#but rhyming is one of the main focuses of rap which i think makes it cooler its more technical and planned which i think is cool | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ramp-it-up · 3 years

Text

Barbie and Ken 202

Pairing: Rafael Casal x Reader

Word Count: 3.3 K

Warnings: 18+ Only, Minors DNI. RPF Back in time, Young Rafa, Poetry, Rap lyrics, Angst, Cheating, lying, mentions of breakup, unprotected sex, Baby Dom Rafa (its so cute) oral sex (F receiving) SMUT. Not Beta’d.

A/N: This is a sequel to In and Out, ( here you are @nissameta1782 😊) and also a response to this ask:

Something with Rafa that is inspired by his song “Bottom Bitch”

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

LA, December 7, 2006

College has a way of focusing you. On what you want to do, but also what you don’t want to do.

After a year and a half away from home, you decided that you didn’t want to go back.

You went to LA, which was both far from the Bay physically and in mindset. You wanted to be brand new.

You joined active organizations on campus, the BSU and the Events Committee. And most importantly, you made the right kinds of friends in the right kinds of places.

Two can be as bad as one, it's the loneliest number since the number one

You also found a boyfriend who always paid. He was helping to host the Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam that the UCLA Events Committee was hosting that evening.

“You and Stephen are so annoyingly sweet. I’m gonna get a cavity just being in the same room with you two.”

You smiled brightly at your roommate. You felt the same way, but you wouldn’t admit it.

“Well, Stephen will be able to help you with that. He will be applying to dental school in the fall.”

Michelle rolled her eyes again and made a gagging motion with her finger in her mouth as she called the hotel to make lodging arrangements for the talent, which was her job as VP of the Events Committee.

Michelle was blunt, but never wrong, and she always had your back. Which was perfect since you were her President.

Stephen came up to you and Michelle as you stood outside the Student Union. He held up a flyer for the event.

“Say, this one guy here.”

You groaned internally as you saw who he was pointing at.

“It says he’s from Berkley.”

Your mind was whirling as he asked.

“Aren’t you from that area? Berkeley’s right there next to Oakland isn’t it?”

You took a deep breath. “Yeah. It’s all the Bay.”

“So, do you know that dude, the Casal dude?”

You looked him in the eyes. Might as well tell the truth.

“Yeah, I do.”

But you were my main girl and I was your man

“Oh, wow.” Stephen snickered. “You are almost a celebrity. Do you think he’d give you an autograph? Better yet, write a poem and sign it? An easy one, like a haiku?”

You flinched at his obtuseness.

“Haiku aren’t necessarily easy just because they are short, Stephen, and… Rafa might be all poetry’d out.”

You looked at Stephen. “You know, performing it all over the country and stuff.”

The thing was, some of his poetry was already about you. You’d followed him on YouTube once you found out that he would be performing. If you cared, it would made you feel some kinda way.

But you didn’t care.

Stephen nodded thoughtfully.

“Yeah, you’re right. He’s probably sick of rhyming all the time.” He laughed. “Get it? I rhymed…”

You were not amused or entertained, especially at MIchelle who was silently cracking up behind him.

“So ‘Rafa,’ huh? Do you know him well?”

You decided to tell Stephen a little white lie. It was for his own good.

You nodded your head slowly.

“Yeah, you could say that. We hung out.”

You never lied and I remember that shit girl

When Rafa gained the stage you were transfixed. He was there, holding everyone under his spell. You watched him with a mixture of pride and sadness. You missed him.

And when he performed that one poem, the one about you, the tears rolled down your face. The events of that poem ended things between you definitively; you didn’t have to look for an excuse.

You put that life behind you and you just wanted to start over.

You sat there, deep in your feelings as Rafa rifled through your darkest secrets.

When I hated all the rich kids cause they'd never be broke

You watched as Rafael came straight for you through the crowd. And he didn’t say a word, he just picked you up to spin you around. He wasn’t letting go and soon you closed your eyes and went with it, forgetting that anyone else was around.

“Hey Baby GIrl.”

“Hey, yourself, Rafael. You look good. As always.”

Stephen cleared his throat.

��Oh!”

You’d forgotten he was there.

“I didn’t mean to be rude, let me introduce you. Rafael Casal of Def Poetry Jam, this is Stephen Booker, UCLA. Stephen, Rafael.”

