Master Craftsman is a playlist of funk, soul, r&b, and hip hop influenced instrumentals that I composed and arranged over the last 3 years. This set of instrumentals showcases my love for all of these music genres and my growth in being able to play out my own music ideas by hand without the use of oldies loops. I’m still using sampled bass drums, hi-hats and snares from oldies songs to make drum patterns but the melodies, chords and basslines are all me.
Master Craftsman is only 8 songs long currently and under 20 minutes so I’d say it’s an easy listen. Overtime I may decide to add additional instrumentals to this playlist that have a similar sonic feel. For now I hope you enjoy these tracks and I’d love to hear your feedback on my youtube channel!
I recently visited the music superstore known as Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana along with my father and son. This video is a short recap from our 6 hour day trip to Sweetwater where in the end I purchased my first analog keyboard called the Prophet~5. This keyboard was created by Dave Smith and John Bowen at Sequential Circuits in the late 70’s and is the world’s first fully-programmable polyphonic synthesizer.
By the way practically all the background music that I composed in this video contains sounds coming from my new keyboard! In the near future I hope to create a video and post digging deeper into using the Prophet 5 and sharing more info about it’s history.
“I’m a Fighter” is a song that I wrote in the summer of 2020 written in part as a tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman. The song is about working through lack of inspiration, and hardships and pushing forward. The fight that I’m referring to in this song is more so an internal battle with self.
The song is also about being prepared for our own demise which is certainly inevitable at some point. Many of us have lost a loved one and have seen other lives lost during this pandemic which has heightened my own awareness of this reality.
I’m a Fighter has a gritty feel to it and at the same time an energy that says don’t lay down, get up! “Get Up” is what I initially called the instrumental back when I made it in 2017 and last year during the pandemic the words came to me while I was driving, “I’m a Fighter, Any Mountain We Climbing Higher, Through the Darkness We Shining Brighter, and I Keep Coming back like Michael Myers.”
From there I wrote my first verse over the course of about 2 months sometimes while going for a walk in my neighborhood, driving in my car or sitting down in my studio space at home. Then Chadwick Boseman died in late August and like most of the world I was shocked. Like Kobe Bryant’s death it was hard to believe. Soon after his death I thought about using my 2nd verse to share some words in tribute to his life.
I was really moved by the final text message that Boseman wrote to the producer of Black Panther saying “People deserve abundant life, special moments. They’ve been through hell battling disease. If we were able to ease their suffering and bring joy for a moment, and hopefully moments has he goes through the bags, then we made a difference in his life.” Boseman was referring to his efforts to do a kind act for a child living with a medical condition from the Make a Wish Foundation. After reading these words I incorporated them into my verse and saw a connection between this idea of benefitting people with special moments and what is called a “continuous charity” in the tradition of Islam. A continuous charity is a type of charity that continuous to be of benefit to people beyond the contributor’s death. Could it be that special moments that poets, actors, painters and other artists leave us with beyond their death could be an act of onging charity? I’ll leave that to God to decide but I personally feel like as an artist that is something I can attempt to do with my art. Strive to leave people with special moments.
I’M A FIGHTER LYRICS by Abdullah Powell
CHORUS
Cause I’m a Fighter
Any mountain we climbing higher
Through the darkness we shining brighter
And I keep coming back like Michael Myers
VERSE
Been producing for years now I’m a writer
What I write be honest man I ain’t no lieR
Like I have days when I hardly feel inspired
But I got a long while before I can retire
So I have to find ways to ignite my fire
Then erupt through the pressure like a geyser
Targeting my own weakness like a sniper
So I can move forward rotation like tires
Now the pianos playing perfect timing
Even the roughest terrain you gotta keep climbing
At ya lowest point dig deep keep mining
After hardship comes ease look for the silver lining
Some People going through hell yet they still smiling
Taking all types of loses but they ain’t wining
So who am I to lay down gotta stay rising
Until the Lord calls me back ima keep fighting
CHORUS 2X
VERSE 2
Some of us fighting battles that you’ll never know,
Like Chadwick Boseman fighting through chemo,
Maybe he didn’t want to burden nobody else,
So he kept it quiet like the black panther moving with stealth,
A modern example of a true fighter,
In his death he’s even more respected and admired,
He said people deserve abundant life and special moments,
To ease their suffering these are his words that I’m quoting,
May God reward him for these noble intentions
And may his last recorded words be remembered and mentioned
In Islam this type of deed is called a continuous charity,
Sadaqah Jariyah in Arabic to give you clarity,
Stephen Covey said begin with the end in mind,
Put first things first always prioritize your time,
Cause every breath that you take is one that’s closer
To your death stay prepared for when it’s your time soldier
Soul Clap is one of my favorite instrumentals that I produced within the last year. It’s a relaxing downtempo track with retro synth sounds, and a smooth guitar lead. You’ll hear the soul clap hit on each snare within the drum pattern and in this video Donatello gives me a little help in finger drumming! By the way Donatello was my favorite Ninja Turtle back in the day(especially the Donatello action figure)!
