As I sat down to begin writing this blog, I found myself writing then erasing, writing and then again... erasing. This occurred three times. It wasn't because of a lack of material but more so, the uncertainty of what to speak about. I stopped writing and started praying about it, and literally moments later, I decided that I would write a blog about the songs on my EP.
I decided that it would be pretty cool to pull you guys in to my thinking and my writing process during the times I was Writing and praying about these songs.
(Still learning how to Blog, so be patient with you boy lol)
Ya know, Its really cool being able to create. When I think about the creation account in Genesis 1-2 and when God created Mankind, he made us in his image and likeness. With that being said, God gave us the ability and permission to be creative beings just like him.
"Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals." Genesis 19-20
Its really cool to see God allow Adam to name all wild animals and birds in the sky, up until this point God had been the one creating and naming and now he pulls mankind into that process. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL AND DOPE REVELATION! GOD IS THE CREATOR WHO CREATED AND CREATES AND BECAUSE WE ARE MADE IN HIS LIKENESS AND IMAGE WE GET TO TAKE PART IN CREATING AS WELL. REALLY COOL!
SO... Here we go
1. Growing Pains intro & Outro- I wanted an Intro and outro that took you on a journey and made you feel like something was about to happen and I feel like the intro had this anticipation feeling to it, almost like the beginning of a roller coaster ride when you feel super excited but also nervous about all of the steep falls to come. When I heard the intro which was originally a demo I knew it was the perfect intro and outro that was going to portray the feelings and emotions I was trying to convey for the opening and closing of my EP
2. L.O.V.E.(What We Need) - This song came about from the guitar, I was sitting in my office finger picking this 8th note pattern in the Key of Bm and started descending it chromatically and then I started humming a melody(which originally was not that great). But I kept trying to figure out something and eventually I found the melody the guitar progression needed. I think I put a hold on this song for a while, When I sat down with the guitar it wasn't my intentions to write a song, but the song just came over time. I always wanted to write a song about all that was happening in our world, but I didn't want to write a song that was negative or emotional. I wanted to write a song that could stand as a solution for the things we see happening in our world. As the lyrics started pouring out the melody changed a bit and it just kept flowing like as if it was already there. Some of my favorite lyrics from the song are
"Theres too much noise, too much talk from everyone, Everybody got an opinion, while you think this and I think that.. our thoughts got us so far off track."
Its so true! Our thoughts and opinions have got us so far off track of figuring out a solution. I Love this song because it points to one thing and one thing only. The Love = God. Love is an action that we all can choose daily, the bible teaches us that God is love but it also shows us how to love in 1 corinthians 13. Imagine what this world would be like if we all loved like Christ?
3. Could I - Could I came about from a writing session with two of my best friends, Marc Persing and Seth Mitchell. We had never written all together before so it was really exciting to sit down all together with a guitar and write a song. We all had a few guitar progression Ideas but none of them really stuck, Marc started paying this really cool fast riff on the guitar that we all digged and from there the progression became a full song and we begun writing. It was cool that we quickly all decided (pretty fast) on a subject matter. We wanted to write a song about a person who had realized the spiritual state he/she was in and if they could get out of this place of darkness and emptiness they were in and find meaning in their life and its cool how the song progresses from Could i- to I will try, The song ends on this cliff hanger of the person saying "I will try until I reach the sky" Until I reach home, where I am supposed to be I will keep fighting and trying. Surely one of my favorite songs and it was really emotional singing through it in the studio because I remember asking myself a lot of the questions the chorus asks:
Could I break free from all my guilt? - Could I break free from this house I built? - Could I be washed from all my filth?- Oh could I?
