SO…DID WE FREAK Y’ALL OUT? :]

First off, thank you all so much for checking out the new EP and for writing in and voting for your favorite song. The response has been amazing, and we’re so glad you all are so into it. The funny thing is that the votes are scattered across all six songs so much to the point that we can’t tell which is everyones favorite! Apparently you all like them pretty much equally, which is really fuckin cool. So here’s the new gameplan: since we can’t pinpoint your favorite songs, we’ve decided to give away the whole six song EP at once! Over the weekend we’ll post a link to download the whole EP as one file, and we’ll leave the 6 six songs up on myspace for a couple more weeks for your listening pleasure. After that point we’re gonna remove the download site, and remove the songs from our player, so jump on it while you can! You won’t hear or see the “The Certain Way EP” again till it’s official release at some point later this year. It’s our gift to you all, who have been so incredibly supportive and PATIENT throughout the last few years.

Secondly, we’ve had a lot of people ask us about the sound of the EP, and why the songs are named after colors, and basically how it all came about. While we’re well aware of how different it is from our old stuff, and even from the few songs you’ve heard from the upcoming Rapstars LP, we didn’t anticipate that you’d all want to know so much about how the project was born! So…here’s the back story of “The Certain Way EP”:

We’ll make one thing clear-we’re wierdos. We’re constantly trying to push the boundaries of music. When we wrote/released “Youth Is Yours” some 4 + years ago, we wrote the songs from a “rock” stand-point, even though the songs are definitively “underground hiphop.” We couldn’t stand the barriers that were placed on underground hiphop, or all of hiphop for that matter at the time. Lets be honest, it can be one of the most conforming genres of music out there, especially in the past decade - and what makes that extra disappointing is that hiphop was founded on the principles of being original and creative. How can you “keep it real” while copying what the last guy did? It makes no sense. Anyway, we’ve always resisted the boundaries, and we’ve turned a lot of people off in the process, but we’ve also gained so many fans that truly understand what we’re trying to accomplish. The ole “high risk, high reward” thing.

As you’re all well aware, its been such a long process putting together and polishing off the Rapstars LP. Our goal to combine rock and hiphop in a way thats never been done before was/is a high one, and it took way more time than anyone anticipated to master it. But master it we did, and you’ll all see that when the record is released later this year. It truly is something special and we say that with no hint of arrogance, just unbounded confidence. But if you think you’ve all gotten frustrated waiting for us to get it done and release it to you, think about how Nick, C-Minus and I felt! Four years of working on the same project, recording songs, trashing songs, re-recording songs, adding new instruments, the whole nine. The literal blood, sweat and tears that have gone into were so well worth it, but it took it’s toll. So Nick and I decided to document the toll it took in the form of “The Certain Way EP.

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It’s a concept record in the truest sense of the term. The songs are named after colors in order to highlight the 6 emotions/feelings we felt throughout the process of recording “Rapstars.” “Red” defines the anger and frustration we felt when it seemed like the album would never be completed. And its about us battling the negative emotions that filled our heads when there was no end in sight. “Green” is the answer to the problems outlined in “Red.” What do to when you feel that way? For us, it was smoke a lot of weed! “Green” defines the gloomy, weed filled afternoons when all we were trying to do was keep our spirits up. “Silver” is about finding the good in anything and everything…the silver lining. Knowing that even though things seem so far out of reach, having faith in staying the course and sticking to your guns. And realizing that anything thats going on in your own life is the result of your own thoughts and decisions. “Black” is the big FUCK YOU to any and all doubters and non-believers. But not an aggressive “fuck you,” just a simple kiss off, forgiving and forgetting. A liberating feeling we all can relate to. “Blue” is the melancholy feel that anyone who lives in a gigantic city can relate to. Sometimes the world around you simply overwhelms you and makes you feel really small, or for lack of a better term, blue. Lost in the shuffle. But that feeling is translated into “Gold” on the last song, where we’ve overcome all doubts and fears and realized that because we’ve finally accomplished our goal, we’re on top of the world, regardless of what anybody else thinks or feels.

For some reason leading up to the EP we were listening to a lot of surf-rock. Stuff from the 60’s where the drums are kinda buried and scattered, the sonic quality is tinny and twangy, and it kinda floats by rather than knocking you over the head. Big up’s to Dan Bala for the perfect mix for this project. We love that airy, surfy stuff, and decided that it would be fun to try to mix hiphop with that aesthetic.

And what better sound to give a project that also documents a lot of quirks of this great city we call Los Angeles?

Another opportunity to push the boundaries, so we took advantage of it. Nick and I pretty much locked ourselves in his apartment and created this little bad boy in about 6 months. It was the only way we could come up with to let out all of the emotions we felt throughout the past 4+ years.

We’re weird, remember?

So there’s the story in all it’s glory. Thanks so much for caring and for wanting to get into our heads. Hopefully that answers all the questions and gives you all more insight into the process. So once again, we’re giving the whole thing away starting this weekend for 2 weeks, and than that’s it! Please check back for the link to the download site…it’ll be up at some point on Saturday.

And the EP is just a small beginning. We’ll be following that up with a total 180 (we’re wierd remember?) and giving you another EP, this time filled with the sounds of late 80’s hiphop. Hard, heavy, fast-paced, nasty C-Minus shit that is our ode to the foundation of true, real, original and creative hiphop. It’s called “The Alligator Souffle EP.” 10 points to anyone who can tell us where that reference came from…

And then comes the big one. The Rapstars LP. We’re in the process of finding a home for it right now, and we’re taking our time because we want to make sure that we find a place for it that will give it the same amount of love that we put into it. It’s an important record, and we want to make sure it’s treated as such. So, I know we’ve been telling you all to wait for sooo long, but its gonna be well worth it, and these EP’s are our gift to you all in the meantime.

Thank you so much again for your support, your patience and your love. It’s kept us going for all this time…really, truly and sincerely…

Love,

Oak and Nick
The L!