C’est un trou de verdure où chante une rivière Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons D’argent ; où le soleil, de la montagne fière, Luit : c’est un petit val qui mousse de rayons.
Un soldat jeune, bouche ouverte, tête nue, Et la nuque baignant dans le frais cresson bleu, Dort ; il est étendu dans l’herbe, sous la nue, Pâle dans son lit vert où la lumière pleut.
Les pieds dans les glaïeuls, il dort. Souriant comme Sourirait un enfant malade, il fait un somme : Nature, berce-le chaudement : il a froid.
Les parfums ne font pas frissonner sa narine ; Il dort dans le soleil, la main sur sa poitrine Tranquille. Il a deux trous rouges au côté droit.
Octobre 1870 Arthur Rimbaud
The Sleeper in the Valley
It is a green hollow where a stream gurgles, Crazily catching silver rags of itself on the grasses; Where the sun shines from the proud mountain: It is a little valley bubbling over with light.
A young soldier, open-mouthed, bare-headed, With the nape of his neck bathed in cool blue cresses, Sleeps; he is stretched out on the grass, under the sky, Pale on his green bed where the light falls like rain.
His feet in the yellow flags, he lies sleeping. Smiling as A sick child might smile, he is having a nap: Cradle him warmly, Nature: he is cold.
No odour makes his nostrils quiver; He sleeps in the sun, his hand on his breast At peace. There are two red holes in his right side.
October 1870 Arthur Rimbaud, age 16, approx 40 years before WWI
Let me introduce you, friend, to the true face of hip hop music.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- what slips many people's minds is that 'hip hop' does not only refer to a music genre. like all good researchers do, I shall now refer to Wikipedia and quote faithfully: "Hip hop's four main elements are rapping, DJing, graffiti writing and breakdancing." Hip hopis a cultural movement; hip hop music is what you hear on the radio.
Or at least, that's what you think it is.
If you had read my fluff entry, you'd know my thoughts on (and embarrassing vices of) mainstream music. 50 cent and Snoop Dogg aren't 'fluff', but they subscribe to the same ideals fluff does. For example, marketing strategies to generate the most sales are prioritised over the music itself. This results in the same freaking songs produced every same freaking time. For example (to be rapped to a steady beat): "All mah homies in da club/we gone bring this shit down/I like it when you do that shorty/lemme XXXXX you shorty" and other embarrassing shit like that.
You'd be surprised how many hip-hop artists are ashamed of their 'colleagues'. The only one I can think of who went mainstream was Nas. Rapped his heart out to a genius organ-bass sampling of In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly. Haha. I feel stupid typing this and you feel stupid reading this, so why not listen to it instead.
In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly. Listen to the first twenty seconds to hear the sampling.
Hip Hop is Dead - Nas. Lyrics illustrate his disapproval of the current hip hop scene.
So that was Nas. Went mainstream with his disgust which ironically turns his argument upon himself. While he condemns modern-day commercialised hip hop and their constant allusions to sex, violence and drugs, he's not exactly a Gandhi himself. Seems very violent to me.
That's why I reserve the main point of this post (YES I am a long-winder) for a man and DJ/producer i respect to the ends of the earth, name of Nujabes.
I think I'm correct to say the origins of hip hop came from soul music? Jazz or some sort? Yes, Wikipedia just confirmed it. None of that club rubbish. You certainly hear the jazz/blues influence in Nujabes' music.
Here is one of the more impressive songs in his collection. At first listen, you'll go: "...HUH?" Or: "...ok...." It's not a BANG-impressive song. But man, this song is perfection on all levels. The flowing melody of the guitar - the crazy beat - rapper Cise Starr OUTDOES himself here. His rhythmic timing is...jaw dropping, to me. His choice of lyrics are...mind blowing. The song is wrapped up in this perfect bow and everything fits. You get that real rare nowadays.
In this line you can see a hint of his opposition to mainstream hip hop: "while you're fucking a bitch, i'm making love to my miss" And instead of your gyrating-hips act, we have lyricism! "She's a compilation of my minds representation Of a representative Representing an excellent revelation of time and dedication Never impatient" ...WHO THINKS OF THIS KIND OF THING? Lyrics will do you good
Lady Brown - Nujabes (Feat. Cise Starr) "She smell like a happy birthday on a thursday." This piece is like liquid summer.
