“Lost Loves” is a song that literally took 20 years to complete. The first half was recording in 1991 and the other half was recorded in 2011. Thanks to my pack-rat ways since an early age, I’m now able to trade bars with my younger self.

Finalizing this song involved salvaging a 20 year old recording from a 2nd generation cassette dub, filling in the blank lines, and twisting what was originally a tale of unrequited love into a bizarre story about a man who thinks it’s appropriate to woo his lady with battle raps.

To top it all off, this is the long-awaited return of my nasty alter-ego, Xaul Zan…so don’t expect anything sweet. “It’s got to do with lots of lovin’ and it ain’t nuthin’ nice.”

The artwork for this digital single is by Pat Jensen.

If you wish to download this song, you can do so by clicking here.

LOST LOVES (lyrics):

I used to think of how lucky I was to be loved.
But I was too afraid to get blood on my glove.
Now I regret my feelings of that time.
‘Cuz in ’68, it wasn’t that bad of a crime.
I’d kick back, just chillin’ with my girl.
I wouldn’t share my nut. I was a selfish squirrel.
My actions were foolish, now that I think about it.
Even though her step-father allowed it.
I’d like to hold her hand then stare into her eyes,
Then boast about myself, then battle her with rhymes.
By that I mean…I wasn’t keen to the fact that,
There was no need…for all the beats in my backpack.
I felt like a winner. I took her out to dinner. Though…
I said, “First, you need to kick a flow.”
She wasn’t that type. I felt to understand.
But this is a pre-requisite when dating Xaul Zan.
I waited and waited. Took all I could stand.
She wouldn’t jam out with her clam out. Like I wasn’t a MAN.
And that’s the breaking point. I turned a push into shove.
That’s where I draw the line and she becomes just another lost love.

Another lost love.
One of many. Many and plenty lost loves.

I took some time out of the love scene,
To work on more raps that were crass and obscene.
It was a love break. It was a heart ache.
It was a masturbation marathon. How much can a cock take?
So…I entered the dance club do’,
Said, “Yo, who the fuck wanna cypher and flow!?”
And I’m BUGGIN’. Went and sat on a chair.
That’s when I noticed that the hoe from the first verse was there.
With the fresh gear. And the beautiful hair.
The big ole rear? “OH YEAH, OH YEAH!”
She turned around and said, “Let’s take a battle stance!”
Ready rock it steady with a def romance.
I was WIT this. You don’t GIT this?
Tears welled up my eyes as she riddled me with disses.
This ain’t a good start for me and my heart. I said “Fuck that!”
Stuck my credit card in her butt crack.
Then she was mine. Not to mention mighty, mighty fine.
She turned heads like a tapedeck. You know the time.
She was fast forward. She had no rewind.
She wouldn’t share her beats while she dubbed all of mine.
I got ganked. I guess that’s what you could call it.
Set fire to the glove tucked away in my wallet.
Man…what was I thinking of?
I draw the line and she becomes…another of my lost loves.

And that’s many. Many and plenty lost loves.
Another lost love.
One of many. Many and plenty lost loves.
Another lost love.
One of many. Many and plenty lost loves.

2/16 Madison, WI at HIGH NOON SALOON
2/17 Minneapolis, MN at TRIPLE ROCK (SOLD OUT)
2/18 Chicago, IL at BOTTOM LOUNGE
3/15 Las Vegas, NV at DADDY MAC’s
3/16 - Los Angeles at Troubadour
3/17 - San Francisco  at INDEPENDENT
3/18 - San Diego  at BELLY UP

k

To make sure you don’t miss out on future announcements, please sign up for the newsletter at Strange Famous Records. This is the only sure-shot method of catching a show announcement as sometimes they pop up at random.
♥
-Uncle Frank

*CHICAGO UPDATE* Dark Time Sunshine has been added to the bill!

Feb 16 – Madison, WI - HIGH NOON SALOON - Tickets at: http://tinyurl.com/SageMadisonTix

Feb 17 – Minneapolis TRIPLE ROCK. THIS SHOW HAD ALREADY SOLD OUT!!!

Feb 18 – Chicago, IL - BOTTOM LOUNGE- Tickets at: http://tinyurl.com/SageBottomLoungeTix

Hitchens Tribute “THE GODCAST IS NOT GREAT” by Strange Famous Records

We lost a great writer, journalist, debater, intellect and free thinker to cancer on December 15, 2011. Much can be said about Christopher Hitchens, some good and some bad, but rather than speak in his defense I’d rather just let the man speak for himself. No one can do it better.

