This is my first collaboration mixtape, and it came about for one very simple reason: I wanted to put new music out but didn’t feel like writing full songs.
No, really – most rap songs are 2 to 3 verses, 16 bars or more each, and it can be hard to have to come up with all those words yourself and keep the song interesting. So, I figured it would be a good idea to do a collaboration album.
Why Kaptain Kutta? Well, for those of you who don’t know, this dude is a beat-making GENIUS!! Some of my biggest youtube hits (like “I’mma Let You Finish”) he actually made the beats for, and he’s had quite a few beats on each of my albums. He also raps and puts out a slew of mixtapes each year – way more than me, like every other month or something. He’s got the work ethic and drive for this game, and figured he’d be someone that would actually finish a project with me, as well as make me want to finish a project.
We started making songs in April 2013, with him cooking up beats himself (or with Chris Wayne, his beat-making partner) and me coming up with song concepts and lyrics. It wasn’t until May that I actually had the name for the album. I wanted a title that would symbolize how me and Kutta planned on using this album to take over the industry, if force by necessary. And so, I came up with the idea of calling the album (and later, our group) “Manifest Destiny: The Takeover Mixtape!” (And if you don’t know what “Manifest Destiny” is, I suggest you repeat your 9th grade history class or google it.)
This is a very fun album, but it also gets deep as well. I’ve never been an artist that was good with just creating filler songs or party songs – at some point, it’s always good to have songs with social commentary, or ones that reflect on life, etc. There’s a good mix of songs on here – you have your party songs like “V.I.P.” and “No Tomorrow;” songs about relationships like “The Break Up Song” and “Choose One;” songs about things like the effects of drugs on family (“All Thanks to the Dopeman”) or being tempted by the wrong things (“Wade in the Water”); and some tracks that are about displaying our skills like “The Takeover” and “About to Blow!”
All in all, this album came together real well, and we really want people to hear it. That’s why we’re providing it as a FREE download! You download the album at the following link(s):
Well, after YEARS of trying to repeat the success of “Obama Milli Remix,” I have finally done it!
Yep, my new song/video, “Vote Obama Style (Gangnam Style Parody)” is taking off better than I thought it would! It’s already reached 40,000 hits in a week’s time, and continues to get thousands of hits each day!
Since I got a buzz going with the song, now, it means I need to release an album. And, since people STILL remember the title of my first mixtape – “The O-Bama Mixtape” – I’m going to release part 2 in the series sometime next week!
The album title will be… hmm… well, right now I’m deciding between two titles: The one I’ve had in my head for years, “The O-Bama Mixtape II: Back in the White House”; or, a title that correlates with what will be the most popular track on the album, “The O-Bama Mixtape II: Vote Obama Style.” I figure people will probably go to iTunes and type in “gangnam obama style” or something similar, so it may be a good look to have that somewhere in the title.
As for the songs on the album… my last mixtape, “Justin Beeber Must Die,” had a LOT of good songs on it, but the album didn’t get downloaded as well as I wanted, mostly ’cause I had no videos for it and no real promo. So, I’m going to take some of the songs off that album and put them on this album. I’ll also include previous parodies not ever placed on an album – i.e. the Eminem “No Love” parody “No Glove,” Rack City parody “Black President,” and a few recent ones I did featuring Non Juan. I also plan to record at least 2 more parody songs and 1 original song, possibly as it correlates to the election.
The album will be released later in the week, and I’ll add a promo annotation to the “Vote Obama Style” video letting people know it’s out. I’m just glad to have a buzz-worthy single helping me get the word out about it!
Way, waaaaaaay back in January, I was going out to dinner at Benihana for my birthday. I was sitting in the lobby with my Aunt Debi waiting for my other 2 friends to arrive, when I noticed 2 boys to the right of me – they looked to be of pre-teen age – staring in my direction.
A few seconds after I saw them, they came over to me and asked the following question:
“Excuse me… are you the ‘O-bama Mixtape’ guy?”
I was in shock. The year is now 2011, and these two kids were referencing a mixtape I put out almost 3 years ago while living in Atlanta. Of course, it helps that the mixtape contained my unexpected worldwide smash hit, “Obama Milli Remix,” a song so popular that it helped “The O-Bama Mixtape” get downloaded over 10,000 times.
And, although I have been recognized a few times in public before, it was the first time I was able to see just how far my demographic went in terms of the younger crowd – the oldest kid here couldn’t be more than 13, which means he wouldv’e been 10 or 11 when the mixtape came out.
More importantly, though, they seemed to be very excited to meet me. Like, really, they were giddy. Giddy! They were like “OMG, we thought it was you, we’re such HUGE fans!!” It was surreal. I thanked them for the kind words and told them I’d have more music coming out soon.
In reality… well, it was true: I had released my “Prince of Parody Vol. 1” album back in October 2010, but I hadn’t really focused on recording my own new original material. Up until that point, I didn’t think anyone really cared all that much about listening to tracks of mine that were originals… but now, with this one incident, I became motivated to do it again!
And now, some 11 months later, the album is finally here!
