a hip hop documentary series by The Nues
First off, let me start welcoming you to my new hip-hop documentary series “Behind The Bars.” I’ll be taking you through on a behind-the-scenes journey track by track, starting with my first release “Hold The Phone.”
Second, I want to say how crazy it feels to be writing about my first song release in almost 6 years. Feels crazy...but damn good! I've written a ton of songs in the past few years, but I only really picked up a lot of momentum in the past year or so. I feel like I really found my flow, got that bounce back in my step. It's weird because that all happened after I was all by myself and coming out of a dark place after I split with a 7 year relationship. It was a tough time, but what better place to release than through music.
I found myself all alone one night pacing in my apartment in Venice Beach after I heard this beat that I just had to write to. I pace back and forth a lot when I'm getting ideas out. I like to be alone when I write, too. Every now and then i'll come up with a melody or a hook idea in the studio, but rarely do I write a full song. I prefer to sit and think and just vibe over and over and over on a beat or sound and then let the juices come naturally. I don't have a specific writing style, but a lot of songs start with me freestyling a few phrases and often mumbling nonsense just so I can get my cadence right and find a delivery that I feel is catchy; one that fits the beat right and allows me to skate over it in my own unique style.
Watch Behind The Bars Episode #001
For this track, I wanted the opening line to be "Hold the phone, hold the phone, wtf ya'll been smokin' on?!..." as if I was questioning everyone who doubted me making a comeback – everyone who questioned my rap skills or just wrote me off in general after my hiatus. Once I had the first couple lines, I continued to ride that cadence and stayed in line with words within that rhyme scheme. Then it just kept flowing outta me like butter. Within 15-20 minutes I had the first verse done. I love the final line "everybody loves a good underdog, make room for the boy or get overthrown." Pretty straightforward, but just reiterating the fact that I am considered a long shot in this game...and to add on top of that, one that took a half-decade away from it. But no matter what, I'm coming, so make room...or I will. That's what that line is all about. The beat was so hot and once I rapped the first verse a few times straight through, I knew it was going to be a head-bobber so I just kept at it through the second verse.
The opening line in the second verse says "Off to the city now, whole squad wit' me now" because I had my close inner circle back on board, my ride-or-die squad. Shouts to my best friend and right-hand man Drew and my big brother Mike. Aside from my huge extended squad that's been riding with me day one, these two were the first to really know I was coming back. They could hear it in my confidence and delivery, and I was literally leaving the beach to head to Oaxaca City, Mexico to live for a while...thus the "off to the city now" inspiration for that line. I left L.A. to get away from the noise and I had a lot of attachments from my past relationship, so I was seeking new inspiration and new beginnings. Plus I wanted be with some of my other day one homies and fans of the past Chicago movement we started out on; specifically to be with my older brother who was my first manager and encouraged me to start rapping in the first place. It's like everything came full circle and here we are, back at it again.
The third verse came out in about 5-10 mins as I was fully in my zone at this point, pacing around like a crazy person; pretending I was performing to 15,000 onlookers in my tiny apartment, ha. Hey, if you don't have a big dream or a vision your mind, what are you even working toward, right?! This final verse really picked up the pace and was the realest for me.
"I don't give a damn whatever they say,
bish look at me now, I did it my way,
fought to get here, and now we go'on stay,
fresh on the fit, not a nick on the J's,
Now all of these nights, all of of my pain,
put in the sweat, I know it's go'on pay,
Was never no more than a matter of time,
I knew all along that I'd see my day..."
Behind the scenes setup of the video camera track for the music video shoot for “Hold The Phone” by The Nues.
From pain, to turning that into complete confidence and knowing that eventually if I stay the course, I'll see my day – that day when hopefully millions will hear me, and feel something from what I have to say. I remember long sleepless nights in my bedroom, filled with cold sweats, anxiety, the whole nine, but I never once doubted that I couldn't have success in the music business. Never. It wasn’t an “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” After going broke and losing myself in substances and a life just wandering aimlessly, my stresses were more like "how the heck am I gonna do this and where do I even start this again?" There are maybe a handful of people who know the actual hell I went through both during and after the downfall of my past music journey, so they all know about the fight I have in me and how much it took for me to get myself back up off the ground and get at this again. But in any song, it's not just about the author of the lyrics, it's about how it makes you feel as the listener. There are millions of people who had a much different journey than me, different kinds of pain l, but, for example, one line in the hook like "been through hell and back, ain't got no time for games" may affect someone to where they can say "hey that's me too. I've been through it all and I'm not wasting any more time, gotta pick my chin up and go."
Lastly, a random fact from the song is that it was initially titled "Get a Taste" because of the line in the hook "baby if you down to ride, you can come and get a taste." It seemed to work well, but I realized at the same time I recorded it Tyga and Offset had a massive radio hit out this past summer that was called "Taste"...although the songs are not similar in any sense, I opted for it to be called "Hold The Phone." I think it's more original and elusive for this track, regardless. And the full song isn't really about any girl getting a taste, that's just one line that happened to rhyme well, ha. The song is simply about mufuckas holding the phone because "the boy right here can hold his own.”
Ya boy,
The Nues