[RDSV2] #1 of 16: Resurgence
(Act 1: Chapter 1)
This is the opening song on my latest album “RARE DEMO S*** (vol.2)”. I’m pretty sure any logical artist would have just split this into 3 separate tracks but if you’re a fan of mine, you’re well aware that 7-minute-long epics are something I am quite fond of.
I don’t much like to sample snitch but I always feel guilty if I don’t. That said, the intro dialogue is from an old 60 Minutes documentary about Rock Springs (obviously), can’t remember what I used for the instrumental beneath it. The second part was sampled using a score from the classic N64 video game Perfect Dark, the third part contains a stretched version of my third favorite Linkin Park song (no, I will not tell you which one). R.I.P. Chester B.
[RDSV2] #2 of 16: Peacemaker
(Act 1: Chapter 2)
The second song off my new album. Stereotypical boom-bap brag rap, classic 2014 G.FOX in full effect on this one. I forgot who I lifted the sample from but I barely even did anything with it, took an 8 bar loop and chopped it in half on the 1/2. The argument at the end was a real-life conversation between me and the legendary Spice1 (it’s actually fake but I’m going to keep lying and telling people it’s real).
[RDSV2] #3 of 16: Affirmatory
(Act 1: Chapter 3)
The third track off “RDSV2”, one of my more popular tracks for some odd reason. I originally dropped this as the 2nd album single on 11.20.19, I jacked the instrumental from a promotional 12” vinyl I have of Da Youngsta’s (hella underrated group from the ’90s), threw some new drums on it and pitch-shifted it in a few areas. The prank phone call at the end is 100% REAL, blows my mind how many people think it’s scripted. Also, I shot and released a music video for this back in July, you should definitely go watch it.
[RDSV2] #4 of 16: Assimilation
(Act 1: Chapter 4)
Fourth track off “RDSV2”, this is literally the worst song I have ever made. I originally released it as the 3rd album single on 1.11.18, I’ve re-released it several times too because I could never get the mixing right. The concept is pretty cut and dry, I took some prefab trap beat from some generic ass sample pack and rearranged it. Chopped some boring repetitive ass lyrics to go with the ViiBEZZ. This is basically a parody of everything that’s wrong with modern rap music only it's taking itself way too seriously. I’m almost finished with a music video for this too, only one 15-second scene left to film and then it’s done dot com.
[RDSV2] #5 of 16: Absolution
(Act 1: Chapter 5)
Fifth track off “RDSV2”, IMO this is bar-for-bar the best writing I’ve ever achieved. This was the first album single I released on 7.7.17 and it took me about two years to complete. It’s four verses long and each sixteen is exceptionally more intense than the last (except the 4th, which I’m not sure many people even know is there). Hopefully, I should have the music video finished before the end of this year, no promises though.
[RDSV2] #6 of 16: Salvation
(Act 1: Chapter 6)
Sixth track off “RDSV2” and the finale of Act 1. This song was inspired by real-life events, specifically the night I fell asleep behind the wheel and almost died back in 2016. There’s some heavy stuff inside this track, it took me a long time before I could even feel comfortable talking about it. Still don’t really, but I’m glad I was finally able to put this story down on wax. I also jacked the beat from CMA, I didn’t really do shit in terms of production on this honestly. Plz don’t sue me, I luff you slot.
[RDSV2] #7 of 16: Otherground
(Act 2: Chapter 1)
This is the seventh track off “RDSV2” and the first official song of Act 2. I released this as the 4th album single on 11.11.18 and it was my attempt at writing a song without any drum hits, I was honestly quite surprised with the result. I’m not exactly sure who the original composer is tbh but I probably should, I wish I could really play the keys this well. I am in the process of learning though, hopefully i’ll be able perform it on a diamond encrusted pearl piano at the MGM Grand in Vegas on my 74th birthday. FUN FACT: The title is a play on words of the 7th track title on “RDSV1” titled “Overground”. I’m clever AF. BONUS FACT: This was also the very first track I ever attempted to sing on, so, stuff that info into your brainstem and leave it there.
[RDSV2] #8 of 16: Analog
(Act 2: Chapter 2)
Track numero ocho off my new album, probably my favorite song on the whole record to be honest. I came to the realization that my generation will be the very last of the human species to have ever experienced a time before the internet and the technology boom. Being born in 1991 and being among the very first of my peer group to ever own a computer gives me a perspective that I definitely feel I should share. I’ve never really heard a song touch on this topic before either so I thought it would be an interesting subject to explore. Check it out and let me know what you think!
[RDSV2] #9 of 16: Solstice
(Act 2: Chapter 3)
Track number nine off that new shit, this is the part of the album where things start to get dark and introspective. I won’t spoil the concept but it’s very abstract and not easily visible. Here’s a fun fact though, this was the very last instrumental I remember hearing before my car accident in ’16, I had a beat tape of some recent stuff that I had made and it was stuck in my CD changer during the time of the rollover. I love the production to death but I honestly don’t remember making the beat whatsoever, probably a combination of TBI and the severely depressive period of life that became the second half of 2015. I had lost the original stems when my hard drive was ejected from the car but luckily I still had a few mixdowns that I had bounced on my iMac at home, thank god for that.