Okay, so I’m sure you’re probably curious as to WHY I named my album what I named it. First off, for legal purposes I must state the following: The character of “Justin Beeber” – spelled with two e’s in his last name – is fictional; any person living or named with a similar-sounding name is strictly coincidental.
Anyway: so, this fictional Beeber guy that I made up, is a guy who sings poppy songs that make girls cry. However, he recently decided to try his hands at rapping. As a fan of hip-hop, I always hate the idea of random people trying their hand at rapping simply because “it’s something to try.” In the process, they don’t take into account the history of the genre, the importance of song choice, or the fact that not everyone needs to rap.
So, one of the reasons I named the album “Justin Beeber Must Die” is to emphasize that point. The other reason? Eh, I thought it would be a catchy title that would get me some attention. And if you’re reading this, that means it worked!
The album itself is on par with my previous stuff. Many artist say “oh, this is my best work” with every album. Me, I feel like I’ve been pretty consistent with each album. I always try to come up with songs that are slightly different from what else is currently out, and did the same for this one. I will say that I did go for different types of beats – some with pre-recorded choruses and/or samples not being used…
I also made sure to pick out different producers to mix up the sounds of the beats. I still got my beats from Kaptain Kutta (formerly King Kut/K.K.O.F.), 4 of which made this album. I also used beats from Mister K.A., Koncept Beats, Beat Basement, Heavyweight Beats… AND, I produced two of the tracks as well: the Michael Jackson-inspired (and sampled) “Second 2 None” and “Mr. Plow,” which I’m pretty sure is going to be a HUGE hit once I make the right video for it…
The album is a FREE download. However, if you’d like to further support me, you can go to the official site for the album, www.JustinBeeberMustDie.com, and send in a donation. Thanks for the support, and enjoy the album!
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!
On Sunday, May 25, 2008, I, A.P.T., started this “One-Song-a-Week” website as a means of promoting my music. The objective: to release one song/music video every Sunday for ONE year.
On Sunday, June 21, I released a video for song #5 – a parody of Lil’ Wayne’s popular song, “A Milli,” called “O-bama O-bama.”
And since then, nothing for me has been the same…
Above: Video #5 of 52: My parody of Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli,” “O-bama O-bama” (re-dubbed “Obama Milli” by the public at large. No, really!)
Video for “Obama Milli” Now Available for FREE Download! Click HERE for more info!
6 months later, and this continues to be my most popular song. To say it had an impact in the music world would be an understatement. It has been played globally, both on YouTube and radio stations worldwide. It has been re-posted on a countless number of websites and heard or seen by MILLIONS of people. And – most importantly – it actually changed the minds of people who were John McCain supporters, and convinced them to vote for Barack Obama instead.
Not too bad, considering I recorded the song and video in a small studio apartment in Atlanta, GA, using a talk radio microphone and a Kodak 6.1 Mega-pixel camera meant mostly for taking pictures!
I don’t really like to hype myself up too much. At the same time, though, I recognize that people are still trying to find the song, filming YouTube videos to it, or wondering “Who the heck ARE those A.P.T. guys?!?” (Sorry to disappoint, but there’s only ONE A.P.T., though sometimes I wish I WERE a group so I could have a camera guy!)
So, this page is exclusively set up for those searching for all things “Obama Milli”-related. Below, you’ll find:
A link to the page where I give insights into the creation of the song/video
Links where you can purchase the song via my albums or the single itself
Other Obama-Related songs made by me
Hilarious and/or creative YouTube re-creations of “Obama Milli” by others!
My feelings about others claiming my song as theirs (I’m talking about YOU, Tyga!)
Lastly, people always ask me, “How much money are you making off the song?” After all, it’s been played all around the world, and major artists and radio D.J.s have either tried to make their version or used it for their radio promos.
And the answer is: not much.
Aside from selling copies here at my site and on my albums, I really never set out to make money on the song. My only goal was to figure out a way to get my face in the music game and use all my songs as a means of doing that, THEN get paid. And, while I may not have initially made a huge amount of money off this particular song, it IS starting to pay off (in ways I can’t yet talk about… ooh, suspense and mystery!).
Besides, I made a song that helped convince enough people to vote a Black man into the White House – how many people can say THAT?!?
The link to get “The A.P.T. LP” album(released 8-27-2008) which includes “Obama Milli“ plus other great songs like “Stop Cockblockin’,” “The KKKramer Song” and “Smooth Talker!” (Only 6.99 – Instant Download, works on ALL MP3 players including iPod!): http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=170344
The link to purchase“The Great Black Hope” (released 1-07-2009) which includes “Obama Milli”plus other hot songs like “Hands UP!,” “Nothing More 2 Say” and “Things 4 U (I Thought U Loved Me)!” (Only 6.99 – Instant Download, works on ALL MP3 players including iPods): http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=208737
The song also appears on my 2 mixtapes, both of which are FREE downloads:
*Lyrics to “Obama Milli”: First, here’s a video I made for YouTube with the lyrics –
And here are the lyrics typed out:
Intro:
A.P.T.!
