Sigh, I’m not sure how our beloved city (of Toronto) went haywire this weekend on so many levels. Seems that everyone is confused….all sides fanning fires instead of putting them out. The People, the Media, the Po-Po, all getting out of control….seems somewhere along the way, real direction was lost. Um, celebrating Canada Day anyone?
Here’s a brilliant cover of a brilliant song from a supremely talented artist. The song somehow seems fitting in light of this weekend’s events. Plus, I’m always lovin our homegrown talent and Colin Munroe is definitely a shining light in an industry that’s inundated with, well, Wackness.
I’m still wondering why the world leaders who attended the G20 Summit here in Toronto this weekend couldn’t have just video-conferenced on Skype and donated the cool billion to starving/thirsty kids/people all over the world. Considering the massive inconvenience this caused so many people in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), I’m also wondering why the People didn’t have a say in whether or not it was OK to fork out such a enormous sum of tax dollars for…what?
OK, all that heavy stuff aside, here I am on a rainy Saturday in the TDot trying to sort out my thoughts properly as I write my review on the latest album by The Roots, How I Got Over. I can say at this point that it’s the best music I’ve heard in a while. The production is phenomenal, and the content is intelligent, relevant and compelling. (You don’t get the prefix “The Legendary” for nothing). Just wait, imma start my own called The Loots, and my performer name will be Yellow Thought….haha yea, wiggity-Wack.
Anyway, while I figure it out, check out Fashawn’s Ode to Illmatic (if you haven’t already). It’s always hard when you’re working with classic, all-time-best material, but the “Ode” is definitely worth the listen – Fashawn is straight talented and he stays true to the original Illmatic in both music and content. Funny, coz I’ve always said his flow totally reminded me of Nas (on many occassions), but with a different voice and definitely with that West Coast Fresno flavour.
Next Monday – June 21, 2010 – marks the summer solstice up here in Toronto, Canada. For most, it means beer consumption goes up, right along with carbon intake from excessive barbecuing. Sweet. Maybe you need a new mix to pop in while you’re grillin…maybe you don’t. Either way, I’m sharing this mix I made last summer, originally called SummerFry2oo9.
But before my mediocre mix, this blazin Colin Munroe remix.Filthy sh!t TURN IT UP. Check out Colin Monroe’s Souldcloud page here.
Oh, the pic below was taken last week downtown Toronto at Queen and University (if you didn’t already recognize the landmark). I totally lucked out with the sun and clouds all working together for a high contrast shot that worked out brilliantly. I was coming down University, saw the photo-op, and had to circle round the block to come back and get the shot. It was worth the whining from the kids, who in the end were also pleased with the angel I captured.
I think it’s evident that a majority of the world still doesn’t “get it“. Thoughts, Ideas, Words are REAL and have real effect. TV(False Media), the Pied Piper of the Masses. Check out these words from Saul, filthy-ish.
The Future of Language | By Saul Williams
In the beginning was the Word. Word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. Word up. And God said, let there be…and (then) there was. Word is bond. And the word was made flesh. Word life.
A Latin transcription of the word person is: being of sound. As human beings we communicate with each other and the greater universe through sound vibration. It is, thus, the essence of our collective being. All sounds reverberate with meaning. Every sound vibration has an effect and every sound connected with every word we speak, in every syllable is connected to its eternal meaning, its eternal reverberation. The original inhabitants of Egypt (KMT) actually documented the esoteric meaning of each sound vibration. They believed that all consonant sounds communed with energies of a temporal reality, whereas vowel sounds connected us with energies of the eternal reality. In their written text they only wrote consonants for the eternal reality was too sacred to be transcribed. The ancient Egyptian language like all other languages of antiquity was, needless to say, rooted in passion. Yet, over time, many cultures have become disconnected from the passionate roots of their language and thus, perhaps, disconnected from the root of our existence.
nada brahma: the world is sound
In the east, it is widely believed that the word/sound OM is the seed of the universe and the seed of all creation that can be heard reverberating within all life forms. Practically all religions over time have focused on the power of sound vibration. Whether through the chanting of OM, Buddhist and Hindu chants, Islamic prayers and calls to worship, or reciting Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer, the common thread has been the investment in the belief that change will come about through voicing these sacred words, aloud. Yet, like the ancient Egyptians many of these belief systems have also held to the idea that there is a realm of eternal reality that cannot be put into words. In the words of the eastern mystic Lao-tzu the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things.