And so, in closing, i hope I have opened your eyes, if just a little. While we continue to listen to mainstream hip hop, let's be aware of this little underground movement. I leave you momentarily with words of wisdom from our very own Snoop Dogg:
"I smack up the world if they rude to you (Ehh...) 'Cause baby girl you so beautiful..."
Best lyric-writer, ever. I say this without a hint of sarcasm. Without the slightest hint.
my 20-min-old last.fm radio just flicked to "Crush" by David Archuleta; and I was struck with a momentary soppy, floppy happiness. You know, the kind where you wish with all your heart to eat ice cream after lunch and you're afraid your friends are too full to do so so you shut up and then someone says: I feel like eating ice cream and a *MOMENTARY SOPPY FLOPPY HAPPINESS* hits you. yeah, something like that.
this is a very telling confession, because if YOU, READER, know your cloud-deck administrator well enough, you'd be well aware that she is adverse to Cheesy, Mainstream and Manufactured.
But sometimes anything goes yeah. you abandon your lofty principles for a moment of fluff.
There's something wired in the human being that makes us all susceptible to fluff, though to different degrees. What I mean by 'fluff' is any ready-made, carbon-copied, commercialised thing constructed by a fixed set of laws. Laws that sometimes can go: put a hunk together with a heart-breaking voice, soppy lyrics, pop rhythms and bright chords and you got yourself a winner. (Time to CASH-IN)
Fluff has to be likeable, because it was invented to sell. It works on formula so money-makers can recycle it whenever they wish and ensure continued flow of moolah. Go listen to songs produced for American Idol finalists. Check out "I Believe" by Fantasia Barrino While we're at it let's be patriotic and listen to "I Dream" by Taufik On second thought you can just note their inspring titles.
Let's now analyse "Crush".
We start with piano chords and that weird drum effect thingy which sounds like mechanical humans clapping their hands. When David says: "Ooooooh" you know immediately that this cheese was made to sell. While the piano part is nice enough the lyrics really aren't very good. I should correct myself by saying that the lyrics were written under circumstances that do not support its critical evaluation. It's as though the writers of the song (who are NOT David Archuleta) wrote them with the following mindset: I'm just going to write this so badly that anyone who thinks of criticising it is wasting their time and will look like a goon.
fluff usually has nondescript, bland verses. To illustrate my point I shall give you a personal example. I'm known for being able to recognise titles 3 seconds into the song, or even 3 beats (note 3 beats may take a second to last). When Jamie played this song for me one day I said: "mmph. Nope. Don't know it." Then, came the chorus.
I don't know how these music producers do it, but the choruses of fluff songs are engineered (I say engineered because I sincerely believe the chord progressions are mathematically devised to ensure optimal fiscal returns) in such a way that they lodge themselves in your ears and never come out. I recognised the song immediately and practically bellowed into Jamie's ear that YES I DID KNOW THIS SONG AND YES I DID LOVE IT.
Because I do! After paragraphs of analysis of fluff and the dangers of fluff, ultimately if your ears tell you you like something, then there's no hiding it. The moment our little David launches into the chorus of Crush, a stupid smile just breaks across my face, my eyebrows do some wiggling and there's no taming them.
Be proud of fluff. But only sometimes.
Crush - David Archuleta
P.S. Additionally I admit "I Believe" by Fantasia is not bad at all, but "I Dream" by Taufik is very bad.
P.P.S. I know what I like about this chorus - The ecstatic lift of the melody - The offbeat of the Drums.
we devised a plan for the art shop; something sorely lacking in the past year... until today.
we shall have LOGBOOK. we shall BUY logbook. we shall have TREASURER we must start to pool materials/art resources/mediums, although that builds up progressively we shall have ART MEETING next sun 14 which will be CONSTRUCTIVE -- christmas cards TO BE COMPLETED. (we started on them in year 2007 by the way). oh no guys. i hope my work next week doesn't involve weekends. :( additionally we are to START DESIGNING and begin work on file covers, cloth bags, customised journals and shrinky earrings. don't know what shrinky earrings are exactly. only jun does.
we shall make this art meeting REGULAR. meaning once a week, if not fortnightly.
for your inspiration people, your phrases of the day!:
fluff chortling elephants royal imitation starry elegy cranberry blessing crying lotus fuzzy literature cerulean chorus salad chorus
