I don’t know why I am writing this now, and if you know about Immortal Technique then you are probably a big fan, and if you are a big fan then you probably already know that he has a new album that is completely free to download, it is called the Martyr.
Asides from the usual mix of passion, anger and political activism within each song in the album, Technique also has a much more prominent element of self reflection, best exemplified by the song, Eyes in the sky:
The borders should be illegal instead of the people, that we’re here before the Bible and all of it’s sequels.
The flow in this song is quick, and if you are not used to hip hop that much yourself you may need to listen to this a few times to fully appreciate the lyrics. For me, from the second I heard it it made me think and it produced vivid images in my mind. From the tone of his voice, to the semi-melancholic nature of the beat and the flow, it was a very good composition. The obvious “eyes in the sky” reference to the Illuminati is something that I personally don’t believe in fully, for I am a sceptic to an extent. But I do respect his beliefs and what he has to say simply because he says what he means, and not because a big record label struck a deal with him.
Other notable songs that I enjoyed are (these are all youtube links):
Toast to the Dead - A powerful song about the nature of revolutionary struggle and the bloody nature of history.
Sign of the times - A spiritual song, utilising the the chants of native Americans (I think, anyway, corrections welcome) in the beginning and the middle of the song. All I can say is that this is song is full to the brim with metaphors and references to symbolism. One of my favourite is “they say you fight the greatest Jihad in your heart and your mind” and “this is a message to the older Gods, I’ll sacrifice you all to the revolution like the Romanovs”.
Running Nowhere - A skit (a beat without lyrics, usually thrown in the middle of the album) which will most likely be used by Immortal Technique later on. It is short for now and quite repetitive, but listen to the lyrics and you will find it thought provoking.
Rich man’s world - An insight into the world of corporatism and oligarchy and how it works, from the point of view of the Oligarch himself. The beginning shows a very quick flow style which goes well with the abruptness of the beat.
Check out the rest of the songs, it is definitely worth a listen. And if this is the first time you hear of this artist, then welcome to Immortal Technique!
Asides from hip-hop, I like writing short stories and my thoughts down in general. But one day I decided that, since some hip-hop pieces do tell stories in themselves, why not try to see how they can be told in the form of prose? So I chose a track to base a story on, and that track is Broken Window by Rhyme Asylum in their album Solitary Confinement, (I wrote an article about this piece before) and here is their track:
What is great about doing something like this (and which I will do more of in the future) is that because of the nature of hip-hop, there is not a lot of detail compared to that of prose and so you are left to your own imagination as you add detail. It is as if the track has provided the story and a basic skeleton, and I was left to add the flesh of it all. For example, there was no detail regarding how Dr Dean Emmett in the track was arrested, so this is what I did “Three loud knocks penetrated the silence of Dr Emmet’s one bedroom apartment. He jumped from his bed and glanced at the time; 4 in the morning, who could it be?”
Once could actually add their own spin to the whole thing. I made this piece sound like a classical Halloween scary story just by adding a little ending: “It was said that on the night of the Doctor’s death violent noises were heard in the air ducts and the institution’s alarm was set off for no explainable reason.”
The character or characters within the track were not given much of a back story, and it is really fun when you are given a character and you come up with how they ended up in a certain situation (it is harder than it sounds!). “Having gained a degree of Psychology from the University of Durham and working for a counselling agency in London, one could tell that he was well off. Still ambitious at the age of forty three; he would have had a bright future ahead of him.”
Funnily enough, the reason I chose the University of Durham was actually because one of my Chemistry/Physics teachers at school (who was very intelligent and cool) actually went there. Anyway, without further ado, here is the story itself: http://hayatli7.deviantart.com/#/d3fi3wi
I look forward to writing more things like this, actually I am working on one now inspired by Immortal Technique’s Dance with the Devil. I hope that it will come out nicely.
We may feel that the popular musicians and singers out there are at a different level. That they are different to all of us and somehow are seperated from our sphere of existence. We often forget that the artist, the musician, the singer is infact a human being like you and me. They change, and if their art reflects them, then their art will change will with them.
