The Genesis

At this time a year ago, I was at a crossroads in my career. My debut full length solo project had been in the works for entirely too long (the album's first buzz track, "Streets Never Change," was released in 2004!), but as anyone who cares about his or her art will tell you, your first album is your baby and it can never be too perfect. Still, I was tired of being in the "about to" phase, and felt increasing pressure to make that critical leap from being among the millions of rappers with no official album out to the thousands with one.

Being the boss of your own company provides you with various freedoms that are sometimes detrimental to your progress. I decided it was in my best interest for Mike Scala the CEO to set a deadline for Pizon the artist to finish his album. The question then became when that should be. Trees were already losing leaves, and I had long vowed to release the project before the end of the year (I was originally aiming for the summer, but clearly that didn't happen). I looked at the calendar and was delighted to discover that my birthday, December 2, happened to fall on a Saturday. Obviously, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. I always wanted to have an official birthday party at a club like other celebrities do, and since December is the end of the year, my album had to be out by that month if I wanted to see a 2006 release.

Realizing all of this made the decision a no-brainer for me: 12/02/06 would be my album release party slash birthday bash. That's got a nice ring to it, don't it?

If you know anything about the music business, however, that meant I realistically had under a month to actually finish the album. Recording songs is only the start of the process -- there's also the mixing, mastering, publishing, photography, artwork, liner notes, manufacturing, distribution, etc. which all take time (and money) to do. Not to mention, I would also be responsible for putting this colossal event together at the same time, and I knew it had to be the biggest night of my career. No pressure or anything.

It wasn't going to be an easy task. But I was up for the challenge. Every great plan starts with a clear vision, and I was ecstatic to finally have some clarity.

To be continued...