Apollo Brown breaks down his new instrumental LP 'Thirty-Eight' track by track
Apollo Brown breaks down his new instrumental LP 'Thirty-Eight' track by track
Detroit's Apollo Brown--one of hip-hop’s most prolific beatmakers--is back with his first instrumental album since 2011’s Clouds. For his latest instrumental album, Thirty Eight, Brown said he wanted to take a different approach and create an album like an “old school OST.” Since each instrumental is in a sense, a mini-movie unto itself, we asked Brown to set the scene for us track by track and provide the backstory for each vignette of audible blaxploitation.
“What I hear with this album is a back alley in 1981, pool hall fights and day prostitution,” Brown said in an exclusive interview with Okayplayer. “That’s kind of what I get out of it, when I listen to this album. It’s a little different. It’s a little of bit of a roller coaster ride. I wanted to give the listener that; I didn’t want to go with the real strict way that Clouds was made.” Thirty Eight features a more minimalistic and repetitive approach to beatmaking with a lot less emphasis on heavy drums, which has become a staple in Apollo Brown’s production. This is an album he said is “unapologetically not for everybody--it’s niche music.”
The album has two bonus tracks featuring Roc Marciano and the CD version of the album comes with a 5” vinyl record with the two songs. Brown said a lot of the beats on Thirty Eight were originally intended to go towards an album with Marciano, but since their schedules couldn’t permit for the two to get together for an entire project, the album was scrapped.
“I went with the bonus tracks to try and give people a little starter on what would have been if me and Roc would’ve done an album,” Brown said. “I still wanted him to be a big part of this project. I’m a big fan, I don’t work with nobody I’m not a fan of, so I’m a huge fan of Roc.”
When Apollo Brown sat down with Okayplayer, he put the outline of a movie to his soundtrack, envisioning a stick-up crew in Detroit in the late '70s or early '80s. “I interpret these tracks differently every time, and I think the listener will too,” he said. “Whatever story comes in your mind when you listen to these tracks, it can pertain to you, it can pertain to a friend, it can pertain to something that you’ve never went through – who knows?”
Read on for the track-by-track breakdown from the man himself...
1. "Thirty Eight" (Intro)
"This album is called Thirty Eight, and I called it Thirty Eight because it’s named after every other person’s grandfather’s trusty .38 that's in his closet in a shoebox. The album was originally called Pop’s Revolver, but I changed it to .38 because it’s a little more straight to the point. The .38 in its peak, in its prime, is the most trusted, most handled caliber weapon out there. It was police issue. It was that gun that was always in grandma’s purse. It was that trusty caliber that like I said is in Pop’s shoebox in the closet. When all else fails, when all the automatics fail and everything jams, and all else fails, you can always go to that trusty .38 and it’ll fire perfectly. And you can always rely on it. And that’s kind of what I’m describing with the sound that I have on this album right now. When all else fails, you can always rely on this. That’s why I call it Thirty Eight." -Apollo Brown
2. "Cellophane"
"This beat was dope. I wanted to start off really gritty. When I hear this beat, I hear somebody running – a dude running from the cops. But on foot though. Through back allies, rooftops, stuff like that. A lot of people will think that a lot of these beats are repetitive, but a lot of our actions in life are repetitive. A lot of the things we do on a day-to-day basis are repetitive. And I like that – I enjoy that. I like to listen to my favorite parts of a record over and over and over.“Cellophane” isn’t very drum-heavy. The album’s not really that drum-heavy. And all the drums that I did use on the album are more of a break-style drum. Like I said, I can see somebody running from the cops, but in an old, 1979-way though. Like the way he’s dressed, and the cops pull up in an old Chrysler!" -Apollo Brown
3. "Learn the Meaning"
"I love this joint, man. I re-worked this joint a few times, and I finally got it the way I want it to sound. In a movie, obviously there’s rollercoasters – things happen. My man just ran from the cops, he’s tired, and he finds shelter at one of his old ladies’ cribs. Now he’s laying on the couch, chillin’. It’s a chill record – the drums are real chill. I kind of interpret this joint as a relaxation joint, man. The dude’s laying on the couch, breathing heavy as hell like, ‘I’m just happy to be home.’" -Apollo Brown
