CunninLynguists breaks down Dirty Acres

[K.Dub]

http://www.wordofsouth.com/online/?p=970
In Da Lab     
Cunninlynguists: Dirty Acres
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Kentucky based group CunninLynguists breaks down the inspirations and ideas that helped make the music for their latest release, Dirty Acres. The soulful album features collaborations with Devin The Dude, Witchdoctor and Phonte of Little Brother.

1. Never FT. Big Rube
Deacon: We were on a plane back from Europe in late 2006 and Kno mentioned a sample he had in mind to kick off the direction of the new LP.  Some dude singing about how we would never die.  He tried to sing the melody and it sounded like it would be wack as fuck.  He told me he couldn’t do it justice and that I had to hear it with my own ears. He was right.

Kno: Getting Rube on this was the last step in completing the album, and I hadn’t been able to get a hold of him at all for a good minute.  I finally got in touch with him about 5 days before the promo needed to be sent out.  We initially wanted him to just do 8 or so bars, just to sprinkle some flavor on the intro, but once he heard everything he did an entire piece to it he was feeling it so much.  He murdered it, too.

2. Valley of Death
Deacon:  I loved having people from my family sing on a track.

Kno: This beat was specifically made for Jay-Z; parts of the hook intact, after our pedagogue and good friend Kevin Mitchell (used to manage Nappy Roots and now manages Bobby Creekwater) told us Jay needed tracks.  He didn’t use it obviously, and then it made it into Nas’ A&R’s hands.  He liked it, but it sat for a long while.  Lil’ Scrappy wanted to buy it around the same timeframe we produced "Sometimes" for him. That didn’t pan out either, so we ended up keeping it.

3. Dirty Acres
Natti:  I heard the beat several times after Kno made it, always liked it, and always thought somebody would scoop it up.  After a while we was like, "You know what, we gonna keep this for our album."  Smoked a blunt and spit our feelings over it.

4. Kentucky (Interlude)
Deacon:  When Kno and Willie come together on instrumental interludes that are just like my favorite shit.  Plus EF on the cuts.  Got damn.

Kno: My man Mykraphone Mike brought me the main vocal samples on vinyl and let me know he had to fend off every other rapper he knew in Kentucky to be able to use it because it was so ill and to the point.  It was perfect for the intro to KKKY because it was real abrasive sounding coming after the title track, like jarring you out of that "country, laid back" mentality to discuss the flip-side of Natti and Deacon’s surroundings.

5. K.K.K.Y.
Kno: This beat was actually sampled from a local compilation called "Homegrown" that was pressed to wax by a Lexington company.  So it adds to the Kentucky flavor that I sampled local talent for the track, but unfortunately it was a test press with no real label and I have been looking for the name of the band who performed the song to no avail.  I have a few leads.

Natti:  Me and Deac heard the beat and knew what we wanted to do with it. We felt like people around our parts never really had a real anthem for the region and put it out on a global scale and it was long overdue.  In the end I was real happy with how it turned out.

6. Wonderful FT. Devin The Dude
Natti:  Met up with Devin in Norway, stopped each other on the street being that we were damn near the only two Black people there at the time.  He was like "You smoke?" and I was like "Hell yeah!" and the next thing we know we’re doing shows together, in the studio together, cracking L’s, drinking brews and did a track for the love of the music.

Deacon:  As soon as Kno made that beat he knew it was the one for Devin. For the longest time, the actual title was "Wonderfully Fuckable".  We dropped the "Fuckable" at the last minute.  We already have enough problems getting in some doors from our name alone, no need to add to it by throwing the ‘F’ word off in a title.  Ladies know they sexy as fuck.

Kno: Yeah, Devin actually picked this from a beat CD before he even knew we wanted to do a song to it with him.  He eventually picked some other stuff, including a track called "Blacklight" which should be on his next record.  Deacon does the hook with him, its fire.

7. Yellow Lines FT. Phonte & Witchdoctor
Kno: I put this beat together initially for Witchdoctor’s album.  In order to get the guitar part just how I had it in my head, I sang it using my best Stevie Wonder impression to our guitarist Willie Eames and he executed it perfectly.  The track sat around for a long time and we had no idea when or if it was ever going to be released, so we told Phonte he could use it for Getback because he and Pooh loved the track.  He thought it was too mellow for their album, which was almost finished, and he thought it was too dope for a mixtape.  I agreed, so we finished it up and meshed it into our album.  Shortly afterwards Adult Swim signed Witchdoctor and wanted to use an OG version of the song on his album, so we did both.  Fuck it, more music for everyone.

8. The Park (Fresh Air)
Natti:  This, regardless of what anyone else feels, is probably my favorite track on the album. I think we pulled it off flawlessly, and for anybody that’s ever been to a dirt bowl (if you don’t know what that is, you’ve never been to one) or a barbeque in the park where everybody just gathers, you gon’ feel this song.  If not, you need to find something new to do with yourself in the summertime.

