Mr. Lif drops a unreleased track from his I Phantom album, “The Fringes” produced by Insight.

This song titled “The Fringes” was one of the original drafts of the song that came to be titled “Success” on the “I Phantom” album. Until now, the only way to hear this song was on the my live album titled “Live At the Middle East” released in 2001. Insight and I crafted this song the night before the show and decided to debut it during the recorded performance.

The song caught on with my die hard fans, and for years people have asked me if there is a studio recording of this song in addition to the live version. I am happy to be able to finally say a definitive “yes”.

While rearranging a storage area in my house, I stumbled across the original CD that we used that night in 2001 to play the instrumental. Insight never got to put a final mix on the beat, so you’ll hear that the bass jumps out and distorts a bit. However, imperfection is often one of the charms of the creative process.

Those whom are familiar with the “I Phantom” album know that all of the songs on the LP come together to create an overall narrative. When I was writing the album, each song had to achieve a specific objective. The objective for track #8 on the album was to portray some sort of relationship breakdown due to job related or financial stress.

While “The Fringes” ended up evolving into the song titled “Success” which features a jaded husband and father overworking himself, neglecting his family, losing his family, and having a mental breakdown, this version does indeed possess it’s own much more playful charm.

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