NOTICE: Original Music and all rights to it by Ruelle. This is a personal project for no commercial gain.

I loved the song Up in Flames by Ruelle from the moment I heard it. Her voice is unusual and haunting and perfect for the subject matter of the song. The music is dark, brooding but has a sense of urgency because of the strings running through it. I always thought it would be a background music for a hip-hop verse.

So when I decided to start The Beat Hijack writing prompt project, it was perfect. The lyrics reminded me of something monsterish which led me to thinking about modern day monsters and the first line and subject matter of my verse. It only turns out that Ruelle has another song called Monsters.


My original idea was to do some mashup of the two songs or to use the music from Up in Flames but have the chorus of Monsters feature on it somewhere. Alas, that was just beyond my very limited technical capability with putting together the music. So in your head, imagine at various points the chorus from Monsters being song over this.

So the writing process wasn't too bad, its a twelve bar verse so its a short one and the topic and metaphor was interesting. I also played around with turning around the "up in flames" concept into more of a "wash everything away" concept. However, I found the delivery and flow far more difficult, it just didn't seem to work as well as I had imagined in my head.

Beat Hijack #1 - Monsters/Up In Flames

NOTICE: Original Music and all rights to it by Mikky Ekko. This is a personal project for no commercial gain.

www.thebeathijack.com

Beat Hijack #2 - Statements

Beat Hijack #3 - Who Are You Really?

Unreleased, unmixed studio version of a song called The Chillr by The Bluebeat Arkestra. The released version features a melodic instead of a rap verse.

Chillr WiP

The Chillr (unreleased version)

NOTICE: Original Music and all rights to it by Mikky Ekko. This is a personal project for no commercial gain.

Revisited the 3rd Beat Hijack as apparently I had another verse in me for this track.

www.thebeathijack.com

Who Are You

Beat Hijack #3.1 - Who Are You Really?

Amanacer recorded and performed by F.o.E

Lyrics written by Keji Adedeji, music by F.o.E

Foeism

Amanecer

NOTICE: Original Music and all rights to it by Locksmith. This is a personal project for no commercial gain.

Locksmith put out a Rederick challenge for his song of the same title right around the time I needed to vent about some things I had going on at work. I didn't quite muster up the courage to post a vid for the challenge on Insta but finally got a version I was happy with. 

www.thebeathijack.com

Final Hijacks

The Beat Hijack #4 - Rederick

The Beat Hijack is a writing prompt exercise for hip-hop verses. However, it has a little twist, my musical tastes are much more varied now and there are songs whose beats and/or the topic have inspired me to want to write a hip-hop verse.

1. To select alternative songs outside of the hip-hop genre upon which inspire you to write a verse, but that doesn't mean hip-hop beats are off limits.

2. Don't overthink it - the idea is to inspire writing so don't overthink it and spend forever on it.

3. Simple recordings - the idea is to inspire writing and whilst it may be fun to get creative here, but that's not what the exercise is about. The recordings will be rough and ready, I 'ain't no producer.

4. Share it - by committing to getting something written, recorded and shared every month, it makes me continue with the exercise and overcome the block but also helps me get over the fear of putting something out there.

Beat Hijack

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