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aftg-sunsetz · 1 year

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AFTG Playlist (in no particular order) PART 1

SPOILERS AHEAD

(I was bored so I decided to create a playlist for the AFTG series and their characters. From depression to calm to party etc. I will still write fitting scenes to it (if I have one). I’m always looking for songs to add to my AFTG playlist. Maybe you find a fitting gem

1. Run Boy Run - Woodkid (of course)

2. The Dreamer - Amigo the Devil (The King’s Men chapter 12 the scene between Neil and Andrew, (I read it in public with the song and almost had a breakdown))

3. Little Dark Age - MGMT (TKM after the kidnapping and Neil is on his way from the hospital to the hotel to meet the foxes)

4. Roslyn - Bon Iver (TKM page 353 Neil wants the answer to “This”)

5. You really got me - Oingo Boingo (while they get ready for Edens, especially in TFC)

6. What could have been - Sting (Neil gets kidnapped)

7. 9 Crimes - Damien Rice (either while this one specific scene in TRK (Thanksgiving by Nicky), or while Neil is on his way to the Nest and Andrew is at the psych ward)

8. I’m not human at all - Sleep Party People (TRK Neil gets back from the Nest and calls Wymack to get him from the airport)

9. Welcome to the Jungle - Novo Armor (the first roof scene between Neil and Andrew after he is off his medication)

10. Tear you apart - She wants Revenge (TFC the first time the monsters and Neil are at Edens)

11. Moon Song - Phoebe Bridgers (TKM after Neil got kidnapped and Andrew strangled Kevin, I just imagine him sitting there, staring off into the distance and grieving)

Ohne Dich - Rammstein

12. I hope that you think of me - Pity Party Girls Club (either the team on its way to a game or in TKM when the team takes the vacation after the kidnapping events)

13. Telephones - Vacations (pure vibes)

15. Mount Everst - Labrinth (while the Foxes play a game or while Neil antagonizes someone lmao)

16. Party up The Street - Miley Cyrus (big vibe)

17. Nutshell - Alice in Chains (that’s either a rooftop scene in TKM or the bus scenes on a way to a game, big feelings)

18. Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead (maybe the shower scene in TKM or the Foxes sleeping in a room together :) )

19. God Complex - VIOLENT VIRA (either while Neil gets tortured at the Nest or in the car in TKM or at Baltimore)

20. Ptolemaea - Ethel Cain (Happy 19th Birthday, jr.) That’s literally my favorite fitting, not gonna lie

21. Freaks - Surf Curse (the foxes)

22. Money trees - Kendrick Lamar (Matt and Seth)

23. Swimming Pools - Kendrick Lamar (the Foxes walking into the stadium and playing a game (maybe against the Ravens?))

24. Me and your mama - Childish Gambino (while Allison and Seth have like an on and off montage)

25.Redbone - Childish Gambino (Neil and Andrew making out (remember the scene while Neil tried to study and Andrew was bored...))

26. God knows I’ve tried - Kelsy Karter & The Heroines (the foxes ->

“I've been smokin', drinkin', lyin', cheatin' I've overpromised, but underachieved And I usually ain't afraid of nothing But saying this out loud terrifies me I've been breakin' hearts, stealin' cars Takin' shit to walk on Mars To never say sorry don't mean I'm not sorry Baby, I'm sorry, oh, baby, I'm sorry I'm sorry for the pain I've caused For all the moments I've gone and lost Don't you know I've tried to be good? ”)

27. The Wisp Sings - Winter Aid (Neil in the plane on his way to the Nest)

28. Overcome - Skott (kinda a Kevin song)

29. Alligator Skin Boots - McCafferty (the conflict between Andrew and Aaron, especially an Aaron song) my second favorite fitting

30. The Night We Met - Lord Huron (Neil leaving his belongings behind and the foxes, Andrew, Home and follows Lola)

31. Hey, Mickey - Baby Tate (Kevin when he is in public lmao or the first time he meets Neil in Millport, when he gets introduced)

32. Energy - Beyonce (that’s Nicky for sure)

33. That That (feat. SUGA of BTS) - Psy (the Trojans, maybe they start to get warmed up first and the Foxes watch them)

34. Y’all Want a Single - Korn (Neil when he has press duty lmao)

35. Afraid to Feel - LF SYSTEM (the Foxes training at the gym)

36. Move Like U Stole It - ZZ Ward (Dancing at Edens)

37. Stop it - FISHER (getting cracker dust and eating ice cream)

Songs fitting for:

Allison, Dan and Renee: - Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill (when they get introduced, especially fitting for Allison) - Violet - Hole - Cherry Bomb - The Runaways (also, especially Allison (just love this girl)) - You call me a bitch like it’s a bad thing - Halestorm (Allison and Dan) - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythymics (has a Dan vibe tbh) - transparentsoul - WILLOW (that’s a Renee song) - Mood 4 Ever - Beyonce

Andrew: - This body means nothing to me - Shrimp - Mutter - Rammstein (Mother) - Was ich liebe - Rammstein (What I love) - Next to me - Imagine Dragons - Snuff - Slipknot - Medicine - Daughter

#aftg #allforthegame #kevinday #neiljosten #andrewminyard #aaronminyard #nickyhemmick #davidwymack #reneewalker #allisonreynolds #danwilds #mattboyd #sethgordon #aftgau #aftg trilogy #aftgplaylist #playlist #allforthegameplaylist

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lifewithoutmeds · 1 year

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February 7, 2023

tuesday evening, 8:08 p.m.

i stopped work around 5, made and had dinner with lorena (her contribution: leftover pad thai from Sanamluang Cafe, my contribution: chicken panang with a ton of bellpeppers), and she headed out to go hang with reyna before taking her to the airport where she’ll be taking off to baltimore to go visit her brother.

i did some dishes and prepped a bit for an In Office day tomorrow (pre-grinding my coffee, packing up some rice and panang for lunch), and moving things around from my computer’s hard drive to the external hard drive so i’m able to upload and edit and work on youtube videos (i had gone fishing with my mom on friday and got some gopro footage, but was unable to upload it due to lack of space. one new external hard drive and a quick reformat later, and now i’m finally transferring some files over.)