[RDSV2] #10 of 16: Synesthesia
(Act 2: Chapter 4)
Track ten off my new record, this is a love song dedicated to hip-hop and everything that we’ve been through. Easily some of my favorite production on the whole album too, I flipped the sample back in 2016 by a really talented artist named Myk and then added some drums, scratches, and background vocals to it, super simple but it turned out really beautiful. I had enough content for the 2nd verse to be 3x as long so the hardest part was finding what to edit down, give it a listen and you’ll see why.
[RDSV2] #11 of 16: Wanderlust
(Act 2: Chapter 5)
Lucky number 11, not so lucky backstory. Carrying in the same vein as the previous track, this is also a love song but of a much darker origin. It was written for a girl that I started dating back in 2014. Needless to say, I fell in love with her but things didn’t end very well between us. It has taken me several years of ex-communication and soul searching in order to recover from it but that still hasn’t stopped me from writing songs about her. I’ve never been the dude to indulge in gossip or talking bad about others behind their backs so I take those emotions and I put them into my music instead, for better or for worse. Sometimes, I take this way too far and say some really harsh shit but at the end of the day, I wish her all of the best, wherever she is.
Fun fact, I actually made two completely different versions of this track. The first one was much prettier and featured a beautiful instrumental by a relatively well-known producer, I downloaded it in 2015 and had been writing a different song to it for several weeks. Then, by complete coincidence, she sent me the exact same song via text message one day and I immediately scrapped everything I had already written and started writing it about her. During that time, our relationship became increasingly confusing so I never knew which direction to go in order to finish the song. For that exact reason, I decided to throw it on the back burner and move on.
Fast forward to around this exact same time last year in 2018, we had been separated for over two and a half years up until this point and I still hadn’t finished the third verse of that song even though I still had plans to. One night, she randomly sent her annual “hope you’re well” text to which I finally responded as a friendly gesture of peace. I then later made the mistake of accepting her friend request and learning all about her new life and new boyfriend and it felt a lot like relapsing after being sober for several years. Luckily, we unfriended each other right away, but all of my pain from the past several years had risen right back to the surface and I didn’t know how to deal with it. In a pathetic fit of sadness and rage, I scrapped the original 2015 version and then I wrote, produced, recorded, and engineered an entirely new one in the span of a single day. I then leaked a secret link to my fans and sent it to her on her birthday like the petty POS that I am. I feel kind of bad about it but that was the last time I ever plan to speak to her (outside of music, at least). I wonder if I should have just taken that energy and put it into finishing the original but that's the way it goes. Maybe I’ll still drop it someday, but I definitely don’t plan on it.
The song title has multiple meanings too, one of which is exclusive to her and her alone and another is to be understood only after identifying the conceptual theme of the entire record. The other meaning, I will leave up to the listener's own interpretation (hint: it involves track #10).
[RDSV2] #12 of 16: Valhalla
(Act 2: Chapter 5)
Track number twelve, second-to-last track of Act II. This song features a non-linear dialog between my past, present, and future selves. This idea was inspired by the german TV series Dark and also features a brief monologue from the American version during the intro. The show explores the idea of time travel and the multiverse theory, if you guys have never watched it before, I highly recommend binging it on Netflix. Thank me later.
[RDSV2] #13 of 16: Destiny
(Act 2: Chapter 6)
Track number XIII, the final scene of Act 2. This one is more or less my attempt at a creative writing exercise. It’s a spaghetti western about an outlaw in 1906 and his quest for redemption and revenge. I think I made the beat around 2015 so this is one that I recovered from a corrupt HD after my head injury and held onto for a number of years. I always wanted to write a story to it but I could never come up with a plot, that was until around this time last year after I had been playing several hundred hours of Red Dead Redemption 2. The rest is history.
[RDSV2] #14 of 16: Timeless
(Act 3: Chapter 1)
Track number 14 and the first part of Act 3. This is the part of the album where things start to get a lot brighter and optimistic, this specific act deals with the concept of time, change, and growth. Scratch cuts by yours truly, I wasn’t sure what to do with the chorus so I just went off. Definitely one of my favorite tracks on the whole record honestly, at least in terms of production.
[RDSV2] #15 of 16: Sayonara
(Act 3: Chapter 2)
Track number 15, the second to last track of the record. This one is about learning to live in the moment and being grateful for what you have. I released this as the 5th and final single on 11.11.18, i’ve got a ton of really nice feedback on it so far. Not my favorite track in all honesty but i’m glad some of you guys like it.
[RDSV2] #16 of 16: Denouement
(Act 3: Chapter 3)
Track number 16, the epic 3-part climax and finale of the whole story. This is what my music sounds like when I literally stop giving a F. I don’t really like my voice but I sing the whole first half of this, one thing I learned from Mac Miller is that you don’t have to have the best voice to be a great singer. There is also a massive plot twist halfway through this, I won’t spoil it but it’ll help explain what’s been going on the whole record if you’ve been paying attention. The final half is my rendition of the song Yellow by Coldplay. I ended the last track of “RDSV1” using a Coldplay sample so I figured it was only fitting if “RDSV2” ends the same way. Everyone pretends to hate Coldplay even though they’re secretly your favorite band of all-time. Don’t lie, it’s all good bro.
“RDSV2” available on every possible streaming platform. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to check it out and give me their feedback, I hope this record was worth the wait. Thank you for being apart of my journey, “RDSV3” in-stores 2024. Peace ✌️🦊