Every Friday on the OurStage blog, I’ll be featuring a great example of flow and lyricism in hip hop songs pulled from the OurStage ranks. I’ll get the artist’s thoughts on the song, as well as post the lyrics or best verse so fans can follow the flow themselves.

Our “Friday Flow” this week comes courtesy of Underground Realroad (and Mr. Bits). Bricc and DJ Drex know what it is like to be down and out, and have some great perspective about climbing their way from the bottom. With an addiction to rhyming and a passion for music, Underground Realroad do it for the love of the game. Here’s what the guys had to say about “Maybe”:

The song is about making the best out of all the negative situation life puts you in, optimism basically. It’s also about our love of music. We don’t make money of our stuff but we still sit down at least 2 or 3 times a week to write cause we enjoy it and we’ll keep going whether we blow up or never make a penny. I would have to say our favourite line is “Depression is what excels my expression,” it really sums up our entire project.

Verse 1:
I feel like I ain’t got nothing to loose
No girl, no car, no cash no jewels,
But I wanna put my my mama in a house with a pool.
I wana put my brother and my sister through school.
Music I use as a tool to get through my nights when life is cruel.
Life is a b****, but I smack that chick like Ike would do.
Killing n***** like I got a license to.
With the mics I bruise
Hip-Hop, this hop is the life I choose.
And who’s gonna stop me? Nobody!
Trying to get doe but i ain’t in it for the money.
I’m a reach my goals, I’m in it from the soul, not for the gold,
Or the platinum, action cameras role,
From the concrete, I’m a grow that rose.

Verse 2:
No matter what I have it never seems to be enough,
Been doin’ dirt, the time came to clean it up.
Dreams are achieved, I got cream and live it up.
But it will be a life I said I wouldn’t give it up.
I died to bring back the lives that I’ve lost
And to know they live on I’d pay any cost.
‘Cause that’s a hole in my heart I can’t fill
Look it don’t work, it’s a pain I can’t kill.
But still, I get by. I won’t lie I, try to stay high.
Keep a smile on my face almost at all times,
Picture and perfect because it’s all lies.
This is the type of feeling that never hides
Deep down inside is where it resides,
I can’t escape the fate bestowed upon me,
Makin’ it the best I can, rest on me.

Verse 3:
I used to have it all, on top ’cause I rocked at ball.
But no premonition could have stopped that fall.
So maybe one day I will not be sad,
‘Til then my friend it’s my pen and my pad.
I never had a role model keep me on track,
Except for my big ’cause but he sold crack.
taught to be a man by my mom, not my dad,
So when he dies, I’m not gon’ cry.
I don’t talk about money ’cause, I never had.
I’m grinding 9 to 5 to get cash.
Depression is what excels my expression,
Stressing lines that entail my life lessons.
rhymes that I’m blessed with help me get through.
times is hard and I don’t know what to do.
All I need is my family, rap, and my homies,
So why the f*** am I so sad and lonely.

The artist deadline to enter Cakewalk’s “Your Music. Anytime, Anyplace.” Songwriting Contest is coming up but the contest is far from over! Artists wanting to compete in either of Cakewalk’s Rock or Urban “Anytime, Anyplace” Contest Channels have to enter their song before November 22nd for a chance to win a mobile studio. But don’t forget to tell fans to judge the competition. The best fan predictor from each channel will win an Intel Core i7 laptop plus other goodies from Cakewalk!

Three high ranking artists from each “Anytime, Anyplace” Channel will be selected to win top of the line mobile studios from Cakewalk featuring an Intel Core i7 laptop, Cakewalk’s new V-Studio 100 recording interface and top of the line Cakewalk recording software! To sweeten the deal, the six grand prize winners will be announced at Winter NAMM 2010!

Here’s what’s popular with the fans so far in both “Anytime, Anyplace” Channels. Don’t agree? There’s only one way to let your opinion really be heard: judge now!

Have you had a chance to judge in Converse’s “Get out of the Garage” contest? There’s tons of new indie rock and urban talent just waiting to be discovered, and they’re all vying for a chance to play the Levi’s/FADER Fort showcase in Austin this March.

Did you know that by judging Converse’s “Get Out of the Garage” Contest that you could win a trip to Austin to see the winners perform at the music industry’s hottest showcase for yourself?

