"No one wins.  One side just loses more slowly."  -Roland Pryzbylewski, aka 'Prez' from The Wire

I can't say enough about how much 'The Wire' has inspired me as a writer.  Aside from its brilliant mix of drama, tragedy, and social commentary, I above all else admire the way that David Simon and Co. keep pushing on and outdoing themselves each season.  Despite the show not getting the credit it deserves, the writers and actors continue to elevate their craft and produce what is, in my opinion, the greatest televsion series of all time.  When asked about the show's failure on a widespread commercial level, Mr. Simon said something to the effect of:  'We've been fortunate enough to last for five seasons, and as long as you can make a living saying what you want to say, there's not much you can complain about.'  I'm paraphrasing, but that sentiment helped put alot of things in perspective for me during the making of this album.

In writing this joint, I drew on inspiration from a conversation I had at Jazzy Jeff's crib.  We had just finished recording "Whatever You Want" from his 'Return of the Magnificent' LP.  It was the first song I had ever done a full R&B vocal for and while he loved it, I wondered if people would take it seriously:

Me:  "Man, this sounds dope, but do you think people will believe it?"
Jeff:  "Dude, you knocked that shit out faster than alotta niggas who call themselves singers!  This shit is fresh!"
Me:  "Thanks, bruh...but like, do you think my fans will accept it?"
Jeff (soundin like an angry version of Jaz from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air):  "Dude.....FUCK A FAN!  FUCK WHAT PEOPLE THINK!  Nigga, do that shit for you!"

On the ride back to the crib, I thought long and hard about Jeff's words and even harder about my current situation.  It seemed like everytime I opened my mouth, I was saying something that nobody wanted to hear (c) Bunny Colvin.  My label, my family, my hometown, my 'fans,'.....no matter what me and Pooh did, it seemed that nobody was ever fully satisfied.  The only people we could ever satisfy were ourselves, so I figured, fuck it, I might as well just do me.

Me and Pooh both agreed that we didn't want 'Getback' to be a bitchfest/pity party, so we decided to use this one song to air out our frustrations and bring people up to speed with all that had happened in the past year.  (Pooh, before steppin in the booth to drop his verse:  "Man, now I see why EPMD and Tribe and all them niggas broke up......its like bein stuck in a marriage to a bitch you cant stand....")

This was one of the few songs that me and Pooh both nailed the first night and didn't do any alternate takes, so there's not much difference between this one and the album version.  The only edits in this version were made to Pooh's outro so we could make a better segue into the Khrysis-produced joint we did with Rhymefest. (We later decided to scrap the Rhymefest song in order to keep the album moving and not slow down the pacing.) In this version, you'll hear me and Khrysis' original segueway into that song.

The Bad Ass Filipino who produced this joint was supposed to send me a video to accompany this blog, but he never did.  Please send him hate mail and gas faces at www.myspace.com/illmind...lol

See ya tomorrah (c) Tribe

Tigallo