Friday, May 29, 2009

So I know its been a good little minute since I been on here. Life is jus to fast right now I guess....Anyways, I just finished my new cd, entitled "The Reformation". I just look at it as something like me getting back to the basics. With the last disc, I think it was definitely rejuvenating for me, because I stepped WAAAYYY outside the box and combined spoken word with hip-hop in a way that I personally haven't heard it done before.

But on this new cd, I got back to just str8 spittin dat shit. I went back to expressin my pain and doin so in a in your face type of manner, without all the extra shit that comes along with being an artist. I stepped my engineer game up as well, and made sure each track was mixed properly. adding effects that can make the hooks, and verses stand out. You know, touching verses with reverb, pitch effects, and having heavy bass on the beats in order to get shit that you can feel in ya chest. Along with the musical and technical side, I sat down and crafted some of my most potent verses. I sat down with the intention 2 hittin niggas ova the head with this one, and I THINK thats what I did. I don't really care about my shit bein filled with metaphors as long as my shit is potent, sounds good, and ppl can feel where I'm coming from..So in correlation with this blog entry, I have decided to do a song by song analysis of all the tracks on my EP, and discuss my mindstate on why I wrote them, or included them on my cd. Read along with the music because everything has a flow. My EP's are like short stories, so you gotta keep up!

http://www.datpiff.com/Chris_Golden_The_Reformation_EP.m47664.html

Intro: Sam Cooke "A Change Gone Come"
-I decided to include this because of the whole idea of a Reformation, which is what my cd was called. Basically, the whole idea of change is what really got me. I was lookin for a song, sung by an old singer, that could set my shit off right. It was like 4 oclock in the morning, and I was just lookin for a song, to symbolize change, and I came across this Sam Cooke track and i was just like damn...This is perfect! lol...Then as I listened I remembered o shit!!! MY first song on the cd Hard Livin, had a Sam Cooke sample on it! So I knew I had to put that on their 2 start the shit off right...

Track No. 2: "Hard Livin" Feat. Lil Trey
-Basically, with this track I wanted to simply express my pain and the shit thats goin on in my life as well as the community. I wanted to come off hard on dis bitch 2. With lines like " Niggas keep wildin, money keep pilin, black on black crime niggas still childish...or PO-LICe fuck em! ho's I dont trust em, they give a nigga headaches more like concussions...." i was jus tryna come hard 4ril. I wrote dis shit on my phone one day in class, and it just came out perfect. I had 2 be at work one day, at 6 and it was 4 oclock so i shot home from campus and jus laid the vocals down pat in like 3 takes. I knew this was gon jump off my cd. Mixed da shit down, and den sent it 2 my nigga Trey, 2 finish it off and put some heat on their. I normally wouldnt put anotha nigga on my intro, but I fucks wit Lil bruh, and he did the record justice with his verse.

Track No. 3: "For The Love of Money"
-This track was written over Christmas Break. Basically, I just saw the amount of niggas gettin killed in my city over the holiday season, and I felt compelled to write a song about the dangerous effects of money, and puttin your life on the line 2 get money illegally. It's not worth it. I even called out the Chief of Police lol...I mean its freedom of speech tho, so fuck it. I jus had 2 give people the other side of the fense. I came hard on this one and unfront and dissin all the so called DOPE BOYS out their, that do that shit jus 2 look coo, and have somethin 2 rap about, when in all actuality their is niggas out their that do that shit cuz thats all they have. Whether it be cuz they are felons and can't find work or whateva. I jus showed the different side of the fense when it came 2 gettin money and basing your whole life around excessive greed.

