#StoriesAboutSongs

"T-A-L-E-N-T-S" was arguably our "most popular" song...whatever that means. It was the basis for our routine at Skate Junction (Junction City, KS) in the Summer of 1985, where we won first at their second Battle of DJs/MCs.

The song was inspired Cold Crush Brothers "Fresh, Wild, Fly & Bold", one of all-time favorite rap songs.

ACAPELLA DISCLAIMER:

I used to come up my rhymes while walking around a lot, so I would rush home and record them acapella on tape to remember them, as it was faster than writing them down. that's why I always rush them, because I was rushing to record them before I forgot them!!

I used to call those tapes my "Rhyming Rolodex" because it was my way of keeping the lyrics organized...twas dramatic from the start.

This is 3D Crew doing a soundcheck at DJ Pill's barracks on Fort Riley. DJ Pill is on the turntables, Burning Hot TNT is hosting on the mic, and I'm working the Boss DR-110 drum machine. We were just testing the levels before we started recording for real. Unfortunately, the real recording got lost over time...but we basically did a live performance of all of songs up to that point, pretty much filling one side of a tape with beats, rhymes and cuts.

This is technically before 3D Crew existed. This is me, MC Coolie, teaching MC Capri how to MC. I decide to teach him by having him learning Double Trouble's "Stoop Rap" from Wild Style, and then from there right his own solo verse.

So this is actually us sitting on my front stoop in Manhattan, KS, where I briefly lived for approximately 3 months.

For this short period, MC Capri and I went by the Devastating 2, which was the name of my group from Stuttgart, Germany, with my best friend Rubens Matos. We recorded one tape in 1982, but then he stopped rhyming (far as I know), and I moved away.

This is me, MC Coolie, of 3D Crew, and a song I wrote for the group called "Go Off". It's inspired by the unreleased song in Breakin' II with Ice-T, Chris The Glove Taylor and Afrika Islam, and I think Word Of Mouth's "King Kut" was on my mind at the time as well.

There's one one blank spot in the lyrics, that I wasn't able to say in one take, as due to this process of recording then, I had to do the full song in one take, though I would then overdub to add some vocal layers, so not sure why I didn't fill it in there...still learning I guess.

This is practice tape of the short-lived group, Phase 3, an offshoot of 3D Crew, when I moved away. This has Burning Hot TNT (my MC Partner), our DJ Quiet Killer, and Eddie Love on the Human Beat Box. TNT is doing rhymes from two of the last songs we wrote, "Just Let It Rock" and "Rhyme Time".

Produced By M. Pines

Artwork by M. Pines

Mastered by AI (courtesy of Emastered)

On 12-29-22 M. Pines randomly sent me a beat, saying he made it the day before, and thought it would fit my style. This came after us talking for a few weeks, and him sharing the music he'd been working on, and specifically me commenting on really digging the production that he was doing.

Essentially, I suppose I was planting the seed for a new form of collaboration with M. Pines, the artist behind the artwork for my "Caged Art" and "With Interest" projects...and likely more to come.

The musical backdrop, delivered here in full, was perfect in helping me channel my mindstate at the time, which was in a bit a dark place. i wrote and recorded the original vocal take on 1-5-23.

Then I sat on it for awhile, as I processed some of those life challenges, and came back and recorded a final vocal take on 2-11.

This is just raw emotion, so I kept it that way in every aspect. I didn't turn over to an engineer per usual. I did my own "mix", and then mastered via an AI program (EMastered). I guess this is the permanent demo mix...

Greetings y’all, all gall, pure advent garde

Advantages are…you know what the damages are

Immediate, see we get, signals from the start

The brain or the heart, or some other mysterious part

Discipline’s hard, most will never take that charge

Make it that far, life just gets more bizarre

I map the stars, find what attracts the gods

Hack the source, hope they do not stack the odds

Facts with flaws, yeah, like when the casket calls

Or casting calls to play the part of plaster walls

Mastered laws of subtlety, the hidden clause

I sit in awe thinking of forbidden acts

I didn’t ask, the ghosts of my distant past

This is mad…ness, and I’m just as glad

To have had some time to define my path

Might I add my wrath is a silent song

My pride is strong, I belong, like the night is long

But sun rise is too quick, whose side it’s on?

Right or wrong, that’s how the lines are drawn

Etched in STONE, carved by a blade of bone

I crave to roam, at least until I’ve made a home

Standard issue, that could never be my fate

I try, but wait, I still like a fly-by great

Oh my I’m late, let me try to make my gate

Carry on, then I’m gone, to my final state

Priceless Prizes (Dub Version) by RedefineHipHop

A Different View (Dub Version) by RedefineHipHop

OG Hardcore (Dub Version) by RedefineHipHop