"Chinatown" explores the relationship that the older, more prominent rappers and teachers in Chicago have with those younger than them and, in line with the film the song is named for and whose score it samples, exposes what some may consider too harsh to be real.

Produced and mixed by OnGaud.
Cover art by Allen Arango.

Lyrics:
Where we at: ‘Lac wheels, banana clips, black peels
No fakin’ the funk if your act’s real; pill bottles with cracked seals
Fast mills, last meals, fifteen minutes on the gag reels,
All gold ‘til it rust over, ain’t shit bout this Russ Stover.

Sweet gone sour in the hour of your chaos.
And you find your idols through the power of a seance.
Ain’t tryna die at twenty-seven like Jimi or Janis or Amy or Kurt,
that ain’t the aim of my work, like missing her face and then staining her skirt

Homie I’m turnin’ this paper to Hearst, makin’ it plain as a prayer in church,
Moon made of ink and a crater of hurt. I’ll make an Earth with the weight of this verse.
Planet of rock that’s so hot that you gotta be cooler than cool to be capable first
and I can’t really tell all these natives of Hell whether truth or a fable is worse.

All y’all doin’ is rappin’ to prove that it matters, but that isn’t shit to the fans.
They gon’ escape to the rhythm and dance. You gon’ be sittin’ with lint in your hands.
So peep how g they keep it with they image full of secrets.
They glass house is cracked out, you gon’ see it to believe it.

HOOK: And they don’t get enough. Rip and run. Give it up.
Make the music that we love. Let ‘em down. Beat ‘em up.
Then put ‘em in the system on they own, leave ‘em stuck.
And we don’t even care if someone else’ll treat ‘em rough.

The bigger they are, the harder they hit. The quicker you crack in the arc of they fist,
the quicker your jaw is rewarded by being a small little part of their wrist.
Targeting lips like plotting a kiss, and you won’t be holding ‘em back
until your body reposes, collapsed like there’s an archery bow in your back.

I’m sick of the vigils, memorials, wakes, a funeral dress and a bow at the waist,
A mother whose wailin’ and moanin’ and shakin’ are growin’ in tone when they’re showin’ the face
of the daughter or son or the brother or husband or nephew or cousin too slow to esccape
becoming a bundle of roses and poses and photos that glow with their corpse when in state.

(Wait...wait...wait...)

Breathe in. Breathe out. Wait ‘til summer when the leaves out.
Wait ‘til the number of runners and gunners bring another bit of hunger and police out.
When jobs dry up and the lease out, and the mayor don’t care or reach out,
when it ain’t no snow or rain or hail or breeze bad enough to keep the beast out.

Most of these kids ain’t even bad, just waves in the wake of an evil act.
Fate full of sheets, three meals, and staff sittin’ in the back of their reading class.
Eating trash, steamin’ mad, notebook of poems they keepin’ stashed,
and I don’t do nothin’ but preach the past as tears dot i’s on my legal pad.

Chinatown (Prod. by OnGaud)

Beat and cover art by Nick Arcade.
Raps, recording, and mixing by Defcee.

From ESPN:
"In 2000, the Mets agreed to buy out the remaining $5.9 million on [Bobby] Bonilla's contract.

However, instead of paying Bonilla the $5.9 million at the time, the Mets agreed to make annual payments of nearly $1.2 million for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8% interest.

At the time, Mets ownership was invested in a Bernie Madoff account that promised double-digit returns, and the Mets were poised to make a significant profit if the Madoff account delivered -- but that did not work out.

This year, under new owner Steve Cohen, who mentioned the possibility of celebrating Bonilla at Citi Field annually soon after taking over the team in November, the Mets are embracing Bonilla's day."

Bobby Bonilla Day - Single

Bobby Bonilla Day

Here goes my new rap about rap. Merry Christmas. 

1.
Road to the riches, but we never pay the toll, though. Generation YOLO, decorated mojos.
Elevated Solos toast yo chest. Slow-mo sex in the Oldsmo, stressed.
Secondhand smoke. Hopin dro don’t catch. Pedal to the flo til the lolo wrecked.
Talk real slick with the Loko breath. Heavy is the head, and the throne don’t rest.

Baby, we the kings of the give-no-fuck. Keep it on the low, jo, give-no-trust.
Roll with the winners, so kiss-yo-luck. Simps gonna limp and the pimps-gon-strut.
And we mad pretty, though, like a rap video, stacks in the lap, but we flashin’ the fitties, tho.
Stashin’ a sack, won’t relax ‘til we find us a sap for the rap that we pin it on.

