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2/20/2006 Wordsmith - Statements and Stipulations Statements and Stipulations Episode 1 (Produced by Sketchman) - I majored in acting while in college, so I chose to bring some theatrics to this entire project. I got a former acting partner of mine named D-Dub to play an 80's action/cartoon narrator for this first episode and the proceeding one's. From the beginning, I wanted to put the listener in the mood of an old TV action drama like Magnum P.I. The opening episode introduces my character "Wordsmith tha Great" and somewhat summarizes my quest to take Hip Hop back from 3 MC's poisoning the game. It is a minute and some change because it is nothing more than an opening summary ending with me giving my three thesis statements, which are episodes two through four. I faded out the track while I was getting into the first mission to leave a cliffhanger at the end and set up my transition to "Episode Two." Props to Sketchman for producing all the episodes… Wordplay Extraordinaire (Produced by Sketchman) - This is a track I proposed to Sketchman and is one of the few tailor-made tracks on the album. I wanted to do a real lyrical song for the second cut to let people know what I bring to the table. What a better way to do that then put together a fictional event called "Wordplay Extraordinaire"? There are tons of word combinations, crafty flows, and tongue-twisting words to fulfill real Hip Hop heads' thirst for skills. As stated in the hook, "Don't waste my time with your foolish ways." I am warning and making a statement to all MC's to either bring their A-game or go home. If you're not bringing skills and a love for the music, then you will get treated like it's a real competition and get booed and booted out. The Fall From Grace (Produced by Strada) - This is the first track on the mix-album where I wanted to open up my storytelling ability. I made up a fictional story about a millionaire that has everything, except a sober conscious. Off of a Strada-produced track, I built the story around a sample that says "All over me." That can pertain to so many things; I took the liberty to be clever when referring to that phrase. Throughout, this individual battles several demons like his nack for shop lifting even though he's rich. I mean, he has everything, but when he's drunk it's all about the thrill for him. He has so many things like alcoholism, women, cops, and money trying to get a piece of him, so it finally catches up with him. The individual gets a wake-up call when he runs into a tree one night from being so drunk, but the true climax comes when he actually kills an innocent man due to his drunkenness. Instead of turning himself in, he goes on the run for days hiding out, reading about his story in the paper because he is a rich and famous figure. When he finally gets caught, the paparazzi, the judge, and the people have no mercy on him. Once a beloved figure, he is now a common criminal. Going from a man with everything to locked-down in jail really made the individual seek guidance from a higher power. Abandoned by his own family, he asks God for forgiveness and eventually writes a letter to the family of the victim while still in jail to apologize for his actions. His own family wouldn't forgive him, but the family of the victim showed him God's power of forgiveness and redemption. His fall from grace was really dramatic, but he learned something through that process. Sometimes you have to broken down to be built back up into something wiser and stronger. Conquest of tha Great (Produced by Sketchman) - Again, I enlisted the help of D-Dub to tell this story. I wanted to take the listener back to the times of knights and kings ruling the lands. The catch is I metaphored it to Hip Hop. My imagination is crazy sometimes, but that goes back to my theatre background. As the story unfolds, D-Dub plays my father, a man who has ruled the lands with an iron mic for years. His prophecy to me is another king of rap will rise up one day and turn the industry into a land of ruins. An army of darkness attacks our kingdom in the first verse, but its like fate has already set in. Each MC is defeated along with my father who is considered the best ever when it comes to rhyming. A young boy in the first verse, I hid and watched a menacing MC kill my father. Even though he discovers me and knows I am the son of this slain king, he beats me to a pulp, but lets me live, so I can face him one day when I'm older. As my father nears death he tells me I will be alone, so train, study and conquer to reclaim our kingdom. The second verse opens with me as a grown man draped in my father's armor. I return to the kingdom I grew up in to see it has been polluted and turned into a ruin of bad music. A showdown between good and evil Hip Hop clash as I face this mysterious figure draped in a black cloak. Ultimately, destiny is fulfilled; I reclaim the kingdom of Hip Hop and restore the essence of good music to the lands. The track concludes with a reference to "Kings Theme," which is the sequel to "Conquest tha Great." Pleasure Palace (Produced by Strada) - I consider this one of the first singles on the mix-album. I want it to be known that I would never do a track like this on my studio albums, but with this being a mix-project I wanted to do joints for all the different places I lived. This track represents an East Coast club banger, but in my way. There is no talking about cars or jewelry; it's all about a late night hangout that tailors to your