The Original Kingdom
9 Lives |
Albums go through many stages of planning, and we all make them differently. But they all start somewhere, whether it be topics for the songs, the instrumentals we want to use, the lyrics before the tracks have been recorded, or even throwing an album together after dropping a bunch of random songs. And sometimes we use a combination of all four.
Over the years, a lot of my albums have undergone numerous changes, some have stayed the same since day one. A few of them were intricately planned yet never recorded or released for a multitude of reasons. When relying on other artists, some albums never get made. Sometimes it has to do with schedules, sometimes egos, and sometimes albums morph into something else. Collaborations may become compilations or vice versa. One song can change the feel of an entire album, sometimes make an artist scrap what they already had, go back to the drawing board and start from scratch again. |
Dungeon Of Death
When we began work on Dungeon Of Death, Royalty Records was becoming Royal Kingdom Records and undergoing the largest roster change the label ever saw. The enormous crew that made up the majority of the record label fell to internal tension and was split in two.
Most of the songs never saw the light of day, many of them were rough drafts, incomplete or had freestyled verses. A lot of the songs were full of mistakes or were missing verses from artists intended to appear on them. There wasn't much order to the chaos back in our early days. Most of the songs from this time period have been lost over time. Despite the scrapped together collection of songs, it would have been a classic release due simply to the array of artists on it, despite its poor quality. In my humble opinion, every rapper who appeared on this compilation should have been signed to a major label contract. It truly is a shame none of us were. Simply put, this is a list of some of the greatest rappers I have ever heard. The Dungeon Of Death we released paled in comparison to what it could have been. |
Bullet To The Chest - 5th Dimension
Serial Killaz - Murder Clout Murderous Shit - Midnight Thugs Glacierz - NYF Killa Instincts - Infinite feat. Proph We Rhyme Sick - World Riot Knuckle Up on Dirt Plainz - Franchize, Proph & Maverik U Don't Know Us - Murder Clout Looking For Love - Rahmael Who The Real Killaz - Murder Clout feat. Infinite Empire Strikez Black - 5th Dimension When I Want Beef - Midnight Thugs Voices Of Doom - Proph & Concept Tales Of Betrayal - Rahmael Unstoppable - 5th Dimension Slippin' On Profession - Midnight Thugs We Raw - 5th Dimension |
Universal Theory
Immortality
Silent Raps Nightmares In Broad Daylight (feat Rahmael) Cries Over Demise Thug Blood Infinite Bars (feat NYF) These Crooked Streets (feat Mecca) Run & Hide Run & Hide Remix (feat The Dynasty) Eyes Of The Beholder Biological Fathers (feat Maverik & Last Chance) I Trust Broken Reflections Death Wish We Used To Be Bleed For What You Need |
This was set to be the followup to my first album which I like to pretend didn't exist. It was entirely produced by me and my producer at the time, Chris Giroir and recorded in his studio. After getting about halfway through I scrapped the entire album.
When I first started writing this album I was part of the Dynasty and used to writing punchline verses on a more thugged out level. After writing the last few songs I truly found my voice. Bleed For What You Need was my most philosophical song at the time and gave birth to not only the Mystery Of Man album my new style as well. |
Mystery Of Man
The Biblical Prophet
In My Eyes Deprivation Scars Of Sacrifice Guts N Glory Truth Lives In Death Pocket Picking This Ain't Living Education Decline Tears In The Mirror War Cries The Mystery Your Little Soldier Secrets Of Your Soul Death Before Life Alias Words Of Blasphemy 21 Gun Salute I Awake In The Night |
The album that redefined me as a rapper. The album that made me. The album that changed it all. The album that never was.