That is why long time Hiphop artists are interesting to listen to, among others. If one listens closely enough they will detect physical and (mostly) mental changes (attitudes, beliefs etc). Once again I am going to use Immortal Technique as an example; namely because I had listened to him a lot but also because change is so evident too.
His albums Revolutionary Volume 1 and Revolutionary Volume 2 were both released when he was fairly young. And when he released his newer album The 3rd World I immediately noticed a change. His voice was deeper and gruffer, he had grown physically and is now a man. This change is noticeable in hiphop because the MC does not sing, but he/she speaks poetry in a rhythm.
He was, in his younger years, “aggresive” and passionate about his views just like any youth is. His album cover art was more suggestive and provocative in Revolutionary Volume 1 and 2 (left to right, respectively):
I don’t know if you readers can see clearly and I hope no offense is caused. The first picture shows a scene of dead police officers among other authoritiarian symbols with a bullet riddled wall in the background. The ”mic and sickle” is an adaptation of the hammer and sickle; the symbol of Communism and generally a left wing politics. The second picture is similar in that it too has dead bodies, but this time of the Bush adminstration and it is in the White House. Obviously, their deaths were untimely as their bullet wounds show.
Immortal Techniques album cover for the 3rd World; the later released album.
This cover is far less suggestive in itself. It simply portrays the artist in a more mysterious tone rather than an attacking one.
Now that I have discussed some superficial elements of change, I am going to briefly compare two tracks. They will not be in detail as usual because the article is already quite long, and I am trying to make them shorter!
Creation and Destruction, Revolutionary Volume 1 – track 1
Now you know what I mean by the aggressive nature of the lyrics here. The metaphors he uses are quite graphic and he uses religious ideas freely to his own will:
“You’re such a b**ch someone probably made you out of a rib” for example can be highly controversial because it refers to Genesis and the creation of Eve and the Old Testament view of the inferiority of women.
“When God said ‘let there be light’ I turned it the F***K off” And here he is challenging God or maybe comparing his power to his. This kind of self praise and threatening of others is common practice in battle rap and that is something that Technique was known for even before he started recording his first albums.
So now you get a rough idea of one of his first tracks, now lets look at another:
Internally Bleeding – Revolutionary Volume 2
This is from a later album, Revolutionary Volume 2, the metaphors are still graphic:
“Like an aborted foetus in a jar that opened is eyes” And he uses that to symbolise shock; a negative thing. Could it be that he has turned religious? Not exactly, knowing him he probably still hates organised religion, especially the Catholic Church. But could it be that he has respect for a spiritual and religious element in life? That may be the case. Another thing I notice is that these lyrics are much more about him in real life than self praise, they are much more humble that the last track I presented and they also have an element of sadness and sensitivity:
“My mother told me that placing my faith in God was the answer
But then I hated God because he gave my mother cancer”
The use of the past tense in “hated” is giving a hint that this is not the case now. And it shows he is realising that not all of his prejudices against all form of spirituality may be justified. This is shown an open mind that thinks outside of it’s own box.
I will let you listen to the rest of this track, but I will point out one last line at the very end:
“I made peace with the Lord and now I stand on his right“
And that really did surprise me. Again that doesn’t mean he is one of those born again Christians who is knocking at people’s doors in the mornings. It maybe that he accepts that there is a spiritual side to his life, an immaterial one. When you put this set of lyrics next to the previous one from an earlier album you can really see the difference. Both of these albums were released when he was still young, but it remains that there is more to change than simply his voice breaking and there is more to it than rhyme schemes. When it comes change, artists will change the very message they send across, and that is one thing that I love seeing over time.
Art is about change. When you practice art and use it to reflect yourself you do it over a period of time. And over the period of time you change and the reflections change with you.
This has been fun to write as always, and I hope to be cranking out more during the Easter break in April.
