#surface level records

I was featured on a track by North Carolina brother duo Speak ‘n’ Eye (Emcee n Eye, Unspeakable). The track is called “Row” and is produced by indie-rap-guitar-playing-vet, Richard Benjamin. Here’s an excerpt from a statement released with the song by Speak ‘n” Eye...

“The concept with this one (hats off the Unspeak and long car rides in the night coming home from shows) is that all music and art are like this gigantic river. No matter how small or big a fish might be, Shark or Minnow, we all play our part and contribute what we can.“

We didn't book this show but we support it. Go to shows if you want to play shows.

Saturday February 28th

Rock Room (1054 Herron Ave) Pittsburgh

$7 21^ 8pm

Latebloomer & Moemaw Naedon performing the album Circular Signals

16 Days of FPX: The Plastic Eaters – Day 15 “The Cave”

Production by Moemaw Neadon and featuring Proseed

“The Cave” might be my favorite track on the album.  It’s super fun to perform live especially when Proseed is in the building because that verse is as deadly as they come.  Our music tends to be more head nod music than dance music but, this seems to be a beat that gets the crowd dancing which obviously creates a more fun atmosphere for us while we’re performing.  But, with our danciest type of track you get some of the deepest, most poetic, and mystic type of lyrics that are on The Plastic Eaters album.  I remember Neadon being pretty amped about this beat with a mystic type of vibe and had a sample of drips of water in a cave.  Not sure if they were real or simulated but they sound real.  So, that became the concept of the song and the “The Cave” is a metaphor for anywhere we rap at. Whether, it’s us recording, practicing our raps alone at home, performing at a venue, or cyphering at a party, etc.  Basically, anywhere we rap becomes our “cave” and we become encompassed by that cave, sort of zoned out in the moment and the world around us is somewhat invisible for that period of time.  Like, music is our escape from the daily grind for a short time, our chance to share our art and passion with a crowd or hone our craft at home.  That’s essentially what the “The Cave” is and if you pay attention to the vocals the reverb is designed to give off a cave sounding effect.

I’m going to take the easy way out with this one with the “Favorite Lines” section.  Really, instead of offering my favorite lines I would rather just put out the full lyrics of the whole song.  But I’m not going to.  I think it’s that deep and consistent throughout the whole song.  So, I’m going to skip giving you my favorite lines from this track but, I’ll give you some background on the FPX crew if you don’t know the story.  If you have a question about any of my rhymes feel free to hit me up I would be glad to explain.

By the way, today is the actual one year anniversary of the release of The Plastic Eaters.  I’m so proud of this project on so many levels.  It couldn’t have happened without the incredible support from my wife and family.  And it certainly couldn’t have happened without Blacklisted and Naedon.  Life happens in so many unexpected ways.  When I reflect it still blows my mind this is how it worked out.  I went to high school with these guys.  I knew Neadon a bit, I wrecked my car with him riding in the backseat.  Blacklisted and I were more acquaintances, we went to Butler, our high school was pretty big, we happened to have no classes together, one of those things where if we saw each other in the hallways we might have said “what’s up” and that would’ve been it.  But, somehow we crossed paths living in Pittsburgh and getting involved in the scene.  Blacklisted and Naedon had been tight for a while so it just worked out naturally.  We were all at a point in our lives where we were able to form a crew, with no egos, no jealousies, had a great amount of respect for one another, became great friends and made Hip Hop the way our thirteen year old selves could have never imagined but would’ve been proud of it if we heard it at that time. 

Word! Tomorrow will be the last day and I’ll talk about “Swimmerlude” and “What I Live.”

