Originally thought to be in the key of C major, "Nothing I Do" is track number 5 on Beyette's "Change ". It features guest vocals from a frequent collaborator of Dustin's, Gerard Paschal, popularly known for his stage persona and DJ moniker, "G Dubbs " and now DUBB BANGERS. The verse melody is the very first thing that this entire song came from.
"The original song started with a really weird sounding electric piano loop. I was sitting out back of the 7-Eleven I worked at and watching the cameras when no one was coming in and my boss let me bring my laptop to work and stuff, and so I was listening to the loop and started writing down the lyrics. There was a time were people would actually come in the store and record music, help with shipments and help with loss prevention and generally just socialize with me and help protect the store, but before that time when I was at work when the work was done I would just sit and think about things. It's a song where basically I'm trying to figure out what people wanted from me. I want to give, but any well-received giver knows, giving has a lot to do with the recipient, and back when I lived in Portland things felt very black and white, and in a constant jagged way. The trends and expectations of other people were very sudden, and often didn't seem to have any reason. This caused some very difficult feedback to understand for me and this is the sort of thing I address in the song. People seem very bored with things so I'll try to excite them and step it up, but then it will be too much for them, so then I'll bring it back down, but then they are bored again. This sort of one-way or another, always-being-still-the-wrong-way-either-way thing caused problems for me."
The "weird sounding electric piano loop" that the entire words of the song were constructed over are now heard as the verse phrase, the chorus was then made to sound different using a 4 chord phrase. "Not long after I
Addictive Drums
started making adjustments I started using Addictive Drums, and added them into the mix. Once that was done I wanted to retain the origin of the song by starting it with the weird electric piano loop, and gradually fading into the new sound that it became. One day while Gerard was hanging out at Impossible Studios, he heard the drumfill at the end of the opening fade and perked right up. "Dat-dat-dat! dat-dat-dat!" And so I offered him a part in the song if he wrote a verse. He worked on it on his own on his own time with the beat, and without me even hearing it we recorded it. Right off on the first take, something felt off about it, but it still fit sonically and vibe-wise. I thought it complemented the song and made it sound fresh, each take we recorded had more and more energy from Gerard."
The guitar solo was edited inside a MIDI Piano roll on this counter on this laptop
The guitar solo that comes after the second chorus was originally written in midi using FL Studio 's piano roll. "I was watching a documentary on Nirvana's "Nevermind" at that time and I noticed how on at least one of the songs on the album, the guitar solo was playing the same melody as the vocals were in an earlier part of the song. I thought that was super catchy. Using programming I kept looping the chorus that I was singing and tried to do that chorus melody on guitar, and wrote a guitar solo that began with the chorus melody and took it in other directions. Eventually I used a real guitar and just learned the part and recorded it using distortion and wah effects and I played it back to Qasim one night and he said "that sounds like it's really hard to do". I must have said something along the lines of "yeah, but is it good?" haha."
The infamous flyer with Beyette's name on it.
Photo Credit © Dayspring Photography
"Nothing I Do" was one of four songs that were played live on August 30th, 2009, sans G Dubbs because G Dubbs was in Boston at the time. "The version that we played at the station was modified I believe, I think bars were removed from the song that made it so there wasn't a big empty verse in the middle of the song, and it's funny because at the end of the show, some guy came up to me while we were breaking all the equipment down and started talking about how during the verse he was writing stuff in his head to it, he really dug the beat. I never grabbed his business card or phone number, maybe he would've vibed well with Gerard and I." Alexandra
LYRICS[]
(Beyette:) I can't act tough enough I'll push you - I'll push you away I can't act weak enough, you wont want to play I can't act sad enough, you'll want me to cheer up I can't be happy enough, you'll want me to calm down (Beyette:) Nothing I do will ever be enough for any of you I can't do enough, never anything I do is as much as you'd like from me (G Dubbs:) If anything was to happen, I wouldn't stop my rappin' I'd probably go to the crib, get the toast start the clappin' I'd be laughing after I do it, most n***az know I'd be stackin after I move it real paper I pursue it nothing to it, nothing but the do it on my side when i ride you know it be heat music, you never know my style, never know my steez I'll take you to a place you can roll these trees f***s with me I'll f***s with you I'm only tryin to do what real hustlaz do if you don't understand the plan baby you know I'm speaking the truth you could follow me I'll show you how to (Beyette:) I can't act sane enough for people to stay around I can't act crazy enough for you to notice my sound I can't act stupid enough for you to help me learn I can't act wise enough for you to respect what I've earned (Beyette:) Nothing I do will ever be enough for any of you I can't do enough, never anything I do is as much as you'd like from me |