Hard at Work

I graduated from Northeastern a little over a month ago, and moved down to Brooklyn the day after to begin the full time plunge into making music. And what better project to start on than our own (Black Hoodie Rap’s, that is).

Why buy the picture when you get the one that says PROOF all over it for free? (also, my cap didn't fit on my fat head, I wasn't breakin' it off to be cool, although I should have said that... too late)

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been working on music pretty consistently since the release of For Rent, but about 2 weeks ago, Brandon and I made a pledge to do nothing but create for one month, with no thought of marketing, the business, politics, or what our next move is. Usually I’m not a fan of these “this and nothing else” approaches, because it’s just not realistic. It’s also because we run everything that is Black Hoodie Rap (no managers or anything like that).

However, this was one time I was willing to bend that rule. I had a few reasons for this, really:

• What better way to become a better producer than to make, study, and listen to music all the time?
• The last thing we should do is worry about the non-music side of Black Hoodie Rap because if our next release sucks, what’s there to market or promote?
• I just finished 4 years in the realm of “higher education” and kept myself busy with an infinite amount of other things before Black Hoodie Rap, and that wasn’t working for me. This is what is most important to me, and I want to do it.

There’s another big thing too. For years I’ve known what I was trying to do with my life, and I did anything I could to set myself up for the moment I find myself in now: freedom (or unemployment as some may call it). Producing music is what I’m going to do. It’s what we’re going to do. This isn’t even close to getting started. It’s an exciting and scary time (if you’ve never found yourself in it).

See, the thing is, as you all know: life gets in the way sometimes. Sure, everyone talks a mean game, saying things like “I live and breathe _____ and I’m always locked in” and it’s true, they do. But they also have school, a job, kids, bills, and girlfriends (or boyfriends). And as much as I make music, there’s always been that part of me that worried I wasn’t going hard enough because I had to deal with things like school and moving. So for the first time in my life, I find myself with none of those worries. It’s only me, B, and the MPC (or now the Maschine….)

So why am I telling you all this?

Basically, we’ve been in that creative cave where we haven’t been paying attention to much else. People have been asking us if we’re okay, and the last thing we want to do is not show you guys that we have a pulse. We’re ALWAYS here, even if we ain’t Twittering or on here. But we’re going to make sure we remedy that, and really let you in on what’s going on in our world.

p.s.- What’d you all think of the Machine Head video? We’re starting to push it down new avenues that we haven’t really been to familiar with, and we appreciate your support through it all!