Obama A-Milli Remix – The Interview

We’ve all seen the video on YouTube, or maybe we haven’t well if you haven’t you should. The Obama, Obama a-milli remix has gotten over 100 thousand plays on YouTube in less than a month, has been circulating the net via email, Facebook posts, MySpace bulletins, etc…, It is by far a real entertaining parody, and KMP just had to get an insight on the creator of this video and this is what he had to share:

-Q-
First of let’s start by getting to know a lil more about who A.P.T is?

-A-

-I’m a 26-year old up-and-coming artist currently living in ATL. I moved here from Richmond, VA almost 2 years ago to pursue my dream of making it in the music industry. I have a wonderful brother named David who DJs in Washington, and a very supportive mother back in Richmond.

-Q-
What does A.P.T stands for?

-A-

-My name, Aaron P. Taylor. Nothing too fancy. I use it because I used to re-make other artists’ songs for my phone message in college, and saying my initials was a lot faster than saying “Aaron P. Taylor” all the time. My phone messages became so popular that people started calling me A.P.T. all the time. So, I went with it!

-Q-
What is your blog about?

-A-

My blog, www.aptsongs.wordpress.com, serves 2 purposes: to give insight into my journey from a non-celebrity that nobody knows to a celebrity that many people know; and to give people a chance to listen to and visually see my music via my “One-Song-a-Week” mantra. I got the idea from a guy named Jonathan Coultron, a 36-year old ex-engineer who quit his daytime job to become a musician and was told to write one song each week for practice. He now makes his living as a touring musician because of it, and I figured, “if it worked for him…”

-Q-
This “Milli” beat seems to be the most used, most popular beat ever! You guys came up with your own version: Obama Milli, which has been getting plays on YouTube like crazy. I saw the video I enjoyed it. The question is, how did you decide, hey, let’s come up with a Obama Milli?

-A-

First of all, this is currently a one-man operation – I WISH I had people helping me, ’cause it would be a LOT easier to shoot all these videos!!

Secondly, I’ve been a fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic, himself a parodist, ever since the 80s. The first songs I used to write were parodies of other people’s songs, so I have a lot of practice coming up with parody ideas.

As for the “Obama” song: I used to walk around work singing Lil’ Wayne’s version, then I thought it would be cool if I interjected my name into the background – instead of “A Milli, A Milli,” I’d say “A.P.T, A.P.T.” (try it, it fits!). However, I didn’t think that would grab people’s attention since nobody knew who I was. Then, while walking around work one day, I just started saying “Obama, Obama,” and I couldn’t stop laughing! It seemed like the timing for the song was perfect: Obama had just won the Democratic nomination, and Lil’ Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” CD had just sold 1 million copies in one week – how could I go wrong?

Of course, since I couldn’t find the beat without the words “A Milli” being said ad nausea, I had to make the beat from scratch using my Fruity Loops music-making program. There are NO samples of the original song in my beat – I had to find the instruments in my program and make the beat myself, then record myself saying “Obama Obama” so I could cut-and-paste it a bunch of times for the length of the song.

The hardest part was coming up with what to write about! There were so many things Obama-related that could go into the song; plus, I had to figure out how to mix it all in with a flow similar to Lil’ Wayne’s flow from the original song. I had to listen to “A Milli” about that many times before I finally had something that sounded nearly dead-on with the original!!

-Q-
Have radio stations played your song yet?

-A-

YES!! I’ve gotten messages from people in Seattle, Charlotte, Louisville, Rochester, Tulsa, Illinois, Atlanta, Orlando, and Virginia saying they heard it on their local radio station. Ironically, I have yet to hear it because I don’t have a car, and I’m rarely home enough to play internet radio!

-Q-
Any TV appearances because of your video?

-A-

Not yet, but I’d LOVE to be on TRL, 106 & Park, Jimmy Kimmel, or any other show that would want me to be a guest!

-Q-
Is there a particular message you are trying to send out, or was it made just for fun?

-A-

Mostly, it was made for practice. The goal behind me starting my website, www.aptsongs.wordpress.com, was to try and write one song a week for a whole year. It just so happened that the idea for the “Obama Obama” song popped in my head that week, so I challenged myself to write the best version I could within that time frame.

-Q-
Do you think the comments made on Obama’s wife take away from the overall message?

-A-

Not really. Because it’s partially a parody, the idea was for me to try and rap like Lil’ Wayne in the song – the voice I use is even more nasally than my usual voice because I was trying to sound like him – so it’s almost like I was rapping in character, and, quite honestly, he would say something like that. Plus, guys say that kind of stuff around each other all the time, like “man, she’s fine – I’d hit that!”

-Q-
If Obama were to see this video what do you think his reaction would be?

-A-

I don’t know. It would depend on his knowledge of certain things, like if he had heard the original version, his sense of humor, etc. I’d be curious to find out, though!

-Q-
Who in your opinion has the best a milli freestyle, besides you?

-A-

Dang, there are so many! My favorite one is Jay-Z – he did like I did, flipped it into something else (in his case, “A Billi”). Lil’ Mama did justice to it, too.

-Q-
Do you think all of this attention Obama is getting from urban youth and hip hop, will encourage the urban youth to register to vote?

-A-

I certainly hope it does, but more importantly, I hope it encourages them to study the issues BEFORE they decide to vote. To vote is one thing, but to be knowledgeable of the reasons behind your vote is much more important!