last week felt normal, but i’ve been feeling a little off since the weekend. on friday i went fishing with my mom, and saturday just did some errands/chores, and sunday lorena suggested we go fishing as she hadn’t in a while, so we went up to santa barbara, fished for a couple hours, then i thought we could go get some pasta in little tokyo, but there was a wait, so we swung by the adjacent mermaid cafe and lo and behold who would i find there but grace, having a quick drink with her old college roommate and her husband. despite our table being ready at pasta e pasta, somehow i/we were convinced to go join the party for an izayaka dinner where we got buzzed, then to tony’s where lorena and grace got drunk. at some point, though all seemed good and well, the night seemed to turn a bit for me. they both went inside i guess to grab a drink, but left me outside for quite a bit. i tried playing some songs on the jukebox to entertain myself, then texted each of them a few times, and finally came in to find them deep in talk, and i felt a touch of ... jealousy? envy? hard to tell. they tried to be like oh we forgot the time, we were talking you up saying how much we loved you! but i think something about it was triggering, and i felt left out, and i felt that gy was working her charm and somehow .... i don’t know, i think i felt weirdly threatened by it, or maybe i felt just like left out. gy was being funny and entertaining and at some point suggested lorena and i kiss, which i thought odd, and i objected, but gy whispered quickly in korean that lorena was into it, and that took me by total surprise and made me reevaluate for about two seconds before deciding against it, ultimately.

eventually we made our way home, with me dropping grace off and somehow getting lorena and i home. actually i think lorena asked to be taken to reyna’s, so i obliged, and then the next day, despite not having drunken much or being hung over, i felt like death/wanting to die, and was unable to do anything but occasionally check my mail and just kind of sleep. at some point lorena made some pasta and we watched white lotus but she seemed bored/distracted, was constantly on her phone, and we both seemed to just want to nap/be somewhere else/doing something else and i felt stupid and fat and unlikeable and self conscious.

today managed to be better, and i ate the rest of the pasta, and managed to shower (for the first time in quite a while), take my meds, drink coffee, and get some work done, and even make up at least for a couple hours for the previous day, and go through most of my checklist, but i just kinda felt weird and anxious and ... i dunno, insecure? did i think grace was seducing her? did i think grace was more funny/charming/better looking than me? did i think grace was coming on to lorena or vice versa? was i just being triggered because i felt left out and sometimes i feel like grace kinda gets into a clique that i’m left out of? because i know that’s a feeling i often get.

ultimately, i don’t think sparks were flying between the two of them or they’re rushing to become best friends without me, and grace seemed to have blacked out/not remember most of the night and certainly didn’t remember trying to get us to make out, and both she and lorena insisted that what they mostly did was talk me up and how great i am and how much they both loved me, which was certainly nice to hear, but i think i would have rather been present for it than alone outside in the cold, wondering when they were coming back. i think sometimes i’m afraid that i’m just the driver, the valet, the beer-getter, i’m just the errand girl while everyone else just lives their life and for whatever the reason, i allow it and people expect it and it’s just terrible and makes me feel like boundaries are being crossed but no one, including myself, respects me enough to do anything about it.

anyway. i texted some with gy and talked some with lo, and feel better in general, but just a bit uneasy, a bit insecure with where i stand with both of them, maybe vaguely afraid they’re in love with each other and once again, lorena falls in love with everybody but me, and maybe if i weren’t so fat or so self loathing, i could be loved, but .... as it is, it’s currently hopeless and i’m unloveable. i know these are just bad feelings but i’m just trying to flesh them out because i’m really not sure where these entrenched triggers are coming from. i hope i can calm down sooner than later.

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cyarskj1899 · 1 year

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songsbanana · 2 years

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webuyhousesbaltimore · 3 years

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she-toadmask · 3 years

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Fuck it. Long post about the animatic for this mashup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WxAJpP9FKA) that I would love to do but simply don’t have the project focus for.

Not a single coherent story or anything, just the different ideas the snippets give me. All somehow Minecraft related. Some are Team Crafted, a couple are Hermitcraft S7 but more the beginning, some are just Minecraft typical characters (Notch, Herobrine, Alex, Steve)

Oh and a couple of them are Sanders Sides

Also sometimes they vibes and ideas come from the context of the source musical (because I know it), sometimes I don’t know the context and/or much of anything about the source musical so I just go off the lyrics and vibes (so if someone here has an interest in musicals and thinks some of the vibes are wrong...sorry????? lmao)

0:00 to 0:10 (Hellfire instrumental): title card duh

0:11 to 0:23 (Miss Baltimore Crabs): Notch being a whiny bitch like ‘ugh things used to be so good when I was the god of this world creating things and now things are just awful’

0:24 to 0:42 (Charming): Something something just stills of Patton in a skirt going across the screen or something??? (Upon second thought maybe it’s him and Roman stills and Janus is warning Virgil or smth???? Idk it’s pre-redux vibes but whatever I had nothing)

0:43 to 0:55 (Kick it Up a Notch): I just remember vibes of someone being chained up and the captor looming over them but I have no idea who they were I promise I get more ideas later on these are just rough (Ok maybe it was like Janus looming over Virgil but again the vibes aren’t up-to-date and I don’t have as strong thoughts here ANYWAY MOVING ON)

0:56 to 1:12 (Blood in the Water/When the Going Gets Tough blended): I don’t remember my original thought but two characters circling a third vibes are strong here like maybe Enderlox and WitherMU circling Skybrine??? Maybe???

1:13 to 1:36 (Razzle Dazzle): Again pre-redux Sanders Sides vibes but Janus talking to Roman and then just Roman being Roman I guess? Just like (this fits in with some other Chicago animatics featuring Sanders Sides folks that I would love to do but never will) Roman committed murder (obvs) and Janus is Corrupt Lawyer and reassuring him that the press will love him and he’ll get off (also the foreign girl in Cell Block Tango is Patton)

1:37 to 1:46 (Dentist): I think I just was thinking Skybrine posing and doing some stupid little dance? Idk a lot of iffy ones in these first two minutes yikes

1:47 to 2:04 (Killer Instinct): I had a good idea for this one! But it’s gone! Oof!

2:05 to 2:23 (Loud): So Bruno and Augustus are standing on either side of Seto (normal) and are singing the song and going to make him join Klub Ice. At the line ‘the less you have to say the louder you yell it’ they pull off his big cloak/robe/whatever and then during the next line they’re somehow (idk Klub Ice magic roll with it) changing his clothes from whatever he wore under the cloak into appropriate Klub Ice attire and then shove him offscreen (idk just this part and the way she sings it gives me hella Klub Ice vibes just like brain? nah fam be loud and sexy and party)

2:24 to 2:52 (Stars): All I remember was someone standing on a rooftop looking out and that’s...just the song.

2:53 to 3:14 (Wait for it): Again I have no idea what I thought at the time but it was definitely angsty (:

3:15 to 3:24 (A Sentimental Man): I know Notch is singing (because evil man everyone thinks is good) and the vibes I’m getting now are either Sky or Steve and I have no idea which.