Track No. 4: "Get Undressed"
-I wrote this track on a night when I was thinkin bout some of my past relationships. I didnt want the cd to have a sad tone, so I decided to not think about my relationships, but put one of my niggas situations inside of my music. So I wrote the song from a perspective of him literally having a conversation with her. I started off with a harmonized melody, just 2 switch things up alil bit. Alotta niggas dont know i can harmonize alil bit wen needed but thats jus somethin i was savin 4 a rainy day lol...I was gonna sing thru out the whole song, but I was jus feelin the whole track and I started freestylin this lil verse in my head so i was like fuck it, it was like 3 in the am and I wanted 2 get breezy on these ho's real quick, so I jus came off real smooth "tell me whats the reason?, that we had 2 go switch it up like seasons...." i mean the way i spit dat was real calm. Like wen i recorded it I was jus flowin wit it 4ril. My mama called me and asked me 2 cut my shit down, so I was like wateva and hit em wit alil softer tone, and it worked perfectly for the record. I didn't really wanna put a hook or nuttin on the record, cuz i jus thought the beat spoke 4 itself. That was a musical type record that I wanted everyone 2 get the feel 4.

Track No. 5 "Mountain"
-This track is a trip 4 me. The story behind this is, I had gone thru a period of writers block. Like I couldnt get nuttin down on paper, so I woke up one night at my dorm room, and got out my pad and jus started pennin verses 2 various beats, not really tryna make a song, just writin ya kno? Then I finished one verse, den finished anotha verse, then I was like ok these shits is fire. I gotta find a beat 4 em. So I got one, and came home 2 record it, and the finished product was less than stellar lol. So I got anotha beat and it was PERFECT. I nailed those verses in like 3 takes no lie. So I'm about 2 start the mixdown process, and I notice their is a big gap between the intro to the song and the start of the 1st verse, so I was like wtf? So i sat down, vibed out, and wrote the intro 2 the song..."you are now rockin wit the best, gold chain on my neck, young fly ass nigga, yea I pose a big threat" I mean I was so wavy and laid back on that shit 4ril lol . I jus wanted 2 get real lyrical on yall wit dat 1. The mixdown process was so fun for this song. I hit it wit sum big big bass, and reverb on the vocals and it jus came out real good. This might be the best song on the cd. It jus sounded so so crisp.

Track No. 6: "Getcha Game Up"
-The story behind this track is silly. I was sittin at home writin 2 dis NOE beat, because it was jus hard, and sometimes I'll just write 2 anotha niggas beat while he rappin and jus see what I come up with. Its kinda like bein in the studio with anotha artist and feedin off they energy as if u goin in next! lol. I wrote the first verse and was like aww yea here we go lol....So I found the perfect beat and wrote the 2nd verse and the hook. Laid the 2 verses down and errethang sounded great. So i get down 2 record the hook and shit jus aint goin well! like i lost my whole mojo my whole vibe was jus GONE! lol..So as I'm sittin their tryna get the hook 2 sound right by jus togglin wit da volume, EQ levels etc...and then i start fuckin around with the pitch. I had already saved my verses so i was jus fuckin around outta clear boredom cuz i figured I'd just knock the verses out the next morning, cuz my throat must have been hurt. So as I'm fuckin wit the pitch I hit this baby voice and i was like..YES!! lol.....Here we go wit dat. I mean I just figured it would be somethin different. Just somethin funny 2 fuck around with and it turned out good. Dat nigga Trey hit me on myspace and holla "BOAH dat Getcha Game Up is FIRE" hahahaha. I aint talked 2 my lil bruh in like a week! i was dyin off dat. But dats jus sum shit 2 let niggas kno i got lyrics and I can go bar 4 bar wit da best in my city ya kno? It was one of them fuck it type tracks. Not on no killa nigga type shit, jus on sum I can get wit u niggas type shit ya kno?


