see you next year. and vica versa.

gearing up for the last year ever by prepping 2 albums.  one is already in "the can" (as the kids are saying) and one is 2/3 of the way done and so late that the record label that signed me would probably have forgotten about it if they hadnt shelled out the cash. that said.. in case you missed all of it, heres what i did this year (publicly):

el-p "drones over bklyn" form my forthcoming album "cancer for cure"

das racist "shut up man" (produced by and featuring el-p)

exquire "the last huzzah" featuring everyone nice now

also:

RUSH OVER BKLYN

KILLER MIKE "UNTITLED SNIPPET" produced by el-p

METALLIC PURPLE




next year is, of course, the year i drop my follow up to ISWYD (CANCER FOR CURE) as well as the killer mike album i produced (R.A.P. MUSIC).  cant wait to get out there again and do shows and play you all some new shit etc.  thanks for giving a shit about me.  im lucky to have you.

have a safe and pleasant holiday, because next year you will probably be dragged off in to a concentration camp.  i kid!  nah for real though.

love, el

a visual update on the progress of my album

notice how it is trying to get in to my nose.

new toy: korg monotron

78 bucks of analogue ribbon synthesizing illyness.

HUZZAH REMIX (feat. despot, das racist, danny brown and el-p) (with my lyrics)

straight shots of the sterno plus, wick stuck in the bottle empty. 3 blocks to the target we light it and lob it hard at centry, 4 pigs of the oinking variety guard the market entry, 5 minutes of flames and then aim the whistle my father lent me,

6 oclock we meet up and divi the shells among the youngins, 7 continents in the shit and smoke like its fuckin london,

just  before they 8 up the funds our harmony love was bumpin, now goverment issue 9's are pointed where your blood is pumped in,

ten(d) to mop up these muttering zombies talker pieces

el'll ven(t) on you harder than fukashima breezes,

in the end when a dozen or so adjourn to reason, youll find the verdict return corrupted in murderous seasons,

with inverted 31's and other unlucky omens,

thats why i chugg 7 and 7's till im fuckin homeless,

and every time you think my 15 minutes of fame are up i spit another 16 and prove to the world i fuckin own it,

my lyrics from das racists "shut up, man"

You can see hilarity ensue
Polarity rule truth
The street meat feed youth
The boogie men bend rules
Elite scene double breast monocle men move
When backroom blood boils, the ink dries quite smooth
Dim lights might prove, to bend eyesights oooh
Eyelines obscured, skyline's removed
I'm fine, and you?
Fine like sinew
In arm outstretched
Inject in you
The flash mob holds hands, chants "we want food!"
Cargo bay loads, the drones just hit Mach 2
Burner hatch opens, the drone stops drops two
like kumbaya bitches you flash us? flash you
Fuck us? Fuck that
Burn air, vaccuum
Now there's a hot flash for that ass babe, achtung
Yeah I stay guerilla mouth pouncing the block, true
Come on it's the way of things, relax act cool
No habla Inglés, only hobble, break, disgrace
kick punch run pause piss repeat delete trace
No option to talk it out, no route labeled 'escape'
flame your fuzzy friend crunchy plus cuddle with hate
El-product plucking the little wings off your fly shit
ants under the magnifier fry quick
Pinning back eyelids
Gaze upon the god that has subjected us
My whole squad's Federal Reserve, no checking us

DRONES OVER BKLYN lyrics

you better stay aloof when the troops move or suicide booths sooth, the whos who of looters shoot the bullets go zoom zoom,  your pain is the porn pal, they pay to pop plain shit, its faded its more foul than famous its hot sin,  

holly wood off the bus fucked, tender little destruct tucked, in the waist with a gold face, feed the greedy wit dum dums,

you and me in the butane, supe a lame and he puffs up, little dragons of fad rap, suture their face the fuck up, 

walk in the zone or get less, wake in the fog of fright night, eat where sifters sell trash, sleep were the orphans hell hatch. pardon me son im zoned out, cloned out, no doubt home is, blowed out, sold out without extra man bonus

tragedy smurf smirks, a middle mans shirt bursts, wetted up, wet work, you get it up get murked, 

a wabbit in crosshairs, mechanical fox hunt, be quiet they're hunting now, the method is awesome, 

and i can see them in my eyes when they're closed, i can feel them at night

i can feel them plot a course through the sky i believe in their flight

dones over bklyn, 

you ca hear calico ultimate point at you  

click clack and back em to bunny dust point of view, hardy har funny stuff tough cookie boy, ill be sure to bring my bitch bib sloppy eat flop around clown shoe getup, kids sing along, this is all we have left bitch sing a song, i was born conjoined to howlers of the siren age, lion cage meat life sacrifice, nothing left, tell me if it matters that i sing it wrong,another dj yells "lick the balls", another brooklyn kite delivered in his crooked paws,

id sooner wash my dick in acid than ask what you think, id fuck myself with a stun gun before gassing your team, you patch me in and ill dumb out with a channeled disease, it sucks to be nothing nobody struts when they're down on their knees,

this whole rackets for the bees fuck my life already, fuck the law, fuck the sun, say goodnight already, you fucking spam-bots sellin shit alright already, we get it you're gettin that fetti oh jesus christ already,

and i can see them in my eyes when they're closed, i can feel them at night

i can feel them plot a course through the sky i believe in their flight

dones over bklyn, 

COMING TUESDAY

stay tuned, nyc

more random shit i produced

ill do these every now and then.  not gonna blow my wad all in one post, so here are a few you may have missed or might not remember.  nightwork and gametime by menelik, mucho stereo by bms and god is an atheist by ill bill, all produced by yours truly.