3:25 to 3:45 (Hey Little Songbird): Herobrine is singing and smoking a cigar/ette and grinds it under his foot at the end to put it out, I think maybe he was singing to Alex? Could also be like TrueMU or Deadlox or something but idk mate

3:46 to 3:56ish (Macavity): It’s about Herobrine who is appearing vaguely in the background making sexy(?) poses and someone else was in the foreground singing at some point??? Idk could be Sky and Deadlox could be Steve and Alex who tf knows not me not today

3:57 to 4:05 (The Pitiful Children): I think I had Herobrine singing to not-brine Sky? Circling ofc but if there was context it’s long vanished from my brain

4:06 to 4:16 (Easy Street): oh hey look hermitcraft It’s from the Head Games and whoever was giving all the cave spider heads is just dancing and a bunch of cave spider heads fall down and then at the end Cleo shows up as SpiderCleo and is just pissed

4:17 to 4:30 (The American Dream): I. Honestly have even less clue than the others. I think this one was always a weird one and honestly after learning a little bit about the source musical idk if I want to mess with that

4:31 to 4:42 (What’s Up Duloc): Ok I love this one it’s evil Notch and he’s just like looking over the world like ‘I’m going to destroy this’ and on the ‘bum bum bum bum bum’ small pictures of the Team Crafted folks in despair at an event pop up on beat like that’s what he’s planning to do to destroy them because Team Crafted strong like I seriously love that idea

4:43 to 5:03 (World Burn): Pretty simple, just Evil Xisuma, cuts on certain beats, whatever he has is maybe like somethign that brings up an admin panel? Or something like that? Anyway just Evil Xisuma being evil and angry what if it was emblazoned with a shimmering red apple on the back like a red version (for Hels) of a Notch apple because I love me some evil Notch

5:04 to 5:31 (Last Midnight): Another one I really really like! Going with some source vibes, like Herobrine is holding Sky’s amulet (he got deadified) and he’s singing it so angrily because his son (adopted because of magic deals but shhh) is dead due to these assholes and the assholes include Mitch (idk I guess Jerome is the ‘Baker’s wife’ here and got fucked over by prince bitch), Deadlox, TrueMU, and I guess Ssundee? Idk it’s just angry and upset Herobrine because people can suck and now his son is dead

5:32 to 5:44ish (Poor Unfortunate Souls): Felt more like an evil Herobrine song to me. He’s doing the deal thing and stuff is emphasized with fire because duh, probably Sky on the other side of the deal because Skybrine yeet, but yeah the fun

5:45 to 6:09 (Meant to be Yours): Deadlox (suitably fucked up because Heathers) banging on Sky’s closet door (Sky is inside because Heathers context) and there’s an image of them standing before a burning building idk it’s just the Heathers song but the bits she takes for the mashup and with Team Crafted boys

6:10 to 6:16 (Johanna): Uhhhhh the singer isn’t shown but I think it was just feminine Alex dancing and then sitting and looking out a window

6:17 to 6:40 (Hellfire for real this time): Notch is standing in a religious looking building and thinking horny thoughts and the object of his lust is also feminine Alex because reasons

6:41 to 6:55 (bits of some of the other songs): Just mini frames of the scenes; at the end the whole screen is Evil X doing his thing

I do not remember as much as I wish I did but hey it’s there

Anyway some of these could work as full animatics for the source song (Loud is a maybe, Poor Unfortunate Souls is obviously doable, Last Midnight is also a maybe, Razzle Dazzle definitely has the appropriateness for a full animatic) but some of them do not because of context and other stuff (Like...most of the ones I wasn’t sure about and then also Easy Street because the rest of it is significantly less fun, What’s Up Duloc has a lot of musical context in there, stuff like that). Idk it was just something I was thinking about again and this was the best way to talk about it all.

Also I thought evil Notch was underutilized and then I found more fics and I am vibing with them like I don’t have a problem with good Notch in fics but evil is so much more fun (then again I love Herobrine as a character because you can write him however the fuck you want sooooo)

#mcyt #might delete #seriously evil notch is my jam #especially if he's still the creator! not because evil creator is my jam specifically like #he is a god or powerful and just doesn't like the world or the people in it #and is going to be evil and shit

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abundanceofsoph · 4 years

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SkyFire 1: Chapter 21

On the Road Again cont. & Rascal Flatts: August 2015

Word count: 3.3k

SkyFire 1 MASTERLIST

>Instagram posts

As August began, the band found themselves back in New York. Following a show in Pittsburgh they arrived in the morning, the day before they were scheduled to appear on Good Morning America for the shows Summer Concert series and since it was scheduled to be filmed in Central Park, a mere stones throw away from Avengers Tower, it made sense for them to stay there instead of booking hotel suites for all of them.

Tony and Steve were glad to have Rori home, if only for two days, having missed her while she travelled with the band for the last 2 months and she’d missed them too, of course, happy to be home briefly before continuing on with the tour for another month. That evening they all crowded into the living room in the penthouse with Sam, Bucky and Thor joining the Stark-Rogers family and the band. They watched a movie, Aurora curled up against Tony, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. She fell asleep at some point, waking up when Louis started throwing popcorn at her, causing Niall to laugh hysterically. They didn’t stay up too late, aware of how early they would need to be up the following morning.

They sky was still dark when they woke the next morning and the sun was still hidden behind the city skyline, barely lighting the sky as they left the tower and walked across the road towards the southwest corner of Central Park. They were joined by the bands security team as they made their way up West Drive and across Sheep Meadow to reach the Summer Stage in Rumsey Playfield. Despite the pre-dawn hour, fans were already camped out across the park, having slept out overnight to ensure their spots for the concert and the five of them dashed towards the backstage tents behind the stage, avoiding drawing the attention of the fans in the soft morning light.

Finally, the sun rose into the sky, warming the summer morning and Aurora grinned with pride as they boys sat on the stage in front of all their fans, talking about the upcoming album, the rest of the tour and Louis’ exciting baby news. By the time the interview concluded, and the boys prepared for the first song, the morning was already warming up and Aurora removed her jacket, revealing her sundress and her most recent tattoo, a rose nestled between her shoulder blades, the stem tracing down her spine. She lifted her hands into the air, joining the fans surrounding her, cheering as the boys stepped back out on the stage and started the performance.

By the time the last song came to an end, Aurora made her way out of the crowd and towards the backstage tent, throwing her arms around Harry once he made his way of the stage.

xXx

After leaving New York, the tour stopped in Rutherford and Baltimore before taking 9 days off and while Niall, Liam and Louis used the time to fly home and see family briefly, Harry and Aurora headed for the coast to spend a few days on the beach.

Aurora barely wasted a moment to drop her bags inside the little beachfront cottage that they’d rented before she was out the door and heading down to the warm sand. Harry joined her a few moments later, wrapping his arms around her stomach as he came up behind where she was standing, her eyes closed and face turned towards the water, soaking up the afternoon sunlight, their toes digging into the sand below them.

They spent the next few days swimming in the ocean, reading or watching movies in the evenings and revelling in the opportunity to spend time alone together with nowhere to be or no one demanding their attention for one thing or another. On their last evening they were curled up on the porch swing, looking out over the moonlit waves, a blanket thrown over their laps to ward off the cool breeze blowing up off the ocean. Harry had a glass of wine in one hand, his other resting around Aurora’s shoulders as her head lay on his shoulder.

