Life Is Rough

*Life Is Rough* is the debut album from Norff, much of which was recorded when he was carrying the alias Ab Ceffi Gilburn in 2018.

Due to Barkhoff's creative hiatus in 2019, Life Is Rough was delayed from it's early 2019 release to an October 2020 release. The album spans fourteen tracks and sees Norff discussing his longing to be a successful rapper, his street crime past, his falling out with close friends - notably Gee Mak - and more.

The album was released October 31st, 2020 (on a Saturday, as opposed to the traditional Sunday) to positive reviews and steady numbers - it received 500 streams within its first two days. The marketing strategy was executed by Mike Barkhoff, who Executive Produced the album. The album sees three features from Mcee Detox, and two from Panda Tee and BOMO.

## Fact Diss EP

Throughout the album, interspersed, are Norff's Fact Diss tracks, a separate EP containing four installments. These were released following the album, separately collected. The first of four tracks, appropriately titled "Fact Diss, Volume One" had previously been released under the alias Ab Ceffi Gilburn in 2018, as his second single (following "Drugs", which is also present on this album).

## Cover

Mike Barkhoff designed the cover and surprised Norff with its unique qualities. Barkhoff, hearing the tracks, concluded Norff wanted the album cover to be a blending of "love, art, life, and death" and included many things important to Norff, whether by choice or not.

The cover was created in late 2018 and released on the Barking Vans Facebook when the original plan was to release the album in early 2019. Barkhoff found the cover when Norff and him began working together again in 2020 (Norff having already changed his name to that from Ab Ceffi Gilburn), whereas his cover for Mcee Detox's debut album IMPL LP from 2018 was "lost and unretrievable".

## Marketing

Barkhoff executed the marketing, making usage of royalty free videos and editing "mini music videos" to snippets from the album. These snippets predated the album's release on the Live Free YouTube channel, each time indicating the release date was set for October (this was following the album's delay and formal announcement of said delay on the Facebook page). Following the album's release, a full length video was released for "Bad Bitch", completing one of the snippet's teasers.

Notably, the album was teased for release on October 30th. Barkhoff even admitted to staying up for it, just to refresh the page and see nothing. Barkhoff then looked again and noticed the album was set for the following day. Barkhoff apologized for not having the date correct, attributing it to the "rushed nature", and, the following night, stayed up for the album's release. Notably, Barkhoff stayed up for this album's release and Windfall in 2020, nothing else, buying a red bull for both.

Singles for the album included Fact Diss, Volume One, Drugs (ft. Mcee Detox), Dead Body (an alternate title for Fact Diss, Volume Three), and Baby Please (ft. BOMO). Additionally, previews were made for the tracks Mixed Up, Dreams, and Hustla Mothafucka.

## Premise

Norff's idea behind the album was capturing how difficult it was for him to be an up and coming rapper, especially in South Africa. He made it a requirement to contain as many features as he could from labelmates signed with him (in his region, during time of recording), with the only noticeable absence coming from Gee Mak, whom he was in a feud with at the time.

Initially, the album was set for a release in early 2019, but became delayed to Barkhoff's first creative hiatus. Barkhoff reached out to Norff, who had changed his name, and received the song Fire. He suggested they tease Norff's second album and finally release his first, and, following this, recovered the cover and the songs that had "been buried but not lost" in the span of his "careless phase".

## Tracklist

1. You Only Die Once
2. Fact Diss, Volume One
3. Crazy (ft. Panda Tee)
4. Hustla Mothafucka (ft. Mcee Detox)
5. Fact Diss, Volume Two
6. Mixed Up (ft. Panda Tee and Mcee Detox)
7. Baby Please (ft. BOMO)
8. Bad Bitch (ft. BOMO)
9. Fact Diss, Volume Three (Dead Body)
10. Drugs (ft. Mcee Detox)
11. Dreams
12. Fact Diss, Volume Four (Rest In Peace)
13. People Die Everyday

Due to sampling issues, the tracklist is both rearranged for a better listening experience and shortened on streaming platforms. Mcee Detox is mentioned as Detoxify and Norff as Ab Ceffi Gilburn due to the time of which they recorded the album, also. "People Die Everyday" and "You Only Die Once" were originally in reversed order, but Barkhoff, the tracklist curator, who knew upon receiving those tracks that they'd be opening and ending, decided to settle them to how they are now, concluding that by ending the album with "People Die Everyday" it plays as an insignificant 'apology of sorts' by Norff that's nearly mocking-like.

"You Only Live Once" and "People Die Everyday" were the last songs recorded for the album, and were the only songs of the album recorded in 2020.

"Bad Bitch" and "Baby Please" were accidentally mislabeled by Barkhoff, resulting in several streaming platforms having the songs flipped (when you play one, you get the other) - Barkhoff tried fixing it to no avail.

## Reception

The album was met with positive reception, but was noted with it's different sounding Norff due to his style change he had made between the recording of this and the newfound singles he released in 2020. Regardless, it performed well on streaming services, amounting 500 streams in the first night, which was at the time a record for Live Free. Barkhoff, like always with big projects, watched along with the audience who heard it for the first time.