They stared each other down, pheromones about to make a show. You cleared your throat.

“Rafael is an old… friend, Stephen, and Rafael, Stephen is my….”

“Man. I’m her man.”

Stephen’s chest was swole and he was standing tall at his full height, a couple inches taller than Rafa.

Oh, shit.

Rafa chucked his chin up and went to give Stephen some dap. He awkwardly responded, not knowing what exactly to do.

Rafael covered a laugh with a cough and then stood back, looking at you and Stephen from a distance.

“Y’all do make a nice couple. The perfect picture. Barbie and Ken.”

Stephen, who had not been paying attention at all, beamed. He gazed down at you as you looked up at him, smiling but shaking your head at the statement that Rafa was making.

Ass.

Stephen responded. “Yes, we do look good together, don’t we? I think we could be iconic, like Ken and Barbie.”

“Yeah, you’d get an A+. You two look like you been studying up.”

The conversation was polite on the surface, but Rafa was insulting you to your core.

“I don’t know about studying, but she’s practically perfect in every way. We could get her in the gym a little more and work on that polish, but by senior year she should be there.”

You’d heard Stephen say some dumb shit before, but today it hit different. Rafa interrupted your thoughts.

“Oh really? I think she’s dope the way she is. Or, the way she was rather...”

You gave Rafael a withering glare. He returned it, not scared of you. You felt some kinda way.

“See you later, Baby Girl. Maybe we can hook up before we leave, yeah?”

You caught the double entendre in what he said, but Stephen was standing right beside you. You thought you were relieved when Rafa went to mingle.

But it was something else entirely.

Had plenty of random girls, but next to you they were none

You and Rafa orbited each other all night, always keeping each other in your periphery, but never connecting.

Rafael admired you from afar. You were more graceful, poised, grown up. More confident. It looked good on you. Those legs in that little pleated skirt were getting to him. That joker next to you didn’t deserve all that you were.

Rafa got sentimental.

You caught Rafael watching you when you weren’t looking, blatantly ignoring the fact that Stephen was by your side all night.

Once you looked at him, while he was taking to some poetry groupies who were fawning over him, and watched as he simultaneously engaged them in conversation and flirted with you.

You just laughed and shook your head. Rafa hadn’t changed at all. It only made you miss him more.

The end of the night came, and you were closing the student union, part of your job as President of the Events Committee. But of course the night wasn’t over.

Rafael came over to you, Stephen, and Michelle. He had a flyer and was writing something on it.

“So here’s my cell phone number, it’s new.”

Rafael looked pointedly at you, then your companions.

“We’re going to the Whisky tonight. It’ll be a movie.”

Stephen watched you put the flyer In your pocket. Michelle got excited, but Stephen spoke up.

“You don't want to go to West Hollywood. It’s trashy. And that club is mainly rock. I thought you were a hip hop head?”

Rafa stared at Stephen, opened his mouth to speak, then decided better of it and turned to you.

“See you later Baby Girl.” He gave you a hug and whispered in your ear. “Don’t let this be goodbye.”

You just smiled and waved as he walked out the door.

“I see why you wanted to get out of the Bay.”

Stephen was shaking his head.

Your blood was boiling.

Crashed parties and talked about life like we havin' a ball

You told Stephen you were going to bed, but as soon as he kissed you good night, only turned around and went to the Whisky a Go Go with Michelle.

“And that’s the problem, if you feel like you’re sneaking out of your mom’s house to go to a party.” Michelle responded when you told her how you felt.

”You feel like your boyfriend is your mom? That’s gross and so not cool.”

You just watched the road silently out of the window. Maybe she was right.

You arrived and Rafa found you right away. It was just like old times. You got wasted, and then went out for food with the crew to sober up a little. You wound up back at the performer’s hotel.

You walked Rafa into the lobby to say goodbye as Michelle waited in the car for you.

You gave him a long hug and he looked into your eyes as he said goodbye.

“I’m in room 1405 if you want to talk.”

The grin he gave you told you he wanted more than to talk. But you couldn’t do that to Stephen. You just shook your head and smiled.

“Bye, Rafa. Maybe I’ll see you around Christmas in the Town.”

Rafa winked and gave you another hug. Those lips grazed your neck and you could swear that he could feel your nipples through your shirt.

It was 2 in the morning and dangerous. You finally pulled away and walked out the door, looking back at him. He watched until you were out of sight.