First of all, apologies for not putting up content as regularly as I used to. I don’t have much time since I am concentrating on my university work and concentrating on RELAXING from university work :p I have group work to start up, photography projects to finish and Philosophy reading so it is quite a lot.
I digress. Today I want to look at Immortal Technique‘s 4th Branch from his album Revolutionary Volume 2. One reason that I have liked this song is because he raises the Palestinian issue briefly, and that’s cool because I am Palestinian! But of course, that aside, the way he does this track is very emotional and powerful even at his (then) younger age. The imagery really did leave an impression…
Here is the video followed by lyrics (as usual!):
[Verse 1] The voice of racism preaching the gospel is devilish A fake church called the prophet Muhammad a terrorist Forgetting God is not a religion, but a spiritual bond And Jesus is the most quoted prophet in the Qu’ran They bombed innocent people, tryin’ to murder Saddam When you gave him those chemical weapons to go to war with Iran This is the information that they hold back from Peter Jennings Cause Condoleeza Rice is just a new age Sally Hemmings I break it down with critical language and spiritual anguish The Judas I hang with, the guilt of betraying Christ You murdered and stole his religion, and painted him white Translated in to psychologically tainted philosophy Conservative political right wing, ideology Glued together sloppily, the blasphemy of a nation Got my back to the wall, cause I’m facin’ assassination Guantanamo Bay, federal incarceration How could this be, the land of the free, home of the brave? Indigenous holocaust, and the home of the slaves Corporate America, dancin’ offbeat to the rhythm You really think this country, never sponsored terrorism? Human rights violations, we continue the saga El Savador and the contras in Nicaragua And on top of that, you still wanna take me to prison Just cause I won’t trade humanity for patriotism
[Hook] It’s like MK-ULTRA, controlling your brain Suggestive thinking, causing your perspective to change They wanna rearrange the whole point of view of the ghetto The fourth branch of the government, want us to settle A bandana full of glittering, generality Fighting for freedom and fighting terror, but what’s reality? [+]Read about the history of the place that we live in And stop letting corporate news tell lies to your children
[Verse 2] Flow like the blood of Abraham through the Jews and the Arabs Broken apart like a woman’s heart, abused in a marriage The brink of holy war, bottled up, like a miscarriage Embedded correspondents don’t tell the source of the tension And they refuse to even mention, European intervention Or the massacres in Jenin, the innocent screams U.S. manufactured missles, and M-16′s Weapon contracts and corrupted American dreams Media censorship, blocking out the video screens A continent of oil kingdoms, bought for a bargain Democracy is just a word, when the people are starvin’ The average citizen, made to be, blind to the reason A desert full of genocide, where the bodies are freezin’ And the world doesn’t believe that you fightin’ for freedom Cause you fucked the Middle East, and gave birth to a demon It’s open season with the CIA, bugging my crib Trapped in a ghetto region like a Palestinian kid Where nobody gives a fuck whether you die or you live I’m tryin’ to give the truth, and I know the price is my life But when I’m gone they’ll sing a song about Immortal Technique Who beheaded the President, and the princes and sheikhs You don’t give a fuck about us, I can see through your facade Like a fallen angel standing in the presence of God Bitch niggaz scared of the truth, when it looks at you hard
[Hook] [+]Martial law is coming soon to the hood, to kill you While you hanging your flag out your project window
[Talking] Yeah.. The fourth branch of the government AKA the media Seems to now have a retirement plan for ex-military officials As if their opinion was at all unbiased A machine shouldn’t speak for men So shut the fuck up you mindless drone! And you know it’s serious When these same media outfits are spending millions of dollars on a PR campaign To try to convince you they’re fair and balanced When they’re some of the most ignorant, and racist people Giving that type of mentality a safe haven We act like we share in the spoils of war that they do We die in wars, we don’t get the contracts to make money off ‘em afterwards! We don’t get weapons contracts, nigga! We don’t get cheap labor for our companies, nigga! We are cheap labor, nigga! Turn off the news and read, nigga! Read… read… read…
“Forgetting God is not a religion, but a spiritual bond And Jesus is the most quoted prophet in the Qu’ran” I didn’t know that! But the important thing here is that he is referring to the here and now. Tracks which are politically charged and mention certain events in history become a part of history itself and that is the wonderful thing about this piece. He is talking about the War on terror and the mentalities behind it, and one day the “war on terror” is going to be in our history books.
