"Urban Retro Life (Vol. 1)" is Lei Row's 2nd mixtape ("Lei Row presents Euphoria" is her 1st mixtape). This project borrows and blends sounds and styles of hip-hop, r&b, and pop music, especially from the 90s and early 2000s. It is written, vocally arranged, and co-produced by Lei and sets the tone for how she writes and vocally arranges in her own work. On this mixtape, Lei is singing over major and independent music industry beat production and DJ woriel was behind the blending and transitions of some of the tracks. The major industry beat production that she uses are from songs: "Black Nostaljack" by Camp-Lo, "Long Kiss Goodnight" by The Notorious B.I.G., "New Slaves" by Kanye West, and "Pain" by Tupac. The independent beat production is courtesy of Kenneth "Marty McLaren" Onyeaka, Brahim "Mercutio" Derkaoui, Max Layn, Kevin "Gripp" Gripper, Dogukan "Do" Gungor, and Jason "J-Sweet" Sweeting. The subject matter in the songs range from love/companionship highs and lows to race relations, family, and messages of inspiration.
We hope you enjoy the project!
*Recording, Mixing, and Mastering: 78 West Productions and QD-Up Studios.
**Management: THEEM Music & Entertainment Group (email: TheemLLC@gmail.com).
Includes unlimited streaming of Urban Retro Life (Vol. 1)
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lyrics
INTRO (Lei):
Enough about these companionship woes
I'm ready to speak on some real life and history type of shh, um
1ST VERSE (Lei):
My mama was born in the 50s and
Daddy was a soldier sent to Korea
Around the same time so
Maybe the energy of a cold war helped seal their destiny
Together in black love and family
And no it wasn't all roses back then
But to day it seems
TUPAC:
That’s deep. It’s like, when you’re born, usually you’re born into a dynasty or an empire, right? You’re born as a junior, or following in your father’s footsteps. They always tell you, “Your father, he did this …” or “We got this” or “The family heirlooms …” It’s none of that in the outer city — I call it the outer city, ’cause we’re left out. There’s no nothing. We don’t get any family heirlooms, the family crest. All that stuff that you would think is so important is meaningless ’cause our family crest was cotton, you know what I’m saying? It’s like the only thing we can really leave behind is culture and dignity and determination. That’s what we had. So It’s like I feel as though I’m cheated because
(LEI BACKGROUND: Hmm, I mean how far back up the underground railroad, must we go)
instead of me fulfilling my prophecy, I have to start one. Instead of me doing a good job and carrying on the empire, I have to build one. And that’s a hell of a job for a 21-year-old. That’s a hell of a job for any youngster, male or female, to have to build an empire for your family. Especially when the odds is that you know there’s somebody else who lives in the inner city, the real inner city — suburbia — who, when he’s born, 16 he gets a car automatically. There’s money in the bank for college. It’s Christmas, you go vacation somewhere. Our vacation was down the street, across town — Grandma’s house, you know what I’m saying? That was the vacation. Or jail, to be more real. I hate to make this a sad story, but it’s real.
This world is — and when I say “this world” I mean it, I don’t mean it in an ideal sense. I mean it in every day, every little thing you do — it’s such a “Gimme, gimme, gimme.” Everybody back off. Everybody’s taught that from school. Everywhere. Big business: You wanna be successful? You wanna be like Trump? Gimme, gimme, gimme. Push, push, push, push. Step, step, step. Crush, crush, crush. That’s how it all is.
(LEI BACKGROUND: Rock, rock, whips, and chains and they got you by ya, our whips and chains. Rock, rock, whips, and chains and they got you by ya, our whips and chains.)
And it’s like nobody ever stops, you know? I feel like instead of us just being like, “Slavery’s bad. Bad whitey,” I mean, let’s stop that. Everybody’s smart enough to know that. We’ve been slighted and we want ours. And I don’t mean by “ours,” like 40 acres and a mule, because we’re past that. But we need help. I mean for us to be on our own two feet, “us” meaning youth or “us” meaning black people, whatever you want to take it for. For us to be on our own two feet, we do need help because we have been here. We have been a good friend, if you want to make it a relationship type of thing. We have been there, and now we deserve our payback.
(LEI BACKGROUND: One nation under God, one nation under God <---- repeats until OUTRO)
It’s like you got a friend that you don’t never look out for you. You know, you dressed up in jewels now — America’s got jewels and they got paid and everything, and they lend their money to everybody except us. Everybody needs a little help on their way to being self-reliant.
I mean, if this is truly a melting pot in the country where we care about them ... we really need to be like that. ... You need to help black kids, Mexican kids, Korean kids, whatever. But it needs to be real and it needs to be before we all die and then you say, "I made a mistake. I should have gave them some money. We really should have helped these folks." It's gonna be too late. And then that's when you've gotta pay your own karma. And that's what God punishes when God punishes you (Source: http://www.rapbasement.com/2-pac/tupac-the-lost-interview.html).
OUTRO (Lei):
It's a cold, cold world
It's a cold, cold world
I know
Cold world
It's a cold, cold world
It's a cold, cold world
I know
*Feel free to view this Tupac interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnBcpgZJYUk.
Other Lyrics, Vocals, and Vocal Arrangements: Lei Row. Samples some lyrics from J. Branch from his poem "Too Many Wanna Bes" and "Pledge of Allegiance" by Francis Julius Bellamy.
Beat Production: "New Slaves" by Kanye West and Ben Bronfman.
Recording, Mixing, & Mastering: Kenneth "Marty McLaren" Onyeaka and John Luckenbaugh.
Known for her unique melodic vocals, heartfelt lyrics, and chic vintage style: Lei Row brings an urban yet retro flavor and
soulful sound to music. As a singer-songwriter, Lei has written and vocally produced in different genres such as r&b/soul, hip-hop, and pop. Lei is also a Grammy Recording Academy Member and ASCAP Affiliated Singer/Songwriter. To read more about Lei, visit: www.LeiRow.com. ...more
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