4. "Shotguns in Hell"
"I love this beat – super repetitive, you know what I’m sayin’. It’s one of them joints where you’re either going to love it or hate it. This is one of them joints where Roc (Marciano) where he was like, ‘yo I need to do something on that joint.’ It’s gritty, man. It gives you that certain feeling – like an invincibility feeling. You walking around town and you might have this pistol-grip pump hidden in your pants or something. You about to rob a store or some shit." -Apollo Brown
5. "Dirt on the Ground"
"Again, another rollercoaster. The drums on here are real nasty, the chops are real nasty, but the feeling of this joint is just different. It reminds me of some early 90s shit. I’m a big fan of vocal samples. I love using vocal samples and vocal clips. I guess I can feel someone sitting on the porch chillin’, with this one. Sitting on the porch watching the day go by, the people walk by, kind of contemplating what they want to do with the rest of the evening. Definitely inner-city." -Apollo Brown
6. "The Warning"
"Heavy horn. I picture robberies on the subway. This one gives me inner-city New York feel - like 1981-1982 – the transitional years between heroin and crack. “The Warning” feels like just that – a warning. I picture a dude walking down the street looking real unpredictable and you want to stay away from him. He was warning you by the way he was looking, by the clothes he was wearing. And a couple of cats didn’t heed the warning. And got dealt with." -Apollo Brown
7. "Cleo’s Apartment"
"This is some real chill lovemaking shit, to me. I picture dude laying in bed waiting for his chick to come out the bathroom. She comes out the bathroom and she has like a negligee on and shit, looking all sexy. Obviously things go down. You can picture them both lighting up a cigarette at the end, chillin’ and talking about the days adventures. She’s like an accomplice to him – she’s like his right hand lady. And whatever he gets into, she’s down for it. She’s ride or die. He’s thinking about robbing this bank tomorrow, and she’s trying to talk him out of it, but even if he does it, she’ll be there to be the get away driver and shit." -Apollo Brown
8. "Sweet Revival"
"'Sweet Revival' is on some gritty shit. It’s like I’m in the vault right now and I’m putting all the money in the bags. I’m hoping that everybody in the bank is laying on the ground because my dude’s got them on the ground. But little do I know that one of them got away and rang the bell to alert the cops and shit. I’m oblivious because I’m in the back putting money in the bag, and then I caught wind of it and all of a sudden I hear the cops pull up and I gotta get out. But the only way out is to fight your way out – shoot your way out. Obviously in my story, they get away. They gotta get away in order for this shit to keep going." -Apollo Brown
9. "Life is a Wheel"
"That’s on some self-reflection shit. On some ‘damn, what am I doing with my life right now?’ So I picture dude in a car, not even driving, sitting in the passenger seat, looking out the window. The view is all the storefronts and all the houses going by, and he’s just kind of reflecting on life. This is definitely a reflection song." -Apollo Brown
10. "Black Suits"
"'Black Suits' is a joint I made a while ago. I made it specifically for this album, but I ended up putting this beat on the Ghostface album (Twelve Reasons to Die: The Brown Tape). I needed a certain sound for that song – “Rise of the Black Suits.” The beat to me is so nasty, I love this beat. Minimal drums, the guitar lick, that shit is just crazy to me. It’s one of those joints that anybody can tell a story to. It’s another one of those walking down the street backdrops, where anything can happen." -Apollo Brown
11. "Never Disappear"
"I just like what the sample says, I love that part. Cats disappear off the map all the time, but I feel myself and people around me, we’re telling everybody we’ll never disappear. We’ll always be here, as long as we’re making consistent music. In the storyline, this would be that joint for the crew that is dominating, and everybody wants to wipe them off the map. I can picture that crew in the backroom counting money, laughing and having fun." -Apollo Brown
12. "The Laughter Faded"
"I love this joint, it’s real minimal – a great intro. The laughter on your face, it disappeared and now I made you cry – just from the shit I’m doing. And you thought I wasn’t going to do it, and you thought I wasn’t going to be nothing. Also I could see somebody pulling up on somebody, guns drawn. Yeah, I picture somebody pulling up on somebody, in a car just giving it to him, man." -Apollo Brown
13. "All You Know"