This 38 minute tribute is a collection of audio clips taken from Hitchens’ debates, interviews & speeches. Similar to previous Godcasts, the music is a mishmash of various genres and song clips, ranging from the familiar to the obscure, all arranged and edited by yours truly. You can download it for free by clicking the “down arrow” on the Soundcloud audio player.

TRACKLIST:

Offended Every Day
Hitchler
F*ck ‘Em or Fleece ‘Em
Genital Mutilation
Vicarious Redemption
Breech of Taste
A Most Subtle PSA
The Argument that Never Goes Stale
It’s Called Culture
Limerick Roll
The Original Repudiation
Theresa Cult Vs. Empowerment of Women
The Clever Clever Question
Dropkick Me Jesus
A Final Note

THIS IS THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF THE GODCAST SERIES. CHECK OUT THE FULL GODCAST SERIES BY CLICKING HERE.

Lil Kim want smush smush!

Remove Clark Kent’s glasses & suddenly you see that he is Superman.

Remove Lil Kim’s mole & suddenly you see that she is Snooki.

Seriously, all I did was remove the mole from the picture above. I knew something was fishy about Lil Kim disappearing every time Snooki took over the world.

I expect a reward for this discovery. If I don’t get one, I will continue to reveal the identity of ALL our superheroes until we are left with just one.

A man in the US Army sent me this photo of his LI(F)E tattoo just as the Iraq War was declared officially over. As this war was predicated on false information, I didn’t have to ask what he meant when he said, “I wanted to send you this because I’ve been living the worst kind of lie.”

Our brothers and sisters fight wars over seas and they’re told that it’s to preserve our freedom, but then they come home to see things like the National Defense Authorization Act have passed, stripping Americans of MORE civil liberties. The madness continues and Li(f)e goes on for now.

Please get home safe, sir.

Click here to see all 200 Li(f)e tattoos.

“Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise & the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.”

Thank you, Mr. Hitchens. You gave us all so much to think about. And, in your perfect smugness, you gave me some good laughs as well.

——-
In one way, I suppose, I have been “in denial” for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light. But for precisely that reason, I can’t see myself smiting my brow with shock or hear myself whining about how it’s all so unfair: I have been taunting the Reaper into taking a free scythe in my direction and have now succumbed to something so predictable and banal that it bores even me. Rage would be beside the point for the same reason. Instead, I am badly oppressed by a gnawing sense of waste. I had real plans for my next decade and felt I’d worked hard enough to earn it. Will I really not live to see my children married? To watch the World Trade Center rise again? To read—if not indeed write—the obituaries of elderly villains like Henry Kissinger and Joseph Ratzinger? But I understand this sort of non-thinking for what it is: sentimentality and self-pity. To the dumb question “Why me?” the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?

The bargaining stage, though. Maybe there’s a loophole here. The oncology bargain is that, in return for at least the chance of a few more useful years, you agree to submit to chemotherapy and then, if you are lucky with that, to radiation or even surgery. So here’s the wager: you stick around for a bit, but in return we are going to need some things from you. These things may include your taste buds, your ability to concentrate, your ability to digest, and the hair on your head. This certainly appears to be a reasonable trade. Unfortunately, it also involves confronting one of the most appealing clichés in our language. You’ve heard it all right. People don’t have cancer: they are reported to be battling cancer. No well-wisher omits the combative image: You can beat this. It’s even in obituaries for cancer losers, as if one might reasonably say of someone that they died after a long and brave struggle with mortality. You don’t hear it about long-term sufferers from heart disease or kidney failure.

Myself, I love the imagery of struggle. I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient. Allow me to inform you, though, that when you sit in a room with a set of other finalists, and kindly people bring a huge transparent bag of poison and plug it into your arm, and you either read or don’t read a book while the venom sack gradually empties itself into your system, the image of the ardent soldier or revolutionary is the very last one that will occur to you. You feel swamped with passivity and impotence: dissolving in powerlessness like a sugar lump in water.
——–

RIP to a true G.

For our second issue of Label Spotlight, we caught up with Strange Famous Records front man and lead artist Sage Francis, who founded the indie label in 1996 as a way of self-releasing his own material.