freakiest desires and fantasy's. My mind frame was never to make this a pop track because I am against that, but I still wanted to experiment on this track and show all these pop artists out here that I can make the same type of tracks you do on the regular. It's about showing diversity sometimes and being diverse can mean many things. I am diverse with this track because it caters to the grown and sexy, the adventurous couple, the playa, the partier, and the strippers. Overall, this track is pretty straightforward; I didn't make it as lyrical due to the type of track it is, that is just something a songwriter should know when creating tracks. You need to know when to bring the skills to the table and when to tone it down for mass appeal… Ode to tha Pioneers (Produced by Strada) - This is hands-down my favorite track on "Statements and Stipulations." This track is the definition of Wordsmith; this is what I'm about. As soon as Strada sent me this track I knew what it signified to me and what I felt from the beat. The hook has an old school sample saying, "I need Love, I need Love, I need Love." When I heard that I visioned some of the greats crying out for whats due to them and that's the respect. See, these pioneers basically sacrificed money and fame to get Hip Hop heard when the public/critics said it wouldn't last. Artists like Eric B. and Rakim, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata, and Public Enemy, to name a few, weren't making any money back then. They were signing raping you, raping you, take that, take that deals like Puffy still tries to do today. These guys were really grindin' putting on real shows and borrowing one another's jewelry for videos. It is my duty as a new generation MC and an avid fan of the golden era Hip Hop to pay tribute to those guys. Every MC should, but I understand some of y'all out there don't know your rap history, just the material things matter. I plan on having at least one track on every project I do geared towards the pioneers in Hip Hop. Statements and Stipulations Episode 2 (Produced by Sketchman) - Picking up where Episode 1 had me "hopping on ah plane overseas offshore," I literally made that happen on this song. This Sketchman beat got me thinking of a smooth 007-flick taking place in London, so that ended up being the first destination on my quest when I wrote it. In this Episode I made up a character called MC Arsonist, who is a master of spitten' flames, as my first challenge. If you haven't copped the mix-album yet, get it to see what happens when wordplay meets a true flamethrower. The Hydrolic Theory Feat. Black Knight (Produced by DeMo) - This track is like "Ode to tha Pioneers" I knew what the track was about. It had that West Coast feel to it and it bumped like bass music down south. I know how much nice cars with sick rims and hydraulics are big on the Westside, so this is somewhat of a tribute. Still, being an artist and an MC, I couldn't just talk about driving around in a hooptie hitten' switches, so I did what I usually do and that's make the track creative. I chose to metaphor a car/truck with hydraulics to my flow. I wanted people to listen to this track and be like an MC's flow can make me get up and get down just like hydraulics'. This track is for both coasts and all over, but I had the west coast in mind when I wrote it. This is also the only song on the mix-album with a special guest; my cousin Black Knight ripped his verse. I hope the listeners have a good amp and speakers because this song bumps something serious… Return of tha Microphone Bully (Produced by Sketchman) - Some people might wonder, why is this the return of the microphone bully…well, the first version is on a mixtape called The-Re-Write that I never released. See, I have no problem releasing sequels even if people haven't heard the first one because it will give them more incentive to dig and find that first episode if they are true fans. The first one wasn't as in depth, but this one is a true NY anthem. I chose to do ah sequel because I feel like some of these clown MC's out here need to be bullied when it comes to their music. In the first verse I am going down my hitlist to find MC's that don't seem to learn their lesson when it comes to making real music. I show up at one MC's concert and take the money he earned from the show backstage. He soon goes from signing autographs to standing in the unemployment line. Later on in the verse, I really get down by showing up at another MC's crib disguised in a wig and basically spitting through his bulletproof booth to kidnap him. I will let the listeners find out what happens next or some of you might have already heard the track from Hip Hop Disciples 15 (Disc 2). I don't know what it is, but I have always looked at myself as a Microphone Bully, my words are my fist and my weapons… Countdown: (Produced by Triza) - One of my favorite places to live was down south in Georgia. I have a lot of great childhood memories from there and I never got a chance to do a song for my peoples down there; "Countdown" was my opportunity. I would never do a track like this on any of my studio albums, but being this is a mix-album, I felt like I could experiment. When a producer named Triza slid me this beat, it had that down south twang to it in my mind. It has so many different rhythms to it, so I ended up using all of them, put a lil' southern twang to my voice and hooked up some wordplay. I cooked all of this up and came up with a down south banger that re-introduces me to the south. Product