11/19/2025
I feel like we don't talk collectively enough about the time Future said "I just fucked a cup of water (I did)"
11/18/2025
Last year, JPEGMAFIA released his album “I Lay Down My Lie for You”. It was a pretty good album overall, even if it didn’t reach the heights of some of his other music, and my favorite song on it is a song called “either on or off drugs”. The song features Peggy discussing how miserable he feels on and off drugs, and how that deep-seeded emptiness makes him feel as if there’s no way for his life to truly progress. It’s an incredibly blunt look at his insecurities, a great example of how compelling self-reflection can be in hip-hop, and it uses an AI sample in its instrumental. Fuck.
The use of AI is not something I realized when I heard this song at first. The sample it uses sounds like a pretty realistic 70’s soul sample, the kind that a ton of rap songs are built off of. I only found out through a YouTube video that showed every sample on the album, and once it got to “either on or off drugs”, I was regrettably met with the familiar sight of that plastic looking AI art of a fictional soul singer while a now obviously noticeable digital voice sang the sample. It’s led me to think of the song a lot differently. Why on such an emotional song did Mr. Mafia decide to use a sample from a form that many of the worst people on Earth are praying destroys emotional creativity for good? The spirit of the song directly goes against the process. It would be like making a song called “I Am A Devout Feminist and Also Anti-Murder” and having it produced by Phil Spector.
The most difficult part of the AI usage of the song is not that the song is good in spite of the AI usage though, it’s that the song is good at least in part because of the AI usage. JPEGMAFIA is one of the best producers in modern hip-hop and the elements he adds to the song, such as the backing vocals and electric guitar, make the song sound incredible. It all allows the sample to feel a bit more smoothed out, the digital aspect hard to spot to those not in the know. This song is frustratingly one of the first major uses of AI (outside of things like splitting up an instrumental and a vocal which are not super damaging and also not really AI) to make a piece of music that is truly great.
JPEGMAFIA is one of the most in demand artists in hip-hop. He isn’t some underground rapper with no budget. He could’ve very easily paid a singer to perform this song instead of the AI. The origin as an AI song would still be there, but at least an actual musician would be getting paid because of it. The choice to use the AI version is something that really scares me. It’s proof that the biggest artists in the world are willing to take jobs away from actual musicians in favor of something that is terrible for the future of art. Worse though, it’s also proof that they can get away with it and even be praised for it if done well enough. I despise AI with every fiber of my being, I think anyone who knows me could attest to that. Yet at the same time, I put “either on or off drugs” on my “Favorite Songs of 2024” list and I’ve continued to listen to it after finding out the sample's use of AI. I don’t really know what to do with that, and it scares me quite a bit.
11/12/2025
The wolves have come and gone and I'm still praying.
11/10/2025
I keep forgetting that I have a whole video written about Ed Sheeran that I'm supposed to record. I'll randomly get the urge to film it on a Monday when I'm at the busiest point in the day and by the time the day ends I'll have completley forgotten. I also gotta write my favorite albums of the year list, I think I'll probably get that fully sorted during winter break. I wish I had more time to write youtube videos lowkey since they're fun as hell but I have to focus on music more. At least it's something else creative to do when I feel burnt out. This website has helped me with that as well, giving me another outlet for things.
11/9/2025
I wanna be a billboard. I wanna be an advertisement. I wanna stand for nothing. I wanna stand for nothing.
11/7/2025
Finally gonna post to this! I have been working on music recently but a lot of it will not be coming out. I had an album planned called "exhibitionist", that was supposed to be out next week. It was an incredibly personal project that was going to be a collection of all of my saddest and most uncomfortable feelings, hence the title. I got the album mostly produced and was about to record vocals for most of the songs. However, I realized that the music I was making was too bitter and depressing, and I don't think that releasing it right now would be good for my mental health. The only song that might end up getting released in some form right now would be a cover I did of "Free Bird" by AJJ but I'm not sure of how/when that would be happening. I may come back to the project idea one day, but I will go about it a lot different. As of now, I am slowly getting started on what will be my proper debut album. I'm going into this album with the idea of it being something I can be proud of for the rest of my life, and I'm super excited about it. I've also been playing with some friends recently and we've written a couple of songs that I enjoy quite a bit. Overall, I'm doing a lot better then I have been. My mood has been improved a lot by Jack Citarelli losing New Jersey and Zohran becoming mayor for NYC. My favorite albums I've heard in the past month have been "Vanisher, Horizon Scraper" by Quadeca and "Tunnel of Love" by Bruce Springsteen.