As usual.

You walked back out to the car and got in. You rode to campus in silence, playing the scene back in your head.

“You good?”

Michelle looked at you funny. You looked back at her and took a deep breath.

I'm just takin' time to thank you for bein' my number one

You only knocked twice before Rafael pulled you into the room an hour later, barely making it inside before you two started grabbing at each other and tearing at each other’s clothes, both of you pulling each other’s shirts off.

“I knew you’d be back, but you took too fucking long Baby Girl.”

Rafa turned you around toward the bed and took control of your mouth, then kissed from your neck down to your cleavage.

“I’ve been missing the taste of your skin, beautiful. I often wake up with the memory from a dream.”

He could always expertly take your bra off with one hand; it made you wonder how much practice he’d had. But how you’d missed those words of his. They always got you there.

All thoughts of Stephen were gone.

Rafa pushed you back down onto the bed, and pulled your skirt up your waist slowly, trailing his long fingers down your skin.

His eyes took in the skirt around your waist and your white cotton panties and brown skin. He’d imagined fucking you like this all night. His hands lingered on your thighs, teasing you as his fingers stretched toward his goal.

He pulled your thighs open as you stared at him.

“I’ve learned some things too, while we’ve been apart.” Rafa was stroking you outside of your panties now, licking his lips as you watched you squirm. “I like fine dining now.”

That eyebrow and that impish look greeted you when your eyes got wide when you realized what he’d said. Rafael had been too much of a pimp in high school to go down on a girl.

“Shit, Rafa…”

Rafa leaned down and kissed your lips as his hands explored your body, reacquainting himself with your feel. His lips followed his hands, caressing and gripping your nipples and breasts, playing with them roughly, the calluses on his hands giving you extra sensation.

Your body curved into his touch, celebrating your reunion. Your pussy was quivering and flooding your panties, while you bit your lip to keep quiet.

“Let me hear you Baby Girl. Many a night I’ve gotten off to the wisp of a memory of those sounds you make when I make you feel good.”

Finally, finally, Rafa’s fingers reached inside your panties. It brought back a ton of memories, of the first time you let him get to third base, him reaching inside your panties to find you soaked for him.

Rafa chuckled in your ear as he felt you, wet for him as always.

“What? Stephen not putting it down?”

You didn’t respond and you wanted to shut out his words as he started finger fucking you just the way you liked. It had been so long.

He leaned up to look at you and he paused at the look on your face.

“Wait. Don’t tell me that you haven’t given Stephen any?”

You shook your head. Rafa scoffed.

“We’ve messed around a little, but he thinks I’m a virgin. Just… let’s stop talking about him…”

“But.. it’s been almost two years… I figured....” He looked right through you, eyes sparkling.

You huffed and sat up, wrapping your arms around yourself, cold.

“Don’t think I was saving myself for the off chance that I might see you again. I just wanted a new start. You know. After… after what happened.”

Rafa sobered up. What happened destroyed you and him.

“I get it. And I respect it.”

You looked into his sea blue eyes, trying not to drown in them again.

“I’m just glad that you came to my room tonight to share yourself with me again.”

That voice and that little boy smile warmed you. You smiled back.

“Are you gonna bless me, Baby Girl?” His charm was at 110%

You slowly smiled wider and nodded, arms down, leaning forward to kiss him, on fire again as he stroked your breasts.

“You sure?”

“Yes, Rafa… I want you…”

He started tugging on your nipple, your slick causing you to rub your legs together in anticipation.

“Ok. You asked for it.”

Rafa reached down and grabbed your thighs again, planting you on your back and spreading you wide, looking down at your cunt.

“So beautiful Baby Girl.”

He gave it a light kiss as you moaned and grabbed for him. He stood out of his reach as he took off his pants and brought out his dick, stroking it a few times. You made grabby hands for it and he just shook his head at you.

“Be a good girl and hold your legs open for me.”

You shivered at his command. He was what you wanted and what you needed.

You hooked your arms under your knees as Rafa went to his and started kissing up and down your thighs, playing in your slick with his fingers.

You were a moaning, shaking mess when he finally made love to your cunt with his mouth, gentle at first, then licking and sucking at your clit expertly.

You closed your eyes and thanked whoever taught him to do this. It was the shit.