the story of producing kid hoods "drop the bomb"

im amazed this hasnt popped up earlier.  i brought this up to stretch and bob around 94 (93? 95?) for them to play.  every couple of years i google it to no results.  now, finally, its resurfaced and got people talking.  to understand how it got in to my hands to be produced i have to go back and explain some of my history.  im going to keep it as brief and to the point as possible.

i was kicked out of both high schools i went to and instead of continuing along that path i opted to get my g.e.d. and go to musical engineering school at 16.  it was a place called cma (center for the musical arts) in manhattan.  there i met and became friends with my boy lou.  lou was from hollis queens and we started hanging out up there together.  he thought i had something so he started bringing me around to some of the dudes he grew up with to cut demos and hang etc.  one of those friends was a rapper named anttex who put out a few records on tuff city.  he would later go on to start the record label libra records with the ex accountant of tuff city records and sign as its first or second act company flow.  

before co flow dropped juvenile technics anttex and i combined gear and set up a studio together in manhattan.  anttex was, at one point, friends with kid hood.  not long after he passed, anttex brought the kid hood tape (we were using 6 track cassette recorders at the time) by the studio.  i dont remember how he had it, exactly, but i know he had worked with him so im assuming it was from those sessions.  the tape didnt have a beat.  it was just a vocal.  

i remember that the beat i made for it was supposed to land differently, but because of the shitty set up (6 track cassette decks midi'd to a relatively primitive computer) it wasnt synching up the way we thought it would.  that said, it sounded so raw that i just went with it, and thats what you hear today.  

i remember we were all high as shit listening to this amazing rapper over this beat and feeling like his ghost was in the room with us (again... high).  for those that dont know kid hood, he was about to be the next big thing before he died.  his scene stealing verse on the scenario remix was released posthumously.  for us to have this incredibly rare (and possibly only) demo was almost unbelievable.

ultimately, it never went anywhere but my studio.  later, after i had fallen out with anttex and libra records (shit happens) i brought it up to stretch and bob to play.  i just felt like people should hear it.  

i wish i still had the tape with his vocals on it.  i feel like i could really do it justice now.  that being said there is something special about this song.  glad it resurfaced.  R.I.P Kid Hood

el-p

a note:  the timeline is fuzzy for me.  all i really know is that it was made around 92 and that i brought it up to play after 93.

also: big ups to the guys over at T.R.O.Y.

another note:  anttex's real name was darren.  thats who kid hood is shouting out at the end.

my basic views on the downloading issue

its pretty simple, really.

1. DOWNLOAD MY MUSIC.  GIVE IT A TEST DRIVE.

2. IF YOU LIKE WHAT I DO AND CAN AFFORD TO SUPPORT ME, PLEASE DO SO SO THAT I CAN CONTINUE DOING WHAT I DO AND WHAT YOU LIKE.  IT IS MUCH APPRECIATED.

thats all.

love, el

sit down man (my lyrics)

because i've been asked:

 gangster  computer god mind sluts my pseudonym, fuck anyone giddily giggle simply misery, fiddlers whittle bitch pitches but wear the duecy tag, first'll always be the grit truthy brooklyn elusive brand, harbinger of the bum rush plus uzi that way a ton or more,  buddy cops kiss each other, pederast priests fuck whores, go set the moral compass to something a little sacrilege i'll pirate jenny this whole town, black freighter your maggot-ness, nobody sleeps tonight, 50 car alarm evening, perpetual garbage truck annoying ice cream truck jingling,  hey young world,your clock just got donkey punched by aristocrats, maniac brainiac fist fucked in a dunce cap, looking at it from space you can see the race is just one lap, your tranquillity now is just future anarchy unhatched, 

i want a new drug plus alternate reality, some dimensional shiftiness hidden from all the cowardly, 

 gypsies read the palm and then, vomit and, gimmee back my dollar hollering "oh god get out you monster", from a local where disarmaments a running joke, more commonly for commoners its grey matter converted in to runny yoke

im not in the mood (stop), a lot more than rude (wrong),  hot rod of intoxicants (vroom), gobble ya food (gone), 

bop to the truthiness, truly im a lost boy, half man half smoke no joke got it on Locke boy, take your little sad poopy pants to the corner toy i been the brain blazed bleeder burn a bridge burner boy,

sit down

everything you've ever wanted to know about the weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 but may find it redundant to ask

this is the front cover (right) and back cover (left)

it drops on AUGUST 3RD, IN THIS YEAR OF OUR LORD 2010 on golddust records

you can pre order it here.  please ignore the fact that is says it drops on the 4th. thats a mistake.

