A docuseries on the life and legacy of Baytree Monkey**I know it seems as if I'm a greedy, greedy girl to charge membership to a blog, but the blogging/emailing sites raised their prices. My goal is to get 10 more people to make a profit. **  Baytree Monkey's Crash Out After Steam Room Remi Markos: Shiiii been pretty str8 with Baytree. He was livin’ life to the max shii wbu twin? Interviewer: Ummm… Remi Markos: “Yeah, fo’ sho’. I was tryna get homie to link up on a collab wit’ me, but I don’t think I had bro’s real number.” I straight up wudda clocked him for puttin’ out Steam Room. Interviewer: What’s Steam Room? Remi Markos: Yo, bro, you’ve never heard of Steam Room? ....Narrator: After the success of “It All Comes Down,” Baytree Monkey was riding that high. But like with all good successful debut albums or books, artists eventually get pestered with the inevitable question, “When are you going to do another?” Baytree Monkey’s sophomore album was the much-anticipated musical drop of the summer. With the school year about to start, hordes of tweens were gearing up for the football season to watch Baytree perform. Lexie (fan #1): I had a poster of Baytree Monkey in my room. Melanie (fan #2): I got him to sign my shirt. I wear it all the time. Twins Tabitha and Taylor (fans #3 & 4): We bought prepaid tickets for the entire football season. I couldn’t tell you a single team that was playing. I only cared to see Baytree Monkey. Narrator: On the eve of the album’s release, Baytree and his crew gathered in the basement of his house. The press was there to do an interview. To the public, Baytree oozed nothing but poise and control. His gang laughed along with and clamored on about how great the new album would be. When the lights turned off and the camera crew packed up for the evening, all pretenses were dropped. Fades to black. Sinister music. Derek pops up on the screen. Derek: Yeah…he had nothing.  Shelton: He was in the studio all summer by himself. He didn’t want us in there. We thought he was working on something magical. Derek: Baytree wasn’t fazed. He assured us that we could go home, and he would churn out a masterpiece overnight. We were skeptical, but you didn’t argue with Baytree. The camera cut to a home in North Carolina. Lauren comes on screen, washing the dishes with kids in the background. Lauren: (Laughs). You’re talking about Steam Room. Around that time, Kyle got obsessed with Fat Joe. I was going off to high school and had joined the cross-country team. I had more important things to worry about. I had always tried to keep Kyle’s ego in check, but no one was really looking out for him that summer. My parents were preoccupied with the genesis of my running career and my high school journey about to start. My mom was stressed because, around this time, I was talking about quitting basketball. That really got to her for some reason. The whole summer, he would do this bit where he would sag his pants. My mom would say, “Pull up your pants.” Kyle would respond, “And do the Rockaway.” Confused, my mom would be like “Yes, Kyle, we are going to Rockaway to visit your cousins in July.” We had family in Rockaway, NJ. I didn’t bother to correct them. I had no idea the obsession ran so deep. I would have stepped in. CHECK OUT the NEW BOOK about Doug, KB, and Dead Mom on Amazon. Learn more here. A drone flies above Wheeling Central Stadium in Wheeling, WV. Shelton is seen walking alone on the 50-yard line. Shelton: No one had heard the album. The evening after the interview, Kyle spent all night working on Steam Room, but he kept it under wraps until the first game of the year. He wouldn’t even let us hear it. I wish I had. (Shutters). McKenzie: Central’s first home game was on a Thursday. Ironically, September 11. They always played their first home game on a Thursday, so the public school could play the next day on a Friday. It really drummed up sales for the city to have back-to-back nights of tailgating. Riesbeck’s was always sold out of their wings. Greg Bauer was proud. Some people called what happened Wheeling’s own 9/11. I think the headline was All Hail, Ky(le), The Tragedy Strikes Again on 9/11. Subheadline: 4 foot 2 Bauer Has Fallen. Pent up and gone, too. Someone was fired that day. Brenda Danehart (News Anchor for Channel 7, WTRF): I was there to cover the game, but I had gotten wind of this Baytree Monkey character, so I decided to head under the bleachers to cover the story during halftime. A kid rapping at football games. Who doesn’t love a feel-good story? I set up my cameras, ready to capture the whole event on live TV. Lauren: I had come down from the bleachers to go to the bathroom and get some food. I was allowed to sit in the student section now because I was a freshman. I was with my new friend, Steph. She was so cool and on the cross-country team with me. We saw some seniors on the team, and they called us over! I felt so cool. Until I saw my brother….I audibly gasped. Shelton: Yeah…so when he said he was obsessed with Fat Joe, that was an understatement. Baytree Monkey became Fat Joe. Derek: It was like he was method acting as him and talking via his lyrics. Shelton: He actually said, “Put the fucking mic on! Mic is on? Joe Crack the Don, uh! Uh, Irv Gotti! What's love?” He transferred into Ashanti and said, “It should be about us, be about trust.” Then, he went straight into Steam Room. Derek: He never got out of this character. Carter: It was a disaster. Brenda Danehart (News Anchor for Channel 7, WTRF): I thought I would be filming this sweet little boy rapping adorably. Instead, I was filming a boy method-acting as a rapper, Baytree Monkey, who was method-acting as a real rapper, Fat Joe. I know this was Wheeling, West Virginia, in the early 2000s, but even I was like “Yikes. Someone stop him.” But no one did. I kept my camera running. We had another news story on our hands. Shelton: The backlash from Steam Room was immediate and harsh. McKenzie: There’s footage of Baytree Monkey at the football game, screaming at the crowd, “Watchu gon do. I'm gon get get get it poppin'. That’s what I’m going to do.” Derek: After Baytree Monkey stomped out of the football game while we tried to hold him back from fighting everyone, he spiraled. He put out a few disturbing videos that were leaked to the public. Shelton: Then, he went dark….  Episode 4: Come Home, Baytree Monkey
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed