The Birth of “Da Movement”
Today we drop the long-awaited first single from The Masses — “Da Movement.” In celebration of the song and video release, “Da Movement” beatmaker and co-rapper Silent Jungle wrote this exclusive blog for us. 🔥
“The Masses… Boy!!! Many A Tongue One Sound!!" When Blaqfist a.k.a. I-Self dropped that line in the pool of MCs in the room, the ripple effect was instantaneous. Notebooks started rustling, pens were clicking, and heads were nodding. This one line had summed up over two years of collective hard work.
Our process on this song began the same as the others. I would make beat packs and distribute them to the group and each member would create to whatever beat(s) he was vibe'n to. We'd come together and bring what we had to the table at least once a week, usually on Wednesdays barring any prison interruptions. Sometimes there might be more than one song idea on a particular beat, but after the verses dropped, selection was always easy and natural.
I remember the track for “Da Movement” being one of many of the beats (and there were many) I made that just didn't get that immediate "Oh Shit!" type of reaction. So the instrumental actually sat unused for months.
Prior to the creation of the track, there had developed a saying among The Masses that was a result of a conversation between Fury and I-Self. “The Masses — The Movement.” It was right before a concert we gave at the institution during a pre-production visit with our producers, BL and Fury. All around the prison, the energy and love for The Masses was growing into just that... a movement. The concert was our first show together in front of a crowd and we’d already formed an identity as The Masses. The show was and still is talked about, but there was something missing. We didn't have that one track that was our crew joint, our anthem, our battle cry.
A few weeks later at a Wednesday night session, the group came together still riding off the energy from our concert and producer visit, That night, in an empty school house in a remote South Carolina prison — I-Self pushed play on the previously trashed track and started chanting: "The Masses Booooy!!! Many a Tongue One Sooooound!!!"
In that moment, we all knew we’d found it. Our anthem, our battle cry, our crew joint.
I was thinking how the first track the world is hearing is actually one of the last songs we created for this first album. It makes sense though. We came together as strangers. Incarcerated men who wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to share our personal pain, experiences, and love for music. Along the way we argued, dealt with institutional obstacles, and our own personal challenges. In other words, we hadn't made “Da Movement” because we hadn't yet grown from individual aims into a unified Masses and Movement.
The track allows you to hear the personality of each MC, from the verbal aggressiveness of I-Self, to the humble O.G. wisdom of PC. These different flavors are highlighted in the music video.
In the video, the audience is transported along time and space with each verse. You start off walking the tier and as soon as I-Self spits bar one, you begin to fall through the torment and pain, only to ascend up to the heavens, back down through urban battlefields, experiencing a sense of global impact all the way back to the tier, full circle. The energy and visual creates a new experience each time.
The Masses, Da Movement is only half of it... The voice of the voiceless... The poor and unfortunate. It's this second part that will continue to push The Masses forward in the future; this goal to use our platform and music to give a voice to those unheard not just in South Carolina, but voiceless and oppressed people worldwide. MANY A TONGUE… ONE SOUND!!!
