VIDEO: Obama Milli Remix 2012 (Re-election Version)

Today’s song insights are for the video “Obama Milli Remix 2012 (A Milli Parody)!” (Directed by Joe Hollywood)

AVAILABLE ON “THE O-BAMA MIXTAPE II: VOTE OBAMA STYLE,” available on iTunes – to preview/download, click HERE!

INSIGHTS INTO A SONG:

Well… okay, if you’ve been to this site enough times, I’ve already talked about how HUGE of an impact my original “Obama Milli Remix” had, not just on the election, but on my life as well. When I made the first song 4 years ago I was living in Atlanta trying to get into the entertainment industry so I could make music and/or do behind the scenes work. Thanks, in part, to the song, I’m now living in California working as a video editor/creative consultant and still making music. Yes, dreams really DO come true…

Anyway, during these last 4 years I’ve received one question from countless fans of the song: “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO A REMIX FOR THIS ELECTION?”

Initially I didn’t feel the need to do one. And, to be honest, I still don’t think it’s necessary. The song I did was a parody of a Lil’ Wayne song called “A Milli,” which was at the height of its popularity back in 2008 when I made my version.  The thing about parodies is that they are normally only so popular for so long, and with the people of the generation that were around when the song came out. It’s 4 years later, so even though “A Milli” is still a great song, it’s nowhere near as popular as it once was.

Subsequently, me doing a re-remix of my parody would not necessarily have the same impact as a newer parody song about Obama would. For example, my newer parody about Obama – “Vote Obama Style” – became successful because the song it parodies, “Gangnam Style,” is the “it” song of the moment. As for “A Milli,” there may be some kids today (yes, 4 years later) who haven’t even heard the song before.

So, why do an update?

For one, it was fan-requested.  The original song got well over 15 million spins on YouTube and continues to get re-posted every so often. I try to stay humble about how big the song was, but people really DID gravitate to it and continue to play it, so I figured this would be like a “thank you” to all who enjoyed my song the first time around.

The second reason: I have better equipment now than I did 4 years ago. Back then I had an HP laptop, a radio mic and PC’s sound recorder program to record on. The song came out good, but some of the vocals weren’t that crisp and I didn’t know about things like reverb, pitch, or other audio-editing things.  With the updated version, I finally have a version of the song that sounds professional, and could be played over a sound system at a club without too many audio problems.

And the third reason? I needed one more parody song for my mixtape, and couldn’t think of any other parodies to record outside of the ones I had already recorded. Heck, I still get monthly sales off the first one, so why not make an updated one and get even MORE sales?

The updated version keeps in about 75% of the original version’s lyrics. The only things I had to change in the song were the parts where I talked about Obama’s 2008 opponent, John McCain. All of those got changed to Mitt Romney references. Other than that, it’s basically the same song – different introduction (Michelle Obama introducing him at the DNC Convention instead of Al Gore) and a few “2012” mentions, but basically the same song.

Some Interesting Song Tidbits

1. The last 4 lines of the first verse had to be changed. In the original one, I talked about him beating Hilary in the primaries. Obviously, Obama didn’t have to face any other opponents this year from his own party, so I had to change them up with lines about Romney instead.

2. I debated on whether or not to keep the line in about how I’d “hit” (i.e. get freaky with) Michelle Obama.  I did it in the first version because I was mocking Lil’ Wayne, and figured it was a line he would say.  However, some people were bothered by it (including my Mom) and viewed it as me being disrespectful towards the first lady.  In the end, though, I decided to keep the line in for this one, adding in “I’d STILL hit.” It still sounds like something Lil’ Wayne would say, and I still find it to be a funny way to end the second verse.

3. I also changed up the lines about Oprah supporting him. I wanted something there that sounded more updated, so I threw in a couple lines about him being the reason we found and killed Osama Bin Laden.

INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:

Aside from updating the sound quality of the original, I also wanted to do a slightly better video.  The one I made 4 years ago was me in front of a blanket I hung up in my studio apartment, along with 3 “Vote for Obama” pictures I printed off in my printer, dressing up in 3 different outfits and doing the song.  I filmed it on a Kodak picture camera that just happened to have 6MB video quality, and edited the whole thing on an HP laptop that wasn’t built for video editing – and on Windows Move Maker, no less!

Oh, how times have changed.

Now, I have access to HD cameras, 2 Macs (laptop and a desktop), Final Cut Pro X for video editing, a green screen, and I live in Cali, where there are tons of backdrops to choose from when filming.