Thanks for your time,

16 Days of FPX: The Plastic Eaters – Day 14 “Battle Report”

Produced by Blacklisted

With this one Blacklisted had it laced with the typewriter sounds in between the verses and at the end of the song before we got into the writing.  I think his intention with the beat was for us to go with a type of sociopolitical topic, something pertaining to the current state of the government, media, class disparity, etc.  When we heard the beat we felt that vibe and I think we tackled it pretty well.  The first verse is us throwing some stanzas back and forth, the hook goes into us going through a checklist of items we need on our mission, and the typewriter is supposed to give you the idea that these are our reports from the field (Battle Report).  The second and final verse is Naedon and I dropping back to back verses.  We also did something different with this track in doing some of each others’ adlibs.

Favorite Lines

Naedon:

“Power in the working class disappearing fast/ Keep the people in a struggle until they lose their grasp”

“Throw a bomb at the gas station price sign/ New world strangulation masons on the sidelines/ Reptilian fake rappers with the multi/ Million dollar enterprise ties eating up the pie/ No love just greed in the U-Ni-/ Ted states rape price sets by the high rise” (may have the first word of that last line misquoted)

Connect:

“Caught in between my mind and a heart shape/ But thinking for myself got me searching for a stargate/ They don’t like that though shut down the art space/ And artificely numb you to a vegged out regard state”

This is of my favorite group of rhymes from the whole album.  Instead of being stuck in between a rock and a hard place I’m between my mind and a heart shape.  Meaning my thoughts and my actions are pure and with good intentions, but “they” don’t seem to always like the well intentioned and one day we may need to find a stargate (like the movie) to find a better place.  Eventually, they may not allow the self-expression through art and music so they’ll start shutting down the spaces that host them.  They’d rather you be in front of your television brainwashed to the point that you’re accepting and know no better.

You might read my description and take it the wrong way.  I’m not saying that is certainly how things are, or how they are going.  I’m speaking based on some fact, some hypotheticals, and mentioning a worst-case scenario of where things could go.  I see things like drones, the NDAA provisions, and it seems like advancements in technology, which is great in many ways, is also moving certain things backwards as a society.  If we are evolving as a human race then shouldn’t we need less surveillance, shouldn’t we be trusted more, shouldn’t we be enjoying more freedoms.  Just a quick thought.  I see the arguments on both sides.  Like, if you’re not doing anything wrong then you should have nothing to worry about but power and wealth always ends up being abused by someone down the line.  To be wrongly accused by the wrong person could result in bad for an undeserving person.  I support incarcerating legitimate criminals, just not wrongful incarceration.  Hopefully, these technological advances can keep the playing field level, minimize the disparity, and keep society moving forward towards a greater world for EVERYONE.

Or…I could just play it safe and start rapping about money, material items, drugs and alcohol, and other subjects I'm sure I would be happy I touched on when I'm on my deathbed.

Day 15 is tomorrow and will be about “The Cave” thanks for checking these out if you’re still with me.  Here we go Steelers!

Peace,

16 Days of FPX: The Plastic Eaters – Day 13 “Harold Camping” and “A Harry Interlude”

Both Produced by Connect and “Harold Camping” features Frigid Giant

“Harold Camping” was one of those songs that was a concept before the beat was ever made for it.  I was on my way to the beach for a family vaca with my wife and my in-laws.  Probably had the headphones on and was checking up on Facebook and someone had a post about the end of the world predictions that were supposed to occur that week, predictions made by none other than Harold Camping himself.  The world never ended but, I spent that whole week thinking about the concept of calling the song “Harold Camping” and writing about the end of the world and whatever else comes with having that subject in mind.  Not often are you on vacation and you can’t wait to get home but, I was itching to get back to start on a beat.  This one came together pretty quick.  Frigid came through with the feature on this and killed it.  He originally wrote the hook, I took what he wrote and made some edits for it to fit the structure I was looking for.  What’s funny is that we recorded a music video for this track two years ago.  We put a lot of work and little sleep into the two days we filmed it.  But, the dude that filmed it was in the process of getting a new computer and wasn’t able to put it together at the time.  So, it may come out someday, it may not. 

