INTRO (Home Page)

TO SEE THE LYRICS JUST SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK ON THE SONG TITLES ON THE RIGHT OF THE PAGE


It's been over 5 years since I released this CD and this introduction to the lyrics page can now serve as a retrospective. This was my first album and I knew so much less than I do now about so many things. Primarily, I wasn't going to many protests and events related to social justice, and I didn't know there were so many other underground political rappers like myself out there in the world! It's laughable now to me, but at the time I thought I was like the only one still doing what I was doing! I was inspired by Public Enemy, KRS 1, Dead Prez, and other famous conscious rap artists I heard growing up, but at the time I wasn't aware of the independent scene, which I now know is often where the best music is, especially in regards to underground and political hip hop.

While I am proud of my musical ability and many aspects of this project, I am not proud of the overall studio production. This is because this album was recorded in an inferior studio in Philly with two crazy guys. The one who did the mastering insisted he knew what he was doing and evidently he did not. The 3 albums I did after this one were recorded in a true professional studio in Blackwood, NJ with an engineer who is an expert in his field. I would never go back to that studio in Philly, and I think their lack of skills with production make the lyrics on this one hard to understand at times, which is why I think it's especially important to provide the lyrics here at this site. On this CD I was doing things I no longer do like using quasi curse words ("buck" for the F word and "ish" for the S word). On my 3rd and 4th albums I found better and more direct ways to express myself.

I had a good understanding of politics and fighting injustice back then but I have evolved so much since. My evolution politically can be seen on subsequent projects when comparing them with this one.

The only song I would re-do or just not release in retrospect is Now. I am proud of what I said (even if I could do a better job with the subject now) but the flow was too laid back and complacent and should have been more aggressive and on point. I did have a large amount of yes men and women around me at the time gassing my head up with nonsense about my impending fame and their unconditional support, and this could have had something to do with it. It's a shame but I admit I now tend to regard most of what people say as just talk.

Despite these shortcomings, there is so much I still love about this project. I am proud that I espoused many critical ideas/messages like taxing the rich, that we're all one human race, that we need to unify to fight the prevalent racism that still exists, the inequality in schools, inequality between rich and poor, class war, double standards, fighting ignorance in hip hop and generally, not objectifying women, first putting yourself in the shoes of people you want to ridicule, and general consciousness, empathy, and compassion. Of course there is also quite a bit of questioning authority and this is the foundation of the search for truth and justice.

I was also proud of how I attacked racism and hypocrisy on immigration and in general on F Bush, The Anti N Word, and Karma, and of all the important ideas and concepts on One Race. I still really enjoy the content and the way the flow bounces with the sound effects and back and forth dynamics on I Know. The song Karma is one I thought came together especially magnificently. The way the flow and beat came together is epic to me. I recall this was one of the few (if not the only) songs that I recorded in one take. I felt like that beat was made for me, and it strongly reminded me of a beat from an old movie I love called Big Trouble in Little China.

I'm also still really proud of bringing together independent, political rappers from three different countries for the monster collaboration song Its Time (Remix). I loved how it all came together and thought it was really powerful, especially T.O.'s verse.

To this day I'm immensely proud of the song Rhymes Anonymous. The whole song is a metaphor and it's intentionally eccentric sounding to go with the theme of a person dealing with addiction (in this case to writing rhymes). I wrote this song during a period where I couldn't sleep because I was writing rhymes all night and it felt like I couldn't stop. It was an exciting time. The metaphors within the overall metaphor were impressive as well, and I'm happy I still got a strong line or two about equality in there as well.

I think I showed versatility on this album by doing a love song and by conceptualizing some hilarious skits called Live from the Street, which satirized the state of hip hop and society. While doing those skits in the studio our heads hurt a lot from laughing so much.

I'll end the way the album ends by reminiscing on the final track (listed as the 2nd bonus track) the Its Time (Storm Remix) which was produced by Silent NRG. I can't say enough about how impressed I am with what NRG did on this one. He showed true mastery of production and DJ techniques and topped it off by going out in a severe thunder and lightning storm with a microphone to get the authentic thunder sound..

Peace,

Tha Truth