Bottom line: I wanted to make a video version of this song that was more colorful, had more flavor to it and looked crystal clear.  And so that’s what I did – me, along with my friend/director Joe Hollywood, found a couple of places around town that had nice, colorful backdrops where I could recite the words of the song and dance around. Even though we were updating the video, I still wanted to keep it relatively simple. “Vote Obama Style” was shot in so many places, but sometimes I just want 2 or 3 shots I can use and jumble up into something that still looks nice.

Once we filmed my parts, I still had to go online and find various media clips and pictures to place in the video. The funnest part for me, though, was the color correction: I wanted each shot to have its own style to it, so when put together they all look dynamic despite their simplicity.  That’s why I did some really tricked out stuff, like making myself look green during my “on the wall” shots or fuzzing out the screen in the shots where I’m in front of the “Obama 2012” banner.

Now that the video is done… it’s kind of bittersweet, ’cause it feels like I’ve come full circle in terms of my journey with this particular song. I’ll have more songs and videos and successes in the future, but this will always be the song I remember as the one that started off everything for me. I’m glad I got to film a version of it that cements this sentiment for me!

Some Interesting Song Tidbits

1. The opening of the video – I tried to get this thing finished before the debates last night, but couldn’t. So, I watched the debates, during which Mitt Romney made a comment about cutting funding for PBS and Sesame Street. Instantly, there were memes and pictures online of Big Bird being in dire straights about the whole thing. Because of this, I thought it would be cool to include a “Special Message” from Big Bird at the beginning to open up the video.

2. The Obama mural I’m dancing in front of was painted at a high school near downtown L.A. 3 years ago. Joe found it online and thought it would be good for us to use for the video. We went to the school on a Saturday, found the painting… and the rest is history!

3. The wall I’m dancing on top of was located behind a Subway restaurant off La Brea and… crap, I forget the cross street!

4. I went online to find another mural to dance in front of. It was a painting of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and President Obama, and had a red backdrop. However, we were dismayed to find that the painting had been painted over by another mural – one with the Presidents of Mount Rushmore! However, I liked the colors used in the painting, and it had a picture of Lincoln, who Obama is a fan of. Plus, I didn’t feel like going around town looking for other Obama murals that may or may not be there were we to go.

5. HAMPTON UNIVERSITY SHOUT-OUT!! When I made the first version, I had wanted to perform the song later that year at Homecoming. However, despite the popularity of the song on my former Home By The Sea, no one knew that the person who made the song had gone to the school! So, I wore my HU Alumni shirt in this version just in case someone from the school sees this video and wants to put me on the performance list for homecoming this year….

6. There’s a 2-second scene in this video where the DNC donkey is jumping on the RNC elephant. That lil’ scene took me almost an hour to put together. I had to go online and find a picture of a donkey, an elephant, a stage, and a podium, then maneuver the donkey to look like he was jumping up and down. I mention this because people always ask me why I charge $35 an hour for editing, and it’s because the creative aspects of putting together a video really DO take a whole lot of time. Even with the color schemes I picked out for each shot, I spent at least 30 minutes each getting the colors I wanted right.

7. The blue striped shirt and black pants are the very same ones I wore in the first video – consider it an homage if you will. The only other thing borrowed from the first video is the picture of Barack Obama with a bucket of KFC chicken in front of him.

8. At one point, I do the hammer back-and-forth dance on top of the wall. Joe requested this, and it was easy to do, but I still felt like I might fall off at any minute!

And that’s it! Hope u enjoy, and I’ll see y’all on the next video!

-A.P.T.

Now on iTunes – The O-Bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style!

Well, it’s finally here…

Introducing my NEW A.P.T. album, “The O-Bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style!” Click the picture above or HERE to preview/order the album on iTunes!

Track listing:

1. The Next Black President
2. Vote Obama Style (Gangnam Style Parody)
3. I Wanna Do Nicki Minaj
4. Imma Fool Wit It feat. Kaptain Kutta
5. I’m Never Ever Gonna Vote for Romney (We’re Never Ever Getting Back Together Parody)
6. Words With Friends
7. Pick Up Your Face feat. Johney Capo and DJ-T
8. Christmas in Paris (Ni**as in Paris Parody)
9. Zone Out
10. Your Mama Is So Ugly
11. Obama Milli Remix 2012 (A Milli Parody)
12. Rich Man’s World
13. Ooh, I’m a Model feat. Genellyn
14. Black President (Rack City Parody)

Insights into the album:

In 2008 when I released the first “The O-Bama Mixtape,” I had NO idea what I was doing in terms of how to market myself. I had a hot song out at the time with “Obama Milli Remix” but didn’t really know how to capitalize on it or the wave of momentum it had. I released the album as a free mixtape, thinking only a few people would download it and that nobody would want to pay for it.

