HOMEPAGE (Intro & Production Notes)

All lyrics can be found by clicking on the song titles 
on the right of this page when you scroll down

These lyrics can be moved around using cut and paste and can be printed out. Please 
consider using recycled paper if you print them. For teachers, it's recommended
that when you are using this music in the classroom that you put these lyrics up on a
projector while the music plays so the kids who are visual learners can follow along. The
physical CD comes in 100% recycled paper and uses 100% recycled plastic soda
bottles to hold the CD. The packaging was also printed with soy ink.

Credits

All lyrics written and performed by Tha Truth (2011-2013)
All tracks recorded in Blackwood, NJ at Blackwood Recording (www.blackwoodrecording.com)
All tracks mixed & engineered by Jamie Myerson and Tha Truth
Art/Design by: Frank Zampino, Tha Truth, & Amber of Rokon Productions

Open Minded Intro produced by Tha Truth
Change the Future produced by CFM *additional drums in the hook played by Tha Truth
Do You Believe in Facts & Apathy produced by Relentless
Human Rights produced by Tim & Ray Patsch aka K & A Mobb
I Tell These Jokes produced by Levante *additional drums in the hook played by Tha Truth
The American Myth produced by Narco Productionz additional vocals by G. Carlin & T.O.
Critical Thinking produced by Relentless (additional vocals by Donald King)
One Human Family produced by CFM (additional vocals by Why)
Todos Somos Iquales produced by Tha Truth ("huh" sound & drums by Tha Truth)
Peace, Love, & Justice produced by Relentless (lyrics written & performed by Why)
No Frackin Way produced by Tha Truth *all drums played by Tha Truth
Textbook Lies produced by CFM (addt'l vocals by Matt Damon)
Worker's Rights produced by Kolano (additional lyrics written & performed by T.O. aka Kalki)
Why Do They Lie produced by Bobby Beats *orchestral colossal drums played by Tha Truth
Let's All Blame the Victim produced by Tha Truth
If Dr. King was Here Today produced by Tha Truth *berimbau instrument played by Tha Truth
In Their Shoes produced by CFM *addt'l drums played by Truth (addt'l vocals by Christina Lopez)
Democracy Sounds Like produced by Relentless *additional drums in hook played by Tha Truth
Positive Energy produced by Relentless *additional drums by Truth (addt'l vocals by Why)
War Vets produced by CFM *drums by Truth (addt'l vocals by various U.S. military veterans)
Solutions Part II produced by CFM (additional vocals by D. King)

Production Notes

Before and during the process of writing this album I studied psychology and how it
relates to social change and activism. I was inspired by the book Change of Heart:
Psychology and Social Change and the book Lies My Teacher Told Me. I had a
dream one night before recording any of the music that I could play the drums so well that
people (including me) were mesmerized. One night at the studio I was making drum
sound patterns with my mouth to a beat we were working on and Jamie, the studio
engineer who has been a professional musician for over 20 years said, "The next level
of your talent is here - the drummer!" The dream came true and I ended up playing
live drums on more than half the tracks on this album, even though I had never played
an instrument in my life up until this album! I also played Brazilian Capoeria music on
two tracks by playing the berimbau instrument. I never knew it before, but I found out
during recording the project that my mom was Philadelphia All-City Orchestra in high
school. In the past, I just did the vocals/lyrics and relied on producers to arrange the
music, but in addition to the above, on this album I produced 5 of the tracks entirely.
It was a magical and exciting process putting Music for a Better World together! I hope
that it has something special for everyone from 8-80. As always, if you want to drop 
me any feedback just email me at thatruthmusic@yahoo.com.

Production Details

Open Minded Intro - I no longer understand people who discriminate against forms of
music. I listen to all types of music. If you think you don't like a certain kind of music,
it probably just means you haven't heard a song you like of that genre yet. I got tired of
hearing people approach hip hop music with a closed mind too when it is just
meaningful poetry when done well. This was in part to explain that mainstream hip hop is
not what all hip hop is, and to explain that much music transcends boundaries and labels
just as equality and justice and important lyrical content does. Genres on this album
include reggae, calypso, Spanish music, capoeria (Brazilian), rock, hip hop, jazz, funk,
and more, and I wanted to introduce the fact that this album is world music, which is a
genre that incorporates these inclusive musical ideas.