I think these are questions a lot of people ask and sometimes are afraid to ask because they feel so bogged down by their decisions and current lifestyles. This song really means a lot to me. I had added another verse a year and a half after we wrote it:
FIGHTING THROUGH MY SCARS, I'M GONNA DO MY BEST, I MAY BE IN THE DARK, BUT THERE'S A LIGHT AHEAD. - Deshone'
4. I AM GOD(ft. Sydney Meadows) - This song for me was by far one of my favorites to write. I remember being in Blanton (Dorm/food hall) at my school and I was messing around on my guitar after class and I came up with this 8 measure intro and a verse on the guitar and I started added lyrics to it almost immediately (which does not always happen) and I kept singing it over and over and I was really inspired by it. I decided that I would finish the song by the end of the night(which did not happen) but what did happen is a really cool unplanned songwriting session with my sister in christ Sydney Meadows and we sat and talked about our relationship with God and how we both can be guilty souls and have this human view of who God is and what he is like in our lives. Sydney bought down her journals from her times with God and poetry from her poetry writing and we just opened up and wrote the whole first verse and chorus of the song and we were really stoked about it. We got together a few weeks after that and wrote the second verse and started working on a bridge and it was cool to see God give us a cool tempo change from a 4/4 pattern to a 3/4 pattern during the bridge. It was epic seeing God write this song and seeing the song contrast between the child(us) and God's voice. I LOVE THE BRIDGE PART WHERE IT SAYS: "HAVE I EVER LET YOU FALL MY CHILD, DID I LET GO OF THE PROMISE I GAVE YOU, WHY DO YOU DOUBT ME NOW? - REMEMBER. Those lyrics are something we are both very proud of because I believe that If God was sitting in front of us, thats what he would say. Why do you keep doubting, dont you remember what I have already done?? - Really inspiring to think about. -- Loved being able to write this song with sydney. She's amazing and I cant wait to see what She will do with her gifts for God.
5. GROWING PAINS (ACOUSTIC) [INSTRUMENTAL]- This was a composition I had been working on for almost three years and I had Absolutely no Idea what I was going to do with it. I Tried writing lyrics and recording vocals for it but nothing I did sounded good. SO I left it a lone for a while let it breathe and have it time to be a simple composition. While recording the EP the percussionist, Caleb who is also my brother in Christ said, "bro I think you should Just put this on the EP as is, Its beautiful and really cool." I thought about it and decided that I was just going to put it on the EP as is. I love the progression because I listen to it the more it feels like this valley high and low experience sonically and it really does feel like tension raising and falling and the ending on the Db Maj 7 just sounds like such a sweet spot
6. LETTER - Letter is such an interesting story. One night I was hanging with some brothers of mine and I randomly told them that I wanted to write a song that I could give to my future wife one day, We all laughed and joked about it, but I was serious. I remember a while ago I wrote in my prayer journal about the kind of Wife I would want to have and what attributes and character I would hope she had, so I used that as a template and grabbed my electric guitar and starting writing this song. I came up with this very simple but powerful melodic chord progression in Bb maj and I started thinking what would I want this song to say and convey. I didn't want to write a song that was going to tell God what I think he should give me in a wife, nor was I going to write a song that spoke about things I wasn't sure would or wouldn't happen. So I decided to use my prayer journal as a starting point for the song and the song just kept pouring out. I got stuck on the Second verse and Marc helped me finish up my thoughts..
What I love about this song is that it has that RnB ballad Feel to it, the style, the ad-libs.. I am really proud of this song, It is really special and I feel like it is the perfect balance of a song that leaves room for God to do his work.
7. WINDS N' THINGS- Winds and things is a song that I started writing about 2.5 years ago with some of my boys in the bronx. I had this really cool chord progression that goes from: E| F#m11|G#m11|AMAJ7|D7 and it just sounded so good. I remember we sat in our boy Marlon house and I recorded the guitar part and then we just sat and wrote the intro/Verse and chorus melody (couldn't come up with words at the time.) I really love this song because of its meaning. I got inspired from Ecclesiastes where Solomon says "Chasing after things w/o God is meaningless and like chasing after the wind." I wanted to write a song that was a call out to people to make them sit and think about life and the decisions they were making. It was really cool writing this song with other people because we have all been there, focusing so much on material things and trying to impress people or get attention from people who probably didn't really like us for us, but more so for the things we had. It was a really vulnerable writing session but We didnt finish the song. It was not until almost three years later when i decided that I was going to release an Ep that i sat down and finished working on this song. Some of my favorite lyrics from this song is in the bridge:
THIS LIFE CAN CONSUME YOU, IF YOU LET IT CONTROL YOU, THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD HE'S ON A ROAM FOR SOULS, AND YOU GOT A LOT TO LOSE TELL ME WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO, WHICH ONE WILL YOU CHOOSE YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH. WHAT GOOD WOULD IT BE TO GAIN THE WORLD? YET LOOSE YOUR SOUL? -
These lyrics really really move me and make me think about my daily decisions. The last line I took from Jesus in Luke 9 when he talks about the call to discipleship. - Def one of my favorite songs sonically and lyrically on the EP.
I hope this insight to my writing process helped you understand and appreciate the songs even more than you do now. - Really grateful for the ability to create like my father.