Maybe this an image or a gimmick, fuck a cynic, jo, I’m witit and what’s real is that my kids gon eat.
And when we finished with this business we gon shit on all the critics while we kick it in a window seat.
And yo magazine is gon love it. All this magic clean with no scrubbing.
All yo rapper dreams just don’t cut it. That’s just Vaseline and no fuckin.

2.
Fuck how well you rhyming, dog. This game’s just a cult of persona.
Better reconsider that Kool-Aid cup before another rapper gon’ Jim Jones ya
And they yelling “Ballin’!” with they hands in the air and they wrists on global warming,
cuz that ice get melted down and sold when they owin them checks to Warner.

Got you tryna buy them thangs they rented, yachts n chains they stains is endless,
end of the day the exec with the name on his check got them Ranges and Benzes,
end of the day I’m on the bus or the train til it rang out “Message,” don’t be a menace,
don’t be successes, that uh be the second they they finna yoke you for your necklace.

Nothing is impossible with money. Almost everything’s impossible without it.
Hella easy to be startin at the bottom when there hasn’t really ever been a bottom to your wallet.
Kendrick got you rappin bout rappin but didn’t y’all muthafuckas see the point?
It don't matter how loud y’all shout if you ain’t doing shit with your voice.


Mixed by SolarFive.
Photo credit: Darline Morales.

Lies Rappers Tell Themselves (JEWOENO)

Featuring Femdot (http://soundcloud.com/femdotmusic).

Uses "Dukshun," produced by Knxwledge. for his Hexual.Sealings.LP, available here: http://gloof.bandcamp.com/album/hexual-sealings-lp

Cover art: Allen Arango.

Defcee's verse recorded by Jus Love.
Femdot's verse recorded by Femdot.
Mixed by Femdot.

[Defcee]
We speak two dialects of the same fucked-up,
lying about the lightweight we named "love" once.
I'm fluent in across-the-bar staring.
In college, I minored in Fucking Without Caring.

At her front door, she put her palm on my chest.
I tried to kick game, and it was awkward at best.
She said she liked tall men and cess
and then invited me into her apartment undressed.

I wrote this instead of answering her phone call.
Wrote this in third person instead of breaking the fourth wall.
I wrote this three rooms into a dorm crawl.
I wrote this because her name is my favorite North Star.

I wrote this instead of replacing all her torn bras.
I wrote this instead of making a quiet storm song.
I wrote this to give direction to something born lost.
I wrote this because talking's difficult with lockjaw.

[Femdot]
She like, "Fem, pick up the phone. Well, sorry I don't 
feel like listening to your problems cuz I'm lost in my own." 
Honestly, your voice tends to turn me to stone 
'cause with every conversation, man, I feel more alone. 

Maybe I should call you back instead of ignoring my phone. Truthful-
ly I'm terrified just to lose you. Scared of when my awkward humor could no longer amuse you. 
You always tell me I should more passionate. 
I tried before but it's hella confusing.  I swear it's much more clearer when I'm rapping it. 

I wanna tell how I don't care your abstinence. Okay, I'm lying. I do. 
But whatever we do, it was just an accident. 
Damn. Here I go putting my thoughts into these raps again. 

Damn. I can't express my thoughts on my own, 
so to avoid the awkward silence I hit "Ignore" on my phone. 
I wrote this to give direction to something born lost. 
I wrote this because talking is difficult with lockjaw.

LightWeight (feat. Femdot)

This is what happens when you let your kids watch too much television.

Recorded by Joseph Chilliams.
Mixed by Saba and Sev Seveer.
Cover art by Allen Arango.

[Defcee]
All I listen to is hardcore rap and Mary J. Blige. I lied.
It’s just SOS Band, Patrice Rushen when I’m high.
Spell out forget-me-not in butterfly stitches,
and ya lady doin’ the same with buttonfly kisses. (OLD SCHOOL.)

When I rhyme, breaks boom-shake ya backbone.
When you rhyme, the shit’s duvets and bathrobes. (DRIZZY)
These dudes make all this loose change for cashflow.
Too fake til I room raid your trash, though. (Broke as Hell.)

Hit the mic like the heavy bag. Eugene Levy swag.
Rob Gucci at needlepoint in Kanye’s yeti mask. (Brr.)
Built from the same grain as Galactus. I’ma eat Earth more,
but still bring you a warning like I’m riding a silver surfboard.

Marvel Comic chronological.
Your shit don’t make sense UNLESS I’m high. That’s chronic logical.
Got ‘em runnin’ out like my father’s follicles.
You can’t fight the truth, private school, especially when I’m Papa Doc’in’ you. 
(B. RABBIT!)

[Joseph Chilliams]
I heard somebody tryna murk me. Arrivederci. 
I’m ‘bout to pop out like my nipples perky.
Like a seismic wave shakin’ the stage.
I’ll probly faint the first time The Rock shakes my hand.

