OCC: Spent a minute debating posting this because it's pretty personal but that's never stopped me before!


Track: Daddy's Boy
Artist: LUXX
Genre: R&B Ballad
Label: Just Record Records
Written by: Dawn "Poppy" Pope, Niña "Rum/FancyN" Tarantino
Produced by: FancyN, DrewWB
Length: 5:53

Daddy's Boy is a song recorded by the African-American girl group, LUXX (can be pronounced as 'luks', 'luck' or 'luhh'), which consists of 3 black women, Mellie, Poppy, and Zuli. It serves as the A-side to their debut single which will be impacting radio on February 5th, 2017. Daddy's Boy is a track from their debut album, "Boyz Will Be Boys", which is expecting a first quarter release from Just Record Records. The R&B ballad was written by Dawn Pope and Nina Tarantino, and was produced by the latter with help from Drew Westbrook. On the surface, the song is written about a man who the girls claim is incapable to commit due to the abandonment he's suffered from his father. It's deeper meaning touches on issues within the black community, specifically single parent homes, a topic close to Dawn Pope who wrote the first verse about her father being murdered months before she was born. This ties within the underlying theme of LUXX's entire project, Boyz Will Be Boys, an album based on the infamous 1990's film, Boyz n the Hood, a movie praised for addressing problems that effect the black community greatly. LUXX takes this concept and morphs it into a modern day love story, accidently on purpose highlighting how when in comparison to a movie made over 20 years ago, the way their community is treated and a lot of the problems they have faced have not improved all that much.

Poppy wrote:

Daddy's Boy was one of the first songs we wrote for Boyz Will Be Boys and I think even after all the writing, it's still the best. This album came together really fast for us and one of the reasons why is because we didn't just downright reject any topics. We wanted to dig deep and get personal, it felt like the only right way to break the ice. I wrote that verse through tears, as dramatic as it sounds [laughs], and recording it was just as emotional. It felt weird being all vulnerable and open to sharing my story like that but it gave me the chance to look at Mellie and Zuli and say, "your turn, bitch!". Me just deciding to go all out like that made the other girls feel less scared to pull their panties up and break a nail and now we have all this good music that we can't wait to share.

Mellie wrote:

This song is so purdy and I'm so proud to be 'part of it. Seriouslay, it was written with so merch emotion and it sounds like heaven and I love that instead of picking one of our mo' uptempo tracks, this is what we chose as a sangle. As a sangle mother, this song really does spake to me. I often get caught up complaining 'bout how hard raising a child by myself is but this song reminds me that it equallay effects my lil' man too. His mother is merch mo' present in his life than his father and that spakes volumes to a child. Emmanuelle will get the chance to hear his momma sang this song and and he'll think of what it manes to me and what it manes fo' him. That's so important. I wouldn't dream of debuting any other way, I just hope y'all love it as merch as we do.

Zuli wrote:

We luh dis song so much cuh all tree of we can relate pon ah personal level. Mi nuh tink dere's any oda gyal group out right now das making music dat tells all fi dem business like we ah do. Iss guh fi guh set we part from dey, fi wi music, fi wi style, but it'll be inna good way, cus it will be fi de culture. Long as we have de platform, it'll always be important to me dat we show smadi different ah good, taboo ah great an an open mind ah de only way.

Mellie
Poppy
Zuli
LUXX

Dead or alive?
Did a wanted poster catch up with him for the last time?
Do you even know who he is?
We grow up just fine
Sometimes mama couldn't pay the bills on time
But it is what it is
Sometimes I thank God he's dead
You had to live with abandonment
I lucked out and got to pretend
Even if he was never mom's
Even if I know that means he was never mine's
Who's gonna argue the dead wasn't a good man?

