“SEEn This Before” (2018)
“Seen This Before” is a prequel to “Rosedale” (as in “seen this before Rosedale”). The truth behind this EP is that these records were originally released in 2017 and 2018 hence the title. These singles were supposed to be featured on Rosedale but were cut at the last moment due to distributor re-upload policies. In fact, “You Don’t Know Me Now” was originally written and released in August 2017 and then packaged with 3 more records on January 19th, 2018, as “Rosedale 1.1” under his previous moniker, Clark Sage. The other tracks were Catastrophe, Fantasy, and Hakai.
Clark was set on making the “Rosedale” album happen but was confused and conflicted on how listeners were consuming music. So, at the time, he decided to create a single-series — release installments with three to four songs (Rosedale 1.1, Rosedale 1.2, Rosedale 1.3, Rosedale 1.4… 2.1,2.2, 2.3, and 2.4) every quarter for 2 years to build a fan base on a consistent schedule.
it started here…
However, after releasing Rosedale 1.2, (which is about bridging the gap between “traditional” rap and free-form “clout-rap” popularized on SoundCloud), Clark realized he couldn’t financially keep up with such a schedule. Studio expenses were tough to cover at that time and it was important to Clark that every release had exceptional sound quality. That being said, 1.2 consisted of IMAX, Vacation, and New & Latest and was released in July 2018; a month later Clarkoh removed both releases from the market upon the previously explained realization. Instead, he figured he would hold them for a full album and save his money to fund it.
As a nod to his last album “For Something Greater,” he re-enlisted Curtis Lee aka CRTMUSIC (Wolverhampton, United Kingdom) to produce a few tracks along with Hella Sketchy (Manila, Philippines), Tantu Beats (Utrecht, The Netherlands), and Cxdy (Delray Beach, FL, United States). The audio engineering was also handled by a familiar comrade — International Show — at S.O.E Complex.
Looking back, Clark feels as though he botched their releases and failed at trying to re-release them individually in hopes to get them playlisted. Ironically, as time passed, these records ended up being the most commercially successful songs in his catalog prior to Rosedale’s premiere. YDKMN, Catastrophe, Fantasy, and Hakai are currently playing in all New Balance stores in addition to shopping malls across the United States. Hakai was also featured in a movie called “The Short History of The Long Road” which premiered on April 27th, 2019 in NYC at Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11. Although Jack Davies (aka jackdarton) created the artwork, the cover image was captured on February 4th, 2019, and intended to be t-shirt artwork for Rosedale. On February 6th, 2019, Clark randomly received an email suggesting he landed a placement. It just so happened it was a movie placement — who would have thought it would foretell what was to come? Only Clarkoh.