I dedicate Chapter II: The Bars to the weekend – to the many wild nights getting weird in Mad City. As youth, we aspired to go downtown to party with the big kids and see college girl titties. Can we do it drunk? That’s really the only question we ask ourselves when deciding recreational activities.
Since Wisconsin gets drunker and has more liquor stores than anywhere else in the United States, and has the 3rd most bars per capita (behind North Dakota and Montana) – I think it’s fair to say the Cheeseheads party the hardest.
There’s always sumn going on at The Bars and I’m a king of the night scene. I get it lit whether I’m out, on stage or behind the bar. I’m in a strange position now that I’m 15 months sober, but nothing can take away my time in Madison, Milwaukee, and wherever else in Wisco we decided to get bopped. In times of need, the bars have been there for work and recreation. I don’t have a problem with alcohol, it has a problem with me. Drink Wisconsinbly. This is my 4th EP of 2016.
“Ay, who dat der? Wait, I know her, she look like Kardash But why is she creeping behind my back now? To get with dude from my old frat?”
I was diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and alcoholism at a young age (April 16, 2016). Many know this, many don’t. Even though I have not one but two apparently extremely debilitating disorders, it’s easy for the average person to look at me and see a tall, fit and strikingly handsome exterior, listen to my deeply erotic voice and hear how eloquently I can finesse the English (and Spanish) language, and feel the irresistible charisma that I’ve captured the whole nation with. I have to laugh at it, because that’s been the only way to survive.
Most white people assume that I grew up like them. Society also rewards me for covering up the truth. I’ve opened up about my past to reporters, yet they never mention my life outside college, and when they do it’s usually with something that they made up. Look at my bio, listen to my music, then go look up the press on me. Mainstream America does not want someone like me to be a reality, and they will do anything to keep it that way. I’ve been slandered by virtually every publication in the country for no reason. But forget name calling, I’ve been thrown into so many fights in my life, I don’t glance when I’m punched in the face or cry when I snap a bone. I’m the toughest one out here.
“Old Thompson & Marb Reds”
Obviously, these things have made life incredibly difficult. On top of being mental, I grew up with little money and opportunity. Ya don’t hear me complain about this a lot – as rappers tend to do – because I know my parents work incredibly hard and I can’t discredit them for their effort, or for the progress that they’ve made. We’ve conquered huge obstacles as a family and I could never take away from the overwhelmingly positive impression that they’ve left on me over the course. The Grefe’s have had their problems, but keeping the fam close is what got us here today.
These issues have lead to a few run ins with the law, which is (I assume) the reason why the white collar Hip Hop people are also scared of me. They’re afraid, the same as the press and government. I was put through countless therapy, counseling and rehab programs by the court system. They would tell me that there was something wrong with me, I would convince them that there wasn’t, and then they would graduate me. Do we see the irony here?
The real problem with me is that I’m too intelligent, creative and motivated to be compartmentalized into one of modern society’s simple-minded classifications. This is hard for folks to understand and that’s ok. I do feel like the world is against me sometimes… but no matter how painful my past may be, and regardless of the jacked up shit flying through my head as I’m writing this sentence, I’m still alive and levels beyond anyone in my generation. One day I hope to escape this hole. For now, this is Clifton Beef. This is The Depression.
Each record on this EP is about a specific woman, and each woman represents a certain type of love. I showed ya The Hustle, now I’m goin deep. I call it The Fall In. Everyone knows that uncontrollable feeling of falling into another person’s life. Love gets a bad wrap and I too am guilty of pushing it to the side, to get out the more unpleasant parts of my life. Also, women didn’t look at me until I got accepted into college, which kinda had me jaded for a while. This is my first project for the lovely ladies – the real ones.
I recorded “Sushi & Eggs” and “Nightswim” with J|D, who I met in Hollywood. We got on the same wave at our house, talking about Fiji, God, the local tail and such. Quickly, we laid out the rest out the two records, using the concurrent distractions as motivation. Leona Harper and I met a couple times back in Madison but this is our first record together. We love talking weed, sex and profound shit. Michael Cooper and Scattered Brains handled the mixing on The Fall In.
Check out the videos for “Good Brain” and “Nightswim” below. For da full story, read the play by play. Released on February 22, 2016.
I was trained to grind. My parents put me in basketball and football at a young age, so I’ve always been about The Hustle. Then I took to the streets, working in whatever way I could to one up the next kid. After I turned 16, I landed my first job as a stock boy in the backroom of Target. From there, I finessed my way into white collar jobs by way of the grind and calculated power moves.
For those that don’t know, there is no entertainment industry or money in Wisconsin. Since moving to California, I’ve realized how hard we need to grind in The Midwest to reach any level of success. Allow me to share my journey with you. This 4-track project is the first of many themed EP’s to come off of the full Chapter II: Double Major album. Go play the videos for “Oh Lord” and “Off Papers”.
Each part of the Chapter II concept album fits into the story like a novel. Each line, each verse composes a narrative from my life. There are many different pieces to this puzzle. Rappers would call these projects EP’s. The first EP – called The Hustle – dropped on January 15, 2016. The next came a month later, called The Fall In. Following the tape for the ladies, Beef released The Depression in April and The Bars in June. After finishing up some crazy shit in California, I released my debut book Why Wisconsin Voted For Donald Trump: The Coastie Privilege, dipped from Mexico, and arrived back in Wisco to drop the full Double Major album, while homeless, and writing my second book – The Life of Cliff G: Dog. Then, I dropped the rest of the EP’s in the first week of July 2017 – The Fall Out, The Producer, The Move Out West, The Home State and The Remixes – completing Double Major on July 5.
I’m not gonna tell ya what Double Major means exactly, because it’s in the music. This is my life… The central message is that I recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a double major, while handling a labyrinthine set of personal circumstances at the same time.
I started out in the arts writing poetry, so finessing a little flow is no problem. I can outrap most major label artists no problem. Understand that this is not about rap, though. I create music first n foremost so that I don’t go completely fucking mental. Secondly, I do it for the squad. Even in the Midwest, Wisconsinites are outcast as drug abusing hicks. So this is for home too, this is for everyone that gets cast aside. On God, I will bring the industry to Wisconsin. This is my autobiography though and I can’t really speak for anyone but myself at the end up the day. I can only keep it Basement Made.
After releasing the final records for the Chapter 1: The Sun & Moon mixtape last September, I started working on The Grime Tape. At first, it was intended to be my second solo mixtape, but since all of the tracks are original productions, I made the decision to sell the project as an album.
Chapter 1 was intended to be a biographical portrayal of my life outside of Zooniversity, regardless of where the production came from.
The Grime Tape is my creation, my sound – unmatched.
The Sun & Moon guide the life of the artist Clifton Beef. His personality is split between the associations he has attached to daytime and nighttime. Torn between the light and darkness, he is often a different person at any given point in a day. Beef’s unpredictable nature has led him through a very unique and troubled life. One can see the progression and contrast in his first official mixtape.
