This EP was first conceived as a concept. I wanted to create an EP with all my own production. I talked to Adam about it while we were still working on The Basement.
What it ended up turning into was the first in a series of projects entirely produced by me that had this weird avantgarde jazzy sound. With sparse raps interspersed between them. It was cool, but no one really heard it when it came out it seems like. That’s probably due to how I released it. I didn’t even put it on soundcloud lol. It came out July 1, 2016, and meeting that deadline was hard enough as is.
I was going to Europe later that month for a study abroad music tour and I was already on the road when I was uploading it to what was then Negrowleague.com. There had been some other releases on that website by other Negrowleague members but this was gonna be my first release since Operation: Rough Cuts back in 2011. I may have lost some momentum not having put music out for five years in the eyes of my fans, but internally I had something cooking.
For the final track of the EP, Cello Freestyle, I recorded our master cellist friend Crispin Cambell messing around on his cello while he was staying with us one winter. I used that recording and ended up freestyling over it. It took a couple takes… lol
Check the link below for the download!
https://lilbillynaire.bandcamp.com/album/the-master-baggs-ep