Fast-forward to the day of the election, and I wake up to find that the mixtape got downloaded over 8000 times… in ONE day.  doing the math, had I decided to charge for the mixtape and only 10% of those people – 800 – had decided to purchase the album, I would have made close to $5,000 in ONE day.

Ever since then, I’ve always wished I could (a) have another out that would hit as hard as “Obama Milli Remix” did, and (b) have another shot at marketing and promoting the album in a way where it would make an impact AND bring in some money.

Fast-forward 4 years later…

I knew I wanted to make a sequel to “The O-bama Mixtape,” but didn’t want to do it if it was going to be a waste of my time. I released a few songs earlier this year about Obama, but none of them were getting the views I felt would be needed to put the album together.

Then, in August, I heard about this song called “Gangnam Style” by a Korean pop artist named Psy.  After seeing the video – which had over 100 million views at the time (and has over 200 million now) – I KNEW I wanted to make a parody of it. I go into further detail in one of my earlier blogs, but in short: I came up with the idea to make a song about Obama using this song, then went and made an EPIC video for it that closely mimicked the original source material.

Well, after I put it up on YouTube, it started to get views. A LOT of views. In the first week alone, the video garnered well over 50,000 views. As of this writing it’s up to 95,000…

More importantly, though, the speed at which the views racked up have been FASTER than they were for “Obama Milli Remix.”  I already had “Vote Obama Style” up on iTunes (which, thus far, has been getting a LOT of purchases, but I won’t know how many until November), but wanted some of my other Obama songs to get attention as well.

I hadn’t really recorded enough songs lately for a new album (except for “Imma Fool Wit It,” originally released by Kaptain Kutta earlier this year – I just jumped on the beat ’cause I liked it and the song was siiiiick!). However, I HAD released a mixtape last year – “Justin Beeber Must Die!” – that had a lot of good songs on it but didn’t get the attention I wanted. I also had recorded songs earlier this year for the “Rapping My Life” project that fizzled out.

Since not many people had heard these songs, I figured “Hey, why not take some of those songs, mix them together with your Obama parody songs, and put the album up on iTunes?”

Okay, great idea – but what would I call the album?

This is where having a knowledge of the marketplace comes in. The original title was going to be “The O-Bama Mixtape II: Back in the White House.” However, with Psy’s “Gangnam Style” becoming a bigger hit by the day, I knew I wanted my songs to pop up in the iTunes search engine when people went there to find his song. In order to do that, my songs also had to have the same wording in it. Of course, I couldn’t name every song “Gangnam Style” parody…

BUT… I COULD place that title in MY album title so it would be attached to all the songs!

And thus, the OFFICIAL album title is… “A.P.T. Presents – The O-bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style (Gangnam Style Parody)!”

Now, some of you may be familiar with my previous works, including the songs that reappear on this album. For those not familiar, though, here’s a brief synopsis of all the songs:

1. NEXT BLACK PRESIDENT – First appeared on the “The Next Black President” mixtape. It talks about how Blacks now have a better shot at being President thanks to Obama.

2. VOTE OBAMA STYLE – A parody of “Gangnam Style” talking about Obama’s reelection campaign, as well as my disdain for Romney.

3. I WANNA DO NICKI MINAJ – First appeared on the “Justin Beeber Must Die” mixtape. Discusses my desire for wanting the hottest rap female in the game!

4. IMMA FOOL WIT IT – First appeared on Kaptain Kutta’s “Red Dream 3” mixtape (I think). Just a track where we’re slick-talking about how good/crazy we are!

5. I’M NEVER EVER GONNA VOTE FOR ROMNEY – A parody of Taylor Swift’s “We’re Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Talks about Romney’s habit of flip-flopping his views.

6. WORDS WITH FRIENDS – First appeared on the “Rapping My Life” album. The beat was made using sounds from the actual game, and talks about how good I am at beating people in it.

