Breakdown: “Bounce” (2018) from State of Mind

Growing up listening to hip hop music, there always seemed to be this stigma of needing a “party track” in order to have a lead single.  Something people could groove to and enjoy in the club.  Around the time of making my first album State of Mind, this criteria of needing the bouncy first single got me thinking that I too needed to make a club type song.  But to be perfectly honest, the party scene wasn’t me. I would occasionally go out to bars with friends and have the occasional alcohol indulgence during a New Year’s Day party, but I was never that type of thrill seeker.  So how does a person who doesn’t party create a party track?

Only things I know about partying is that alcohol is involved and partying is an excuse to do stupid fun stuff with friends and/or family.  In fact, doing wacky things under the influence was my biggest takeaway, and so “Bounce” was thought of but wasn’t given the name at the time.  First I had to find the right beat.

Looking back through my archives I stumbled upon this beat I did up back in 2012 that just had that early 2000s party vibe.  In fact, the inspiration for the beat was the track “Get Up” by 50 Cent produced by Scott Storch.  The entire structure was influenced by the brass segment that Storch used and the drum pattern involved that invoked this energy of talking your shit to a clubby track.  I started with the drums, the synths, and did up my own spin for the beat.

When I pulled this beat out of my vault, I instantly knew this was the party type track I wanted to go for.  The hook probably took a week to finalize and was the easiest part because it cemented exactly how I wanted to approach the track. “Shit’s going down tonight” just drove the whole concept and gave me the outlet to spin a story of just doing stupid things for the verses.

In the first verse, I wanted to mention a celebration that was absurd and decided on mentioning dropping an album with only one fan on SoundCloud but 200 haters that would trash the project.  (In hindsight, one fan even at that time was still a celebration and I appreciated everyone who continues to listen to State of Mind as a whole.). I shouted out local Sacramento clubs my friends and I would frequent such as the K-Stree Coin-Op, the Player’s Club (downstairs and upstairs), and the K Street Dive Bar.  During that time, we were always looking for reasons to go to these bars and have fun.  So much so that I even put my good friend and roommate at the time for one line on the track. “Yo B you wanna get drinks?”.  Pretty much the only feature on my first project.

Second verse involved more absurdity.  I wanted to write a verse about how I was promiscuous under the influence and would some times get it on in my car.  The Land Rover was fictional but getting it on in a car… Not so much.  But what solidified my absurdity was the end where I talked about going back to the same bar the next night and begin to flirt with a gal whose dude notices and tries to approach me. Instead of fighting or running, I just told him I wanted to get at his girl.

Third verse comes in and I wanted to try and switch it up a bit.  The rhyme scheme I used in the beginning was solely based off the Rick and Morty references I was making but also not too far from the truth. Whiskey is my drink of choice and yes it does get me frisky.  I eventually end the verse with a telling of how the track was BS but I just want to have fun whenever I leave the house.

I sometimes look back at the track and think of how silly it is and how naive and young I was putting out music. But over the years, I’ve grown to really cherish this track and hope to actually perform it live in all its absurdity some day.  If not for the lyrics but for the beat.  I would say tho that the hook is pretty damn dope too.

Until next time!

https://youtu.be/_eUw5IUzMZM