"Et tu, Brute?"-Caesar

Of all the songs on 'Getback' this one probably needs the least explanation, so I'mma be real brief with all you motherfuckers (c)Snoop.

The ones you love are the ones who hurt you the most, so goes the cliche.  In writing my verse for this song, I did my best to express my feelings of pain and disappointment about *that* situation rather than be all "FIRST OFF FUCK YA BITCH AND THE CLICK YOU CLAIM!" like I was Taypac or some shit.  The interlude that comes before this song is the original version of 'The Way You Do It' that me and my man Eccentric recorded back in 2000 for my solo project.....(it was re-worked two years later into the version you hear on "The Listening").  I figured it was the best way I could represent the ending of an era.

I will say though, that this was the only song I initially had doubts about.  Part of me was like, "Dude, why waste time talkin about this?  If Atlantic gets behind this record the right way, your new fans ain't even gonna know that y'all usta have a 3rd member...nor will they care.."  But then another part of me felt like I owed something to the people who stuck by us through all the drama...and not saying anything about it on my part woulda been a copout of sorts ("WHAT pink elephant in the room? *looks around*  I surely don't see a pink elephant in the room...")  For the record, me, Pooh, and Jozee all wrote our verses about different people.  Once we got dropped from Atlantic and saw that we'd be pretty much workin the record on our own, I knew I'd made the right decision to leave my verse as is and that our fans would appreciate something so personal. 

As for the aftermath? 

To this day, I have no idea how 9th feels about this song.  Up until a few weeks ago, we hadn't said more than five words to each other in over a year.  I reached out to him about my 12 Days of Getback concept, and he was gracious enough to do a video for 'Breakin My Heart.'  Don't expect a reunion, but my guess is that he, like me, is just making music and moving on with life.  It could be the English major in me overanalyzing shit, but I interpreted his Listening-sample reflips on Dream Merchant 2 as his way of paying homage to his past and saying goodbye to that period in our lives......(I thought all those interludes were dope as fuck, btw.....)

The guest verse on this one comes courtesy of East Durham's finest, Jozeemo.  I first met Jozee sometime back in '03 at a charity concert for needy Christmas families.  Prior to that, I had been hearing word about him on the local battle circuit ("Yoooo, you gotta hear this dude Jozee......nigga is like a mix between Scarface and Beans...").  After I saw him perform, we talked for a minute and talked about working together on some stuff.  Shortly afterwards, he got locked up.

Once he came home, Big Dho reached out to him about joining HOJ and it was a done deal.  I figured that with all he'd been through during his incarceration, he would be right at home with the subject matter.  I played him the beat, told him the concept, and he wrote his verse in 20 mins.....his studio work ethic is like none other...(only other cat I've personally seen work that fast is Kweli...)

In this mix, you'll hear Jozee's original verse.  Dude had just quit smoking about a week prior to recording, and his throat was killing him.  Ironically, it made him sound even more like Scarface..lol  He recorded this version (which me and Pooh dubbed the Faceemo mix), but then came back a few months later and did the final version after his throat healed.  Go show him some love at www.myspace.com/jozeemo

Three mo to go,
Tigallo


P.S.- I guess I wasn't as brief as I thought I'd be..lol