Storyteller Ghost Writer

Back in 2000 or 2001 a friend of mine, Casey Johnson brought two artistes home by me for me to do some production for. One of them was singing soca, he sang two songs for me a kind of latin influenced soca tune called Maria and another double entente song called Rick. This artiste never came back but went on to win synergy soca star in 2006 with the song Danger and is now known in the music world as Fireball.

The other artiste Casey brought by was a young rapper by the name of Zeik. After hearing him rap the song Syndrome acapella it was clear to me that this fella was on another level. However, from his demeanor you would never tell that he could spit that type of fire. He was a very calm person that did not display the level of cockiness you would expect from an emcee on that level, so much so that I wondered if he knew how sick he was. It was not before long that we decided to work on an album that would showcase the material he already had written. The thing is, a lot of it to me was bordering on gritty/ gangster and I was approaching a point where I was ready to take a stance on the type of music I put out into the world.

Zeik - All About Z

We agreed to mix up the content on the album a bit so you would find that a couple tracks on the album are hard hitting while others are contemplative/ introspective and others are just a basic display of emceeing ability. Years went by as we worked on and off on that album, we finally completed it in 2005 and that became a milestone in both our careers, however I still saw untapped potential in Zeik and challenged him to challenge himself. I wanted him to push himself to the limits of his imagination and creativity.

About three days after issuing that challenge we were on our way to the studio by Chenko and I was playing some beats in the car. A beat came on which at the time was titled Haunting… Zeik started to spit some lyrics on the beat. I pulled the car over to the side of the road and started the beat over. Zeik started again… after regaining consciousness he explained to me the concept of the song. It was based on the conversations we were having and he wrote a song about him meeting a future version of himself in a dream. This future version of himself was more experienced and more mature as an emcee gave his present self some advice on mastering the craft of emceeing.

To this day, Ghost Writer has to be one of the most potent songs Zeik has ever recorded and one of those moments that will always stand out for me in the many years that I have been making music:

zeik – ghost writer

chorus:

storyteller ghost writer
shadow soul born out of fire
street messiah, prophecies of ezekiah
smoke kyah and breathe words to life
i shine like a burst of light when verbs hit the mic

to be or not to be an emcee was a dream
that played on my mind in my sleep so i dreamed
to formulate rhymes for the street
woke up to find alternate lines on my sheet
like a mystery but it wasn’t written by me
could it be that my mind’s playing tricks on me?
like bushwick b, trapped in a fantasy
can it be that i gotta question my sanity?
nah i looked again and again
saw lines written in pen
that i couldn’t comprehend
cause the origin must’ve been
from the future and me being born again
my brain storms like a hurricane,
feel the winds blow
i arose, saw rhymes on my clothes,
this time i was froze
dear lord let me know
if its my time to go
what the hell’s going on
at four hours of dawn
in the thug mansion
i ran like a madman
pen and pad in hand
thru the hallways like alice in wonderland
i wonder where i’m gonna land
if this falls in the wrong hands
came to a stance at the door
heard the voice of a maestro with crowd yelling “encore!”
put my ear to the floor
and heard them applaud
as the flow switched chords

chorus

My hunger and curiosity toppled me
thru a door of possibilities
What I saw looked shockingly back at me
While he accurately tries to devise strategies
for a new rhyme masterpiece
And magically he disappeared
into the midnight air
And whispered in my right ear
And told stories and nightmares
The type that might scare you
and would’ve taken a life here
despite fear, he felt jealousy and envy
And watched friends turn into enemies
These words are my memories
The paragraphs and melodies
that came from centuries of emcees
So take these words
have them close to the soul
And let ya mind grow same
time let ya rhymes flow
And teach those with their eyes closed
To see thru their blindfolds and TV consoles
That con your soul,
my food for thought will calm your soul
I give you the chronicles
in the form of a novel
Full of mysteries to unravel
Like a scribe to a pharaoh
To rise above the hard life
trying to walk the straight and narrow
When the mind journeys and the soul travels
Back in time to the everlasting line
That captured my mind

chorus

Then he said “follow me”
Into a music, art gallery
It seemed like a rap coliseum
A place where scholars’ dreams
Become stars to astrology
So the study of rhyme became astronomy
The cradle of lifetimes
The rhymes I write insight minds
To the rhymes I design
The soul divine, to shed light to the blind
And I’m giving you the gift of the last sign
Take this as a token
Speak words that were unspoken
And let your mind open
To transform into a sultan
And make the worthless perfect
Before you interpret the wordsmith
So when you rhyme all your words fit
And transform in the physical
Only in the third eye visual
That shows no residual
On an infinite screen
To make fantasies and dreams become real
To reveal I was only asleep
Similar to laying six feet deep
From your mind’s reach

chorus

“shrapnel everywhere…”

That was a comment posted by Will on our latest offering and the inspiration for this latest post. Since the DND project kicked off in the Food & Folk Fair and the appearance we made in Erotic Art Week with James Hackett things just seem to be bubbling. More and more the creative juices are flowing and good things just keep happening creatively in and out of studio. Last weekend my cousin Sage dropped by and spent the day in the lab working on some stuff, this weekend who knows what’s going to happen. We’ll soon have Curious back in studio to complete recording his album, have to finish some stuff with Andy Venture and we have a little collab to do with Rembunction shhh…. doh tell anybody! it’s a secret! Oh yeah, also did a track with my pops recently that came out pretty decent, Quincy has some lyrics for this one, we just need a vocalist to work with to deliver on this track… A lot is happening and that’s just on the TT side of things, Spann also has a lot bubbling in Canada so it’s really going to be “shrapnel everywhere”.

