![]() ![]() The I, (Myself) & Iīack when Teller Bank$ first conceived of The I & I, he was sure that it’d be a solo venture. While not a definitive answer to the questions posed in prior albums, “Fed Block Illuminati” and The I & I as a whole explore the clarity that comes with time and distance from pain. “ On crip, my best blood cousin set me up / So lately I don’t know who to trust / Or who to give my love to, who true enough / The one time you can’t do for 'em, now you don’t do enough” With the album’s last lick, “Fed Block Illuminati” delivers a twinkly finish wrought with distrust and an attitude of “you really thought.” In the song, Teller posits: “Like, well, what happened? What's the conclusion? Did he turn out all right? Is he a good dude, is he a bad dude? What happened to him?’” “I wanted to make the album kind of leave people with questions,” says Teller. Menacing both in tone and its measured restraint, the song was crafted for a clear, black night. This “darkest song on the whole album” is called “Supernatural” and it’s as haunting as the name would suggest. IPR The I & I is a follow-up to 2020's The Grotesque & Beautiful and 2021's The Part & Parcel. But before that, it was kind of like the smooth ride, almost made it out.” “Just when you thought everything was starting to really, like, look up and be very cheery,” says Teller, “it's like all of a sudden you have this - the darkest song on the whole album pops up like right near the end. While the song swings around with a declarative swagger, even ending with the boastful and repeated refrain “I made it up to the majors, started out in the minors,” it’s all a ruse. A nod to the series’ Blaxploitation-y, sample-heavy roots (see The Grotesque & Beautiful’s “The Cycle” and “Appeals Freestyle”), the album’s antepenultimate song “The Heart” is an intentional fake-out. ONE DOG STORY BANDCAMP SERIESRather than wrap his series up neatly with a hopeful bow on top, Teller took a Mad Men-style approach. So, it really just is about, you know, reconciling with your own trauma and moving forward.” Childhood trauma is one thing, but adult trauma is something else. Dealing with your trauma that happened to you as an adult. And then, The I & I is the reflecting on and picking up the pieces. “Then you get old enough…to get drafted and really go to war, and you live and experience it and that's The Part & Parcel. “You're very much active and involved in it, but you're also from the outside, you can't really see it, or participate in it, even though you're living it. It's kind of like you're viewing it a third person perspective,” says Teller. Now 30, real-life Teller’s age reflects that of The I & I Teller, whose exploits in the earlier two albums are now up for fresh examination. The album’s predecessors, 2020’s The Grotesque & Beautiful and 2021’s The Part & Parcel, represent different stages of the protagonist’s life from ages 8 to 10 and 18 to 20, respectively. Set roughly 20 years after the events of the first record, The I & I reflects on a troubled two decades with mature eyes. ![]() 22, Teller Bank$ released The I & I, his third of three collaborative albums with Indiana producer Ed Glorious. Instead, “Finders Keepers” strolls on, making way for the album’s next two songs with features from distinctive underground voices AJ Suede and Aakeem Eshu. Teller even muses, “ Just want my son happy, just want my daughters happy / Depression carved a valley in me, love flowin' through it / I put blood, sweat and tears in the music." What a way to say goodbye. A perfect ending, if one chose to employ it as such. ![]() It’s a triumphant frolic through a field of hip-hop poppies, with a joyous, cloudy sample repeating “ even thoughhhh” just right. That song, called “Finders Keepers,” is the seventh of The I & I’s 14 tracks - located “smack dab” in the album’s center. “Your highest point in your life is not always the climax.” “The reason why I put this song, that everybody thought would be the outro, put it right in the middle, is because life is not chronological all the time,” says Teller Bank$. Teller Bank$ would prefer that snapshot be taken out of focus, upside down and when you least expect it. ![]()
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