A Perfect Un-focused Day

Engineered. Made some chips. 2 Train was bullshittin'. Blazed some haze. Fornicated. At great length. Blazed again. Went to sleep. Woke up. Had breakfast at Tom's. Claimed my unemployment for the week. Watched Bill Maher movie on religious nuts. Had two conference calls. Went to Draft Barn w/ the homies. Laughed a lot. Watched Monday Night RAW. Jo$h pooped in my room. I blazed again. I wrote a verse. It was "rap lyrics." Talked to my little brother. Spent the whole day doing enjoyable self-gratifying things & handling biz @ my lesiure. My Monday was better than yours. Totally unfocused.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Despite the fact I laid down some hot shit Friday night, I'm finding that when it comes to your lyricism as an emcee nowadays you're basically Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't.

So many words are spilled about stagnation in lyrics these days...whether mainstream or underground. Rapping about thuggin', rims, money and girls will have you labeled as "ringtone rap", and if you're underground pretty much everyone who actively participates in this culture has heard every punchline, and seen so many "wack emcees get slayed" it's become hard to make anyone care.

Say you go the opposite route, and eschew speaking on the popular topics of hip-hop in either:

a) an earnest attempt to do something different

or

b) being weird for the sake of being weird (i.e. hipsters)

then stuffy heads are gonna say "Nah son, that's not hip-hop." So if I wanna make an asinine fucking song about Orange Juice, I'm violating some sort of unwritten rule of Hip-Hop? Whereas if I came out rhyming about battle rapping, or wack emcees or staying true to hip-hop...I would be "not breaking new ground."

(Speaking of which, if Hip-Hop is gonna have some standard code of ethics in which we're expected to abide by, why is there no Bible, Qur'an, Torah, etc. to spell it out clearly for us? Because heads will ever be able to get on the same page...just like organized religion!)

I don't really care if you're "mainstream" or "underground", if you're "simple" or "deep" with your lyrics, I just wanna hear some well-executed music. I don't want the same thing all the time (my mood changes almost hourly) so I really feel there is room for everybody who's dope. THAT should be the standard...Dope or Wack. I can enjoy Master P with the same ears I enjoy Madlib.

Frankly, I don't even know what the fuck is or isn't hip-hop anymore...and I find myself caring less and less. I'm gonna make the music I'm gonna make. I personally feel it IS hip-hop. If you feel the same, come on board; I'll bust my ass to entertain and educate you cause I appreciate the hell out of you. If my brand of music isn't your cup of tea...keep this blog as our free gift to you.

Just quit sniping back-and-forth about "This is hip-hop" or "This ain't hip-hop"...Hip-Hop will not loan you $10 when you're broke, or come to your funeral...so who ultimately really gives a shit? Get off your ass and MAKE some music that you enjoy, and let your fans decide if they like it or not.

If you'll excuse me, I need to do just that.

For those of you who need to stalk my every move...

...Jake Palumbo is now on Twitter.

Push-me, pull-you.

I wake up in the morning. I have black coffee to get myself motivated. I have breakfast (it's the most important meal of the day). Inevitably within a couple hours after breakfast, I begin to crave a blunt. I smoke a blunt, because I'm a slave to the feeling I get from it (creative, happy, counting-my-blessings). Inevitably within a couple hours the blunt wears off, and I get sleepy. I get angry at myself for being sleepy mid-day. So I guzzle black coffee to give myself a boost. Inevitably within a couple hours I have heartburn from guzzling coffee, or worse I poop in ways that make me think I really need to see a doctor. Often needing a boost to try and squeeze out an hour or two of creativity while the night is still young, I'll head to the bodega on Ave U and McDonald, because they have Red Bull for $1.75. Inevitably within a couple hours the day is nearing a close, and I drink beer to wind myself down. And probably smoke a blunt.

Honestly, this is a far cry for the drug pyramid I stuffed in my lungs, stomach and nose throughout my "early-mid" 20's. I've cut out "the hard stuff" for several years now, and had no relapses. "The grind" is what's going to kill me.

My corpse is gonna look like Farley's, and hopefully the photo will be used as an avatar on Science Gone Mad. That would be cool.

So what the fuck have you been doing?

Does anyone still read this blog? Do I still write it? Am I alive, or am I the undead? I'm still in my 20's, correct? Is Jake Palumbo still in the business of beats and rapping? Am I still collecting unemployment checks? Yes, lots of them. Thank you. Is my income tax situation some bullshit? Yep. Have I stayed on my pledge to get in shape in '09? Not really. I've tried to keep my libido excersized 7 to 36 times per week, however and that helps. Senator Strom Thurmond called the other day asking if I could still get him nose candy...I told him I don't do that anymore. I'm eating alot more peanut butter sandwiches, sushi, whole grains and White Castle, and guzzling He-Brew Kosher beer for refreshment. I'm improving my health while killing myself at the same time. I'm watching alot of classic wrestling from 1985-1997. I'm losing my fucking mind. I'm having the time of my life. Really, seriously.

But what you people - the fans - reallly want to know though, is this perpetual under/over-achiever gonna actually drop some product in '09 and "go on these national tewrs" and actually pretend to be the Boss he claims to be so vehemently? Yall elected me, am I gonna deliver in these punishing economic times when the music industry is a broken-down meth whore....?

Well, that remains to be seen and we have "Top Men" working on it, however here are some things on the horizon...

Rapping Is Stupid Instrumental Album: Finished. Done. Good to Go. Dropping on iTunes this Spring. Good music. Instrumental music. Blunted Music. Stupid Music. You're Stupid. I'm Stupid. Rapping Is Stupid.

Archaeology, Vol. 1 Best of Rarities Collection: To hold you people over while I attempt to regroup and await the stimulus package, I'm assembling a compilation of some Jake Palumbo rarities, B-sides, freestyles, collabs and remixes that have for whatever reason made the cutting room floor over the years. Almost done, just gotta remix a few joints and master the thing.

I'd be a real dummy to speak on things that aren't official, but I'm currently shopping some tracks to a couple major-type-situations, and focusing more energy on "things" that might amount to "some bigger things."

And before I head out on the TO-BE-ANNOUNCED-FALL-WORLD-TOUR, I'm gonna some-how poop out the next solo album (and the fricking point of this blog), the totally not-worth-your-dowload Unfocused 3rd Album which will have guest appearances from Reef The Lost Cauze and other heavy hitters. I promise - as the highest-decorated Webelo in the history of Hamblen County - it will be a great listening experience and if you liked me before, you'll at least hate me a little less with this album.

So....the original purpose of this blog was to document my day-to-day goings-on in the studio as I crafted my (stupid, lame, cliched) banger of an album. I'm gonna start doing more of that. The new studio is built and I'm back to my old "burning" habits. Expect a bunch of short, stupid pointless posts. I have no idea what I'm doing. I know exactly what I'm doing.

Jake Palumbo + Reef The Lost Cauze = Good Fight

Palumbo yaps about his instrumental record...