You moved your hands so that you could grab his hair and your thighs wrapped around Rafa’s head. He didn’t mind, because his hands came up to caress your thighs as he continued to eat you out.

When he moaned against your clit, you came, moaning wantonly and causing Rafa to moan and grind his cock into the sheets. He kept sucking as you came, extending the sensation, then he grabbed your hips and flipped you over.

“I.”

Rafa smacked your ass to see it jiggle. Once. Twice.

“Have.”

He lined up with your crease, stroking his wet, fat head against your folds.

“Missed.”

He teased your hole, barely pushing inside.

“Thisssss ssshitttt! Ahhhh. Always so fucking tight.”

When he breached you it was almost painful, Rafa had always been big for you. But he always felt so right, and he was making you wet enough to make it pleasurable. Rafa’s noises caused you to clench around him even more so.

“But I guess, that’s because. It’s still mine?”

You shivered as you tried to deny it. But you couldn’t.

“Ol dude couldn't do this to you. Not like this… Fuck, Baby Girl.”

You threw it back on him as he kept talking.

“No. He can’t."

Rafa grinned as he pulled you by your hair so that he could bring you up against his chest and kiss you. It had never been as intense as this.

You leaned back against him while he grabbed your throat and squeezed. You ground down around him and sucked his finger like it was his cock.

“Ohhh I missed that mouth baby girl. But I had to have this pussy.”

Rafa’s fingers dug into your hip, sure to leave a bruise. But you didn’t care.

“Cum for me Baby Girl. Shit.”

He was trying to stay in control until you came again, but the way you felt around him was almost too much. So he moved his hand down to your clit, and circled it until you detonated, hips shaking uncontrollably around his cock.

Rafa savored it for a second until he pulled out, and you bent over so that he could finish on your ass. The sight caused his cum to spurt out forcefully, and he groaned as he released all over you.

You about passed out, and were awakened by Rafa with a warm washcloth taking care of you. He climbed into the bed and held you until you both knocked out.

A couple of hours later, you started looking for your clothes in the dark.

“Running away again, hunh?”

Rafa was awake, watching you try to escape.

You pulled your shirt on and looked down at your hands, then back up at him.

“I’m not running away. I’m just going back to school. This was never about you and me being a thing again.”

“Nah, it was about you getting your rocks off after two years…”

You stared at Rafa, hurt. You could tell he was too. But then he sighed.

“Come here.”

He stood up, clad only in sweats, and giving you a hug as you buried your head in his shoulder, fighting the urge to cry.

“I can ride back with you in a cab…”

“No, Michelle let me borrow her car. It’s downstairs.”

“Ok. Let me put a shirt on and I’ll walk you.”

He let you go and you finished getting yourself together.

You watched each other across the elevator on the ride down, just smiling at each other. He walked you out into the lobby and toward the concierge. He waited with you for the car. When it pulled up, he hugged you again. You held on tight.

“You were always ride or die. I wanna thank you for that girl. Take care of yourself.”

You looked up at him, smiling.

“Maybe I’ll see you at Christmas?”

Rafa looked off. And now you knew that when he did that he was hiding his own emotion. It always used to irk you.

“Dunno if I’ll be home. But I will see you when I see you. Mad love, girl.”

He smiled and kissed you one last time.

“Love you too, Rafa. See you later.”

You finally let the tears fall when you got into the car. You saw him in the rearview mirror as you drove away.

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

Two can be as bad as one, it's the loneliest number since the number one...

@braidedchallah @theatrenerd86 @sebastianabucknettastan @imatyoursurrvicesurr @riiyy @lonelydance @jbrizzywrites @honeysucklechocolatedrippin @anh1020 @sillyteecup @ohsoverykeri @theselilwonders @biafbunny @summerofsnowflakes @honeysucklechocolatedrippin @wreakhavoconmacroissantdiggs@sillyteecup @ohsoverykeri @theselilwonders @ivycomet @einfachniemand @janthonybitch @curlyhairclub @nikole-witha-k @betterkeepmewetterthanabayou @id-do-it-for-free-babe

#rafael casal #rafael casal x reader #ask dj #rafael casal fanfiction #rafael casal smut #rafael casal imagine #rafael casal ask #rafael casal angst #rafael casal x black reader #young rafa casal #Young Rafa #in and out #Rafael Casal poetry #Rafael Casal music

82 notes · View notes

deltaengineering · 3 years

Text

What remains of Fall Anime 2020

You might have noticed that I haven’t been keeping up with my season impressions, mostly (but not exclusively) because it’s really boring to come up with new ways to say “it’s isekai, which means it’s garbage for stupids”. So here’s what I ended up finishing, in ascending order of goodinosity.

Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima

Ostentatious rap battles in an insanely stupid universe are very fun. The thing is that this doesn’t want to be a good anime, it wants to sell us on these characters, and the characters are pretty terrible on account of all of them being one-word gimmicks. So, let’s give them three rounds of introductions and have them solve lame, generic crimes for 8 episodes instead of setting up the rivalries that everyone suddenly has later, when the show gets good - because it does start delivering towards the end, and becomes really all I wanted. So I can’t even say I’m disappointed, but the first half of the show is almost entirely worthless. 4/10

Assault Lily Bouquet

I don’t want to be the guy that’s all “I’m mad at this show not catering to what I want”, but I do have to say that Salt Bucket is much better at being a goofy, lighthearted yuri comedy than it is at action (though there are a few choice cuts) and at having an engaging storyline. This is again just an ad for some game or other, so it’s no surprise it has about two dozen characters too many, but it also has quite a lot of superfluous plot - so much so that I suspect it was initially planned to be twice as long. Apart from that, it’s cool and all that some Gainax old hand got to make his own Gunbuster-like, but it’s just not very good at that and all I wanted was Kaede antics and bath scenes, of which 1 per episode is clearly too few. 5/10

The King's Avatar 2

King’s Avatar got a sequel and overall I have to say, I kinda like it more than the first season even though it looks much less ambitious and even the character designs were changed towards the bland. But I honestly don’t care much about the esports aspect of this and much of S2, especially in the back half, is more about schemes and social engineering - as close to an Eve Online anime as we’re ever going to get, I guess. It’s still very chinajank (why the hell does every episode come with a redundant chibi summary of itself, etc), and while I can’t call that “good” it does remind me of a time when I wasn’t filled with useless knowledge of anime tropes and was just enjoying the weirdness. Also, Ye God’s antics is as close to “looking for anime with OP MC” as I’m comfortable with getting. 6/10

Heaven Official's Blessing

Now how about some Chinimation that isn’t very janky? I only became aware of Heaven Official’s Blessing when it suddenly rocketed to the top of the MAL charts, so I gave it a looksie and oh boy. The first few episodes of this show are flat out gorgeous, quite funny and very very gay. So I was ready to agree with MAL for once, except it then launches into an arc that mostly consists of our dudes sitting in a dark pit telling each other stories that aren’t very interesting and seem barely related to the setup. Yeah, the back half of this just isn’t very good at all. And the subs are hot garbage. Still, the beginning is so impressive that I would recommend this show despite the middling rating it’s about to get. 6/10

Ochikobore Fruit Tart

You know the problem that these 5girls4koma stories have, where one of the characters is an annoying pervert, yeah? Well, in Fruit Tart every character is that character, and they’re rather cultured as well. Yes, it’s often of questionable taste and it has a terminal case of 4koma storytelling but dammit if I didn’t enjoy it. It certainly helps that this show’s greatest asset by far is Broko and it seems to be aware of this, because there’s a lot of Broko material. It would have probably have gotten a 6 but the last episode is just so... maximum Fruit Tart. I’m down for some trash if it’s as well made as this, and I do like my kiraralikes spicy, so thumbs up over here. YMM definitely V on this one. 7/10

Majo no Tabitabi

Speaking of things that are hard to recommend despite me liking them a lot, Elaina here challenges the very notion of what a TV show even is supposed to be. I assume most people tune in every week expecting to get something roughly similar. Not so with this one, you could get everything from slice of life antics to Higurashi-style gore, or reasonably deep character study to pervert comedy. I would say that the only unifying thread is the presence of Elaina, who is a very fun character, but there’s an episode she’s not in, so there you go. But I’m a connoisseur of the weird and I also have to say that I enjoyed every episode in its own way. Also, each episode stays remarkably consistent by itself, and in the end it wraps it all up with a sort of neat “life is like a box of chocolates” thematic bow, which isn’t earthshatteringly profound but hey, it’s there. Just don’t go in with expectations, especially not expectations based on the first episode. 7/10