He taught me how to climb out that cage.
Slip out the ‘hood like a Jedi. 
You know Joe be so sad-eyed.
Reaction time like Obi-Wan Kenobi with red eyes. 

On the Red Eye in one summer, you dumb fuckers.
So my mama never suffer like suckatash.
Everybody eats. I’m scrapin’ the bucket last.
I’m hungry and horny enough to fuck and trash.

At R. Kelly fanbase like piss stains.

Vidiots (feat. Joseph Chilliams) (Prod. by Sev Seveer)

Produced and mixed by Jus Love.
Recorded around this time last year..when I was 23. 
Damn Near Grown this summer.
Outro is an excerpt from the Sam Mendes film American Beauty.
Promo art: Allen Arango

This is that 
promised land in my eyes, deep river rap
Givin’ dap. Dome of the rock under my fitted cap.
See it as you wheezin’ when the punching bag is hittin’ back,
fillings crack, and it ain’t no ceiling where my limits at.

Still be grateful for blessings I ain’t been given yet.
I’m only 23, and I still got a lot of living left,
so I’m flying off a hard dribble and a pivot step.
This the instant when physics and mysticism intersect.

Sometimes I talk in different voices when I’m on the block,
just to adjust, because I be all alone a lot.
Why I grip up on a pen like I hold a knot,
and quit drinkin’ for the same reasons that Noah stopped.

I see something that’s grander in the design,
it’s a purpose to all my plans and a pattern for all these signs.
That’s why it ain’t a manager handlin’ how I rhyme.
Sound clashes in my past. Now I battle the Lord for time…

...and I’ma prove ‘em wrong. Five years’ worth of beaucoup songs, and I tailored’ ‘em quick.
Savin’ for this. Spendin’ my money on makin’ this fit, 
takin’ my time with my cadence and wit. No round of applause or no major events. 
A college degree and a tape for your whip. Traveled the world with some paper and Bics, and made you a gift.

Cleanin’ up...mop-n-glo. Strip machines sprockets show.
Head to the venue, pocket dough. C-notes got me rockin’, jo.
Ruin bass and duplicate at stupid rates, no copy codes.
Hit ‘em with the beat ‘til they box explode; kill ‘em with the heat like ‘Bron did Rose.

No shade; spit game sharp as coke blades,
and have ‘em on the flo’ like holy rollers shoutin’ ghosts’ names.
Propane barbecue; what I spit is starter fuel,
so I got ‘em gassed for cash money like Carter II.

Pardon you. Know the name. Learn it like it’s Hov and Ye’s.
Even when my crown is off, the beauty of this throne remains
diamond-cut. What you put to vinyl sucks.
No one ever messed with you. The stitches on your hymen shut.

Viking tough and rifle strong. Amped up like I’m Ryan Braun.
They on strings--kites and yarn; full of smoke--pipes and bongs.
Listen to that final call; guess that I’m Elijah dog.
Silver tongue, iron jaw. Heretics get frightened off.

I’m an alien, from the gut; better keep your tummy tucked.
Gold medal flow and the rest of y’all are runners up.
Second-place--first loser, and I know it hurts, junior,
like your mother’s labor pains when she’s givin’ birth to ya.

Pardon me, I’m arrogant, even when I’m insecure.
That’s when I’m the cockiest, to convince the listeners
that I’m Goliath rhymin’ even with a bit of David’s heart,
and I’d die the second that it had the chance to break apart.

Schizophrenic? Never. Nah. Maybe. Well, I could be
depending on wherever my quest for the fame took me.
Eddie Kane’d or Jesse James’d, KRS’d or Tupac’d,
Dave Chappelle’d or Boondocks’d, we still shootin’ for those moon rocks.

But should this ever end before I want it to,
know that I loved you all with every bar I’ve brought to you.
In a game of Ross and bosses, I was just an honest dude,
tryna bring his line of sight from tight into a broader view.

Crowned 2.5 (Prod. by Jus Love)

Produced by @getmosesmusic. Recorded by Moses in Madison, WI, sometime in late 2010. Written in the back of a really boring lecture. From the 2011 Defcee & Moses album Selves. 

Album available at http://defcee.bandcamp.com/album/selves-2

/ (Intro) (Prod. by Moses)

Produced by Uncle_EL (https://soundcloud.com/uncle_el)
Mixed by SolarFive (https://soundcloud.com/solarfive)
Cover by Speedy Calhoun (https://soundcloud.com/speedycalhoun)

Recently named an honorable mention on HipHopDX's 10 Chicago Rappers to Watch For in 2015
(http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/editorials/id.2623/title.10-chicago-rappers-to-watch-out-for-in-2015), so this is a thank you to y'all for all of the support.

