The birth of an idea

3 July, 2019. Atlanta, Georgia. Dreamville had just dropped their documentary video for the upcoming Revenge of The Dreamers III album. What a moment. How much fun did they have making songs together over that 10 day period? It sure looked like they had plenty. Wishfully I muttered the words "Man, it would be so cool if we did something like that." I was watching the documentary with my friend Damien and I was ecstatic when he replied "Yeah, lets do it when I come down to Orlando next week." "Oh word? Let's do it bro!" And with that 2 guys who knew little to nothing about making music were on their way to making an EP.

Go time

Fast forward a week, Damien and I were in my bedroom in Orlando ready to embark on making an EP. Disclaimer: we weren't doing this to become the next big boy band or anything, but rather to have some fun making songs together. First we needed instrumentals. With neither of us being Metro Boomin or OZ, we decided it would be best if we used type beats from YouTube and made our songs on top of those. We weren't planning on releasing them so we were all good.

As we were getting into the swing of things we managed to rope my brother into joining us on our quest. We were 3 deep now and the momentum just continued to build. We found an awesome instrumental that just gave off quintessential summer vibes, and we started rolling. The vibe was tangible and we were on our way. Very quickly we had an idea, a hook, three verses and it was all laid down. Our engineering skills definitely left much to be desired, don't get me started on how we messed it up, but in the end all of the imperfections and mistakes that we made added to the character of the song. We titled the song Summertime (Super original, I am aware), and I'm convinced it's good enough that after you heard it the first time you'd want to listen to it at least one more time before your life was over. I know it's hard to believe, but yes it was that good. That brought our song tally up to 1. It's a good start, but that's not an EP by any means. So on we went.

Back in Atlanta when when the idea came to be, an idea for a song had been birthed as well. We affectionately gave it a title that by random chance was the same as a close friend of ours. Weird, I know. The song may or may not have been about how we'd take things from this unamed friend if we had the chance to. In a very respectable and controlled manner of course. We grabbed an Eminem type beat and made a song that drew inspiration from how Dr. Dre and Eminem used to go back and forth on tracks in the late 90's and early 00's. Very few people have heard this song and it's probably going to stay like that. That brought our song total up to 2. One night, two songs, both bangers. We were off to a hot start.

The gang expands

Over the next 12 hours we shared the songs with some of our close friends and they caught the itch as well. They wanted in. The duo that started the EP had quickly become a group with 5 full fledged members. People wanted to show up just to watch the sessions. That night in a cramped and stuffy bedroom, we got back to making songs. Three of us were vets with one full day of song making under our belts, but we still had two novices that we had to educate. This took away from our efficiency but added to the dynamic in the rest of our songs. Track 3, Title: Vibe Vibe. A song very much inspired by trap hits that were all over the radio at the time. Our two novices brought thier own flavor and and held their own. Song total: 3. Track 4, Title: Purp. This song ended up being the most aggressive of the bunch. For some reason people decided to use this track as way to vent their frustrations (^ ,^). There were some iconic moments on and lyrics that still bring me to tears when I play them back today. Song total: 4.

We had four tracks and that qualifies as an EP, so we were technically done. We had knocked out four songs in two days and enjoyed the time doing it as well. The gang wanted to make one last song, so we proceeded to make the final track of our EP. We made it over the instrumental for Drake's Nothings into Somethings. This one was all over the place, with our creativity running low and tired minds we laid down our verses. This song probably isn't as complete as the other ones, but it has one of the best moments of the EP, and that in an of itself made it 100% worth it.

The legacy

A year later, and I find myself still going back to those songs and that EP. We didn't make any Billboard number ones, but I still listen to them regardless. Not just myself, but everyone who was involved in the making of the EP. Why do I go back and listen to the songs even though they're not that good? It's because they always bring me back to a moment in time; similar to how a photo can bring back memories and allow you to reminisce on moments already passed. The songs carry character, funny anecdotes, familiar voices and they even have lives of their own. They feel alive and always make me smile. And despite our obvious lack of expertise we created songs that, for us, will live on forever and memories that we won't soon forget. The Dreamville documentary inspired two of us to make some songs for the purpose of having fun and creating some memories. If that was what we were aiming for then the EP was a dramatic success. The evidence is in how my fellow group members and I react whenever we hear those songs. Give it a try sometime! Make a memory with your friends and see how fond that memory becomes as the days pass.