“They bombed innocent people, tryin’ to murder Saddam When you gave him those chemical weapons to go to war with Iran” Interesting fact: if you happen to be in Demontfort University in Leicester, England, then you can actually see the receipt the Iraq received after purchasing those weapons from the USA.
“This is the information that they hold back from Peter Jennings Cause Condoleeza Rice is just a new age Sally Hemings” Peter Jennings was a journalist who was self made. That is as far as I know of him. Sally Hemings was a mixed race slave and the image of her black heritage and being a slave to the system is used to reflect Rice’s status in the former Bush administration.
“Translated in to psychologically tainted philosophy Conservative political right wing, ideology” It is said that more than half of the Bush Administration believed in Armageddon; Jesus would come down when the Jews controlled Jerusalem, the righteous are saved and everyone else burns in hell. Kind of extremist…like Osama Bin Laden no?
“You really think this country, never sponsored terrorism? Human rights violations, we continue the saga El Savador and the contras in Nicaragua” If you want to know what he talks about then look up the “Dirty wars” in South America during (I think) the Reagan years.
The chorus mentions MK-ULTRA which is, as many conspiracy theorists claim, a chemical agent that is capable of putting in someone in such a state that they are susceptible to suggestions, in other words, mind control. A lot of people may be put off at the notion of a conspiracy theory, but one shouldn’t be so quick to judge. As well as that he was young and he has changed now, and change with the artist is something I will talk about in the future.
“Flow like the blood of Abraham through the Jews and the Arabs Broken apart like a woman’s heart, abused in a marriage The brink of holy war, bottled up, like a miscarriage” Abraham had Isaac and Ishmael. Ishmael was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel while Isaac was father of the “Arabs” (or is it the other way round I am not sure) and both are Semitic races using Semitic languages (Arabic and Hebrew). A holy war is not just a Jihad, remember what I said about Armageddon? Some people tried to set that off.
“Or the massacres in Jenin, the innocent screams” Jenin is a city in Occupied Palestine. It was subject to an Israeli assault during the second uprising in 2000 named “Operation Defence Shield” and resulted in the death of innocent Palestinians. We have family friends who have been affected by this event and it is good to see that some people are aware.
“Democracy is just a word, when the people are starvin’” The word Democracy is used to justify a lot of things, including war. “In the name of Democracy” they say, “In the name of God” they say…
“Cause you fucked the Middle East, and gave birth to a demon” Interesting…way of phrasing things here, but I like the small word play too.
“It’s open season with the CIA, bugging my crib Trapped in a ghetto region like a Palestinian kid Where nobody gives a fuck whether you die or you live” He is actually shouting in the mic. And that is how it should be people, raw passion and emotion! This is what he feels, this is what is coming out. It is not just what you write and recite, its also how you do it.
“Who beheaded the President, and the princes and sheikhs” The sheikhs, the religious rulers mostly associated with Saudi Arabia. He is saying what he desires and that is beheading those people (again, young and angry and energetic) among others. They are hypocritical (well the ones who work for the state), anyone seen the US embassy cables? Anyone heard about the higher ups in Saudi having whore and drink parties? Very Islamic!
The speech at the end just rounds things up. Almost as if grabbing the chance to say everything else he didn’t put into his lyrics. But this is why it is so refreshing to listen to people like Immortal Technique, because he actually believes in what he says. He takes everything that the corporate media (4th Branch) says and throws it out the window by painting a whole different image to the one that the majority of U.S. citizens (were) used to.