Timeless maxi-single (featuring production by Sev Seveer, Mike Wavvs, and Joseph Chilliams) drops 11/30.
First single from Grand Total (Defcee x Benjamin Earl Turner) in mid-December.
Album(s) in 2015.

The Waiting Room (prod. by Uncle_EL)

(A. Levin, I. Carroll)
Artwork by @neonpajamas.
Produced by @knowsthetime.
Recorded and mixed by @SolarFive.

First single from A Mixtape As God Intended, Vol. One. Coming soon.

Five Courses (prod. by knowsthetime)

All raps written by Defcee (A. Levin), except for “Forty, Jr.,” written and performed by Rivals (L. Miller, R. Thomas)
Cuts by RTST
Recorded by SolarFive at 406 (R.I.P.)
Mixed and mastered by Alex Jasso
Cover art by Sean Doe
0:00 The Basic Caveman Foundation (Produced by goldenbeets) (includes an excerpt from Sean Price, Buckshot, and 9th Wonder’s Sway in the Morning interview with Sway and Heather B, released on November 27th, 2012) 
1:35 Twenty-Four AM in Chicago (uses the instrumental for Drake’s “4PM in Calabasas,” produced by Allen Ritter, Frank Dukes and Vinylz)
3:00 Three Sixteens (uses the instrumentals for Rick Ross’ “Santorini Greece,” produced by Bink!; Nipsey Hussle’s “Clarity,” produced by Lamar “Mars” Edwards and Mike N Keys; and 6LACK’s “PRBLMS,” produced by NOVA)
6:01 Forty, Jr. – Performed by Rivals (uses the instrumental for “Hold You Down,” produced and performed by The Alchemist)
9:06 Sixteen in the Dungeon (uses the instrumental for Goodie Mob’s “Goodie Bag,” produced by Organized Noize)
10:02 Thirty-Six Months (uses the instrumentals for Group Home’s “Interlude,” “Outro,” and “Up Against Tha Wall (Getaway Car Mix),” produced by DJ Premier)
12:12 Vigil (Produced by WHOLESQUAD)
13:32 Sixteen for Our World (uses the instrumental for Nas’ “The World is Yours (Remix),” produced by Q-Tip)
14:46 Five Courses (produced by knowsthetime)

A Mixtape As God Intended, Vol. 1

All songs produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by knowsthetime (soundcloud.com/knowsthetime).
Cover art: knowsthetime.

1. Bottle Service (Summer 18) (feat. RTystic and Zilla Rocca) (I. Carroll, A. Levin, R. Taylor, S. Zales)
2. I'm the... (Summer 17) (feat. CRASHprez) (I. Carroll, A. Levin, M. Penn II)
3. 12 (Summer 07) (feat. greenSLLIME) (I. Carroll, A. Levin, Z. Smith)
4. A Million Ways (Summer 15) (feat. Benjamin Earl Turner) (I. Carroll, A. Levin, B. Turner)
5. thenow (Summer 10) (feat. Speedy Calhoun and FrshWaters) (I. Carroll, J. Hood, A. Levin, J. Wright)

Thenow (Summer 10) (feat. Speedy Calhoun And FrshWaters) - Defcee and knowsthetime

A Million Ways (Summer 15) (feat. Benjamin Earl Turner) - Defcee and knowsthetime

12 (Summer 07) (feat. GreenSLLILME) - Defcee and knowsthetime

I'm The... (Summer 17) (feat. CRASHprez) - Defcee and knowsthetime

Bottle Service (Summer 18) (feat. RTystic And Zilla Rocca) - Defcee and knowsthetime

i'm rewinding it. - Defcee and knowsthetime

(I. Carroll, A. Levin)
Produced by knowsthetime.

a list of what i want to forget the most. - Defcee and knowsthetime

awakeinthemourning. - Defcee and knowsthetime

25mg. - Defcee and knowsthetime

memoirs. (forty iv) - Defcee and knowsthetime

simp. (but of course) - Defcee and knowsthetime

Verse 1: Defcee
Verse 2: Iceberg Theory

Produced by Iceberg Theory for his compilation, Slothmonk & Friends, Vol. 1, available here: https://icetheoryrap.bandcamp.com/album/slothmonk-friends-vol-1

Slothmonk & Friends Vol. 1

Quarantine Dispatch #1 - Defcee and Iceberg Theory (prod. by Iceberg Theory)

Produced by Iceberg Theory for his compilation, Slothmonk & Friends, Vol. 1, available here: https://icetheoryrap.bandcamp.com/album/slothmonk-friends-vol-1

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