"This is one of the last joints I made for the album. The drums is nasty, but real minimal. This album, the drums aren’t very high at all. The drums are real low, they sit in the pocket, they’re not prominent like they are a lot of times in my production. This is another, your girl is down for whatever, and I kind of see a female in a ski mask leading the way into a robbery. It’s almost like I go, I feel like this is a story about a stick-up crew." -Apollo Brown
14. "Strange Things"
"I originally made this joint for this album as well, but I did a re-mix EP for Planet Asia and I used this joint on that. It’s a little different – I switched it up a little bit for his, but for the most part it’s the same.To me this is a braggadocio track. They’re bragging about their life – about what they do and what they’re going to do. It’s like a group of dudes in a pool hall, talking shit, not even playing pool or paying attention because they’re talking so much shit." -Apollo Brown
15. "Heaven At Last"
"Oh man, this is my joint – I love this joint. This may be my favorite joint on the album. Another joint that they’re going to love or they’re going to hate. That sort of goes for the whole album. I love the drums on this joint. It’s real chill. It was like everybody was chilling at the pool hall, but dude is like, ‘you guys can chill if you want, I’m about to take this lady home.’ My man takes his lady home. I can picture them riding through the streets – it’s nighttime. They finally get to the crib, and it’s like heaven at last. We all know that feeling." - Apollo Brown
16. "Lonely and Cold"
"This is another joint that Roc wanted to do for the 5” so we did that one as well. This shit is gritty. It’s repetitive, I love. Nasty bassline. I get slow with my production. I don’t know if it has to do with my age or what, but shit, every year man, I feel like I’m getting slower and slower. The feeling of it. I don’t like fast beats or fast production. To me you feel more when it’s slower. When it’s slow you can bop your head and just feel that shit.It’s on some reflection shit – but gritty reflection. Maybe my man got caught, the crew got caught, or somebody got caught. I picture him sitting in the holding tank, obviously somebody came and bailed him out. Nobody knows what he did, nobody can prove what he did, but he’s reflecting like, sometimes this world is so lonely and cold. Maybe that’s the reason they do what they do, or what comes of what they do." -Apollo Brown
17. "A Wise Man’s Woman"
"I think every OST or instrumental soundtrack has to have that woman’s anthem, or ode to the woman type joint. I think that’s what this is. I picture a man giving his ode to a woman, or I can picture a man giving his ode to his mother. Like maybe his mother died, and I can see dude at the cemetery throwing flowers into the hole. At the moment when I listen to this, that’s kind of what I feel." -Apollo Brown
18. "Felonious"
"Another very repetitive joint – on purpose. I love that shit. There’s a lot of dirt on this joint. A lot of hiss, a lot of fuzz, but the feeling I get on this joint is nasty. Especially when the hook comes in, the horn stabs.I’m kind of getting a continuation of “A Wise Man’s Woman.” My man’s leaving the funeral, leaving the gravesite, almost on some redemption type shit. In the car thinking about what he’s going to do next. Is he going to continue what he’s doing, or is he going to kind of give up and try to change." -Apollo Brown
19. "Weight in Gold"
"Kind of a triumphant joint. Yeah this is on some, ‘we the best. We made this shit.’ I got out and I succeeded, or I’m still in it and I succeeded. Whatever I did, I succeeded. Life is good – basically what I get from this one. No matter what I did in my past, no matter what’s happening to me right now, or whatever, life is good." -Apollo Brown
20. "The Answer"
"This is probably one of the top three joints on the album. That’s one of the reasons we let it be one of the lead joints off the album. It’s real cinematic, triumphant. It grabs you and makes you listen to it three or four times. This is the ending credits, that’s what it is. Straight up, the movie’s over, whatever happened is over, this is definitely the ending credits. That’s why I put it at the end. The credits are rolling, the last image of the movie is still and it’s still on the screen and it’s like paused. And slowly that picture is fading to black. It’s the ending credits – the culmination of everything."“That’s today’s interpretation of Thirty Eight. Tomorrow’s interpretation would be totally different and it would also be totally different from listener to listener, and that’s the point. It just gives somebody a backdrop; it gives somebody a soundtrack to do everyday activities to and to live life to.” -Apollo Brown