“So, there’s something I need to tell you before we get back to the tour,” Harry said, breaking the comfortable silence that had stretched around them in the summer night. “Something the boys and I have been talking about for a while now.”

“Should I be worried?” Rori asked, lifting her head up to look into his eyes.

“No,” Harry promised, “but we’ve decided to take a break. We’re going to go on a hiatus for a year or two.”

“What?” Aurora asked, surprised by the news, having had no idea that it was even an idea before now. “But things have been going so well. Why?”

“We’re all exhausted,” he explained. “None of us have gotten the chance to see our families or live our lives for more than a few weeks at a time in years. We’re in our early 20s and we’ve been working non-stop for the last 5 years. Zayn leaving just made us realise that this isn’t healthy for any of us and we decided we should take a year or two off now before any of us burn out. I don’t want any of them to leave like he did, I can’t do that again. If we all take a break now, we can make sure that doesn’t happen. I just hope the fans don’t hate us for it.”

“Oh Harry,” Rori sighed, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and pulling him tightly against her. “They’ll be upset but they’ll support you guys no matter what happens. So will I.”

“I love you Rori,” he whispered. “Don’t know what I’d do without you in my life.”

“Good thing you’ll never have to find out,” she replied, smiling warmly up at the man she loved before kissing him. “When are you going to announce it?” she asked softly when they pulled apart.

“In a few weeks.”

xXx

Aurora and Harry flew into Columbus, Ohio the day before the band was scheduled to perform there, and while Harry headed for the stadium for rehearsals and interviews, Aurora took a cab to a local music studio.

She was nervous as she climbed out of the cab, adjusting the hem of her shirt as she made her way through the front doors and gave her name to the receptionist behind the front desk. She was buzzed through the doors to the right and instructed to take the first right and then the third door on the left. Aurora knocked as she opened the door and stepped into the control room, the large window in one wall looking into a spacious live room, instruments and microphones already set up and waiting. There were 3 men sitting in the control room, who all stood when she entered, stepping forward to introduce themselves. Gary, Jay and Joe were all lovely guys, and Aurora was a little star struck at first, having been fans of Rascal Flatts for years, but after spending most of the day chatting and getting to know each other she quickly got over that and was able to look forward to working alongside them for the 2 weeks without the overwhelming anxiety.

The following night Aurora watched the boys from the side of stage and once they left the stadium, she spent the evening wrapped up in Harry’s arms back at the hotel.

“So, Toronto, Chicago, Milwaukee and then you’re back with me,” Rori mumbled in the darkness.

“You’ll be so busy writing number 1 hits that you won’t have time to miss me,” Harry chuckled, trying to brighten his girlfriend’s mood.

“I know it’s silly,” she said. “It’s only 2 weeks but I’m so used to sleeping next to you every night.”

“It’s not silly, love,” Harry promised. “I feel the same, and I really wish we were gonna be together when the hiatus announcement drops.”

“You’ll have the boys with you. You’ll be ok. Just remember the fans love you guys so much. They could never hate you.”

“It’s gonna break their hearts though,” Harry mumbled. “Hate the thought of hurting them after they’ve given me my dreams.”

“And that’s why I love you.”

xXx

For the entirety of the two weeks Harry was gone, Aurora spent almost every moment she could in the studio with Gary, Joe and Jay, revelling in the opportunity to spend uninterrupted time writing and playing. She’d never set aside so much time to write music, usually spending an afternoon here or there, or scribbling lyrics in the back of notebooks while she studied, and she loved every minute of it.

“Ok I’ve got half of something,” Rori said one morning after they’d piled into the studio. “Just a half assed melody and a verse and chorus I came up with last night.”

“Alright well let’s hear it,” Joe said.

Aurora flipped open her notebook to the page she scribbled on the previous night and began to sing what she had, humming when she didn’t have the words to fill the gap.

I know we're running … usually two different ways But we need more than just a quick kiss and a wave goodbye I need you and only you by my side Why don't we turn off the phones, get somewhere alone? I'll trace that smile on your face, 'til the stars fade away Baby, cut off the lights, let our hands talk tonight There's things that need to be said, …. Got good love to be made, take as long as it takes One touch at a time, let our hands talk tonight

Joe picked up his guitar when she finished singing and started to put together the melody, asking her to re-sing certain sections, and then Jay was joining in with the bass line and Gary started piecing together another verse. They spent a few says working on the song until they’d finished Hands Talk and moved on to work on something else.

They played most of Yours If You Want It to Aurora towards the end of the first week and she made some suggestions to the unfinished song, writing a section to slip into the song about 2/3rds of the way through.

Every dollar, every dime, every drop of rain Every single thing I could beg, steal, or borrow Every yesterday and tomorrow Well every grain of sand on the beach Every blade of grass under our feet Baby your name is written on it And it's yours if you want it

“I love it,” Gary said, singing it through a few times for smiling widely. “Inviting you down here was the best idea we’ve ever had.”

The second week of Aurora’s stay in Columbia, she and Gary put their heads together and wrote Are You Happy Now over the course of a few days and after Gary sang the song through with Joe and Jay accompanying him on the guitar and bass, and Aurora playing the piano, all four of them were grinning from ear to ear with excitement.

“This one’s good,” Jay said.

“Let’s go through once more I want to try something,” Aurora said, already starting to play the opening keys of the song. The guys laughed at her eagerness but joined in quickly and when they reached the bridge and the third chorus, Aurora joined in on the vocals with Gary.

“Now that I'm not around,” Gary sang with Aurora echoing the line. “Now that you've finally,” Gary began, Aurora joining him on the second half of the line, “lost what you thought that you needed, never would have treated your heart, like you did. What goes around comes back around.” “It's been that way forever,” Gary continued. “Baby, just look at you now,” they sang together, Gary dropping out to let Aurora finish the line alone, “barely holding it together.” they alternated the next four lines seamlessly, Gary singing first and then Aurora.

“We're so in love.”

“but you gave that up.”

“Just look around.” “Just look around.”

And then they sang the last chorus together, occasionally alternating lines, dipping in and out of the lyrics, watching each other to read which lines to take and which to leave for the other.

“Oh wow,” Jay said when they finished the song. “That was incredible.”

Aurora smiled, blushing as all three men gushed about how great hers and Gary’s voices had blended together.

“This going to have to be a duet,” Gary said, before sitting down with the lyrics and working out where to split the song between the two of them. In the end, Gary took the first verse and Aurora took the second, while they sang the chorus’s together, layering their voices together as the song built toward the final chorus, following the same arrangement they’d sang the first time round and then Aurora played out the final few notes on the piano. After practicing the arrangement a few times, they called it a day and agreed that when they came in the next day they would get in the technician to record the song in full since Aurora only had 2 more days left to work with the boys before she had to drive the 2 hours up to Cleveland to meet back up with Harry and the tour.

