I recently sat down with up-and-coming artists Dominic Serendip and Illablk to get an insight into their album God Gone Mad. The two proved to be hilarious and insightful in the way their process worked throughout the making of the album, and I'm honored to have had the chance to talk to them.
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Illablk: I made this intro based of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon intro, with the heartbeats and ticks. That album was a huge influence on this album.
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IB: The hook samples “Still Tippin,” not sure if you noticed, and we were like, lets send this to Mike Jones, he was fuckin with it and he did a verse.
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IB: this track Dream God was our oldest track on the album
Dominic Serendip: it was the first track for the album, was initially supposed to be our first single too
IB: yeah, we changed this song up a loooot. Yeezus definitely was a huge album that impacted [our] music greatly. I think its one of Kanye's best piece of art.
Dominic Serendip: that album completely changed the way i thought about music. There are a few albums throughout my life that've done that but Yeezus is def one of them.
IB: How he got producers like Arca, Gesaffelstein and Domsolo is crazy!
DS: Thing is, this song was made way before Yeezus was released.
IB: the dream god outro is pink floyd inspired too, mixed with the autotune vibes.
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IB: this song "Touch" …After the Smoke wasnt suppose to be on this, but Dominic couldn't sing the hook so Whuzi added that Andre 3k feel to it and made the whole song…
DS: yeah word… me singing sounded like shit on it to be honest.
IB: Ryan Cannibal produced this and I did the outro, I picked this beat off him after I heard it, I was like "yo i need this!"
DS: I wrote this song at sxsw
EM: haha it has that same vibe as that xxyyxx song, forget the name, but its like his main song
DS: word I was mad emotional when I wrote this
IB: this outro touch is prob my fav on the album
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IB: i wanted to make some jungle trap type stuff. This is probably my favorite beat I've made ever
EM: so what is the meaning behind the title, God Gone Mad?
DS: Well, the whole theme of the album plays on the whole concept of god, when I initially started calling myself a god it was after I got out of a really existential and lonely sort of depressive state. I thought a lot of what I was doing in lit slacked meaning, and then later realized that life may not have meaning or we may not find it where we want it but we all have the ability to create meaning, and that's something that I honestly find beautiful. So when I say Im a god, I'm saying everyone is a god. We all have the ability to cut ties and go mad and do waterer the fuck we want
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IB: "Notorious" was produced by myself and Daygee from EKOMS, After the Smoke's label. This samples Biggie, gimmie the loot!
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IB: It was a really dope session, live piano, guitar and everything.
DS: Word. I wrote the hook and shit and shared it with Jesse Boykins III. Then he added his take. He changed melodies, he's a great soul man. I just recently started liking this song, i hate all things lovey dovey, but i recently found a place to accept the warmth
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IB: This song was legit made a day before the album, or on the day.
DS: hahaha 1 hour before dude! Soft glas and Illa did all nighters mixing and mastering
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IB: "40oz" is everyone's fav song and most popular song. I love performing this.
EM: It's like meek mill energy
DS: hahahaha, someone said that before, I don't get it.
IB: its like Meek Mill and some Cudi in there, with the singing.
IB: i had to add the heavy metal guitar in it too
DS: I was coming down and hangover [also] when I wrote this too.
IB: outro is "Black Skinhead" influenced.
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And that's a wrap! Make sure to check out this release, and snag it for a free download!
