I began work on this song on Wednesday 9/19/2012 at 10:08pm ET. As winter came, I began to put together the beat to my liking. This was shortly after releasing the "Back of the Club" EP, which I now feel was sort of like training wheels for the banger that is this song.
The "animals in freezers" line is a rather quirky reference to this time when one of the cats at my Dad's former house in Woods Hole (30 Hilton Avenue, Woods Hole, MA 02543) ran away and was apparently run over on Woods Hole Road. A concerned neighbor had found it in the street and brought it home and put it in a freezer in his basement. This came to be thought of by my friend Amber Scanlan as a particularly "Woods Holian" thing to do, as she remarked on Facebook when her mother did something similar with her dead cockatiel, aptly named simply "Bird". For a while I despised the term "Woods Holian" as a disparaging term, (I even made an Urban Dictionary definition page for it at www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Woods%20Holian). Then I turned that wound into the fuel to make this angry, and at times absurd, club banger anthem of self-empowerment, in which I address various grievances and swagger about. The California line naturally was the product of the December student blues, i.e. being cooped up in the dorm studying and perversely uncomfortable with the chilly weather and overcast skies of Lowell, Massachusetts, likely due to the winter blues and a few bad hangovers. A reference to the It Gets Better anti-bullying campaign is also made.
There is a bit of a trap influence in the production, particularly in the speed of the hi-hats and how they don't merely just keep the 16th or 32nd note, but are sped up to the point of distortion. This is heard a lot in productions by producers like Lex Luger. The snare fills that taper out in triplets are another element I wanted to make use of. The opening repetition of "okay" was partially inspired by André 3000's "alright" repetition in the 2003 hit single "Hey Ya!" by OutKast.
My long-time colleague and collaborator Derek Crofut connected me with Cory Allen of Altered Ear Audio Mastering.
lyrics
Okay okay okay okay
okay okay okay okay
Verse 1:
Oh shit, time’s up--I’m back again/If you don’t believe me, ask your friend/all else fails, better ask your man/y’all best believe I got the master plan/and I don’t give a damn ‘bout a ticket holder/better pack up ‘cause your shift is over/finna act up if I’m lit or sober/dead dogs know that I spit the dopest/I got the game, I got the brain/you mock my way, but you’re not the same/I keep it real, I roast and gag/you meet my steel, your toes are tagged/you hatin’ on me, I’m hatin’ back/blowin’ up my phone? Don’t make me laugh/get me in the booth, I’ma lace the track/and the only thing you can really say is “fag”/Oh shit muthafucka, I just called you out!/Rookie on the mic, you can always tell/album in the store, shit won’t hardly sell/bad bitch comin’ out her garter belt/chillin’ out in Weymouth/best believe I’m gettin’ payments/haters ain’t gon’ say shit/unless they want a facelift/I say the shit you afraid to say/put these rappers on layaway/six feet deep they gon’ stay away/I be on my day-to-day/I’ma make it rain today, yo swag is a raincheck/you be drinkin’ fake beer, I be goin’ apeshit
Chorus:
I’m gon’ make it, you can’t break me
California, come and save me
storm or sunlight, that don’t phase me
y’all are in for a rude awakening
I’m gon’ make it, you can’t break me
California, come and save me
storm or sunlight, that don’t phase me
y’all are in for a rude awakening
Verse 2:
Catch me out in a brown ‘llac/steady blowin’ that loud pack/better give me my crown back/you just look like a drowned rat/animals in freezers/ladies pushin’ them beamers/po’in’ up 151 sittin’ pretty in a two-seater/hated on, look at me now/on these hoes, ‘bout to clown/this a battle, you backin’ out/only chips that I’m stackin’ now/It Gets Better, you best believe/these haters don’t make sense to me/curry powder, they sesame/only live ‘cause I let them breathe/and I don’t know what canteen is, bitch/didn’t go to jail, don’t give two shits/we used to roll a L, then sip two fifths/used to ride around with my brain too lit/this shit you hear it you love it/at the crib or in public/you makin’ ignorant comments but bitch I think nothing of it/man I gotta keep goin’, ‘cause the drama ain’t worth it/it’s been too many nights that I been wakin’ up hurtin’/and it go…
Chorus:
I’m gon’ make it, you can’t break me
California, come and save me
storm or sunlight, that don’t phase me
y’all are in for a rude awakening
I’m gon’ make it, you can’t break me
California, come and save me
storm or sunlight, that don’t phase me
y’all are in for a rude awakening
credits
from Distillery,
released August 9, 2013
Vocals by Reuben Walton
Lyrics written by Reuben Walton
Composed by Reuben Walton
Produced by Reuben Walton
Programming by Reuben Walton
Recorded by Reuben Walton
Edited by Reuben Walton
Mixed by Reuben Walton
Mastered by Cory Allen of Altered Ear Audio Mastering
Reuben Walton is a singer/songwriter and music producer based in Falmouth, MA. He is a graduate of Musicians Institute in
Hollywood's Independent Artist program and their Electronic Music Production program, as well as UMass Lowell’s Music Business undergraduate program.
In 2019 he put out a self-titled EP working with producer AVLI Music and is now regularly releasing new music....more
Super dreamy and spacey, just the way I like it. Beautiful music, recommended for fans of Best Coast, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, and other bands. Check 'em out! "D'Arrest" is my favorite! Reuben Walton