Yeah I’m goin’ in…
Verse 1:
Call him “President,” he’s the next new President here
Senator, from Illinois, yeah
His criteria compared to John McCain just isn’t fair
Cause he’s B-L-A-C, so the eyes are on he
Through his pencil, he write legislation, with the country on his mind
And he don’t coat ish, cause he ain’t got time
Every second, minute, hour, KKK wanna devour
He got guards ready to pop ‘em, with their ch-ch-ch-ch-choppers
Every brother, mother, sister, cousin, grandma wanna hump him
Even got Hilary Clinton on the side ready to jump him
Tell the Clintons “Ha ha ha ha,” couldn’t catch him, couldn’t stop him
They go by the party rules, if you can’t beat him, you can’t top him
Thought she’d smack him, couldn’t pop ‘em, Delegates, couldn’t cop ‘em
Bill Clinton couldn’t help her, too bad she couldn’t drop ‘em, woo!
Man, Obama‘s so Illlll…
Verse 2:
Obama goes here, Obama goes there
Sayin’ “Yes We Can” with wife Michelly, he’s hittin’ that derriere
He travel to Arizona, ready to cause some drama
Hopin’ McCain will comment, “Look at that bastard Obama
He’s too young, he’s too hip, Negros always ‘causin’ problems”
His pale-lookin’ face got him lookin’ like a goblin!
Mac-Cain, Mac-Cain, please don’t vote for Mac-Cain
First day up in office, talkin’ ‘bout some heart pains
Call the ambulance, QUICK! All you hear is sirens
His temper isn’t private – Dang, I hate a mad prick
Don’t you hate a mad prick? Plus, McCain’s an old prick
Barack’s a younger guy, So choose him, he’s the right pick
(Laugh) But if you choose the wrong pick
Your step-son’ll probably end up in Iraq quick!
His health clan plan is so immac’late
So even if your broke, and can’t afford to take a doc trip
You’ll be feelin’ much better – not sick
And, he’s okay, but his wife’s sick
And her back’s thick, And her walk’s slick
She’s a fly chick – I’d hit!
Man, Obama‘s so Illlll…
Verse 3:
He’s makin’ history like X, King and Douglas, and RFK
Obama, he’s that “new black,” true that
Red-necks saaaay “He won’t beat John McCain
He don’t wear a flag pin, his middle name’s Hussein,” but
Who gon’ be dat boy dat doubt dat boy dey call “Obama”
Got Republicans sweatin’ like they up in Saunas (whew!)
Even McCain’s 90-something mama
Be ready to pull his lever every hour (Laugh)
And I’d rather eat a field mouse
Than to see John McCain in the White House
Vote Obama in, and I promise
He won’t turn back into some Uncle Thomas (Aaaaaa!)
No Aunt Jemimah or Southern Fried chicken
Call him “Chief Obama,” or “Mr. Keeps on Tickin”
Man, Pastor Wright’s comments couldn’t stop his tally
Even Oprah Winfrey said she was behind him
People, I say this country’s no hope without him
But he’s gotta go out and relate to everybody
He do what he do, like give his wife a hug and then a fist dap
Gotta do that stuff in public, so the hood’ll know that –
He’s black
Gotta use big words, white people love to hear it
If they hear it, they don’t fear him, they don’t know him, but they feel him
That’s real….
Obama… ‘08… White House, a-ha!
* * * * *
*Other Obama-Related Songs/Videos by Me: I never set out to duplicate the success of “Obama Milli.” However, given that he was a popular topic of conversation last year, I did make a few other Obama-inspired songs/videos. Check them out:
Above: Video #32, “The Next Black President!” For song/video insights, click HERE!
Above: Video #25, “The Obama Mixtape Intro (aka A Time 4 Change)!” For song/video insights, click HERE!
Above: Video #19, “John McCain is a P.I.M.P.!” Yes, it’s a John McCain song, but it was inspired by the fact that many people made songs about Obama but not McCain! For song/video insights, click HERE!
The link above is for video #15, “Shine 4 Obama.” It has a sample of Luther Vandross in it; consequently, YouTube took it down. So, I posted it at this link instead!
* * * * *
*Other “Obama-Milli” Related Videos Made by Fans: Many people re-posted the song on YouTube. Below are a few of my favorite ones that I found to be either hilarious, creative, or a take on my song that I found enjoyable!
Above: Two girls singing along to “O-bama O-bama” in a kitchen.
Above: A girl running around in an “Obama” mask campaigning. And guess what the background music is??
Above: Two kids from Chi-town rocking out in their… I dunno, basement?? – to the “Obama” song!
Above: Two teens at a high school in Las Vegas beat-box the “Obama” song!
Above: A woman from France – FRANCE! – drawing a picture of Obama while my song plays!
Above: At SVHS (I’m assuming that’s a high school), the “Obama” song was played during their homecoming rally!
Above: Jerrell Puttin, of “The Obaminators” dance crew, encouraging others to vote by dancing to my “Obama” song!
Above: DJ Ice chops and screws “O-bama O-bama!”
Above: A video of Obama and pals driving in a car while bumpin’ “Obama Milli.” This was also made into a phone video message that got passed around by many!