They spent every minute of those two days recording the track, Aurora not only laying down her vocals but also playing the piano on the track. An hour before she needed to be on the road, they were all crowded into the control room to listen to the finished song, no one making a sound as it played.

Aurora was grinning from ear to ear when the song faded out to silence, immensely proud of the song and all the work they’d put into it over the last week.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity guys,” she said, turning to look at each of them.

“We should be thanking you,” Joe laughed. “We’re the ones that have 3 incredible tracks for the next album thanks to you. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a productive two weeks in our lives.”

“Me either,” Rori agreed. “But honestly I just had so much fun, so thank you for inviting me down here.”

“You’re welcome, Rori,” Gary said. “There’s actually something we wanted to ask you before you leave. We usually perform at the CMAs in November and me and the boys were talking last night. We were wondering if you’d want to come down and debut Happy Now with us?”

“You want me to sing at the Country Music awards with you?” Aurora asked, shock clear on her face and in her voice causing all three men to chuckle.

“We do,” Jay replied. “The songs bloody great. You in?”

“Absolutely!” Aurora cheered, grinning broadly, all three men hugging her tightly before she said her goodbyes and climbed into the cab waiting for her outside.

xXx

Unlike the previous year when Harry had gone to New York with her at the end of her time on tour, this year she stood in the departures lounge of the Buffalo airport watching as Harry walked away from her to board a flight to Montreal. She tried to hold back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, knowing that she would see him in November for the CMAs. She held it together right up until he turned around to wave goodbye one last time and the sad expression on his face pushed her over the edge, breaking the dam and sending the tears dripping over her cheeks. The moment Harry saw them, he dropped his bag and run back towards her, causing Niall to pause where he had been walking beside him.

Harry swept Aurora up in his arms, gripping her tightly as her breath stuttered. She tried desperately to pull herself together, knowing that her reaction would only hurt the man she loved, making it more difficult for him to get on the plane that would take him away from her.

“9 weeks,” Harry whispered. “9 weeks and I’ll be back.”

“I know,” Rori replied, her face still buried in his shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too. God, I don’t want to get on that plane,” Harry said. “I want to stay here with you and never leave again.”

“You’d be bored,” Rori joked, pulling back from the hug and pecking his lips one last time.

“Never. This hiatus can’t start soon enough,” he sighed.

“You have to go,” Rori urged, pushing him away gently, noticing Niall still waiting by the gate. “Call me when you land.”

Harry pulled her in for one last desperate kiss before turning and walking back to Niall. He didn’t turn back this time and Aurora held her breath until he disappeared from view. As soon as he was gone, she let the sobs break through her chest, slowly walking through the terminal towards her own gate. She waited in the private lounge until her flight was ready and then made her way on board, settling into her first class seat. She put on her headphones and shuffled Four, a soft smile ghosting over her lips as she listened to Harry’s voice, leaning her head back against the seat with her eyes shut as the plane began to taxi down the runway. She let herself wallow in her sadness, knowing that she would need to put it aside when she reached home in about 2 hours’ time. Leaving Harry was never easy, and she hated the months they spent apart but at the same time she had desperately missed her family and was anxious to see them again. She was also excited to start back at school the following week, eager to begin her final year of college, knowing that once she graduated she would be free to travel the world with Harry and very little would keep them apart now that the band was going on Hiatus for the next year and a half.

xXx

A few days after she returned home, Tony and Steve were scheduled to appear on the Late Show for the first night with the new host Stephen Colbert, and since she didn’t have any classes the day they were needed at the Ed Sullivan Theatre, Aurora decided to join them for the day. Having appeared on the Late Show a couple of times when it was hosted by Letterman, Aurora somewhat knew her way around the theatre, although it was interesting to see the subtle changes that had been made for the shows soft reboot with a new host. She’d watched Tony and Steve’s interview from the green room, smiling softly at Steve awkwardness and Tony’s absolute calm in front of the cameras and the audience. Colbert asked them about the team, about leading them together and of course he asked about their relationship. Tony took the lead with most of the answers but when they were asked what it was like having your husband next to you in a fire fight, it was Steve that answered first.

“It’s the best and worst part of the job,” he answered, his arm slung over Tony’s shoulder. “Fantastic because there’s no one I’d trust to have my back more than Tony, but it’s also completely terrifying because if he goes down, I know I’m out of the fight too because I’m going straight for him and getting him out of there.”

They answered more questions about Avenging before being asked about family life.

“Never planned on being a dad,” Tony said. “But Rori’s such an incredible woman and she’s made both of our lives so much better in the last 4 years. Can’t imagine not being a dad anymore.”

“And Steve,” Colbert asked, “what’s it like being a stepdad?”

“Like Tony said,” Steve replied, “Aurora’s so incredible and being her dad is probably the best thing I’ve ever done with my life. I’m very lucky to have her as my daughter. As our daughter.”

NEXT CHAPTER

OR CONTINUE READING ON AO3

#skyfire #skyfire fic #aurora stark #dad!tony #iron dad #step dad steve rogers #stony #stony fic #boyfriend harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #superfamily #harry styles #tony stark

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theuncannytruthteller · 4 years

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Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American blues, jazz and gospel singer and actress.

She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, but she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.

Her best-known recordings include "Dinah," "Stormy Weather," "Taking a Chance on Love," "Heat Wave," "Supper Time," "Am I Blue?" and "Cabin in the Sky," as well as her version of the spiritual "His Eye Is on the Sparrow." Waters was the second African American, after Hattie McDaniel, to be nominated for an Academy Award. She was also the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award, in 1962.

Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 31, 1896, as a result of the rape of her teenaged mother, Louise Anderson (believed to have been 13 years old at the time, although some sources indicate she may have been slightly older), by John Waters, a pianist and family acquaintance from a mixed-race middle-class background. He played no role in raising Ethel. Soon after she was born, her mother married railroad worker Norman Howard. Ethel used the surname Howard as a child, before reverting to her father's name of Waters. She was raised in poverty and never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. She said of her difficult childhood, "I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family."

Waters grew tall, standing 5' 9½" in her teens. According to women-in-jazz historian and archivist Rosetta Reitz, Waters's birth in the North and her peripatetic life exposed her to many cultures.

Waters married at the age of 13, but her husband was abusive, and she soon left the marriage and became a maid in a Philadelphia hotel, working for $4.75 per week. On her 17th birthday, she attended a costume party at a nightclub on Juniper Street. She was persuaded to sing two songs and impressed the audience so much that she was offered professional work at the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore. She later recalled that she earned the rich sum of ten dollars a week, but her managers cheated her out of the tips her admirers threw on the stage.

