Purple Reign

My memory isn't cristal from the aughts but there is zero chance that Purple Reign wasn't Rok's idea. The project is a pretty solid definition of who The Bangers were at that moment. The concept was easy enough, it's the complexity of Prince Rogers Nelson's rythms and the Dipset flow that was incredibly difficult. We spent hours nudging lyrics around to try and get them to hit and I think we could have spent another month doing so.

We finished the whole thing and, much to Rok's chagrin, I convinced him that we needed a straightforward joint. He acquiesced and we ended up with Bizarre Whistle Kiss. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still too on-the-nose for him but like any complete piece of work there are the hits and the deep cuts.

We received two neat things from the mixtape. The first was a review in Vice magazine which tickled me. It had no business being there but it was a slow month and we had some good friends who did big things for that publication. The second, was a cease and desist email from the man himself, Prince. Okay, it was from his attorney's and most certainly boiler plate but we were proud that it reached him as quickly as it did.