"DR_0001" (Ocean Causeway Freestyle)

The first audio recording captured on the Tascam DR-05

Date: November 1st, 2015

Time: Between 10pm-12am EST

Location: Tampa Bay, FL (Courtney Campbell Causeway)

Coordinates: 27.9669°N 82.6498°W

Back Story before the Backstory:

I don't know where to begin?  A brief summary?  I began recording freestyles on my moms Panasonic Auto Logic Answering Machine late 1994? Early 1995? (one of these was actually released on my Debut Album "Junk Planet" as a skit/interlude,  Where Celph Titled, Majik Most & Myself were all just being goofy freestyling over Celph's beats (you can hear my mom yelling and my little brother squealing) but that came later haha,  I started alone, and I moved to freestyling on a karaoke machine summer of 1995.  (I Literally have every single one of these recordings on cassette still which is crazy)  Fast Forward, late 1996. Early 1997 I got a Sony Walkman that came with a lapel mic, So I was able to play beats and freestyle, talk and record directly on it.  I brought it everywhere,  Recording everything,  Walking alone at night, talking to myself,  freestyling...  just expressing...   This died down as my career took off and what started as a hobby just having fun,  Led to having Multiple Vinyl singles while still in high school.  My Daily Rambles Tradition just fell off as I became an official artist focused on writing and recording songs.  My Writing Method was the same though,  I never could focus being idle with pen and paper,  So a lot of freestyling catching how I wanted to fit on the beat first, then refine my thoughts after pacing in circles outside.    Daily Rambles picked back up after cell phones that record voice memos  became a thing.  This method was flawed because there was no way to play music and record vocals on phones, a decade passed and this still wasn't possible.  The Lyrics I write are of course important, but recording lyrics without having the beat to reference,  I would tend to forget how my cadence was originally intended,  which I'm very intentional about.  I played Quads, and Lead Snare in the marching band,  So how I rode a beat was more important than what I was saying at times..           Fast Forward Another Decade,  Post Rawkus, Post Chill Gawd, Chill..   Tampa, to La, back to Tampa, Up to New York (Now is probably a good time to open up another tab and read the back stories for "By Design" & "Oh, Pen..." Since I just filled in a lot of this context.    I recorded my Last Voice Memo Freestyle (which was also my 1st voice memo freestyle since the like 2010?) and searched again for a work around to be able to record vocals on the phone while also playing the beat on the phone (this did not exist as of October 2015)  My Search led me to the Tascam Field Recorder.  So I wasted no time,  rode my moped up to Guitar Center and copped the Tascam DR-05 as soon as I got paid....

Backstory:

I copped the Tascam... Fast Forward A week or so Later,  After finalizing Traversal, I...  had a really bad day...   The Entire (Post NY) back in Tampa Mini Arc was just traumatic.  I left Tampa for A reason haha.  Long Story Short,  I had not seen my younger brother since early 2012 right before I moved to Los Angeles (The first time)  Then I was living in NY 2014-end of summer 2015.   I felt super Uprooted, Traversing State to State,  Super untethered and just needed to feel grounded and see my little brother.  Called him explaining what was happening and that I needed to escape where I was currently living for a few hours,  and he said, "I'm not driving there, and wasting gas"  I was leaving in a few days to work a month long contract out of state teaching at the hospital,  and when my contract was ending,  He was leaving on one,  So it was the chance I could see him.    So, even though I lived pretty far (considering I had Moped, and not a car) I hopped on my 2007 Tomos Targa LX Moped and told him I would meet him somewhere closer to where he lived.  We decided that we would meet at the Causeway (Long Road / Bridge connected Tampa and Clearwater in the middle of the Ocean (Gulf if we are being technical)..  I got there around 8pm and waited silently,  staring out into the ocean (something I did miss about living in Tampa) and I waited, and I waited,  and I called, and Texted..  and about a Quarter after 10pm,  He texted me saying he's not gonna make it,  then never responded after....      I brought my Newly Purchased Tascam with me,  thinking I could do some field recordings of the waves....  So I dug it out of my backpack and turned it on,  took a few minutes to figure out how it works,  then I stood on the rocks at the edge of the bridge to record the sound of the ocean,  but the waves stopped... It was a Sunday Night,  but there were so many people partying and being loud.   It's usually the hangout spot on Friday / Saturday,  but Sunday was usually empty...    So the weight of everything going on in my life, combined with that last sigh of feeling like the Universe was pranking me by making the ocean still just as I went to record waves and how the noise of cars and people partying got way louder in that moment......     well..........     This Recording was born.     I had Zero Intentions of Freestyling,  I just pressed record and blacked out on autopilot and ended up recording one of the most personal, vulnerable and exposed thoughts blacked out in the flow state, unintended and just let my soul explode, while drunk girls kept trying to get my attention and kept going until I realized a huge storm was heading my way and I had to drive 17 miles, on a moped that went 35 mph max speed haha....

That session was unplanned and the most cathartic experience.  Though there was no way another human, outside of my room mate at the time I would ever let hear it.    

That Traumatic ass day, night, week, month was erased with a single recording...   I would come to find out that recording blindly without zero pressure of anyone ever getting to hear them, led to the most healing, fun and addictive form of expression I ever experienced...    From Nov 1st, 2015 - Present Day.    I would ritually and secretly continue and evolve this process which completely changed my approach creating music and expressing in general.          Enter a new Private Era.....  Documenting in real time, raw expression w/ zero filter or over thinking.........

This was the Rebirth of the Daily Ramble....    

"THE RELUCTANT CLAP".  

INCOMING!!