Defining Moments
There have been many moments in my career when i knew i was working on something very special. Tonight is one of those nights. I'm mixing an E-Dro song tonight that he wrote about Hurricane Katrina. As i was deeply affected by what i saw happen to New Orleans and its people, E-dro was equally moved by what transpired especially during the first week after Katrina. About 3 weeks after it hit, E-dro and I were in London working on new material. I had a beat that he wanted to write to, a really dramatic piece of music, really intricate string arrangement, driving drum pattern. E-dro knew he wanted to write an important story to the beat. Originally he was going to rhyme about Freedom Fighters, and he had been researching and learning as much as he could about them, then Katrina hit and everything changed.
E-dro was a bit mad at the lack of real news coverage, but of course most unbelievable was the complete lack of government response. So, one evening in London, I found a copy of an Oprah broadcast online, when she went down to New Orleans very shortly after they got all those people out of the Superdome. I was struck by how much i learned about what had really happened just from her broadcast. I mean, here is someone who isnt even a newscaster (though she used to be), and she captured the real story of New Orleans and the devastation of its city and people, the mind boggling lack of government aid, and the real human tragedy. she captured a story nobody else had come close to telling. The next morning i took a one day vacation to Rome, and left my laptop with E-dro, with the Oprah broadcast on it for him to watch, and some other info bookmarked, and left him alone to write for a day. When i came back, he had written "Katrina". At some point after the album is released, I'll post it on my site. Its going to be the B-side of the first single, so once its released, I'll ask the record label if they mind if i post it.
So, this song isnt a single, and there's been enough time passed since Katrina that its not a timely news story, but i still know i'm working on something very special because even though by now I've heard this song 500 times, it still does to me now, what it did the first time i heard it. I am nearly paralyzed listening to this song sometimes, and every time i sit and really listen to it, I can visualize those images E-dro paints of New Orleans like it happened yesterday. Anyway, like i said, there have been many defining moments in my career, this song on a very personal level is one of them. This song, I'll look back on when i'm 70 years old and be exceptionally proud of. I hope the rest of you get to hear it very soon. Now i'd better go finish the mix of it.
-Ken Lewis
E-dro was a bit mad at the lack of real news coverage, but of course most unbelievable was the complete lack of government response. So, one evening in London, I found a copy of an Oprah broadcast online, when she went down to New Orleans very shortly after they got all those people out of the Superdome. I was struck by how much i learned about what had really happened just from her broadcast. I mean, here is someone who isnt even a newscaster (though she used to be), and she captured the real story of New Orleans and the devastation of its city and people, the mind boggling lack of government aid, and the real human tragedy. she captured a story nobody else had come close to telling. The next morning i took a one day vacation to Rome, and left my laptop with E-dro, with the Oprah broadcast on it for him to watch, and some other info bookmarked, and left him alone to write for a day. When i came back, he had written "Katrina". At some point after the album is released, I'll post it on my site. Its going to be the B-side of the first single, so once its released, I'll ask the record label if they mind if i post it.
So, this song isnt a single, and there's been enough time passed since Katrina that its not a timely news story, but i still know i'm working on something very special because even though by now I've heard this song 500 times, it still does to me now, what it did the first time i heard it. I am nearly paralyzed listening to this song sometimes, and every time i sit and really listen to it, I can visualize those images E-dro paints of New Orleans like it happened yesterday. Anyway, like i said, there have been many defining moments in my career, this song on a very personal level is one of them. This song, I'll look back on when i'm 70 years old and be exceptionally proud of. I hope the rest of you get to hear it very soon. Now i'd better go finish the mix of it.
-Ken Lewis
posted by Protools Mixing at 4:04 AM
3 Comments:
Fantastic. It's like the old saying the little things are those that are remembered most. I'm glad you have your self-gratifying moment with many more to come. And what's even better is when someone else sees the significance of the song. I agree today there are so few songs of any meaning or social significance to the world today. I'm glad that there are more than just the Chuck D's, Zulu Nation, the Michael Stipes (REM), Bono (U2) and many others in this world, making great music of world wide impact. Keep up the great work.
hey ken
i worked over in surrey with the then titled"hotash crew" before you got there last summer. I met and talked late hours with Edro in early july 2005 when the tube/bus bombings happened. Im from the eastcoast and out in the bayarea these days. this is where i met david ashby 5 or 6 years ago. I was doing midi sequencing for the RnB project that was planned...I didn't do anything musically with erdo but have heard some early mixes of some tunes and the other stuff you mixed "streetlife" and "like we". you've got skills man I was hoping i could of have come back that summer to england and watch you work. i ve been following your blog abit since then and i know things have changed with the project, but I thought I'd say Hi anyways...
Hi whens the album due? did you work on any of the rnb stuff with lauryn the vocalist?
jaswho?
reppin whoville since 89'
Hey Jaswho,
E-dro's record is still officially on hold, but I produced and co-wrote the two songs i just mixed so i figured on hold or not, I wanted to finish some of my tracks when i had the creative inspiration to do so. Waiting on record companies to make decisions can often be creative disaster.
"Streetlife" and "Like We" are old old tracks, i doubt either will make the album, but ya never know. I think E-dro has elevated himself as an artist to an amazing level since i started overseeing the project in August. I dont know when the album is due, but definitely this year. I'm so close to being done with it that its rediculous, but again, record company business and stuff completely unrelated to me are holding things up right now. I've got plenty of other projects to keep me busy.
I did a bit of work on Lauren's record when i was out on my first trip to the UK last year. maybe just a day. That was David's pet project, I'll leave it to him.
I personally think we've got a really great record with Edro. Lets see what the public thinks when they get it. I guess the thing i like most about Edro is he's a multi-dimensional artist. He can do the street stuff, the club stuff, the grimey, then switch up and do the real politically aware songs and the real personally relatable songs.
-Ken
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