Writing up something a little different this week. September 12, 2016 marked ten years since I released a project called Obey Me. My earliest works were understandably rough and then I went through a phase of trying to be “gangsta.” However, Obey Me, despite the fact it was never mastered or properly mixed, was in many ways the project where I found my footing. So to celebrate growth and progress – mostly mine – I revisited the project and wrote down some memories of the creative process. Give the old album a listen and learn a little about it.

Uninteresting Facts about Obey Me

1. The cover photo was shot by my friend Greg in the woods by my dad’s house. I’ve name-dropped Greg a few times in my music. “The Best Nightmare,” “Upstate Upbringing,” “Midnight Snack” – all the same Greg.

2. I chose the title Obey Me when I was still working on Target Practice. It seemed like the next logical act in the story. Sittin Here (doing nothing) >> Target Practice (taking shots) >> Obey Me (the rise and fall). Alternate Ending and Cracks on Memory Lane would serve as the fourth and fifth acts of the quintilogy.

3. “Esperanza” was written in three days just as I was releasing Target Practice. I also squeezed it into that album at the last minute.

4. Two songs were cut from the album and have never been released: “Rhyme Checkup 2005” and “Through the Fire.” The former was cut because the album wasn’t released until 2006 and the latter was cut because it unnecessarily attacked and threatened various emcees.

5. I chose to kill myself at the end of the album because The Notorious B.I.G. and Proof both did that on record and then died in real life. At the time I wanted to die too.

6. “Rootbeer: Live & Reloaded” was named after the video game Conker: Live & Reloaded

7. I was depressed a lot during the making of the album and every time I’d find myself stuck in a slump, a voice in my head would ask me “how ya feelin’?” Just like that. Not “how are you feeling?” I took it as a sign and emptied my thoughts into a song with that title. The voice went away immediately.

8. I wrote the hook to “Whatever Works” in my high school Earth Science class.

9. “11th Hour” was conceived one night when I was telling my then-girlfriend a goodnight story.

10. Mike recorded a very, very long chorus for “Toad Voice” which I chopped down.

11. I made an edited version of “Mathrap [Squared]” and my math teacher actually played it in class.

12. The guy on the phone at the beginning of “Drummin’ on da Pussy” is my friend Tom. Tom and I remixed “Toad Voice” a few years later and did various other projects which can still be found in the depths of the Internet.

13. To this day “Drummin’ on da Pussy” is one of the most requested songs for me to play live. I aired out my grievances about that on “Moment 2 Breathe” with the line “they heard ‘Drumming’ so they want to know how disgusting I can be//It’s inane to try to top it and insane because that record was nonsense//But they want it, cumshots and rough sex//Fuck success, they just want to know what’s next.”

14. Ghost made the beat to “Bigg Shot” for me as a thank you for letting him borrow my beat program.

15. The last 16 bars of “Rhyme Renegade” were originally intended as a verse for a Caucasian Invasion song called “If I Ruled” but the group fizzled out.

16. “Tyranny” was written and recorded toward the end of the album creation because I felt like I lacked a song that summed up the Obey Me album title.

17. In “Tyranny” I used the stupidest audio clip from Scarface to parody the overuse of clips from that movie in hip hop.