“For us growing up, the motto was All Day, Always. Whatever we stood for or stood on, that was the theme. Wanting and believing in the things we saw early on intrigued us more than they should have at that age. Imagine being 13, 14 years old, falling in love with things like Suicide Doors, not knowing the depths of to which they became, but learning such on the fly, those became The Moments That Matter. It pushed us to zero in on Luxury, in an abundance at that, with only the road as to which we acquire it separating our attempts, but our intents were all parallel. Being overly observant prematurely taught us that Everything’s For Sale, and depending on how we interpreted that, some of us would go to sleep at night and See A Key, or a Ki’, depending on how you slept. However those eight hours would translate, it only drove home what we overheard right in front of us; Money Makes Us Happy, ‘it’s as simple as that’ we would hear on repeat. So the adoration of those Playing Favorites only enhanced what we wanted and why we wanted so much, so fast. You get the right look on the right day with the right on lookers looking on and you can open up a Meadow Of Trust. A crowd full of Women Who Can Cook, hopefully designed like the women who groomed us at home, but realistically resembling the ones who may have never spoken to us had we not got ahold of what we set out to get. So it’s worth it, right? Maturing to learn that nothing beats Civilized Leisure, and all the time it took to figure that out? Simply chalk it up to The Experience, one that should never leave us no matter how far we may eventually be removed from it. Times when those closest to you are forced to grow up fast, and you’re forced to grow up faster with them, it eerily mirrors something you see on TV, like Asking Bodie For A Package, how the order comes from home and your day ones are thrown into the fire, and you stand tall with them thinking 'nah, it can’t just burn forever’. So you sweat it out with them. You relate and understand and join in but feel like you have a guilty, unfair upper hand, because even though it’s never been easy for you, you can still attempt to sleep somewhat decently, saying to yourself 'my pops ain’t never leave and my moms did every scene’. A blueprint and some 'know how’, some good cooked food and some awareness leads to you thinking these conflicting, guilt inspired feelings are the Things I Should’ve Told My Friends. When it’s all said and done, when the faces change and the desires become more expensive and the next in line become the next in line, when the bloodied badge unjustly wins and the lights begin to flicker and then dim, you realize maybe it was all just a Sweet Pursuit. All of it, nothing more, nothing less. And the sounds it leaves in the memories it created slowly becomes Music For My Friends."
-Skyler (13 year old lyricist, graffiti writer, playground point guard, quarter water aficionado, and Mortal Kombat champ, preferably the Sega Genesis version)
"Music For My Friends”, in stores and online June 23rd via First Generation Rich Inc./Empire
1) All Day, Always
Produced by AntMan Wonder
2) Suicide Doors
Produced by MarcNfinit
3) The Moments That Matter (feat. Kay Cola)
Produced by Jahlil Beats, Co-Produced by AntMan Wonder
4) Luxury (feat. Westside Gunn)
Produced by Skyzoo
5) Everything’s For Sale
Produced by !llmind
6) See A Key (Ki’) (feat. Jadakiss)
Produced by Thelonious Martin
7) Money Makes Us Happy (feat. Black Thought & Bilal)
Produced by The Rvlt.
8) Playing Favorites (feat. Christon Gray)
Produced by !llmind
9) Meadow Of Trust (feat. Saba)
Produced by Black Metaphor
10) Women Who Can Cook
Produced by Thelonious Martin
11) Civilized Leisure (feat. MoZaic)
Produced by !llmind
12) The Experience
Produced by MarcNfinit
13 Asking Bodie For A Package (feat. Skarr Akbar)
Produced by !llmind
14) Things I Should’ve Told My Friends
Produced by Apollo Brown
15) Sweet Pursuit (feat. Kay Cola)
Produced by Seige Monstracity
*Itunes Bonus: Falling Out The Sky
Produced by Praise
*Vinyl/Cassette Bonus: Hands Folded Together (feat. Elzhi)
Produced by DJ Prince