Thus, the future of language would involve us getting closer and closer to be being able to articulate the unspoken. Consciousness, like technology, evolves over time. In the same way that there are advances made in technology that may take a decade or more before it reaches the public, there are also shifts in consciousness that readily become understandable by the masses over time. So that an idea that perhaps the twelfth Dalai Lama achieved through meditation however many years ago may just be reaching the level of common understanding by the average young American, today. Ideas and concepts that perhaps our parents could not grasp until mid-life crisis may be now grasped by adolescent teens. And things that once could only be put into words by the most learned philosophers can now be expressed by the average emcee (and in my estimation most emcees that I hear are average).
I had the privilege of co-writing a film called Slam, the story of a young kid who learns the power of word and uses it to transcend his given reality. In writing this film I decided to give the main character the last name Joshua, based on the biblical story of Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho by simply marching around the city’s walls seven times playing his trumpet and the walls came tumbling down. I figured that if the film was played on seven hundred screens the walls of Babylon would come tumbling down, mainly because of the spells laced into the poetry of the film. I have often thought of my poetry in terms of it being incantations: spells (note: magic is done though casting spells which is the same way words are made) or prayers to be recited in darkest caves and highest mountaintops. In writing, I often feel as if I am deciphering age-old equations and am often as baffled an audience member as any other listener or reader. I have also found numerous occasions where I have felt that I wrote or recited a situation into existence.
I write in red ink that turns blue when the book closes
Language usage is a reflection of consciousness, thus, the future of language is co-related to the ever-evolving state of human awareness. As we become more aware of our existing reality it becomes clear that we live with the power of dictating our given situations and thus the power to determine our future. Our present reality is pre-sent dictated by what we asked for previously. No, I am not saying that everything that happens to us is within our control, yet, through our perception we have the ability to determine much more of our reality than we realize (all puns intended). And what we say (which is clearly a reflection of what and how we think) is of the utmost (utter-most) importance. What we say matters (becomes a solid: flesh). Word life.
So then the question becomes, what role does hip hop play in the future of language? Or rather, what role does the future of language play in Hip Hop? There does seem to have been a lyrical evolution in Hip Hop. Vivid, descriptive narratives of ghetto life seem to have come at the cost of imaginative or psycho-spiritual exploration. In other words, niggas have come up with amazing ways to talk about the same ol’ shit. The problem is, when we recite the same ol shit into microphones, which increase sound vibration the same ol’ shit continues to manifest in our daily lives. But of course employing one’s imagination is problematic when the aim is to keep it real. In a book called The Illusions by Richard Bach, the main character finds that when Jesus reportedly said that all one needs is faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains, he actually only said faith because at the time there wasn’t a word for imagination. It is imagination applied to our daily lives and use of language that brings about interesting futures. Hip Hop, as is, is mainly concerned about depicting a rough street life void of hope or an upscale designer life void of thought and in doing so dictates it’s own outcome. If Biggie’s album had not been entitled Ready to Die would he still be alive today? Did his vocalized profession dictate his destination? The fact that we were so ready to hear about how he was ready to die increased the sound vibration of his recitation through playing it on a million radios and televisions at a time to the point where it affected our reality and his. Word is bond.
these are the words that i manifest
~guru
We are the manifestation of our thinking patterns. And we think in terms of terms. Words. Sooner or later we must realize that we are liable for what and how we think and say and thus must alter (altar) our use of language. Sentence structures predate pyramids and are as complex. Realize, even in asking me to describe the future of language, I am simply playing my part in determining it by helping those who read this to become more aware of the importance of what they say. And that (this) is how the future comes about. Word.
The other day my wife asked me, “Choo, why do you love Hip Hop so much?” (How’s that for a loaded question?) I hesitated for a second and then answered…”well, it’s not so much that I love it [ which I do, but not in the way I did as a rabid teen or young buck twenty-something ], it’s now more like a way of life” (gritty, intellectual and creative, semi-sophisticated, post-modern urban culture – if I may).
