Tag Archives: rap

Bottled Up!

The Water Crisis in Flint Michigan is a little unbelievable. I’m working on a song to vent my anger.
Been trying to figure out the whole trap sound, I’m too old school. There’s a sound effect of bubbling water and deep bow strings reminiscent of the jaws theme.

Here it goes.

https://soundcloud.com/abdowell/bottled-up-v2

(Intro)
A yo! It’s critical out here right now
America’s got a sickness
I think there’s something in the water
Oh, you want clean water?

(Verse)
It’s Bottled Up!
We talking ’bout brown water
For brown sons and brown daughters
Stagnant lake water
Where you wouldn’t even wash your face water
Have a sip, this is how racism tastes water
Make you believe the white man invented AIDS water
Evil, the way they did Tuskegee and shit
Or, maybe politicians just greedy and shit
They like, “These broke niggas don’t vote,
Lazy, threw ’em in the Flint River they wouldn’t even float.”
Big bully Business
Kick a town when they down
Industry done gone
Them jobs ain’t around
So, bail out a bank
But let the city drown?
Reduce a citizen to a budget line item
Look to you for leadership, and you sucker blind side ’em
Blood on the leaves, man there’s blood in the water
The blood’s on your hands
Lead pipes led lambs to slaughter

(Refrain) X2
Can’t keep it bottled up
Gotta Bathe in Bottled Water
Politicians Poppin Bottles
Whole System Out Of Order 

(chorus)X2
Wait, hold up
Let me get this straight
Ain’t Flint Michigan
In these United States
Turn on your faucets
All you see is toxic waste
Not just a tragedy
It’s a national disgrace

(Refrain) X2
Can’t keep it bottled up
Gotta Bathe in Bottled Water
Politicians Poppin Bottles
Whole System Out Of Order 

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Precious Metals – King Midas

Another single from King Midas from the Stunning Beeboy.

 

(chorus)
I’m here to shine so I bring the Precious Metals out
You want what’s mine so I bring the heavy metal out
Shell casings are silver and gold
So tell me what’s the price of your soul

(verse 1)
Swim around in my money like I’m Scrooge McDuck
Keep my number one dime piece around for good luck
And another couple dimes around just to fuck
Pull out the nickel plated when it’s time to go buck
Golden voice, golden eye, bitches love the silver tongue
Platinum touch is too much, eight seconds ’til they come
Time is money, that’s my lesson to the young
My money bought me time to be resting in the sun

(chorus)
I’m here to shine so I bring the Precious Metals out
You want what’s mine so I bring the heavy metal out
Shell casings are silver and gold
So tell me what’s the price of your soul

(verse 2)
Precious
Metals
King Midas Stay Stacking Bucks
All the way to the banks, yo, I laugh it up
Precious
Metals
The Gold Standard, the Platinum Touch
But got Iron to ratchet up

(chorus)
I’m here to shine so I bring the Precious Metals out
You want what’s mine so I bring the heavy metal out
Shell casings are silver and gold
So tell me what’s the price of your soul

Precious Metals

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Buzzworthy – The Stunning Beeboy

buzzworthy

 

 

 

I’M COMING for that crown watch out King Midas
shut you down like your block is indicted
Golden Touch? My bee sting keep you swollen up
Beat so much you wish heaven’s gates open up
Mogadishu, I’m calling you out
Gonna need a big stretcher when they haulin you out
You hold canons, I’m focused like a laser beam
I’m nightmare fuel – the reason you’re afraid to dream
And that Fool Thug-O-Nomics – phony obnoxious
Can’t walk around the way without running your pockets
The other cats in you crew I at least respect
But your rep is more hollow than the chain on your neck
Sound Off sounding awful who else you got
like LL, looking for new bells to rock
When I spit always got Jew-ells to Drop
Can’t stop till I take all of you’ze  fellas spots

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Sound Off All-Stars Video

Rough animation, just a few frames, in the tradition of Brad Neely. creator of Adult Swim’s China, IL. Only it’s just Blue Line Roughs, like a basic story board animatic. Drawn in Adobe PhotoShop, imported into iMovie.

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Sound Off All-Stars

Getting the Beeboy project running. Making more progress than I ever have. Now there’s a brief introductory “posse cut” with the Stunning Beeboy’s main rap antagonists. Mogadishu, Thug-O-Nomics and King Midas.

Sound Off Records is kind of like the Def Jam of the Beeboy universe. My friend @gee2tha wanted to name the label Blind Jelly, for a more direct correlation, but I think Sound Off works on many levels, it works as a military chant, it alludes to that idea that something is a little wrong, or off with how the label is so successful and finally the beats knock so hard it’s blow speakers and overload your mixers, turning your sound off.

Here’s a temporary logo for Sound Off Records, to be cleaned up later.

sound off

And here’s the Posse Cut.

https://soundcloud.com/abdowell/sound-off

I went the usual suspects type record cover, because it was the obvious thing to do, a police line up with gangsta-ish rappers. It also doubles as a scale for the character models.