7. PICK UP YOUR FACE – Features Johney Capo and my bro DJ-T. First appeared on the “Justin Beeber Must Die” mixtape. A track for all the haters out there that didn’t believe we’d make it!

8. CHRISTMAS IN PARIS – A parody of Jay-Z and Kanye’s “Ni**as in Paris.” Features me as Santa Claus talking to kids about why they’re not getting gifts this year.

9. ZONE OUT – First appeared on the “Justin Beeber Must Die” mixtape. A song about having the worst day possible and trying to relax afterward.

10. YOUR MAMA IS SO UGLY – First appeared on the “Justin Beeber Must Die” mixtape. There’s a joke that says you can tell how fine a girl will be when she’s older by looking at her mom. This song talks about that…

11. OBAMA MILLI REMIX 2012 – A parody of Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli.” Ever since I made the first “Obama Milli Remix” people have been asking me to make a sequel FOREVER. And so, here it is, with basically the same words plus some changes to talk about Romney instead of John McCain.

12. RICH MAN’S WORLD – First appeared on the “Justin Beeber Must Die” mixtape. Talks about the ups and downs of making it.

13. OOH, I’M A MODEL – Featuring Genellyn.  I wanted to make a minimalistic track that didn’t have many words to it, that girls could also dance to.

14. BLACK PRESIDENT – A parody of Tyga’s “Rack City.” That bastard stole my “Obama Milli Remix” song from me back in 2008, so this is light revenge for that. LoL. But really, it’s a GREAT track talking about re-electing Obama for President.

And that’s it! You can download the songs individually, or get the album – either way, I appreciate your support, and hope you enjoy the songs!

-A.P.T.

Get the album NOW – click HERE!

Greetings, well-wishers!

Just wanted to let you all know, my NEW album, “The O-Bama Mixtape 2: Vote Obama Style” has been sent off to iTunes! It should hit the stores tomorrow (or, at the latest, 10 days from now). Once it’s actually up, I will blog about it here and give you all the details on the album.

BTW, the “Vote Obama Style” video is very close to 100,000 views! Thanks to all that have viewed it, shared it, retweeted it, or played it repeatedly – all those views mean a LOT to me, and I can’t wait for you to see the other videos I have coming up for this album cycle!

-A.P.T.

En Route to the New Album: Writing in Stages

Hey peeps!

Now that I’ve announced my new album – available on October 25 (title still withheld for the moment) – it’s time for me to figure out what’s going to actually go on it.

I’ve never really talked about my process for how I create my albums, so now’s as good a time as any to do so.  With each album, I try to create something that will have a certain feel to it.  That feeling varies from album to album, but I never go into the creation of an album haphazardly.

Many artists will say things like, “oh, I have 60 or 70 records I’ve recorded, and now I just have to randomly select which songs go on it.” To me, that doesn’t make a very good album. At best, it gives the album the feeling of a mixtape, but not something that takes the listener on a journey.  Think about Lil’ Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV”: it’s an ok album at best, but the song choices just seem like they were picked out from a mixed pile and pasted together in a random order for the album.

Most of my albums start out the same way. Prior to actually considering releasing an album, I’ll record a few songs here and there whenever the mood fits me. These songs may not necessarily go together at first; however, they are songs that help get me into the regular practice of writing again, as well as thinking up album titles.  I also start collecting beats from various places, be it ones I already have saved on my hard drive, ones I’ve gotten from other people, or ones I’ve found online (usually from Soundclick.com, though I have other sources as well).

I also have song ideas written all over the place that I have saved up somewhere. The part that sux about it is song ideas come to me at the most inconvenient times. For example, I’ll be at work helping a customer out, and a song idea, along with verses for said song, will pop in my head. I end up having to frantically find a pen and paper to write the ideas down, lest I end up forgetting them and cursing myself for it later.  I have a journal (actually, several journals) that I’ve written songs in, as well as a sketch pad that allows me to write my ideas down in all sorts of crazy ways.

At some point, I start thinking up titles for the album – again, not a small task.  Because I’m still somewhat of an unknown artist (despite the popularity of the Obama Milli song), I’m always thinking up title names that will allow me to (a) stand out, (b) create a buzz, and (c) make people want to download my stuff.  This, by the way, goes for song titles, too – my goal is always to have a few titles on the album that make people go “What the heck could that song POSSIBLY be about?” so they’ll be curious enough to download it.

