Behind-the-track stories: personal notes on two key mixtape cuts

General Pronounced Ghost Tracks

The majority of the tracks in Pronounced Ghost are only exercises. The songs were not intended for commercial release but instead were part of a process to understand song production in all its phases. In some cases, they were considered the concept before a draft of original work was produced. For example, the bonus track 22 titled Waterbill, became the lyrics for an original instrumental boasting an original name. Each track has its cookie crumb of the environments, experience, and sh*t I’m neck deep in.

Soy Nino

As I briefly mentioned in the abstract, Soy Nino, is about the adult discovering or rather rediscovering the inner child that got lost in the noise of life. Per disclosures, the making of Soy Nino is not affiliated with the secret occult or dark forces. Simply, the beat was discovered on YouTube, downloaded, and then bounced against. Albeit most of the production, as one can hear in the live practice version in the bonus tracks, was practiced and recorded in a dark and empty first floor of a residence. 

Nothing Magical

As I seriously mentioned in the abstract, I am not a rapper, and freestyling is not my chosen craft of the trade. If hired as a freestylist, like J.Cole, then I know how to go about becoming a freestylist but you have to pay me for the practice and performance. Nonetheless, the writing exercises sometimes come through over the Youtube beats in surprising ways. In the case of Nothing Magical, a chorus less story unfolds from a French homage to my hometown followed by lyrics inspired from a Linkin Park Crawling demonstration version; not the commercial release. From the borrowed Crawling b-rated lyrics the story is revealed in a Boss Ross fashion that even surprised me after I put the vocals down. I’ve done this type of writing and recording plenty and may put another mixtape out of those demonstrations.