Tha Force
Written 9/4/92 - 1/9/93 * Recorded 1/4/93 - 1/21/93 (13 hours in studio)
60 minutes, 17 Tracks (+2), Featuring Stan da G.O.B & Rob G
Tape cover and tracklist:
The songs written but not recorded were "Homer's Got a Gat" & "AB".
Notes:
Wooha... I got to Purdue, and almost immediately got involved with the radio station, WILY. And right away, I pretty much thought of using the studio for my own purposes, to work on some more songs and probably another album. At the time, there weren't a lot of DJ's and studio time was easy to come by. Since I was all hyped up from being able to use the massive equipment, I was really doing a lot of writing during the first part of the semester... I was finally ready to record right after I got back from Christmas break and I zoomed right through it... 17 tracks in 13 hours during just over 2 weeks. I thought this tape was the best thing I had ever done and used to listen to it all the time upon finishing it up... but damn, this whole tape is a pile of shit. The only good thing about it is the track Stan and I did (Sax Track) - and we recorded that back in Auburn at Rock-n-Roll Studios, courtesy of Alex Andres (R.I.P.) Basically... I think I really rushed this whole tape, and none of it was polished at all, or even remotely good. The lyrics were wack, the mixing was off. I kinda think I was still getting used to the studio, or so I have lead myself to believe. I do not listen to this tape, ever. It is garbage. By far the worst of the lot.
Tha Force *is* important for a few reasons, though. Stan and Rob G both make their debut appearances (and the first guest appearances ever on an OB album), even though Rob didn't do much but say a few words, and they weren't anything near lyrics. It was my first experience in the studio, and it paved the way for future "expertise" in recording and engineering, and I like to think it only got better from there. I had to start somewhere, though. Right? I also extended the album length from NK's 45 minutes to a full hour. That was probably a bad idea, too. I spread myself a little thin. For this tape, I also begun to write songs in bunches before I recorded them - that way I could decide on a particular order when I had the majority of the songs written, so I could organize the feel of the album. I even began to NOT record some of the songs I wrote (hence the first B-sides).
The lil' spoken word track "Listen Up" between "There It Is, Yo" and "Mind Power" was not supposed to be on there, at all. I screwed up when I recorded "Mind Power" and there was this big-ass space in between the two songs... and since the take of MP was a decent one, I didn't want to re-do it - so I decided to write a little thing about "being true" and called it "Listen Up" and wrote it out to be that specific length of time to fill up the space. That ended up being critical in the future albums I would put out... thanks to my man SoySos aka Dr. J aka Jay Wells. He procured a copy and gave it a listen. He kinda basically told me straight to my face that he thought my whole monologue was hypocritical. I was kinda shocked at what he said, but he shed some light on it. He pointed out that in person, I don't really swear that much, and that I'm usually kinda low-key on some of the things I say. The lyrics were pretty bad, motherfuck this, motherfuck that. I took that criticism to heart and realized he was right. I didn't need to write that way, I could make my points and get what I wanted to get across in a better way. I had some trouble getting rid of some of the harshness, though - at least right away... I had already written several tracks for the next tape when he said that. A revelation would soon come, however. But also, the first sets of songs I wrote for the first few albums were all pretty angry - most of them were based on things that stirred my emotions, usually spite or hatred. Basically I was going through therapy on the mic. So it was bound to be quite different than how I was when I wasn't rhyming. After I got all my frustrations out, I kinda chilled out a little and lightened up. That is evident in the later tapes I made...
At least 11 copies were made for various friends, but thank goodness I didn't send any out to record labels. Oh yeah - I also played G.A.R. '93 over the radio during one of my friend's shows - and I got a call from someone that said "Don't ever play that crap again". Haha!
There It Is, Yo - one big-ass, nearly 3 minute-long, continous rhyme. In my head, this rhyme was the best thing I had ever written...but when I went to record it, things didn't end up the way I would have preferred.
Jedi Rhyme - you try rappin' about Yoda.
G.A.R. '93 - why the hell did I do that one again?
Come Again - based on a real situation - a girl I had a class with saw me listening to my headphones, noddin' my head to the beat - and I caught her laughin' her ass off at me. Damn, that song came off ANGRY.
Buzzed - inspired by me shaving my head.
All For Da P - and the P stands for PEACE.
Homer's Got a Gat - this wasn't recorded (thank God) but it was a damn funny concept - I was on the phone with Stan, who was watching The Simpsons one day. He said "uh oh. Homer's got a gat." Talk about inspiration. 'Nuff said.
AB - stands for AutoBiography. Never recorded, the beat was re-used for "Buzzed".
Lyric of the album : "Wrecked shop at my high school prom, kids thought I was jokin' then I came with the bomb" (Sax Track)
Honorable Mention : "I used to get my nookie from a Wookie named Chewy, he bit off my cookie then the snookie came gooey" (Jedi Rhyme)
