#DaFiveFingerDiscount: Ras Beats – Control Your Own (Deluxe Edition) [Editorial]

So excited to present the latest installment of #DaFiveFingerDiscount, featuring the incredibly talented and even harder working Ras Beats. He just released the deluxe edition of the Control Your Own album that already boasted Roc Marciano, Masta Ace, Elzhi, Sadat X and more. Find out how he named the album and stories behind 5 tracks below. Make sure to cop the album! All photos by Andreas Vanguard.

The title “Control Your Own”:
I had a couple of working titles for the album, but the title “Control Your Own” came from a conversation I had while I was finishing the album. I said “all you can do is Control Your Own” in relation to something we were talking about and right there that was my album title. It has a couple of different meanings to me, first and foremost it relates to my album, my music and how I release it. This album is released through my own label, with no outside interference from any outside sources besides me and my camp. No current trends followed, no calculated moves, no glitsch or trendy sh!t, music made on the terms of music, and I definitely take pride in that.

Also the title refers to how you can control your own. Control your behavior, your actions, your morals, how you move and how you conduct yourself and do your business. Just focusing on what you have power over and make the most of that and keep that on point.

Wit No Pressure Featuring Roc Marciano:
Definitely one of my favorite songs from my album, it changes what I like the most but “Wit No Pressure” is consistently one of the best to my ears. Roc was one of the MC’s that I definitely wanted to get on my album, once I had this beat I knew this was the one for him. He heard it and came with what he does best and we made what you in my opinion can put up against anything that came out in the last couple of years and it can hold it’s own. There is also a remix of the song, to give the audience a different take.

Knowledge Of Self Featuring O.C. & Elzhi:
Definitely a record I had to really produce, O.C. and Elzhi both came with incredible verses for this one, plenty jewels dropped. So many quotable lines, that knowledge that some hip hop lacks, they definitely brought that. Being that Elzhi recorded his vocals in Detroit and I recorded with O.C. in NYC that record was really produced more the usual record. Lining up those vocals and adjusting them to make it sound like they were both in the studio together is definitely tricky, but we made it work. Salute to Chris Conway on that, always shout to the engineer but especially on that one, Chris definitely helped me make that sound right.

God Bless Featuring JBiz & A.G.:
The most important song I have ever made or produced, I wanted to make a dedication record for my father, he is the single most important person in my early exposure and understanding of music,  him and my big brother. When he was still with us we would sit around and listen to music and every time we did he always wanted to listen to one of my records, I know he was proud of the music I make so it was natural I had to do one for him when I made my album. What A.G. and JBiz said in their verses sums up what I would say if I MC’ed, and I didn’t direct them in any way, they just had similar memories and things they wanted to express about their fathers as I did. It was incredible to see how similar we approached the song from the moment we started working on it.

Survive Featuring Sadat X:
I had the honor of working with some legends on this project, was definitely blessed with the talent on this album. I worked hard  for it but some things definitely fell into place for it all to work out. Sadat killed that beat, I had a couple of people in mind for that beat, once Sadat laid his vocals that song was definitely his, an easy record to produce, Sadat laid the whole thing down in a couple of takes, 3 verses and hooks. All I had to do was just to my part well as far as mixing and arranging and we were good. That off beat flow fit the beat perfectly, one of my favorite MC so it was an honor connecting with him.