Approach Influenza as a series which serves to help give insight as to where music is born; these are the thoughts, influences and the inspirations directly from the mind of the artists. Here, Chicago emcee Alltruisms describes the extended period of time leading up to his recently released Clusterbombs. Adding to that an explanation of the irregular process of making an independent music video, the emcee concludes that sometimes in order to gain the exposure you seek you may find yourself indirectly associating with vehicles of someone else’s choosing.
On “Nine Digit Number”:
I wrote this in 2003. At the time I was living with Kaz1 (who produced the track) in a one bedroom apartment, seventh-floor lakeside above the late Chase Cafe, front room leading to bedroom leading to bathroom. I had the front room and a mattress on the floor next to the sink. When I wasn’t vomiting into a sink full of dishes on my birthday, and when Kaz wasn’t getting punched by two girls named Lea in one day he’d make beats and Verbal Kent, Rusty Chains and I would record in the apartment. Five songs from “Clusterbombs” were written before I traveled in S.E. Asia and New Zealand in 2005-2006, and this is the one of them that changed the least in the ensuing time; I just trimmed the lyrics a bit, re-recorded it and found the spoken sample at the beginning. For a song that’s overtly political, I think it avoids the trap of sounding dated. My personal favorite line in the song is “despite what the pundits might mutter, I see the forest for the shredded paper and the lumber.”
The album was finished before I traveled in Ecuador and Colombia from last December through this March. While there, I put up a Craigslist ad for a music video director. Matt Yang stood out amongst the replies, and he chose this track for a video. I’m very happy with how it turned out, not to mention how quickly it got done. We only started emailing in March, and didn’t even speak until I got back to the U.S. at the beginning of April. Matt had everything set up for the shoot in mid-April, and a final cut ready by the end of May. I believe in his metaphor of the school representing our society, the teacher and principal representing the forces in control, the students as the people who do want to hear a different message, even if they seem to not have it in them to listen. The video’s got some humor to it, it’s a bit light-hearted, and I think it helps people to digest the message in the song - like the teaspoon of sugar in the medicine. The video got nearly 125,000 views on Heavy in its first week up. It’s pretty wild seeing it on that site, playing inside of ads for movies, beer, condoms and the army. But that’s how it’s gotta be done nowadays. - Alltruisms
Alltruisms “Nine Digit Number” (mp3)
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