Committed

Committed is definitely top 5 best songs I ever made, in my humble opinion. 

The original version of this was produced by my friend Tyler Donavan, it contained the hand percussion and bell sample and lived on my 2013 mixtape "Concerto Grosso" released under the name Cello Figaro.

I really felt like this was/is a hit record and so when PAISLEY came around I reproduced it adding every synth I could find, piano, bass, etc. My two favorite albums at the moment were Currents by Tame Impala and Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight by Travis Scott....obviously.

More about PAISLEY....

In 2017, I had a thought, patterns prevail. It was derivative of a quote from my best friend and frequent collaborator, Sky Welkin, which read passion prevails. Sky is a talented cartoonist that embeds profound messages like this throughout his work.

During our college years, hed often come by and draw while I made beats, this was our ghetto co-working era, and in these sessions wed smoke, engage in discourse, and share ideas about the respective worlds we were building in our art. In fact, I was very much into doing something new each album, but Sky was the primary influence for me to get into world-building and having a particular sense of style that was cultivated over time.

In one of my college apartments, I decided that to let Sky use all of the walls in my room as a canvas - the few hundred dollars that Id spend to have the room repainted when I moved was minuscule compared to the living art piece around me. Every so often I would discover some new character scene or phrase that hed drawn without me noticing, but one of these phrases was placed in such a way that I couldnt miss it as soon as I woke up, passion prevails.

Web3 has offered much in the form of expansion for the experiential qualities and monetization of my art. We always say things like, time passes quickly in web3.

As much as I agree, I find it interesting that time also seems to stay still - art is appreciated for its beauty regardless of age and with the possibilities available to me with NFTs, something like my debut album, can no experience a new form of appreciation.

As I begin to release works from the PAISLEY collection over time, it was only fitting that I began with the short film.

When I was working on the album, I connected with my friend and collaborator, Dawit N.M. to share the pattern theories I was creating from and what I was aesthetically into at the time. Dawit went on to handle the art direction for the album, as well as bringing my convoluted story concept to life as a film.

The story of PAISLEY exists in a universe in which we've all been made to forget true selves. Though, there are those of us that break free and reawaken, remembering all the knowledge of self that was once lost. A human that knows who they are can no longer be controlled and is thus a threat to those in power.