ialive Returns with "Little By Little" from Upcoming Self-produced Full-length DON'T DO NOTHING Mastered By C$ BURNS (Cold Rhymes Records)

Donovan "ialive" Phillips is a self-described "Rap-singer-songwriter/beat aficionado/musical collector" hailing from The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ialive has released numerous collaborative and solo projects over the years, but hasn't released a tried and true "solo" album since 2015's Awake In The Snake Hole. However, in recent years, he's released collaborative projects with both Darko The Super as The Hell Hole Store and TIMEWAVE ZERO with Height Keech, as well as Four to The Floor 1-2 EP's with Cody Cody Jones... just this past week, ialive announced his long-awaited third solo album, DON'T DO NOTHING, which will be dropping on Height's Cold Rhymes Records Friday, January 11, 2019. DON'T DO NOTHING was fully produced, recorded, and mixed by ialive himself at The Green Gem in Philly with mastering done by Vinyl Cape's own C$ BURNS. On the most recent episode of THIS COLD RHYMES PODCAST, Mister spoke with ialive and premiered the first single, "Little By Little," from DON'T DO NOTHING.


Just a few days later, its companion music video was quietly debuted on Cold Rhymes' Facebook page. It was directed by frequent Zilla Rocca/Career Crooks collaborator Bob Sweeney, who, amazingly, shot the whole music video backwards. "The hardest part of working on this video was figuring out how to do everything backwards. Not only was @ialive moving backwards, but all of the camera moves had to be shot in reverse, as well," @sweeneybob wrote on his Instagram page last week. "Little By Little" is about as inexplicably Philly as it gets with on-screen allusions to Rocky, Wawa Hoagies & Chocolate Milk, those classic Philly Pretzels AKA "One-twisted Jawns," and much, much more. C$ BURNS boasts: "My dude @ialive is combining Indie Rap with some cool organic Psychedelic sounds, sung hooks, and a super-solid flow. This new record (mastered by me!) is definitely doing something new with Rap," which makes it seem like DON'T DO NOTHING will sound similar to last year's Height Keech-produced TIME WAVE ZERO. ialive's DON'T DO NOTHING is currently available to pre-order from Cold Rhymes Records with The Hell Hole Store III, supposedly, coming fairly soon, as well.

"We shot backwards so we could flip the motions of everything else. I wanted the world around me to be moving backwards with me moving against it to metaphorically represent the feeling of struggle and banality. I often feel the strain of existing, as an artist in our society can seem like an uphill climb or as if you're moving backwards in the world. Aesthetically, I think it adds a surreal and uneasy feeling; a feeling that things are slightly off and in turn giving it a unique look that can't be achieved any other way."

- ialive on "Little By Little" (@ialive_)