XL Middleton describes the album "Barliament Drunkadelic" in his own words: 1. Barliament Drunkadelic Since this is the title song from the album I wanted the feel of it to match the theme of the artwork. On paper I know it sounds crazy, the whole carnival theme but if you listen to it, I think it works. This is definitely the most aggressive song on the whole album, it's the intro so it's only natural that I would wanna set it off right, coming out the gate swinging, lyrically that is. And I got my boy Def J scratching on there, had to give a nod to my hip hop roots!!! Some would say that I'm looking for trouble with the lyrical content of this song, not to mention the way that Def J scratched in the Biggie line about the World Trade, but think about this - 20 years ago, it was shocking when you heard cats rapping about b**ches and hoes, guns, sipping on 40's, "f**k the police" and all that type of stuff, what's gonna raise eyebrows now? It's not that I'm trying to condone any kind of terrorist sh*t, I'm just talking about something that's relevant today, just like a lot of gangsta rappers weren't necessarily condoning killing people or selling drugs or whatever, they were just talking about reality as they saw it. The music as a whole gets stagnant if you don't strive to get to that next level. 2. 80's Baby (feat. Mista Mil) Me and Mil are both 80's babies, but on the song we're talking about things from the 80's and 90's since we grew up in both decades. I was talking about a lot of hip hop sh*t, MC Breed, NWA, hell even Vanilla Ice, Mil brought it back with all the classic sh*t like blowing in your Nintendo cartridges and what not. Overall I think the people that listen to our music are gonna relate to this one more than any other song on the album, a lot of them are 80's babies too! 3. I Don't Like You (feat. Boss) I figure this one pushes a lot of other artists' buttons, if I heard this song playing on the radio I'd be like, "who are they to be judging hip hop as a whole like that?" But that's cool though, it's the type of joint that sparks discussion. Not everyone is gonna like what I have to say about these rappers, but it's cool, most of them won't be around in a few years anyway. Some will make it and then fade out, and others are just gonna give up and start working 9 to 5's like they should have been in the first place. What more can I say? 4. Gettin Breezy (feat. Young Sau, Sly Boogy, & D'Zire) This one is for all the longtime XL fans out there - this is straight up, riding down the coast, laidback music. I got Young Sau from outta San Diego on there, and of course Sly Boogy, so that means that LA, SD, and the IE are on the same track together! I'm gonna do the Bay Area Remix in a minute too, it's all West Coast to me. 5. Falling Down This one is a story, I had these lyrics for years and tried them out over a few different beats, it took a while to find the right one that's why I didn't put it out until now. Basically, if you've ever seen the movie "Falling Down" you'll know what I'm talking about on this song, the only difference is that I'm retelling the story within today's social context. You got a dude who's having a tough time raising his kids, dealing with school cutbacks, job cutbacks, he's just stressed out overall, and he snaps. 6. Don't Hate I don't know how many times I've been discussing hip hop with people, and they use the phrase "don't hate, he's just getting his money". I usually hear that phrase used to defend an artist who's putting out some garbage music. So I thought to myself, if we're gonna use "getting money" as a way to justify artists doing whatever they want, what would happen if we applied that to our president and everybody else in the government? This song has a real cynical tone to it, I just wanted to demonstrate how the idea of "don't hate he's just getting his money" can be a cop out or an excuse. I mean, George Bush is just getting his money right? Don't hate then! 7. Pop Lock Funk I know a lot of poppers and lockers that hit me up and tell me they do routines to my music, I just wanted to show a little appreciation to them by giving them something that's perfect to get down to - uptempo funky sh*t. And for everybody who was mad that I used the term "pop locking" in the song (the poppers and lockers know what I'm talking about), please understand - it just rolls off the tongue better than "Pop And Lock Funk" that's all, it's not out of disrespect or ignorance to the true essence of the artform. My homie Doggmaster laced this beat for me, dude is from France believe it or not, he's a real genius behind the boards, and he did the talkbox on the track too. 8. Beautiful People (feat. MP) Just like "Falling Down", I had these words for a while and just needed the right beat. The concept of this song is all about how we put so much time and effort into how we look or trying to fit in with everyone, and so little time into taking care of what's important. It's pretty much another story song, one verse about a chick, one verse about a dude so everybody can relate to it somehow. We all have those tendencies in us, it's nothing wrong with wanting to look good or have fly sh*t but what I'm talking about is when it really gets in the way of every other aspect of your life, when you're not handling your business, when you spent your rent money on new shoes and sh*t like that. 9. Major (feat. Black & Crooked I) Something interesting about this song is, this was originally supposed to be the jump off single for Black's next album, and it was gonna be him and Coolwadda (Chico & Coolwadda) on the track. Things didn't pan out on that note and for months I had a hot joint with a fresh Black verse on it just sitting there. Once I linked with Crooked, I realized it was the perfect joint to get him on so I just wrote to it and threw it his way, and the rest is history. 