S-O-Allstars

Sound Off – 1, 2
Sound Off – 1, 2, 1, 2

Mogadishu, Mic Check – You ain’t running for your life yet?
Your pants wet and I ain’t pull out my knife yet

Sound Off – 1, 2
Sound Off – 1, 2, 1, 2

Thug-O-Nomics, Mic Check – Not a minor life threat
5-0 on deck and I ain’t even pull a heist yet

 Sound Off – 1, 2
Sound Off – 1, 2, 1, 2

King Midas mic check – Just got of my private jet
Wanna see me, better get your eyes checked

Sound Off – 1, 2
Sound Off – 1, 2, 1, 2
 Sound Off – 1, 2
Sound Off – 1, 2, 1, 2

 

 

 

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New Thug-O-Nomics Art

thug-o-nomics 2014

Took me a while to get to this one. I had a lot of trial and error. But PhotoShop having layers are a big help. So, this is a  multiplatinum selling rapper named Thug-O-Nomics, whose song was in the previous post. Pretty much a studio gangsta that evokes Dr. Doom imagary. I hope. Trying for a Daniel Acuna style. It’s shaping up,  I think.

 

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The Stunning Beeboy – Theme

There comes a time when a hero needs to rise. Now is that time. Time for The Stunning Beeboy to have a song.

It’s a basic beat with violins that resemble bees (hopefully). Cinematic heroic horns (hopefully) and a braggadocios,theatrical  Brooklyn flow. I may have to remix this track, the vocals are crazy loud compared to the track, but I’m still learning that audio component. This will all be real soon, I can feel it.

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What Up Y’all? (It’s A.B.)

In my boneheadedness, I believed I was recording into a SHURE SM-57 mic through a Digidesign MBox 2 Pro for the last few months. That was not the case, at all, I was recording into my computers built in mic. That’s ok for skype and taking notes, but, I’m trying to have vocals that start strong. So, I downloaded the driver for it and that changed things quite a bit. Anyway, now that I squared that away I laid out this track that I was performing as an opener, when I used to perform. So, here we go. It’s called, “What Up Y’all? (It’s A.B.)”I recorded a song called “Franklin Richards” over  the track by sTERRYo aka Soem aka TK Lawrence of Sight Beyond Light, the Dub Pistols and the Hardy Boys.  The track is lost to time, but hopefully when I repurposed the beat I created a timeless track.

https://soundcloud.com/abdowell/what-up-yall-remix

I also came up with some artwork for it based on the “Keep Calm and Carry On.” posters that were really popular 3 years ago.

WUY-a.b

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A.B. Do Well – Logo

I’m still going through the missing files I have to replace. The logo I’m posting today is the one I used as a solo rapper. A.B. Do Well was the name I went by, and occasionally still use when in the company of those that remember and respect the name. Not a huge group of people, but definitely a sincere group. The name A.B. Do Well was a combination of things, it was a play on my actual name and a mission statement. A.B. is Abdul-Baqi, the name my mother gave me. It’s Arabic and Islamic, Al-Baqi is one of the 99 attributes of Allah, it means The Eternal/Enduring. Abdul is a title in arabic meaning (devout) servant or slave of God. So my first name translates to The Servant of the Eternal (God). Do Well is my intention and/or practice of making sure I put my best into all of my endeavors. Whatever I do the goal is to do it well. A.B. Do Well when pronounced all together sounds an awful lot like Abdul. That was the thought process behind the stage name way back when I was 19 or 20.

As for the logo I was keeping with the esoteric/mystical theme from the group Sight Beyond Light. For that I took the initials from the group name, SBL, and fashioned them into the All Seeing Eye, which is usually associated with the Eye of Horus and typically is a symbol for the sun. It also alludes to the Third Eye, which is a symbol for higher understanding and enlightenment.  For A.B. Do Well I borrowed the symbol of the Masons, a very widely known fraternal order that is for some reason considered a secret society. Their symbol is the compass and the square, tools for designing and architecture. The roots of the Masons is in building, generally with stones. But the compass and the square to me represent taking the long view and exercising proper and precise planning to achieve wondrous and dynamic goals that leave an indelible mark on society.  That’s a great symbol and philosophy to adopt. A but lofty, but if you don’t dream big, you don’t achieve big. Anyway, here’s a pic of the recreated A.B. Do Well logo.

Nice and simple, but I didn’t use the square because I was saying I had a more rounded view. YOu know how it is, you think you know everything at 20. More than people that have been around long enough to know better. More than ancient orders that have had centuries to think and plan. But like I said, lofty.

I was thinking this is a little to basic and played around with a nice new image based on a more modern logo for the Masons.

I kind of wish I played around more with the logo when I first created it. I’m really liking the update. I guess I have an excuse to start rapping again. This logo shows some growth and refinement. Pretty slick.

Well I’m sure I’ll have another lost logo up soon. Until then, Peace, be well and Do Well.

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P & Q Video and Back Story

I made a bunch of iMovie videos for some of my old songs to put on Youtube a few months back. They’re on my video page here, if you haven’t seen ’em check ’em out, they’re fun low budget takes on the songs I barely had money to record.

But anyways, I fully intended to make one for P & Q back then too. The chorus talked about  the if P then Q theory of logic learned in basic algebra, or Sequential One,and I wanted to use the text book Sub-Conscious and I used when we were in high school. A book pretty much every high school student in New York City used since the late 80s. Integrated Mathematics, Course I. I couldn’t find an image for the book online for the life of me, but mysteriously I found it yesterday. I only looked for it because my friend Rah Unique (@rah_unique) tweeted that he was now playing the song using the hash tag #NP, and he shouted me out @countbaqula. So, I found it and it’s very low resolution, but it was enough to make a mock book cover for the song.

 I took this and made this:

I may have gone a little to crazy trying to distress and age the book, but I was a man possessed. I was so happy to finally get a basic image that I played around with it for hours. After making the cover it was time to go ahead and make the video. And there it is below, for you viewing pleasure.

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