Converse is rewarding the best predictor, the fan with the greatest ear for talent, with their own trip. To be eligible for the best predictor award you have to judge at least 25 Sort 4 style battles. The more you judge, the better your chances! Learn more on how the best predictor award works here.

Converse is also awarding fans daily gift certificate giveaways to Journeys. So far over 100 fan judges have received these awards, and Converse plans to continue to give out 10 a day until the end of the month. You can win too! So what are you waiting for? Go judge!

Jersey Girl: MC A.B.Y.S.S.

Braggarts, grand-standers, blatherskites—rap is full of them. If they’re not name-checking the labels on their clothing, they’re advertising their lyrical swerve or sexual prowess. Aspirational thinking (or flagrant machismo, as the case may be) is a key element in hip hop’s oral tradition. However, you’ll be called out if you don’t have the chops to back up your own hype, and your castle made of sand will melt into the sea (eventually).

A.B.Y.S.S. doesn’t have to worry about her kingdom crumbling any time soon. The New Jersey MC constructs verbal skyscrapers, but the fortunately their foundation is rock solid. “Get.It.In” is a relentless banger, where sinewy guitar lines add a sinister edge to a thumping anthem. Like a boxer set to enter the ring, the MC comes out swinging: “I’m a demonstrator, not a hesitator / I’m going straight through the roof, f*** the elevator.” One of the most refreshing qualities of A.B.Y.S.S. is her low threshold for the status symbols ingrained in contemporary hip-hop. In “(Death of) Swag-Up,” she takes the counterpoint to materialistic MCs, saying, “No shades? / You ain’t got no ice? / Au naturel? / Damn you looking nice!” The track is original enough on lyrical content alone — add to that a rattling, percolating beat and you have something special.

A.B.Y.S.S., whose name is an acronym for Ask Before You Speak Stupidly, is fiercely independent—insisting on “(Death of) Swag-Up”: “I don’t need a huge crew.” Unfortunately, with chops like hers, a widespread following may be inevitable.

Minus a Few consists of three Georgia emcees who are hell-bent on rewriting the hip hop lore of present days, taking it back to the old school. Reminiscent of acts like Atmosphere, Minus a Few tackle a wide variety of subjects with focused lyricism and smooth as silk delivery. This week’s Friday Flow highlights their track “I Dream Of,” the song that speaks most to what Minus a Few are all about.

Always dreaming: Amorphouz and Open of Minus a Few

The song “I Dream Of” was written in 2006. The track was produced by Ings. The main idea behind the song was to capture a distinct picture of where we were as individuals, at that point in our lives, then tie it together within the bigger picture of where we were in our music career as a group. The track is one part nostalgic, one part misery, and lastly it’s hopeful. It’s about dreams as well reality and where the two meet. “I Dream Of” was the first step in taking our music into a realm of realness that allowed us to be unabashedly honest as artists. Jacob’s verse details his struggles as a high school drop out and being deeply in debt. He talks of the pressures that lie in trying to succeed in music. My verse starts out reflecting on how I became infatuated with hip hop. By verse’s end I’m wondering if it’s a dream worth pursuing anymore and where would I be if I had never began the journey.

Intro (Open and Amorphouz telephone conversation)

1st Verse (Open)
I remember when we used to think we would blow up and be
Known to the world as the dopest emcees
But then I turn around and I notice that we
Were grown but still home and broke as can be
And me I got kicked outta school
And I owe about a G so I’m bout to have to move
Outta the GA so replay the last five years
I would behave and recreate the past five years
I would change up the events and then the crowd might cheer
But there ain’t no way to get back the last five years
(Years) no sir and time it won’t budge
These lines are so rigid and they won’t slow up
Life’s a bitch the minute that she gets in your bed
You living about a minute and then in a couple of minutes you’re dead
And with that said I think it’s time to move on
Because I’m old and I’m tired and I been rhyming too long
Trying to find a new song trying to get up outta rhymin
Cause ain’t a thing change round here except the climate
The climate is climbing and falling in the winter
Can’t even see sunrise right around December
So, why kick the embers of a passion for rapping
When the passion is absent I stop rapping

