I named the song Survive and Advance after the NCAA basketball tournament. I felt that not only was the tournament a game of Survive and Advance, but it also was the story of my life. I wrote the verse to the Scarface song “Never”, and produced the track soon thereafter. I wanted to give the listener a synopsis of what went on in life between the Volume Three album and the release of Survive and Advance. My verse is a combination my experiences in a three span, as well as what was going on in the streets. I wanted to write a verse that told the truth to the people with an emphasis on perseverance and success. This was my original pick for the first track on the album, but In the South ended up first on the project because of its mass appeal.
The sample at the beginning of the track is from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It contains an excerpt from a conversation between Johnny Depp & Keith Richards. Richards tell Depp, “It’s not just about living forever, the trick is living with yourself forever”. I took it as every decision you make in the present will be with you for the rest of your life. Choose wisely..
D Bright
When I first heard the track, D Bright had the beat and his verse already done. I immediately decided to continue the same pattern as he did, it just fit the beat perfectly. I had been talking with one of my dudes about the community, our kids,and this music. I wanted to get out how I felt about a few certain topics. For example no one can take criticism anymore. Go tell somebody that something they are doing is wrong their reply is gonna be you’re a hater.
Here in Oklahoma lately its been a outbreak of killings and these are young men (16-22) and they dont have any rules
or codes and no remorse for the loss of life. Which lead to my next point, there are millions of young kids tryin to be
gangsta’s like they favorite rappers but they favorite rappers adventures are over beats, you cant get killed in a
song unless you write it that way!! But these youngsters keep looking up to these created personas and phony drug kingpins like they are fact, and then try to live that way. It’s a very thin line between explaining and exploiting.
My last point I wanted to hit on was people blaming certain regions or certain kind of music for the lack of creativity in
music now. Rappers have been making dance/party music since the beginning of rap. Rap originated at parties!! So for people to say Soulja Boy is killin Hip Hop is amazing to me. If you really want to know whats killing hip hop I’d advise them to listen to Mos Def’s “The Rapeover”
Zirc D
