My name is McCarren West, and enclosed is the demo, "McWestDemo, Vol. 1: 2017" that I have been working on for a good portion of last year. I wanted to begin by first sending my apologies on how long this has taken, but I wanted to make sure to cover all my bases when taking your precious time and schedule to listen to this. Each of these three songs were produced, mixed, mastered, engineered and remastered carefully and with precision and expertise as I am a home musician, and am using the freedom of that fact to envelop more of my resources than those who visit third-party locations and would naturally, from that, have limitations. Each song is listed below and each possesses a short biography and lyrics set for legibility as well as assistance to provide a perspective and degree of understanding of where I came from while producing every one of these songs that I fully and originally wrote myself. So, without further ado, let us begin.

1) "Identity" (From One Addiction To Another [FOATA] Mixtape) (Prod. by PrintScreamRecords):

"Identity" is a song that has to do with anybody and everybody. When I first wrote this a little bit ago, I was in a desperate position. The reason is because I was born and raised in a family that taught me particular morals and ethics about the popular catchphrase, "Winners never quit." For the longest time, I never knew what I wanted to do with my life. The worst example that I can think of that really made me have a reality check was... I thought it was ridiculous that I was posted up in Bannon Creek Middle School in Sacramento, California, in the 3rd grade, and I found myself being sent to the principal's office for, literally, that fact: "Aimless, insubordinate (their translation for "let's punish a 3rd-grader because we have nothing better to do with our lives."). It was humiliating. My ears were burning. My face was flushed. After being scolded for an hour, I ended up having to attend a special "in-house detention". It was brutal. The school had this auditorium that when opening up the oversized, metal curtains, it made way to a stage. We had a lot of awards ceremonies in here for attendance, honor roll, etc. When the metal curtains closed up, the rooms were used for music instruction. My detention hosted me in the middle of that stage with the curtains completely wide open, sitting in a normal student's desk with my head down and threatened of my disability to eat lunch. Nope. I couldn't. I was expected to come to school for 8 hours, deal with student-peer bullying, teacher-peer bullying and then starved until it was time to come home. In the 3rd grade.

Fast-forward 10+ years.

As life carried on, I saw more of my friends moving further into the future, but I felt like I was staying in the same place. I still had no solid grip on my identity. At this point, when I was about 20, I barely made it through high school, almost ended up in gangbanging, took 2 years off school once I graduated and was doing nothing. I went through college with a major in CRJ, but that's only because it was easy. At some point, I must have thought to myself, "That's what identity is: Identity is the ability to get through life doing easy shit with little-or-next-to-no-effort."

One day, I must've been high off my ass. I had a friend over. His name was LukeRage. I knew him back from high school, during my first year, because he used to call me "Beatboxx". That was one of the potential identities I explored. Rahzel was a huge thing in my time. Long story-put-short, I began rapping. At first, I did this intensely thorough system to buy myself my equipment. I bought this book called, "Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies", and it taught me a broad horizon of everything musical. Skip forward: First song in process. It's difficult, it's frustrating, it takes a lot of coordination, but every time I hit a bar and I feel my flow, my rhythm, my delivery, if you will, it has a this overwhelming sense of achievement. Skip forward: First song complete. We all think our first song is THE SHIT! These suckers aren't ready for dope on fire like this (laughs)! Skip forward: ten songs in. Everything feels natural. I feel this little singing in my heart that tells me, "There is nowhere I'd rather be, and nothing else I'd rather be doing."

"Identity" is connected to us all, in my honest opinion. It is an identity that, in times of crisis, and when America has less-than-honorable law enforcement, dictates who's going to be a crooked cop and who's going to be the one that does what's right. It is an identity that also dictates who is going to be a doctor and who is going to be the extreme risk-taker and ends up being the one getting fixed. And it is an identity that predestines who will have the strength and courage to walk forward in times of uncertainty, oppression and injustice and who will stay behind in the crowd, blending in and, their voice neglected, becoming just another sheep waiting for your rights to return to you. It is that same identity that if I let my family's neglect and insult-slinging crumble my passion, I know that I would not be meant for this, and that I would not be e-mailing you this music at this time. I do not disrespect those who have chosen or ended up with whatever jobs that they might have, but I looked at my life when I came home one day and asked myself, "How are we okay with this? There has got to be more to life than this."