Once I’ve thought up the album title, I go back and listen to any songs I currently have recorded, any beats I have in storage, and any song ideas I have yet to record. With these three things combined, I go about the task of figuring out what elements will give me the feeling I’m looking for, i.e. the feel that the chosen album title dictates should match with it.  This part is actually quite hard – like I said earlier, I don’t record 50 or 60 tracks for an album. What will happen is, I’ll usually have 5 or 6 songs already recorded, and 20 or 30 beats I’d like to use that haven’t been touched yet.  I’ll look at the song titles I have and figure out which ones would go with which beats; then, I figure out which beats, combined with said song ideas, match the album feeling I’m looking for.

As an artist, it’s really easy to be biased towards my own stuff.  For example: for this particular album, I had a grand total of 22 songs I would’ve recorded for it; however, I also have to understand that, when creating an album, I’m essentially asking the downloader to spend x-amount of time with me.  22 songs may sound like a good idea at first, but most people are usually ready to switch to something else after 10 to 12 songs.  This means some of the beats and/or songs I may want to use for this album will have to be moved to my next album.

The good part is, by deleting some of these beats that have yet to be recorded on, I’m able to cut down the amount of time I need to record the remaining songs on the remaining beats.  So long as I’m able to find the beats that match the feel of the record, I can save the recording of songs on the other beats for when I’m ready for the next album!

As for the actual writing for these songs, I rarely write a whole record in one sitting. Granted, I’m able to do it if I need to, especially now that I’m a professional song writer and have had more time to practice at it.  Still, my process has been the same for a while now: I’ll write the second verse first, take a break, come back to it and work on the first verse then, if necessary, add in a 3rd verse. Most of my songs these days only have 2 verses (note: most DJs usually switch to another song after the 2nd verse), but I’ll add a 3rd one in if I can’t complete the story and/or song feel by the end of the 2nd one.

Anyway… so, that’s where I’m at now: writing the rest of my songs (of which there are currently eight) and recording them sometime before October 25th! I KNOW you all will enjoy the album – it’s very up-tempo, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure, and the production value/beats are SIIIICK!!

That’s all for now!

-A.P.T.

A.P.T. New Album Update: Album Cover + More

Greetings! First, here is the official album cover for my upcoming album, out July 19, 2011…

Pretty friggin’ sweet, ain’t it? Shout outs to the “No U Ain’t” crew – I took this pic during a photo shoot I helped them out with, and thought it would be the PERFECT photo to use for the cover of this album!

Other interesting tidbits for this album:

1. The majority of the beats on this album were made by uber-talented beat-maker from ATL, K.K.O.F. – he’s sent me a bunch of beats over the years, and I was somehow able to finally come up with a gang of songs for them. Any remaining production will be done by me – yes, I DO make beats, people!

2. There will only be 10 to 12 songs on here (plus possibly some skits).  I’d do more, but realistically I don’t feel like writing more songs than that. Plus, usually after 12 songs I start getting bored with an artists’ album, no matter how much I like them. (Exceptions include Eminem, Britney Spears, and Lil Wayne – the mixtape Weezy version.)

3. Most of the songs right now only have titles and concepts.  The only two finished songs at the moment are “Your Mama Is So Ugly” and “Ooh, I’m a Model.”  I’m also debating about whether or not to put my “No Love” parody, “No Glove” on here.

4. The album will be an eclectic mix of funny songs, serious songs, motivational songs, and songs that will get you movin’ on the dance floor – sometimes all at once!

5. If and when I do videos for this album, I want them to be SPECTACULAR. I plan on spending a gang of money on at least ONE of my songs (like around $1000) because I’ve always wanted to have a professionally-done music video.  Not that I haven’t gotten them to that level in the past, but I want other people to star in it, someone else to edit it… the WORKS. And the rest of them I’ll film myself 🙂

That’s pretty much it for now. I’ve still got a lot of writing and recording to do, and my creativity seems to be coming in spurts at odd times (I just finished writing a song for the album… at 2:30 A.M.), but everything should be complete by the release date, if not before.  Stay tuned!

-A.P.T.

Osama bin Laden is Killed. Obama Secures 2nd Term.

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!

-A.P.T.

New Song Coming Soon + The Future of Albums

Hey peeps, what it do, nephew, how’s it hangin’, is u wangin’?? (Shout outs to my man Capo Snake for that last one!)

Aight, enough with the intro, peeps, let’s go!

