o P-Duble
P-Duble
As one of the hottest up-n-coming artists in the industry…and more than 10 years older than most of his comrades, P-Duble has experience and maturity to bring to the table.
P-Duble is thirty-four and was almost 10 years removed from his last release, “Birth Uv A G,” in 1999. The record, and P-dub’s voice—classics in the now popular, but still young, Christian Hip-Hop World—set the stage for his hiatus and allowed him to learn some important life-lessons until the time was right for him to step back behind the microphone.
Thanks to the persistence of such cultural icons as Sup C, Mr. Solo and T-Bone and reinforced by a mainstream culture that loves to occasionally dust off classic adages, P-dub has never really left the game, or missed a meal. He couldn’t be happier that the Lord has continued to fuel his calling into the hip-hop ministry.
“I appreciate that the Lord has allowed me to still stay in this game and I thank Him for the blessings He has bestowed upon me,” P-dub says. “Not talking financially, just talking about my family, life and being relevant in His scheme.” P-dub hasn’t relied on samples alone to stay and get back into the game. He came-back on the scene with a vengeance with his 2006 release, “No One.” This self-produced project tossed itself into more than 10,000 heads and set the stage for what has been a spiritual re-awakening on a major hip-hop scale.
As for the rest of his history, P-dub first formed a group with some of his boys called “Dead On Arrival,” back in 1990. P-Duble dropped himself from the group and saw the remaining duo sign with Philadelphia-based Bodybag Records and release an album…and then…saw it collapse on the shelves. P-Duble (known as Lil’ Pookie at the time) then proceeded to drop his own underground projects, such as “Blak + Wyte” in 1992, “Bottom of my Boot” in 1994, “Pooc OG: tha’ gangsta’ chronicles” in 1995 and then “Birth Uv A G” in 1999.
In between these individual releases, he combined with Michigan-based Luppy to form the “Outsiders.” They worked together and collaborated on one-project that was released in 1996 and opened-up the door for Luppy to jump onto the scene with his own group, “LPOutsiders.”
Lup and P-dub saw a future together, but the business and differing aspirations ultimately took a toll on their relationship. “That relationship got really messed-up for awhile,” P-dub says. “I was so immature that I wouldn’t allow myself to see eye-to-eye with him, which was a mistake, because he was right and he was so talented and was really the heart and soul of what we were doing. The music business is notorious for breaking up relationships because of everything that it entails. Ego, money. Those are usually things that are pieces of the problem, but it never should’ve been, especially with where we were both coming-up from and the fact that we were both Christian artists.”
P-Duble laughs matter-of-factly at the situation, and then turns his attention to today. He’s preparing to enter the game with a thump through his reincarnated Pike Street music, the same company that released the final three of his previous releases back in the day.
“One of the singles off this one is called ‘This Is Why…’ and features Mims and is based on the concept of the old records and MC’s.” The album is titled “If I Die…,” but P-dub believes that hip-hop is ready for someone to push the music forward creatively. “These topics they talkin’ about. We already covered that in the 80’s and 90’s. You know, ‘I Get Money?’ Why hasn’t the artist progressed conceptually? They’re not diggin’ deep enough. I wanted to dig deep and come up with neat concepts and things that haven’t been done before.”
The high-pitched excitement that characterized his delivery as an MC also shows up in his speaking voice. In discussing his whereabouts, he’s honest to a possible fault. He admits that he was and still is hesitant to pick up the mic as a mature adult because many may not want to hear a grown man rap.
However that hasn’t been the case at all. The public’s reaction has surprised even P-dub himself.
“The response has been crazy,” he says about his comments in other interviews, which generated a great deal of fan reaction. “They didn’t touch on the age thing. Maybe it’s not as big of a deal as I thought it was, but then again the Lord has a way of over-coming even the most ominous of obstacles…there isn’t any that He can’t overcome. I mean, Jay-Z is older than me. I’m thirty-four. He says he’s thirty-eight. We know Dr. Dre is in his forties. Even 50 is in his thirties. Personally, I would like to forget bout that and listen to the music. If it’s hot, it’s hot.”
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I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Last week, in no uncertain terms, my 8-year-old daughter, RaeAnne, told me that I was cut off. Done. Finished…
…No longer would I be permitted to borrow her iPod when I went to the gym.
First of all, according to RaeAnne, I was "getting it all sweaty." Second, and much less disgustingly, I was "running down the battery life," a phenomenon which was apparently wreaking havoc on her finely tuned listening schedule. And while I considered pointing out that she had been running down my battery life for the previous 8 years, I had to admit that Emily had a point.
So the next day, I went out and bought an iPod of my own – a tiny, blue (of course) iPod Shuffle. It holds about 250 songs, and over the last several days I've been busy filling it up with my favorites.
The Shuffle is the least expensive iPod available – it has no screen and the songs are played randomly. It's this randomness, in fact, which gave me the most pause before purchasing.
I was concerned that one unrelated song after another would be annoying (or at least distracting), and I thought about getting one of the more expensive models which lets you play songs by artist, genre, or groups you create on your own, such as, "Songs I can't believe my daughter listens to."
In the end, I decided to buy the Shuffle, randomness and all. And now, having lived with it for about a week, it actually turns out that the randomness of the song presentation is what I enjoy most.
I've got rap, followed by rock, followed by alternative, followed by, well, you get the picture. No rhyme or reason, just one great song after another, all day long; the fact that each song is unrelated to the one before actually keeps things kind of interesting.
If you ask me, "No rhyme or reason, just one great song after another, all day long," is about the best formula there is for ordering musical topics.
Here's what I mean…
Lots of companies – and in my experience, the larger the company, the more this seems to be the case – go to great pains to create a "logical" editorial calendar. The thinking is that by putting things in the proper order, they'll best be able to get their message across and share their expertise.
This un-random strategy, however, has at least two problems with it.
- Your listeners couldn't care less. Most listeners most of the time will have almost zero memory of what they heard from you last month. That doesn't mean they won't form an impression of you, they just don't remember the details.
And while they might remember a bit of a story here or a snippet of music there, for the most part, and to the extent they remember anything, it will appear random to them. So hashing out the perfect calendar is a waste of your time.
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It will limit your ability to choose today's best topic. The best topic for today is the one that is most compelling today. Not the next thing on the list, but rather the thing that is most top of mind, most burning, for you, the thought leader in your field. If you plan your topics ahead of time, you'll miss the relevancy of the moment – and relevant moments are what make your music come alive.
As a practical matter, therefore, my recommendation is that you keep a list somewhere – in a Word document, on a whiteboard, in your notebook – of potential future topics. Anytime you have an idea (or even a piece of one), put it down in your, as that great writer Winnie the Pooh might say, Topic Place. Then, open up your list and grab the one that grabs you.
One more thing. If all this randomness is troubling to your sense of order and sound practices, keep in mind that your music isn't a marketing campaign or even a presentation that you give to a group of listeners.
It's a relationship… a proxy for the lunch that you (as a practical matter) can't have with each of your listeners. And just as you don't plan what you're going to say or eat or wear at your next 12 lunches (and if you do, I'd rather you not get in touch with me), you're better off not planning your next year's worth of musical "conversations" either.
Bottom Line: As someone once said, "A happy life is just a string of happy moments." By the same token, a successful song is just a string of really good ones. Push the "random button" on your topic choices, let yourself off the planning hook and simply pick the most relevant, most interesting, most pressing topic you can think of each time you write. RaeAnne and I look forward to hearing it.
