"BusStopBuildingBlock"

Year created: 1998

Written & Performed by: Dutchmassive

Produced by: Deeskee

Recorded by: Dan Smith @ Bay Sound (Tampa, Florida)

Mixed & Mastered by: Dan Smith & Dutch VonEpp Ziegler @ Bay Sound (Tampa, Florida)

Album: "Junk Planet" (Released July 13, 2004) CD & 2xLP (double vinyl)

Label:  Atomik / Freshchest Records / Caroline Distribution  

Original Concept Drawing by FILTER - Recreated by Skawty Shaw and SlopFunkDust

Graphic design and layout by Open Mic

"Junk Planet" was created 1997-2002, Released world wide 2004.

https://dutchmassive.bandcamp.com/album/junk-planet-1997-2002

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Lyrics:

(Verse 1)

"Early to rise to catch the city bus, got my Walkman on and backpack so now I'm off / It's chilly outside so I got my hoodie on, Midnight Marauders tape, alright I'm gone! / I Travel cross the bridge towards the front of my apartments, the bus stop's my target, but I forgot my wallet / Can't turn back cus i'll miss the bus departure / ah forget it, I'll just survive on water / anyways I don't need to waste my money, I'm saving up for studio time cus some day I'm be a famous rapper / oh what's the matter? my mindless chit chatter is the source of all your laughter? / (psssht) Can I just sit back here by myself, I don't care where, but please go somewhere else / you people bother me & give me writer's block, Man forget yall I'm getting off at the next stop! /  Now what to do? I'm wasting time, the next bus don't come till 11:59, and the sun came out, so I took my hoodie off, and left my wallet home, so now I'm broke and I'm lost / sweatin' with no money, clothes are all cruddy / Thirsty, tired and now I'm hella hungry / and to top it all off the batteries in my Walkman died... I was just about to cry, when I pulled out my notebook and unsharpened pencil, thought about my day and the words started to flow / let go of the day and the hell that it was / cus it wasn't so much, for this is life on A city bus..."

(Chorus)

I am

I am.

Yo I am!

The BusStopBuildingBlock

Yo I am.

Yo I am...

Yo I AM!

The BusStopBuildingBlock!

(Verse 2)

"Yeah I'm quiet in a sense, I've been walking all day and shoulders are all tense / Between my backpack and silent Walkman / got bored, picked up a stick and started writing in the sand / words upon, words upon, words upon the ground! / no more writer's block, I just started writing sound / and a single sentence that appeared in that book / was inspired by that bench and the stick that I took / then I looked up, to see the bus had arrived / almost 2:55, damn it's about time! / Ima go to the mall and get me a new tape / got there, forgot I was broke, but it's too late / stranded in the worst location (F*** THE MALL!) / more wasted time, now an added lack of patience / now let's face it, my state of mind is mellow, but everyone needs to vent themselves and just let go...

(Bridge)

STRESSED!  TIRED! HUNGRY! MAD! /  TIME! MONEY! THIRSTY! SAD!

BATTERIES! BUS PASS! BACKPACK HEAVY! LATE! WASTE! DAY! HURRY! AND END!!

I've got a bus to attend / Last stop, down town, "Thanks, come again" / Bend and stretch out, head toward the park / two hours left before it gets dark / and the last bus leaves at 8 (uh oh) / I was so caught up in my writing didn't notice I was late / Can't walk home, I'd die of Dehydration / on goes the hoodie and there's the bus station / tired of trying / tired of being mellow / tired so I used my backpack as pillow / tired of talking, with no to discuss / my long hard days upon the city bus..."

(Chorus)

Yo I am

Yo I am.

Yo I am!

The BusStopBuildingBlock

Yo I am.

Yo I am...

Yo I AM!

The BusStopBuildingBlock!