Track No. 7 "Zonin" (interlude)
-I basically created this song in my head. I was ridin 2 the store one night, and I had the windows down and I heard this old H-town song come on. And I jus started freestylin in my mind, cuz I mean the mood was jus weird ya kno? It was like late evening and the sun was jus goin down and I was jus feelin like I was in my zone! lol. Like I mean I jus felt good ya kno? Just thinkin bout life and all the shit I've been thru, so I started freestylin and storin the verses in my head and as soon as I got home, I laid that bitch down. With tha harmony's and verything. And i really didnt want it 2 b a whole song, just a quick interlude 2 switch up the mood. The base is real heavy, and the harmony's are wat set the song off in my opinion. I let Trey hear it and he fucked wit it. He holla it was funny how I jus cut the song off at the end like Plies did on dat "Plenty Money" lol.

Track No. 8 "Strugglin"
-I wrote this shit while I heard my pplz upstairs arguin. They start hollin bout dat divorce shit and I was jus fed up. Like I got the strangest feelin all ova my body like I had 2 write about how I was feelin when all that shit was goin down and thats exactly what came out. Like I had 2 talk about the domestic shit that goes on in our house and how it effects me. It took me like an hour 2 write the song and get it down pat, and recordin it was HELL! lol...I did alotta mixin down 4 this song and samplin but finally it came out jus how i wanted it 2. It just shows my ability 2 dig deep emotionally and express myself beyond the limits of a normal song, and how I have no problem puttin my personal shit on the line for the world 2 hear, and possibly criticize. My music is my music and I dont give a fuck wat no1 thinks about me as long as I get my respect. I'ma keep it 100 on erre track I do no matta what and if niggas criticize dat o well. I do me. I put the deep voice on their 2 give it a more darker feel.....

Track No. 9 "I Can't Respond"
-This last track was a poem I wrote in my Art History class. I can't really go in detail about it cuz its a metaphor involved that I want people 2 understand. Its really dark and deep, but its true inside my mind. So peep that exclusively.

Track No. 10 "Mountain Remix" *BONUS
-Basically I wanted 2 hear dat nigga Trey on dis beat. He did his thang and set off the record 2, so I had 2 include it as a bonus on the EP.

Thats it! It so short because I dont like doin albums or mixtapes. I think an EP catches me in the moment cause I live my life in spurts. I mite have a reoccuring theme in my life, so I like 2 capture that theme not in the form of an album or mixtape, but an EP cuz EP's are like Short Stories, that get 2 the point, and EVERY song must have a meaning or logic behind it other than just goin 2 the studio and makin a song. Thanx 4 checkin me out and feel free 2 download. ~1~

Friday, May 8, 2009

"You LIVE TO WORK, I WORK TO LIVE....The Hearbreaking Fuckery On the Job Site"

So as many of you know, I have been working at the BU library for about 4 or 5 years now. I started when I was a freshman working summers, and had the same schedule up until I graduated highschool. Talk about INSANE! Working summer days in the library, sacrificing your time sleeping and doing the dirt that normal teens do during the summer, only to be enjoying the company of authors like Poe, Hughes etc..... WELL FOLKS!!! I think I might have grown to accustomed to this place, and waaaaayyy to much shit is changing. During the school year, since I chose to make Bellarmine my college of choice as well, I found out just how shitty this place has become. I have came across more rude ass ppl here since last August than I ever have had in my previous 4 yrs of working here. Why?? I have no idea......SO...with that being said, I think it may be time 2 move on...Lemme give u alittle summorized background as to why I think such.....

Well yesterday, I was checking my online time clock, and discovered that my time sheet ends on the 29th of May....I thought 2 myself "Hmmm""...."That couldn't be correct." So I approached my supervisor, who explained to me that I am now on a payment ONCE per month schedule, since I am registered in the system as being a student. Now wait a good gotdamn second....I dont apply for work-study since I go to this school, so technically I am registered as a casual labor employee, and just like any other person around here working a CASUAL LABOR JOB, I should be getting paid EVERY OTHER WEEK. Lemme break it down even further so that you will understand.....



