Letters – a poem

Background 

“A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.” – Josef Stalin 

It was when I was walking down the train tracks that ran right through Auschwitz concentration camp that the realization came. It was a November evening, with the fog pressing thick on all sides and a cold that cut through to the bone. We were all carrying candles in memory of those who died in the camp; Jews, communists, political dissidents, Russian prisoners of war, homosexuals, gypsies, Slavs and any other group of people.

The little lights hovered in front and behind me as many of us were walking our own pace. The wooden towers still stood, the barbed wire fences still stood, and I wondered how many victims were plodding along the platform that was still standing by the tracks. I wondered who was deciding every individual’s fate; either worked to death or straight to the gas chambers.

And then it hit me. The person who decided their fate was a human being. Every guard, every builder, every politician, every single person that was involved in this horror, in the horror of the holocaust, was a human being. A person.  That the power of ideas and convictions can affect us so is chilling enough. If these people had never been indoctrinated and brainwashed, than what could they have been instead of just simply being instruments of a genocide?

And so I dedicate this poem to all the soldiers of war. No, I do not consider them “heroes”, and especially not those at the concentration camps. I consider them people like any other, caught in the tides of fate and so I look at them with pity, and not with awe. And this poem is not referring to any particular war, although it was inspired by the trench warfare of the first world war.

Letters 

It is with a grieving heart
That I write this letter
May my hands never fall apart
For they are in earnest prayer

Only God can save me
From the coming disaster
Ordered to attack the enemy
Charging trenches and rafters

Swords and muskets at the ready
No hope to survive
Fighting for King and Country
And ready to die…

…Except I am not
O’ Lord have mercy!
Spare my children your wroth
And bestow upon them your safety

As for my beautiful wife
Show her kindness
For she was the bearer of life
In this darkness

From the life carried in her womb
And the one she carries in her heart
From cradle to tomb
Beneath the never ending stars

O’ Lord of all
It is quaint
I did not ask to be born
With these restraints

Deeper than mortal wounds
Is our greed
That we stumble through life
Forever in need
No matter our wealth
…All must bleed

And so,
Over I go into the throes of war
From the comfort of home
Amidst blood and gore
Over I go, over I go
Into the throes of war

The warmth of the embrace
From my children
Shall be replaced
By the blood from wounds bleeding

Tonight I shall not sleep
Besides the warmth of my wife
I shall be buried deep
In the mud, in the earth…devoid of life

To my loving wife, from her loving husband – Soldier no. 288756

 

 

Motherhood – In honour of International Women’s Day

Background

I think that for international women’s day, this poem would be very suitable. I wrote this in honour of my own mother, Amal Hayatli, a long time ago. And what was important about her past is that it showed me that there is no reason for losing hope. When I was younger, I was infected with Orientalism. I believed that we, the Arab people, had no hope for peace or creating any sort of just equality simply because of who were were, and I thought we were chaotic, barbaric and just different.

 

But my mother and all of her friends (and comrades) of her days as a refugee in Lebanon has destroyed these stereotypes with a single stroke. She was part of a respected women’s union, as well as a supporter of Fatah. She and her friends ensured that women would be at least respected, even if they faced difficulties. She believed in education and never shied way from reading the likes of Lenin and Marx.

 

One of her best friends is an Arab Christian by birth. Someone of a totally different faith. While the media would have you believe that for some reason we won’t get along, they practically grew up together, and quite possibly saved each other’s lives. Together and with many others, they witnessed the horrors of the Lebanese civil war from 1975, and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 as the civil war was still dragging along. We still see her to this day when we visit Palestine, and she still is one of the most lively people I have met, her name is Shadia Helou.

 

Motherhood

 

Environments mould you with invisible hands

So what did they do in refugee camps?

Your stories are like windows to a different world

Where the brave die young and the wise die old

A place that is colourful yet poverty stricken

Squashed together by concrete buildings

There were reasons to be happy, but more for sorrow

And if that wasn’t enough there were wars to follow

 

 

Environments mould you with a single breath

So what did they do when they puff out death?

Every now and then I sit by your side

As you fire off names of those who died

Quicker than bombs, bullets and flares in the sky

Late night incursions and panicking cries

You even saw people being ripped to shreds

One moment living, another moment dead

You told me when you had a fear of planes

When your group was bombed in your active days

Yet you pulled through; worked and survived

And without this I wouldn’t be alive

 

Environments mould you with a single swipe

So what did they do when they struck you with life?

