K-Otix/The Legendary K.O. – 48 Seasons Retrospective Part I: “48” produced by Illmind

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Damien of The Legendary K.O./K-otix

As we promised, here’s a journey back in time as we revisit our groundbreaking album, “48 Seasons”. In part 1 of 3, we discuss the significance of undertaking the project, as well as the motivations that laid the groundwork for the most labor-intensive album we’ve done to date.

48 Seasons

Next to Universal, 48 Seasons was the most well-received project that we had ever released, but it seems like most listeners never had the opportunity to understand the importance of that album, and how it charts the course for a lot of music that many of you will be introduced to in the near future. It was probably the most labor-intensive project that we’ve worked on, even more so than Universal. Over 3 years in the making, it originally went through a couple of different incarnations, including us completely scrapping the original version.

The objective of 48 Seasons was to create the most inclusive body of work that we’d done to date; a listening experience that incorporated the talents of the artists that we’d been working with for years – the very people that we relied on for inspiration and support. The result was a collaboration that spanned the globe and brought a heightened focus to the tight-knit group of musicians that we work with day-to day.

One of the points of criticism that we received in the past was that so much of our music sounded the same. Even though we knew that all of our releases were of the highest caliber, we owed it to ourselves to network and feed off the talents of others; so this was our first true effort at using outside production on an album. In the past, we went to our good friends Kay and Cozmos for additional tracks, but they’re so much like family that it still felt like an inside job. Fortunately, Illmind, Loptimist, Symbolyc One, Moonshine, Slop Funk Dust ,and Soul Supreme chipped in to give the project a well rounded sound.

From a vocal standpoint, we used to limit our projects to one or two collaborations. This time around – to hell with it. We just got on with everybody that we’re down with and turned it into a timestamp of our own “who’s who”. The crowning achievement was the 18-man grand finale, “1st team All-State” which presented everyone on a united front.

The original retail version of the album, which was pressed to CD, contained only about 14 songs with a few interludes. The original plan was to quickly follow it with a “Volume 2” that would supplement the material offered in the first volume. But as we listened to the “extra” cuts more, we started to weave a web in which the second batch of songs started falling in line with the first. When it was all said and done, the Deluxe version was born. Quite honestly, the song arrangement on the deluxe version is second to none. It was formatted so that you could listen to an album the way that it was meant to be – as a single stream of consciousness. Most albums of the day have a group of standalone songs that don’t mesh well into a cohesive unit. We dare you to say the same about 48 Seasons. The fact that the songs blend so well together is a testament to the like-mindedness of everyone involved.

In part 2, we’ll begin a song-by song breakdown of the album. For now, enjoy a free down load of the title track, “48”, produced by Illmind.