So, the last video/song I dropped was for “Teach Me How to Snuggie,” thus effectively allowing me to have made a visual for every song off my “Prince of Parody, Vol. 1” album (available on iTunes – click HERE to check it out). And just today, one of my fans asked me what my next YouTube video was going to be.

On that end, I have no idea.  Actually, scratch that – right now I’m deciding between two different songs.  One of them is a parody, while the other one is an original song that’s just plain funny.

In reference to the latter song, the lyrics are already done and the chorus has been recorded.  Normally I’d stick with my M.O. of going strictly with a parody song/video… but when I came up with the idea, it made me laugh so much while I was writing it that I had to see if it would be worth recording.  And when I told the idea to a couple of my lady friends (who will also be on the song), they couldn’t stop singing it over and over after only hearing it ONE time.

Once the song has been completed, I’ll probably put together a video for it, one that’s not too complicated.  I’ve noticed that there are a LOT of YouTube videos that get hits, many of which aren’t all that impressive.  I think the content of this particular song won’t require me to do too much visually, yet I’ll still be able to make it funny.

—

So that’s all well and good, but what about albums??  When are my next ALBUMS coming out, you may ask? Well…

As you may have noticed, the climate of music has changed.  Are people still buying albums? Absolutely.  Are they buying them at the same volume as they were 10 years ago? Absolutely not.

With that thought, it’s dawned on me that putting together a whole album these days may not be the most profitable route to go.  Take a look at recent examples by Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Lil’ Wayne – three artists who have figured out way to sell a TON of copies of ONE of their respective songs.  Britney did it by releasing teaser snippets of “Hold It Against Me” a week before it came out; and, just recently, she spent the last 14 days putting out snippets of the video for it – by the time the video dropped, the world was DYING to see it/hear it/buy it online!

And so it is, I’m considering doing the same thing.  Granted, right now I’m back in full-on writing mode (finally!), so I have ideas coming at me for an official A.P.T. album as well as another Prince of Parody album.  I’ll probably release at least one more A.P.T. album for the heck of it, and concentrate on releasing any future songs as singles as they come to me.  Plus, the Prince of Parody thing is great because I can release an album of spoof songs at any time and have most of the songs off it be popular since they’re essentially remakes of songs already proven to be popular.

Wow.  That last sentence was a tongue-twister.

That’s all for now – new song droppin’ later this week, fam!

-A.P.T.

Success for the “Teach Me How to Snuggie” Music Video!!

Hey everybody!! Just wanted to give a quick “Thank You!” to everyone who has seen my newest video, “Teach Me How to Snuggie!”

As I’m typing this, the video has been viewed 441 times in less than 2 days!! Some of you may ask, “Is that a good number of views to get in that amount of time?” To put it in perspective:

• The song I parodied – “Teach Me How to Dougie” – has been out for a year
• Most artists – especially those who aren’t uber-famous like a Jay-Z or Eminem – are lucky if they can even make it to 100 views in the lifetime of their YouTube video
• It’s currently outpacing my “Obama Milli Remix” video in terms of initial views

So yeah, I’d say it’s doing pretty darn good!

AAAAAAND… it’s bound to do even BETTER once I announce the contest that will go with it!  It starts on Monday, and it’s going to be EPIC.

That’s all for now – oh wait I almost forgot: BE SURE TO BUY THE “TEACH ME HOW TO SNUGGIE” SINGLE, TOO! Click HERE for the various download links!

-A.P.T.

Upcoming “Teach Me How to Snuggie” Video Contest Details!!

Hey gang!

Weeeeell… I’m in heavy edit-mode now for the “Teach Me How to Snuggie” video, which premieres sometime tomorrow (either in the morning or evening, depending on when I can export it to YouTube).

I’ve noticed in recent days that, as a result of me talking about this video/song repeatedly, I’ve started getting more and more hits to this website, which is ALWAYS a good thing.  The song itself is doing pretty well at iTunes, and I want it to gain as much exposure as possible, while at the same time rewarding fans for getting the song and/or album it’s on, “Prince of Parody Vol. 1” (Click HERE to preview/download).