4 Bar Break (Stop rapping)

Open (Cont.)
I couldn’t stop rapping even if I tried
All the meaning that’s inside would whither away and die
Filter through pages I’ve lived a life inside of a rhyme book
that all of Society would never find
and yes it get trying at times Trying to survive
working nine to five turn around five to nine
and will I get signed, or will I be able to pay all of my bills on time
I’m really just all out of options besides the ability to thrive
And if you still try to step in the way of me getting mine
I’m not gonna slide to the side roll over and just die
Man f*** dying I’m trying to provide you with line after line
Of a motivational vibe from time after time
Tell the haters and naysayers that I have arrived
With five guys marching in a line right behind
In the limelight it’s the blind leading the blind
But I’ve been meaning to find the time to find the meaning of rhyme

(Beat fades out, fades in)

2nd Verse (Amorphouz)
Let’s take it back to rap basics, back to Raf’s basement
Backwards caps, pants that sagged and phat laces
Tracks on wax played and scratched as hands waved
The dance crave was breaking, graphers tagged paint on
The side of (trains), when the cipher (reigned)
when a young boy never knew that life would (change)
to my dreams my blood, sweat, and tears
when I need my friends but ain’t none of here
every minute I flow, I’m giving my soul
so im living every minute to begin to die slow
eyes closed, and the casket is shut
wait a minute, where’s Jason, what happened to flux?
Does Redd even know we’re all dead and gone
Will he make it back to Georgia in time to perform
that used to be the dream I knew we’d be the stars
of tomorrow, who would think the crew would be apart
at a time like this, it flies by quick
and Im unsigned nobody tryna buy my disc
seeing strangers in the street thinking Im paid
cuz I made a cd doesn’t mean that I stay (in a mansion)
I ain’t never chilled in the Hamptons
I lived in an abandoned building on a mattress
this is real, it’s the life that I live
ain’t no white picket fences outside of my crib
I mean it, no I’m not Leaving the house
Still working odd jobs, still sleeping on the couch
Let the beat fade out, when it fades back in
Atmosphere’s Lucy Ford is what I played back then
Remember rock the horns, sage francis
primal rage, remember when we made that shit
I can see it all like it was yesterday
When everybody moved on and they left the stage
Now Im here all alone tryna estimate
How much time I have lost and expect to wait
Put the pencil down, now that the book’s finished
Hit the ground running, look back like good riddance
And Start a new Chapter in life
If I could take it back Before I first rapped on the mic
(Fade Out)

Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre both rapped about Compton. Nas already rapped about New York City. When was the last time someone rapped about Maryland? Well, Chris McDonald took matters into his own hands, writing his song “Maryland Matters” and putting the Mid Atlantic state back on the map. Even if you’re not from Maryland, you can get the message. Check out what Chris has to say about the song:

Chris McDonald. Maryland representing.

“Maryland Matters” is the 2nd track off my EP, Life of A Salesman, which is now available on iTunes. The song is really just me representing where I am from; I am born and raised in Maryland. My favorite lines in the song is really the hook, because I feel like I am who I am because of where I am from. I am not from a big city, or an area that has a lot of music that is nationally recognized. I don’t mind that at all, because I feel I have a story that many people in Maryland can relate to. My hope with this song is that it not only helps put Maryland on the map, but makes people feel proud that they are from Maryland.

Get 'Em High: RAS

According to their bio, RAS has a helluva mission on their shoulders: to “fight against whatever mainstream media and culture offers the masses today …uplift and create spaces where atrocities against people of the African diaspora can begin to heal … through remembering the past, exposing lies, expressing emotion and resisting self-hatred.” Not a job for the faint at heart. Luckily, the husband and wife hip-hop team has a whole lotta heart, and some mighty voices to back it up.

Winners of the 2008 Lennon Songwriting Award for hip-hop, RAS (Riders Against the Storm) is comprised of Rhode Island MCs Tiger Lily and JBro. Together, the duo vacillates between confessions of self-consciousness and chest-thumping demonstrations of verbal prowess. In “Never Alone,” JBro likens himself to Bobby Brown, “stressing every little step,” against a throbbing bass line and fluttering keys. Though lyrically anxious, the melody is self-assured. But its songs like “Ready or Not” that really show RAS at the peak of their potency. A remake of the Fugees hit, the track brings the drama with sweeping strings, reiterating percussion and the electronic hiss of synths as Tiger Lily and JBro chant, “RAS is right on target / First in the flame with the power to spark it.” It’s an explosive mantra for a duo that’s determined to burn down the house.