All in all the next month or so should be a very interesting time, lots to do which means a lot more content is going to be online for your enjoyment.

Stay Tuned People.

e’ for endorsed: New Manchilde

Peep the latest from Detnator’s extended family, Manchilde of Butta Babees fame with a summer throwback vibe.

When the waters subsided…

Last week the unthinkable happened. Those of you who follow us on twitter may have seen a tweet where I mentioned that the studio got flooded out and the aftermath was nothing short of nasty. Wet carpet smells like… well I don’t even know what it smells like it just smells STINK!!!

Unfortunately I don’t have any footage of the ordeal but after getting over my anger and frustration I was encouraged by Spann to pick up the cam and capture some footage of the clean up process. I figure this was going to be quite an undertaking but a good bredren made a call and sorted out the whole situation for me.

I called a few places before and I got a lot of stories and excuses why the job could not be done at the time etc, so I was more than grateful when Chris & Matt came through and gave a much needed helping hand or hands as the case may be.

In return, the least I could have done was bubble some chicken breasts with whole wheat wraps, edit the video together to post it online and make sure to do some online advertising for Chris.

So all you folks out there who may be looking to get that wall to wall carpet cleaned, that rug or even the interior of you car, check Matt on facebook and he will see to it that you get your scene sorted.

Much thanks again fellas!

a quick heads up… the event

huston, we have lift off. the flying galvanize disco is now officially airborne with the HEADS UP event at casa de ibiza. first flight was on saturday 17th july, and of course “the e” went down to check out the scene.

first lets establish that this event is an old school event. it’s not just old school, but old school with a bias to local music. that means the majiq man was dropping tunes like “meet me on level 2″, “shot call” and a load of kiskedee caravan tracks…  i even heard some boy george up in the mix. not to mention slows. i haven’t heard slows in a dance since buffalino and polka dots were in style.

not a particularly huge turn out due to limited advertising, but fortunately, this upper level-esk session will return every third saturday of every month at the same venue, around the same time. check it out when you get a chance.

ATCe’?

A lil cookup for all you ATCQ heads out there. With some Detnator seasoning of course.


Download audio here.

e’ for endorsed: y’all know the Legendary…

cloud nine music heaven die happy lifetime experience should have been there legendary

In a perfect world these tags would always accurately point you in the direction of none other than the legendary Roots crew in concert. Last year after seeing Stevie Wonder live, mind you with a view no larger than looking at a fly on a wall, I thought the only thing that could beat that was the same experience maybe a kilometre closer. Well I’m gonna go ahead and add the Roots show to that list. Musicianship, performance flair, versatility, these dudes show absolutely no weaknesses throughout an almost 2 hour set. Forget best hip-hop band, they’re certainly vying to be in the conversation of best bands ever. If not there already.

JimLahey certainly had a better position & cam than I did:

pure class yet again:

wish I had JimLahey’s cam for this amazing Questo/Knuckles showdown:

New album’s out. Don’t sleep!

dnd project/best village folk fair – the introduction


just in case you haven’t picked it up by now, dnd is detnator & daaknite; a long time combination that has matured into something worthy to be shared. the project is a series of live works featuring the daaknite in the flesh, freestyling on his canvas stimulated by the public spaces in which the events will take place. simultaneously, detnator will capture the essence of the event and use that content, inclusive of the artwork to create a series of tracks inspired by the vibe. at the end, (however long that takes, but even the longest rope has an end) the dnd project will present a collection of pieces, and a compilation of audio/visual material to accompany them at a unique showing at a location to be determined. sound interesting? check out some of the happenings from the first event.

what he saw and where he saw it, who knows? on the board some lines appeared and a form started to take shape.

brush strokes bringing things to life

all under the watchful detnator eye, the first piece starts to take some shape.

up close and personal is an experience. kinda like standing in the process. feeling like a part of it.

intimate with the brush strokes as they go down.

the desired effect. “wuh goin on dey?” “who is dat?” “wuh dey doin?” “why it have so much cameras? he’s a celebrity?” “i could be in de video?” all appreciated. in a fair full of all kinds of creole food, i’ll consider that an achievement.

out comes the spray and lace pattern for that vintage daaknite touch.

round one. feedback, water break… back on track.

lines for the second piece of the day. raw onto the board. go big or go home is what they say.

in the blink of an eye, this piece was on its way.

consumed by the work. in it.

technique in action

stencils and markers. some of the tools of the trade that day.

some prominent faces were on hand. little did then know what was going on.

many comments were directed to the textures and the little details in the pieces. it’s safe to say they were enjoyed by all.

this piece had a lot of movement which in turn restricted the movement of many people passing by. a real show stopper.

excuse me, but i’ll need to see some official dnd identification if you’re going to… well ok, go ahead and take the pics. but promise to post them on facebook!!

and just like that, this graceful figure emerged. singer? dancer? masquerader? onlooker? who knows. maybe we’ll find out in time.


the artist… the art.

evidence of work done.


finishing touches.

contemplation and reflection… the things that collaborations are made of.

oh that’s right… there were three pieces on the day. this third one is for the artist’s personal collection.

dnd piece 1

dnd piece 2

stay tuned to the detnator blog for more venues and updates on the dnd project.

check out the video:


Come Back To It

Detnator vs Jessica Riddle – I Know You’re Gone

When I first heard this track I wanted to remix it right away. Of course, that didn’t happen. I got sidetracked with other things and this project got put on the back burner. Fortunately I got into a zone one day while messing around with Ableton Live and decided to give it a try. This is how it came out.

Enjoy.