This was our second full-length release and the project that we continue to get a lot of love for. This was before we stepped off into the land of song structure and deep house and had more of our Hip-Hop roots flowing through our fingertips.

Enter The Lunchbox, where you'll never know what you get once you open the lid. This album had the most blood, sweat and tears of anything we have done to this point as some of these tracks like "Bodymoove" took like 7 years to finish.

This was also the first album where we utilized the audio from our "Lemonade Sessions" to give the tracks a raw, live feel. "Lemonade Sessions," were basically jam sessions, where we put a bunch of cats that we know that do music in a room and see what we come up with. Some were rough and riddled with technical problems, recording noise, someone's keyboard or guitar was too loud and drowned out the drums, etc. Regardless of it all, there was usually some sweet spot that we were able to salvage and build upon. Furry Slippers, Gather Round and Spaceland were offsprings of this recording process. Generals Mike Clegern and Bebo 6 were always automatic in Lemonade Sessions and would immediately start playing together. Many times I wouldn't even have the recording gear set up yet, but when I was ready it was on. I still have 8-track tapes, mini discs and cd's full of live material that have yet to be utilized.

In these sessions, we would also switch instruments, which happened with perfection on Gather Round, where Mike C picked up the drum sticks and banged out some funk. Bebo found that crazy arpeggiator sound and that was the original track. In the in-studio, in post, we added the synth bass and other sounds.

Mike also gave us some distorted electric guitar on Tear and Eyes on you and then pulled a half Nelson and laid down some mellow, meditative rock for Spaceland and some jazzy, hip-hop vibes for Nu Day.

Enter General Mainframe into the mix. Many late-night sessions would go down at his spot in Long Beach, but he would also disconnect the MPC and jam with us in whatever rehearsal studio we would be able to lock down. Bwaah was originally recorded on a Tascam 8-track to tape in one take. The noise was almost unbearable and we were about to shelf it, but Bebo 6 dug it up and did a masterful job in Cubase to clean it up. Mainframe would join us for many more Lemonade Sessions.

We also learned the valuable lesson of "put the idea down and then collab with an artist who can play it better." DeAndre Gipson, who currently tours with Fishbone, gave us some outstanding keyboard work on: Eleven, Morning Time and Bodymoove. Yes, that is his Motif flute sound on Morning Time.

Enter future collaborator Beeken, "The Sax Machine" of our hometown Long Beach and you get the lush horn arrangements and solos on Eleven, Bodymoove and Spaceland. He would always blow us away with his one take wonders.

We also saw the birth of our three-headed production style, where all three of us took the wheel. Most of our tracks begin as rough ideas, that most of the time sit for a while before another member hears something else and decides to pick it up and take it a step further. Bebo 6 lead the production and drum programming for a majority of the tracks. He is also a multi-instrumentalist and would add bass, keys, synth, percussion and goofy vocal banter on other tracks on the album.

Oyani was really into Drum n Bass at the time and came up with the drum pattern and vocals for Give it to Me, which is our commentary on popular culture and our almost drug-like dependency on technology.

I was just learning Reason at the time and came up with the drum arrangement and instrumentation for Nu-day, add Oyani on vocals and Mike on guitar and serve.

Bear with us on our vocal interludes. We are all a bit quirky and would always do dialogue like we're on a spaceship or at war when we would hang out, so we decided to record it to a dope beat just to throw you off. A funny side fact, most of this wasn't even recorded at the same time, I would just cut it up later and make it work. Training Sequence and the ending of Give it to me were the only two that were done with all of us in the same room, a true giggle fest.

Some of the tracks have a different birthplace and started as a jam session at mentor and fellow General, Sleproc's, studio. Eyes on U and Bodymoove were two tracks that took the longest to complete and started as rough arrangements that Sleproc and I came up with. Sleproc's classic west coast funk and R&B background take front stage on these tracks. Bodymoove is our attempt to blend west coast funk and 4 on the floor house. Eyes on U started as a nod to Loose Ends and ended up being this epic sexy R&B / Rock fusion track when we finished. Unfortunately, when it was time to tighten up and mix the separates we learned that Sleproc had sold some of the gear used and that we would have to find comparable sound, a process we didn't want to take on at the time. So, we had to move forward with two rough mixes, a decision that came back to haunt us when it came down to mixing and mastering the album. Both tracks still came out great though and are two of our favorites.

Welcome Back was originally the brainchild of fellow general and emcee Megalosdon and was completely flipped and freaked by General Bebo 6 to give the album the perfect ending. Crazy side note, when Megalosdon recorded the rhyme on "The Blueprint," he recorded both the call and response parts separately and without writing anything down! It was the most innovative and genius ish I've ever seen an emcee do.

Post production-wise, this was the first album that we decided to invest in and master. It was also the first project that we recruited my genius student at the time Steve Minty to do the artwork.

The end result are the precious gems that can be found in "The Lunchbox"....open and enjoy.

-General Osoosi 7, Captain's Log - 04_19_13