When I decided to break away from the crew, from everything that made me who I was, I began work on an album that would make people notice me, that would make me the one everyone remembered. It changed me not only as a rapper but as a person. I started recording it but never finished because truthfully the expectations were too high and the time it was taking to meet them would have been years in the making. |
Heat Of The Night
Militant Tactics
One Request If I Die Tomorrow Scars Of Sacrifice 100 Lives Face To Face The Last Voice Education Decline The Mystery Awake In The Night Lost For Words We Claim One Love Professional Amateurs Hear The Streets Cry Caskets In The Dark Lookin' 4 A War |
When writing for what was supposed to be my first actual album, Mystery Of Man, I wrote about three or four albums worth of material. This time period saw a lot of growth lyrically and while I planned on rewriting a lot of the songs for the official release, a large number of tracks didn't make the final cut. Those songs were to be released as a bootleg entitled Heat Of The Night.
The album actually came from the picture before both were scrapped entirely which is a good thing because this jumbled mess of songs would certainly not have been memorable. |
Fated Return
The Phantom
My Life (later changed to Lonely Life) Once Worshiped Midnight Train Fortune Favors The Brave 400 Lives Moonless Midnight Game Connects Man Against Man Forever In A Night Holy Talisman Lonely Moment Militant Tactics To The One Who Loves Me Her Eyes Whispers The Shadow Of A Man All Lives Gone (feat. Rahmael) Would You Kill Voice Of The Seventh Angel Ride Looking 4 A War |
Shortly after the release of The Sands Of Time in September 2001, I changed my proposed list of upcoming albums. Mystery Of Man was set to be my first but never really made it past the rough copy recordings. Fated Return was slated to be my follow up. Even after the delay of Mystery Of Man and the unplanned release of The Sands Of Time, Fated Return was still set to be my sophomore album.
It would have been a double disc set with no space between the songs. About half the songs were written, multiple others were in the planning stages, some of which I had already produced instrumentals for. With The Sands Of Time being recorded almost entirely on other artists instrumentals, I wanted my follow up to be all original, much like Mystery Of Man was set to be. In fact I had no intention of ever releasing albums that weren't produced entirely by me and my team of producers. However, I was writing tracks faster than I could produce them and had to turn to other artist's instrumentals, a move I hated but was unfortunately necessary. A number of the songs that were set to appear on Fated Return were later moved to other albums, namely Dead In A Dream. Every artist on Royal Kingdom at the time would have had featured spots on the album since it was a double disc. Topics ranged from heartfelt stories to punchlines all performed on my own instrumentals laced with acoustic guitars, grand pianos, orchestras and choirs. Had the album ever come to fruition, I have a feeling it would have been a classic. The unreleased songs remain grouped together on Fate Is Sealed from the Days Of A Knight series. |
Headbustas - G.O.D.
Straight Soldier - Ammo Made It Today - Genero Professional Amateurs - Proph Spare Time - G.O.D. Angelic Essence Remix - Proph, Concept & Korruption Mess With The Best - Perceval 1,000 Volts - G.O.D. Street Convictionz - Concept Duck Down Deeper - Protege feat Proph I'll Still Win - No Nucks R U Scared Of Heights - G.O.D. 6 Feet - Proph, Concept & Tone Get U - Ammo Sometimes - G.O.D. Mayhem - Protege I'm Going All Out - Ammo Certified Terminators - G.O.D. Take The Fame - Genero Still Reppin' - Proph & Concept They Don't Know Me - No Nucks |
Dungeon Of Death II
Ever since finishing the first Dungeon Of Death we began plans for the second edition and almost immediately got to work recording it. By the time we got halfway through, too much time had passed making the tracks irrelevant. So we had to start again, then again, never fully completing it.
Had any version of it ever been completed I don't doubt that it would have been a masterpiece. I later pieced together the second edition and plans for a third but none of them can live up to what it should have been. |
The Gauntlet
A Night In The Towers Trip To The Dungeon Excalibur Last Knight Coat Of Armor The Dark Ages Medieval War Calls Noble Sovereigns Royal Fortress Prince Of Thieves Castle In Ruin Wizard's Chamber Born Into Royalty One Knight The Crown Gems On The Ceptor Sword And Shield Silence In The Chambers |
12 Knights
The classic album that never was. Shortly after I started making my own beats using orchestral music from movie soundtracks I began work on my 12 Knights album, a new concept I'd started working on at the time. Most of the instrumentals were completed and I began writing songs for them but didn't make it far before scrapping the album. Had it been completed I planned on choosing twelve of the songs to make the final cut.