I know you were a teacher and a vigorous fighter

But I think you’re best as a caring mother

Baby to child, almost a fully grown man

And I am glad to be raised by your hands

I was not only moulded by your warm embrace

It’s also the blinding heat of the problems we face

 

A salute to you for fighting to be free

And another for giving birth to me

The people of Gol’em – a poem and a tale

This is a purely fictional story, taking inspiration from Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and a whole lot of other things! It is a tale in the form of a poem, and I hope to continue it with many more parts to come…

 

The People of Gol’em

In the time before time lived a being
Nothing but existing; suspended in the void
Not seeing, not feeling, it wasn’t created
Nor shall it be destroyed

In it’s timeless state it stirred, it’s mind unfurled
Behold, Order and Chaos spilled forth!
Floating in the aether; no shape or form

Until they clashed, and a half of the void was torn apart
In its place a million, million stars
Celestial bodies, twisting and burning with flame
Bound on the battlefield of this mortal plain

The war between Order and Chaos raged
And from this eternal struggle, the Earth was made
Blood spilled from their strife
And mixed creating life
On the surface of this trivial grain

Beasts burst from the Earth as trees
The rains gave birth to the creatures of the seas
The winds that drifted by awakened the creatures of the sky

Order gave life, Chaos gave death
And they intertwined to create a cycle
As rhythmic as your breath

From within the dust formed hundreds of lifeless husks
Fashioned by mysterious hands
They were struck with the breath of life
Behold, the creation of woman and man!

This humanity rose, and a Voice said unto them
“From this day forth, you shall be known as the people of Gol’em
Order has birthed you, Chaos shall take you
And from your seeds shall rise the nations of men
You shall wander the Earth evermore
And you shall have the power to love, and to wage war
You shall be of different shapes and colours
And that is a blessing, for like the fruits of the trees
You shall invoke a vibrant word
But mark my words
Even with this wisdom and warning
You will sacrifice your health and chase all the wealth
Alas, it is of no use where I await you in the void”

Scatter they did, and their numbers did grow
Generations would come and go
Until the blood started to flow as they split into their tribes and clans
They were no longer the people of Gol’em
Behold this rabble of woman and man!

Time passed in a torrent as mighty nations were forged
Yet for Order, Chaos and their eternal fight
They dwindled out of sight
As sparks among the clashing of swords

The being of the void watched his children, and his children’s children
In the ocean of time, it glimpsed humanity’s end
As well as it’s beginning…

Journey to Jenin – A poem I preformed

The hills rolled by like waves frozen in time
Dear Palestine
I sigh at the mention of your name, for it is the enigma of my mind
Many a civilization rose and fell
And it is just ourselves and ruins that have been left behind

And the powers still rise to this very day
This time, it is the settlements that eat your hills away
I see them now, high walls and red roof tops
Followed by gates, checkpoints and signs that tell me to “stop”
The message is clear, I’m no longer welcome here
These places house fanatics, and I’m not talking Al-Qaeda
But American Jews, dreaming of Judea and Samaria
Living in the Biblical era
They walk around with their Uzis and M-16s
Shouting in Hebrew, “mauvit l’Aravim!”
“Death to the Arabs” – that’s what it means

I stop my thought to find that we approach Jenin
A city green with life, of stone and mortar like any other
Only it is known as “the capital of suicide bombers”
Just another corner of history
Which makes the holy land the unholy to me
We are horrified by their ability to take innocent lives
But I think of how they lost the will to live
And gained the will to die
Desperate men who lost sisters, brothers, fathers and mothers
And then got preyed on by shady vultures
Saying “if you die for our cause, your family will never go without bread”
The choice becomes theirs, to watch their families starve
Or to embrace death
“Never mind” the bullets, bombs and bulldozers they faced
What they had was by no means an ignorant hate

And within a house in Jenin I saw a portrait
A son and a mother, both shot dead by an Israeli sniper
And I say in my head “O’ Palestine, you drink too much blood and not enough water”
Four year old child or fully armed soldier
You drink it all the same
Arab, Jew or the blood of any other
And I saw graves where this blood bore fruit
On the walls a sombre question, “what did we do?”
It was in Jenin’s refugee camp, I remember now
Of how the homes were once bulldozed into the ground

