Everything And Nothing - A Deeper Dive

In life, we constantly come across situations and experiences that leave us to wonder about a lot of things it has to offer. Whether those points in time leave a positive or negative impact on our overall morality and outlook on life, they leave us feeling (or wanting to feel) everything, nothing, or even both. From the disappointing burden of failure, the blissful highs that short-term pleasure brings, and the constant pressure to keep pushing and doing what is deemed to be the right thing, "Everything And Nothing" is a concept album based on the portrayal of a person, an artist, and a creator who seeks nothing but improvement, despite any of the thoughts that are contested on a daily basis.

Everything And Nothing

In the title track, "Everything And Nothing," we are envisioned with a kid who's been running through life, just trying to make sense of any of the madness going on around him. During this time it seems almost as if he's also driven himself into his own madness, and is having feelings of doubt about being able to change his ways before it's too late. The awareness of the situation is no match to the feeling of numbness and indifference that resides just below the skin, and because of that, overcoming the feeling seems nearly impossible to him.

But this isn't the first time he'd be going down a road like this. He knows that in the long run, no matter how many people are around him who want to help, he's the only one who can be 110% sure of what he has to do for himself, and he's done fucking around. Upon this self-realization, he has made it a point to work on himself every day. No matter what was going on in the outside world, his family, his creations, and his dreams to intertwine the two became his top priority. No more wasting away on the bathroom floor every Friday night, no more video-game-stoner-sessions, and definitely no more driving around town to smoke weed and get munchies. As fun as they may have always been to him, he knew he had to pull away from those things completely in order to focus. To truly devote everything he possibly can to what he genuinely felt like he was put on this earth to do. Other than his family and the people who were involved and supported his passions, this would be the last that most would see him, at least for the time being.

Animals

I almost seem to consider this song as somewhat of a second "intro" to the EP. With this groovy and ever-flowing beat, my mind was opened up to new flows and cadences, and with it being a finished track months before the rest of the EP was written, it has definitely helped influence me to take a majority of my sound in a similar direction.

Creating music with Cha$eJuggz and CIO has always been an absolute pleasure, because we're all so close that whenever we get together for a session it's just automatically fun. No matter how many times we have to do it to get it right, and even if we end up wanting to scrap a song completely, it's never a trying or dreary process. Between the positive vibes from CIO relentlessly hyping up anything we work on, and the precision that Cha$e brings to the table when it comes to his sound engineering (as well as production), it is mutually understood that we're guaranteed to create a piece of music that we are all genuinely proud of, every time. So long as we are patient with the process, which I will admit, can be something I go against sometimes.

When it comes down to it, the lyrics to "Animals" are pretty self-explanatory for the most part. You're with your boys, doing what you love, what you're passionate about, and you're having a damn good time doing it. You can't let anyone bring you down because you know the path you're on just shines more light in your direction than anything else in this world. In fact, you just want to straight up ignore anyone in your vicinity who might have these intentions. You know that all you need is your vision and your team, and the world will fall into your hands. Like animals, you will feed until hunger is no longer a factor, meaning you are knowingly in a constant cycle of reaching a certain level of satisfaction before resetting and having to do it all over again for your own good. Only thing is, you don't care, because you just can't stop, and you need to keep up with whatever goal it is you have set.

Let's Touch The Sky

This track is particularly special because (as anyone who's heard the track would know) is dedicated to my very lovely girlfriend, Katie. We've been each other's life companions for over a year now, and through all the ups and downs, I wouldn't trade any of it in for a second. We have both mutually found something in each other that we've never seen or felt before, and I couldn't be more grateful to be able to share our life journeys with each other.

We all eventually find that person who we want to spend the rest of our life with, and when that does happen, we tend to undergo a variety of emotions that can be both positive and negative. No matter what, though, you both know that when all is said and done, either one of you will climb mountaintops for one another and as a whole, because nothing can change your undying love for each other. A love which cannot be measured in any shape or form, because it is just completely incomparable to whatever you thought love was before.

On A Roll

I like to call this one the "summer song" of the EP (as well as "Animals"). This funky, upbeat instrumental immediately had my mind racing with ideas. One of them being that I knew I needed to get my brother, Dr. Droop (formerly known as Drewbie in the song "Foreign") to match the energy for the second half of this track. With this being the second song we've made together, the chemistry we have seems to be relatively evident, and if you were to ask me, the pieces to this track fell together perfectly because of it. A handful of our family has always had some sort of investment into a musical craft, and to be able to share those ideals with my own brother to make something meaningful, while also being able to bond with each other in the process is amazing to me. I will always cherish those opportunities.

