Pacaso Ramirez on 'A Million Little Things'
Rapper Pacaso Ramirez released his first album since 2020, A Million Little Things, in September 2023. We got to ask the Virginia-based artist some questions about the project.
This article originally appeared in Midnight Donuts #1. Want to read the most recent edition of Midnight Donuts? You can do so here!
Midnight Donuts: You've said that you want listeners' experience to be more like reading a good book than merely entertainment. How does this affect your writing process?
Pacaso Ramirez: Honestly, I really don’t think it affects my writing process at all. It tends to come naturally, it’s just taken me 33 years and 18 albums since 2005 to figure it out. To tell you the truth, it’s all storytelling: it’s just a matter of saying the right things that paint the perfect picture. There’s a reason my name is Pacaso, and I pray that my message is conveyed in a way that allows the listener to be fully engaged in the words as I interject them through the hi-hats of the beat over a raspy delivery. Of course, you have your songs where punchlines and just pure gritty lyricism is called for, but even in those bars you’ll find a story, or an angle, or some sort of addendum that’s been bouncing around in my brain waves for days, weeks, or months until I write it down.
Midnight Donuts: A Million Little Things includes 11 features by my count. Surely there's a fun story behind one or two of those?
Pacaso Ramirez: Believe it or not, features are hard to come by. In some cases, I may reach out randomly to someone, but that’s very rare. I really like to build relationships with folks that I work with. I’m the type of dude that is loyal to those folks that are loyal to me, and I’m supportive on every front, and building relationships provides a platform to advocate for those that advocate for you.
Needless to say, everyone on the album is just as important to me, and I would consider each of them friends. Though there is one particular song that I feel needs some spotlight. “Tomorrow We Die” was written circa 2017-2018, and it features a very good friend of mine: Victor Ramirez aka Dimelo. Though we carried the same name, we had no relation whatsoever. But because we were both Ramirez’s we called each other “Primo” and treated each other like family, because we were.
Unfortunately, in June of 2022 we lost Victor in a tragic car accident. It left me speechless. This was the last track that we did together. Fast forward to about a year ago, I knew that I wanted this song to be on the album, but I needed a third verse. Originally, a good friend of mine, iNTELLECT, had the third verse, but the track was to a different beat then. After hearing the new beat, iNTELLECT said that his verse didn’t support the new beat well, so he declined. By the grace of God, there was a new relationship building with the homie Lank. Long story short, I ended up presenting the song to him and he was all about it. As I’m getting ready to send this to my engineer for final mix and master, he informs me that the beat was lost due to a hard drive issue. The beat was dope, but I’m guessing it wasn’t meant to be. Needless to say, I needed a new beat and drastically.
I saw the brother Chrys Jones advertising his beats, and these beats are rooted in Boom Bap all day. So I reach out. I let him know the BPM that I was looking for, he sent me a beat package, and it was history from there. The beat that I chose was amazing, and it’s definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album Fun fact: Once I chose the beat for the track, Chrys let me know that the beat was originally for Shai Linne, but it never got used, so he put it in the archives. It was kind of exciting knowing that Shai Linne was Pastoring at a local church down the street in Virginia from where I used to work. So, it kind of felt like a divine connection somehow.
Midnight Donuts: The overall sound of the album reminds me of projects from the latter side of the blog era. Was this throwback sound an intentional move? If so, what was your thought process behind that?
Pacaso Ramirez: Man, I am boom-bap hip-hop enthusiast and advocate all day. It’s the truest form of hip-hop, and I’ll continually try to orbit around that sound while still providing my own feel to these tracks. Honestly maybe it’s the producers that I choose to work with, or the fact that I tend to navigate towards these types of beats. It’s very rare that you’ll hear me on anything different. There are a few other styles that I do like, such as JazzHop or TrapSoul, and there’s a producer from Seoul that makes these Asian-inspired hip-hop beats that you may or may not hear on the next album. I’m constantly trying to push the envelope, but every artist has a sound, and I feel like this is mine.
Midnight Donuts: What’s your favorite song off the album, and why?
Pacaso Ramirez: Such a loaded question, would it be a cop out to say “all of them?” [Laughs] This isn’t really an easy question because you feel like every song has some weight to it. It was created for a reason; there’s a story behind each one has it’s certain place. Simply picking one is like telling you which one of my children is my favorite. Not happening. I can probably give you a top five though, in this order:
“Juggernaut”
“Hello, Hello”
“Tomorrow We Die”
“Beyond Our Roots”
“Feeling Kinda Reckless” / “Three Strikes (Tied)”
“Juggernaut” has that in-your-face type of hip-hop that I love to give to people. Every album since 2005 has had this type of track that attacks the atmosphere of humanity to bring awareness to the issues. It also features one of those relationships with an artist/producer that I can feel we’ll be seeing a lot of musical fruit from.
“Hello, Hello,” in my opinion, is the most radio-friendly track. Has my homie gitemjay on the track, frequent flyer that I’ve worked multiple times before, and I’m sure there will be many in the future. It’s a fun song, with a lot of fun wordplay wrapped around the serious topic of choosing the side of the fence you’re on before you demise.
“Tomorrow We Die” simply for all of the reasons that I wrote about before.
“Beyond Our Roots:” Definitely because it’s one of the most serious songs on the track, but it’s also because I’m dealing with a little bit of American history, as well as tying that history to the church and how we grow beyond our lives with and without a relationship Christ, and how it affects every color, race, gender and creed. Featuring a very good friend of mine, King David tha Vessel, who in my mind is like an oracle. This mind is one of the wisest brothers that I’ve ever had a pleasure to meet and be connected with, and I’m always humbled when he graces me with his presence on a track.
“Feeling Kinda Reckless:” It’s produced by a producer, Worldwide Beats, whom I’ve created a great relationship with since I wrote and recorded this track. He posted the beat on Twitter, I heard it, loved it, wrote to it, and recorded it in less than 24 hours. Dope track.
“Three Strikes,” to me, just has that old school DMX feel. Gritty. In your face, with a level of infectious bark in the lyrics and delivery.
Midnight Donuts: What would you want a listener's biggest takeaway to be after listening to A Million Little Things?
Pacaso Ramirez: I want them to want more. I want them to soak in this album for a good 3-4 weeks and to catch every word. Every slick detail. Every metaphor. Every parable. Every line that ties in with another line, that ties in with another line, and another line, and then brings the listener back full circle to replay that same track over and over until it’s completely consumed.
I want people that may or may not have a faith in Jesus to be like “D*mn, this guy is dope!”, and to see that I’m 100% unapologetically hip-hop and 100% unapologetically rooted in Christian faith and values. Praying that one word, one sentence, one song may even stimulate believers and non-believers alike to maybe take that next step towards knowing Christ or further defining their faith.
Lastly, as a hip-hop fan—I consume music by discography and/or full musical catalog, whatever the kids are calling it these days... [Laughs] But I put out tons of music, and it’s really for this very reason, that someone discovers my music and they go check me out and discover that there’s a full library of music to listen to. Praying that they go back and enjoy everything that I’ve ever released.
This article originally appeared in Midnight Donuts #1. Want to read the most recent edition of Midnight Donuts? You can do so here!