Martin Douglas speaks with the rap superduo about their partnership, the range of their discography, and much more.

Read the article here: https://www.kexp.org/read/2022/4/29/real-neighbors-conversation-armand-hammer/

Real Neighbors: A Conversation with Armand Hammer

Elucid Breaks Down Each Track from I Told Bessie

produced by beatsbynar

Sorry for the novel length post, feel free to ignore. But it’s going somewhere, I think. 

So I’ve been reading a book called “Messy” by Tim Harford. I’m not too far into it but I have been digging it. There’s an anecdote about (and I may screw up some details here) how Bowie used to have a box of cards with him in the stu with random stuff written on them. When hitting a creative roadblock or needing an idea (I’m sure I’m screwing this story up, don't come for me), they’d pull a card out of the box & have to deal with it. An example being “Drummer Plays Guitar” or something. A kind of “paint yourself into a corner and create yourself a way out of it” sorta deal. This is all stuff that appeals to me as someone who is 137 years old and has been making music forever. I’m sure many of you can relate to the difference in vibe between the first 3-5 years of making music as compared to what it’s like 10+ years in the game.

It’s hard to describe, and frankly kind of depressing. As a younger person, I recall seeing it happen to the older heads and remember wishing I’d never lose the feeling I had then. Well, I did, a long time ago. I think everyone might. I think the lucky ones find a different fuel to keep them going, and ride on that as a replacement for the initial excitement they used to have.

Maybe this isn’t as universal as I’m making it sound. But I think it’s a pretty widespread thing. It’s why we don’t hear from MC XYZ anymore. Part “life gets in the way”, & part “I’m just not feeling it anymore”. And that feeling sucks.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about Bowie’s box of cards. Now we’re about to take a sharp left into sillytown. I recently received a text from DJ Addikt’s ladyfriend, and it contained within it the following bar: “I’m the snack captain, I make the snacks happen”. Which I found hilarious. And I couldn’t help but come up with the next bar. Then the next bar. Then the next bar.

Then I realized I was pacing around the room jotting down a grip of bars and rearranging them and really into the shit. I was having fun. I was having a blast writing about snacks. I don’t even like snacks.

Then I thought about Bowie’s box of cards, and decided I wasn’t going to sleep until I’d written and recorded a song called Snack Captain. I was going to send it to Addikt and Co, and leave it at that. I found a beat on YouTube I liked (Smokescreen, Prod by @beatsbynar), finished writing, and recorded it. It was THE most fun I’ve had making music in forever. Not that I don’t find making music a satisfying and crucial part of my life, but I had FUN.

It was a blast. I think partly because I’d intended this silly song to only be heard by two close friends, and partly because I just followed what I was feeling at the time and had to keep the topic on snacks. Which is ridiculous.

I ended up really liking this silly little experiment and found myself feeling like I used to when it was me and my buddies and cooledit96. I also think I accidentally made a banger. 

Anyways, here’s Snack Captain.

Snack Captain

Produced recorded and mixed by E*Vax of Ratatat
Cover image by Henry Leutwyler
A rap song about loving your family.

House Of Bricks

"where the days are all night"

produced by el-p
additional guitar by matt sweeney
additional keys by nick hook
mixed by joey raia
mastered by joe laporta

Stream digging for windows
  spotify:  http://smarturl.it/dfwspotify
  apple music:  http://smarturl.it/dfwAppleMusic
  deezer:  http://smarturl.it/dfwDeezer
  google play: http://smarturl.it/dfwGooglePlay

Connect:
  facebook http://smarturl.it/ZDLRFacebook
  twitter http://smarturl.it/ZDLRTwitter




Thanks to the late Manuel Alvarez Bravo for creating the cover art photo “Fireworks for the Infant Jesus”, 1990 (Castillo en el barrio del Niño), by Manuel Álvarez Bravo (c) Copyright 1990 Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo, S.C.


fuck that bright shit
the spot or the flashlights 
we in la ducking both 
in the shadows with lead pipes 
the days are all night

see if i pay edison
no medicine
these blues ain’t more better when
my fever rise in the jungle 
as quick as the price spikes
the days are all night

my future snapped like a rubber band
off my fold on a hand to hand
he drew from his waist
i put two in his roof
and i can still hear his screams 
all night 

now they ride their portfolios 
like rodeos
rise every time my cherry glows
on the end of my cig as 
the smoke blows through the bars
and the co’s laugh fades
as he strolls away 
says i gotta pay 
off that roll away 
or its fuck your visitation days
and i pop off so in solitaire 
i dream of offing these fred astaires 
and the skin off my fingers tear 
we digging for windows here 
where the days are all night 

this city’s a trap my partner
under the lights of they choppers
bodies tools for they coffers
not worth the cost of our coffins
i stare at a future so toxic
no trust in the dust of a promise
won’t mark the name on a ballot
so they can be free to devour our options 
and just like you I’m a target
ill defined by the guap in my pocket
but the stage make figures 
as quick as it off em 
what marley  and pac get? 
i put these caps in capitals 
leave minds blazed in they capitols 
i step with a fury so actual fact 
that my offense could be capital 

we digging for windows here


digging for windows (single)

digging for windows

PRODIGY GAVE IT TO DJ ABSOLUT , SO DJ ABSOLUT SHARES IT WITH THE WORLD 

MOBB DEEP  "THIEF'S THEME"  FREESTYLE

R.I.P. PRODIGY

MOBB DEEP-   THIEF'S THEME FREESTYLE -   @DJABSOLUT

GeneralBackPain - Holy Hands

Allegedly

Emergency Ft. Shamar Talley

Lockdown Uploads - Ultramagnetic MC's and Stetsasonic with Greg Nice on the Beatbox

Nine takes of '1970' layered for maximum musical mayhem.

197X

grandgood.org

MF DOOM, Chairman Mao
το σφάλμα
Smooth B
Billy Danze
Super Cat, Salaam Remi
Baby J, Ness
Popa Wu, Merc Versus
Mike Chav
MyGrane McNastee
Feral Serge
Delight
Zeroh
Ten-Headed Skeleton

GRANDGOOD.COM: Standout Rap, 2020

When you meet the perfect beat, kill the perfect beat.

197X

elmattic