Deacon:  Plus Chizuko murdered the piano on it.  I didn’t realize how ahead of it’s time that beat was.  So grown.  You ain’t living in reality if you don’t feel this one.

9. Summer’s Gone
Natti:  When Kno let me hear the sample he was like, "Do you think you have something to say that coincides with this sample?"   I said "but of course, because by the time niggas get finished shooting and the sun gets finished cooking the back of my neck, I’m ready for summer to be gone"  Anybody that sees the nonsense that goes on in the street when the temperature rise would probably feel the same way.  It’s short and it’s sweet and it’s to the point.

10. They Call Me (Interlude)
Kno: I was originally going to use this as an intro to "America Loves Gangsters" off the last album, but I felt I could find a better home for it.

11. Gun (feat. Sheisty Khrist)
Natti:  The thing that made me the most amped about this song is the fact that a lyricist that’s responsible for me even rapping in the first place, someone that’s local, and most of the world hasn’t had a chance to hear, got a chance to get a podium to spit that shit.  Sheisty Khrist.  The Inspiration.

Kno: This verse was hard to write because I really respect Sheisty Khrist as an emcee and as a knowledgeable and intelligent person, so I didn’t want to let him down.

12. Dance For Me
Natti:  Another song that me and Deac heard that clicked immediately and song materialized within 20 minutes.  Perfect example of Kno doing a beat and sleeping on himself and another perfect example of me and Deac waking his ass the fuck up. A stripper song like no other stripper song ever.

Kno: Yeah, the OG version of this beat was weak as fuck.  I didn’t like it at all, but they kept insisting that I clean it up because they saw potential in it, so I basically re-made the beat from scratch.  The sample is real creepy, the song I sampled it from is about a sick little girl that dreams of being a dancer but dies before she grows up.

13. Georgia
Natti:  Destined to be on the album from the beginning.  Especially being that when Kno made it, he had no idea that my mother’s name was Georgia.  For the sake of making a good song, I had to bring back a lot of painful memories.  But it helped me get them out, so in the end maybe that song was for me more than anybody else.

Deacon:  Destined is definitely the right word.  This track survived more scenario’s than any other track on the album.  Initially meant for Witchdoctor, it went through the hands of Lil’ Scrappy, Bobby Creekwater and Bohagon before landing on our album. That may be my favorite hook I’ve ever done.

14. Things I Dream
Natti:  My verse is simple; fuck you, Smooch.  Pay me.

Kno: This might be my favorite beat on the record.  It was really hard to EQ and mix this son of a bitch, though.  The sample was so airy, and the buildup of the strings gets so big that it was hard to make sure the vocals were audible all the way through without being too loud. As for my verse, it’s all based in truth.  I’ve read a few reviews that question if songs like these are just "stories", but my verse comes from a very real place.  I grew up with parents who did hard drugs, were alcoholics; my dad spent my tenth birthday locked up for trying to feed a habit.  I’ve been through bouts of clinical depression twice in my life, it’s not fun.  I’m doing good though and my Dad is 100% clean now.  I’m very proud of him.

15. Mexico FT. Club Dub
Kno: We made this beat from scratch with the live band we work with, Club Dub.  It just felt like some summery shit, some feel-good shit.  I played the kalimba on this track, and it was actually really crazy because it just happened to be in tune with the rest of the instruments and I just picked it up, went in the booth and played the melody.  I really wanted to make something to end the album on a bright note, something for everyone who wants more out of life or anyone that realizes relationships are 99% trust and faith.  I wanted to get David Bowie on the track, but of course that was just a fantasy so I went in the booth and did my best impression.  Dave, if you read this, holler at me.  Let’s get you on the remix.

[Laconic]

Cunninlynguists are about to release some new shit before the end of the year.  It's not an album per-se but it's all original tracks.

Look out for a single entitled "Never Come Down" (The Brownie Song) 

A remix of "Georgia" will also be included.

[K.Dub]

Cunninlynguists are about to release some new shit before the end of the year.  It's not an album per-se but it's all original tracks.

Look out for a single entitled "Never Come Down" (The Brownie Song) 

A remix of "Georgia" will also be included.

Sounds promising!

[Bojakabo]

this album is great!!

[Lord Funk]

Great read - thanks K.Dub.

[D-Nice]

Incredible album.

[Joe-Thee]

Best album of 2007

[Sikotic™]

Best album of 2007

Kno is mad UNDERrated.

[Laconic]

Best album of 2007

Kno is mad overrated.

Underrated

[NiCc_FrUm_ThA_nO]

Dope album, the beat on 'Valley Of Death' is

[Sikotic™]

Best album of 2007

Kno is mad overrated.

Underrated

lol my bad. I meant to say underrated.

[RingMan]

Dope album, the beat on 'Valley Of Death' is

[Bojakabo]

Best album of 2007

yeah this one and ultimate victory was the best 07 IMO