Balance - Young & Restless Artist Commentary: Full Audio (28:14)

Words: Balance
Published: February 8, 2010

Artist's Commentary Series is a new feature inspired by Balance. Similar to films released on DVD which include audio tracks of the director giving insight on the film, this will work similarly with artists and their album.

We will link up with a different artist every month, to look back at one of their best works, in most cases their debut album, but usually the album that boosted their career to the next level. You will get insight into the creation process, beat selection, and other facts you would have otherwise never known. All direct from the artist's mouth.

Artist: Balance
Album: Young & Restless
Label: Ayinde/SMC/Fontana
Original Release Date: 03/21/06

Purchase: iTunes | Amazon

Intro

We about to talk about my debut album, only solo album, Balance Young & Restless, dropped in 2006. How it came about, 3 years prior I was just hitting up mix CDs, rhyming with different clicks of people, we started the New Bay. I dropped my first mixtape in 2004 called Balance The Mixtape. I dropped another mixtape after that in 2005 called Bay Area Mixtape King. It was time for me to drop a record. 2006 was dope because it was the year of the hyphy movement. It was a lot of eyes looking at the bay area, it was a beautiful situation. Young & Restless took me probably about 2 years to make. I had went through 2 or 3 different tracklistings for the album. I didn't have distribution for it first when I started making the album. A friend of mine who used to work for Showcase Magazine, Will Bronson became an A&R at a company called SMC that people are familiar with now for putting out Messy Marv, The Jacka. Me, San Quinn, Keak Da Sneak, and The Team were really kind of the first artists on SMC, and B-Legit actually. It's funny because my first 12" I ever did with SMC was for a song called Right Here and the other side had B-Legit's record with Clyde Carson [Block 4 Life] on it. We were both on SMC, that was a big highlight, my first real piece of vinyl as a solo artist.

Just to get into it, I recorded a majority of the album at a studio that's no longer set up in Richmond, off of McDonald Ave. Name of the studio was Poorman Studios. I had learned about that studio because one of Brotha Lynch Hung's artists First Degree the DE used to record at Poorman Studios. First Degree the DE was actually the first artist to ever put me on an album. When I first went to go do that album which was Fahrenheit Underbelly Vol. 1, I had recorded that verse at Poorman Studios. Ever since then I been working there. He does all my mixes, even now. He mixed Good As Money, he mixed Golden State Warriorz, he mixed Grind single, everything I do pretty much he mixes it.

1. Let The Bass Go
Produced by E-A-Ski & CMT
Commentary Track

It's funny because it's a remake of DOC Let The Bass Go. The beat is similar, the beat is produced by CMT and E-A-Ski. It was one of the first songs I had for the album. Pretty much how I did the song was, they gave me the beat on a CD. I'm a huge DOC fan, the CD was fuckin rocking, I was like let's flip Let the Bass Go. So the hook was already there, it was just Let the Bass Go. I think what I did was I had 2 or 3 different battle raps that I was working on. I put them together, I took the wack lines out of it and put them together. Then I wrote the third verse and went into the studio with like 5 pieces of paper and just put together the song. It came out dope. It's funny because a lot of people that I run into say that Let The Bass Go is one of the songs that they heard and they was like aight I'm finna buy this dude album.

