Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
No news today, so here's a YouTube
BLUNTED CONFESSIONS: A Series Where Jake Palumbo tells stories that go nowhere, like a stoned Grandpa.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Brief weekend re-cap.
Got some song ideas. Realized some songs I already have are probably OK to be on the record. Made another beat. Kicked it with the honey dips after work each night. Chiefed Dutches until I was a clueless retard. Finally ate fried chicken with string beans and want to sleep now. But I have a session from 3-11.
I've been getting steady side work as an engineer this week, which has provided some much needed guap before my unemployment benefits kick in (whooo...I'm interested to see how a check every week is going to kick-start my writing). However, one of the artists was a no-show, and one cat in particular I had to record, was the musical equivalent of getting kicked in the balls repeatedly.
The thangs I do for money....
I've been getting steady side work as an engineer this week, which has provided some much needed guap before my unemployment benefits kick in (whooo...I'm interested to see how a check every week is going to kick-start my writing). However, one of the artists was a no-show, and one cat in particular I had to record, was the musical equivalent of getting kicked in the balls repeatedly.
The thangs I do for money....
Monday, December 1, 2008
When in doubt, make beats...
I made beats tonight. And last night. And the night before.
I've been pretty prolific over the last two years, and I'm sitting on a lot of beats at the moment. Over 200 beats, some are absolute bangers, others have varying degrees of bang. I've got crazy, crazy potential instrumentals for this album. I'm just too un-focused to write the damn thing.
Some nights I just can't shit out any rhymes. I've not really been one of those "Yo-check-me-out, elbowing-my-way-into-the-cipher, rap-rap-rappity-rap" emcees since my...um, my early twenties. However some nights I'm really on point. Catch me on another night and I will rap, write and even freestyle up a funnel cloud.
One point that I think alot of purists nowdays don't credit is the live show aspect. Sure you can freestlye off the top while pointing at objects around you, but can you hold down a 45-minute live set of jam after jam, and keep it interesting? I can. THAT shit I feel makes you an emcee, so what if you're spitting writtens. Anyway moving onward...
I just think at this stage in the game I'm far more effective as a speaker and storyteller (how pretentious was that?) making my strange observations about the world, than as a battle emcee.
On the same tip though, I've found that in my vast rapping experience I've gotten to where I can shit out a Typical Palumbo Verse with relative ease now; i.e. couplets about how I'm realer than you, how I work harder and am more creative, the obligatory drug reference, obligatory wrestling reference, etc. etc. rinse, repeat. I don't want to fall into the trap of being stagnant because I want to please my audience. So I feel the need to really talk about some unique topics and always be funny and intense 100% of the time, and not waste anyone's time when I'm on the mic. So this makes lyricism difficult for me at times.
On the opposite tip however, I don't want to make a bunch of fucking "Ballad-of-Bilbo-Baggins" outer space shit that doesn't make any sense to anybody. Hip-hop needs a degree of nut-grabbing and egomania and hardcore feeling yourself...or it's not Hip-hop.
So on the nights I just can't figure any of this shit out...I make beats. Making beats is fun. Making beats is low-pressure. When making beats I can zone out and do whatever the fuck I feel. I can blaze, put porn on in the background and just get busy. I find that if I can close my eyes, nod my head, and eventually pass out to the beat, then it's a keeper. I like sound. I like notes, melody, samples, drums, FX, the studio...I like music. Music is the best.
I've been pretty prolific over the last two years, and I'm sitting on a lot of beats at the moment. Over 200 beats, some are absolute bangers, others have varying degrees of bang. I've got crazy, crazy potential instrumentals for this album. I'm just too un-focused to write the damn thing.
Some nights I just can't shit out any rhymes. I've not really been one of those "Yo-check-me-out, elbowing-my-way-into-the-cipher, rap-rap-rappity-rap" emcees since my...um, my early twenties. However some nights I'm really on point. Catch me on another night and I will rap, write and even freestyle up a funnel cloud.
