Nine of Clubs - Dead Dogs
9 - Hip-Hopera (excerpt)
First, the four main reasons this didn't work:
- Ambition: I created a poetic structure that was way too massive to complete in one night - as you'll see.
- Not being prepared: I planned for everything I write in this Hip-Hopera category to be part of a whole. Therefore this entry was to serve as an introduction, an overture to an ongoing project. Whenever I rolled a '9', I planned to write another song that is part of a larger framework, each entry developing some of the previously introduced themes (musically and otherwise). My mistake lay in not making any decisions on the nature of this framework beforehand.
- Time management: I did want this piece, and all other parts of this Hip-Hopera to be set to music - in fact I found it a necessity - but so much of my energy yesterday was spent conceiving an instrumental backbone that I was at a loss when it came time to fill in the lyrics. I took about 45 minutes analyzing the meter of "Justify My Thug," which other than an increased level of respect for H.O.V.A., didn't do too much for me.
- Trying too hard: I attempted to incorporate too much heavy shit. It's a m-f-ing Hip Hopera!
What I was able to come up with:
I wanted a relatively simple bassline to act as foundation - something a little dirty and impossible to ignore. I love "Justify My Thug," and it fit my criteria pretty well, so I copped that. I wanted to layer something over it that was stark and a little creepy, something that sounds like the feeling you would get stumbling upon the corpse of an animal. "Permafrost" was an easy choice, especially thanks to the extended instrumental intro. Once I found some samples to fill in the transitions, I had an animate skeleton on my hands.
The songs I ended up sampling:
Jay-Z - Justify My Thug (somewhat not safe for work)
Magazine - Permafrost (definitely not safe for work)
System of a Down - P.L.U.C.K. (probably not safe if you work in a library or around small children)
Thom Yorke - Black Swan (pretty much, you should be wearing headphones)
Michael Jackson - Remember the Time (expect when listening to this one - PUMP IT IN YOUR CUBE)
The meter worked out quite well:
each verse = 16 measures (verse 3 – 24 measures)
each chorus = 8 measures
"Justify My Thug" beat is in 4/4 time, 4 measures, so it fit twice into each "Permafrost" sample
I envisioned the song as follows:
Intro: "P.L.U.C..K." 0:01 – 0:11 x4, fade in "Justify" beat overlayed with "Permafrost" 0:01 -0:23
Verse 1 : "Permafrost" 0:01 -0:23 x2
Transition: Do you remember?... ("Remember" – 1:12 -1:13)
Chorus: "Permafrost" 0:24 -0:48
Transition: "Black Swan" 0:01 -0:05/Watch it all fall down...("P.L.U.C.K."– 1:14 -1:16)
Verse 1 : "Permafrost" 0:01 -0:23 x2
Transition: Do you remember?... ("Remember" – 1:12 -1:13)
Chorus: "Permafrost" 0:24 -0:48
Transition: "Black Swan" 0:01 -0:05/Watch it all fall down...("P.L.U.C.K."– 1:14 -1:16)
Verse 3: "Permafrost" 0:01 -0:23 x2, "Permafrost" 3:23 -3:46
Last Line: Man, this is fucked up
"Justify" beat fades out
Outro: "Permafrost" 3:47 -4:14 – to fade out, Do you remember?...("Remember" 2:25 -2:26) at about "Permasfrost" 3:50
So, basically, I wrote myself into a song template that clocked in at over four minutes and translates to 72 lines of verse.
As for content, I wanted it to be sweeping and open ended enough to support any future additions. Also, I wanted to reference all of the songs sampled: from the Buchnerian sexual violence of “Permafrost” to the fun nostalgia of “Remember the Time.” Maybe thread in a statement about Armenian genocide...
Oh, and the whole thing had to be about dead dogs.
So it’s no surprise I only ended up with one decent line:
“I’ll take you out of orbit like the first dog in space.”
With hope I'll learn from my mistakes for next time. I should probably also take some pointers from
the master.