Above: Two Girls in an Obama mask and a Joe Biden mask do a verse from “Obama Milli!” It looks so scary!
* * * * *
MY TRUE FEELINGS ABOUT OTHERS CLAIMING MY SONG AS THEIRS
“Obama Milli” was released as video #5, in what is to be a 52-video, year-long series of videos.
Prior to its release, my videos hadn’t gotten a lot of views, except for video #1, another parody I did called “Erectile Dysfunction” (a remake of Snoop Dogg’s “Sexual Seduction”). That video had gotten 12,000 views at the time, so when I released the “Obama” song, I figured it would, at the very least, match up to that song’s popularity.
Clearly, I under-estimated how popular it would actually become.
Unbeknownst to me, while I was working on other videos for weeks 6 and 7, the video was taking off like wild fire on YouTube. And – because I had the song as a download on this site – people started getting the song and playing it. Some of these people turned out to be radio DJs (yay!) who ended up being happy to play it on their station.
And it was all good… until…
I was vacationing back home in VA with my family, and one of my friends from Georgia called and said they heard my “Obama” song on radio… only it wasn’t my voice on the verses. Turns out, one of the local DJs took my track, re-sampled the “Obama Obama” part of the song, and made his own version.
I wouldn’t have cared so much, if it weren’t for the fact that people started messaging me, asking me if I was REALLY the originator of the track, or if this particular DJ had taken it. I had to call my entertainment lawyer – who just happen to know the DJ in question – to get the whole mattered settled with that situation.
THEN, I found out that Tyga – ironically enough, a close friend of Lil’ Wayne – had contacted this guy on YouTube who had remade my “Obama” beat into an instrumental with more of a southern bounce to it, and asked him for the track. According to this person, Tyga “promised” he’d give him AND me a shout-out on the track.
Lo and behold, this never happened.
So, Tyga made his “Obama” song and toured around the country performing it – and getting PAID to do so. I know this because I saw all the videos other people took of him at his various tour stops doing the song.
So, how do I REALLY feel about all this?
It’s a catch-22. I can’t be too mad at it because, after all, I DID remake a song by Lil’ Wayne, so I’d look hypocritical if I got mad at someone else…
…but at the same time, MY remake was an original idea! Everyone else took the “A Milli” beat and did a freestyle talking about having a lot of money; meanwhile, I took the beat, re-made it from scratch, came up with the idea to use “Obama” as the subject, spent 3 days writing it, half-a-day recording it, 1 hour filming the video and 8 hours editing it…
…so, for someone else to get the credit for coming up with the idea really irks me.
The ironic part is, I had people claiming I stole the song from either Tyga or the radio DJ… yet, the vocal sample used in their songs is MY voice!
In the end, though, the song did what I wanted it to do: (a) get Barack elected, and (b) get my song exposed to people who were in a position to help me further along with my career goals. Which means that all those people that took my song and made their own ended up helping promote me more than I could have, and it didn’t cost me anything!
– – – – – – – – – –
This is the end of the “Obama Milli” page. The song has given me a great ride these past 7 months, and I hope its allowed other people to search out my other videos as well. After all, there ARE many other videos I’ve made since then, and I highly recommend you check them out!
This week’s video is for the song “Killed the Beat,” featuring (and produced by) Myxtape!
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON “The Next Black President (a.k.a. Back On My Grind)” Mixtape – Click HERE for download info!
INSIGHT INTO A SONG:
First things first: the guest artist on this track is Myxtape, a 17 (or maybe 18 now) up-and-coming MC and producer from Philly. His songs are awesome, and his production skills – as you’ll be able to hear in this song – are incredible. His website is www.myspace.com/Myxtape. I did this song and the video for it because (a) I believe that you best help yourself by first helping others, and (b) his stuff is pretty good!
After the “O-bama O-Bama” song started getting big on YouTube and on the radio, I began getting messages from people asking me to collaborate with them on tracks. This wasn’t completely surprising to me – I figured that other people would hear the song on their local radio stations, track it down on the net and then try to do songs with me in the hopes of getting themselves on radio as well. Just imagine: “Hey, play my song – it features the ‘O-bama Milli’ guy!”
At the same time, I figured if I started to do some collaborations, it would also help me to expand the listening audience for my music. Think about it; if I do a collaboration, the person I do the song with is going to try to get at least a few of his friends to listen to the song. If those people like my verse, they might try to find more of my stuff. So, in a sense, doing collabos would help both me AND the other person out!
I put a video up on YouTube telling people I was looking to do collaborations. I told them if they wanted me to do a song with them, they needed to send me the beat, an idea for a song, and that, if I liked what they sent, I’d have it back to them within 24 hours.
Lo and behold: I got quite a few people who sent me messages. One of them was an artist who goes by the name “Myxtape” (pronounced “mix tape.” I’m sure you could have figured that out on your own). He asked me to collaborate on a track he had made the beat for called “Killed the Beat.” He also sent me the beat, along with one simple instruction: that I “kill it,” or in layman’s terms, “do a really, REALLY good job on your part of the song.”
