One last leak from TreaZon’s upcoming mixtape, 9 Steps, before the release this Tuesday. TreaZ also has some words about the project (below) and has given me a nice track by track breakdown which I included after the jump.
First off, the tape in itself is a concept. My album that I’m working on is called Horizon. A actual album, not a mixtape. I got the idea to do 9 Steps from Divine Comedy. For those that don’t know, Divine Comedy is a Italian work of literature about a man who dies, and is shown the depths of hell first, then he is shown the levels of heaven, and finally, he reaches God himself. The whole story and everything really struck me when I read it, so I decided to make this idea into this mixtape. The mixtape is like, I start off on Earth, aka the hell. I start off viewing hell and all of life’s problems. As I progress and walk up, I reach the Horizon, aka the heavens. So the tone of the mixtape is very..deep and abysmal. Hit the jump for a track by track breakdown…
DOWNLOAD: TreaZon – Shine
First Step – I decided this mixtape was not suitable for the typical “mixtape intro”. I felt like Charles, “Ayo, why every mixtape gotta have a intro”, lol. So I went through like 9373 9th Wonder beats and I found this one that had a sample in the beginning of the beat like “Out of your life. I’m leaving, this time”. It hit me right then, this is perfect. I knew this is exactly what I needed, I’m leaving the hell on earth. I just used that and it was a wrap.
Lucid Dreaming Pt. 1 – I don’t even know how to explain this one without sounding outrageous. The entire idea of this track came to me when I looked at a picture of my girl….nah seriously though! I looked at a pic of her and the idea just hit me. That’s why the first bar is “I Saw A Picture Of My Girl And It Came To Life”. For those that don’t know, Lucid Dreaming is when you’re dreaming, but you know you’re dreaming, so you’re able to do things you can only do in a dream. I think this is one of those songs a lot of people won’t understand until they hear it a couple times.
Wingless – I remember writing this joint like, I heard the beat and it reminded me of some Dilla. I knew I had to come off. I was real stressed out at the time about my current situation(which I honestly don’t remember lol), but I know I was mad stressed. I wrote that joint instantly. A lot of people are gonna take this like I was dissing someone..lol nah. I just felt like a lot of n*ggaz(including myself) are always talking about flying away, and since I’m stuck on this hell on earth and nothing is changing, I’m wingless. Definitely one of my favorite tracks.
The Rain – The Rain is actually about a lot of people. I wrote this song about a couple of my boys and their relationships, even my own is in there somewhere in the story. The Rain basically revolves around a man who is lost in the world and lost within himself, and he’s trying to flee from the rain. Then it goes to a woman who’s stuck in the rain as well, and she’s suicidal and tired of life as well. She actually likes “the rain” though, and it gets deeper. The last verse goes into how both of them are dealing with the rain, and finally they meet and have someone to “dance in the rain with”, meaning once they meet, it’ll all end. The Rain is actually a metaphor for pain.
Sailor Moon – Ha, I know we’re gonna catch some stuff off this one. Honestly, the idea for this came about when me, Nero and Mint were on the phone having a long, ridiculous conversation about different television shows we used to watch. Out of nowhere, Mint is like “Yo, did any of ya’ll used to watch Sailor Moon”..? Me and Nero was like yeah we used to watch that sh*t, and we was like “YO, let’s make a track out of it”. I thought we were joking. The next day, Nero IMs me like, “I’m ready to do Sailor Moon when you are”. I’m like alright, he found a beat, we wrote to it, it was history. Mint wrote to it too, lmao, but he wrote some joke sh*t, thinking since it was called Sailor Moon, we’d be joking, while me and Nero wrote the most godly verses ever lmao. Threatz got on it too and killed it. Now our squad is known as Sailor Moon. Tuxedo TreaZ in effect.
Shine – I started feeling like the mixtape was too sad and deep, so I had to get on my uplifting ish, and when I found the beat, I knew I had to go in. Shine is actually one of my favorite tracks, I feel like I killed that joint. And I’m sorry bout the Chris Brown line, but I had to say it.
Close Your Eyes – I became a huge fan of QuEsT when I heard Distant Travels, so I hit em up like yo, we gotta collab. He came up with the idea to do Close Your Eyes and I swear dude had the verse back to me like the next day, not even 24 hours. He was on it. I knew I had to go hard after hearing his verse, so I went in on it. Me and QuEsT make a great team, expect more from us soon.
Elevator Music – I’m sure all of ya’ll seen the video by now right? Lol that joint is strictly off my moms. She used to always say that my music sounded like Elevator Music, I’m guessing ’cause its always smooth and whatnot. I said you know what, I’ma make a song called that. Keep in mind, I had the idea to do this years ago. Finally, I decided to do it for 9 Steps one day out of nowhere, and there you have it. The video was crazy, shouts to Wave Club, Mike Waxx & Everyone who attended. Definitely one of my favorites.
One – In the beginning I talk about how this song almost didn’t happen ’cause I was mad at my girl..lol it’s true. we was on some arguing ish at the time, but nah. This is one of my favorite joints because it’s so relevant to how I feel about her. I think this is one of the best songs, but it’s one of those joints that I like..made for me. It’s not for a fan paticularly. Even the Shorty’s Reprise at the end, it’s like that was always one of my fav beats so I threw it in there. Shouts to wifey.
Home(The Threatz Interlude) – Threatz been my partner in crime since like ‘05 man. I feel like he just finally found his style, and he got a mixtape coming out next month entitled The Breaking Point. He did this song back in like September, and it was always one of my favorites. He never really did anything with it, and I wanted to throw it on here as a interlude. Breaking Point coming next month!
Speed – Me and QuEsT decided to do another joint, and we had to get on Speed, one of our fav Little Brother joints. Again, QuEsT hit me with a verse like mad quick, and I shot it to Nero. At first he said he wasn’t feeling the beat(The hell is wrong with him), but then he was like nah, I’m on it. They both killed it, so I wrote my verse, went in, and thats that. This is paying homage to LB, so to the idiots who were saying we’re unoriginal, ya’ll get a BIG “Son Ight..”
Last Step – As soon as I heard the beat for Last Step, I knew it was gonna be the outro. I knew I had to come with a different type of flow. I stepped out of my element and did a more rapid flow, and it came out ill. The second part is more personal, I was like talking about real deep things that happened. This is the last step until I reach the Horizon, so it’s symbolic, and why I put the “out Of Your Life” sample at the end, again. I’d say this is the best track, it’s something I’ve never done and it worked.
Parachute – This joint is produced by my homie Fate L aka Illiad. This is supposed to be on my album, Horizon. I have to say, this is my favorite track I’ve ever done. The concept is, I’m on a parachute, floating and I don’t wanna fall, and I don’t wanna get any higher. It’s deep. The beat is AMAZING, and I think I did okay for someone who can’t sing, lol. Just a taste of Horizon.
And there you have it, more or less, a breakdown of 9 Steps. Witness it for yourself. Presented by the fam Doperoots. We in there.
-TreaZ
