“I’m Better Than You” Breakdown [Part 1]

Welcome everyone. My first blog on XXLMag.com will be a track by track breakdown of my mixtape I'm Better Than You which xxlmag.com has available for free download.

“Diamond Dust” (Prod By Mickey Factz)

So my brother Steve-O said we needed an intro. I didn't want to do an intro cause I felt the tape was good as it was. I didn't have any beats that fit the criteria, so I decided to take it back to my Heaven's Fallout days and produce a record. I sampled Passion Pit for the song and I wanted to kind of break down the title of the mixtape as well as letting the people know what I've been up to. The song title is a play on words. I want to give the people diamonds, but breaking ’em up into dust and spreading it to everyone seems better.

"I'm Better Than You" (Prod By Don Cannon)
[Audio:https://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2010/10/02-02-im-better-than-you-feat-steve-o.mp3]

I love rapping. A lot. I always feel I'm overlooked when it comes to it too. So when I got this beat from Cannon, I said, "This is my title track." I had a chance to rap about whatever I wanted. The first verse was actually re-written because the verse that I originally used was put on the BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher. I'm not a fan of recycling verses. Also, because we were running on a specific deadline I couldn't have Steve-O go back in the studio to do his ad-libs over, so I had to come up with another Montana Fishburne line. Crazy. The original version of the song was about 5 minutes too. I had about 48 bars at the end. Couldn't stop rapping. LOL

"Legend" (Prod By Precize)
[Audio:https://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2010/10/03-03-legend.mp3]

Precize sent this beat in that he sampled from the **Karate Kid**. Initially, I wanted to call the song “Karate Kid” but couldn't think of anything dope. So I thought, why make a record about the son of Will Smith, when I can be the father instead. So that’s where “Legend” came about and the hook came to me instantly. I wanted a nice street anthem, Mickey Factz style. I wanted to make the song short and sweet as well as lyrical. I recorded this song about five times to meet Precize's standard. He stressed me out to the maximum.

“Paradise (Remix)” Feat. Bun B & Fat Joe (Prod By Precize)
[Audio:https://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2010/10/04-04-paradise-remix-feat-fat-joe-bun-b.mp3]

The title came to me while reading a Rick Ross article. He said his experience going to Hawaii with Kanye was [like] paradise. I felt like I needed a reintroduction record for my fans. I wanted to let them know, no matter what you’re doing or where you are, treat your life like it’s paradise. Things could be much worse. Fat Joe had told me he wanted to jump on the remix, so that was cool. Bun let me know the same thing as well. So I was pumped. Bun wrote and recorded his verse in 10 minutes in NYC. Ironically, I did my verse in Houston while on tour with Big Sean.

“We Young” Feat. Nakim (Prod By Precize)

I felt like I wanted a record for people to enjoy themselves while at a club. I have been a big fan of Luke since I was a kid. He actually introduced me to naked women. Haha. But sampling his vocals from “I Wanna Rock” was the smartest thing we could have ever done. We showed love to my man Luke. Precize sent me this record and I didn't know if it was going to be that hot, after I recorded to it a gazillion times but the last version was so hot. [GFCNY artist] Nakim caught a body and I had to record another verse to compete. Haha. Still dope though. This record is going to be crazy.

“Showing Love” Feat. Count Justice (Prod By Precize)
[Audio:https://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2010/10/06-06-showin-love-feat-count-jus.mp3]

I wrote this record after reading comments on Twitter and on the blogs. I just don't get how anybody can hate on someone else— especially if they’re talented and doing something positive in their life. It makes no sense to me, at all! I really felt some sort of way when I recorded this. I remember when Precize sent this beat and I just kept saying to myself, I'm just showing you love. That’s all I can say. For me, I just wanted to tell people how I felt. It makes me sad how people can just hate or show malice and disrespect me. If they met me in person, half the things they say, they wouldn't cause nine times out 10 I can out-rap their favorite rappers. Anywho, I love the song and Count Justice made it hotter than it already was!