The word Primordial is defined as the primary; the original; the beginning. I chose that word as the title of my first album because it not only describes what this project has been for me, but it also describes what I hope my music will be for hip-hop…the beginning of something new.

Over the years I’ve watched hip-hop explode into a global phenomenon. But at the same time, its perspective has been drastically narrowed. For decades, experts have debated the state of hip-hop, but every year there is very little change. It’s frustrating to me because there is so much good music made by artists that are hardly ever promoted. But I’m not going to use my blog to bash hip-hop. I will say however, that now-a-days, a lot of mainstream artists have become extremely limited; confined to only rapping about the same old typical subjects. And as a result, hip-hop is not being allowed to mature.

With that in mind, I wanted to make an impact with Primordial. Staying within the definition of the word, my goal was to take rap back to basics. No gimmicks, no celebrity appearances, just straight up beats and rhymes. Producing this project completely by myself was a huge undertaking, and in the beginning, having the creative control to do whatever I wanted proved to be both a blessing and a curse. But as I got deeper into Primordial, what I needed to do became crystal clear and the project seemed to take on a life of its own, almost as if it was creating itself. Although a lot of tracks didn’t make the cut this time around, I was very pleased with what I ended up with. Songs like You Can’t Touch This and This is My Club Hit are straight hip-hop bangers and do a great job of balancing some of the heavier songs like Shadows of Night and Scream. I was even able to slow it down with tracks like Closer 2 You and Harmotional. And to break up the serious tone of my album, I added some funny voicemails from friends who I let preview the tracks. 

The recording process itself was relatively simple, but since I was still working full time in media and could only record for a few hours on weekends, it took about a year to complete. Also, I didn’t record at a fancy studio. I did everything right from my own home using a Windows enabled Mac computer, an M-Audio MIDI controller and a Shure microphone. My entire production was digital and consisted of two software programs I used jointly. All of my instrumentals were created using Propellerhead Reason, and I used Adobe Audition for all of my vocal recordings. Although these programs are not the biggest names in audio production, I can’t say enough great things about them. Not only was each program easy to learn, but I was also impressed by how fluidly they worked together. A 32 track song was nothing they couldn’t handle, and I was even more impressed by the quality I was able to achieve during my mixing and mastering process. I didn’t necessarily need a background in audio production to utilize these programs either. But I spent countless hours searching the internet for techniques that could help my music sound even better. 

It took and additional six months for me to complete the mixing and mastering process, and the most crucial thing I learned was this: to achieve the best possible mix, you have to listen to your music in different audio sources. No matter what your production set-up is like, your music will sound different through headsets, home stereo systems, computer speakers and cars. So listen to your tracks in whatever sources you have and adjust accordingly!

The last challenge I faced with Primordial was also my biggest, and that challenge was…me. What they say about you being your worst critic is true! Despite everything I had accomplished during this project, I found myself continually dissatisfied with my own work. Primarily because I feared people wouldn’t like it. I’m a very introspective person, and at times I’ve even been accused of being too conscious for the conscious. But that’s my style, and that’s who I am. Although the music business is a ginormous public affair, music itself is a very personal form of expression. So I had to realize that If I was going to create an album that was indeed true to myself, I’d have to push out of my mind all of the self-criticism and just create what was in my heart. The result of which, even if Primordial doesn’t catch on, I at least know is 100% real.