Again, my journey in “analysing” these lyrics and taking time to look at them have proved to be interesting, and until next time…
Before I begin, I want to post a link to a motivational hiphop track in light of the fact that I have just not been feeling motivated as of late:
I want to sit down and type out what I believe brought me into this little subculture. A subculture that is not very well known to my family, and one that, five years ago, I would never believe to be a part of at any point of my life.
This is myself!
I remember at one time being very (Islamically) religious. My brother was almost like a religious teacher; he taught me how to pray, gave me advice and I took his interpretations as my own. One of these interpretations of everyday living was that music is sinful without question. Whether this still runs true with him I do not know, but I followed it with all my heart. Hearing music back then, especially commercial music, with no knowledge of underground hip-hop or anything meaningful only added to my convictions that music was “useless”. Islam is mostly a non-materialist religion, it frowns upon everything that supposes the utmost importance of material gains, and unfortunately the only impressions of music I got back then were materialistic.
My mind was closed up a little. I believed in one true way that was so specific that I was afraid of change in any way of thinking, yet something about Philosophy attracted me, so I took it up in my A-levels and it loosened my mind up a bit. But what opened my mind to hip-hop was an even prior to that. My other brother pointed me to Immortal Technique’s Dance with the Devil saying that it was “interesting” but he waved it off later. But when I listened I got hooked with the whole story. I was struck with the meaningfulness, the insight and the poetic language…and I entered hip-hop. The track gave me hope that there is Music out there that was meaningful after all, this happened when I was around sixteen years old.
I listened and explored the genre a while. One day, a friend of mine who also got into the hip-hop scene just said a general comment to me, “hey Ziyad, you used to write poems, why not try writing some lyrics?”. I was plunged back into memory when I would wrote rhyming couplets for fun and enter some small competitions; that ranged from around the age of twelve to fifteen. And I realised and also punched myself in the head for it: of course! These tracks I listen to are poetry! So I got back into writing, I pulled out my pen and pad…and I hope that I won’t put them down for a while.
My Islamic Arab heritage gave me a huge respect for poetry, and blessed with that notion I surged forward into lyricism.
I want to thank my brother for being there, my other one for pointing out the direction to hip-hop (he probably did it unintentionally and he still doesn’t know!) and my friend for pushing me there. :)
In the spirit of St Valentine’s day, when most of us are buying gifts and making surprises for our loved ones I am going to look at a love song, no, a love story done by Immortal Technique whom I mentioned before. Before I begin I will say that it is a tragic piece and not the stereotypical love poem that everyone is used to and it also tells a story and not just describes a person. The track is called You never know from his album Revolutionary Volume 2.
Here is the video (lyrics are in the video as they are very long and I don’t want to spawn an all evil tower of text):
As it is a long track it is best to look at the sections that carry the most significant meaning for me. So let us start:
“Fuck the horse and carriage shit, her love was never for hire Disciplined, intellectual beauty’s what I desire” The first desire that the artist mentions has nothing to do with the physical being of his love, it is the spiritual/mental/intellectual or whatever you want to call it. Sometimes, what you mention first; be it physical beauty or mental beauty, shows your nature or intentions. In this case the artist is showing a spiritual nature and not a simple carnal desire.
“Everyone told me, kickin’ it to her was hopeless At first I just thought, she didn’t mess with broke kids The thug niggaz always talking about, how they smoke kids But the rich-sniff-coke kids got no play “I’m not even interested” is what her body language would say Everyone around the way, gave up trying to get in it It didn’t matter how good your game was, she wasn’t with it On the block, bitches was jealous, but wouldn’t admit it Talk shit, and deny to everyone that they did it ‘Cause they regreted the long list of niggaz that they let hit it And no one ever gave them shit except McDonald’s and did-dick”
He is highlighting the society around him; his immediate surroundings. Immortal Technique lived in a ghetto in the north of Manhattan called Harlem, and this reflects the attitudes of most people that he met quite well. The thugs showing off on how they shot other people before in an almost primitive mating call, the other females being astounded at his love’s uniqueness and also ashamed as they came to realize their own promiscuity. The difference between the love’s character and those that surrounded the artist at the time is contrasted highly here because he is trying to make a point; she is like no other, she is beautiful in an amazing way.
