ARTCROW

And now it's time for so long. For our final challenge we were tasked with Teaching people 'How to' do something with 'all drums' and 6 people which seemed like an insurmountable task but almost immediately i figured I wanted to make our last challenge about rap. Specifically, Rap Gods and How to Summon Them. There is a throughline with all of the tracks we made for the competition. (maybe you caught it between the themes or track art) Our story follows the semi-fictional 'ARTCROW' as he returns to a world that has been destroyed in his absence. His journey of traveling through the land looking for other life and signs of what led to the ruin, is told in the first track for NCVPC8 'Stage Zero' Figuring that the destruction was ultimately a symptom of mans refusal to kill his ego, he gives some instructions on how to do so knowing that he's preaching to an invisible audience. Our track LVL SLCT: Kill Your Ego explores this briefly In STAGE 2: Secret War we explore a world where a personified version of ARTCROW is talking about his life on an earth that may or not may exist. We then visit with an alter ego of our traveler, named ANGRYHERO. The most unstable version of AC that lives in the shadows as if an angry visage trying to come out on some Prof. Quirrell type shit. Before the end, we visit a world that AC can no longer get to. It was free and it was beautiful and it was weird and it was fun. But like every world, it's destruction is imminent. We end here. RAP gods and How to Summon Them (ROUND 5????) The last we see of AC in this competition is him teaming up with other rap gods to explain to listeners how to find them. Most take fantastical elements you could never achieve, others our just a way to gain our attention. Either way, we are here to spread our joy and pain through our music. And my role, is to save a world I believe is in the middle of catastrophic destruction. So I carried that energy into the competition bc it's just how I've been feeling lately. I thank Ben 'Angrycrow' for asking me to work with him on this challenge. It's been really fun! it's helped me to stop overthinking so much and just rap. Thank you to everyone that voted and listened and shared kind words about our art. I don't normally hear critiques on my music so it's nice to hear people enjoy it, in any regard. Thank you to the features on our final song, Foolery (my lovely wife), Smokee B, IMP, Joey Z, Navi and Rhyme Artist (1/2 of RHYMEclass) for giving us a verse SO DOPE it made some of us reconsider what the fuck we were even talking about forreal. Thank you all for the part you all played. Thank you competition! Thank you judges! - HERO

This round was a doozy. But more a meditation on how I wanted to do things than anything else. I think most producers realized almost immediately that you’ll want to give as much runway as possible ( particularly for those who have upwards of 3 additional collaborators ). So ACH and I had to split up the tasks and give bare-minimum directions so people could start without getting bottlenecked by either one of us. We picked a tempo and handed out a simple groove for those who weren’t going to work to a click. As each verse came in, I made a small beat using different sets of percussion. I had a conversation with navi pretty early on about the “Synths are okay” provision in our challenge for the producer. I think focusing on ways to literally use ALL DRUMS gave me a little more freedom than expected. Even though I did sketch a few things in the process of finding the temp groove that we sent out to each of the other vocalists ( 7 total ). Of course, we had to change plans as we went and many of our collaborators were already committed to several other teams. So we got our roster, tempo, and groove down in the first week ( or less ) and gave about a week for verses to come in. The prospect of including several producers on top of my process would’ve stressed me out more. I want to focus on highlighting the different styles of the other collaborators and I think getting different dimensions of approval outside of vocal processing would complicate that. Even still, there were technical and timing challenges that followed us into the last few minutes of the round. At one point, I was pretty resolved to not submit the track but I didn’t make that decision until I conferred with my teammate. ACH convinced me to follow-through despite my own AFK complications and unexpected mess ( driving around a few wildfires a few more days than expected and so-on ). But we’re all adults, excuses don’t matter.. in the end “ it’s just music “ and we have the power to make it into something more full and as-intended later on. For today, we’re getting this done. And that does mean a lot to me because I have participated in a few VPC events before but did not submit for every round. So I think that poetic closure that I was aiming for will have to wait. I haven’t been involved with NCHH for a few years leading up to this event. I thought that I could kinda put it behind me by being competitive or at least jumping through all the hoops. But following through in principle means two things for me. That I have a partner for the next time around ( REVENGE OF RACROW) and that I can take this new vocalist through the fire with me and complete a unique body of work that has sparked a new chapter in our collaborative relationship. Maybe I like puzzles too much. Whatever this track ends up being, I think we did well in the face of past efforts, my immaturity as a producer and insecurity as an artist. Placing well in this challenge barely makes the top 5 of other benefits that I have experienced in the process of pushing myself.

[ Foolery ]

I need some advice
I'm new to this plane
Some help would be nice
Don't wanna get in the way

Heard the myths, the legends,
all the people you saved
Put it into some context
so we know who we praise


[ Smokee B ]
Coincidentally positioned between sixteen bars
A six cat Cypher
Six blunts lit
And sixteen more
Piled in the center on a pic of Steve Martin
It's smoking and sizzling but
It needs more
Gone ahead and pour some kool aid on it
Call them women got the booties with no poo stank on em
Once the music gets em moving and the groove takes over
All the smoke starts to subliminate guess who takes form?
It's your boy smokee
The green hearted bastard
Pariah to the peons
The Smokeemon master
The one they call up when they need it higher than the rafters.
one they summon when they need Ghost Nappa for the afters
Cmon! i'm a modern Dionysus turning seeds into weed turning wine into piss
Turning up the occasion all I gotta do's exist
Best believe in me baby, all my heathens we sinnin.

