The writing and recording of what would later be titled '' NYC , Hell 3:00 AM '' started in the fall of 2012 only as a " ritual " for James Ferraro to record during midnight hours . At the time , he had only vaguely planned it as an imaginary soundtrack to a sex tape . One of the songs that came out of the sex tape concept , appearing on the final LP , is " Cheek Bones . " Described by Ferraro as a " dark love song , " it regards young people who try to experience sexual intercourse in the same way actors and actress in films do , as well as people 's gratification from seeing emaciated bodies . It was n't until the summer of 2013 when mixing of the LP was near completion that he realized a bigger theme with what he was recording , which was the dark side of New York City : " it was just inherent within these recordings that I was making . But it was pretty blind . At the end , it sort of revealed itself to me without me setting out and doing it . " This process was very different from the making of his past releases , where it was more controlled with the main idea already planned . It also departed from the making of Ferraro 's past works because it was the first time Ferraro recorded in an actual studio ; he said that he " really enjoyed that experience of having a space to create in . " Some of the lyrics for the record were taken from a 20-page poem Ferraro wrote after going to a fashion party on a night circa 2011 , while other lyrics were improvised . For Ferraro , the title of each track was a crucial part of '' NYC , Hell 3:00 AM '' . The song " Nushawn " is named after Nushawn Williams , who spread AIDS to several women in the 1990s : " as a kid I remember being like , " Damn … that ’s like a new type of serial killer . " That always resonated with me and went on as a memory of New York as a kid . " The title of " Beautiful Jon K. " is based on Basque model Jon Kortajarena , which Ferraro felt symbolized one of the record 's major concepts that regard the unrealistic and electronically-made idea of beauty and felt near romantic empathy towards : " I thought about him as being a supermodel that was facing this hideous fucked up thing about his face . You see people caught up in that – developing a whole language of their own . " '' NYC , Hell 3:00 AM '' is based around the unwholesome and decadent part of New York City Ferraro saw as unknown to most of the world , and was described by him as " a surreal psychological sculpture of American decay and confusion . " The '' 3:00 AM '' part of the record 's title is the hour of when each night of recording the album began , and according to Ferraro , this made the LP a " snapshot " of New York City when " the hedonism kind of spills out . " The parts of the city Ferraro saw and knew about that inspired the record include the violence in Brooklyn , the crack and heroin-selling areas in Chinatown , Manhattan and The Sun Bright Hotel where news reports have accredited it to keeping guests in cages , as well as , in Ferraro 's words , " rats , metal landscape , toxic water , junkie friends , HIV billboards , evil news , luxury and unbound wealth , exclusivity , facelifts , romance , insane police presence and lonely people ... all against the sinister vastness of Manhattan 's alienating skyline . " '' NYC , Hell 3:00 AM '' utilizes cut up samples of news broadcasts , such as those about topics like the September 11 attacks that appear on " City Smells . " This shows how mass media during crises will often use images from surveillance footage and news stations to determine how a crime or event occurred , often to specifically focus on a part of the crime or event in retrospect instead of the full story . While Ferraro sings on most of the album , text-to-speech voices are also present , such as the opening of the album where the word " Money " is repeated multiple times by a text-to-speech voice . This is meant to show a person who feels unconnected to a part of society despite it being very " hyper-present " to them . Underground music journalist Adam Harper described the feel of '' NYC , Hell 3:00 AM '' as dragging the listener " down like a ghoul on their back and a concrete block chained to their legs " without any ability to understand a recurring theme . He called the record " a mystery you feel pressing you down before you comprehend it , resigning you to truths that are greater and more modern than mimicry , something you can pour yourself into . " He compared the record 's depressed state to that of the works of Kanye West , Drake , Dean Blunt and How To Dress Well . As he described the album 's overall arrangement , " the speckled , downcast members of Ferraro ’s arcane backing band do n’t make eye contact with each other or anyone else , but somehow their disunity settles , like silt . " The album also features distinctively used musical samples . " Fake Pain " samples vocals from " I Wish It Would Rain " by the Temptations , " Vanity " ends with various collaged a cappella samples of Michael Jackson , and the closing track , " Nushawn " , samples dialogue from American Psycho and utilizes a pitched down sample from Bernard Herrmann 's film score to Taxi Driver
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
NYC, Hell 3:00 AM