User:ThePontificator/sandbox

Payday Monsanto, an independent hip hop artist by choice, created four albums: Lambs To The Slaughter, Itanimulli: Call Me When You’re Free, Maniacs at Large, and a compilation album entitled The Foundation: 15 Years In The Making. His most recent ablum Missiles With Relish was just released on June 15, 2013.

Payday Monsanto's stance on political issues and biting social commentary both aided and hindered his quest to bring solid music and messages to the masses. With "radical" material that goes against the grain of commercial hip hop by providing content of substance, his lyrics touch on subjects ranging from war, police brutality, the looting of the middle-class, Israeli control of US policy/Zionism, and the massive push by the oligarchy to demonize and illegally invade nations refusing to submit to the agenda of a one world government/army/religion, etc..

As a poet, activist, and hip hop artist, he pursues the demise of “Gangsta rap“ by using his musical genius for thought-provoking, purely positive purposes.

Early Life

Born William W.Sweeney, Payday Monsanto is a conscious and political hip hop artist born January 19, 1976. He is of Cherokee, Irish, and Sicilian descent. He has two brothers and one sister and was raised in a two parent household until the age of 10 when his parents divorced. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Payday Monsanto started in music as a fan of classic soul, classic rock, Sugar Hill Gang, Run DMC, KRS-One, and classic R&B. He has gone on to release five independent albums including his newest release Missiles With Relish.

In 11th grade, someone stole his hat and Payday almost stomped the kid. He was suspended and never returned to school following the incident. Payday’s juvenile rap sheet is admittedly very long. He describes himself as a very incorrigible youth who couldn’t be told anything. He ran with a wild and older bunch of kids. By the time he was 13-14 years old, he was court ordered to do a stint at St. Michael’s School for Boys in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Although this was a turning point for him, he still got into some fairly serious trouble afterwards, including grand theft auto, some robberies and some burglaries. Not having regard for personal property until he began working, he engaged in these activities. He states he had no sense of karma at the time. The last felony charge came in the form of arson, something of which he truly had no part. Since he was on the same block at the same time, he got picked up and charged. He was extremely upset that he was charged with something he really didn’t do.

Early Musical Roots

Payday became immersed in hip hop when he was just 12 years old. Hip hop is actually formed of four parts: Lyricism, graffiti, break dancing, and DJ(ing). His break dancing began around age 10-12 through age 16, when he began as a lyricist.

KRS-One got him started in hip hop. What was it about KRS-One? Payday responds, “It was like truth on wax. It was 3 dimensional to me.” He credits KRS-One with his initial interest in truth versus deception. KRS-One means knowledge reigns supreme over almost everyone. KRS' music always encouraged gaining understanding, knowledge, and the likes. This started Payday on his own quest to find out the truth. For that, he gives KRS all the credit.

As an adult, Payday acquired no felonies. His post-adolescent poetry was always in the form of rhyming and started when he was around 17-18, almost the same time he adopted the name Mr. Payze. This was when he began freestyling to what he called “a plethora” of open mikes.

Early Musical Career

Around the age of 24, things began to change. Prior to this, he was just working regular jobs with his music taking the background. Now he began producing and recording his own material. He has what he termed a scarce audience as his music circulated through different areas of the city on cassette tapes. Through the advent of the internet and the burnable CD, things changed. Laughingly he states, “I made good use of the technology.” Though he was putting out mix tapes and adopted the name Payze Duez by age 24, he didn’t put out any albums until much later when Lambs to the Slaughter was released in 2009.

Recording Offers vs. Independent Release

During this his early career, his music began to spread more widely and he was offered three different record deals with major labels. One was for Rough House Records which was major at the time in 1999. In 2002, there was an opportunity with Sony Records which was “really gun ho” initially. When A&R asked for a larger catalogue of around 25 songs, Payday gave them largely political stuff. He never heard back. “I don’t think they wanted to touch it,” he proclaims. He goes on to say, “You have to remember that this was the time during which Gangsta rap was becoming the most prominent.. We know that Gangsta rap was no accident.” Big Daddy Kane and the Afro-centric material was being phased out and replaced. When he was asked for his Gangsta rap material, Payday replied, “I don’t do that stuff.” The man from Sony was as astonished as was Payday. Odd looks were exchanged.

The third major label opportunity came from Clive Davis with the label Jay Records. Payday received a contract and took it to an attorney who was a fan and also whom he considered a friend. The lawyer redacted the contract from 19 pages to 14 pages. He shortened the length of commitment to one to three years and allowed for Payday to retain the rights to his own music. The lawyer, Simon Rosen, really believed Payday deserved more than the general contract. Simon stated he changed the contract to what he believed Payday was truly worth and as a bargaining chip, stating the sound was already polished as to what major labels were already putting out. Clive Davis’ company responded, “It’s what we give or nothing.” Payday chose nothing.

Recent Career

From 2002-2009 Payday spent going to open mikes and sustaining himself in daily life through working a regular 9-5. Music was his hobby in his spare time. Though he still works a regular job, music came to the forefront as it is now around 2009 when he released Lambs to the Slaughter. This album contained material recorded between 2002-2009. He went about selling this independently through Sound Click. He did amazingly well, and even to this day, he still sells a copy every other day on average.

Itanimulli was recorded pretty much over a short period of 6 months. It was released on 1-1-2011. He had several months as CD Baby's top selling record. He easily sold over 20k units. CD Baby placed the album on Itunes and allowed his work to be purchased through there as well.

The Patent consists of music all created post Itanimulli. It was released in November 2011 and in Payday’s words, “It kinda exploded right out of the gate.” Performance wise, it did much better than Itanimulli in the first six months. Payday states, “It was unbelievable. I was basically living off the album, and it had little to no press. It was only word of mouth and some interviews.”

Payday’s fourth album The Foundation: 15 Years In the Making is a compilation CD with no new tracks, just tracks mostly new to fans. Though he states it has done fairly well, Payday didn’t put it out so much with the thought of sales as he did for folks to have a better understanding of where he was coming from and for posterity. When asked how satisfied he is overall with his record sales, Payday responds, “I am happy under the circumstances with little to no press. I could; however, do better.” On 6/15/2013 he released his newest and possibly best album entitled Missiles With Relish.It's up to listeners to decide if he has done better and outdone himself this time.

Touring

Payday Monsanto toured only minimally. He did a truth music tour with Polygraph Radio during Lambs to the Slaughter and Itanimulli time periods, but not full tours. When asked if he is interested in touring more, he states, “Absolutely.” Payday is willing to open for a larger headliner and is currently in talks with other artists regarding these opportunities at this very moment. He also makes appearances at political festivals such as the Liberty Fest, Freedom Palooza, and TPI in 2012. Due to immense interest, he is currently in negotiations for a much broader touring schedule beginning in October.

Collaborations

Payday Monsanto deeply enjoys doing collaberations with other artists in the truth movement. Some of the artists he has done collaborations with include Paranoid, Ampkilla, Irka Da Nerv, Chris Geo, Alais Clay, and Trillion amongst others. He looks forward to a time when he can release a whole album of collaborations he has produced.

Charity

Payday Monsanto has made charitable appearances for political festivals and looks forward to when he can contribute a great deal more back to society.

Activism

Payday considers his music his greatest contribution to activism. He is skeptical of grassroots movements because often they become hijacked from their original good intentions. He wants his musical catalogue to be the gratest assest he leaves for others and their awakening.