Love Live! Nijigasaki

It’s Love Live. Good old reliable Love Live. Really not much to say about this one, any discussion of what makes this different from previous iterations is going to end up in minutiae only people who already watched this could possibly care about. I do have to say that while the musical numbers are as good as Sunshine’s were towards the end and there’s also a lot more of them, “looking budget deficient outside the CG” is the one thing I didn’t expect from something that’s ostensibly a Sunrise premium product. So boo on that one, apart from that it’s idols (an anagram of solid). 7/10

Garupa Pico Oomori

The chibi SD shorts based off Bang Dream are still better than the main show. Even if S3 was actually quite good, this is just the best thing you can do with 30+ characters that aren’t that deep. Garupa Pico specializes in absurd humor setpieces that at points is better at being Pop Team Epic than Pop Team Epic itself was. Take that, memelords. 7/10

Fire Force S2

Fire Force is just weird, man, and it’s sort of great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a property of this magnitude show this much of the ol idgaf spirit. How about an episode where the A plot is the most evenhanded exploration of religion i’ve seen in anime, and the B plot is about blowing up a tryhard edgelord by exposing him to panties? How about a subplot where Batman and Thor infiltrate the vatican to kill the pope, only for that to lead into a gay rape backstory, only for that to be resolved by dank weed and dismemberment? It really is quite a thing, as they say. Now, Fire Force certainly delivers hard at points, but it’s also very scattershot, even if S2 is somewhat more consistent than S1. The weakest parts are unsurprisingly still the ones where it’s remembering its fighting shounen template, and that’s not only because I don’t like that, it’s also because it’s particularly and consistently bad at scheduling these huge, simultaneous multifight setpieces it often crescendoes with. But hey, at least these tend to look super cool. In short, Fire Force is a land of contrasts and still the only fighting shounen I give a damn about. 7/10

IDOLiSH7 Second Beat

Did you know that I think Idolshi7 is the best one of all of these huge-ass commercial idol franchises? Yeah, I think it’s better than Love Live, and as of Fall 2020 also the better looking one because Troyca still delivers where Sunrise apparently can’t. I guess still don’t like the music much, thankfully there isn’t a lot of that. It also still specializes in gigantic drama, and to its credit S2 is now much better at either getting to the point or at least making it silly and fun. You show that door who’s boss, Sou. Still fantastic Tsumugis all over the place as well, in fact I think I like all the characters now. Even Banri gets his big moment in this season! Yeah, this stuff is pretty cool. 8/10

Adachi and Shimamura

So here’s the AOTS, and it’s the lovechild of Bloom Into You and Tsuki ga Kirei. While it definitely isn’t as good as either of these two, because it lacks the “about more than just teenagers being hyperbolic about a crush” part from Bloom and the part where it has an actual ending from TgK, it carves out its own niche with its loopy, almost stoned tone that’s full of side weirdos and yuri hyperspace. It’s also uniquely focused, with a tiny core cast and even Shimamura doesn’t really matter all that much. This is all about Adachi, and thankfully Adachi is amazing. Amazingly awkward, that is. It’s very cute. So yeah, this is a bit too lacking in substance to aspire to classic status, but it’s a great time nonetheless. 8/10

#anime #review #fall2020 #Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima #Assault Lily Bouquet #The King's Avatar #Heaven Official's Blessing #Ochikobore Fruit Tart #Majo no Tabitabi #Love Live! Nijigasaki #Garupa Pico Oomori #Fire Force S2 #IDOLiSH7 #Adachi to Shimamura

14 notes · View notes

syncogon · 4 years

Text

[QZGS meta] what’s in an OP? dawning glory (pt 3)

(part 1) (part 2)

This is the third and last post in my little series analyzing the opening theme of The King’s Avatar Season 2! Honestly, this whole thing became way longer than I was expecting. I guess this is what happens when all my immense amount of love for this series, accumulated over years of no-donghua-updates, overlaps with my immense amount of love for anime openings.

Watched the first and second episodes yesterday, and they really sparked a lot of joy. :D I missed Blue River so much :D

Yesterday, they released the OST for Season 2, which includes the TV cut and full versions of the OP and ED, as well as two insert songs, and the instrumental versions of all of the above. I’ve yet to find anywhere that lets me download the audio files (hoping they’ll be reuploaded to youtube or bilibili soon), but in the meantime you can listen here. They’re really good songs! https: //www. kuwo. cn/album_detail/15792659

Anyway, let’s finish up this OP analysis!