After her start in Baltimore, Waters toured on the black vaudeville circuit. As she described it later, "I used to work from nine until unconscious." Despite her early success, she fell on hard times and joined a carnival, traveling in freight cars along the carnival circuit and eventually reaching Chicago. Waters enjoyed her time with the carnival and recalled, "the roustabouts and the concessionaires were the kind of people I'd grown up with, rough, tough, full of larceny towards strangers, but sentimental and loyal to their friends and co-workers." She did not last long with them, though, and soon headed south to Atlanta, where she worked in the same club with Bessie Smith. Smith demanded that Waters not compete in singing blues opposite her. Waters conceded and sang ballads and popular songs. Around 1919, Waters moved to Harlem and there became a celebrity performer in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Waters obtained her first Harlem job at Edmond's Cellar, a club with a black patronage. She specialized in popular ballads and became an actress in a blackface comedy, Hello 1919. The jazz historian Rosetta Reitz pointed out that by the time Waters returned to Harlem in 1921, women blues singers were among the most powerful entertainers in the country. In 1921, Waters became the fifth black woman to make a record, on the tiny Cardinal Records label. She later joined Black Swan Records, where Fletcher Henderson was her accompanist. Waters later commented that Henderson tended to perform in a more classical style than she preferred, often lacking "the damn-it-to-hell bass."

She recorded with Black Swan from 1921 through 1923. In early 1924, Paramount bought the Black Swan label, and she stayed with Paramount through that year. She first recorded for Columbia Records in 1925, achieving a hit with "Dinah," which was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998. Soon after, she started working with Pearl Wright, and together they toured in the South. In 1924, Waters played at the Plantation Club on Broadway. She also toured with the Black Swan Dance Masters. With Earl Dancer, she joined what was called the "white time" Keith Vaudeville Circuit, a traditional white-audience based vaudeville circuit performing for white audiences and combined with screenings of silent movies. They received rave reviews in Chicago and earned the unheard of salary of US $1,250 in 1928. In 1929, Waters and Pearl Wright arranged the unreleased Harry Akst song "Am I Blue?," which then appeared in the movie On with the Show and became a hit and her signature song.

Although she was considered a blues singer during the pre-1925 period, Waters belonged to the vaudeville style of Mamie Smith, Viola McCoy, and Lucille Hegamin. While with Columbia, she introduced many popular standards, including "Dinah," "Heebie Jeebies," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Someday, Sweetheart," "Am I Blue?" and "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" on the popular series, while she continued to sing blues ("West End Blues," "Organ Grinder Blues," etc.) on Columbia's 14000 race series. During the 1920s, Waters performed and was recorded with the ensembles of Will Marion Cook and Lovie Austin. As her career continued, she evolved toward being a blues and Broadway singer, performing with artists such as Duke Ellington. She remained with Columbia through 1931. She signed with Brunswick Records in 1932 and remained until 1933, when she went back to Columbia. She signed with Decca Records in late 1934 for only two sessions, as well as a single session in early 1938. She recorded for the specialty label Liberty Music Shop Records in 1935 and again in 1940. In 1938 and 1939, she recorded for Bluebird.

In 1933, Waters appeared a satirical all-black film, Rufus Jones for President, which featured the child performer Sammy Davis Jr. as Rufus Jones. She went on to star at the Cotton Club, where, according to her autobiography, she "sang 'Stormy Weather' from the depths of the private hell in which I was being crushed and suffocated." She had a featured role in the wildly successful Irving Berlin Broadway musical revue As Thousands Cheer in 1933, in which she was the first black woman in an otherwise white show. She had three gigs at this point; in addition to the show, she starred in a national radio program and continued to work in nightclubs. She was the highest-paid performer on Broadway at that time. MGM hired Lena Horne as the ingenue in the all-black musical Cabin in the Sky, and Waters starred as Petunia in 1942, reprising her stage role of 1940. The film, directed by Vincente Minnelli, was a success.

She began to work with Fletcher Henderson again in the late 1940s. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Pinky (1949), under the direction of Elia Kazan, after the original director, John Ford, quit over disagreements with Waters. According to producer Darryl F. Zanuck, Ford "hated that old...woman (Waters)." Ford, Kazan stated, "didn't know how to reach Ethel Waters." Kazan later referred to Waters's "truly odd combination of old-time religiosity and free-flowing hatred.". In 1950, she won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for her performance opposite Julie Harris in the play The Member of the Wedding. Waters and Harris reprised their roles in the 1952 film version, Member of the Wedding. In 1950, Waters starred in the television series Beulah, becoming the first African-American actress to have a lead role in a television series. However, she quit after complaining that the portrayal of blacks was "degrading." She later guest-starred in 1957 and 1959 on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In the 1957 episode, she sang "Cabin in the Sky".

Despite these successes, her brilliant career was fading. She lost tens of thousands in jewelry and cash in a robbery, and she had difficulties with the IRS. Her health suffered, and she worked only sporadically in the following years. In 1950–51 she wrote her autobiography His Eye Is on the Sparrow with Charles Samuels, in which she wrote candidly about her life. She explained why her age had often been misstated: her friends had to sign a paper claiming Waters was four years younger than she was to get a group insurance deal; she stated that she was born in 1900. His Eye Is on the Sparrow was adapted for a stage production in which she was portrayed by Ernestine Jackson. In her second autobiography, To Me, It's Wonderful, Waters stated that she was born in 1896. Rosetta Reitz called Waters "a natural ... [Her] songs are enriching, nourishing. You will want to play them over and over again, idling in their warmth and swing. Though many of them are more than 50 years old, the music and the feeling are still there."

Waters had romantic relationships with women as well as men.

In her later years, she often toured with Billy Graham on his crusades.

Waters died on September 1, 1977, aged 80, from uterine cancer, kidney failure, and other ailments, in Chatsworth, California.

She was the great-aunt of the singer-songwriter Crystal Waters.

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nuclearblastuk · 4 years

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SAVAGE HANDS | Discuss their forthcoming debut album 'The Truth In Your Eyes' in first album trailer

Maryland’s fast-rising heavy alt-rockers SAVAGE HANDS are currently gearing up to head off on the band’s eagerly-anticipated North American tour with WHILE SHE SLEEPS. In the meantime, the band have released the first album trailer for their upcoming debut album 'The Truth In Your Eyes', released January 31st via SharpTone Records. Watch the album trailer here: https://youtu.be/IiDqF9t7Vko

On the new trailer, vocalists Mike Garrow comments: “take an inside look at how this album came about and what it means to us. The band has put everything we have into this new moment for SAVAGE HANDS. 'The Truth In Your Eyes.'“

In case you missed it, last Friday SAVAGE HANDS unveiled their brand new music video for single 'Blue'. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/CKxvhKTUaE8.

