Chances are, if you clicked on this post you’re trying to figure out what “Dat Atdo” means. The title is just “That Ass, Though” slurred. Now that you have your answer, I hope you stay and read the rest of this post. Either way, thank you for listening to the song.

This song was originally intended for Whiteout! 2. The beat was in the original pack of instrumentals Rawhide sent me for that album and I had written what ended up becoming the second verse and half of the third verse for “Dat Atdo.” At that time, however, the working title was “Unhealthy Life Choices.” Whiteout! 2 became halted after I wrote my parts for five tracks so both Rawhide and I could finish up solo projects. The problem is, I continued to make said unhealthy life choices and gave myself enough fuel to complete the song on my own. I remember telling Rawhide that I was jacking the instrumental for selfish reasons but he was totally cool with it. Always is, actually. He just loves that his work gets used. He also loves it when I throw him around, sit on his stomach and hold him down.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah.

So the song is all about making bad decisions and, thus, the element of my life falling apart here is judgment.

I remember having all three verses written and being uncertain about what to do for the chorus. I remember writing the chorus some time later while I was picking Andrea up from work, waiting in the car. What I don’t remember is when or why I decided that slurring “that ass, though” would give the song more personality. I mean, it definitely does and it was definitely my idea. I even tried a few different spellings before settling on “Dat Atdo,” and, honestly, the only reason I went with that spelling is because…

Callbacks to Alternate Ending

While the two songs are nothing alike conceptually, the title is a callback to “Dat Duzit” off Alternate Ending.

Rawhide Report

So this is a pretty deep track. I can hear the self-loathing dripping off of every verse you deliver in this song; it’s very intense. And since I’ve been privy to the real-life events you’re rapping about, I know that that self-loathing was real and not just some act or a character you were putting on just for the sake of the song. From a lyrical standpoint these are my favorite verses on the album. Your verses have that confessional intensity to them like “Cold Turkey” does, but as a listener I also feel like maybe I’m really not supposed to be hearing about what you’re talking about; which I think is accentuated by your delivery for this track. At times it almost feels like I’m eavesdropping on a conversation you’re having with yourself, and I feel a bit guilty about what I’m hearing. Way to really create a hell of an atmosphere.

Now let’s talk about that end part. Firstly I’ve been listening to the demo version of this song for quite a while now and I’m not in that version, so now try to picture me jumping in the seat of my car while driving because I just had the shit scared out of me hearing my own voice coming through my speakers and I wasn’t ready for it haha. I don’t ever remember recording that, when did we do that? Anywho, not only does this end part feel like the climax of the song but I feel like it also serves as the climax of the whole album. I really like how you deliver your acapella verse to the sound of cars rushing by in the background, I think it serves as a nice allegory to the life you could have had passing you by. A very wise man once told me something along the lines of “if that was intentional then good call, and if it wasn’t intentional pretend like it was,” so I would like to impart that guidance back onto you. One final comment I want to make is that, in listening to this song, the end part especially, I get a little uneasy. I know the ending acapella signifies your self-realization and is basically supposed to be the start of your redemption but when I listen I just get kind of a slightly sinister vibe bubbling right below the surface.