Every couple months I need to pop up with this The Art Of Storytelling series. Our latest features an artist who has been slowly but surely rising up on the West Coast. His music is already there in terms of quality and making you think. So, he joins SD in the series to break down one of his records off his latest mixtape, The Time Is Right.
Azad Right Ft. Luna Angel – Alone
“I heard the intro (solo strings) and half of the current drums and instantly came up with the cadence for “It’s so odd, I can’t get a job, I can’t get a call, maxed out credit cards — overdraft on my debit card.” Once I penned those lines, it was a wrap. I was feeling very alone at the time in the sense of direction (being that I had just graduated from UC Irvine and couldn’t find a good job) and also not satisfied with the way my team was built:
“Still, when I’m rappin’ I happen to see
Even my family ain’t happy for me
I’m mad at my friends
The ones who said that they had my back ’til the end
But they don’t pick up my calls
Convenient homies, I don’t even need you phonies…”
“A good friend of mine, Luna Angel, came through one day and I had her lay a couple melodies down on different beats. This happened to be the one that really struck a chord with me. And the writing process for the hook was extremely easy cause we both know what we wanted to get across. The main line that hit both of us was: “I’m out here trying to make a livin’, doing something different but it doesn’t even matter.” That’s when I knew we had a great song on our hands.
“Who got my back? I know I do
I keep telling myself they gon’ find you
Life’s a bitch, I’m Nas in ’92
Street poet, but I ain’t a Crip or Pyru”
“Late last year, I got a chance to meet Nas and rap for him. The first verse of this song is actually the last thing I spit for him and he was really impressed so I don’t know if that subconsciously had anything to do with me referencing him in the second verse.
“All in all, this is one of my favorite songs off of my mixtape, The Time Is Right. You can expect the video in the future.”
