only (July 8-15, 2008)!
Hey everybody!
Wow, what an awesome 24 hours it has been. So many good things have happened, I can’t even tell you about all of it yet, lest I end up jinxing myself.
I will say this, though: my “Obama, Obama” video AND song has started to take off. In the last week, the song has been downloaded from this site 360 times (and counting), and the video has been watched by over 35,390 people as of this typing. And that’s just on YouTube – the video has been re-posted by other people on other sites, and THOSE sites have been getting views too. I couldn’t be happier!
But for me, the better victory is the fact that my other non-parodied ORIGINAL songs are also getting quite a bit of views, too! This past week’s song/video, “The Nigger Song,” has been seen by over 400 people since Sunday and downloaded 28 times. Meanwhile, my other songs have also been getting decent downloads.
All of this is great news because it means (a) I’m starting to grow a fan-base, and (b) I’m able to have actual data to show off to record companies should I decide to go out and look for one. Of course, I’d rather them come to me, which may happen sooner than expected because….
Nah – I’ll save THAT for later!
One rather interesting thing has happened since the “Obama” video has taken off: people I used to know in college that I tried keeping in touch with afterward, yet couldn’t get them to write me, call me, or even post messages on my various walls (MySpace, Facebook, etc.)… have tried to contact me! I had one girl (name withheld) write to congratulate me, and wanted to know where I was and what I was up to, while a guy who I tried asking for help to get on a while back hit me up to let me know he was thiiiiiis close to making it.
What a croc, right?!? I tried keeping up with these people after college and they wouldn’t spend two minutes to write me back, and now they suddenly wanna be all like, “Hey A.P.T., what up??” And I haven’t even made any money off this whole thing yet! I can’t imagine the type of calls/messages I’ll be getting once the fame and fortune comes. I can see it now…
“Hey, Aaron – I saw you on Jimmy Kimmel the other night, and just wanted to say: can I come by your hotel room and —- your —-?? I promise I’ll be gentle!”
(For those of you with gutter minds, the blanks are for the words “wash” and “feet.” You sicko, you.)
Even with all the excitement surrounding my current videos, I’m always thinking about my upcoming videos. I have advanced ideas for future videos – like, 2 to 4 weeks from now – as well as this week’s upcoming video. I’ve already plotted it out, and my brother (yes, I have a brother) and his girlfriend have agreed to help me via phone, much in the same way my friend Michelle did for the “Back to the Future” video. Again, still can’t figure out why people in-state won’t help while out-of-towners are more than willing, but hey – I’ll get help wherever I can!
That’s all for me. I have to go prepare for tomorrow’s next move… more on that later!
-A.P.T.
MULTIPLE “Obama, Obama” Ringtones Now Available!! Preview Them HERE: “Obama, Obama” Ringtone – 2.99 *Only 1.99, this week only (July 8-15, 2008)!
I put in on YouTube on June 22, and, as I’m typing this, it’s been seen by over 6,000, and its popularity has been doubling every day. This type of exposure is what I’ve been DYING for ever since I started making music!
I originally had a download link for the song, as I do all my other songs, and by the end of the second day 29 people had already downloaded it. This got my mind thinking: would people be willing to pay to download the song? To find out, I took the original link down and posted up a link where people would have to purchase the song for 99 cents.
After I put the link up, I went to work. While there, I had a sudden though: what if, instead of making people pay for the song, I used this song as a way to get some of my OTHER music out so people could get a real feel for the type of songs I make??
I’ve been making songs for quite a few years now, and have enough of a catalogue built up to where I can give some of my songs away for free. Given that the song got downloaded by so many people so fast, I figured I could provide a link that had the “Obama, Obama” song, and include 4 other songs in the link so people could hear my other songs and, hopefully, start to become fans!
And that’s what I did. Now, the link includes “Obama, Obama,” as well as 4 other songs of mine – “Hooptie,” “Erectile Dysfunction” (my Snoop Dogg “Sexual Seduction” parody), “Bust My GAT,” and “Shout Out 2 My Big Girls.”
So far, the new link has been downloaded 50 times in 3 days, and I couldn’t be happier!! Those downloads probably only represent a fraction of the people who’ve heard my stuff – I’m assuming those people have made copies for their friends to listen to, which means I’m slowly starting to develop a fan base!!
Oh yeah – for those too lazy to click to the original link for the song, click here to go to the download page for the “Obama” mixtape 🙂 — “Obama, Obama” + Bouns Songs
Well, that’s all for today – it’s the 4th of July, and I’ve got fun to be had!
Last December, Snoop Dogg released his song, “Sensual Seduction,” and after one listen, I KNEW this song would be ripe for a parody! After taking two days to figure out what I could use as subject matter that would sound close to the phonetics of the original song, I suddenly thought of “Erectile Dysfunction” and burst out laughing!
Clearly, this was a good idea to run with.
I recorded it and wanted to get the song out there, but I had two problems: one, I didn’t have time to put a REAL video together because it was around Christmas and staying with family; and two, I wasn’t too familiar with any free MP3 download sites. So, I found a bunch of pictures online, pasted them and put them together on www.onetruemedia.com, loaded up the music and made a crappy-ass video for the song, figuring it wouldn’t get much play, but I could at least send it out to my friends via youtube.
Imagine my surprise when, one day after putting it on youtube, it had 120 views – and I hadn’t even told anyone about the song yet!
5 months later, the song just passed the 10,000 view mark. My brother’s girlfriend’s brother, who goes to VCU, said it was the #1 downloaded song at his school – odd, given that I didn’t give a link address for the download of the song until last month. Guess someone must have recorded it and sent it around – and I couldn’t be happier about it!
So, enjoy the song! Come back next week for another song, courtesy of me!
-A.P.T.
*UPDATE: After the project ended, I started working on another website featuring a character named Non Juan, a puppet who is terrible at getting ladies to date him. One of the music videos we shot for him was a remake of “Erectile Dysfunction” recorded in his voice. This is the video that now takes the place of the original video which, as you may recall, was very, very crappy. Enjoy!” – A.P.T., May 18, 2010.*
A.P.T.'s Songs, Albums and Music Videos 