So, I’ve decided to put together a contest called the “Teach Me How to Snuggie Totally Awesome Video Submission Contest!!” (I know, I like the name, too :))

I’m still hammering out the legal verbiage of all the rules, but here are the basics:

1. Contestants are asked to send a 1-4 minute video submission of themselves dancing, performing to, or creating their own version of the “Teach Me How to Snuggie” song.
2. In order to enter the contest, each contestant must (a) download a copy of the “Teach Me How to Snuggie” song from my website, www.PrinceOfParody.com; (b) become a subscriber/friend of my YouTube channel, www.YouTube.com/APTPrinceOfParody or www.YouTube.com/APTsongs; (c) upload their contest video to YouTube and submit the link to APT@PRINCEOFPARODY.COM
3. At the end of the contest period, 10 winners will be chosen.  There will be one (1) Grand Prize Winner, two (2) runner-ups and seven (7) third-prize winners.

And what exactly will those prizes be? Welllll…. I can’t give everything away here YET. What I WILL say, though, is that the grand prize is pretty friggin’ sweet, and all “winners” of the contest will receive an autographed copy of my “Prince of Parody Vol. 1” album. YAY!!!

That’s all I really feel like saying about the contest for now.  I’ll let u all know tomorrow when the contest officially launches what the rest of the details are.  For now, though, I’d recommend going over to iTunes, downloading the “Teach Me How to Snuggie” song, and start thinking about what video you’d like to make to it to win, win, WIN!!!

– A.P.T.

When I Run Into Fans in Public (a.k.a. I’m Kind of a Big Deal)

This is not a braggadocios post.  Sure, the title may indicate otherwise, but allow me to elaborate before you make judgment on my words…

Two nights ago, I went out to dinner at Benihana with one of my aunts.  We sat in the lobby area while waiting to be seated and started talking about various things.

As we were having our conversation, I look over and notice two boys – both of whom appeared to be related and about 13 and 9 – who looked like they were walking toward me.  And sure enough, they were.

The older one says: “Excuse me… are you the guy who put out ‘The O-bama Mixtape?'”

Me: “Yes, yes I am.”

Older one: “Oh wow, we thought you looked familiar!  We LOVE your songs, man, your videos are hilarious!”

I promise you, the look they gave me was similar to the looks I’ve seen people give Michael Jackson when they met him.  Like, they were really in awe of the fact that they were meeting me!

At this point, both kids outstretched their hands to shake mine, which I was happy to do.  I said, “thanks, I appreciate it – oh, and check me out online, I have some new videos up now too!” Then they said “it was nice meeting you” and walked back over to their party.

—

I rarely get recognized in public.  I don’t go around telling people “Hey, I’m that guy who made the remake of Lil’ Wayne’s ‘A Milli’ song into the “O-bama O-bama” song and got played on radio stations and in clubs worldwide back in 2008!”

Furthermore, there are more people that heard the song than saw my music video for it (especially since I allowed it as a free download when I first released it).  When I DO tell people about the song I made, I usually have to start saying the “O-bama O-bama” chant before they say, “Ohhhh – you made THAT song??”

Therefore, when I DO get recognized in public, I get REAL happy about it.  It’s nice to know that people like my work enough to stop me and tell me to my face – call it an ego booster, but once you’ve had it happen you’ll know what I’m talking about.

At times, I think maybe I come off TOO humbly.  There are people here in L.A. who do music that brag all the time about how great their music is or how many people downloaded their mixtapes…. meanwhile, I don’t go around really bragging to people about my stats ’cause I was raised that people don’t want to hear you brag about yourself, especially if they aren’t doing as great as you.

But, quiet as may be kept, I AM kind of a big deal.  Peep the stats:

• I had a song that got played EVERYWHERE in the world, and was heard by MILLIONS of people (most new artists can’t say that)
• I had a song that got well over 12 MILLION hits on YouTube, thanks to various people re-posting the song
• That “The O-bama Mixtape” (from 2 years ago) that got me recognized by the two kids in the restaurant was downloaded over 10,000 times – and that was without good advertising!
• I have been paid THOUSANDS of dollars for a beat before – and that was just on my first beat-selling mission!
• I have made THOUSANDS of dollars selling songs on iTunes

So you see, I could play the bragging game all day if I wanted to.  But what would be the point? Granted, those stats DO help you get further in Hollywood, especially if the right people know what your numbers are.

But in everyday conversation, I don’t feel the need to bring this stuff up, mostly ’cause (a) it seems rude, and (b) I always assume people would rather I ask them about themselves than have me spend my whole time talking about how great I am.

That’s why I’m so grateful when I get recognized in public for my videos and/or music: it’s someone else coming up to me and letting me know, in no uncertain terms, that – at least to them…

I’m kind of a big deal. 🙂

-A.P.T.