I took a listen to the beat… and I LOVED it. It has a bluesy kind of feel to it, yet just jams when you play it. He added his own drum pattern to the sample (I forget which one), and he was also kind enough to place his verse on the first half of the track. All I had to do was add in my verse on the second part, and the song would be complete.
I listened to the track quite a few times before I actually typed anything. As is the case with collabo songs, I always feel pressure to try and match up to, or outdo, the person I’m collaboration with. I consider it “friendly competition,” but it’s even more important to come strong with a verse when you’re the last person on the track – otherwise, the next time people hear the song, they’ll listen to the first verse, then turn to another song without listening to your verse ever again!
After a long thought process, I decided to take the title of the song – “Killed the Beat” – literally. I mapped it out like I just got confronted by the cops for actually “killing” the track, i.e. doing such a good job on it that I murdered it and had to be taken to trial. I don’t want to give too much away here, but because I took the title of the song literally, I was able to come up with a pretty awesome scenario for the verse that would, unbeknownst to me at the time, pave the way for an equally impressive video idea later.
So far, this is my favorite “official” collaboration track that I’ve done, and one of my favorite songs on “The Next Black President” myxtape – er, mixtape!
Some Interesting Song Tidbits:
1. In the first part of my verse, I sound kinda like Busta Rhymes when I say, “Shoulda SEEN the way I did it…” He always emphasizes his words like the way I said “seen,” and he’s one of my favorite rappers. I think I was thinking about his technique when I wrote that line.
2. My favorite line in the song: “…and I keep coming back like a porno star’s ass, riiiiight?” This is what rappers call a “double entendre.” I hate explaining rap lines, as I like people to get the insight on their own, but… this line is smart because I say “I keep coming back,” i.e. I continue to stay rapping, but in reference to the second half of the line – “like a porno star’s ass” – it’s funny because, in adult films, a woman will oftentimes end up having her partner’s man juice on (or in) her rear end. Yes, it’s a disgusting line, but it’s also quite clever and funny!
3. And yes, in case you’re curious, I was able to deliver this back to Myxtape within 24 hours. Once I came up with the rhyme, it took me two hours to type up, record, mix and master… and then I had to wait until the next day to go to Panera Bread to actually send it to him!
INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:
When putting together “The Next Black President” mixtape, I KNEW I wanted to add this song on it. I also knew that, despite not living anywhere near the artist I collaborated with for the track, I wanted to shoot a video to it.
I’ve actually had the video I idea for this song in mind for about a month, though I was only recently able to finalize my vision for the visual. Because the beat reminded me of something I’d hear out of a detective/spy movie, a la “James Bond,” I wanted to shoot a video where I was a policeman out looking for the person responsible for killing – what else? – a “beat” for a song.
I didn’t know it at the time I recorded my verse, but the scenario I painted in the song allowed me to further play off the whole “searching for the murder” theme. Originally, I was going to be a cop or a detective for the video, but I don’t have any of those types of clothes at my disposal, and I definitely was NOT going to buy them.
However, I DID have the right clothes to dress up like a suave spy! Black suit jacket? Check! Black pants? Check! Black tie? Check! White shirt? Check! Black shoes? Check!
Furthermore, doing the whole “spy” thing would allow me to get away with things in the video that cops and detectives can’t, like breaking into places unannounced. And who’s place would I be breaking into?
My alter-ego, of course! Yes, once again, I took on duel roles as both the spy AND A.P.T., the recording artist who “Killed the Beat.”
Incidentally, playing 3 roles in a video – spy, me, and director – is HARD work. Because I was interacting with myself, I had to mentally plan out my shots in advance. Furthermore, it was raining outside, and there were scenes where either the spy or my regular self would come in from the rain – but I couldn’t shoot those shots and then do a shot of me where I’m dry, as it would look odd when editing it later on.
I did about 43 takes for this video – easily the most takes I’ve done for a video since “Bust My G.A.T.” – and most of those were due to having to go back and re-film something as a result of forgetting how a previous shot I took wouldn’t match up with a current one.
As for Myxtape’s part – the guest artist on the track – I used pictures of him I found on his myspace page in the parts where I’m looking up info on A.P.T.’s laptop. I wanted him represented in some way in the video so he’d get some face exposure – hopefully this will help him get some views on his page, as he is a very talented artist!
Some Interesting Video Tibits:
There are actually so many interesting tidbits for this video, I have to try and remember it shot-by-shot…
1. As I’ve said before, I have NO help directing these videos. Every single camera angle was done using a chair, a suitcase, an ironing board, and mini-boxes, all stacked in different ways and angles to get the shots I wanted.
2. The phone ring song is “C.R.E.A.M.” byWu-Tang clan. Yes, I actually have that song as a ringtone on my phone!
3. Anything you hear where my voice sounds extra clear was done in post-production.
4. Somehow, a good majority of my videos have bathroom shots. What the dilly, yo?!?
5. For the part of the video where I chase myself into my room, I had to film myself in A.P.T. clothes running into the room, then allow the camera to keep filming while I changed into my spy gear. This is why the shot looks so seamless!
