Hey, y’all.
Before we get down to the nitty gritty, I have a quick story to pass on. This was bonkers…
A few nights ago, I went to see my old friend Tachichi perform. I heard that lots of friends I hadn’t seen for many years were going to be in attendance, so I was extra-excited to be there. Before the night kicked into full gear, I was hanging out on a rooftop/outdoor space at the back of the venue. A bonus feature of this particular area was that it afforded me a view of where I had my bike locked up on the street below. I’ve had bikes stolen from me before. The bike I was riding on this particular evening is nice. I love it. So I’m always a little paranoid locking it up outside - especially at night in a busy-ish area on a Friday night.
So! I’m chatting with Megan and Marc and Sarah and Tim when I glance down and see someone attempting to steal my bike! I yelled. “Hey! I see you!”. Megan whistled super-loud. I bolted. Down the stairs. Out the door. Around the corner. As I’m running, I could feel my adrenaline surging. I didn’t know what to expect once I rounded the corner to where my bike was locked but I was ready to fight.
I was relieved to find my bike - still locked up and secure - and the would-be thief gone. Megan was still watching from the rooftop. “He went that way!”. No need to hunt the guy down. I was just happy to be on my bike and on my way home. The only bummer is, I left before I had a chance to catch up with Governor Bolts.
Onward.
If you’ve been reading Vertices for a while now, you may remember posts mentioning my secret Instagram account and my “monk work” - my deep exploration of drum breaks. Over the last four and a half years or so, I’ve devoted myself - almost wholly - to ‘doing the knowledge’ on the foundation hip hop was built on: drum breaks. My ultimate goal has been for complete knowledge. And I’ve endeavored to please the gods by documenting and cataloging the breaks in the form of 1-minute compositions that I post to the ‘gram on a weekly basis. I know it sounds weird or esoteric or whatever but it really has been a spiritual quest for me. It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done. It’s a true labor of love. It’s a single project that I’ve been working on constantly for four and half years and will continue to work on for years to come. Along the way, the work has attracted the attention of some of my hip hop heroes, which is kinda cool. And as I explained before, it’s one of the main catalysts that inspired me to ‘come back’ and make the King Of Drums album. If it wasn’t for the drum study, I’d probably still be disappeared - playing baseball and watching movies.
This coming Friday (August 4) is a Bandcamp Friday. I have made the decision to share the work I’ve been doing for all these years. I’ll be uploading three hour-long (roughly) mega-compositions that include all the work I’ve done so far. They won’t be like anything you’ve heard before. Together, it’s an unrelenting sonic onslaught. It’s a walk across hot coals. It’s Saint Anthony’s journey across the desert. I don’t know if it will mean anything to anyone else but it means everything to me. If you can handle it, I hope you enjoy. If you listen close, you’ll hear lots of little ideas that were later re-purposed for parts on King Of Drums and Super Dope.
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A couple more quick things referring back to the last post before I get out of here:
I mentioned that I re-read Jeff Chang’s book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop and that it left me wanting for more/better. Shortly after that post was published, I was contacted by my dear friend Rollie (Cadence Weapon) and he suggested a book by Jonathan Abrams called The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip Hop. I’m so grateful for Rollie’s recommendation. The Come Up is very much in line with the punk oral history, Please Kill Me - a book I adore. It’s excellent. It’s just what I was looking for. It scratches a long-standing itch. Highly, highly recommended. Now we just need a proper history of underground hip hop.
Also in the last post, I shared a sketch of a beat that will ultimately become a song that will serve as a thank-you for Vertices reaching 1000 subscribers. I’m hoping that it might be interesting to lift the curtain a bit and show you the process of a song coming together. Well, here’s the update. The beat is now finished and ready to go (albeit unmixed/unmastered). I’m sure you’ll see similarities to the initial sketch and that it has evolved quite a bit. I found new parts that work really well with the original bass line. I’ve dropped the tempo by six or seven beats-per-minute and the drums have changed. Some of the samples I was originally tinkering with have been dropped. Those may very well pop up later in other songs yet to be conceived. Take a listen:
In the next post, I’ll share the lyric-writing process. And then the finished song will be revealed. I’m excited about it! I think it’s going to be a good one.
Thanks for being here. Until next time.