Pre-order 'The Truth In Your Eyes' here: https://shrptn.co/savagehands

More on 'The Truth In Your Eyes': Watch the official music video for first single 'Memory' here: https://youtu.be/czgKk3juXvs And watch the official music video for second single 'Demon' here: https://youtu.be/9rts4cCh5Kg

'The Truth In Your Eyes' tracklisting: 1. Memory 2. Brain Dead 3. Blue 4. Demon 5. Rotten Soul 6. Washed Away 7. Lonely 8. Bloodshot 9. Break The Ice 10. Crazy 11. Never Change

SAVAGE HANDS will be touring the US in February/March 2020 with WHILE SHE SLEEPS. See the full dates below.

SAVAGE HANDS USA Tour Dates: Supporting WHILE SHE SLEEPS FEB 13 - ORLANDO, FL - THE ABBEY FEB 14 - ATLANTA,GA - MASQUERADE HELL FEB 15 - DURHAM,NC - MOTORCO MUSIC HALL FEB 17 - BALTIMORE,MD - OTTOBAR FEB 18 - PHILADELPHIA,PA - UNION TRANSFER FEB 19 - NEW YORK,NY - GRAMERCY THEATRE FEB 21 - POUGHKEEPSIE,NY - THE LOFT FEB 22 - SOMERVILLE,MA - ONCE BALLROOM FEB 24 - BUFFALO,NY - REC ROOM FEB 26 - OTTOWA,ON - BRASS MONKEY FEB 27 - MONTREAL,QC - FAIRMOUNT THEATRE FEB 29 - TORONTO,ON - HARD LUCK MAR 01 - DETROIT,MI - THE SHELTER MAR 02 - CHICAGO,IL - BOTTOM LOUNGE MAR 03 - ST PAUL,MN - AMSTERDAM BAR & HALL MAR 05 - HOUSTON,TX - WAREHOUSE LIVE STUDIO MAR 06 - AUSTIN,TX - COME AND TAKE IT LIVE MAR 07 - FORT WORTH,TX - TOMCATS WEST MAR 09 - KANSAS CITY,MO - AFTERSHOCK MAR 10 - DENVER,CO - MARQUIS THEATER MAR 11 - SALT LAKE CITY,UT - IN THE VENUE MAR 13 - SACRAMENTO,CA - HOLY DIVER MAR 14 - LOS ANGELES,CA - THE ROXY THEATRE MAR 15 - LAS VEGAS,NV - BACKSTAGE BAR & BILLIARDS MAR 17 - PHOENIX,AZ - THE REBEL LOUNGE

Just above a scorching sonic fusion of alternative experimentation, metallic energy, and rock appeal, SAVAGE HANDS detail the trials and tribulations of addiction, deceit, depression, and heartbreak. The Maryland quintet, consisting of Michael Garrow [vocals], Justin Hein [guitar], Nathan O’Brien [guitar], Jayvon Green [bass], and Alex Gacek [drums]—paint poignant pictures without pulling any punches on their 2020 full-length debut, 'The Truth In Your Eyes'. “We worked really hard on trying to create memorable moments in each song,” says Michael. “The lyrics and melodies were the main focus. It was about doing something a little different. All of the stories on the record point towards truth and lies. If you look at someone, their eyes will often reveal the truth, even if they don’t say it. We tried to take some risks and really just strive to be us.” The metalcore-infused-alternative-rock outfit introduced a singular identity on the 2018 EP, 'Barely Alive'. The project quietly put up nearly 2 million total streams in less than a year as they attracted early praise from the likes of Alternative Press who claimed, “it’s the lyricism that channels the most emotion.” In between touring with the likes of WAGE WAR, PALISADES AND KUBLAI KHAN, they signed to SharpTone Records and began work on what would become 'The Truth In Your Eyes'. SAVAGE HANDS built a full studio at Michael’s place and recorded these eleven tracks alongside producer Andrew Baylis [MY ENEMIES & I, SYLAR]. Ultimately, SAVAGE HANDS present a whole new story for heavy music with heart-wrenching honesty.

SAVAGE HANDS are: Michael Garrow - vocals Justin Hein - guitar Nathan O’Brien - guitar Jayvon Green - bass Alex Gacek - drums

More info: www.facebook.com/SavageHands www.instagram.com/savagehandsmd www.savagehands.net

#savage hands #the truth in your eyes #nuclear blast #sharptone

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rapuvdayear · 5 years

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2000: “Ghetto Qu’ran (Forgive Me)” 50 Cent (Trackmaster Ent./Columbia)

It’s been over a year since I teased the idea of doing a post about my favorite 50 Cent tracks, so I guess now is as good a time as ever to get around to it!

With the exception of maybe Kanye, I can’t think of another rapper with more raw talent whose career has been more disappointing. Obviously both Ye and Fiddy have been monstrously successful, but IMO they either burned brightly before descending into white supremacy apologia (Kanye) or never achieved their best possible trajectory (50). It’s not an accident to put them together in this way, either; just 12 years ago next month they faced off in what turned out to be a very underwhelming battle over whose album would sell better (this was back when album sales, not streaming numbers, still meant something). In many ways, it was a crossroads for each artist: Kanye dropped what I believe was his magnum opus, then followed it up with his fourth-best album, third-best album, and second-best album, before dropping off a cliff, while 50′s release basically removed him from the conversation about who was relevant in rap (“My Gun Go Off” and “I Get Money” are honorable mentions for the list below, but otherwise Curtis is entirely forgettable).

These days, 50 has gone the Ice Cube route and is probably more recognizable as an actor than as a rapper. So, it’s hard to remember that once upon a time he was the savior of gangsta rap and (co-)author of one of the 25 greatest albums of all time. He beat the odds to survive a shooting, link up with the two heaviest hitters (at the time) in the rap game, and even be included on some GOAT lists. He also essentially established the “flood the streets with mixtapes before your album drops” strategy of self-promotion that Gucci, Weezy, and even Drake would follow in the days before Soundcloud was the go-to resource for building a rep. He singlehandedly destroyed a rival’s career, launched a clothing line, video game, and music label, and made a halfway-decent biopic. And then... he just sort of petered out.