“She had a style, all her own, respectful and pure I was sick in the head for her, and there wasn’t a cure” I am used to Immortal Tech being this outspoken and sometimes aggressive artist but when I heard those two lines I was surprised at first, and then I did a rewind and I “Awww”ed out loud, something I never thought I would do in one of his tracks!
“Don’t you know that, time waits for no man Not fate, it’s all planned I’m blessed just to know you I’ve loved and I’ve lost just to hold you all night Can’t find, a reason why God came, to you and I If I had the chance again, I’d never let you go Hold tight to your love, ’cause you never know” The Chorus is a sample which is quite common, and it is from Jean Grey. As you can see it is very well suited. The last two lines drop a resounding hint of a tragic end.
“Her eyes are brown and beautiful, yet empty and sad“
The first physical description, and it is not typical. I don’t know if it is me, but most “beautiful eyes” are usually a light colour when described in stories such as grey, blue, green or whatever.
“We talked about, power to the people and such” They share a common intellectual interest, surprising that he remembered what they talked about and did not try to estimate her breast size.
“Perfectly honest and complete, she would always call me “carino,” And never Technique, bought me a new book to read every 2 or 3 weeks Forever changing the expression of my thoughts when I speak” As far as I know, carino is a Spanish term for something along the lines of “sweetheart”, but can be different in different contexts. The two lines after that highlight what is important about love of someone’s intellectual side, and that is that their own intellectual side is changed. His thoughts and his way of expression were influenced by her, like a mark left behind. And it is a very hard mark to get rid of in one’s life.
“I felt like a moth who got himself too close to the light Except I didn’t burn, I turned cold after that night“
Self explanatory, but a very clever concept. I don’t need to explain anything, just highlight it
“Fuckin’ lots of different women, but I still felt alone“
Key message is that there is more to company and relationships than physical pleasure.
“Her mom buzzed me up and hugged me up, like a mother oughta But her facial expression changed, when I asked about her daughter” This is how one of the verses ends, obviously for the purposes of leaving suspense to the listener.
“What happened for the rest of the day is still a blur But I remember wishing that I was dead, instead of her She was buried on August 3rd The story ends without a sequel And now you know why Technique, don’t fucking fall in love with people” Self sacrifice, or the desire to anyway, is presented here. When I read the last line I sighed with relief because Technique was back to normal! (But really it is a sad story)
“Hold the person that you love closely if they’re next to you The one you love, not the person that’ll simply have sex with you Appreciate them to the fullest extent, and then beyond ‘Cause you never really know what you got, until it’s gone” And these are the morals and lessons that the artist leaves us with. It is not just a sad story, but a story with a lesson and experience. They are really self explanatory which is good if you want to reach out to all audiences and tell ‘em something straight.
It’s been a pleasure, but happy Valentine’s day everyone, but please don’t just think about the cheap cards and boxes of chocolate. There is more to love than that, oh and also…be safe!
Poetry in hip hop has two very common elements that I have noticed personally. First it is rhyming which is very important to the art, and secondly it is the use of metaphors. The lyrics should not be taken 100% literally and sometimes it will take you more than one listen-through of a track to get the full message, and sometimes you keep on discovering new things time and time again when you listen to a particular track.
Every track has a beat, no matter what instruments are used in the instrumental beat (be it piano, guitar or drums etc) every track has a regular beat, a rhythm. The aim of the MC (the rapper, the lyricist) is to write a rhyming poem that is rhythmic using the beat as a guide. And the last element that makes it art instead of some commercial trash is to add personal meaning without regard to whether your words will sell to the public or not.
My introduction to underground hip hop will be emulated in this introduction. The first track I ever listened to and that got me into it at the same time was Immortal Technique, Dance with the Devil from his album Revolutionary Volume 1:
(Lyrics in vid. give it a listen!)