Round and round we go
Carousels left idle, but the cycle goes on
The last thing I want
Is to cry over a man, who woulda been a no show
But girls will be girls

Dead or afraid?
I could've sworn they were the same damn thang
Neither seem to let you live
Feels like I'm glued in place
Another bird singing in your pretty cage
Something's got to give
You're mad at my words cause you're really trying
I know it and I'm damn near crying
Who you wanna be never defeats who you are
Especially when it's all you know
Especially when you're all you've got
And especially when who you are fools you to think so

Round and round we go
Carousels left idle, but the cycle goes on
The last thing you want
Is to take after a man, you didn't even know
But Boyz will be boys

Cause they.. they don't know how to be anything else
They never learned how to be anything else, nothing else
Boyz will be boys because they can't be men
They just can't be men
And girls will be girls, they'll love em to the end of this world
Cherish their broken pearls, but never break them out that shell

Round and round we go
Carousels left idle, but the cycle goes on
The last thing I need
Is for you to let your fear of abandonment, abandon me
But Boyz ah be boys

---

Track: Invincible Boy
Artist: LUXX
Genre: R&B Soul
Label: Just Record Records
Written by: Drew Westbrook, Airemese "Coke" Smith, Niña "Rum/FancyN" Tarantino, Melanie Burnes
Produced by: DrewWB
Length: 4:24

Invincible Boy serves as the B-side to LUXX's debut single, Daddy's Boy. Written by Drew Westbrook, Airemese Smith, Niña Tarantino and Melanie Burnes, the song is written to a reckless boy who lives dangerously on the margin. In the R&B/soul song produced solely by Drew Westbrook, the girls sing through some of the different ideologies surrounding the afterlife, warning their lover to not be the one who gets stuck fact checking those beliefs. It contains a sample from the 1990's film, Boyz in the Hood, which plays right before the song begins, tying the themes of the movie and the music together.


Mellie
Poppy
Zuli
LUXX
Boyz in the Hood sample

[context: Furious Styles and Young Tre wake up in the middle of the night in their Compton home and SUPRISE BITCH! Issa robbery! Furious finds his gun and starts popping caps. POW! POW! POW! The robber gets away.]

Furious Styles: Somebody must have been praying for that fool, cause I swear I aimed right for his head!
Young Tre: You should have blew it off.
Furious Styles: Don't say that. Don't say that. Just would've contributed to the killing of another brother.

Some say this life isn't the last stage
Some say we don't die, we just reincarnate
Heaven and Hell, left to roam the world freely
So many beliefs, it's hard to believe there's just one place
How I'd like to think
The world doesn't exist outside of me
That everyone's here to make a scene
And what I don't react to isn't credible
How I wish that would be
Living without an anchored soul
Maybe then you wouldn't hurt me so
Playing like you're invincible

Maybe the stars in the sky are where souls are left out to dry
Maybe space is the waiting room
Maybe we get to live again but not as man, this time just plants
Waiting to bloom in gloom

Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out

Some say this life is the end of the road
No promise land, nothing to soothe our heavied souls
How I'd like to think
The world doesn't exist outside of me
That everyone's here to make a scene
And what I don't react to isn't credible
How I wish that would be
Living without an anchored soul
Maybe then you wouldn't hurt me so
Playing like you're invincible

Maybe we all got hustled, it was all one big joke and we suppressed our souls, for absolutely nothing
Maybe we wasted our only chance at happiness by thinking there'd be, something greater waiting

Don't.. fuck.. around..
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out

Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out

Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out
Don't fuck around and find out

Deneil: Fam this is mad sick, innit? Aside from the fact that it's just an overall wicked track, the actual themes and story being told take it to the next level. For a debut, you girls could've played it safe and released a surefire generic hit to reach the masses, you get me? But nah, you released something beyond those goal posts. True artists here, fam. In times like this I think it's very important to talk about issues facing the black community and do it in such an unapologetic way. You have firsthand experience and you all have stories to tell. Fuck the taboo and spread your messages, fam!

OOC: I am such a huge fan of your lyricism. I think that his place has really helped people nurture their creative and writing talents but right off the bat, it was clear you had a natural gift for songwriting and storytelling. I think that you have your own unique style and I can't quite pinpoint what it is...maybe just your vocabulary? Regardless, had this been posted anonymously I would have been able to tell it was your work. Just sooo good! I think the fact that it is very personal to you takes it to a new level and makes it more of an interesting release. Love the fact that there is also a B-Side to the single - a rarity these days. Adds such a lovely touch. Zuli is amazing by the way! xD