But! 50 is also responsible for some of my all-time favorite raps, which is why it’s so frustrating to me that he never lived up to the buzz surrounding him back in 2003. These are my five favorites, listed chronologically, with some commentary:

1) “Ghetto Qu’ran (Forgive Me)” (2000) Before the G-Unit days and before Eminem and Dre helped launch him to superstardom, Curtis Jackson was an up and coming rapper from Queens who had attracted the attention of another rap legend, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay. A mutual friend introduced 19 year-old 50 to Jay back in 1996, and the veteran producer/DJ gave him a crash course in how to write songs and signed him to his fledgling label. The business relationship didn’t work out, but it helped lead 50 to Columbia Records’ Trackmasters imprint where he recorded Power of the Dollar in 1999. However, this debut album would never see the light of day after 50 was shot nine times while sitting in a friend’s car and subsequently dropped by Columbia. In the wake of the shooting--and then later, after 50 blew the fuck up in 2003--it became a sort of “lost cult classic” among rap fans. “How To Rob” got the most attention at the time, a funny-yet-vicious song demonstrating 50′s hunger through fantasies about sticking up famous rappers and R&B stars (the song was also clearly an homage to Biggie’s unreleased “Dreams,” and provoked an oblique diss from Ghostface). But “Ghetto Qu’ran” has had a more lasting impact, primarily because of how it was rumored to be the source of 50′s shooting, Jam Master Jay’s murder, and the Ja Rule/Murder Inc. beef. While all of that intrigue is important to rap lore, it distracts from the fact that it’s a near perfect rap song from a technical perspective: a catchy hook, a fantastic beat and sample, an effortless flow, and a well-crafted story that is equal parts celebration of the Queens underworld and subtle shots at street legends. Seriously, this is akin to what traveling bards used to do in medieval Europe, what poets in Ancient Greece wrote, what west African griots did/do, and what narcocorrido artists do now. If you want to learn about the Supreme Team, Pappy Mason, the Corley Family, and the Rich Porter/Alpo crew in Harlem, then this is a good place to start; as 50 puts it, “consider this the first chapter of the ghetto’s Qu’ran.” The secondary title to this track--“Forgive Me”--has a double meaning now. It was initially a plea to forgive 50 for the pain he caused in his criminal life but in retrospect an appeal to the figures whose names he drops. Also, it’s interesting to listen to this first and then compare 50′s voice with the next four tracks: this was recorded before the shooting, which left a bullet fragment lodged in his tongue that affected his speech and gave him his now-distinctive flow.

2) “Heat” (2003) There are several standouts on Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (“Many Men,” “Back Down,” “What Up Gangsta,” “Patiently Waiting,” and “Poor Lil’ Rich” spring to mind, and I will always love “21 Questions” for the “I love you like a fat kid loves cake” line alone) but this one has always been my fave. It’s a perfect distillation of the image that 50 was trying to project when he burst onto the scene: a hood-hardened gangster who wouldn’t hesitate to do his enemies harm. And given his recent history, you could believe him, too! There’s really nothing about this song that should be praised in any way, but I’ve been thinking about the gravity of the following line a lot in the past month or so: “The summertime is a killing season/ It’s hot out this bitch, that’s a good enough reason.” Also, 50′s boast “the DA can play this motherfucking tape in court” *has* to be one of the inspirations behind this great Key & Peele sketch, right?

3) “A Baltimore Love Thing” (2005) The Massacre was incredibly disappointing on the whole. I can remember clearly sitting around with my friends in a dorm room at the Shoreland listening to it all the way through the day that it dropped, wanting to love it but slowly realizing that it wasn’t going to live up to our expectations. “Ski Mask Way” could be an honorable mention on this list, and “Piggy Bank” is kind of funny, but otherwise it’s a steaming pile of shit. “Baltimore Love Thing,” though, is a masterpiece. It’s incredibly dark, rapped from the perspective of heroin itself (sort of like what Nas’s “I Gave You Power” does for guns) in order to detail the destruction that addiction--and, by extension, drug trafficking--leaves in its wake. Even more fucked up, 50-as-heroin voices an abusive partner addressing a woman, threatening her should she ever try to leave him. For my money, “You broke my heart, you dirty bitch, I won’t forget what you did/ If you give birth, I’ll already be in love with your kids” is one of the coldest lines in the annals of rap, full stop. In the second verse, he switches to the flip side of an abuser’s mindset: “I never steer you wrong, if you hyper I make you calm/ I’ll be your incentive, your reason for you to move forward.” All in all, it’s a great concept song that shows off 50′s range as a rapper... and is a testament to what he could have been.

4) “Hustler’s Ambition” (2005) Goddamn, I fucking love everything about this song! The beat is fantastic (great sample, btw), prefiguring the sound on a future great mixtape from the G-Unit crew. 50′s flow here is flawless, arguably the best, smoothest he’s ever been. This was basically the “theme” for 2005′s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ film, and tells the story of his come up in the drug game (or, at least, 50′s version of his carefully constructed hagiography). The lyrics are the true gems here, so I’ll just let a few of the standouts speak for themselves:

“Check my logic: fiends don’t like seeds in they weed, shit/ Send me them seeds, I’ll grow ‘em what they need”

“I sell anything, I’m a hustler, I know how to grind/ Step on grapes, put it in water, and tell you it’s wine”

“I made plans to make it, a prisoner of the state/ Now I can invite your ass out to my estate”

“Pour Cristal in the blender, make a protein shake”

and finally

“The feds watch me, icy, they can’t stop me/ Racists pointing at me, ‘Look at *****race’: Hello!”

5) “Ghetto Like A Motherfucker” (2011) I remember first encountering this track on a Tumblr compilation (I think?) called Don’t Fuck This Up, Curtis! and allowing myself to get excited that the old 50 was back! As the compilation’s name implies, around that time 50 had been releasing a string of online-only singles that were better than anything he’d put out in five or so years, and so there was some hope that he’d soon be making a triumphant return to the rap game. Sadly, this was not to be. But I still bang this track every month or so. The idea here was that 50 had written something, set it to a very sparse, stripped-down beat, and posted it online as an invitation for DIY rap producers to play with it and layer their own compositions on top of it. In that sense, it represented a melange of rap’s earliest roots--dudes spitting over vinyl cuts in basements and parks, just fucking around and having fun--and the possibilities afforded by the digital age and rap’s embrace of online platforms for mixing and remixing material (on a side note, I like to think of this as part of 21st century rap’s “punk rock” aesthetic, and would argue that this genre has done it better than any other). As with “Hustler’s Ambition,” “Baltimore Love Thing,” and “Ghetto Qu’ran,” this track gives 50 a chance to really showcase his talents as a writer and a rapper. The lyrics are as grimy as the beat, painting a picture of urban poverty and pre-fame 50, and 50 switches up his flow at multiple points throughout. Here are some of my favorite lines:

“Slim chance I’ma go back to killing roaches/ Be quiet, you can hear the rats in the wall/ Make you wanna pump crack ‘til you stack racks”

“Dice game, shake ‘em up, praying’ for a 6/ The wolves out there hungry, they lookin’ for a lick”

“****** pissed on the staircase, in the elevator/ Now I’m pissed cuz I’m starting to smell like piss, player”

and

“All a ***** need is a block and a connect/ And a box of 9 MMs to load in the TEC.”

50′s last two studio albums--Before I Self Destruct and Animal Ambition--honestly weren’t half-bad; I would venture so far as to say that they were both better than The Massacre and Curtis. But for 50 it was too little, too late, really. Too many rappers had come along since then doing what he did, only better and fresher. This is a Migos world now; we’re just living in it. And so, I’m left to ponder what could have been.

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