Summary:
It is a story of a boy who lives in the projects/ghettoes of the USA. He is influenced by a materialist capitalist culture around him and aspires to gain wealth by whatever means. After tipping of the police himself his respect is lost and tries to regain it. He sees a market for cocaine dealing (hence the Scarface reference) and when he expresses his wish to join a gang they make him go through the process of initiation into their “crew”, that being the raping and killing of a woman to prove his willingness and loyalty. After assaulting a woman (covering her head with a shirt so she cannot see the criminals) and raping her he takes of the shirt and finds out its his own mother. An epiphany like moment approaches him and he realizes the wrongs he has committed, the corruption that defiled his moral sense and so he jumps off the roof and kills himself.
This is a story telling piece and has a conveniently simple flow. Notice how whenever the artist ends with the rhyme the drum in the beat taps and that is because he is “in flow” with the beat. There are various ways this could be done and this is one of the most basic.
“He was fascinated by material objects” This line is quite significant in the first verse, and it jumps out at me. Why? because we, all of us in the West, live in a primarily materialist society. We are always bombarded with advertisements and images and here is this very common feature capturing the eye of a budding opportunist; it is the beginning of corruption.
The chorus reads:
Everyone trying to be trife never face the consequences You probably only did a month for minor offences Ask a nigga doing life if he had another chance But then again there’s always the wicked that knew and advanced Dance forever with the devil on a cold cell block But thats what happens when you rape, murder and sell rock Devils used to be gods, angels that fell from the top There’s no diversity because we’re burning in the melting pot
It describes those who aspire to be criminals for the sake of wealth. Of course they will not literally dance with a horned creature inside their cell, it is just a metaphor for their state of being. To dance with, and conform to a devil. The dark side of us. Devils being angels in the past is most likely a reference to the Bible, but no diversity of what? No diversity of purity, no “people” or “race” is pure. Every nation and ethnicity has people that have been corrupted, we are all in the melting pot of our own nature.
The rest is descriptive and active, using “rain” to set a dark mood. Words like “dragged” and “ripped” during the scene where “Billy” the protagonist is assaulting the woman with his friends. But near the end after all of that I was touched by another piece of amazing art within the words:
“She looked back at him and cried, cause he had forsaken her
She cried more painfully, than when they were raping her”
The spiritual and emotional pain of her son betraying her is greater than the physical pain she endured during the assault, and part of that mind you is having her jaw broken. Just afterwards:
“And crying out to the sky cause he was lonely and scared
But only the devil responded, cause god wasn’t there
And right then he knew what it was to be empty and cold
And so he jumped off the roof and died with no soul”
God is not literally not there, but it is used to symbolise the absence of morality after such corruption had taken hold of the protagonist. It leaves him with an empty and cold feeling, and eventually self destruction. A soul in this sense is the moral compass where someone describes as “soulless” is evil and ruthless.
“And listen cause the story that I’m telling is true
Cuz I was there with Billy Jacobs and I raped his mom too” Don’t worry, the artist himself didn’t actually commit this crime, but it is to add a dramatic effect, a personal feel of experience of this corruption which supports what comes after:
“The devil grows inside the hearts of the selfish and wicked
White, brown, yellow and black colour is not restricted
You have a self destructive destiny when your inflicted
And you’ll be one of gods children that fell from the top
There’s no diversity because we’re burning in the melting pot
So when the devil wants to dance with you, you better say never
Because the dance with the devil might last you forever”
This refers back to his chorus and the suicide being self destructive. The last line is where it leaves off on a cold note; could forever mean after death? is what the artist hints at here. This devil that is following people around and dancing is not what we think of the devil, it is within us, it grows in our hearts which could also refer to our soul.
RT @hazemhayatli: #edl hitting the streets of london causing fear. Not all Muslims are terrorists and not all English people are #EDL http:… - posted 2 days ago
