“Coastal Plain” is, like many of Adam’s more recent music, is meditative. Written on his birthday in 2020, “Coastal Plain” plays with imagination, divinity, self-reflection, and water. It’s a love letter to diving into something and not worrying to much about how to start, nor the outcome. It’s about taking time to one’s Self for the simple sake of understanding and appreciating one’s Self and to prepare for what lies ahead.
The “Coastal Plain” pack comes with 3 versions, the original (produced by DopeKidDanny, an airy acoustic edit and a slow-paced house remix that melts like the condensation on your glass in the sun, all mixed by CashOnly.
“Lynchian Freestyle” is a bar-heavy lyrical exercise over hard-hitting, jazzy DopeKidDanny production. This song takes aim at what Adam sees as the most toxic parts of America’s infatuation with self-help culture while juxtaposing these observations with the wit and brashness of Pusha T’s Daytona-era. Being a David Lynch fan, Adam has been wearing Lynch as an influence on his sleeve since the Faimkills-era. This is another nod simply for the heady sax sample reminding him of a hip hop version of a Lynch scene.
The “Lynchian Freestyle” pack comes with 3 versions, the original, an new-jack drill edit and an house remix that could be played in a cabana on your resort-vacation, all mixed by CashOnly.
Ten summers ago, Adam released “Tasty Waves” as Faimkills under the label Black Cloud Music. Fully produced by DopeKidDanny, it’s considered an IE classic with the standout anthem “Total Babe”. Having moved on from Faimkills, Adam decided to celebrate the release of the hit single with the sequel: “Total Babe Too”, also produced by DopeKidDanny. The laidback confidence-booster ditches the ironic misogyny in favor of present adoration—the song is an alternate reality version, it’s the result of Adam asking what it might be like to write that original song present day while maintaining a similar tone and theme.
The artwork is, co-created by CashOnly, is an homage to 90s arcade game NBA JAM, capturing the feeling of hitting 3 shots in a row and getting “on fire” or smashing the glass backboard with a “Boom-shaka-lacka!”—that’s the essence of what Adam felt writing “Total Babe Too” and the feeling he hopes to ignite in the listener.
The “Total Babe Too” pack comes with 3 versions, the original, an uptempo hyperpop edit and an airy house remix, all mixed by CashOnly.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS TRYING TO FUNCTION? is a 5-song collection of transition. With production by DopeKidDanny and Adam et al., Adam weaves themes of confusion & clarity, mental unwellness, self-reflection, closing old chapters (as Faimkills), opening new ones (romantically & otherwise), and forging ahead into a frightening hopefulness over goth-meets-emo-indie-pop-meets-rap instrumentation.
All songs were written and recorded in a season of slow metamorphosis between 2015 and 2021. These were songs that didn’t fit into the framework of Faimkills, and thus, were held until Adam was brave enough to let that persona down and start new. These songs are the first step in revitalizing himself as Adam et al.— a holistic expression and embracement of hip-hop, pop, & guitar-driven songwriting. Songs like “Blossomer” and “L L L” are full-on departures from rap and call back to Adam’s tenure as a guitarist and singer in indie-hardcore band, Spirit Fangs. “Past Life Headfirst” is an extension of the final form of Faimkills heard on IKOV, and “Chasing The Casket” and “Somewhere I Can Exist” combine various elements of Adam’s rap styles and themes during the Faimkills decade, leaning into the introspective with hints of wiser sincerity, braggadocio, and light spell-casting through song.
The aim of this collection is to ask the question that is the title: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS TRYING TO FUNCTION? The question is a rhetorical one for friends, family, God, and most importantly, ADAM. The function is two-fold: function (to party, celebrate & socialize) and function (to be an adult that can take care of himself and hopefully thrive despite his dysfunction).
I’M HAVING A GOOD TIME NOW is a 6-song collection of rap tunes written mostly throughout the start of the pandemic. With production by DopeKidDanny and capt.pigment, Adam raps and sings over hard-hitting and contemporary sounds bouncing from trap, R&B, and West Coast/I.E. style beats. Thematically, the collection picks up where his debut (Where Were You When I Was Trying To Function?) left off, but finds Adam in a more confident & content space having found footing in his career, artistic voice, and love life.
All songs were written and recorded between 2018 and 2022 and within that time Adam started a tenure-track position, got engaged and married, bought a house, published a book, traveled, and continued to deeply explore his identity as a Chicano in education, Hip-Hop, and America as a whole. On the opener, “No Worry”, Adam creates an anthem for the self-doubters; a song of affirmations and self-assertive resilience—It’s a reminder to never let others or outcomes steal your joy. The 4th single, “9K”, is about self-confidence and the confidence and support your community instills in you (be it a partner, family & friends, peers in your field) to pursue that proverbial golden ring that is your dreams & goals. It’s a reminder that you yourself shine like gold regardless and that goals & dreams need maintenance, but you’re up for the task. On the closer, “Spring et al.”, with breezy West Coast production by DopeKidDanny, Adam pays homage to the Imagist poet William Carlos Williams and his seminal work Spring and All. Being a poet himself, Adam champions his own life up to this point and encourages his listeners to express gratitude for their own. Written on his birthday in 2020, “Spring et al.” is really a rapper’s funky prayer of gratitude and hope for more “summer, falls, winter-times, spring & all” to experience. The collection also includes the 2022 singles, “Posies” (a rap meditation on being Chicano, anti-racism, isolation, and self-empowerment through radical transformation ), “W84EVR” (an R&B-infused rap song about love, getting engaged, and married during the pandemic), & “White Lies” (a song about abuse of power and police brutality).
The aim of this collection is to celebrate life and close chapters that were ready to be closed to have a good time in the “now”.
When Adam et al. and xFredo discovered they were playing the same show together, CashOnly (their mutual collaborator) posed the idea of creating a song to perform together. In a matter of days, the three created “Con Respeto” a song produced by CashOnly about existing as a Latino and a Chicano in Hip Hop when you don’t fit neatly into a box based on ethnicity. Adam and xFredo don’t make typical Latin Rap music, but they don’t want to shy away from being proud of and offering their respective heritages, humbly using the tools created by the Black community. The “Con Respeto” song back features the song, the instrumental, and the live audio recording of its debut performance.