I dwelled a while before we continued our journey
To a friend’s newly built home, with beautiful scenery
At the balcony, I stared North into the distance
For just beyond that hill over there lay Tiberius
The Sun set in the East and rose in the West countless times
Until I was back to that fateful day
In 1948 when my family was driven away
My grandfather had just finished a home by the lake of Galilee
And I know that it is a place I may never see
I pictured all of them going to Lebanon and Syria
Among the mass expulsion, war and hysteria

To some, a war of independence, to us a catastrophe
Pride makes enemies
When it concerns race or nationality
That powers that be intervene, and interests meet
The boot stamps down on the neck of the weak
I’m tempted to simply say “such is the way”
Yet I persist in repeating “not today, not today”

And the enigma remains, Palestine, why can’t I let it go?
Why is it that people lust for you so?
And a gentle breeze took me back to the present
My journey, just for now, had ended

A poem that I preformed at Catweazle – The Children of Ishmael

The Children of Ishmael lived in the desert

Hot and barren, empty and arid

Unlike the Sassanid

Who had the snow capped mountain and the Fertile Crescent

Unlike the Egyptians who would crush beatles to bits

And use their blood to stain their lips

But they did have camels; beasts who would float through the sand

And take them away to further lands

But with all the trading, buying and selling

Nothing grew in their home, but for sand and stone

To fulfill the human need of expression

 

Brutally beautiful desert aside

There was one thing that filled them with pride

It was their tongue, rich in sounds almost alive

As sharp as the scimitars by their sides

Or soft as the shades,

They were bent like iron into poems and tales

Like all peoples, they had their time

Conquering Persia and the Byzantines

They spread from China to Andalusian Spain

And they adopted the music and geometric shapes in part

But close to their heart, remained the power of the word as Art

For what kind of God swears an oath by the falling of the stars?

That is what they believed He said to them in their Qur’an

King, Sultan, servant or slave

They dropped to their knees everyday and put their heads upon the ground to pray

Reciting verses of rhythm and rhyme

That spoke of beauty and the beginning of time

Their very scripture, an anthology of poetry

A spiritual guidance and a moral philosophy

 

They were as one, submitting to the divine

Each a slave, knowing of a certain time where they shall taste death

Drawing breath

And entering an afterlife

They sought knowledge, translating ancient works

That may have been lost forever to the world

Why is it that we know

Of Aristotle and Plato?

Of Hippocrates and Galen

And the very idea of medicine?

 

And so the wheel turns, time comes and goes

The light of which I have spoken is now but an afterglow

Like embers, living or dying, there is no way to know

If the wind of fate blows then it shall burn again

But if it stands still then it shall be the end

And as aged men, they reminisince of the Golden Age,

as if they were the good ol’ days

And in all honesty, I see nothing but decline and pain

To think I gave too much praise is missing the point

I am merely showing you the other side of a coin

A coin old and rusted, by the Ocean of the Media

Almost engulfing it, in it’s agenda

In giving different perspectives I challenge narratives

And that, my fellows, is but one duty of the artists…

M9 – Spiritual scrolls – the rapid imagery technique

So I found a new UK hip-hop group to listen to, one friend recommended them a long time ago but I have not really checked them out properly until now.

Asides from purely appreciating the lyricism and effort an artist or artists put into a track, one can also pick up on techniques that have been used. In the case of Melanin 9′s (Or M9′s) work, the track Spiritual Scrolls  (video below):

Now for those who read a lot, you most likely came across a passage written by an author which is made up of short and abrupt sentences. If each sentence is descriptive then it will produce the effect of time moving fast or of a collage of images inside your head which relate to one theme.

This track features something similar. If you go to 35 seconds in, these lyrics follow:
Gods locked in the morgues
Glocks to your jaws
Coppers watching from their choppersSitting in the cockpit door
The clock hits four when feds lick the locksmith’s door

The rest has after has been a little hard to catch (I am trying though). But these short lines describe a dark, dystopian reality of the underworld. To say “Gods locked in the morgues”, I think, is a poetic way of simply saying that morality is collapsing, a place where people do anything just to get what they want; selfish materialism that blinds the soul.

If I happen to write lyrics once again, then this is a technique that I will definitely consider using, but it remains to be seen whether I will be good enough.

Immortal Technique – the Martyr

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!

Immortal Technique’s toast to the dead

Well it has been rumoured that Immortal Technique has a new album coming out called The Martyr (not surprised by the name choice). I thought he had something called the Middle Passage coming out instead, but whatever!

