One Day Youll See Me Again (1997-2009)

DY-029 and OS-005 "One Day You'll See Me Again (1997​-​2009)" is a 31-track 2xCD compilation featuring tracks from all of Viper's early period of works, excluding YCDESC. This compilation features new transitions, reworked track introductions, and remasters of old favourites. The track listing is quite different from the original bootleg. ----- For most of his career, Viper the Rapper was known across the internet as nothing more than a joke. In 2013, "You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack" was discovered by college media outlets and 4chan's /mu/ board. Viper, after years of going unnoticed, decided to cash-in on the newfound attention in an incredibly strange way. He began uploading tons of albums, sometimes a dozen a day, to streaming services. These albums almost never had any new material, instead being strange remixes of existing tracks with absurd cover art and nonsensical titles. All of this was done in order to grab people's attention. This ended up working, at least in the short-term, but it solidified Viper as an unstable force. His legitimate material was now buried. The few people that came across it were genuinely impressed, but nobody else took notice. For years he would be known solely for YCDESC, his erratic behavior, and his album covers. This would come to a low between 2016 to 2018, when his online presence diminished, and he was hospitalised for pneumonia. Lee Arthur Carter was born in El Dorado Arkansas on October 7, 1971. Lee was a gifted kid and spent much of his childhood picking up skills that were advanced for his age. Pertaining to music, he even learned to play piano reportedly at the age of five. His family would move to the Hiram Clarke neighborhood of Houston Texas six years later which would become, in his eyes, his true hometown. Years later, his brother Greg became a director, and created the film "Fifth Ward". Released in 1997, Lee ended up starring in the film as a leading role. The first known song of Lee's would be "Choppers", present on Vol. 2 of the soundtrack of the film under the name J-Ride. Lee would build himself around friends in the local Houston hip hop scene, brushing shoulders with DJ Screw and members of the Screwed Up Click, who also starred in the film. The local chopped and screwed scene would serve as a major influence to Lee's production style and rapping. From this point on, his music maintained a hazy quality. He would rap in a deep monotone voice, as if replicating the chopped and screwed sound Houston was known for without the mixing effects. Six years later, with the support of friends and local label Dope House Records, his self-titled first album was released on his 32nd birthday, October 7, 2003, now under the name "Lee Dogg." It was the support of his friends that made the album possible, and Lee extensively thanked all 177 individuals who helped him through the process in the CD booklet. Although further projects with these friends were planned by Lee, they would never come to fruition. His friends in the scene would end up moving on from the rap scene; getting married, starting careers and raising families. Lee was determined to push on, however. His debut album was later rebranded as "Hustlin' Thick", and his rap name was forever changed to "Viper," with Lee getting a tattoo of the name on his neck to solidify this transition. Around 2005, after Viper earned his master's degree in business at the University of Houston, he supposedly set himself on a mission to compose 1000 beats in three months. It is unknown whether he fully achieved this goal, but this experiment yielded material that was worked into all of his early releases throughout the 2000s. Material from this period helped create the next six albums of Viper's underground career: "Ready and... Willing", "Heartless Hoodlum" and "The Southwest Hooligan", released in 2006, "You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack" and "The Paper Man", released in 2008, and finally "The Hiram Clarke Hustler", released in 2009. The music on this compilation comprises of tracks from the albums listed above. In the period since 2019, Viper's works have been positively reappraised as ahead of their time. In retrospect, the sound of "Ready and... Willing" came out of completely nowhere, arguably laying the foundation for the cloud rap sound half a decade before everyone else. "The Hiram Clarke Hustler" has also been praised. YCDESC is no longer viewed as solely a joke. Once a presence reduced to cinders, Viper now experiences a second gust of flame; a new manifestation. He is still widely a running joke, but is now viewed also as a visionary, a pioneer, and as an eccentric oddball. He still continues to have unbridled passion for music, and has recently announced another album, coming late this year. When I first heard "Tha Top Malla" and "You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack" in early 2015, I knew I found something unique. I hope if you're new to Viper, you will find it too listening to this compilation. Thank you. - kettleonwater "To anyone who I forgot, I apologize. Thank you too". - Viper