In the mid 90s, due to having my Time Travel Radio Show, I was on the mailing list for a lot of record labels, one of which was Suavehouse, and I was definitely a fan!
They had a lot of dope artist/releases; Mr. Mike, Tela, The Scientists, Crime Boss, 8Ball & MJG, etc...
This beat is produced by T-Mix a.k.a Smoke One Productions, and he had a lot of great beats in this era. I've been wondering if he's still making music, as I'd be curious to peep what he's cooking up these days.
This verse is what set the tone for the record, and it was around the time of doing this one that I decided to switch from the mixtape concept and turn it to an album, with all E.C. Illa beats. But I wrote the first verse to this beat.
One night in the early part of 2022, I was feeling disappointed I wouldn’t be able to release an album that day as I planned. Plus, I have also been a little disappointment in myself because I hadn't wrote anything since December…haven’t even been doing any improvising like I was doing nearly everyday before this slump.
Then, I was looking for a song to listen to, but couldn’t find, and instead stumbled on this Mr. Mike instrumental. Before I go any further, let me just say, Mr. Mike is a dope MC. I used to listen to his Wicked Wayz album pretty regularly when it dropped in ’96.
This beat is from a song called “Dope Fiction”.
I started out like I usually do, just improvising and seeing where that takes me. If I’m not really feeling the improv, I allow myself to not even make sense or even say words, just become an instrument and find patterns and ideas. I was hitting some interesting pockets, but nothing was sticking. I was just about to give up, but then I just I improvised those first 3 bars, and was like, “OK, I can do something with this”.
Since the beat is from ’96, I just wanted to flex some styles a bit, and not even worry about having a theme, but something came together naturally, which fit perfectly based on the original song title. I’m basically speaking in very vague statements, that also have particular meaning, line by line. But, there isn’t any overall theme, it’s just stream of consciousness…another way we define “freestyle”. Basically, I allowed myself to string together a bunch of improvised lines, that only partially connected to each other, but it does wind up connecting because in the verse I start to explain the process of what I’m doing.
There’s a decent amount of hidden messages in this one. I was just having fun with improv and editing…
LYRICS:
What’s the greatest moment you ever had in your life?
And what’s the possibility you could experience it twice?
And would that suffice? Fine line between passion n vice
I fight for what’s right, and come with the compassion of Christ
Ain’t asking a price, you can dim the lights, it’s a heist
And taking nearly everything that’s in sight, except advice
So roll the dice, or think twice, and take a word from the wise
And while I’m speaking, I hope you realize
The length’s I’m willing to go’s about….as wide as the skies
That not a surprise, at least not to me, I’m self-aware
How could I read the room when there’s nobody’s here?
So I just listen to the whispers in the winds, and begin
To write the words down, once they start making sense
And if that time never comes, then I may have to relent
Or maybe choose to still write em down, then try to convince
People to listen anyway, and in my defense
Coded messages, I sneak em in like toxins thru vents
Undetected, that’s a method of a suspending suspense
If it’s a wash, then it’s he who repeats, who repents..
3Wisemen Entertainment is the brainchild of Kevin Beacham, and is the over-arching brand for his various ventures of the
past and present; Stories About Songs Podcast (Coming Soon!), Time Travel Radio, RedefineHipHop, Redefinition Radio, Caught In The Middle Magazine, etc......more