Change the World - I played the drums on the hooks. This was the first track I ever
played the drums (or any instrument on) and I'll never forget that.

Do You Believe in Facts - I wrote this during the huge earthquake that hit the east coast
in summer 2011. I ran out of the house because my ceiling fan was shaking wildly and I
thought it might come down. I then came back in and finished the song. I couldn't stop
singing the hook once I crafted it. I learned from the Change of Heart book that stories
can be more effective than stats in moving people, so instead of relaying numerous stats
I made an effort to do more story telling on this album. My voice doesn't often sound
like this but sometimes when I get a little hoarse and/or energetic it does, and I felt
this vocal tone fit this track like a glove. I am especially proud of the way it comes
across on the hook! Our voices are instruments and can be played in different ways
and this is how I approach music. It's just about making the best sounding music possible
and how your voice fits with each piece of music.

Apathy - This one was partially inspired by the Superheroes documentary, which is an
excellent and inspiring film. Another concept of psychology is that people want to feel
like they can do something about problems and not just get down about them. This is
why I made the effort to keep mentioning that many heroic people are working to help
make the world better and you can find them and get involved if you wish at my website.
Also, in the digital age, if you don't have a CD in front of you to look at, it's not as easy
to list resources for people so I thought this would be an effective way to accomplish this.

Human Rights - Two guys I performed with many times at the Philadelphia May Day
commemoration at Elmwood Park (where the labor monument is) named Tim and Ray
Patsch made this beat as part of their song Colors, which is an excellent political song.
I was always mesmerized by the beat and it was great to use it on this track. I was also
proud of my folk style singing at the end.

I Tell These Jokes - I love to laugh and have fun and I would think most people do.
Especially when dealing with really important and serious issues, it's important to have
balance in our lives. I was proud to liven up the hooks with some of my own drumming.
I was laughing writing this track and I hope it makes people laugh and smile. It was a lot
of fun singing the hook and also hearing Jamie Myerson, the studio engineer, crack up at
the humorous content while I was recording it!

Critical Thinking - I have always loved my friend Don King's voice, especially because
of the wisdom accompanying it. He has been a supporter of my music since my first
album, and it was great to get him on this project! He was so busy that it was a real
challenge to get him into the studio. He made it at the last second before production was
wrapped. Ironically, when he got out of his car, the first thing I saw were the words "I
MADE IT!" in huge letters on his back! He didn't even realize this. It was a UPS shirt
but it was crazy to see that! Don loves reggae music, and so do I, and it was great to
get some reggae/dancehall style music on to this album.

One Human Family - Isn't it funny how we discriminate when we all come from the
same source and we're all the same species just from different environments? On every
album I've addressed our "oneness" as humans. The idea is for us not to act like racism
doesn't exist, but rather to combat that by bringing us together in solidarity to fight for
ALL of our rights and to fight division, which breeds discrimination.

Todos Somos Iguales - I was excited to release my first song completely in Spanish!
I was also excited to produce this entire beat, including the "huh" sound in the hook
which was me!

Peace, Love, & Justice - I have been working with the "artivist" (artist/activist) Why since
my first album. She has contributed to songs before and even helped inspire some of
the concepts! However, this was the first song she ever wrote! She came in the studio
and danced in the dimly lit vocal booth like it was a nightclub! It was incredibly fun! We
also managed to sound like 15 people somehow with just our two voices! It was good
to infuse the electronic/trance/techno genre into the project on this one.

No Fracking Way - In the future they may change the name of this act or they might
change methods, but it won't change the solutions I mentioned, which are solar power,
geothermal and wind energy! I am proud to say that I composed this entire track myself
and set a possible lyrical alliteration record with 15 words in a row that started with the
letter F! I actually recorded this song on a different beat at first but when I heard the lyrics
on this track, I had to go with this version! It is exciting to me now to be not just a hip hop
artist but a singer, a musician who plays instruments, and a producer!