Anyway, one of his supposedly leaked songs is a toast to the dead which I fell in love with because it is just one of those pieces which doesn’t just impress with its lyrics but also his performance of it. But without further ado, here is the video followed by the lyrics and then my take on them:
note: despite it being “leaked” (maybe he did it on purpose, he did it before) I would like to really encourage you to buy his music and support him if you have the money that is. If not, then at least contemplate on what he has to say. This music is not just to sell, but its a message. 

[Chorus]
Rest in Peace
Here’s another warriors song, rep this life to the fullest
Mothafucka, say yo’ prayers!
For brothers who died from black-on-black violence
Rest in Peace
You ain’t payin’ respect when you’ ‘spose to
Rep this life to the fullest
Rest in Peace
This ain’t for y’all, this’ a toast to them
Rest in Peace

[Immortal Technique - Verse 1]
Here’s a toast to the dead
If you don’t drink, smoke to the head
For the freedom fighters killed by the feds
For those who died hard in the streets soaking in red
And died slow asleep in a dream choking in bed
Here’s a toast to the dead for my enemies that are gone
I’m not a coward so, celebrating that would be wrong
I pray to God that your soul will come back again
So I can see you in the next life and finish it then
A toast to the dead for criminals, burning in hell
I wonder how many presidents are burning as well
Emperors, Popes, Senators, Generals
Amputees feelin’ unlucky until they see the vegetables
A toast to the dead for those who are forgotten
Written out of the history by the corrupted and rotten
Black saints whitewashed during La Reconquista
Thousands of Indios Spaniards used to conquer the Incas
F-ck a moment of silence! I need a moment of violence!
Like the nineteenth century Caribbean Islands
Long live those who came before, that paved the way for me
The warriors and scientists that came before slavery
And if that last lyric was predictable
Take your clairvoyance and apply it to your life in the physical
Presumptuous half-hearted homunculus
Self-destruction is the power without knowing what the function is

[Chorus]

[Immortal Technique - Verse 2]
Here’s a toast to the dead, for all of my fam
I will never let an idea die with a man
My rhymes are like Nazca lines designed to give a view-of-this
J.Dilla’s still alive as long as his music is
A toast to the dead for rap legends and pioneers
Your legacy won’t be forsaken as long as I am here
Knowledge of the past and, wisdom of the present
I’ll teach and leave in the hands of a worthy lieutenant
A toast to the dead, for children with cancer and aids
A cure exists and you probably, could have been saved
Sad to see, medicine divorce morality
Corporate homewreckers, pimpin’ up a salary
A toast to the dead, for those that’ve died today
The victims and those exonerated by DNA
The only thing worse than giving freedom to the guilty
Is killing the innocent, and leavin’ your soul filthy
Immortal Technique, remember me when I’m gone
I encrypted my lyrics to stay alive in a song
So you’ll always keep a piece, of my spirit inside
But some of you, won’t survive the changes the earth makes
Swallowed by tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes
And that’s just the first stage of ‘you-can-not-reverse-ways’
And realise that we are one, regardless of our birthplace

[Chorus]

First of all, I wish I knew where the lines in the chorus were sampled from, but I don’t, I may ask around to see if anyone knows.
“Here’s a toast to the dead
If you don’t drink, smoke to the head”
I don’t know if I am looking too deeply, but as soon as I heard that second line I got the impression that Immortal Technique is showing an awareness of Islam as a respectable religion (Muslims do not drink any alcohol as part of their practice), he has mentioned it a lot before in good light.

“Here’s a toast to the dead for my enemies that are gone
I’m not a coward so, celebrating that would be wrong”
This made me think about a recent event and that is the killing of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Despite many people openly celebrating his death, I felt uncomfortable in doing so. Now I am not saying that I am not a coward, but is not celebrating death bringing you down to a lower level? I believe that war, no matter how necessary it appears to be, is something to be mourned and not glorified.

“A toast to the dead for criminals, burning in hell
I wonder how many presidents are burning as well
Emperors, Popes, Senators, Generals
Amputees feelin’ unlucky until they see the vegetables”
Well, he won’t be Immortal Technique if he wasn’t controversial would he? The second line in this quoted part is said in a very powerful and defined way, really made me feel his anger. The amputees are most likely referring to those who are war veterans and the vegetables are of course others who just live off life support machines.

