Understanding:
noun
the ability to understand something; comprehension
adjective
– sympathetically aware of other people’s feelings; tolerant and forgiving
- archaic having insight or good judgment.
To those who have been able to peak inside my current situation… the aforementioned is not what I’m looking for. Don’t confuse relating with understanding. Being able to relate will only charge you to make some sort of conclusion about something you experienced that ‘may be like what (I’m) going through.’ So feel me… relate, but don’t try to understand. This is completely from left field I know, but some people know where I’m coming from with this one, and others will have a healthy opportunity to practice the art of speculation.
I came to this topic of understanding because it’s so funny how people be around you for all of two months and think because they see you in a certain light they got you figured out. Dude, for real. My moms and sibs been around me much of my life and aint got there yet. So when did God start passing out exception cards, and more importantly, did he tell you something he thought not to tell the rest of us? Moving on.
I heard this dude talk about something like the army used to mandate proficiency tests… and if you sucked and were not ‘quality material’ you got booted from service… lmao. Don’t you wish we could do that with musicians these days… I mean I’m no Nas or anything like that… but I wish there was like some yearly thing where we could screen ‘artists’ for the quality of their material, instead of the quantity. Now before you get me all the way wrong, I’m all for quantity, but not at the price of risking quality. I believe there is a fine balance that could very definitely exist. It doesn’t to date though. Well maybe… Charles Hamilton (a little bit) – he does records in mass numbers… let’s say out of 12, there are maybe five to eight good joints on it… at least two that realistically had to grow on you, if not altogether as an artist. lol. But Hamilton is dope in my book.
Being fresh vs being overbearing… Nas… fresh or overbearing… to some of yall the dude is as much as outer-space as Kid Cudi, whom I didn’t respect until I heard the ‘Chillin’ joint he did with Consequence. He went in; I think the dude could definitely have some longevity, but it ultimately lies in two things… rap niggas listen to these words… they’re rather serious… it lies in… where your heart really is and how strong you are in character. That’s something you gotta go into any and everything thinking… is my heart in this… who am I really and can my character sustain where my talent may get me, or do I become a puppet? I would love to hear what some of yall think…
NOTE:
• I got vacation time coming up… that would be the ‘ideal’ time to hit me up for beats… and anything else you want to talk about. The entire of month of April I will back on some east coast time zone ish… ahh Little Rock, Arkansas babayyyy!
SHOUTS:
• John Sr. I’m glad you got your job back man. Keep pressing.
• Grip H playing guitar hero yesterday helped me stop thinking about some shit on a serious note man. I needed that like air bro.
• Dan Poh man, the feedback… it’s important to just have readers but it’s good to know someone is processing it beyond letters and line breaks.
• The listeners. I posted some joints that were close to my heart and the response spoke volumes about the spirit of people who enjoy things that are good. I reached more than 700 plays in one week. Unsigned… unknown, but apparently felt… and here I thought that wasn’t possible. Thank you thank you thank you.
hey man,
nas to me is g.o.a.t.
no doubt.
we’ll keep shooting those videos when you get back if we can. enjoy that vacation of yours.
I feel you on the emcee proficiency testing. One of my biggest gripes with all artists from all genres is consistency. I’ll use Nas as my example because you mentioned him and because in my opinion he is the best out there at this particular time. Now this dude is obviously super talented AND good at his craft at the same time. (yes there is a difference) I think the problem lies in the song selection and placement on the final product. I’ll use his latest UNTITLED joint for example. Now, as an artist I understand that you often record ALOT of material when you are working on an album, and I also know from experience how hard it is to let some of that stuff go because so much of YOU is invested in it. But I think that too many times (99%) artists put in those filler songs that don’t make any sense in the flow of the album just to get to 15 songs instead of being satisfied with 10 great songs that fit. Take for example Common’s “BE”. That is as close to a perfect album as I have heard in the last five years. Are all the songs personal favorites? No. But they are all REALLY SOLID and they all help towards completing the theme that is being conveyed. (The Tipping Point by The Roots is another) But on Nas joint it starts off super strong then get a little off track with the club song with Game and Chris brown (good track but it doesn’t fit) then it gets really strong in the middle with America and Sly Fox then diverges a little again from theme and finishes extremely strong. I feel the album was three tracks away from being perfect, except that those three tracks are subtractions rather than additions. Because of this I have taken to the practice of pairing these albums down myself to include only the tracks that fit. I don’t need the club tracks, and if I do I’ll pull them up on my I tunes. I even did this on the new Ludacris joint and made a damn good Hip Hop record out of it. I just wish artists would view their songs in context of a whole artistic goal and vision, but In their defense they are not encouraged to do this at all by the labels. Unfortunately it shows in their bodies of work. Again, just some thoughts…
Peace and Blessings. -D