Share and Enjoy:

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]]> http://blog.ourstage.com/2009/11/06/porno-for-pyros/feed/ 0 http://blog.ourstage.com/2009/11/03/judge-in-cakewalks-your-music-anytime-anyplace-contest-to-win-a-mobile-studio/ http://blog.ourstage.com/2009/11/03/judge-in-cakewalks-your-music-anytime-anyplace-contest-to-win-a-mobile-studio/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:00:54 +0000 Sam C. http://blog.ourstage.com/?p=22221

Cakewalk’s “Your Music: Anytime, Anyplace” Songwriting Contest is now open for judging! Cakewalk and OurStage need your help finding the best original tracks from up-and-coming rock and urban acts. This is your chance to help six talented artists win Cakewalk and Intel Core i7 powered mobile studios so they can keep making hits!

Need some incentive? The two fans with the best ears will be awarded mobile studios of their own! The top predictor of the final rankings for each “Anytime, Anyplace” Channel will win an Intel Core i7 powered laptop along with tons Cakewalk goodies including Music Creator 5 and Pyro Audio Creator 1.5 software and much more!

Click here to begin judging the “Your Music: Anytime, Anyplace” Rock Channel.

Click here to begin judging the “Your Music: Anytime, Anyplace” Urban Channel.

For more information on contest rules and prizing visit ourstage.com/go/anytimeanyplace.

Today’s “Friday Flow” comes courtesy of Doujah Raze. He’s been around the block a time or two, and is sick of the way things are. He’s been able to garner recognition by taking his own path; doing things his own way. With reasonable success in both touring the world and playing festivals in the United States, Raze has four albums under his belt (one of which was a Japan-only release). It’s pretty clear what this week’s flow is about, but let’s hear it straight from the source:

Doujah Raze, a man of the world

Plastic World is my dedication to all things fake in this world. From politicians’ false promises, to chemical drug use, to gun violence, to plastic surgery, this song covers the gamut of everything “plastic” in this world. My boy Shuko from Germany did the beat, and when I heard the hook sample “I can’t live in this plastic world, it’s killing me,” I knew what I had to write about. Now I’m no saint, and I know that we, as humans, have all participated in “plastic” things. This song is not so much about being a perfect person, but more about trying to rise above the fake things in this world and trying to see that there is more to life than what we often can see in front of us. Plastic World was the lead single off my self-titled debut album.

So, check out the song, feel the flow and spec the lyrics —we’re sure you will love this song. If you dig it, buy it on iTunes!

Verse 1
I’m bout to shatter the glass, break the mold in half
Release Hell’s fire fury though this phonograph
Feel my wrath, heart stuck even on knife’s end
Rewind then, just to flood the speakers with violence
It’s crime when all these great artists with intelligence
Trade they soul for the wealth cuz they be selling it
That be irrelevant, anything goes up in this game
That’s the smell of it offending my nose
But it’s bigger than that, bigger than rap
I crack my window wide open and I’m sick of the fact
That shorty’s on the block smoking
And ain’t twelve years old, but shorty’s glock smoking
It’s seldom told that little Jessica from Atlanta with cancer
Her Daddy spend his loot on the alcohol and dancers
And ain’t gon’ be no operation saving
Dunn she’s lost most of her eyesight, she halfway to the grave and
Yea we be praying up in times like these
For a savior, a soldier in search of the truest
The plastic and toxins I’m breaking on through it, what!!!

Verse 2
And it keeps going, these mean streets keep growing
Deceit feeds, greed’s green teeth keep showing
Believe no one, cuz everybody got they mask on
Smiling in your face but behind you with they laugh on
This platform built on perilous cliffs
Has been deprived of the nutrients to care for it’s bricks
And it’ll probably crumble any day
Man there’s plastic where the steel should be anyway
And platinum fields!
With chicks these days it’s not just tits
Now they got fake ass, fake eyes, fake thighs, and fake lips
The shape shifts to what it want to be
So stop using artificial shit to make it how it oughtn’t be
I’m rhyme sicker than the channel 5 news
As I align all these visions through these scriptures I use
Scriptures you choose, pictures of truth it keeps my head strong
Going all these miles through these lead storms
Yea so right now a true warrior emerges
And while your busy worrying bout “oh is he gon’ be saving mine?”
I’ll be really working overtime cuz I’m breaking mine