2. It Is What It Is ft. E-A-Ski
Produced by E-A-Ski
Commentary Track

It Is What It Is is probably one of my favorite songs that I ever done. When I first heard the beat I was like man this shit is fuckin crazy! It's funny because Chuck from Done Deal, Street Cred, he was working on Big Rich's album. This song It Is What It Is actually is what made Big Rich and Chuck hit up E-A-Ski and them to get That's The Business. I remember Chuck and them being like, man that song is fuckin fire. So It Is What It Is came about, got the beat, the hook was already there, E-A-Ski already had the hook set up. It's actually CMT's daughter singing behind the beat, it's eerie kind of singing. It's crazy because at this time I was going through a little beef with Clyde Carson. It wasn't no real beef but Clyde had just dissed me in a freestyle around 2005. He had said something, I'm pretty sure people know what it was. This song was kind of like an answer to that, loosely. When I was writing my verses I was thinking about that diss song, it was kind of going at whoever was going at me. Just feeling like people out there that's making fake shit, it ain't gonna last. I'd rather be real and make the music that I wanna make, I'm not worried about what other people gonna think or what the trends are. So that's what It Is What It Is was about. So both of these songs Let the Bass Go and It Is What It Is I recorded at E-A-Ski and CMT studio, in they crib. They had a fat ass SSL board, one of the dopest studios I ever been in. Relatively all these songs was laid quick, Let the Bass Go probably took an hour to lay the vocals. It Is What It Is was only two verse of me so it took me about 30 minutes to lay those. It Is What It Is was gonna be my real first single. We thought when we laid it that it was gonna be a smash. Radio didn't really get behind it. They all thought it was dope, but I guess the subject matter wasn't really something you could play in the club. We was like, fuck!

3. Gotta Get It
Produced by E-A-Ski & CMT
Commentary Track

So then the next track on the album, Gotta Get It, was what we actually went to go make in order to come with a radio hit. Luckily it worked. Gotta Get It was a beat that I had. I remember linking up with E-A-Ski, we had Let the Bass Go, we had It Is What It Is which didn't really work with radio. We like man we gotta have something that's uptempo, something that's gonna rock the clubs. When I first got the beat I was kind of like, this shit is kind of weird. CMT made all the sounds that's in the beat with his mouth. It was just like a weird beat. I think I played the beat for like 3 or 4 other people and then they was like this shit hard! I just put the rap together and was like okay. Then me and E-A-Ski came up with the hook. "We got to get this cash, we got the game on smash, Gotta Get it." Just something catchy for the clubs. I laid that song in the studio down probably about an hour. As soon as we got done with it, E-A-Ski played it for some DJs and they was like this is the one. To this day that song is my biggest radio song ever. It's over 2,000 spins locally. Got added on 5 or 6 stations, humongous record for me. 2006 that shit was crackin.

I remember doing shows, that song helped me get shows. It solidified me. When you a rapper, and I was having success independently or on the mix CD scene, but people always be like can he make a song that makes it on the radio? Even yourself, you be doubting yourself, like maybe my voice ain't for radio, or maybe my raps ain't right for radio. That song kind of solidified it for me. Nah I can get on radio. It was like wow, it gave me confidence. Not to the point where I just wanted to go make a gang of radio records but to the point where it solidified. It was all me, it wasn't nobody else rapping, so it was like shit, yeah I can be on the radio. That was a big record.

4. What Up ft. Keak Da Sneak
Produced By Dame Taylor
Commentary Track

I did a song called What Up, that was actually on my mixtape. Bay Area Mixtape King. The one on Bay Area Mixtape King didn't have Keak. How that song came from, I met a producer from LA called Dame Taylor, he gave me a beat CD. What I usually do with my beat CDs, I usually sit with them for a few months. I was at my homegirl Nessa's crib who now does radio for Wild 949. I was chillin and her homegirl was there and I was just playing a beat, I was like let me play you some of these beats and see what you think. I had the beat CD just going, and when that beat came on, they heads was bobbin. They was like play that again, and they kept telling me to play the beat again. I ain't stupid! If somebody wanna hear the beat over and over without me, then I think we got something. Pretty much from there I took the beat, laid my verses, recorded the song at The Grill which is Richie Rich's studio in Oakland. I laid that shit and I thought it was a hit. I was like yo this the hottest shit ever. I think me and Locksmith came up with the hook. That shit was just crazy, and when I did it I put it on my mixtape, but for the album I was like, I wanna have a surprise on it. So I thought Keak Da Sneak would be dope, we always talked about doing a song together. I figured this would be some tight shit, some club shit, some street shit. I gave it to Keak, he laid his verse, went and mixed it, got that shit done.