Pusher: (Produced by Strada) - Another Strada Classic; this is vintage Wordsmith material. I needed a way to touch the hustlers, the lyricists, and the soul lovers at the same time, so I thought of moving units like moving weight. I always tell myself, I will never rap about anything I have never done or anything I am not currently doing except when I'm telling stories or using metaphors. "Product Pusher" is that case, rather then going the regular route of spitting a straightforward track about pushing drugs, I wanted to be creative and keep the song somewhat lighthearted. This track can be bumped by those underground Hip Hop heads, conscious rebels, and straight up music lovers… Rappers Symposium: (Produced by Sketchman) - This is the second track I went to Sketchman for a tailor made track. I needed a venue to provide information for up and coming MC's and since I am a big football fan I metaphored it to the Rookie Symposium. The NFL version teaches personal finance, life skills, personal conduct, life as a rookie, media policy, substance abuse, personal experiences, family issues, player development, life after the NFL, and NFL security. I took all that and made it into Hip Hop terms for rookie MC's. Statements and Stipulations Episode 3 (Produced by Sketchman) - Picking up from "Episode 2" where I took a train to my next destination, Japan, I must face MC Ginsui. He is a master of a wicked, yet choppy flow that gives Wordsmith tha Great problems when they battle. This time, I am truly tested as fight my way through a hoard of booby trap MC's to get to Ginsui. Again, cop the mix-album to see what happens and look out for the twist at the end. The Treatment (Produced by Strada) - I am all about sequels as I stated earlier and I wanted to do one for "Pleasure Palace." I remember going to clubs and getting out of them around 3:00 AM just to go somewhere and relax or get some good lovin'. Well, after "Pleasure Palace" where the atmosphere is fast pace, "The Treatment" is that late night session where you get personal with a women and wear it out. I call that the treatment, anytime you fill a woman's needs, you are giving them a treatment, like a cure for their sexual needs. Enough said… Black Clouds (Produced by Sketchman) - I felt pain and sadness when I heard this track from Sketchman. I remembered a time when I felt like none of my days were good, no sun ever shined on me. I felt like I always had a cloud hovering on top of my head. Whether it was a nice or bad day weather wise, everyday felt gloomy, it was just my mind frame at the time. Now, I didn't choose to write about my life, instead I wrote about situations numerous individuals have gone through. I like doing tracks like this because I feel like it represents me as an artist. Still, this is the only offering like this on "Statements and Stipulations." There will be more songs like this as I open myself up to the public overtime. Kings Theme: (Produced by 730) - I had to do a sequel to "Conquest of tha Great" and this is it. A 730-produced track, I actually wrote and recorded this before "Conquest." This is one of the few tracks I didn't write in order because it was supposed to be used for a prior mixtape. This track is the theme song I go out to on "Conquest" and its nothing more than me talking about my rulership. I am not claiming to be the king of Hip Hop or nothing like that because I have no status right now; I'm just making a statement; it has nothing to do with being cocky or arrogant. Statements and Stipulations Episode 4 (Produced by Sketchman) - The final installment has Wordsmith tha Great heading back to the US to face MC Wisdom. The final dual to rescue Hip Hop takes place at the legendary Brooklyn Bridge. I felt this final episode had to take place in the Mecca of Hip Hop, New York. This track is a true battle of words between Wisdom and Wordsmith. If you listened to the mix-album you know how it ends, if not, cop it and see how Hip Hop is brought back into the hands of a true MC. Wordz for Remediez (Produced by Simon Vegas) - When 730 sent me this beat from Simon Vegas I knew its message. There is a sample that says, "Got to feel it," on the track and it spoke volumes to me. All the hurricane and earthquake problems that caused the lost of many lives was going on, so that's where my mind frame was. This is another track that represents my true style. I feel like words can conqueror many things in people's lives. I mean, think about how you may have a problem and you talk to a friend or family member for advice. Sometimes through their words a situation can be cured or advice can help a person rectify their problem. "Wordz for Remediez" can be an answer or that crutch you need when things are looking bleak; get that antidote from this track… The science behind this album and any project I do is to write it like an essay or term paper. Of course I started with a title and an opening summary, then a thesis, the body, and finally, the conclusion. I like to have order to my projects and use the schooling I received. I didn't write this album out of order; instead I went from track one all the way to track eighteen. This is just something I do sometimes when I write because once I have a concept, I run with it and I am not afraid to do research for any subject I lack knowledge on. This mix-album is full of metaphors, lyrically and musically, and each track either makes a statement or introduces a stipulation. - DOWNLOAD THIS MIX ALBUM FOR FREE HERE

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