6. It was raining HARD for most of this shoot. However, when it came time to me to film the part where I’m outside as the spy, it had stopped raining. Talk about good timing!
7. Incidentally, I had the entire shoot for this thing mapped out in my head, and didn’t shoot it in the order it’s seen on film. However, this did cause a few problems. There were certain shots I couldn’t use or had to cut short to keep the continuity of the video in tact. For example, the shot of me coming into the house as A.P.T. had a full shot of me opening the door. However, when I did that, you could see the screen door behind it. The problem, however, is that at the end of the video I shot it to where it looked like that door didn’t exist. Therefore, I couldn’t show the whole shot of me coming in because people would wonder later why there was no screen door when I finally get caught!
Also, there’s a shot where, after rolling into the house to look for evidence, I roll back up and walk into the next room. However, in that shot, the cardboard box is still on the plastic holder. If you remember, that same box got knocked over when I went to look for evidence. Therefore, the other shot couldn’t be used.
8. Estimated time for editing: a LONG time. Like, about 8 or 9 hours, mostly due to adding in post-production sounds.
That’s all for now – only 21 more videos to go! See ya next week!
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This week’s music video is for the song, “I’m Gonna Make It.”
INSIGHT INTO A SONG:
This was one of the last songs I recorded for the mixtape. Most of the songs I recorded had either already been written or recorded by me earlier on (as I tend to record quite a few songs on my downtime), but this one was written up about 2 days before I finished the mixtape (the absolute last track recorded was “Blow It All,” but even that one had been written for some time).
The beat used in the song is from the Mariah Carey song, “I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time,” off her most recent album release, “E=MC^2.” It’s one of my favorite songs off the album, and I knew I wanted to use it for a song of some kind for the mixtape… I just had no idea what I wanted to write about.
Then, inspiration hit me in the weirdest way. I was on my way to work one day, and I was cutting it pretty close to the time the train might arrive at the station. I left my apartment later than expected, and only had about 45 minutes to get to work. Once I got closer to the station, I ran my butt off as fast as I could, hoping I could get there just in time to catch the train…
…but it was not meant to be. I got to the station and remembered that I had to recharge my MARTA breeze card for another week, and in the time it took me to tap my card, press the right buttons, pay the machine, charge through the gates and run down the stairs, the train closed its doors just as I made it to the platform and took off.
DAMNIT!!
I yelled the above phrase, along with a few other words that won’t be typed here (sorry, Mom!). I was furious! I knew that if the next train didn’t come soon I’d get to work late, and there’s nothing managers and bosses like more than when an employee doesn’t arrive to work on time.
As I walked around worrying about when the next train would come, I started freestyling to myself: “I missed the train again; now my boss goin’ to complain again…”
From there, I kept on thinking of more and more lyrics. Luckily, my phone has voice recorder on it, so I recorded myself saying the rest of the first part of the verse.
Once I got to work (and thank God the next train only took 5 minutes to show up – I got to work right on time!), I started writing down some more lyrics; and later that evening when I got home, I figured out how the middle part of the song should go. Next thing you know, I had a hot song on my hands!
This is one of those “going through hardships but keeping up hope” songs. As I say in the last part of the song, I’ve been going at this music thing for 4 to 5 years now, and there are times when things aren’t going as well as I planned. Despite any minor setbacks, though, I’ve always had the belief that if I stuck to it long enough, I’d eventually make some real progress, gain fans, and be able to sell an album and/or go on tour. This song is the culmination of those things starting to happen, and I couldn’t be happier!
Some Interesting Song Tidbits:
1. Contrary to what I say in the song, my boss and managers are actually real nice people! I’m rarely late for work, but when I am I call ahead, and they are usually understanding. However, there are many people that have bosses and managers who aren’t so understanding, so for creative purposes the first few lines of the song are quite relatable.
2. The line, “5 days late, I ain’t got the rent/Addin’ on fees, and it’s got me bent” – was put in because, at the complex I live in, they charge a $35 late fee if you don’t pay your rent by the 5th. Needless to say, I’ve never been late on rent!
3. I haven’t had any neighbors cuss me out, but I have had a few yell things like “Hey, be quiet!” or bang on my wall while trying to record. I wish I had soundproof walls!
4. The line, “Don’t rap – you don’t even have the right look/You ain’t hard…” was put in because I’ve had a LOT of people tell me I don’t look like a rapper. I don’t wear doo-rags, don’t smoke, rarely drink, don’t have sex with hoards of women, talk like I’m from the hood… but that’s fine with me, ’cause Kanye West is outsellin’ ALL the rappers that “look like rappers,” ha ha ha!!
INSIGHT INTO A VIDEO SHOOT:
Once again, shooting the video was very easy, while editing it sucked monkey balls.
The concept for the video was “An Average Day in the Life of A.P.T., Job-worker and Super-stardom-Dreamer.” It shows me being late to work, then coming home and trying to record, cooking dinner, watching shows on my laptop, and finally finishing up a song before bed-time.
