3/4/23

Over the last few weeks ive rested on my laurels in a way after the release and positive reception of my first album. This wasn’t done in a traditional way though, as instead of enjoying the things i love without the stress of recording and writing and mixing, ive just been doing a ridiculous amount of schoolwork with nothing to distract me from graduation in a few short months. My abstinence from production has also come about as a result of my inability to put together original melodies that sound even as good as the sample flips that i’ve done up to this point, which i need to be able to do to grow as an artist enough for a wider audience to take me seriously. However, the prospect of this second album and the reality of my departure from pittsburgh have combined and given me this sort of inspirational anxiety, and made me realize that i never really appreciated where i come from. Pittsburgh in its prime when Mac and Wiz were at their commercial peaks in 2011 was a real community with people who went out of their way to help other people from the city. Pittsburgh in 2023 is a husk of its former self, with all of the companies and artists that were generated from that time period either dead or long since emigrated. Its also gentrified to hell with no hub for creativity or tolerance for anything other than football and cubicle work. However, it’s still my home, and i’ve seen remnants of the past as well as indicators of an achievable future through diy houses and record shops and other little spots that often go overlooked in popular circles. Ive also taken the little community i grew up in for granted, as I’ve known the same 60 kids for 10 years and even the ones i don’t like i have some sort of history with. The realization of these two things just makes me wonder if i’ve missed any crucial opportunities that could have propelled me even further. But alas id rather not know for fear of regretting and shan’t fly where the sun can harm me. But I will make the most out of the finite amount of time that I do have left. Over the next 5 months, I am going to bring pittsburgh back to a place where it can reestablish itself as a place of peace and culture beyond that of a 1950s blue collar city with a hipster facade. I am going to reopen myself entirely to my community and enjoy it while I have it left. I am going to initiate what i believe has been long foreshadowed but never noticed out of doubt and incredulity. And I am going to set forth a series of events that will go unparalleled by any one individual for years after my passing. These are the stakes behind this second album. I will meet them.