“A Harry Interlude” is the intro to “Harold Camping”, the title was Naedon’s idea and I must say it was a dope idea.  The sounds on the interlude are all sounds from the actual “Harold Camping” beat, they’re just rearranged and the tempo is slowed by about 20 BPM.  I also chopped up a sound clip I found on the interwebs of an interview with the real Harold Camping.  I think it turned out pretty cool and has kind of eerie vibe. 

Favorite Lines

Naedon:

“Family, radio, Y2K/ Bird flu, swine flu, who getting’ paid?/ Is my brain in a haze on the end of days/ Or do I stay clear headed with some strong faith/ Keep soul locked on point/ With the sure shot y’all stay inside with your doors locked”

Frigid Giant:

“Studied cylindrical cycles they called me a psycho/ Waking a tight rope talking the bible/ Killers rapers and thieves acquitted on trial/ Put them on the battlefield alter beast with the rifle”

Connect:

“I’m gonna mount these prophecies/ Fill their mouth with ounces of plaque from clogged arteries/ Forget their shots it’s fogged archery/ Integrated disintegration got you lost in flawed martyring”

“Solo comma Han had a squad against the Dark Side/ So hop on along counter modern day apartheid”

“I don’t hate my country, in fact I love it/ As I look in the sky and wonder what’s above it/ I wanna fix every issue, mend the misuse/ Unite every human feel the power as we fuse”

That’s day 13 in the books only three more to go before we reach the official one year anniversary of The Plastic Eaters album.  Tomorrow “Battle Report” will be the track of discussion.

Peace,

16 Days of FPX: The Plastic Eaters – Day 12 “Plastic Eaters”

Produced by Moemaw Naedon

If you’ve seen us perform over the past year and a half, maybe more, this is probably the first song we did on our set.  It’s been that way for a minute.  It’s the best jump off track for us in any situation, especially if we’re in a city other than our own.  The concept of this song came about from a book Naedon read called Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters, I believe.  I think this link takes you to a reprint of that book. http://www.amazon.com/Mutant-59-Plastic-Eaters-Kit-Pedler/dp/0670496626. There was also a BBC series in the 70’s, check that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-dx6ikyp5I. They're about a plastic eating bacteria that starts to consume all that is made of plastic. So, it became a track about how Fortified PhonetX is here to devour all that is plastic (wack, weak, fake, fragile, superficial).  We thought this was one of the stronger tracks going on the album so it eventually became the inspiration for the title of the album.  It also inspired Blacklisted to come up with the locust concept on the album art, in which he actually created them from scratch and turned them into a 3D image.  At this point I can’t imagine the album being called anything else or the artwork having a different concept.

Favorite Lines:

Naedon:

“Looking at my test tube it’s about that time/ That we let loose the new bacteria line”

“It’s poetry in progress we clearing the spot like bomb threats when you dropping that nonsense”

Connect:

“Take the stench of death out the air and try to measure/ While I dent the steps to the peak of your endeavors”

“In a throwback vest of unpierceable armor/ I know you know that scent of irreversible karma/ It’s paralyzing and I love scenes of submission/ Like when the standardized try to mix with my genre/ Trade your standard eyes for something that seeks vision/ You gotta see I’m not catching when I’m fission, I’m splitting”

That second set of rhymes from me means: I’m still wearing the same gear as I used to, I didn’t trade my style in for what might be more hip right now, still rocking the Nikes, jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies.  And if you continue to do wrong you know what the karma coming back to you smells like.  It freezes you in your steps and I enjoy when the wack ones finally calling it quits.  This happens when they try to mix with the raw, underground music.  They should trade in those "mainstream topics" and talk about something important.  I’m not out here fishing, I’m “fission”, splitting ties with the nonsense.

Another day down, only four to go, tomorrow I’ll be discussing “A Harry Interlude” and “Harold Camping” in one segment.  If you don’t know who or what Harold Camping is then you best check it out!  Let me learn you something…

Peace,