I had this beat knocking around for ages - a loungecore sketch. It was heading for the bin, until one
day when I was in the car with The Secretary-General. He was rapping the lyrics to Samurai by Inja and Serum, nailing it cold, word for word. I sent the video to Inja, and to The Lady Colminator, who suggested I see if Inja would write a verse for our boy. Inja, being the don that he is, agreed.
Come half term in February, Inj turned up with his daughter (also nine years old) and off they went into the garden to play. Upstairs, we got down to work, Inja writing the verse and me the chorus. I’d done a test recording with The Secretary-General the day before, so my lad wouldn’t be phased by the big mic and headphones combo, and got him to rap the alphabet. When we started this test recording, he was muttering into the mic ‘I just need some time to think, like’, and as soon as Inja heard that, he was off. That became the title, the chorus hook, and the theme for the whole tune.
After ninety minutes or so we were ready, so we called up the kids, and I’m proud to say The Sec-Gen had it nailed on the third take. We all sang the chorus individually and built up layers. I kept Inja’s guide take to use as a second verse, because it sounded so good coming in after my lad’s verse.
Something was missing though, something to tie it together, and that something was Vonné. I called her up, and as she lives around the corner she came the next day. She blew away the choruses and added some choice harmonies and ad-libs. Her work on this tune is the perfect example of icing on the cake.
Remember folks, if you want to build better worlds, if you want to terraform, you need a LOT of time to think.