#INDIANA: LONEgevity “rap, etc.” Release & Interview | @LONEgevity
Our own LONEgevity unveiled his rap, etc. album today with all of the instrumentals, and wrote a bit about it below. Listen, read, bump and download for free from Bandcamp.
RAPRAPRAP – I actually made this beat when showing Jay Diff a few cool things about Ableton back in July of 2014. Later, when I sat down to finalize the album, I didn’t have an intro, and instead of doing something more somber, which was my initial plan, I decided to come straight out the gate and just do clever rap stuff. Even though I’ve been rapping longer than producing, and have put out numerous projects with hip hop groups with me rapping (Hinx Jones / Beats & Breakfast), most people know me for my production. I think the angst and idea that I get overlooked in the rap realm by most people is frustrating at times, and this song was meant to pretty much showcase my wordplay and ability. I tend to have a bit of aggression and cockyness in my rap persona, and I’ve always been pretty opinionated. So yeah, this is just what it is…like hey, listen up and learn something. Blah blah, look at me, I’m a rapper.
STONES – This is an older song that I remixed. I tend to remix my songs quite a bit, as you’ll understand after reading all of this. This song was originally recorded back in 2012 when I was working on a “Drums Bang” project (which eventually turned into a business) and had a completely different beat. I ended up losing some of the stems, so I had to remix it, and I actually like it a bit more now. I flipped a Madlib/MED track. The features are my homies G Granite and Gritts, who wrote some really great rah rah rap stuff for it. “Stones” references the last lines of the song.
WANNA DO – I wrote and recorded this song in one night back in August of 2014. The beat was one that I made when I first started messing around in Ableton back in June of 2014, and was just a real simple loop. Sometimes simplicity works wonders, and it did for this one. I’m not sure what exactly sparked this song, but here it is. I enjoy doing spacious octave singing over tracks, and it gave me the vibe I wanted.
SITTING IN MY CAR – The whole idea for this song is kind of funny because I wrote it about a past life I had. I used to work the typical 40+ hours a week as an engineer in the medical field, and back in 2010 I was laid off. Managing working a ton of hours on top of all of the other things I did was tough, and I kind of looked back to a previous life to draw inspiration a bit when I wrote this song last year (around May of 2013 I think). Right around this time, Mike Schpitz actually drove to Indianapolis from Chicago to do a weekend recording session for a project we were working on, and this song was actually a stem from after that session. I think. Maybe it was right before? Actually, now I’m not too sure. Ha. Either way, I sent this track to him around the same time we were putting out our “Sunday Brunch” project (April of 2013) and our recording session (May of 2013). He was able to chime in and add his experience as the 9-5 rapper with a family to add a great take on my idea: that necessary “me moment” the song is about. This is one of my favorite songs I’ve done.
I WONDER – When I initially opened Ableton to make this beat, my intention was for this to be the intro. It turned out a bit too vibey. Then I wanted it to be the outro, but I re-realized that I already had a perfect outro. I put this interlude in the middle to simply show another side of my creativity. It’s minimal and to the point.
THRONES – I wrote this song when I was in the middle of binge-watching Game of Thrones. I was sitting and making a beat while re-watching an episode I partially missed, and the sample you hear came on. I instantly got the idea to write a song from the perspective of a bold and crass, yet loved king in this world. It turned out to be a mixture of many of the characters spaced throughout my 5 mini-verses, and at the end the “now all my people say…” part gets revealed as I say “he’s the great” at the end. It all ties together.
WAKE UP – This is another older track that I had sitting around. Kind of. I made the beat and wrote the verse to this in the summer of 2013, and Pete actually sent me the verse pretty quickly. I got the scratches from Spoolz shortly after, but I didn’t actually piece this song together until about a month ago. Pete has been one of my favorite rappers for along time, so I’ll proudly play back fiddle to him. It’s more or less just a rappidy rap song telling you that we can rap. It’s fun.
STUCK – This song is pieces of a song that I wrote for my lady about 2 years ago, re-imagined with a different beat than I originally used. I knew I wanted to put out this song before, but I thought the vibe was a little weird, so when I was randomly browsing through beats I made in 2010, I found this one. I had completely forgot about it, but it was perfect for what I wanted to share. Short and sweet.
KISS – This is a bonus track because I didn’t really want to have two songs like “Quickie” on here, and they were both pretty similar. But also, this song is literally like 6-7 years old…recording and all. I had to do some clever things to get it to sound decent. The idea of this song is pretty simple, yet cleverly complex. I wrote this song with two ideas in mind so that depending on the person, they would think I’m talking about two completely separate things: 1) the first kiss, and 2) the first kiss down below. If you listen closely you’ll realize it can be interpreted both ways. I’d like to shoot a side-by-side shot video showcasing this at some point, but if the lifespan of this song is any indicator, it might not happen for a few more years.
QUICKIE – I mean, it’s exactly what it seems like. It’s a song about a quick sexual encounter. It’s very descriptive. I remixed this beat after I made it to give it a better feel. This song is also roughly three years old.
SLEEP – This song has many meanings. Aside from referencing Naptown (Indianapolis), the song talks about being slept on as an emcee, being a bit older than some of the newer cats emerging, and all of the weirdness that goes along with it. It’s not necessarily a cocky song as much as it is an awakening; it’s a respect due type of thing. As much as I have love for the entire Indianapolis and Indiana music scene, sometimes I feel like I get overlooked due to being a blogger and somewhat of a “mover” in the scene. It’s hard to describe sometimes, as I’m not a typical artist, so it’s frustrating sometimes. There just isn’t a “perfect place” for some of us. This is just my way of saying that I may be seasoned, but don’t sleep on this old man – go and dig and you’ll find my work. You might just like it, and I’ll still give you 30/10/5! Ps, I’m not THAT old. This beat is also a remix from the original…but it was a great segway from the previous song so I kept it.
