- Released in 2011
- 27 Tracks
Notes from Dave:
This album was planned a very long time ago, well before “Age of the Sage“. I’m glad that it took that long for it to finally come together and be made because I don’t think that at that time I had as much of a grasp on what the content ended up being. The basic concept was always what it is, but obviously, my writing and style have both mutated and improved since I started this adventure into the world of hip-hop and rap music.
While the core idea stayed the same, the one thing I didn’t plan on was the monumental amount of music that I ended up with. Previous albums featured a normal number of tracks. You could burn it all onto one CD if you wanted. This album extended beyond one disc and halfway through another. Once I realized that I decided to keep going and make it a dual CD. I had too much to say anyway, so why not keep going?
I went at it as I do everything: not giving a shit if people are going to agree or think it’s awesome. I had a lot to expel out of my brain and get said, and considering I had recently started doing my rants, it helped to focus me on some of the music.
The album itself has a running commentary through it which came from the incredibly great movie, The Man from Earth. The man being questioned does not age. In fact, he has been alive for thousands of years but looks as if he’s only in his late 30’s. He explains his view of things, including from the time period he spent as a historical religious figure everyone will recognize. It was perfect and helped to support a lot of the content on the album.
Honestly, the God’s Honest
This work of mine obviously has religion in its crosshairs, but more so the religious ideas of God and mankind. Certain things had to be on this album, to help exemplify what is in my head. Searching is a short one verse blast that has a wonderful sound and starts explaining my long-standing problem. It also mentions Quin, the girl who is the center of the three albums I refer to as the “Era of Pain”, and thanks her for helping me to see reality while also annihilating my life. For 13 A.D., the beat was changed a few times before ending up on the one you hear on the album. It basically summed up the past, how I was, what I became and what helped to get me here.
The Mind of God is one of my favorite collections of work. It contains so many songs that stick out in my brain, many of which I still regularly listen to today or some that I just can’t (such as 10 Years Later).
The God’s Honest is a song that had to go on this album. If nothing else was on it, this one would be. It portrays my honest view of various religious ideology of a deity they claim to love and worship, yet continue to wall into their own warped and hypocritical definition. The final line perfectly sums it up.
The Mind of God also featured a collaboration with T.U.S.C. (K.P.) of KillYourselfNowBich in the song Marvel. This is one of those songs where I basically decided to rip the throttle out of my lyrics and hit it full speed. It works well because while I run 900 mph, K.P. hits each verse at a normal speed. I look at this song as also being one of the starters for the quick multi-syllable verse style I use.
The only thing I know for sure about God is this
The people speaking for him have got to make him sick
A companion song to The God’s Honest precedes it on the album. Lost is an excellent example of my feelings over the years. It is very accurate to how I’ve seen things since the snap occurred, referenced in the second first.
Since “Era of Pain” is all about the girl I was in love with and “Age of the Sage” showed that all of my desire for her was killed, this album brought the song Out of the Darkness, a complete reversal and rant about what ended up becoming of me because of her. It’s amazing to me because back during the original three albums, I was so focused on how she was the greatest thing in my life, and would never say anything against her. Then I end up writing a song which states:
Listen to the very music, made to show you were my world
Then see my wife and know inside, you aren’t shit compared to her
I love her with a heart you broke apart and tried to kill and still
it is alive inside and thrives while I hope you cry until
every raindrop hits, I’m done with you so get
I’m glad we never fit bitch, I’m glad we never did
Sort of a 180. Love can make you do stupid things, like waste a big chunk of your life on someone not worth it. Fuck you love, you son of a bitch.
Who I Am is one of my all time favorite songs. It is everything I am, all that makes up my DNA. Some parts sound contradictory but it has to because there are parts of me that conflict with each other. I am a mess (if you haven’t been able to tell that by now), and this song helps to expand on that subject. As Who I Am showed the many sides of myself and has a depressing feel to it, it does not compare to the incredible sadness of 10 Years Later.
10 Years Later
I remember the attacks on 9/11. As many did, I watched them happen on live TV. I have days worth of recorded video. When that happened, I was as shocked as I explained in the song. From that moment on, what seems to be the main concern is blaming everyone for what happened.
Conspiracy theories and other bullshit flew around, and still continues to, while completely disregarding the fact that thousands of people just died in front of everyone on Earth. When I decided to write this song, I wrote what needed to be said. The victims were being overshadowed by people who were more concerned with airport security being politically correct, or religions and political agendas being shoved into your face. That’s one of the reasons I did what I did with the instrumental.
And honestly, I can’t listen to the song anymore. At 2 minutes and 28 seconds, I have to skip ahead. I can’t listen to it without crying.
The album continues through its 27 song listing with songs like Trapped (explaining the crazy that is currently in my head), Work (my hatred for my job), and Needless, a song I wish I never had a reason to make.
Needless
I asked the Devil but he said he wouldn’t take her
asked God, said he’s not her maker
[he] said “Fuck Elisa Baker”
Hickory, North Carolina is very near to where I live and home to Elisa Baker, the woman who dismembered her disabled 10-year-old stepdaughter. The whole time Zara was missing, I was stuck to the news reports. For some reason, I had to read and know what was going on. The outcome was horrible. This song is completely written out of the heavy anger I felt.
Besides the hell I released on her, I also covered my own personal feelings about the whole thing, including hating that living less than two hours away, there was nothing I could do to help her. My music is frequently fueled by emotion, and this was a very obvious example of that.
Trapped Inside My Own Head
The news is a horrible thing that I’ve had to avoid over the years. As mentioned above, the news about Zara Baker ate at my brain for a long time. It is only one of a plethora of stories that affected me over the years, leading to a horrible view of reality that isn’t exactly wrong.
Trapped is a song that discusses my growing fear of insanity the news sells to the world. The worse the event, the more they shove it in your face. Tons of horrible things were happening in the world and my brain, being the stupid asshole it is, decided to torment the hell out of me.
This song was ahead of Vigilante, one of my later tracks that turns myself into a revenge-seeking juggernaut. Despite this difference in time, Trapped is directly connected to it. The ending of the song, which is essentially just the first kill scene by Clyde Shelton in the movie “Law Abiding Citizen”, drags out on purpose. The reason was to show the reaction of someone who becomes the victim and has the chance to return the pain on the one who gave it to him. This is the strongest connection to Vigilante.
Releasing the Dragon
One of my favorite tracks has always been Incinerator. It is an old song from before my first true album, Origination. It was a high-speed verbal assault, much like a lot of my music has become. It was the precursor that would lead to a song on “The Mind of God” titled Dragon.
With Dragon, I wanted to call back to Incinerator and let loose a flood of words. It is a true bulldozer track, a term I’m come to use on songs that use a similar style. Dragon comes from the same gushing vein as Incinerator, specifically written as a direct follow up to it.
Another song that has a great sound but gives you one of those “wait, what?” moments is She Isn’t Gone/I Hate You. The song was specifically designed to make you think one thing and end up somewhere else. The Norman Bates sample was perfect for the topic, no matter who I was talking about.
I ended with a song called Butterflies and Rainbows, clearly standing out among the titles themselves. It was for my now ex-wife and has a variety of very dumb references that only she would get.