Verse 3
Sometimes you won’t know which way’s up or where to go
So just put your ear down to the ground to hear the show
Feel the flow, but these days man it be tougher
There’s a lot more plastic, a little more rubber
It’s muffled, and all this hype got us on the wrong things
Brought up in this life, taught it since we was like small kings
And queens played for the fun of it
But now these whores carry AIDS and these guns they be running it
The politicians ain’t apologize for none of it
They do it for the blood yo, they do it for the love of it
And we all suffer cuz we cut in it
The wound’s deep and we only got sheets to try to cover it
I’m sick and tired of this haze kid
I look around and I’ll see is chemicals up in my face with
Some ill intentions and they trying me
So I’m a spark something natural and leave that shit behind me
Foul, grimy the road that I walk on
So I’m a just stalk on with strength building numbers
And burn down this plastic with measures it’s drastic!

This week’s “Friday Flow” comes straight out of Nova, VA courtesy of a man who has come from everywhere through just about everything—Eito. Faced with tremendous struggles throughout his life, he (along with Waze) makes you feel it in his song “The Reason.” Eito filled us in with the backstory and details about his journey:

Eito, surviving the struggle

Thanks for the interest. I have only been rapping for like 4 years. I treat it as an outlet for the things going on in my life. I never had any intentions of making any money on it. I think that people that rush to the mic as an escape from their financial situations are less likely to be successful in the long haul. I often times get so frustrated with the music industry as a whole that I want to quit and just live as a professional. I haven’t had to work in the past 2 years cause of the success of my company, so I took that opportunity to become a master of my craft. All of the tracks from my first EP, The Manhattan Project, were either freestyle or lines from like 3 years ago. I have a lot of new material that I refuse to release ’cause I don’t want it to fall on deaf ears. I also produce all of my own music. It’s rare that I will work on another person’s instrumental. If I like the instrumental that much I will find the samples and recreate it on my terms. The song ” The Reason” is a short run on my life and the things that happened to me growing up. I was a victim of an abusive family and traumatizing situation. Since I have left that situation I have been seeing a shrink and medicated for the past 6 years of my life. It was hard for me to find a job due to the fact that I am over qualified for most jobs or just don’t fit the bill of the norm. I was planning on killing myself until I met a kid named Sid in Richmond, VA. He was in a messed up situation himself; his family left him and moved to California. ‘Til this day it still bothers me that I couldn’t do anything to help him. So since that day I have sworn myself to protecting the innocent and upholding humanity to the best of my ability until the day I die. I’m no saint, I just do what is necessary for the greater cause. Since I completed “The Reason” I have been producing albums and setting up my distribution deal and prepping the marketing for my next project “The Awakening”. I hope that the people enjoy my music thats all anyone can ask for.

Feel the flow, and check the lyrics to Eito’s favorite verses from “The Reason” below:

Hard to forget the tears and bullsh** I’ve been through
Even worse that I don’t know the people that I’m kin to
Got tired of all the lies nobody sympathized
the prime example of the struggle let me emphasize
Imagine family swearing they love you
The minute you turn your back they try to kill you with a shovel
They only care until they find out they don’t need you
Family tree is grown from the root of all evil
I realized I need to take my space
Stopped going to church and even changed my faith
I ain’t got time to waste not trying to be a martyr
So I stopped working hard started working smarter
Nothing was left that even death felt right
I got on some medication got my head on tight
I never thought that I could love this life and I paid all my dues in full homey
don’t ask the price….

I can’t stop…..(I do it for my people please believe me)
I wont stop…..(Already knowing that the journey wont be easy)
I can’t stop…..(I gotta do it for my people in the struggle)
I wont stop….(for everybody in the game that has to hustle)

You ever found yourself at a loss
go to a job that you don’t like you’re hating your boss
Hard to deal with all the back talk and slander
Don’t wanna see you shine so they wont give you the chance to
F*** ‘em I mean it with the warmest regards
straight from the heart sincerely they can choke on the balls
I keep my distance from deceitful people
far from evil therefore we are not equal
I live my life the way that I wanna
stay true to myself f*** being a stunner
If I’m the bad guy I’ll see you in hell
Tellin’ the truth I know my people feel me like braille
I give a hot f*** if you care I’m gonna make it
Even if I gotta fry cats like bacon
Got long bars and hooks like a nigga’s gone fishing
You may not respect me but niggas gonna listen