'Til I Die

"’Til I Die" is a song written by Brian Wilson for The Beach Boys, released on the band's 1971 album Surf's Up and subsequently chosen as the B-side of the "Long Promised Road" single. With autobiographical lyrics about death and hopelessness, it is one of the few songs in which both the words and music were written solely by Wilson.

Biographer Jon Stebbins wrote: "''Til I Die' proves that Brian could not only write beautiful music, but that he had the ability to communicate honestly and artfully with his lyrics as well. The track is decorated with a haunting vibraphone and organ bed, which frames the strong harmony vocal arrangement perfectly."

Composition

According to Brian in the press material for the Surf's Up album, the song was inspired after a late night trip to the beach:

The song was written over the course of several weeks as Wilson tried to express the feelings he had experienced on that night he had spent alone at the beach. As he explains, "I struggled at the piano, experimenting with rhythms and chord changes, trying to emulate in sound the ocean's shifting tides and moods as well as its sheer enormity. I wanted the music to reflect the loneliness of floating a raft in the middle of the Pacific. I wanted each note to sound as if it was disappearing into the hugeness of the universe.

Chris Brown

Christopher Maurice "Chris" Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, dancer, rapper and actor. Born in Tappahannock, Virginia, he was involved in his church choir and several local talent shows from a young age. Having signed with Jive Records in 2004, Brown released his self-titled debut studio album the following year. It peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200 and was later certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With his first single "Run It!" peaking atop the US Billboard Hot 100, Brown became the first male artist as a lead since Diddy in 1997 to have his debut single top the chart. His second album Exclusive (2007) spawned his second Hot 100 number one "Kiss Kiss", in addition to "With You" and "Forever". The album was also certified double platinum by the RIAA.

In 2009, Brown received much media attention after pleading guilty to felony assault of his then girlfriend, singer Rihanna; he was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community service. His third album Graffiti was released later that year, and included the top-twenty single "I Can Transform Ya". Brown's fourth album F.A.M.E. (2011) became his first to top the Billboard 200; it spawned the successful singles "Yeah 3x", "Look at Me Now", and "Beautiful People". F.A.M.E. earned Brown his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 54th Grammy Awards. His fifth album Fortune was released in 2012. However, after the release of Exclusive, Brown's albums have not been well received commercially or by music critics, with the exception of X, which received a normalized rating of 63. Brown's seventh studio album Royalty was released on December 18, 2015.

Wiz Khalifa

Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American recording artist, songwriter and actor. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.

Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records. He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011. He followed that album with O.N.I.F.C. on December 4, 2012, which was backed by the singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You". Wiz released his fourth album Blacc Hollywood on August 18, 2014, backed by the lead single We Dem Boyz. In March 2015, he released "See You Again" for the soundtrack of the film Furious 7 and the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Fully automatic weapons are generally categorized as submachine guns, assault rifles, battle rifles, automatic shotguns, machine guns, or autocannons.

As a class of military firearms, true machine guns are fully automatic weapons designed to be used as support weapons and generally used when attached to a mount or fired from the ground on a bipod or tripod. Light machine guns are small enough to be fired hand-held, but are more effective when fired from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and other categories of weapons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 20 mm, and whether the gun fires conventional bullets, shotgun cartridges, or explosive rounds. Fully automatic guns firing shotgun cartridges are usually called automatic shotguns, and those firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either autocannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). Submachine guns are hand-held automatic weapons for personal defense or short-range combat firing pistol-caliber rounds. In contrast to submachine guns and autocannons, machine guns (like rifles) tend to have a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is essentially a fully automatic rifle, and often the primary criterion for a machine gun as opposed to a battle rifle is the presence of a quick-change barrel, heavyweight barrel, or other cooling system. Battle rifles and assault rifles may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire.

Machine Gun Kelly

George Francis Barnes Jr. (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known as "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, during the prohibition era. He attended Central High School in Memphis. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most infamous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel in July 1933 for which he, and his gang, collected a $200,000 ransom. Their victim had collected and left considerable evidence that assisted the subsequent FBI investigation that eventually led to Kelly's arrest in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 26, 1933. His crimes also included bootlegging and armed robbery.

Career

During the Prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s Kelly worked as a bootlegger for himself as well as a colleague. After a short time, and several run-ins with the local Memphis police, he decided to leave town and head west with his girlfriend. To protect his family and escape law enforcement officers, he changed his name to George R. Kelly. He continued to commit smaller crimes and bootlegging. He was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for smuggling liquor onto an Indian Reservation in 1928 and sentenced to three years at Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas, beginning February 11, 1928. He was reportedly a model inmate and was released early. Shortly thereafter, Kelly married Kathryn Thorne, who purchased Kelly's first machine gun and went to great lengths to familiarize his name within underground crime circles.