One Thirty BPM: First and foremost, could you briefly describe Strange Famous as a label? How many artists and releases are credited to the label, and how would you define its ‘sounds’?

Sage Francis: When I began pressing my own music I decided to use the name “Strange Famous Records.” Because, you know, having a label name makes a photocopied, hand-cut cassette tape cover look all that more official. I had to learn the business side of things through trial and error, but common sense and intuition go a long way. Eventually I had all sides of the business situated and I decided to start using my knowledge and resources to help out other artists I was working with. At that point, the SFR staff grew and the roster grew. I have no desire to expand into a monster company though. I want to keep things small enough where I can overlook each item and maintain as much quality control as possible while still having fun and doing interesting/unexpected stuff when I feel like it. I also don’t know if we’ll even be operating as a “label” down the line as no one knows how the industry will end up. To date, we’ve signed about 15 artists and we’ve taken on about 25 projects.

As for our sound, I suppose we’re mainly a collective of lyricists with an introspective lean. It’s underground emcee shit. We also have instrumental albums though, and some projects are just for fun. If you inspire and entertain me, and if I think you’re a trustworthy person who could benefit from having me obsess over every aspect of your art, you’re a good SFR candidate. Of course, you’ll eventually want to ring my throat or vice versa.

What was the drive behind heading up your own label?

It was basically out of necessity as there weren’t any labels checking for artists like me. Not until I proved I could build a strong fan base and, eventually, outsell most of the conventional artists they were previously jocking. Of course, at that point, after I had already done all of the dirty work, I didn’t really need a label’s help. What I mainly needed was distribution. I made some concessions along the way, working with various labels on various projects, but if I had enough capital early on I would have saved myself a lot of trouble. A lot has changed since back then, and I often feel overwhelmed with label duties, but it’s nice being able to make decisions to play the game or hate the game whenever I want.

What has surprised you most about running your own label that maybe you weren’t aware of as a signed artist?

I think I’m most surprised at how unreliable, lazy, and shady people are on all sides of the business. People are so desperate to get what they don’t deserve while doing as little work as possible. From “publicists” to “promoters” to “distributors” to “managers” and on and on and on. I know this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it still blows my mind. Honestly, it doesn’t take much to move up in the system if you’re a competent and trustworthy person with a good work ethic.

Are there any unique release methods that Strange Famous either has pursued or is currently pursuing, be it digital or physical?

Everyone is obviously moving toward digital now, which means a lot of the old school methods of releasing albums are going the way of the dodo bird. Honestly, it bums me out. I like physical packaging. I enjoy the process of creating it, putting it together, handling it, and everything else. I don’t want to come up with digital package deals or thinking up innovative ways of pushing digital media. That’s not how I grew up experiencing and appreciating music. Alas, that’s what we have to do. In the meantime, I’m still going to come up with ways to make physical product enticing and available, even if it means going back to jailbreaking Kinkos machines. Currently I’m on a “personalize as much product as possible” kick.

What can we expect from you in the next few months? Long-term?

With the holidays coming up we’re going to be putting together specialized package deals which is usually what we do at our online store. I haven’t talked about the SFRstore yet, but I’ve found that dealing directly with our fans has been essential in keeping afloat as an indie label. This has been increasingly important as all the indie stores close down. Other than that, I’m working on a mixtape as well as an official album for 2012. Same with B. Dolan. We expect a collaborative album from Prolyphic and Buddy Peace. Cecil Otter is still working on his follow up album to Rebel Yellow which he says should be ready by next year. There are a couple other tricks up our sleeves as well, some crazy videos in the works, but nothing I can divulge at the moment. I expect next year to be very busy for us as far as music and shows are concerned.

This drab pamphlet that they offer at casinos for people who have overextended themselves should also be offered at shopping malls. Heck, why stop there? Put them in schools, churches, banks, etc. There should be an old, crotchety man in a black hooded robe handing these out at the entrance and exit of  all hospitals. I’ve been told that this pamphlet looks particularly fitting in my hand. Well, let me tell you something…I’m a survivor. I survived the big fun.

Always remember, never forget: “Slow and steady wins the race, fuckface.”

Trading in your bungee cord for a Li(f)e line = When the Fun Stops.

Playing “HipHop Guess Who” with B. Dolan & Scroobius Pip = When the Fun Begins?