5. O Yeah ft. The Frontline
Produced by Left
Commentary Track

Me and Frontline always made it an issue to put each other on each other's record. I was on they record. I needed a song to have them on it, Left gave me the beat. It was a dope beat, dark, I liked it. I knew it was gonna be some lyrical street shit. I laid my verse first, gave my verse and the beat to Left, Left wrote his verse. I think Left gave it to Lock. We didn't have a hook. We went into the studio, laid it down and we all came up with the hook on the spot. At the time the New Bay was getting a lot of flack, it was getting a lot of support, but getting flack at the same time from people. O Yeah was kind of letting the steam off as far as we here, we New Bay, we ain't scared. That was that.

6. Grind
Produced by Bedrock
Commentary Track

What's crazy about Grind is, I made that song in 2005. Last year, this is a funny thing about how music can last. Three years later I see on the internet, 6 or 7 videos of kids pop locking to the song. Three years later! I'm like wow that's crazy as fuck. When I made grind, you never know what's gonna be a hit. Already I told you I thought It Is What It Is was gonna be a radios smash, it was a great song but it wasn't supported at radio. I thought Grind was gonna be a radio smash cause it was coming after Gotta Get It. Even on my posters it said featuring hit singles Gotta Get It and Grind. Grind was a song produced by Bedrock. When I laid it, it was fun, just another fun club record, having fun talking shit. I didn't really wanna have a song on my album about women. I didn't wanna have a cupcake song, so I figured Grind would be where I talk to chicks, about getting a chick, getting her on the floor, trying to fuck a chick. On some club shit though. I was like this will be my girl song, I wasn't trying to do no cupcake shit. Fuck that. We did the Grind song, it was fire. But then Bedrock went and sold the beat to Lil Fizz from B2K. I was like fuck! I was like you sold the beat blood! He said yeah! But don't trip I'm gonna make something tighter. You gotta remember though, when you record a song you get married to that shit. I'm listening to it, I'm not trying to hear this shit no other way. When I went to go hear it, it actually was tighter! Then I called DJ Amen to come and do scratches on the hook, and that was Grind.

7. Paper ft. Aristotle The Great
Produced by Aristotle The Great
Commentary Track

Then the next song I had was Paper, which was kind of like a song talking about getting out and trying to get it, trying to get your money, see it in this rap shit. I been putting all my years in this shit, it's time to get the paper. There's a singer I was working with named Aristotle. He and I came up with the hook. I let him sing a little verse at the end. He did the beat. It's funny because when we was recording that song, this is something else, we was recording the song and me and Aristotle almost got in a fight because I told him I didn't like his verse! [laughs] But this is the creative process, when you making records, it's my record so if I don't like something I'mma speak up! Just like I would assume if I rap on anybody else's record. I didn't really like that verse. He had the verse and I was like I don't like it. We almost got into a fist fight over that shit. I know he's like, why are you saying this but he was like what you mean you don't like it. I told him why. He had a verse where he was kind of dissing a couple people and talking about he was the greatest producer in the world. I was just like, that's not really the angle we wanna come at on this song . Don't nobody know who you are, don't nobody know who I am. It came out doper too, later on he appreciated me being honest to him. At the end it came out with a better record. I look up to Dr. Dre and all them, when you make a record you can't have no hard feelings. If somebody say that verse is wack, throw that shit away. If somebody say try out this idea with the harmony of this shit, it's about making the best record possible. Otherwise what are we doing? So that's the story of Paper.

8. One Night Stand
Produced by Erk Tha Jerk
Commentary Track

I recorded this one at my boy DJ Slowpoke's studio in Frisco. He had a new studio right off the freeway by City Nights. Where I used to go when I was 18, or 17 and sneak in and fuck with chicks, get drunk and drink Bacardi in the car and shit. The funny thing about One Night Stand, when I dropped the album a lot of people were yo I like that shit, One Night Stand. Crazy story about having a one night stand with a girl, you fucking with this girl, it's a one night stand you in a hood you don't know and you end up being over at girl's house when her dude show up. It's actually a real story. What's hella funny is dudes were like I hella love that song man, because mothafuckas relate to that shit. It happened to me, so I put it in the music shit. I exaggerated it, I made the dude who banged on the door was my cousin. That was the irony of the story. I look up to Biggie and all them dudes so I wanted to have one song that was a straight up story, so if you listen to it it's like watching a movie.