“A toast to the dead for those who are forgotten
Written out of the history by the corrupted and rotten
Black saints whitewashed during La Reconquista
Thousands of Indio-Spaniards used to conquer the Incas”
I admit that I am ignorant of what the La Reconquista, I am guessing its the reconquest of Moorish Spain by the Spaniards against the Islamic empire there, but that is part of what is so wonderful about this, it makes people want to find out, want to learn. The Indio-spaniards are the majority of the Latino-Americans today who were born as a result of the rape of many South American natives by the Spanish colonists. The Incas were just one native tribe to the region.

“And if that last lyric was predictable”
He is aware of what he is writing, he is showing self reflection and he knows how much he seems to repeat himself, and that is vital to being a good artist.

“J.Dilla’s still alive as long as his music is”
J.Dilla (who I think is the producer of this beat) passed away (R.I.P) and this line expresses the idea of what I call legacy-theory, that people live in through their legacies, be it their children or music or whatever work they leave behind (maybe even inventions!).

“The only thing worse than giving freedom to the guilty
Is killing the innocent, and leavin’ your soul filthy”
This reminded me of a study we did on Plato once, where he explained that the person who commits injustice should be mourned more so than the victim, for their soul has suffered irreparable damage. I loved the flow of this line, immaculate.

“A toast to the dead, for children with cancer and aids
A cure exists and you probably, could have been saved”
and
“When you struggle to complete what I started before I died”
When I heard the first two lines I just thought that he was referring to his belief in the theory that there is a cure for AIDs that exists, but the medicine industry doesn’t want it released because they will stop making money from the drugs which just deal with the symptoms and that has a higher profit margin. Anyway, if you notice the second line it gives the impression that this is far in the future after he is dead, so maybe it was just a glimpse in the future or self reflection when he is on his deathbed.

“And realise that we are one, regardless of our birthplace”
I am a huge fan of this kind of thinking, and it was an amazing way to end it all…

Indeed, we are one regardless of our birthplace.

The difficulties in performing hip-hop

If you have read any of what I had written on here before, then you would have probably guessed that I was into hip-hop at least a little bit, well enough to write my own lyrics. However, I did go as far as to perform a couple of times, and it really really is harder than it looks.

One of my friends was supposed to be performing on that day since it was the “official” last day of school, but he had an exam so (surprisingly enough) he told the head of our sixth

form that I should be a suitable replacement.

So I seized the opportunity and agreed to it without much thought, and before I knew it I found myself on stage with another friend of mine who is a good beat producer and one hell of a beat boxer (yep he was supplying the beat 

with his own vocal cords!):

I am the one in blue here, and the first thing I thought when I saw this picture of myself performing is probably the same thing you are thinking…what the hell am I doing with my right hand? What is that gesture? Family and friends have told me that I am a very gesturing person when I talk, I make a lot of actions and gestures that I am barely aware of, now I don’t know if that is good or bad, but I do know that it can be comical!

The first thing I performed was an a capella, which is a rhythm and poetry piece without any beat (similar to deaf poetry). Some did not really know that a thing existed and looked confused as I noticed, but they settled in. The piece was of quite a serious nature concerning war and suffering which made the atmosphere a whole lot more solemn, but I made sure to liven it up again!

When I got up there, and realized everyone will be staring at me and my friend I felt nervous (obviously), my heart basically would just not stop beating fast and I was a little shaky, and here is what was really hard to do:
1. Being animated – asides from those silly gestures I really had a hard time being animated and lively or moving about. I felt really stiff and was unsure of how to act, especially since the audience were not all very hip-hop orientated (there were teachers there after all!)  and I didn’t know if I was good or not. I mean, imagine if I was shockingly bad, then I would not move a muscle and spare everyone in the same room some humiliation.

2. Speaking/rapping with confidence – You know what everyone says about hearing their own voice when recorded? They hate it! And I do too! But even worse is hearing it played back as you speak live so that kind of threw me off a little, nevertheless I carried on and went ahead with it. I also have a very deep voice and it was just pure weirdness hearing that voice rapping like that…

3. Breath control - There is a reason that I made this one bold, and that is because it is a big problem for me. We take breathing as a subconscious process for granted, but when you rap and try to keep in rhythm with the beat you have to consciously breathe at times just so you won’t sound like you are being strangled. But I find that as you get better with writing and practising, the rhythm will start to fit in with breathing pattern and remembering to breathe and rapping can be done simultaneously.