For me (and maybe for you too), “Hip Hop” is even more than just “some fringe urban sub-culture”. For me, Hip Hop encompasses the voice, power, and evolution of a new generation; a generation changed, vastly different than it’s predecessors, and a generation that is still changing. Hip Hop actually signifies or symbolizes Change. In my opinion, Hip Hop is the foundation of a new belief system – a hybrid, more versatile, creative and more pragmatic way of thinking. And in the same breath, you could easily argue that not only is it ingrained into the fabric (and soul) of this new generation, it has even brought about a new system of value(s) as well. It has taught us to ask questions, to “break it down”, assess and place emphasis on what’s real. It has taught us that “Word is Born” and Word is Bond, and that we can create and shape our lives by the words we utter and the “content” we create. And I know I’m not saying anything that hasn’t already been said.
I would even argue that Hip Hop is (now more than ever) much bigger than you know. It’s everywhere and has pervaded the entire planet on so many different levels. You don’t have to look far to see how deep into our (global) culture it has reached. It has transcended racial and cultural barriers, and touched the lives of people all over. You could even say that Hip Hop has political clout (to some degree, and I would even dare say that President Obama should thank Hip Hop, not for anything recent, but more so for changing America and giving the less affluent and politically ostracized a Voice). Hit up Youtube for the latest in French, Dutch, Palestinian, Nigerian, Chinese and Korean rap. And, trust me, the list goes on. Yeah, Hip Hop is You, Me, that tagged up wall in your back alley. The love poetry you wrote your crush. Hip Hop is Love, Life, Struggle, Success, and Truth.
Hip Hop is not dead (although I get what Nas was saying). Nah, on the contrary. Hip Hop is very much alive, except, it has evolved. It has further entrenched itself into our social fabric, like cotton (from the fields of which it has deep ties to), but instead, “the metaphysical fabric of our lives”. From the ridicule of Trend and Fad, to becoming a primary catalyst for urban social and cultural change, Hip Hop is part of life in this day and age.
Forget all the crud you see on TV – throw all of that out the window. Look at history, culture, politics, prophecy – the writing is not just on the wall, but in your style, lifestyle, your vernacular, your spit, and your blood. Hip Hop is in your (stank ass) breath and your beautiful soul. Hip Hop is Pop Culture’s mama.
I think those are some of the reasons I love Hip Hop so much. Which for me, begs further questions: if Hip Hop has been a catalyst for social change on so many levels, why aren’t more people writing about it? Why aren’t there more people analyzing and documenting the history of Hip Hop on a deeper, more metaphysical (social-science) level? Why is it that there are not more documented textbooks, more valid reference material, and more new educational curriculum about Hip Hop in our day to day lives? Hmm…maybe Hip Hop still has a way to go. Or rather, maybe we still have a way to go, since we make Hip Hop what it is. Hip Hop lives through us and we through it. Like Saul (Williams) said before, Word. Word Life. Word is bond.
[ I have an essay - The Future of Language - that Saul Williams wrote a while back that I'll post next....filthy good stuff, stay tuned! ]
No, this is not a post about some rub-n-tug massage parlour with happy endings. Maybe you’ve already come across this wonderous collection of music….either way, I just did, and I’m happy to share.
Give your girl a rub, and give thanks to DJ Ayres, Cosmo Baker and DJ Eleven – The Rub – for the enormous effort of putting together this collection and posting it for the world to share. (they’re actually still going…he year 2001 was just released).
There is SO much good music here it’s mind blasting.
Click here, or on the pic below to hit The Rub: History of Hip Hop and begin your journey back in time. (note: good things come to those who wait – expect turtle download speeds, but how can you complain!). Enjoy.
If you’re in NYC and can’t resist great art, check out Inside The Outside by Greg Simkins at Joshua Liner Gallery in the Chelsea Arts District. I was put on to Greg Simkins through The Citrus Report (TCP) who recently published an article featuring his art. I have to agree with the guys at TCP, Greg’s work is DOPE and I’m sure we’ll hear and see more on Greg and his work in the days to come.
Read the article at The Citrus Report or check out more of Greg’s work on his site here. I’d share more on what I think about the art, but you’re grown, and that’s what’s great about having your own mind – you can form your own thoughts and opinions!