I always wanted to do a video for it, I didn't do it. That was another thing I realized, one thing I didn't do with this album is shoot any videos. I think that was a big mistake because a record like Grind which didn't get supported off top from radio, but if I would have came with a visual, my boy Taj Mahal who shot Rihanna video, Erk video, Nas video, at the time he was just starting and he loved Grind so much. He was like yo I wanna shoot a video for it. But I was just like nah man, I ain't shooting no videos. That was a mistake I should have shot a video for that. I think now looking back, videos can actually help your radio play or the popularity of a song. I should have shot a video for One Night Stand, cause I had it in my mind, it would have been an ill video.

9. Bring It Back ft. Erk Tha Jerk
Produced by Erk Tha Jerk
Commentary Track

Some MC spit shit, some hot shit. Erk Tha Jerk gave me the beat, I wrote my verses, went to the studio. I think I laid my first verse, then sent it to Erk Tha Jerk. That's how I do features, I like to lay a verse, send it to the artist so they know what page I'm on. So I won't be battle rapping and he's talking about fucking bitches or something. So we'll be on the same page. A lot of artists don't wanna do that because they fear they will get over-shined, a lot of artists don't wanna give somebody they verse. To me, that's how I did Golden State Warriorz, that's how I did Good As Money, it makes better songs. I'm not worried about somebody outshining me. I feel like I'm gonna do my thing, so fuck that shit. Bring It Back was a song like that. No hook, just straight up hot shit. Three verses, Erk Tha Jerk. Tight song.



10. Roll Wit Me ft. Chamillionaire
Produced by Beat Credentialz
Commentary Track

Then track 10 was a very interesting song, very interesting story. Roll With Me was on my mixtape Bay Area Mixtape King. It was a huge record for me in 2005. It had Chamillionaire who had just went platinum, and it had Stat Quo who had just signed to Aftermath. I was able to get them both on a song. The problem was, when it came time to do the album, Stat Quo was on Aftermath, and me and Stat Quo's manager was close. I was like yo I'm about to do my album, it's going through Fontana, independent, I wanted to know if Stat Quo could be on it. He was like man, Aftermath ain't even gonna do it, they not gonna let that shit happen. I was like aight cool. So I could have put him on there anyway, but I wasn't trying to risk being sued. But what was funny is, when the song came out, we ended up damn near getting sued anyway from Universal. Because you got to imagine, Chamillionaire went platinum. This is the fucked up thing, I was on Fontana which is a subsidiary label of Universal. What subsidiary means, it's a smaller label that's actually distributed through Universal but it's not Universal. So it was crazy because Universal hit up my company.

I had met an A&R from Universal Records, we sat down for a meeting, it's 2006, height of bay area shit. I gave him a copy of the album, he went to New York, instead of getting a deal, Universal was trying to sue me! [laughs] I guess they thought the song was that tight. They like it's no way I'm gonna let this mothafucka from the bay have a song with Chamillionaire on his fuckin album. So Universal had stopped all payments and all checks and all business to SMC until they got this shit dealt with. They were gonna pull every copy of my album off the shelf. So I had hit up Chamillionaire on MySpace, I was like yo I need your help bro. Universal is threatening to pull every copy of my album off the shelf if you don't tell them that it's okay. What's funny is at the time Chamillionaire is in fuckin Germany doing shows, Ridin Dirty is big as fuck. There's no need for him to say yes other than being a real dude. Chamillionaire is 100% real dude. He was like yo I got you, I'll handle it. His manager contacted Universal, told them he recorded the song before he signed the deal which we did, and they gave me clearance. They stopped fuckin with me.

