My Rap Song -- I'll Die When I'm Famous

Update: The MP3 shared with Google Docs stripped the .mp3 extension for some reason. If you downloaded that, simply rename the file with .mp3 and it should work. But I've uploaded it on a new site just to make sure. Re-download it here and it should be functional.

I went through a phase during college when I had got some royalty-free samples and music-creation software and just kinda went apeshit. Most of the songs were complete shit, but one of them, in particular, likely will become the one thing that I am remembered for -- for all time.

It was a rap song titled "I'll Die When I'm Famous."

It was almost exactly five years ago. I wrote and recorded it in one day. Inspiration hit me like a giant, gold, diamond-encrusted dollar-sign pendant, and creativity spattered from my fingers onto the computer screen like a fucking Jackson Pollock painting. I could tell I had something huge here -- massive. I threw together dozens of samples to compose a song that probably could cure AIDS if it were a biological compound. It came out more quickly and naturally than walking.

From there, I went on to listen to the backing music hundreds of times as I wrote accompanying lyrics. The lyrics tell the tale of a young, fledgling rapper who at first doesn't believe in himself, but he aspires to make a name for himself and prove his family wrong. (Like fools, they did not appreciate his genius.) The story ends in a hopeful tone -- indeed, one of the final lyrics, "I'll be livin' to the max," beautifully brings the listener to the realization that this optimistic fellow will not give up on his dreams. He will not die ... until he is famous.

I probably could expand the story in this song into a full-length novel/feature movie, but I need to let the song itself get legs first and make the journey it needs to make.

But at this point, you're surely curious to hear the final product. Well, I'll do you one better. I'll give you an MP3 of the final song so you can take a listen, and after you're done, you can listen again while reading the accompanying  lyrics, which have author notes in the margins for certain parts of the song. (Not hand-written notes, of course, because that's so 1980s. They're MS Word notes.) It is not often you have the chance to catch a glimpse of genius in progress.

Enjoy.

I'll Die When I'm Famous (MP3)

I'll Die When I'm Famous (Lyrics, JPG so all can read them with notes)

- SPG