|
Intro
Dead In A Dream No Hesitation Someone Else Voice Of The Seventh Angel 300 Lives Last Breath If Only She Was Mine Darkened Suns (Remix) Sleeping With Angels To The One Who Loves Me Lonely Journey The Dark Ages Angelic Essence Lyrics Spray The Cells Of Solitude (Remix) second version Game Connects Associates In Eachother's Arms Love And Leave Dead In A Dream Whisperz Her Eyes Another Chapter (feat NYF) On The Run Angelic Essence Cross The Line 300 Lives Shadow Of My Soul |
Dead In A Dream
It became one of my most popular albums, but Dead In A Dream started off as a bootleg containing some of my songs that didn't have a home. I was trying out some different styles at the time, expanding my subject matter, and assumed these tracks wouldn't be good enough to make the final cut on an album. Turns out I was wrong.
There was a mixture of production on the original Dead In A Dream, ranging from other artists instrumentals, my own, as well as multiple tracks that were to be played live by the unformed band, Righteous War, which was set to include members of Royal Kingdom's rock band 4 Lack Of A Better Name. Guest appearances were kept at a minimum, the only featured rap verses would have been on Lyric's Spray with Destruction from G.O.D. and a few Infantry members on The Darkened Suns Remix. A few other songs were set to feature singers on the chorus, namely Dead In A Dream, Someone Else, To The One Who Loves Me and The Cells Of Solitude Remix. Angelic Essence and Dead In A Dream were the only two songs from the original that appeared on the final version of the album. However, all of the other cuts found their way onto later releases with the exception of The Darkened Suns Remix which was never completely written but did have an original instrumental. This would have been a solid release but pales in comparison to the album it later became. |
Beyond The Life
(Original Tracklist - 1st Draft)
Eventually (feat. Ralph) 4/9/2002 Lights Out 5/6/2002 Got To Go (feat. Tyrome & Rene) 4/6/2002 Flown Away 5/6/2002 Liberty 5/9/2002 Crying In The Rain 5/1/2002 Heaven 4/29/2002 How Long Can I Hide (feat. Ralph) 5/16/2002 Planned Tragedy 5/22/2002 Eternal Sentence 5/16/2002 Always There 5/23/2002 It's Gettin' Kinda Cold (feat. Advokate) 5/25/2002 Whispers 8/26/2001 One More Time 6/6/2002 Everybody Changes 6/5/2002 Strangers To Friends (feat. Ralph) 6/8/2002 Street Patrol (feat. Tyrome) 6/8/2002 Throw Back 1/22/2002 Watch Your Words Why Does Love 4/17/2002 Welcome To Willi (feat. Genero) 6/22/2002 The Last One 7/23/2002 (Added Songs - 2nd Draft) Live On 6/10/2002 Everything I Left Behind 6/27/2002 Faceless Shadows 6/29/2002 Fool's Game 7/4/2002 Once Forgotten 7/5/2002 My Eyes For Her (feat. Concept) 7/8/2002 Locked 7/12/2002 I Don't Have 7/20/2002 Myth 7/26/2002 Mixed Messages (feat. Tyrome) 8/2/2002 Every Enemy (feat. Larysa) 8/5/2002 Someday It'll Be Me 8/8/2002 Instincts 8/11/2002 Candle In The Storm 8/12/2002 Darker Days 8/14/2002 Final Battle (feat. Advokate) 8/18/2002 Angelic Essence II 8/25/2002 Lost Emotions (feat. Larysa) 8/30/2002 I Wish I Could Cry 9/7/2002 Still Together (feat. Concept) All Lost 5/19/2002 Check The Life 5/29/2002 Don't Wait Til I'm Gone 6/4/2002 6 Feet 6/5/2002 Heart On My Sleeve 7/7/2002 |
During the spring of 2002, my senior year in high school, I began working on my first album of radio friendly material, what many considered to be my sellout album. After the success I saw with Angelic Essence, especially among the female fan base, I followed my heart a lot more and wrote love songs. The popularity of our club track 'We're Not Going Back' also proved to me that upbeat songs with singers on the choruses was the way to go.