I shot the entire thing in one day, this past Friday. I got up at 7 in the morning for the “first wake-up” shot. Afterwards, I dressed up in some business-like clothes and walked to the MARTA station to take shots of the train as it left. I thought it would take a while for a train to actually come, so imagine my surprise when, as soon as I got there, a train was about to enter the station! I got my camera out and started recording from the top of the stairs, then ran down to give the appearance of me chasing the train.
After that, I took two shots of me, one of me frustrated at missing the train, and one of me calling my job to tell my boss that I’ll be late. He yells at me on the phone, which is why I push it away from me in the video. I was going to have a shot of me being yelled at by someone playing my boss… but seeing as I don’t get any help on these videos… ah, I’ve said enough about that already.
Next, I went home, set the clock on my radio to 8:27, and shot film of me racing out of bed once I realize my original wake-up time – 7 AM – passed by me 87 minutes ago!
After that, I waited until around 7 PM to finish filming. I wanted it to look like time had passed, and that I had been at work all day, which means I had to wait for the outside to look a bit more dusk-like. I basically shot everything in sequence as shown in the video; that’s why it looks progressively darker as the video goes on.
So, like I said, filming the actual video was easy. Then, I went to load the film onto my computer, and accidentally dropped my camera while it was loading. It didn’t break my camera, but somehow it corrupted the files to where they wouldn’t play via Windows Media Maker. This wouldn’t have been such a bad thing, since the footage would still play through the Realtime Player – but my editing software only edits WMV files, and I couldn’t transfer them back to work properly!
I ended up having to contact HP online support, and they sent me to a site where I could download software that would transfer my files back into WMV. Fortunately, the software worked. UNFORTUNATELY, though, the trial software would place a big thing in the middle of my media saying “This is the unregistered version.” In order for that message to NOT be there, I had to register the software… for $39!! I was so pissed off at the thought of having to actually PAY for one of my videos to be made, I almost said “screw it” and wasn’t going to put out a video this week.
But, I made a commitment to this whole project the first day I started it that I would do a video a week for a year. And, now that I have fans that expect one each Sunday, I wasn’t going to disappoint them.
So, I bought the software. Turns out, it ended up being a blessing in disguise! Not only did it transfer my files into WMV; it also allowed you to make some funky-looking edits to my footage prior to transfering it. This software is the reason I was able to add the fuzzy-looking footage, along with the footage surrounding my footage in the center of the video. This means I have even MORE options now when I edit these videos!
Some Interesting Video Tidbits:
1. People ask me if (a) I have a cameraman, or (b) how I’m able to take shots at different angles with no help. It’s called “creative camera placement.”
That shot of me walking to my apartment door? There’s a stair banister there, and the flat part is adjacent to my apartment door. That shot of me looking at my bills? I set my camera on an ironing board sitting up against my wall. That shot of me in the bathroom brushing my teeth? I have a bathroom cabinet. There are some other little tricks I do, too – the bottom line, though, is that whatever shot I want, I FIND a way to get it!
2. I filmed all the “morning shots” before 8 AM. I had to set the clock to different times.
3. In the opening of the video, when the clock strikes 7, the song you hear is a snippet of my song, “True Lyricist,” also off “The O-Bama Mixtape.”
4. In the center of the video, there is footage of me watching two things on my laptop. The first one is a clip of Bernie Mac from “The Original Kings of Comedy” movie; the second one is a clip of Chef from the show “South Park” – voiced by Issac Hayes – singing the “Suck on My Chocolate Salty Balls” song.
Both of these gentleman died last weekend, and I wanted to do a tribute to them in my own way without overstating it. I got the idea from a “Sex and the City” episode filmed right after the September 11th attacks – rather than make a whole show about tragedy and destruction, or making some big statement about how great New York was, they simply kept showing a snow globe with a statuette of the World Trade Center buildings inside. Simple, yet understood.
5. I recorded this song on my H2 Zoom mic. However, the mic you see in the video is my OFFICIAL STUDIO MIC that I’m using to record my album. My songs will sound MUCH better now!!
6. And yes, in case you were wondering: I really DID put my camera in my freezer to get my refrigerator shot. And yes, I can cook.
7. Estimated time for editing: 6 hours, most of which was spent transferring the footage back into WMV format. I NEED a Mac, people!
That’s all for now. Enjoy the video – “The A.P.T. LP” comes out next week! See ya Sunday!
That’s 10 videos so far, people! (11, if you count “Hey Jesse Jackson,” which I count as half a video.) When I started this thing, I had no idea how long I’d be able to keep it up for. Now, I’ve gone from trying to figure out a video at the last minute to having video ideas for songs 3 to 4 weeks ahead of time. I guess it’s true what they say, “practice makes perfect!”
Okay, so, since what I do is considered “art,” there are going to be people out there who like my stuff, and people who don’t. One of the reasons people do not go for what they want to do in life is that they are afraid of getting any kind of negative criticism. They feel like if someone tells them their work isn’t good enough, or that they are downright terrible at what they do, their self-esteem will shatter so badly they won’t be able to recover.