May has come and gone and FWAPhoto has a beautiful collection of photographs for the 5th month of 2010. I have nothing to say about this picture, except that it’s wicked. And it has nothing to do with this post really. This pic above is FWAPhoto of the day, May 13th. Check out FWAPhoto here.
OK, to the real reason for this blog entry. Here is something else I found in my recent forgotten files discovery episode. An email from Saul Williams to Lee at the Fader. It’s ancient stuff now – going back to October 2001 – published in an old issue of the Fader, but it’s still filthy good. (the Fader back when they used to print on thick-ass paper stock. Those babies were like books – art books about music. I still have a few of those old copies. the issue with Beck and D’Angelo on the cover. awesome stuff.)
Even though its been nearly 10 years, I still think it’s a relevant piece by Saul. I have some other essays Saul Williams wrote and there’s a great intro chapter from a graphic design book I have that goes into the importance of imagery that might worth posting too. It’s all filthy good sh!t I say. Say word.
–
Subject: first person essay / fade out
Date: Thursday, October 11, 2001 3:58pm
From: Saul Williams
To: Lee at the Fader
I’m waiting to board an airplane in Atlanta when I spot Hype Williams. We greet each other and begin catching up. I ask him if knows about the long list of songs that was sent to radio programmers, suggesting that they not be played. He was unaware. I told him that no rap songs were on the list, primarily because the vast majority of mainstream rappers are not talking about anything of any political relevance, nothing that might counter the system in anyway. In fact rap radio feeds the economy. He tells me that the rap game is like fast food and that people will always want fast food. He asks me if I listen to hip-hop. I tell him that I study it, but that I cannot listen to it in most cases for the same reasons I don’t eat meat. I don’t like the way it feels in my system. I tell him that I can’t listen to it because it seems to betray the hip-hop that moulded me. He wants to know if I remember Public Enemy, KRS, Rakim…I tell him that I have difficulty listening to contemporary hip-hop because I can’t forget.
“Maybe you should search reality and stop wishing for steady beats and bass / and lyrics said in haste / if it’s meaning doesn’t manifest / put it to rest” poetry KRS-One 1987
Hype and I seem to symbolize different worlds with the same last name. He is in first class and I am in the back (keepin it real?). we are balancing the plane by sitting in our respective seats. Slam and Belly came out the same October day three years ago. If this plane goes down, someone in a diamond store may cry as well as someone in a health food store. We are both playing our roles. We are both doing what we were put here to do. The pilot has announced that we are at 10,000 feet and that the movie will be cats and dogs. Funny, this makes me think of the magazine cover I just read which says “dmx: hip-hop’s hardest rapper”. DMX, the star of Belly. If I were to figure into the rap equation, I’d probably be the softest. To most dogs I’m probably a pussy. Back to Hype. Hype is not a rapper, yet I feel he has contributed greatly to what now is represented as hip-hop culture through the media. And I guess even more importantly, young black culture. The question I am posed as an artist that is very much a critic of hip-hop and popular culture is whether I am most comfortable preaching to the converted or more accurately, what would I say if I had the opportunity to sit and talk with a Jay-Z, a DMX or rap entity that reaches mainstream audiences on a regular basis.