2) "The Purge" (Single) (Prod. by Rock It Productions):

I am a HUGE movie buff. When Universal Pictures released the first installment, I had so many different thoughts and ideas in my head. Try to understand that, psychologically, I am afflicted with a very overwhelming ADHD amount, so after seeing a movie like this, underneath a different genre of films, I thought this could EASILY become one of the most legendary pictures to hit the theatres. The concept was simple: as far as movies go, the point of this film was not only for expression of creativity/beliefs via stock Catholic carnival, but also to live out people's wildest criminal fantasies on a legitimate-- yet legitimately counterfeited-- method, so that they wouldn't have to, in real life. But then as I rewatched this movie, I began to have some particular dreams about it, and then it hit me... I wanted "The Purge" to be about something deeper and relate with something far beyond an ordinary, psychopathic trick-or-treating. Each of the individual's masks represented something about me (i.e.: my addictions like cigarettes or drinking everyday, regardless of the amount or my short-comings like ADHD or Bipolarity), and the reason they were in this modern day Hunger Games was for me to get rid of them. Yes, evolution. A transcendence of oneself. Like many others, there's a lot of things I dislike about myself, and the only way to improve is by ONLY fixing what's broken, but like pulling the trigger of a gun on someone, there is a LONG gap between realization and the decision of application. That's where this song becomes my double entendre. I hope you enjoy it.

3) "My Girl Thick" (From One Addiction To Another [FOATA] Mixtape) (Prod. by MPOLYAK593)

One thing I have enjoyed so far about being a musician is a kind of pride that I can wear inside my head. To some people, it comes off as cockiness, but to me, I see it as a potential yet metaphorical crown. You see, as I began transforming into an increasingly adept talent, I began to notice little things. I think a lot quicker on my feet, I began to talk less, observe more, and I had the ability to opt out of dedicating lovely copyrighted music to my significant other because I could-- instead-- write what I felt was a million times better. It wasn't a million times better as in skill, concept or method carried out, it was the way I could formulate it that went over so well with me. For example, instead of being stereotypically general when I rap about something touchy (say, a woman), I could customize my infrastructure: I could make it with any mood I felt, I could incorporate any details or references that were specific to the person the song was about and I could always write, add and release newer editions. If I ever wanted to experiment, I could delve into any genre of music and just grab attention with a bang. It was always the lyrics that caught my attention, though. I was never just some lame getting dominated by my instrumental meanwhile knowing deep down that that was all the people were mainly focused on, even subconsciously. I have always loved the technical art of being able to use conversation to make sure that I was well understood, and almost never received in an undesirable perspective. But I also noticed that's what made music so great: You could make it about ANYTHING-- women, drugs, pokemon, something on TV, that latest movie... and you could make it as often as you wanted for any situation.

So, when my girlfriend, Dona, decided to begin an era in which she casually, and consistently, made remarks about her weight, I was hurt as well. The woman I love with all my heart, regardless of tone, was starting to grow an inferiority complex. I have always been one to "nip it in the bud" if there ever was a problem in my way or on my mind because I would rather use my time and schedule more productively and to my benefit. The first thing I thought of was Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass". I, also, agree that in this day and age, it is the time of thick females, not anorexic Barbie dolls. My friend, LX Xander The Gr8, just sent me a new beat tape of his network of producers, I heard what I liked and I just started writing. There's so much that I could say about this song, but I would rather allow you to experience it for yourself. All I'm going to say is that, "Although my girlfriend sees herself the way any artist would-- through a crooked frame and fragmented glasses, I only see a wonderful sheet of rosy lens covering my eyes, and I see the same amount of flaws on her as God in Heaven sees in Heaven."