[ imp ]
Pry your palm open, we're summoning a demon 
And should you survive, we can do this every weekend 
Pour your blood upon a pentagram painted in blue acrylic 
If you hear a stomach growl, you probably need to listen 

Bring beef burritos, diablo sauce in tandem 
The number one headband, 2 thousand dollars ransom 
Recite the first ninja turtles flick from memory 
In reverse you're allowed up to three mistakes (plenty!)

I don't enjoy being summoned for less than any good reason 
By a would be need me crook, thief, or genius 
So get your story straight, rookie, 
the speechless  and liars alike both die by my might, i feed on em

Your fear should check every single box column
my security systems casually look like stock options
Made of weaponry collected over the centuries!
.... If you're cool, you can grab a beer with me

[ Joey Z ]
UR GONNA NEED TO TAKE MORE DRUGS THAN SEEMS REASONABLY FUN
AND UNTIL U HIT UR PEAK THIS SHIT AINT EVEN BEGUN
WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN & THE MOON'S UP HIGH U GOTTA MEET HER WHERE SHE'S AT & TRY TO LOOK HER IN THE EYE
& IF THAT TERROR SUBSIDES IT'D BE WISE IF U SPOKE QUICKLY
SAY MORE THAN 40 WORDS, BUT DO NOT GO OVER 50
BE SPECIFIC
& MAKE SURE U TOSS IN A JOKE
SPEAK OF EVERYTHING YOU THINK BUT MENTION EVERYTHING YOU KNOW
THERE'S A DIFFERENCE
I WISH THAT THERE WERE TIME TO EXPLAIN BUT THERE'S NO TIME TO EXPLAIN THAT THERE'S NO TIME TO EXPLAIN
IM TRYNA TEACH U HOW TO FISH WITHOUT THE LINE OR THE BAIT
THE BODY'S JUST THE VESSEL ONCE UR MIND IS UNCHAINED
LOOK, I DONT WANNA LIE
UR PROBLY GONNA DIE
UR PROBLY GONNA WISH U HAD ANOTHER LIFE THAT U COULD TRY
& I PROMISE UR GONNA CRY
THAT'S PART OF THE DEAL
U SAY MY NAME 3 TIMES & I MIGHT START TO APPEAR

[ NAVI ]
I come easy enough This a flaw, not a feature. we’ve been trying to reach you Bout this war for your t-i-m-e, I’ll be the Briefist, coded deep in my amino sequence Programmed major leaps in summoning procedure To simplify the UI/UX features so you can rub me Out at your earliest convenience~ Wow, I’ve been tokenized, and it feels ~ great ~ Put me on the App Store , swipe to make me say “How may I grant your every wish today? Geez [Username id]. Pwwese summon me to stay” I go off when the screen goes dim Recede within, with some chips and lithium It’s Genie of the Generation Now or Never Again We are both hooked up to your Doomscrolling trends, friend.


[ Rhyme Artist ]
You chalk a circle, call the coroners, let the cold
ignite,
Grip smoke, slow stroke, every broken oath is
right.
You fold your breath like paper cranes around a
candlelight,
Minds tight, signs write themselves across the
blackest night.
Im silent, every heartbeat pays the proper rite,
Tongue strike, drum-like, thunder tucked inside
the bite.
Feed the circle rice, and i approach slow
And pull the veil apart like dawn peeling off the
bite of night,
Then wear the void like tailored cloth until the
god takes flight.
You speak in stone-tones till the vocal sounds
like crone,
Each vow overgrown, roots wrap the throne I've
sown.
Crown your doubt with molten gold, now the fear
is overthrown,
Soul sewn, smoke blown, every echo finds a
home.
I raise an open palm, the sky bends like
tempered chrome,
Stars comb through my veins, every spark is now
my own.
When the deity comes, I become the throne,
Flesh gone, ma

[ ArtClassHero ] 
you wanna summon me
its gonna mean
you need to do some bludgeoning
cause i require sacrifice
if you don't want to bleed your ego
why would i save your life
you're talking to a deity
you wanna study me
gotta start at stage zero
for the hero
masochists
would
hellraise me on accident
the correct sequence
of  the puzzle piece 
i get released
im haunting everyone
im cutting all of you
its all a bit violent
i need to blood fuse
by sum of virtue

im thinking im the best
i got a god complex
probably cause 
i am god
so there is no contest

you wanna summon me
its gonna me youre getting 
on your hands and knees

you pray to me
but im already speaking from the pulpit

i dodge apocalypses
in a void
where you don't exist

i make my quick exit

then im back to other galaxies

and actually

AngryHero
is on the prowl
hunting down
every other creature
that thinks that they can
stand next to me

blasphemy!

im dancing in a club
in infinity
you got the Necronomicon

the evil dead
handle all of the demons
my mind is on
so maybe don't summon me
or gradually 
its gonna be
a monumental tragedy
a secret war
you can't fight

me and the other gods
don't always wanna play nice
so figure out

if you wanna summon us

if you wanna stomach this
be prepare
to seek a battle world
where you can't win