When it comes to "On A Roll," the topic is two subjects that may seem to contradict each other. Those two things are planning for the future, and living in the moment. It seems rather difficult to do both at the same time, or maybe even impossible, but I personally strategize to intertwine both of these paths of thinking by premeditatively choosing where to live in the moment. I know, it sounds pretty fuckin' stupid, and probably doesn't make much sense. But what I mean when I say this is that if you choose where to be in the moment, it could eventually, potentially, benefit your entire future. Yeah, waking up and grinding isn't necessarily what anyone wants to do every day of their life, but if you somehow manage to find a sense of purpose as to why you're doing it, and even possibly try to make some fun or amusement out of it (even if it can be cynical at times), it can really be a complete game changer. With this mindset, it has brought me to change what I tell myself from "Why am I here?" to "This is why I'm here." What's my "Why?" Well, in the grand scheme of things, I want to be able to spread love and give light to others in any way possible, as well as give my family everything they ever wanted and nothing less. Just like Dr. Droop said he just wants to stack his commas until he puts our mother in a mansion. We all have our why, and once we find that, nothing else matters. We won't let anyone turn us off track or tell us how to take on our vision.

City Lights

This song brings back the character we were introduced to in the beginning of the EP. He's still facing the same troubles he'd been facing then, only now it seems as if he's come to some sort of level of acceptance. The kid knows he's running out of time to do all of the things he waned to do, both then and now. It may not be known how quickly time is running out for him, but when it comes down to it, there's no changing the fact that at one point or another, everything will be over. As hard as this realization is to grasp, there's nothing that can be done other than live life in the fullest form.

With the constant emergence of thoughts at any given moment, it can be very helpful to weed out which ones should (or shouldn't) be acted upon. It's known to live life to the fullest, but how we do that is sometimes where the road can get bumpy, and this kid knows that he can become indulgent in any activity (or lack thereof), both positive and negative. Because of this, it has helped him find a balance between everything that's important in his life. Not only that, but that same balance helped for improvement in each of those important aspects, and it's put himself ahead of his former self by providing leeway for the things he had once pushed off constantly. By no means are things perfect, but they're never going back to how they were.

Implicit Verity

In the closing statement of Everything And Nothing, what has seemed to be the unwritten truth for the majority of this time becomes "written." Although this truth is one that doesn't have a need to be said outright, I feel that it's something that helps clear the air for anyone who is concerned. Between my (sometimes) weird play on words and my occasional vibe changes, I often tend to think that my music may be perceived in a few different ways, and in this song I take a chance to portray things from my perspective.

Through all the twisted lyricism, the main message has always been very simple. I've always wanted nothing more than to spread peace, love, and happiness, but when it comes down to it, we all know that can be easier at some points than others to hold true to this mindset. So at the end of the day, a lot of us (myself included) will do everything in our power in order to block out anything that we feel goes against those morals. Even if it means pulling ourselves away from people and/or things we truly care about, we know that in the grand scheme of things, we can never let anyone or anything disrupt the peace within ourselves. I genuinely believe inner peace and comfortability within doing the things you love and care about are a key component in any potential positive impact. With that being said, I will always push for peace within myself before anything in this world, because I can't create peace in a world where I am not at peace with myself, and there's nothing that can keep me from pushing.

In Conclusion

While I just spent the past few minutes talking about what this EP means to me from a writer's perspective, I definitely encourage any of my listeners and fans to take their own personal, sentimental messages from these songs into their own lives. I've always strived to create music that people can feel and relate to, and if there's even just a single person in this world who goes to listen to my music to feel better about themselves or the world around them, then that's all I could ever ask for.

The creation, release, and feedback of this EP has been an absolutely wonderful process to watch, and I couldn't be more grateful for the amazing people that have helped me and supported me during the creation and release of this awesome project. From Cha$eJuggz engineering Animals and Dr. Droop engineering the rest of the EP, to the phenomenal producers being so great at what they do, to my love, Katie, for delivering nothing short of a masterpiece for at my cover art, and to all of you who may be reading this right now: You are the reason any of this is possible. Yeah, I can create music no matter what, and while I will always do exactly that, you guys are what make it so much more worthwhile. I will always push to create music that makes people truly want to live and feel alive, because you guys are what makes me want to live. I could never repay all the people who have shown me more to life than just being in the gutter, and I appreciate all of you, forever,