“14 songs…2 years of ideas. Bang. Or as y’all say, bonk,” says Sene about his debut album ADayLate&ADollarShort, a project where Hip Hop meets Doo Wop and one of the best upstarts from the east meets a worthy f**king adversary from the west (to borrow a line from The Big Lebowski). I first really heard Sene on the latest Us3 album, which showcased the NYC emcee over beats from London’s Geoff Wilkinson. We did an interview with Geoff, someone thought that Sene looked like Evidence, Evidence put a link on his Twitter page, and my inbox flooded with more info about Sene and his music. The best piece of info was word on his full LP produced entirely by Blu, who produced under the name GODlee Barnes. Shortly after that, the LP landed on my desk and it hasn’t come out of my car stereo since.
ADayLate&ADollarShort takes me back to a different time, it’s like Sene and Blu created their own world. The samples used provide the landscape, the alleys, the buildings, the parks and avenues, while Sene narrates his journey and points out landmarks and mischiefs. The album was released today via Shaman Works and we have a full preview of the LP below complete with the story behind each track straight from Sene himself. Hit the jump to listen to the complete LP, while reading the inspiration behind each song…Enjoy!
1. PressPause
[audio: http://rubyhornet.com/media/rh/music/01 PressPause.mp3|width=180]I had heard this beat real early in the process of recording, it was one of Blu’s first joints he chopped. Definitely not one of his favorites he chopped, but for me, I really like the vibe I got from it. As an intro I felt like it comically put out enough about myself that if you never heard anything from me before that it would introduce folks to the back line story in a humble way. The tape cassette intro was a throwback to when I was younger and someone would dub me tapes of whatever they got..or when I stole them from my older brother. Sorry Geo.
2. WonLover
[audio: http://rubyhornet.com/media/rh/music/02 WonLover.mp3|width=180]This joint was to personify my lust for making music. I know there were joints like “I Used to Lover H.E.R” but this wasn’t an attempt to recreate that, just to explain how regardless of the other things going on that I have in life, it doesn’t feel the same without music.
3. QuarterWaterSupporter
I hadn’t been home (Brooklyn) in a while..a good 7 months, and the night I got home I linked up with the folks I grew up with and we were talkin about things we used to do coming of age and different events. So, when I got back in to my place after building with my crew, I sat down and wrote that song. It was more of an homage to the things we all grew up around than anything. It’s also one of the 2 joints that I wrote in NY during the recording process. Brea Joseph came through with the harmonies and killed it, I think it was a really nice touch here, and later on in the album.
4. WhyBother?
That’s basically was what I was feeling when I got that beat. It was a little upbeat and light, so I figured I’d put some humor into the bull$*!% that I went through trying to get things on track as an independent emcee. I thought a drunk bar room sing along would be fit for the hook.
5. WonThousandGirls
I heard this joint and immediately thought about running through that feeling of not wanting to settle down via Poem. I know in this line of work a lot of people can relate. Cats in general can just relate to seeing that girl pass by, even when you got a girl with you, and you’re like damn…I don’t want to be rude but, damn…Also the one night stands element…I wanted to do it in a classier way than trying to come off like a “pimp”. Definitely wanted a doo wop feel mixed with poems.
6. SmokeRoseBudsOnAshyAvenue
This was delving into being an out of towner in more sense than one, Both in LA, and being out of town from back home…Similarities and differences. I Wanted a Beatles feel on the whole project really, but this one has that break too where we flip a famous break, but speaking to the world instead of a girl, talking about not trusting your environment and such.
7.The Wonderers
With The Wonderers, I wanted to get a little deeper into some s**t I went through growing up. I’m showing my naive side since a lot of people who knew me indirectly, or who were close to me already knew I was pretty witty, I felt like on this one I could get a little more vulnerable. The instramental kinda told me that, or gave me that feeling really.
8. CloudClimbers
I just wanted to rap…I was kinda lit to be honest, and that melody stuck in my head, and I was definitely influenced by the stuff I was listening to at the time. I think I went like 1-2 months of listening to NO RAP during this album and it kinda cut the immediate influence on the hooks. I wasn’t trying to prove anything with the hooks, I wanted to be able to have hooks like my pops would bump when I was little. Then for the raps I just wanted to rap without getting too deep on this one. Liffffteeeedddd…
9. EyeCry – The Before
Making this one the sample really said everything. I was like, ok we DEFINITELY don’t want this to be a Ja Rule song (laughs); but with all the s**t cats had been spitting, I was hearing everyone playing superman for a while. I made this to put it down like, nah some s**t gets rappers f**ked up in the game too, no one is bulletproof.
10. OwlThruGotham
For a second, an idea of a comic based around this project was talked about. I thought this was a good soundtrack to one if it came about, and if not, a nice flip on a dark theme song for where I grew up.
11. EveryDejaVu
I felt like things were just flying by me at one point during the making of the album. Like I lost grip on everything, people were passing away back home, babies being born, I had my head in the clouds and my everyday was feeling repetitive, hence the name “EveryDejaVu” (EveryDay-jaVu).
12. AintNoJustice
This was a narrative to standard street tales with a different rhyme scheme. The title kind of says it all, and as soon as I got to penning this there was no one else in mind to rock on it than Co$$ (TRES RECORDS). I knew he’d be down and knew he’d kill it.
13. EyesDry – The After
“EyesDry” is a pt 2, almost a response track to “EyeCry”…The whole point behind this hook was to compliment the complaints in the song by saying, ‘well s**t. It’s going down, but I’m done getting too down over it because it feels like no one cares anymore anyway.’
14. JusASuggestion
When sitting back and hearing the record, I felt like this was the way to close it out. If it was the last thing I got to say to folks it would be go get yours. Folks love to see you give in so it was my way of being like, ‘screw that. Try this’…Then the outro was a mock of TV shows from the same generation of music that helped influence a lot of the records, like 50s-60s…