Reflecting on that strange day, I think my performance was really really bad despite what a lot of my friends say. It is just one of those things that you can’t believe went well, nevertheless it has made me more determined to practice and practice and take on performing once again!

Oh and if you want to know what I performed, it was this piece mainly which was also written by me.

Peace and love!

The Lyricists #2

Hello people, and welcome to the second issue of the lyricists, an article promoting not simply literature as an art form, but lyricism which is just one of many fields in literature. And focusing on unknown individuals.  Today, I want to look at the work of  from deviant art (click the picture!).

First up is a piece called Imagination

Now this really caught my eye as a set of hip-hop lyrics. The first reason is because it mentioned homosexuality in a very positive light, and not just that but a revolutionary one too. When one listens to mainstream rap and even some underground stuff we are used to hearing words like “faggot” in derogatory terms. The fact that this piece does the exact opposite of what we are used to is evidence in itself that the artist is expressing themselves and part of their own life; this is what art really is.

“imagine Bill Henrickson havin’ three husbands
and three wives to round it all off, actor musta been
a practicin’ bi-sexual, highly intellectual”
I loved this part in particular, and no I did not know who Bill Henrickson actually is. The reason I love this section is the flow and the rhyme scheme, and the love for things like this comes from listening to a lot of hip hop. I can almost imagine the flow here.

And on to the second piece which has been called End of Days remix

The first thing I noticed was a hint of sweet rebellion and that is something I can’t resist. The reference to slaves in the beginning is metaphorical of course, the artist isn’t talking about someone behind visible bars but something more profound.
“you really thought Icarus was just a metaphor?
it’s obvious, like how a Muslim’s dinner plate is never pork“
A very clever rhyme to use, and as a Muslim my self I smiled at the second line here 

“I used to [censored] around with Valium and Oxycontin“

It is refreshing to see drugs represented negatively in hip-hop. The artist touched on a very big topic here, especially since mental illness is on the rise in Western countries especially with depression.

Now I know that some people who happen to read this will be put off by the second piece because (especially the chorus) is associated with “conspiracy theories” even though the artist makes it clear that they don’t believe in the Illuminati or anything like that. I would like to mention that at times it is worth to be open minded and to think…what is so far fetched about powers with converging interests to meet behind closed doors? Because that is all what conspiracy means.

It was very much a pleasure to read some nice works of flow and rhyme and I hope that ~irapandstuff will be very successful in the future with their work 

And now for some Q and A! 

Q – What got you into writing lyrics/hiphop in general?
It’s kind of a funny story, actually. When I was 8th grade Asher Roth was starting to get really famous, and some people I knew didn’t like him because we felt like we could make better music than him. Anyway, one friend of mine said that “If Asher Roth gets famous, I’m gonna become a rapper, because if he can do it, I can do it!” That friend isn’t actually gonna be a rapper, but everything flowed naturally from there for me.

Q – What would you say is the central message of these pieces and does it relate to your personal life?
Those pieces you selected are basically as close to spreading a positive message as I get. “Imagination” for sure relates to my personal life because I’m a transgirl and a hip-hop artist, so that was sort of me trying to reconcile those two aspects of myself. The remix of “End of Days” is basically about my spiritual beliefs, actually. I’m not religious, and I don’t really believe in the whole Cult of the Illuminati that controls rap, but I have a lot of faith in the power of belief. My producer OhShnaps said one time “We would be able to fly, were it not for airplanes” and I think that about sums the theme of that one up.

Q – What are your goals then?
3.Well, I’ve got the just having fun part down pat, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wanna be famous. Basically, this is a good way for me to express myself and spread the messages I’d like to spread, and I’m actually recording, I even have a mixtape out. My whole life plan is kinda based around music, honestly. If I can’t get off the ground in some musical career I don’t know what I’m gonna do.

Q – Who inspires you to write what you write?
4.Inspiration usually comes from a few different places. One is where I’m just kicking around ideas with my friends and we like one and say “Let’s do that, let’s make that into a song.” Sometimes I feel compelled to say something about a big issue, or what I believe is a big issue. But a lot of the time I’m just having fun writin’ lyrics and then I record it, or I’ll have some idea for a really great line just come down from Pluto and then I have to use it.

I hope this has gained some views and exposition and I hope some people have been introduced to lyricism as an art form!