I began writing like crazy, knowing every track I did couldn't possibly be hit material, so I would need an over abundance of songs. By the time I was done with the album, I'd made well over 40 tracks and picked the best. But this was the original tracklist for it, the first 22 songs, written in April, May and June of 2002, the end of my senior year. I hadn't planned on going past this point but continued work on the album that summer when we came back from New York after the record deal with Columbia fell through. I was hoping those 22 tracks would be my last official album as an unsigned artist. When I returned to Willi I had a new found determination and recorded more songs in the next few months than I had the entire four years I'd been a rapper. Ten of those songs appeared on the final version of the album, countless others didn't make the final cut and were used for Lost In The Life and Urban Legacy Vol I. The whole landscape of the album changed with the addition of Royal Kingdom's first lady, Larysa, who ended up being featured on most of the songs. The finished product has a more diverse feel to it with a few harder tracks being added later on. I would have liked to have seen some of the originals make it to the final cut but with the quality of the songs added later on, their presence wasn't missed. Some of the songs clearly wouldn't make the final cut, even when I was writing them I knew it. Some were never really meant to due to their darker nature and some of them were intended for the Infantry album that never fully materialized. A couple songs were originally written for the second Dungeon Of Death and Rumorz Of War but with those albums not happening at the time, the songs were moved to Beyond The Life. Whether looking at the original 1st draft, the 2nd draft, or the final version of the album, it would undeniably become a classic. |
Lost In The Sands
It started as The Sands Of Time II because Royal Kingdom recording artist Advokate wanted me to do a sequel. I had enough on my plate as it was with over five albums of new material in the works so rather than writing a whole album of new material I decided to record a bunch of my unreleased tracks and make that The Sands Of Time II. I was recording way too much at the time to put any effort into the album, as a result, it sucked.
I almost immediately changed it to Lost In The Sands after completion because it didn't deserve to hold The Sands Of Time name. This was when the Lost series truly began as Lost In The Life was set to be a one shot deal. They were sloppy and didn't have a finished product feel to it which was sort of intentional because they were designed to be bootlegs. Due to the name change, a lot of the songs weren't from The Sands Of Time era like the title suggests, a problem I later tried to rectify on the new version of the album. It was also hard to distinguish which album my songs were written for at the time because I was working on so many at once. This one should have never existed but did for two reasons, the first being that I was trying to build up my catalog of releases to impress record labels I was dealing with at the time. The second, I was living in the fast lane and didn't know how much time I had left, so I was trying to record everything I had written before it was too late. |
Intro
Sleeping With Angels (The Sands Of Time) Last Breath (The Sands Of Time) Lonely Journey (Dead In A Dream) Game Connects (Fated Return) Steal My Lifestyle (feat. Concept) Hear The Streets Cry (feat. April) (The Sands Of Time) Urban Legacy Awake In The Night (Mystery Of Man) In The Dungeon (feat. Rahmael) How Long Can I Hide (feat. Larysa) (Beyond The Life) World Of Shadows (The Sands Of Time) Instincts (Beyond The Life) Dungeon Thoughts (Dead In A Dream) Someone Else (feat. April) (The Sands Of Time) Eternal Sentence (Beyond The Life) The Night Is Mine (feat. Concept, No Nucks & Genero) We Claim One Love (The Sands Of Time) |
A Brighter Day 2/17/03
Remember 2/25/03 What I've Seen 3/4/03 The Crown II (feat.Concept & Gambino) 3/15/03 One Thought 3/25/03 Streets To Survive 3/25/03 Colder Nights 3/30/03 Blind Sometimes (feat. Pathologic) 4/2/03 The First River 4/4/03 Legend 4/9/03 Broken Nights 4/9/03 The Mindframe 4/12/03 Between The Lines 4/12/03 Turn Away (feat. Sammy) 4/24/03 So Long 4/26/03 All I Got Is Me (feat. P-Tipps) 4/27/03 The Target 4/27/03 I'm Leavin' Now 5/3/03 Never Be Enough 5/11/03 True 5/21/03 Three Nights (feat. Gambino & Genero) 5/24/03 Half Hour Goodbyes 5/26/03 After The Tears 6/1/03 Holdin' It Down (feat. Gambino) 6/29/03 Separate Ways 7/3/03 Love Shows 7/27/03 Life Or Legacy 7/29/03 Only One (feat. Concept) 7/30/03 Late Night Creep 7/30/03 Battle Arena 8/9/03 No Prisoners Taken 8/15/03 The Past Today 9/1/03 Like The Rain 9/4/03 Fairytale 9/8/03 Close My Eyes To Dream 9/15/03 Most Hated (feat. Inasoul) 9/16/03 Promises Of Peace 9/27/03 Look Around 3/12/04 |
Urban Legacy II
By the beginning of 2003 I could feel myself losing my spot. Too much competition, too little exposure, too busy trying to get signed, too much going on outside of the studio, whatever. The top spot I'd held for so long was slipping away.