However, I’ve always taken the opposite approach. I’ve always welcomed criticism because I figure that, in trying to become good at what I do, I’m not going to get everything right immediately, yet I may not always be able to point out what I’m doing wrong. Unfortunately, most people are so worried about keeping a person’s self-esteem up (lest that person punch them in the face), that even if that other person does mediocre work, they’ll still say “oh, great job,” thinking they are helping the person.
This is FAR from the truth. In actuality, it’s HARMING the person in the long run. They’ll go along doing the wrong thing thinking it’s right simply because no one stopped them to say, “um, you could be doing that a LOT better.”
I’m fortunate enough to have people in my life (my brother, David, and my friend Michele come to mind) who don’t mind telling me when I’m doing a song or making a beat that either sucks or could be made better. Heck, I think I let my brother hear 4 or 5 songs late last year that he said wasn’t showing off my true writing potential. After being mad at him for a couple of hours, I realized he was only saying that stuff because he saw potential in me to do really GREAT work, as opposed to just trying to get by with anything.
Because I put my songs out on the net, I get many, MANY chances to get feedback about my songs. Some of it is sent directly to me via YouTube/MySpace/Wordpress comments, and the majority of it has actually been pretty positive. However, I like to go to other sites that I’m not a member of and read what other people think about some of my stuff – it’s a great way to get an unbiased view of my work since I’m not the one directly asking for the feedback.
Of course, most of the sites have posted my “Obama” video, so the majority of critiques have been about that song. The overall response is positive, but, like all art, there have been people who posted comments that weren’t exactly the nicest in the world. I don’t like to promote negativity, so those comments won’t be mentioned here; needless to say, though, I find it hilarious that a person NOT liking the song would actually take 2 minutes out of their day to express WHY they don’t like a song of mine. It’s like, regardless of if they liked it or not, they still spent time focusing a portion of their lives on ME – so, in the end, it still benefits me!
But like I said before, I accept all kinds of criticism, be it positive or negative. I was a theatre major at Hampton University for 5 years. That’s FIVE years of being critiqued for stage performances, improv skits, class acting assignments, and thesis work. Once you’ve had practice hearing good and bad things about yourself via numerous performances, you develop a thick skin for the comments you’ll receive about others for anything you do, for the rest of your life. Someone saying a song or mixtape or video of mine “sucks” isn’t all that damaging to my psyche – especially when 19 other people are standing next to that person saying the same body of work is “great,” “uplifting,” and “f–kin’ awesome.”
Yeah – I hear that I’m “f–kin’ awesome” a LOT these days.
So, the point of all this is simply: if you have a goal or a dream, expect criticism. Don’t let it slow you down, and remember that not all negative criticism is bad. If anything, you can use it to re-route yourself into the right direction, and prove the ones throwing the criticism at you wrong. It’s worked for me so far, and it can work for you, too!
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!!!
Actually, let me rephrase that: I like the songs and exclusives that are usually found on mix-tapes; I just hate having to listen to them. People do a LOT of annoying things on mix-tapes that hamper my listening experience. DJs feel the need to yell all over the track (can I just hear the damn song without you yelling “This is DJ so-and-so” on the chorus?!?), parts of the song get rewound back over and over (if the song is halfway over, why scratch-and-rewind it back to the beginning? That is SO annoying!!), songs cut off instead of fading out… and these are just a few of the things I find annoying about them.
Me, I like to put out whole albums that have a cohesive feeling to it. At the same time, though, I do make songs and freestyles that would not be fit to put on a regular album. With that said, I was recently asked if I was going to put together a mix-tape.
At first I was going to say “HECK NO” because of what I said above. Then it dawned on me: with all the attention I’ve been getting off the “Obama Obama” song, now would be a perfect time to let people know that I actually have talent outside of simply making parodies of other people’s songs. I mean, dang, I’ve made 8 videos and only 2 of them have been parodies – I do a LOT of good original songs, too!
So, I decided to make a mix-tape: “The O-bama Mix-tape.” Pretty easy, right?
Because I’ve already put a few of the songs out as videos, half of the mix-tape will be some of those songs. I also have songs that I haven’t released yet, but made for my last unreleased album, “Check the Resume,” that I can put on there as well. The rest of the songs will be songs to other people’s beats that are NOT parodies, but simply songs I can try and show my skills over.
The best thing about the process is that, since I’m the one putting together the whole thing, I don’t have to have all the annoying elements I see on other people’s mix-tapes. I can simply put the songs together, do a few interludes here and there, and let people listen to the music vs. hearing a dag-gone DJ screaming all over the place!!
And of course, the mix-tape will be a free download. However, I’ll also be including a link where people can donate money to support me if they like my stuff. Actually, I already have a link like this, and I’ve actually been getting in some donations, so THANK YOU, and to the rest of you, I could always use a few more bucks to help me out!
That’s all for now – the mix-tape will be finished soon, so I’ll keep you all posted!
12 Hot songs (plus some bonuses) from me, A.P.T., and my partner in rhyme (and beats) Kaptain Kutta!!
A.P.T.'s Songs, Albums and Music Videos 