(Verse 3)

So now y'all see / once upon a city bus everything was lovely / I became an emcee / and now that I'm older ya'll can't get enough of me? / I remember rhyming at the bus stops / battling old women and mall rent-a-cops / any form of bug that would crawl across my path / or any emcee, I would whoop they ass / never got a big head, always had a lot of fun / never thought I was better than anyone / half of Equilibrium / watch as times change / still bump Midnight Marauders everyday / Sway back & forth, wish I was paid / High on music, but never stay dazed / (when-you-are-focused-and-able-to-build-a-foundation-with-something-such-as-a-bus-stop) / where it all started, never lose my hunger / there is no past tense, I still love H.E.R. / pull out a chair, turn on the air? dead it / Ima go all out and buy hip-hop a headset / I kept it simple, I hope you understand / this was for myself to enjoy, not every man / every day I write, and every day I fuss / and every so often still ride the city bus"

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Backstory:

"BusStopBuildingBlock" was the first official song I recorded as a solo artist. While in the middle of recording the Equilibrium album "Tropic States" (Unreleased) The 3 man group briefly lost a member... My best friend and the person I started emceeing serious with "Majik Most"

I won't go into details as to why the group was fractured, but I will give context as to why "BusStopBuildingBlock" was the first song I decided to record as a solo artist.

I have been freestyling and writing rhymes for fun since 1994, I freestyled very often to the point of annoyance (possibly autistic?) BusStopBuildingBlock is 100% a near perfect recall day.  So when I talk about battling old women, bugs, mall rent-a-cops, I wasn't trying to be funny. I freestyled 24/7,  battling my mom, my little brother, all in the hopes they would eventually try to battle back (which definitely eventually worked haha) I began freestyling or "keystyling" in AOL Chatrooms and just got super addicted.  When I eventually met Majik Most,  I saw him on the left side entrance of my apartment complex with a Walkman on and stopped him to ask what he was listening to.  We rode the school bus together but had never spoken up until that interaction.  He open up his Walkman to show me, acting super shy and mumbled "Murder was the case soundtrack"  Me, being the obnoxious young Dutch I was, made fun of him and told him "There's so much classic stuff out right now, and you're bumping a snoop soundtrack from 1994?" and brought him to my apartment and began to deep dive classic hip hop overload session.  He was aware of some of the dope stuff, but was excited to learn about so much dope new stuff.  Fast Forward a few months,  Majik's knowledge of hip hop was super deep, and the first time we freestyled,  he blew my mind,  He was so smart and complex and better freestyling than a lot of our favorite emcee's at the times writtens (Nas, Ras Kass, Organized Konfusion, Aceyalone, Mad Skillz, etc)  His written game was next level (for the time period we were in)  He was ahead of his time, and as soon as I gave him the confidence, he agreed to form a group and try to take it serious,  We began recording over beats I made on my Casio Keyboard back in 1995, and then eventually started rhyming over obscure instrumentals like to the KRS-ONE breaks (Instrumentals) We rode the city bus daily,  to the mall, to record shop, downtown, so when we were trying to come up with a group name, he wanted to call us the Binomial Bus Stop Building Blocks.  Which was way too long, So I suggested the Equinox.  In 96, while In a AOL Chat Room with many other now HipHop Legends,  Moodswing 9 of Live Poets (Anticon) told me about this producer that lived in Tampa who made original beats named Loklass (Celph Titled) He gave me Celph's Number and Majik and I Recorded a 9 minute demo song, trading verses back and forth over the B-side instrumental to Organized Noise cassette single.  We met up with Celph later that week at his job in the Mall, and immediately had him put on the headphones to listen to our demo as we excitedly and awkwardly silently stood by.   He was blown away, and took us to his car in the parking lot and played like 50 beats he made.  A Month later, We rented A tascam 4 track, and recorded the same verses we used for the demo over Celph's beat with him adding verses.  We recorded it in my moms closet, using her panty hose as a pop screen (A trick I learned from Celph) This song would be re-recorded in an actual Studio later and became the unreleased title track to the unreleased album "Tropic States".  We recorded two songs on the 4 track, Tropic States Demo and Inactive Movement Demo, and we debuted them Live on "The Underground Railroad" - Mad Lynx (RAPCITY) Local weekly show on 88.5 in Tampa.  We debuted under the group name Paradox (I Still have this interview and radio broadcast on tape and it's hella cringe to listen back to haha)  After that, We devolved professionally very quickly, Changing our name to Equilibrium and paying $165 hr studio rates every weekend at BaySound...    Celph and Majik had very similar humor, where I was a bit more serious and simple.  I guess I got this far, so I will give context into the group fracture haha.  Majik was super unfocused, Dating.  When he wasn't missing studio sessions, he was wasting money recording uninspired takes.  Celph had enough and gave Majik and Ultimatum mid recording session.  Majik called his girl at the time to pick him up and then Equilibrium became Celph Titled & Dutchmassive briefly (Reflected on our 2nd Vinyl 12" single)  Were we frustrated at the time?  yea,  we were young and prideful, and stubborn and all that jazz but we were still all best friends.  So when I had a chance to begin a solo career in tandem with our group project.  It only made sense for me to do a song that was Nod to Majik (since we stopped talked for a while) The song was also a Nod to my Favorite group "The Nonce" (Sach & Yusef Afloat) Mostly known for their two video singles "Mixtapes" & "Bus Stops" off their album "World Ultimate" they were friends with the producer of the song Deeskee as well, so the plan was to get them on the song originally, but before I could finish writing my original verse,  Yusef Afloat committed suicide, which made me derail the song for year, before finally feeling comfortable enough to write and record to song meant to feature my favorite group.  Before Junk Planet was officially released in 2004,  2 full years after I was done recording it.  I was well into working on my next album (Music2SleepTo.../ Crush Your System) meant to be a double album, with one disk being all my production and Instrumental and the other disk being me emceeing over my favorite producer's beats.    Sach (The Nonce) and I ended up recording a song "5AM Flight '' over one of my beats in 2003 and on July 13, 2004 (19 years ago Today)...  Junk Planet was released WorldWide on CD and Double Vinyl,  with the album being dedicated to Yusef Afloat in the thank you credits.     It all comes full circle.   This song is so special and over the years has touched so many people in profound ways that I never in a million years thought would happen, since I end the song lyrics self aware that the song was simple and not made for anyone but myself.