TextBook Lies - This was inspired by the book Why gave me called Lies My Teacher
Told Me. As with above, I originally recorded this on a different beat. I felt it was really
good but not great but when I came across this beat, I felt it really elevated the song to
new heights! This track incorporates Jazz & funk into this musical mix.

Worker's Rights - Another of my many collaborations with one of my favorite artists
T.O. aka Kalki. We have been doing tracks together since my first album in 2006. He
is in Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. I loved especially how we went back and forth
quickly on the end of the track. This song brings some classical violin into the picture.
The beat was produced by Kolano, who is from Poland. He made the track originally
for a song T.O. did where he rapped completely in French (T.O's first language), which
is amazing when you hear how great he raps in English.

Why Do They Lie - This track took me longer to record than any other track I've ever
done. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't sounding as powerful as it did in my mind, and I
kept trying different techniques to bring it to where I thought it needed to be. Finally, after
many hours I realized that the colossal orchestral drums were what I needed! You can
hear me playing them throughout the song. Another of the psychological techniques that I
studied that move people is repetition. This is why on this album I attempted to make my
hooks more simple and repetitive (also to make them more memorable). This track was
inspired by the Lies My Teacher Told Me book as well. There was too much
inspiration in that book for one song, so really this is Textbook Lies Part II but with this
hook I thought it made more sense to give it this title.

Let's All Blame the Victim - Another beat I am proud to have produced, this track is
centered around the psychological tenants of the human tendency to blame the victim,
and the societal reinforcement that this is the correct response to our social ills. In
particular the just world hypothesis, as I described in these lyrics, says that the world
is good and if something bad is happening than we want to believe it must be because
that person deserves it. However, of course, this is insane! On this project I also sought
to try and not go over the average person's head. At times on my previous albums I
feel sometimes that half of it would only be understood by highly educated people and/or
activists. I see politicians talk to people in a more simple way. I realized that in order to
reach more people with the message that I needed to make it more easy to understand
and less academic in terms of vocabulary. This is also part of my desire to have people
from 8 years of age to 80 understand and enjoy this music and message. Sarcasm can
also be effective and obviously that is in full effect on this one!

If Dr. King was Here Today Part II - Part I was on my previous album. This was the
first track I ever played the berimbau on. I also played it as part of the skit on the end of
the No Frackin' song. This is another track I am happy to say that I produced.

In Their Shoes - Getting people to put themselves in the shoes of people struggling was
another huge concept of my studying of psychology and social change. The simple way
of describing the concept in the intro was to explain it for people of any age and any level
of education in a way anyone could understand. I met Christina Lopez, who is on the skit
at the end, in Philly a few years prior to this album, and she was very excited about my music.

What Democracy Sounds Like - This hook was sampled from my prior album. I felt the
vocal I did sounded so amazing and somehow sounded like 5 or 10 people and that it
should be used for something else, and this was the result. I did this song on two different
beats and felt that both worked well! This was actually written just a year or so after my
prior album way before I had an idea that I would even create another. The skit on the end
captures what it's like when Don and I start talking over the years.

War Vets Speak - On previous albums I talked about what they don't tell us about being
in the military, the ugly side. On this album I decided, hey, don't believe me, take it from
those who were actually in the military. I played the drums on the end of this one as well.

Solutions Part II - Part I was on my 2nd album Tha Civil Rights Movement Part II. There
is so much we can do to try and make the world better, and this track lists many ideas of
how to do something. It was good to get another reggae/dancehall track on here and it
was fitting that Don closed out the album since he came in so late to do his part (but hey
better late than never right?) I try to see the positive in every situation now. Sometimes
in a bad situation it's just that we can be proud to try and do something good in the world
to try and balance things out and make things better for someone. This song was a way
to end the album on a positive note and hopefully to inspire listeners to do something
to help make this world better, which is the primary purpose of this project.