11. Rise ft. Seam
Produced by Seam
Commentary Track

It's basically about getting out, getting it. Seam now is my barber. He wanted to stop making beats and cut hair. I feel him. I also had him rapping on there. Me and him used to be in a group together in high school called Chaotic Order. He gave me this beat, he was submitting me beats the whole time I was recording the album. I was like no, no, no, no! He was like fuck it man, I'm gonna get one on this mothafucka, I was like yeah right! So then he gave me this beat, and it was hot! So I was like fuck, I laid my verse. I was gonna get this artist from Houston named Kiotti on it because I was talking to this A&R from Sony named Selene that had signed him. Kiotti was taking too long to lay the hook. The song was done, I had laid my verses, he laid his verses. I think the album had to be turned in next week so I was like fuck it, went in there, came up with a hook. It actually came out tight. That's Rise.

12. Right Here ft. Aquanetta
Produced by Shonuff
Commentary Track

It's funny because Shonuff only produced for The Team. I had hit Shonuff up, I was like yo I need one of them beats, cause The Team shit was fire. Right Here was actually the the first single I dropped off this album. It was different for me because it was some club shit, but at the same time, when you drop your album you wanna show people you can do different shit. You don't want people to pigeonhole you like he can't do no club shit cause he never did club shit. I wanted to get that out the way early. I like club, I like going to the club, hearing my music in the club. So Right Here was one of them joints. Shonuff had a studio in his crib, we went over there played X-Box and shit. He stayed right over there in Fruitvale and I sat there, we went through some beats, he played me the beat. That shit came on, I was like aww fuck I need that! I took the beat home, wrote my verses, came back and kicked him the verses. He was like that's tight, play with the flow a little bit, don't rap it like you usually rap it. I was like cool. So I laid it a little different, came with a different style. I laid it, came up with the hook, I wanted to get a girl to sing the hook. He was working with Aquanetta who is a singer now doing her thing. He came in, laid her up under my verse on different parts. The beat came back, shit was banging. That was a big song for me because it kind of got me to a whole different, younger audience. A lot of high school kids, junior high school kids was loving that shit. I remember having a show in 2006 with The Pack at Berkeley High when they had the Vans song and it was just like man I love that Right Here that's my shit! It's always good to have a song that can relate to a younger audience at the same time. So that was Right Here.

13. Look ft. Casual
Produced by Trackademicks
Commentary Track

The last song I recorded for this album was Look. Produced by Trackademicks. Trackademicks had made this fuckin unbelievable E-40 Tell Me When To Go Remix that was crazy. I had known Trackademicks for hella long, we just never did nothing. I went over his crib, played me some beats, I was like, that one! I took that beat, I took it to Hieroglyphics studio in East Oakland, met up with Casual and I was like Casual we need to do a song. He was like it's good, me and Casual wrote that shit together. Me and him were just going at each other on that shit. I think we wrote like 3 verses and then just threw out whichever one was wack. We came up with it together, the hook, recorded together. You can tell when you hear the song, the shit is live. One of my favorite joints on there. Crazy thing is, I had recorded that song a week before I had to turn in the album and then Trackademicks studio burned down. Luckily I had a copy of the ProTools session. So I had to go rush and get it mixed. I think I mixed the song the day before I had to turn in the master. But that song was one of the highlights of the album.

14. Hustler
Produced by Omen510
Commentary Track

The last song was a song that was on my first mixtape from 2004 that was called Hustler. It was probably one of my favorite songs. I didn't wanna put it on there but Will from SMC was like yo this is one of my favorite songs. It was good because it made the album a little longer, 14 songs. Hustler was produced by my boy Omen. He was also in a group I was in in high school called Chaotic Order. It's funny because Locksmith is up under it, the hook is written by me and Locksmith and you can hear Locksmith doing the "Hustler Hustler baby!" It's funny because when you making an album there's a lot of different people that work with you to help make the album a success.



Outro

One of the dopest things about the Young & Restless album was the artwork. It's like a foldout digipak. This was before people were doing Digipaks. The CD itself is like a piece of vinyl. It was definitely my dopest artwork. Even if you talk to Shemp from Photo Doctors who does a lot of covers for Bay Area artists, it's definitely one of his hottest album covers ever. That's my first album 2006 Young & Restless. Dope shit.