One point that I think alot of purists nowdays don't credit is the live show aspect. Sure you can freestlye off the top while pointing at objects around you, but can you hold down a 45-minute live set of jam after jam, and keep it interesting? I can. THAT shit I feel makes you an emcee, so what if you're spitting writtens. Anyway moving onward...
I just think at this stage in the game I'm far more effective as a speaker and storyteller (how pretentious was that?) making my strange observations about the world, than as a battle emcee.
On the same tip though, I've found that in my vast rapping experience I've gotten to where I can shit out a Typical Palumbo Verse with relative ease now; i.e. couplets about how I'm realer than you, how I work harder and am more creative, the obligatory drug reference, obligatory wrestling reference, etc. etc. rinse, repeat. I don't want to fall into the trap of being stagnant because I want to please my audience. So I feel the need to really talk about some unique topics and always be funny and intense 100% of the time, and not waste anyone's time when I'm on the mic. So this makes lyricism difficult for me at times.
On the opposite tip however, I don't want to make a bunch of fucking "Ballad-of-Bilbo-Baggins" outer space shit that doesn't make any sense to anybody. Hip-hop needs a degree of nut-grabbing and egomania and hardcore feeling yourself...or it's not Hip-hop.
So on the nights I just can't figure any of this shit out...I make beats. Making beats is fun. Making beats is low-pressure. When making beats I can zone out and do whatever the fuck I feel. I can blaze, put porn on in the background and just get busy. I find that if I can close my eyes, nod my head, and eventually pass out to the beat, then it's a keeper. I like sound. I like notes, melody, samples, drums, FX, the studio...I like music. Music is the best.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
My poor MP-7...
I bought this E-Mu MP-7 in 2003.
Prior to that I was really using some low budget means of production. For recording and mixing, I was straight 4-track cassette until I stole a computer in 2001 and got a cracked copy of Cool Edit Pro, thus entering the world of digital recording and editing. For doing beats...well, I had a Boss Dr. Groove drum machine, a lame Yamaha keyboard, one (1) turntable and bass guitar I stole from these dirty punk rock kids who borrowed my PA system and never returned it. Producing beats at the time was a bit of a challenge, because with no real MIDI sequencing you basically had to loop your sample in Cool Edit Pro, program the drums separately, and then try to line everything up with each other. Not the easiest process, but that's how I did all my early demos (and parts of Future Dead Rapper and Jakademix).
Enter the E-Mu MP-7 (with E-Mu's corny product nickname "Mo Phatt"). Finally I had real true MIDI sequencing and better sounds to work with. Later, when I added new pieces to my studio, such as the ASR-X sampler, I was able to sync the two modules via MIDI for some slap-happy sequencing fun.
Sadly, about two years ago, I was pushing a homeless cart full of my belongings toward my Jeep, getting ready to make a drive from Brooklyn to TN, and I was arguing loudly with a certain female. As I turned around to say something along the lines of "You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about..." my homeless cart hit a bump in the curb, and my beloved MP-7 fell from the top of the cart to the ground. As my heart fell from my chest to roughly my ankles.
It was my own damn fault. I should have treated it like an $800 piece of equipment, and truly I should have know better. Well, the damage done by the fall was minimal, and after opening it up it appeared that the digital resistor chip that controls the volume output had broken in half. All functions worked OK, just no volume coming out of the machine. I spent the better part of the year after that trying to find parts for this thing, but it's such a specialty item that no one carried any repair parts or would work on it (not even E-mu).
At Progressive Music (the studio I work at) there is a whiz kid named Louis who is really nice with repairing equipment. He knows his shit (the kid built a headphone amp inside of a fricking Altoids tin...) so I figured he was my only hope. Unfortunately during his attempt to repair the connection, SMOKE BEGAN POURING OUT OF THE MACHINE. Ahhhh, fuck.