One might ask, who the fuck am I to criticize, especially when I’m on some poetry shit. Well, actually my love for poetry didn’t because I grew up reading poetry but because I grew up with very strong doses of hip-hop and that is the poetry that shaped me and moulded me. Through hip-hop I gained my biggest appreciation of myself and of my culture. Hip-hop made me proud to be black in ways that my parents could never do by forcing me to read a Langston Hughes poem. And even when I began writing poems in the mid-90’s, while everyone started going on and on about who was producing what (Dre’s beats, Premiers hooks etc), I stepped into the poetry arena, which at the time was synonymous with the underground hip-hop scene, because it felt like lyricism was getting the short end of the stick. I wasn’t being fulfilled lyrically. Thus, the poetry that I began writing was to fill the void between what I was hearing and what I wanted to hear from hip-hop. I simply decided to take the beat away and focus solely on lyricism. And much of my current dissatisfaction comes from the fact that if I had to look at hip-hop for inspiration or guidance now I feel that I might be misled. I don’t doubt for minute that these emcees, with their bandanas and ice, are soldiers. That’s exactly what they are. But I can’t figure out who’s giving the orders. Or whether there is any actual order, so the question remains, what would I say if that mainstream rapper was listening? Perhaps I would begin by asking them what would they say if the whole world were listening, or simply their block? Then I would question whether they were aware of the fact that the whole world was listening and responding to all that they said…
We are defined by our ability to resonate and shape sounds. Word. Therefore what we say is of the utmost importance. What we say matters (becomes matter). That is why spiritual communities always had people recite prayers and mantras aloud, because they know that they will affect global consciousness and reality itself. We seem to have once, subconsciously, known that in hip-hop as well. Our earliest slang, “word”, “word up”, “word life”, “word is bond”, all seemed to revel in this knowledge. As guru once said, “these are the words I manifest” we nodded our heads in affirmation and then when biggie named his first album “ready to die” we all acted surprised when it happened. Word is bond, son. Plain and simple.
“Kidnap the presidents wife without a plan” / live at the bbq main source feat. Nas
How much senseless violence have we spoken of without taking into account the possibility of us calling these things into existence? Emcees, there is power in words. There is power in sound vibration. It affects reality. In fact it determines it. Hip-hop is much more powerful than mere party music. I don’t mean to bring no hateration to the dancerie, but hip-hop, because of its hard drumbeats and conversational chants and rhymes, has the potential power of any sacred ritual. It is no coincidence that it has reshaped and redefined youth culture, globally. I am not suggesting that we not aim to depict our realities through our music but we should also realize that we shape our realities as we depict them.
Why was it that if you flipped to BET during the world trade incident, they were still showing videos when every other station was showing news? It stood out like a metaphoric commentary on the relevance of contemporary black music is the latest and most important news in the black community that jay-z and puffy have gotten off free? Yet the remainder of us remain enslaved to their senseless ideas and lack of ideals. In the latest Bad Boy release there is a lyric that says “bad boy ain’t going nowhere until Tibet is free.” Why would anyone align himself with the type of oppression that keeps the Dalai Lama from being able to return to his homeland?
You may ask why I’m calling the names of a few rappers as if they are to blame. I am not placing blame. I am simply raising questions. The fact of the matter is that there are no famous philosophers or thinkers in this day and age, there are merely famous entertainers. Yet we associate with them by their philosophy. If you believe that “bitches ain’t shit”, you know who to listen to. If you’re a hustler or a playa, you know who to listen to. But when we sing along with a song, are we operating at our highest principles or are we saying things that we would take back if we thought seriously about it? And what If you don’t take it back? Word is bond. These are the words we manifest. Are these the prayers and mantras of our community? Or are we determining an unchanging reality by focusing on keeping it real? We are not powerless. We do live and speak with the power of determining our realities and effecting our environment both positively and negatively. Hip-hop at its best was strategic, and the strategy at the time was a about a bit more than getting paid. The problem is that we are ignoring the lessons that we learned through krs, public enemy, Rakim, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah and other groups that revolutionized hip-hop.
It has been said that those who do not know their history are bound to repeat it. It seems that hip-hop is in the midst of either relearning or forgetting lessons that have already been taught. But don’t get me wrong. This is not a plea to rappers or whomever to become more conscious of what they say. This is not someone trying to enlighten minds. This is a prediction. If you are some way affiliated with any of these emcees (or R&B kids) getting airplay, or polluting your airspace with their lack of insight, I would advise you to begin reading aloud. Your shit will not last. You will manifest your truths and die in the face of them. These are your last days. We are growing tired of You. We love women more than you have ever seen in them. We love hip-hop for more than you have ever used it for. We love ourselves, not for our possessions, but for the spirit that possesses us. We honour your existence. We honour your freedom. But a freedom that costs, is obviously not free. Watch what you say. Watch what you value. Planes crash. Bank vaults are air tight, you will suffocate them in them. Cars crash. Word life. Word death. Your hit songs hit and run. We are wounded but not dead. We are coming to reclaim what is ours: the main stream: the ocean. The current. Our time is now. Word is bond.
