Cubbiebear, aka Joshua Bailey, was one of my favourite artists for a chunk of time in the early 2010's. His production and lyricism was serrated, sincere and fell far outside the confines of what one would make if they were concerned with being perceived as "cool". If someone makes a piece of art that I enjoy I usually tell them and more often than not in today's social climate, the compliment is is either unseen or ignored. But when I told Cubbiebear that I couldn't stop listening to his record "Force Back To Sleep", I was pleasantly surprised to see he responded with gratitude. He was humble and down to earth. We exchanged pleasantries and kept lightly in touch. He later went on to release an album called "Are You Okay?" that absolutely decimated me. It was everything I loved about the previous record but even better. Again, I told him, and I expressed an interest in collaborating with him. We discussed options and landed on a remix of the titular track from the record. I worked on it for months on end, sent him some rough directions and he was uncharacteristically unresponsive. When he eventually got back to me he apologized and said he had recently received some vague bad news. I knew he was a private person, so I decided not to pry, wished him well and told him I would be in touch with a finished song and I hope he enjoys it.

On April 26th 2017, Cubbiebear passed away from a brain tumour.

He gave me his blessing for what he did hear, but never heard the finished product. His friends at Strange Famous Records premiered the release of the song and video that I had to make with a budget of zero and just whatever I had on hand. I am quite proud of the musical production on this piece. The personal starkness of Cubbeibear's lyricism felt like it warranted being hand-writ and the tension and angst felt like bathing in fire, so with a budget of zero, a notepad and a firepit illegally stationed in my urban backyard, my friend and I got to work. I am proud of the end result.