One of my absolute favorite songs on 7 Solemn Rites was written entirely around the concept of astral projection.

In an earlier iteration of the album, I wanted to explore the idea of alternate outcomes colliding with one another, and this song was meant to be the centerpiece for that whole mind-trip.

The structure—I, Me, My(self)—was my way of hitting on different angles of a person's shortcomings. It's like playing Tetris with someone else in the room. You're always going to

 

I felt strongly enough about this new project that I actually postponed my MicMage mini-series.

Look, MicMage No.2 is still in the early planning stages, and I already know what the overall theme is going to be. It's going to be one of the first full albums where I'm going all-in with Pocket Operator production, so that’s going to be a blast. Normally, I’m laser-focused when I'm putting together themed albums, but I felt like creating 7 Solemn Rites as an establishing shot was crucial for the lead-up to the other projects I’ve got lined up in the near future.

Alright, let's talk about this album once more, shall we? Of course we shall, because It's more than just an album to me; it's a raw expression of frustrations and convictions I've been wrestling with my entire life.

It's also my blog, and I'm callin' the shots 'round these parts! 

Instead of talking about every track, I whittled the Thoughts of Vacant Care series down to a four track breakdown of the overall project.

 I was never a fan of long albums. They always wind up having a lot of filler, and you can tell when the artist runs out of ideas and just starts to pad out the remainder of their project.

Of course, that mostly happens when the focus is on a vocal heavy format. That's what Vacant Care is with it's 8 rap songs and 2 instrumentals. It's a pretty basic approach, and It's the overall vision I have of most albums. 

If you have a vocalist, most of the songs would be used to display their talents in some way.

Rolling solo is the only way I've been able to make progress. Having others attached at the hip causes a lot of unneeded drama, and creates opportunities for unforced errors.

For maintenance, I much rather do away with the team handicap for most things. I know how I want it done, and where I need to put my attention when learning. I don't have to conduct meetings, and fluff someones ego. It's easy to live the way you please when there are no other bodies in the equation.

I scrapped a song early in the process of writing Vacant Care. When I say early, I'm talking the stage where I recorded example flows and random bars to gauge my own interest in making an album around a certain subject. 

I didn't write much down in this phase. It was all about the feel and atmosphere around these ideas.

This was going to be what turned out to be a sort of breadcrumb narrative hidden in a few tracks.

Having expectations will always breed contempt. No one wants to live up, and they never feel the need to abide by anything.

idc is the anthem for my life, as I've found solace in simple allowing. I allow everything around me to be whatever it is that makes them feel good. If you wish to be stationary, I'll let you have that. If you wanna advance, go for it.

All of societies most celebrated forms of media were conceived as being mere distractions.

 The inspiration behind Vacant Care's mood is split between 3 mediums.

From the artist standpoint, I wanted to make my own equivalent to Royce Da 5'9" Death is Certain album. That project doesn't fit the mold of what popular artists were doing at the time, and it wasn't created to fit in with whatever they put out. If this type of music is what scares the hoes, I'm thinking that they probably shouldn't be anywhere near this genre in the first place.