Last summer, I asked if I could have a small job here in the library during the school year, since I've been a faithful worker for the past 4 summers, and since I was going to be going to school here, it would only make sense to get some extra hours in during the week. The head of the library agreed, so I had a limit of money that I could make. No more than 8 hours per week, since I didnt apply for work study and most of the hours here at the library had to be set aside for them. So I was getting paid DURING the school year the same way a work study would, even though I was under CASUAL LABOR as an employee and NOT a work study student. BUT, getting paid once a month during the school year worked out fine, because of the fact that if I would have gotten paid every other week, then my set aside salary would have been used up by December, so getting paid once a month, allowed me to have an income every single month until Fall and Spring semesters were done and it was time for Summer break....

So fastfoward back to now...So I ask my boss and she informs me that I'm now getting paid once a month, which pisses me off royal. So I tell her that its not right because of the fact that I've never been paid on that schedule before during the summer and it's very ugly that I'm working so many hours during the week, and I have no paycheck to look foward to. During the school year, I was working an average of 7 hours per week, so it was easy to calculate those hours and multiply by $7.75 to get my total wages for the month. But now, I'm loggin in 20 to 25 hours per week, and its soon to be more, once next week and next month starts....So basically, by the end of the month, they are gonna tax the shit outta my check, most likely leaving me with what I would probably make in 2 or 3 weeks if I were getting paid every other week like I gotdamn should be. So basically as you can see..I'm getting fucked..

I went up and talked to the head of the finance department and basically got a "yes your a student. yes your getting paid ONCE every month. fuck off. if you dont like it, sorry." That type of shit hurts my pride. I dont have to much of it, but what I do have, I savor it like chicken fingers from Long Horn. I dont like to work. I believe in working to support your habits whatever they may be, good or bad, or WORKING to LIVE but I dont believe in LIVING to WORK. This job has completely consumed my life and I think its time to try out a different environment.

You wanna know how I know its time for me to leave??? Because it's gotten to the point where I can't say no. I get asked to take on extra shifts all the time and I cannot say no. Why?? Cause I'm being made into a bitch I guess.....The least these mutherfuckers could do is pay me like they pay everybody else that has the label of casual labor....

Yesterday I went home infuriated and it just so happens that my grandparents were there for an afternoon visit. Something told me to say my hello's and go 2 my room, but foolishly, when I found out the news about my bullshit pay, I called my mother and told her, who in turn decided to bring it up as soon as I was walking into the room to speak to my grandparents. FUCK MY LIFE....So I got a big bullshit speech on how my mother wouldn't care if they paid her once a month as long as she got paid, which is an utter heap of steaming bullshit. If they were to pay her once a month, their would be no cable, no food, no cellphone no nothing. So yea.....cricket cricket.....Then my grandparents procede to give me some old time civil rights slave speech about how they remember how they have worked a job and got paid once a month or didn't get paid at all. And I'm sittin their thinking, well....My grandfather was a father when he was a boy, so yea...he probably did get paid once a month...And my grandma...I love her 2 death, but her relation to my situation wasn't even coherant cuz I quit listening to her when I quit listening to my grandfather. So yea.....once again....cricket cricket....My stepfather, the seemingly only person in the room who understood where I was coming from thought that was bullshit as well....He says, well I dont think its right either. Their gonna tax him so hard when he gets that big check that he's not really going to be making much of anything...EXACTLY....My mother goes "Thanks for telling him that"....AS IF I'M NOT GONNA FUCKING REALIZE IT WHEN I GET MY CHECK AND THE TAX MAN HAS TAKEN GOTDAMN NEAR HALF OF IT!!! So that just pissed me off completely. (Sidenote...My step pops works at Ford, so he knows a thing or two about gettin fucked over......) And after awhile I said calmly.....Look you all.....I don't care about what the next person is getting paid, I dont give a shit. I get up and go 2 work everyday, and I wanna get paid the way I deserve to get paid. I dont care about how you guys feel about me getting paid, or how you wouldn't mind, because the difference between me and you is..YOUR YOU, AND I'M ME.....This job has fucked me over EVERY single year I've been their and I'm tired of it. The first year they didnt even PAY me my first check. My mom had to go down to the office and go off. Last year they had me working EVERYDAY. Monday through gotdamn Sunday because they had a shortage of workers, but atleast I knew when my check was coming. Talk about fuckery.. Then my mother goes "Well try waiting on child support which comes once a month". and I'm like "R u fucking serious? First of all child support isnt an hourly wage type of payment, and second of all, I wont be the one recieving the payments if that situation ever arises, I'll be the poor sumuma bitch thats dishin the shit out every month." ...So I stormed out of the room, because my grandma told me I was acting "unpleasent" and I just really wanted to tell her to go home, but in turn I left the house in a complete rage and bought a whole pack of black and milds, and a shitload of candy from the ARAB gas station up the street and went on a smoking/sugar binge. Depression and anger has once again set up shop in my life, and as I'm writing this I am PISSED. Lastnight I had what they call a SEIZURE DREAM (i used 2 suffer from really bad seizure's when I had my heart troubles as an infant). Where you dream of having a seizure and your shaking violently, and finally you wake up sweaty but your body hasnt moved an inch. It felt like someone was literally taking their hand and pounding my head up against my bed, and I felt as if I were awake while it was happening, which scared me the most. I only get those dreams when I'm under a tremendous amount of stress, and go 2 bed pissed, and basically all through the night I was up with the most craziest thoughts running through my mind...