I wanted to save this for the 20th Anniversary,  but tomorrow if never promised.  So the 19th Anniversary. Documenting my first official solo song, that also perfectly adds so much context to the entire "The Reluctant Clap: Daily Rambles" series felt right.

I've also begun world building and documenting photos, videos, concept art, inspiration, show fliers, magazine press etc and organizing them by collections based on the albums, or time period.

[Foundation](https://foundation.app/@PeacePeaceGawd)

[Zora](https://zora.co/dutchyyy.eth)

and will be picking up the pace of adding artifacts that expand on context.  During this, I came across an article about "Junk Planet" that feels perfect.  So I'm going to share that here:

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""There's no excuse to not check this out"

 Junk Planet review by tadah of Urbansmarts.com

One of the signature tunes on this record - "The Hook" - came out in 2002. And reading the shouts, Dutch writes that "this album was created from 1997 - 2002." So let's do the math: the most recent stuff is two years old. Hmm… So what's the relevance of it today? In a market that finds a new trend every other month? Why even bother to listen to this old shish?

Okay now, settle down. Some stuff that Dutch addresses on here are actually even more pressing issues today than they were years ago. A great example of that is "Soul Searchin'" with PackFM. Dutch says: "great emcees are a thing of the past/ cats is either too simple or too abstract." He continues to talk about how bad distribution and recording companies are. And listening to this time machine moment, it's noteworthy how little has changed and how that little got worse rather than better.

But maybe we should take a step back and discuss who this Dutch dude is: part of Equilibrium, the group with Celph Titled and Majik Most who blew into the scene with "Farenheit 813" and "Windows 98." With the latter using the Windows signature start up sound. What spun the rumor that Gates was threatening them with a lawsuit. He didn't. The guys made that up for some extra attention. The 12" came out when having a vinyl record was still a big thing and when there was no CD-R alternative. Heck, chances were that you were good when you got a 12" out. What also explains the incredible number and talent of guests that's on this album. Be it on the previously mentioned "The Hook" that features Apathy, Majik Most, C-Rayz Walz, Celph Titled and louis logic, or be it on "It Gets Worse" with Windnbreeze, Alaska, Cryptic One and Vast Aire.