there are no vocals on the record.  its just beats.

it is being released on cd and vinyl, pictures of which you can see here and here

you can watch/listen to a preview of some of the record here

you can hear another song here

and you can hear yet another here

i will be celebrating the release of this record in LA on august 4th at the legendary LO END THEORY party.  you can see the flyer here.  i will be doing an instrumental set and might, if im feeling it, rock a rappity raps as well.  i will almost certainly be drunk.  blame it on LA.

for those of you wondering: "but el, where the fuck is your next rap album, you faggot?"

im working on it.

love, el

a fragment

every move is a dodge, every walks on a short plank now styles all i got against tanks, wonderful thanks.

2 weeks in

reason why my new album is going to be fucked up (#2)

reason my new album is going to be fucked up (#1)

i am the...

of the trade

yes, i really am making an album.

feeling pretty good, thanks.

its normal to have blood in your phlegm-tray, right?

_ _ _ _ _ benedict+4 tylenol pms.

death benedict
dead benedict
dreggs benedict
blead benedict
blech benedict
bleb blebleblit
blep bleplabit
special shout to timmy wiggins

remember that really cute picture of my cat on the sampler?

well now my sampler is broken.  furry little whore.

the importance of an assistant

sometimes when im tapped out for ideas i let my assistant take over.

sharing progress

its a fine line.  on the one hand you want to share what you have with people you respect.  on the other hand on ly you know what it will become and the rough draft you may have now will probably not reflect the finished product.  sharing something too soon could, in some ways, ruin the work in progress for you.  also, fuck them, you know?

thats not a claw, its my hand.

and this is how i use it when my system crashes for the 4th time in one day.

satan doesnt want me to finish this song

you know you are on to something when satan starts making your computer crash just when the music is starting to get somewhere.  im on to you, fallen one.

they always start so innocently

its only a matter of time before it explodes.

records dont always help

i dont give a fuck how many records you have.  if you arent hearing anything you arent hearing anything.  this picture isnt of my record collection, by the way.  its something i found by googling "giant record collection".  theres plenty out there.  over the years i bumped in to a lot of cats that pride themselves on how many records they have.  i used to as well.  its only when you find yourself half naked at 5am with only 1 cigarette left and 1000 records strewn across the floor that you might realize the only use for that really cool telly savalis spoken word record you found in a nebraska pawn shop is to one day utter the sentence i just uttered.  tomorrow they may all sound different, anyway.  tomorrow that record could be the catalyst for an idea that begins the start of the seed of something that might become a great song.  so yeah, nevermind.  im keeping them.  ignore me.

woke

thinking about a friend i lost not long ago.  people ask me if im going to write a song about it.  i wonder if im ever gonna write a song again thats not about that in some way.  these types of things dont compartmentalize.  they just become you.

just putting in work, really.

been watching some tv today in preparation for the nights work.  about 8 hours straight.  feel pretty great.

album preparation

its important to be prepared for anything.  remember:  this is a cut throat profession.  only the truly prepared musician can stay ahead of the pack.  below i will list some of the things i have acquired in order to prepare for my long winter of album creation.

glass of water- 1 of.  hydration is important and in my studio importance always comes first.

soap- 1 bar of.  moving from your chair isnt always an option.  combine this with a splash from your glass of water and you can get those naughty parts clean without worrying about losing your train of thought.

extreme power dustbuster- 1 of.  sometimes soap isnt enough.  cigarette ash, dust from records, food particles... over time these seemingly harmless fragments of matter can collect on your chest and lap.  keeping this puppy within arms reach is a must.

condoms-2/3 pack of.  a man has his needs.  balancing producing with a personal life isnt always easy, especially when it means talking or moving from your chair.  having a few shields around only makes sense.  if you've got a decent chair with some wheels on it your work flow really doesnt have to be interrupted while you indulge in your coital needs.

battery powered screw driver- 1 of.  it comes in handy.

holy bible (revised standard edition)- 1 of.  for those quiet moments of reflection. guaranteed entry in to a life of perpetual perpetualness.

oh hi there.

below are a few things i have purchased over the last several months or so that i believe will be instrumental in the creation of my new record (that is, until i find a better title, tentatively titled: cancer for cure), which i will try and somewhat regularly chronicle during times when i give a shit enough to chronicle.  likashot.

1 pack yellow american spirits

%100 additive-free natural tobacco with a light, mellow taste.  sales to minors prohibited.

1 pair addidas green on white rod lavers

easy fitting with light mesh material.  house slipper substitute.

1 schippmann ebbe und flut.

yeah, its german.

1 eventide pitchfactor.

what does it do?  im trying to decide that.  thanks for asking.

1 dave smith "mopho"

it can fit in your palm, if you have a huge palm.