Really, I just want to be treated fairly. I wanna get paid like I used to get paid. I don't give a fuck about what life lesson, or moral lesson this may give me, I just simply want to get paid on time, and I see nothing wrong with that. I dont give a shitty titty about how my mother thinks, or about how my grandparents think, because no disrespect but THEY ARE NOT ME! I love em dearly, and would put my life on the line for them (its not worth 2 much anyways), but they aren't the most supportive group of ppl I've encountered in my 18 yrs.

So whats one to do???? I pay for everything, besides my phone and my car insurance (my mother agrees to pay that, since she doesnt really pay anything for me to go 2 skool).......But everything else is coming outta my pockets. Groceries, haircuts, car washes, clothes, shoes, gas, outings, and sometimes loaning her money when she doesnt have a chance to go the machine (which is fine because going to the machine gets on my nerves 2...thats why i swipe it!). But do I complain?? FUCK NO! I'm at the beginning stages of being a "man", and I'm a fuckin boss, so I can dish out some extra bucks. No prob! But with about roughly a stack, with a 3rd of it sitting away in Savings, I'm comin down alil bit on sum bullshit times. I dont touch my savings, cause thats hardtimes money, where if I ever needed to fuck around and bail myself out for some dumbass reason....or if wanted to invest in some stock or some shit, I would have the money to do so at the drop of the dime. So i dont touch that money.....The rest is my pocket money, so thats their 2 go on dates wit my womens, buy clothes, or do other stuff I mentioned so now its basically down to eatin tv dinners....

I hate to work. But i do it cuz I need money to do the shit I like to do..Put out music, buy music, buy clothes, vans, chucks etc..Or just help ppl out when they need it. I'm a giving person 4ril, but with all this shit going on, it just makes it very very hard. I dont want a moral story right now. This summer needs to be focused on me getting my fucking mind right cuz i swear my hand before God, I really cant take this up and down shit no more. I dont want to be made stronger, I just want my gotdamn money like everyone else. I come in this bitch, EVERYDAY, with a smile on my face, ready 2 do my job, and I'm sick of getting fucked over...Oh by the way, 30 minutes ago, I was informed I might have to work ALL of June. Even during the night time!! Fuckin YAYY!!! and what did i do? EXCEPT IT LIKE SOME PUSSY ASS BITCH!!!! Their goes going to Florida to promote my music....So with all this being said...I'm done with this place. I dont like the way I've been treated and being here for 5 yrs now, I deserve some more fuckin respect. So yea....The End.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nA2X4-aCso