Dutch is in many ways a bad mouth, spending many songs not saying much. Like the battle verses on "Crush Your Interlude" or "The Ego Has Landed", both over very early 90s beats. But the best song on here is "BusStopBuildingBlock," which in many ways is a tribute to The Nonce. A group that must have influenced Dutch, also considering that he specifically gives Yusef Afloat a R.I.P. in the credits. The flow is very much like theirs, the 'bus stop' rhetoric similar too and the beat by westcoast can-we-please-give-this-man-his-deserved props Deeskee fits the vibe perfectly. Making this song a homage, even if it wasn't meant to be. Deeskee actually did more songs on here: the humorous "Just Me & My Walkman", the interlude "Take A Break", the not quite thrilling "Pipe Dreams" and the friendly "My Own Shit". So Dutch and Deeskee are actually - and quite surprisingly - quite the dream team.

Other producers on this record include J.J. Brown (on the excellent "Dr. Ama" amongst other songs), J.Rawls, Celph Titled, Benefit, previously mentioned Deeskee, Ayentee, Main and Dutch himself. Who's actually quite a dope producer, as shown on Interludes like "October 1st" and "Went To A Whole Different Planet". As well as some unreleased material that hopefully eventually surfaces. The beats Dutch selected though are very related in vibe, and the numerous producers are not what's holding this album back. While the songs themselves are actually really good, you can tell that they were not recorded with one release in mind. It's a compilation of tracks by one artist and thus it's kinda hard to really get a feel for the album. And then there's also a "1995 Equilibrium Answering Machine Tape Freestyle Disaster" that also does little for the audience.

But even with these few and not that important dampers, the record is actually really good. It comes out late and it runs the risk of becoming one of those unnecessary sleeper hits. But you're in the know now. There's no excuse to not check this out.

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In Closing:

Let's be real, Let's be honest, Let's be Real Honest....

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,  Art/Music is the most subjective thing on the Planet.  The same sentiment applies to value right?  but at a certain point, with enough context and research, there is music/art that is objectively high value.  At a certain point, history, impact and culture should play a role in value.  I have zero expectations on my art being collected,  but Objectively, If you take the time to click through all of the songs on my Dutchmassive & Dutchyyy Artist profiles and actually read the super long back stories.  My passion to express has rippled and been at the forefront of every major underground cultural shift in underground hip hop and instrumental hip hop.  Search engines don't allow for proper research anymore.  Results are scrubbed and replaced.  Social Media can never point to value in modern times because 99% of everyone's interactions are calculated and performative and RNG.  Streaming metrics can't point to value, because that system is also luck based, and you have people like myself, who rebelled uploading their catalog to DSP's for years.

So what makes music valuable?  what would be considered a onchain music bluechip?

I guess that's subjective.  

I hope it's not defined by active participation, popularity.      I hope it's defined by the only thing that matters.   The Music.

I'm the cliché starving artist that rebelled against all the trends only to end up a literal early 40's starving artist haha.  But my journey is valuable, my story is valuable and my expression is powerful.  

and I would love to keep being able to share my expression,  and would absolutely love to prove to the world through sincere expression, transparency & consistent determination, that "Music is the Utility" and is the most valuable culture signal on this planet.      That's the optimist in me,  the realist is prepared and well aware we exist in "Junk Planet" =)

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*Collector will receive a sealed copy of "Junk Planet" on CD & and a sealed copy of "Junk Planet" on Double Vinyl.

It's not lost on me, the album with one of it's most beloved songs being "Just Me & My Walkman" that "Junk Planet" never had a cassette release.

So if this song gets collected.  I will make that happen, since Open Mic (who did all the art design for the album and singles" still has the original project files and I can pay him to make a cassette version and make sure it's etched into the credits that whoever collects this, made A cassette version possible.

Thank you for taking time to read the backstory, and thank you for listening. That's really the most important thing to me.  So thank you sincerely, to anyone who takes the time to soak up all the history and lore I pack into the forever library.

Sincerely,

The BusStopBuildingBlock.