SHOEBOX MONEY 2 - TRACK BY TRACK

YOOOOOOOO So I squeezed off my new mixtape yesterday, 16 brand new tracks under the umbrella 'Shoebox Money 2.' Here is a track by track run down of what's going on with it. Open a can of fanta fruit twist and drink it as you listen to it and read this.

The whole idea for the mixtape was just to have fun with it. Within the confines of my last two releases (Nicely Waved and Silver Tongued with Kama and Teeps) the direction was very clear before the project started. I had an idea where it was going to end up. With this I wanted to use beats I had been meaning to use for a while, from an genre and bring it all together with the only thing in common being my voice.

TRACK 1 - NIGHTCALL

As soon as I watched Drive with Ryan Gosling I thought yeah I'm gonna use that. The start of the song provided a really nice intro so naturally it kicks things off. Don't watch that it follows exactly the same format as the next song. Don't worry about that.


TRACK 2 - TRICK ME

Obviiiiooooously Kelis's tune from a few years back. I've always liked this and have been meaning to touch it for years. I love the tempo of it. I recorded a little video for this (posted a couple of posts ago on here) so I suppose that makes this the lead single!


TRACK 3 - G-R-I-M-E [PROD. BY KURLY HYPA]

I really like the chorus on this tune. I've always liked minimalist grime, and I was happy when I made this beat. I wanna make a 4x4 remix of it and get a bag of different guys from Leicester on it like a relay tune.


TRACK 4 - TOO NICE

When Leicester HQ first opened they invited me down to nose around, take some pictures and do a blog write up for them. As part of the deal I got to use the studio space to record something for a couple of hours and I had wrote this song and had it sat around. This was the first song I made for this tape. Big up Chaser who worked the desk for the session, he has been a big help towards this mixtape, a real good guy. You can read the Leicester HQ write up here.


TRACK 5 - 2000 AND REIDSPACE [SKIT]

When I recorded the launch party promo freestyle the other week round Darryls he was fucking around, testing the mic whilst I went for a piss and recorded this. I told him I had to put it on the mixtape hahaha

TRACK 6 - PAY ATTENTION

Just a oneaway over an old Alchemist banger. I've had these bars written for time, but they didn't really fit in with Nicely Waved so I sat on them. I filmed a live version of this for JDM.TVs 'Everybody's Watching' series the other week.


TRACK 7 - BACK WIDDA BANG FT. KIWI, ONYX, KAMAKAZE

Out of all the new grime guys in Leicester I really liked what Kiwi and Onyx (formally known as Youngz) were doing. Real grime for grime heads. I knew I wanted to get them on a grime track for the mixtape. As soon as Darryl played me this tune I knew this was the one for them. I got Kama to come in and take the baton for the last leg. I wanna do a video for this tune.



TRACK 8 - POLAROID PICTURES

I wrote this pure hungover on a beach in Turkey when I went with Dan and Tom in June. I love this beat (Angel Haze - New York) and wanted to record a oneaway for it. There are so many songs on here I can realistically see myself making videos for, this is another one.


TRACK 9 - SNAPCHAT FREESTYLE

This is just a freestyle over a beat produced by Spooky. Something for the grime heads, I like this kind of shit. I spat this over this beat for my JDZ freestyle that got took down after too many negative comments. I don't give a fuck what any other human alive on earth says, this is solid grime, man. One of those real 'if only I was black' moments. What? I'm not bitter.



TRACK 10 - DOING MY THING FT. TWISTED PENNYS [PROD. KURLY HYPA]

I first heard the song I sampled for this in Aarons car when we were driving to see Kyle sometime last year. I knew I was gonna sample it and make something out of it and I'm so glad I got around to doing it. I really like the structure of this song, the breakdown, Teeps 'how to do a 16 bar feature on a rap song' verse in all it's perfection and the chorus brings it home. I think at the moment this is my favourite song on the tape.


TRACK 11 - YUNG STYLE [PROD. BOY KID CLOUD]

Obviooooously had to work with Reidophile on something for it. I wanted this to sound kind of like a clip from a set, like very live and free. I think we did it on one take to get that effect. It's the perfect kind of beat to skip all over, such a nice song to play with the flow on.



TRACK 12 - WAVEY LIGHTSKINNED GIRLS [PROD. KURLY HYPA]

This is the first beat I made when I was just pissing around when I bought my MPD off Darryl earlier this year. I pitched that Jay-Z sample down and had that over a couple of pads and played it out live.



TRACK 13 - DON'T CHAT TO MAN

I pure lied at the start of this post when I said 16 'brand new' tracks. This is a liiiitle bit old. I recorded this when Au Seve was all people were listening to and stuck it up on Youtube. Thinking about it, this might well be older than Too Nice, making this the first tune I did towards the tape. Either way, check out me going to church with the chorus vocals hahaha AFRICA!


TRACK 14 - GWOPAZ BIRTHDAY MEDTWANG [SKIT]

Fuuuck meeee. I'm having a nightmare. Even though a skit, but still technically a track this is definitely the oldest thing on the tape. Gwopaz, pissed out of his head on his birthday weekend last year left me a voice note on my phone breaking down exactly what a medtwang is.



TRACK 15 - CATCH YOU SLIPPING [PROD. KURLY HYPA]

This is another song I wrote a little while ago. When I went to Portugal with Dan last year. It was originally wrote for another beat at the same tempo, but I made this beat relatively recently and thought it would go well with these lyrics. Some real gas man trap, I was trying to make something similar to H-U-S-T-L-E-R-S anthem from the first Shoebox Money.


TRACK 16 - TAKING BAD ADVICE FT. SKITZA

This was kind of inspired by Kanye's early work in terms of how the chorus is built and the different sections in the song. I wanted to be really honest with the subject matter. I really like this tune, Skitza has a really nice singing voice. Because of the way it fades out and whatever I saw it as a natural outro for the body of work.




Well that's it, a track by track run through of the whole mixtape. I hope you guys enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it!