I also recently wrote a song to this instrumental that I plan to record and then release at some point in the near future Lord willing. Be on the looking out for it!
Everyday of My Life is an uplifting song that I wrote and composed in June of 2020. This song definitely has a spiritual vibe and message to it probably because I wrote the song shortly after fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. I fingered drummed a pattern using 808’s and played out a nice chord progression using a smooth sounding clavinet. Would love to hear your comments if you dig the track!
“Here’s Another Spiritual Melody. My Soul Speaks When I Play the Piano Keys”
LYRICS
It’s ya brother
June 12th almost summer
Ramadan came and went
May The Most High Accept all of it
Now I’m pondering my next moves
This track here that your listening to
Is my first groove
Since before holy month
Now I’m back in action, back on the hunt
Higher got to climb, let my soul shine
Power in the rhyme, it feels so divine
And even though it’s not revaluation
I make dua to receive Gods inspiration
May these words be of great benefit
And may my music be used to uplift
Any soul that hear even a glimpse
May it relieve your stress make you less tense
This Music feels good like a breeze
Shaded on a hot day under the trees
Here’s another spiritual melody
My soul speaks when I play the piano keys
My music means a lot to me
It’s how I cope with life it set my mind free
That’s why I keep making these albums
Expressing myself No matter if you see the value
CHORUS
Everyday of my life gotta keep my head to the skies
Everyday that I rise gotta open up my eyes
Everyday of my life I’m gotta keep my head to the skies
In the fall of 2020 I began a 9 month journey of facilitating an traditional homeschooling experience for 2 of my children. Because of the pandemic many schools presented the option for children to do virtual schooling or blended learning in school and at home. As our local public schools shifted from one phase to another we decided to take over our children’s education ourselves. In this video I talk about why we decided to homeschool, how we went about homeschooling our 3rd grader and 1st grader and the various resources that we used to help us teach. Toward the end of the video I give 6 reasons why this was a great year to try out traditional homeschooling and what we plan to do next school year.
As parents when it comes to educating our children we all work hard, no matter if we take our children to school and pick them up everyday, do some kind of virtual schooling or do traditional homeschooling. Each form of schooling has it’s pro’s and con’s and is not easy. But I’m not going to lie, I feel pretty accomplished getting to the finish line of this particular school year. There is something so special about being actively involved in my children’s development and observing their learning abilities grow in front of my eyes. If you are a parent or have been a part of coaching, mentoring or teaching someone I’m sure you can relate in some way.
Time Stamps: 00:37– Our Mindset as Parents 01:42– Why We Decided to Homeschool 03:47– How We Went About Homeschooling 08:27– A Book that was Helpful & Encouraged Me (Homeschooling for Absolute Beginners) 09:12– 6 Reasons Why this was the Perfect Year to try out Homeschooling 10:44– Our Plans for the next School Year
Grandma Jeanne and I are back with another classic video. This time Grandma is teaching us how to make homemade blueberry muffins. We had a lot of fun working on this video. First, we took a trip to the grocery store and filmed Grandma picking out all of her ingredients for the muffins. This was particularly nice because Grandma hadn’t been to the grocery in over a year so she enjoyed being out. Next, we returned to Grandma’s kitchen the following morning and here she teaches us how to make her delicious blueberry muffins.
I broke the video into two parts. In the first segment Grandma washes and drains the blueberries, and mixes her dry and liquid ingredients. In the second segment Grandma bakes the blueberry muffins and tops them with butter and sugar. During this segment she also shares words of wisdom about life from her father.
In terms of my personal preference I honestly could go back and forth between her homemade biscuits and blueberry muffins. You can’t go wrong making either of these for breakfast. If you are watching and you want to make these at home you can definitely follow the instructions that we’ve laid out. PEACE
I recently reached the 1000 subscribers mark on my youtube channel. In this video I just wanted to give thanks to my subscribers and share news of more content from my Grandmother and a new song that I wrote for my wife.
I am excited to share news that I have polished up some of the best of my instrumental work from the early 2000’s. Back then I went by the name BWill both as a nickname and as a music producer so I’m calling this playlist of music The Best of BWill.
I literally have hundreds of instrumentals from back in the day and a good amount of them are still enjoyable to listen to. I was doing a lot of creative things with sound manipulation, filtering and sampling back then and I still use many of these same techniques to this day.
Hope you enjoy this first batch of instrumentals and look for another set of tracks from this time period in the near future. PEACE
***Click the video above to listen to the playlist***
Me in my basement studio while I was in college at Univ. of Cincy. Great music was made here.
In this video I sat down with Grandma Jeanne and showed her how successful our homemade biscuits video has become. I also read to her many of the uplifting comments that were addressed to her and then filmed her responding to comments.
This is definitely one of my favorite videos. It feels good to see a community benefiting from my Grandmother and seeing her take the time to thoughtfully respond to these comments is priceless. There have been so many heartfelt comments. We really want to thank you all for your love and support of my Grandma and her Homemade Biscuits Video!
This video is a little longer than normal because I didn’t want to edit out Grandma’s thoughtful responses to the comments.
abdullah powell 