Dude did the best he could, but it certainly appears that my once beautiful MP-7 has now been reduced to the scrap pile. God bless you, Mo' Phatt...we had quite a run together. Looks like I'll be leaning more on Reason and Logic for my synth and bass sounds.
Enter the E-Mu MP-7 (with E-Mu's corny product nickname "Mo Phatt"). Finally I had real true MIDI sequencing and better sounds to work with. Later, when I added new pieces to my studio, such as the ASR-X sampler, I was able to sync the two modules via MIDI for some slap-happy sequencing fun.
Sadly, about two years ago, I was pushing a homeless cart full of my belongings toward my Jeep, getting ready to make a drive from Brooklyn to TN, and I was arguing loudly with a certain female. As I turned around to say something along the lines of "You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about..." my homeless cart hit a bump in the curb, and my beloved MP-7 fell from the top of the cart to the ground. As my heart fell from my chest to roughly my ankles.
It was my own damn fault. I should have treated it like an $800 piece of equipment, and truly I should have know better. Well, the damage done by the fall was minimal, and after opening it up it appeared that the digital resistor chip that controls the volume output had broken in half. All functions worked OK, just no volume coming out of the machine. I spent the better part of the year after that trying to find parts for this thing, but it's such a specialty item that no one carried any repair parts or would work on it (not even E-mu).
At Progressive Music (the studio I work at) there is a whiz kid named Louis who is really nice with repairing equipment. He knows his shit (the kid built a headphone amp inside of a fricking Altoids tin...) so I figured he was my only hope. Unfortunately during his attempt to repair the connection, SMOKE BEGAN POURING OUT OF THE MACHINE. Ahhhh, fuck.
Dude did the best he could, but it certainly appears that my once beautiful MP-7 has now been reduced to the scrap pile. God bless you, Mo' Phatt...we had quite a run together. Looks like I'll be leaning more on Reason and Logic for my synth and bass sounds.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Underwhelmed
I didn't accomplish shit last night. Totally un-focused. Tweaked the mix of a few beats, that's it. I'm gonna try to write tonight and relax tomorrow (Thanksgiving), in hopes that when I go into the studio on Friday I'll actually yield results.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sleeping in the stewdio
Well, with my first few days of unemployment under my belt, and going through what Dewey Cox would describe as a "dark period", I figured rather than go bat-shit crazy I should go to the studio and at least try to work on some stuff. I actually had a really productive evening. I knocked out three instrumentals that I personally thought were banging, and spit vocals on a beat I'd constructed a few weeks ago. Can't say it came out staggeringly great, but I like the verses so maybe it will turn up somewhere else. At 4:00 am I couldn't work any longer, and it was about 40 below freezing outside, so when faced with the walk to 6th Ave to catch the F...I said fuck all that and just slept on the couch in the control room. Woke up at 8, did a little coffee-and-blunt breakfast, reviewed my mixes and hopped the train home.
2:20 am, at that point between creativity and sleep.
"My God, Cheryl - I think this rapper has been using marijuana. Christ, we never even saw this coming"
My sleeping quarters
2:20 am, at that point between creativity and sleep.
"My God, Cheryl - I think this rapper has been using marijuana. Christ, we never even saw this coming"
My sleeping quarters
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Welcome To Unfocused 3rd Album...
I'm attempting to write, produce and record my third album. Because I obviously have a hole in my head or Downs Syndrome. Did I not learn my lesson last time? I'm going to attempt to keep a real journal of sorts showing my (lack of) progress on this record. I have no idea what this album is going to sound like. I know exactly what this album is going to sound like. Hip-Hop heads will love this record. I'm hoping Rolling Stone and major media publications will describe this record as "unfocused" or "inconsistent." The world will get to see me in all my brilliant genius as I create a masterpiece. The world will get to see a clueless procrastinator who attempts to be "artistic" while high on cough syrup. There is no money in rapping. Hip-Hop heads will hate this record.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