10. Back 2 Tha House Party (feat. Bo-Rocc & Coolwadda) There's a time and a place for commercial hip hop, I don't knock it at all, but "Barliament Drunkadelic" is not that time or place. I felt like doing the opposite, doing some sh*t to take it back to the good old house parties that we all used to love growing up. This song is one half of the story, "After The Party" is the next half. 11. After The Party Those house parties were always fun, but you never knew when some sh*t was about to pop off, might be nothing more than words exchanged, might be some folks throwing blows, might be a strap or two flashed on somebody, you never know. Either way, this song is a live narrative, talking about what happens when the party goes bad. Between this song and "Back 2 Tha House Party" I was trying to cover the good and bad sides of backyard functions. 12. Everybody's A Hater (feat. Clinton Wayne) Well...the title sums this one up. Everybody IS a hater. I'm not excluding myself from that though. It's human nature, if you ask me the point is to admit it to yourself so you can at least have some hope to keep it under control. You wanna be able to say to yourself, "damn, I'm hating, let me stop that." In the hip hop world being a "hater" is looked at as second only to being a "snitch" but what is a "hater"? Just because you have a negative opinion of something, it's hating? It's natural to see someone in a position you wanna be in and get jealous. These dudes do not wanna admit it though, so me and Clinton will be the ones to step up and tell it like it is. 13. Activity (feat. Dr. Stank) This track started out as a beat I was messing around with that I didn't really plan to use for anything, then I put together a little something for it for DJ Age's mixtape, it seemed to fit and I liked how the lyrics came out. Then I realized that Stank was perfect for the track and I was trying to get him on the album so it was a no-brainer. But yeah, that's why you hear me talking about bumping Age mixtapes in the first few bars of the track, it started out as a mixtape cut for dude. 14. Glam Rap If you look at where hip hop is today, it's basically where rock music was in the 80's when "glam rock" became the thing. Everybody's trying to put on the biggest show that they can, dress the flyest and craziest, everyone wants to "make it rain". But what's really going on is, corporate America has latched on to hip hop and turned it into an assembly line consumer product. I don't know, this is another song that's gonna make some people mad, again it's a question of "who is he to be criticizing hip hop, what makes him qualified to do that?" But again, it will spark discussion and that's always a good thing. In a lot of ways, hip hop really is kind of ridiculous, I mean the act that all hip hop artists have to put on to be hip hop artists. It's the way it is, can't really help it but I still got plenty to say about it. 15. Pimpin Like Its 1986 (feat. M-Dash) This is basically another joint for my poppers and lockers, some uptempo funk with the crazy bassline and hand claps. I did this one with M-Dash, I figured it would be an unconventional song for any LA artist or a Bay Area artist, why not get on a track together and do something real different? But if you listen to the lyrics though, what I'm talking about is not pimping in the literal sense, it's all about using situations to your advantage, "pimping the moment" if you will. Then Dash came through and laced it with that fly Bay swagger and made it complete! 16. Why Don't They Get It? (feat. S-Dee) Essentially this is the end of my album, minus the bonus tracks. But this is supposed to feel like the end; the bonuses are really supposed to feel like extras. S-Dee is a partner of mine from out the town [Pasadena, California], and we go way back in this hip hop thing. There was an incident that happened at a show where some of his people weren't getting along with some of my people and it was an incident that caused a little tension between us for a while, but when we finally sat down and talked about what had happened, we realized that we were on the same page about things, and that some people are only out to cause trouble and bring down your cause. So the concept of the song was born, "why don't they get it?" All we're trying to do is live off this music thing, let us eat. 17. If U Never Been (feat. Black, Daddy Rich, & Reality) My partner Daddy Rich from Savage Life actually came up with the idea for this song, then Black came with the hook, and my boy Reality laced it. Being that Rich is from up North [Hayward, California], you gotta understand that when we say "West Coast" on the track we're not just talking about LA. That's how it is a lot of times and I think that's why there's a little bit of a separation between LA & The Bay. We're trying to bridge that gap, I'm always up there performing and networking with cats, it's a lotta love up there and support so why not? 18. Back 2 Tha House Party (DPZ Crew Remix) Even though it's billed on the album credits as the remix, this is actually the original version of the song. We decided to go with the remix because we wanted something that was a little more "updated" as far the style, but we definitely had to keep this version on the album because everyone who heard it was loving it. And believe it or not, the dudes that did the track, DPZ Crew, are from Italy! They really got their funk down to a tee, I'll definitely be working with them more in the future.