post002: the composition of an introduction, according to me.

ever since my first solo cassette tape in 1998, I have always incorporated an introduction on every record that I have ever made. it is almost a mark of approval or completion or something. over the years, I have done many, many records both alone and with friends. not everyone is necessarily into the whole “intro/outro” thing, so you may hear all sorts of things.

now that I am however many projects deep in the new decade, I’m wondering if I should have an introduction at all…. I mean, there are so many ways to explain yourself in real time (versus the whole “once a year” paradigm of yesteryear) that you only need to post an introduction of your descriptive work on twitter and it’s cool. I am also a fan of the “bookend method” and I believe a record should move like a comic book or magazine (complete with commercials and photo spreads) versus a big budget matinee or indie cult film. don’t forget the sit-com or made for T.V. movie, those kinds of records suck.

I always loved the anticipation of whatever it was that the dude was going to get into, the prelude or synopsis of that was on the intro. I also loved the gangster intros of old that always seemed to end in a hail of gunfire, inhaling and exhaling, screeching tires, police sirens or all of the above. The braggadocio intro was always fun too, Hieroglyphics and Gangstarr kind of owned those in the early 90’s. Wu-Tang kind of cracked the whole thing open with the rampant movie sampling and Dre THXed the whole thing into the ground with that weird plane flying by a binaural microphone effect he killed on the chronic 2001. Dre also squandered away perfectly good introduction music on telling you who could eat a fat dick, this kind of set the standard on the value of a high-priced fuck around intro. You couldn’t just have a loop riding for 24 bars unless you were Primo, and he was the golden exception. Biggie and Nas get stars on Hollywood for their intros and Jeru The Damaja gets most honorable mention for his intro on Wrath of the Math. KRS just fucks off intros simply because he knows that he can, it’s almost insane. I’m still wracking my brain trying to figure out what I can propose as the “dopest intro of all time” is, I have heard entirely too many intros in the last 10 years. Interludes and bonus loops will get a separate blog, along with hidden tracks…..