In order to reclaim the throne I decided to put out an album for free, it never had an official name but part way through recording it became the second chapter in the Urban Legacy series. With its new title it was still set to be a free album with the intention of proving why I was the best in Willimantic while at the same time addressing personal issues I had with just about everyone. By May of that year I took back my top spot without ever dropping an album so Urban Legacy Vol II as it was got scrapped and it began to morph into the album it is today. While reclaiming the throne I also rebuilt Royal Kingdom Records, realigning myself with the best rappers around, arguably some of the best ever. That summer I went to Maine to stay with my girlfriend where I continued working on the album. In September I returned to Willimantic for college and finished writing the album. It wasn't until the songs were recorded that I decided which ones would make the final cut, and then changing it a few times still. By the time the final tracklist was complete, it had undergone more changes than perhaps any other album in my extensive catalog. The songs that were cut turned into The Nights Ends which became Lost In The Night. |
The Night Ends came about when I realized how many songs would be cut from Urban Legacy Vol II as well as all the verses I had written for the Infantry album that would go unused. It was never decided if the songs that consisted of only a verse and chorus would be turned into full songs with featured verses or if they would be left as they were, turning the album into more of a mixtape.
The title came about as a play on words since at the time the reign of the knights had come to an end. All in all, I'm glad this album never actually existed as it was thrown together rather sloppily. |
The Nights Ends
Only One (feat. Concept)
Late Night Creep Battle Arena No Prisoners Taken In Eachother's Arms (with bonus verse) Closing In Got To Go Souls Of Man (with bonus verse) Breaking Heart (feat. Assailant) Alone And Betrayed (feat. Advokate) Duck Down Deeper (feat. Protege) The Hunted Why Does Love Frontline Soldiers (feat. Gambino) Lady (feat. Concept & Gambino) In The Kingdom (feat. Gambino) Most Hated (feat. Inasoul) |
Urban Legacy Intro
Faceless Shadows I've Seen The Mirror Cry Eyes Of An Angel Lost Emotions One More Time A Brighter Day Remember Love Isn't One Thought Streets To Survive What I've Seen Colder Nights The First River Feel The Way Give Up My Heart Blind Sometimes |
Urban Legacy III
By mid 2003 I had so many songs written that a lot of them never got recorded or put on any albums. I'd started work on Urban Legacy Vol II and still had a bunch of left over material that I felt was good enough to make its way onto an album. I was eager to continue the Urban Legacy series and compiled a bunch of the unreleased tracks to create the third volume.
As soon as I began recording, I knew this album wouldn't live up to the other two Urban Legacies and it was quickly scrapped. Most of the songs were used for Lost In The Night with a few going unreleased until the Days Of A Knight series. Had I taken my time and perfected the songs, found better beats and gotten singers to do the choruses rather than rushing it and doing them myself, I think this could have been a solid CD. |