What if you joked about making an album of cat noises, and then the people declared you must do it?
Believe it or not, back in 2014 this actually happened.
As part of the release of their 2nd record, the duo Run the Jewels listed some ridiculously overpriced “deluxe” versions of the album as a joke and rag on money-grab album marketing. One of these options was Meow the Jewels, listed for $40,000.
Then a fan decided to start a Kickstarter to fund the project – and well, the people responded.
As a consumer this is amazing and hilarious. Nobody involved with the original album release thought this would ever happen – it’s a stupid joke taken too far.
“What if we told ’em we’d make an album of cat sounds! That sh*t would be hilarious!”
In the right context, I’m sure you’d make this joke with your friends and laugh like a maniac. No? You wouldn’t? Only… me…? Oh…
Anyway…
Take a minute to think about what this would feel like from the producer’s perspective. If your boss said –
“Yeah yeah, what you do – I LOVE IT, it’s AWESOME. Don’t change a thing, okay? Just… can we make a version of it with all cat noises?
…and they were serious.
That’s what happened to producer El-P. He even called the person who launched the Kickstarter to try and get it stopped – after all, it was just a joke.
The end of this tale for the consumer is awesome and fun – the group went through with the project and a group of super producers stepped up to the plate to help them make an incredible remix album. Additionally, the money that wasn’t required to create and release the album all went to charity (families of victims of police brutality). Then everyone wound up with this crazy cat album, story finished – right?
Sure – except as a creator and an artist, I’d encourage you to dig way deeper. I couldn’t help it myself last week when I put this album on for the first time.
Make a Box, Keep your Head Outside
Every artist knows the guidelines of “give yourself a limited set of rules and stick to them” for creativity. When you limit what you’re given, you’re immediately forced to come up with unconventional solutions.
But take this to the extreme – you’re a famous, legendary producer who is forced to make an album out of cat sounds. To add insult to injury, you came up with this idea as a joke while you were high.
Brutal, right? You’d probably whine about it. El-P sure as hell did from the sound of it.
(That fact is super comforting to me – if someone asked me build all the sounds in the game I’m working on from bleating goats, I’m sure I’d constantly complain about it.)
But take a listen to the first track of the album – I’d argue not only is it a banger, I enjoy it (personally) more than the actual first track on the album.
On the other hand, it’s completely stupid and silly too.
What would it take for you to get a challenge like this and not only succeed, but fully thrive? I’m 100% certain that when given the task, El-P realized that he not only had to do at least some of this work, but that it couldn’t suck.
It had to be funny, fun, soaked in cat noises, and good. After all, his group’s name was attached to it.
Before you think this story is just a zany and entertaining tale that a super smart producer turned to his advantage – take a moment to realize you’re in the exact same position and your reaction likely isn’t that different than El-P.
Sure, you’re not asked to make an entire album out of cat sounds but you likely have something like:
- Financial constraints
- Personnel constraints
- Things you don’t like about your coworkers
- No job
- No credits, no resume
- Bad or no demo reel
- Bad or no website
- No software
- No sound library
- No gear
- No microphones
- An old computer
The list goes on and on. Right?
That’s your box. It might be, when you think about it, that you’d prefer the cat sounds box.
Nevertheless, you’ve got a box – and it’s yours to work with. El-P’s work and leadership on Meow the Jewels is super inspiring to me because he had to do two things:
- Keep his body in the box – he couldn’t break the rules
- Get his head as far out of the box as possible – he had to make something worthy
And that’s the template. You work within your constraints, and you bend them as far as your creativity can take them – ending up with something spectacular that you’re proud of.
If you’re not doing that – rest assured – you have and you will again. Look to your inspirations for examples and get to it.
As for me? I’m going to go put headphones in and nod along to cat samples without anyone around me being the wiser…
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