Now here, we reach the true climax as we enter the chorus section. This next segment is definitely the highest-energy part of the entire opening. It’s a montage of Happy’s characters showing off their moves, timed to the music; there’s not too much deeper meaning, but damn if it doesn’t look fantastic. The animation flows from one character and scene to the next so smoothly, so beautifully, it’s just incredibly hype to see. This is what you get when you specifically choreograph/animate sequences for the opening instead of just reusing shots from the main show! (Parts of some of these shots appeared in episode 1, but I do honestly think that it’s more likely that the show reused shots from the opening than the other way around, just because of how perfectly the OP fits together. I also don’t think it’s super noticeable in-show; I’ve just been watching this obsessively.)

In particular I love the line that kicks this all off: “just put on your battle armor and step onto the road to the unknown.” Specifically, though, the rhythm of the lyric is, “jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang,” with emphasizing accents on the -ang sounds. This isn’t how you would divide the phrase naturally, but because the (syncopated!!) melody accents these notes/syllables, the rhyming effect really stands out and it feels as clever and satisfying as a rap lyric. Moreover, the emphasis times juuust right with the attacks of Soft Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion, and Windward Formation, a perfect example of how music and visuals mutually reinforce each other for maximum cool effect.

It’s generally easier to rhyme in Chinese than English, because of a smaller phonetic vocabulary. From the chorus onward, the key rhyme is on the “-ang” sound (think “ahng” or “ong”, not “aang” like the Avatar), which is a good choice - powerful, reverberant. The asymmetry of the syllable’s use in this section - the song’s lines are all different lengths at this part, so you’re kept on your toes as to when the pattern will reappear - helps add to the engaging excitement of the song. This is also the syllable used for most of the rhymes in the second half of the first OP.

jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang

hui qi shou zhong wo jin de na shu guang

you ni men zai lu shang__

shi li liang

I really love One Inch Ash’s design. Concealed Light had a big redesign for this season, and honestly I like it as well. And notice here that he’s holding a book - exactly how we left Luo Ji when we saw him last!

“Waving the light clenched tightly in our hand” - that is to say, brandishing our light as our weapon, no matter what form it may take - a sword, a book, our hope and determination.

On a purely musical note (ha), right at this point, specifically the measure beginning with “那束光,” you can hear a three-note “ooo” harmony line in the background, and wow it’s so subtle but I love it so much! A similar three-note line actually appears earlier too (during the “crossing the frozen finish line,” right as the music is building up), also to great effect.

We follow Concealed Light’s gaze upward to the building to see Deception running along the wall, from which he does a flip and slashes downward with twin blades. I love that transition a lot, but my favorite transition of this entire sequence has to be the following one:

Yes! Deception’s cross slash resolves perfectly into the cross held by Little Cold Hands. It’s so fast and so natural you don’t even notice it, and that’s the absolute beauty of it. The first time I saw this, I was in awe - the animators really brought their A-game to this, far better than I ever would have dared hope for this series.

And Little Cold Hands is so pretty! When we got our first art of her official design, the comments were filled with people simping for her, and honestly, valid. I’m surprised her hair is purple instead of pink, but that’s just a minor thing.

There’s something especially powerful about how she raises her cross in time with the lyric “having you all here [with me] on this road,” and then the cross flashing brilliantly with “it’s power.” More than any other role, the healer is a team player. And this theme of team togetherness is particularly important for An Wenyi, who is deeply moved by the team’s perhaps illogical faith in him. Remember that analogy Ye Xiu tells him, of the straw tied to the deluxe mitten crab?

An aside: listening to this, I always thought the line should be 有你们在身旁 instead of 有你们在路上, because it still fits the rhyme, because my past experience has somewhat conditioned me to expect that phrase, and because the full message of “having you by my side is power” just makes me wanna tear up like what a good line! So it felt like a missed opportunity that they didn’t use that. But as it turns out, the final iteration of this chorus in the full version of the OP does, in fact, use “by my side”! And I think making this tiny tweak to the lyric the final time you here it just makes it that much stronger :’)

I’m also just a big fan of the “it’s power” melodic flourish in general, since it comes as a surprise. You kind of expect the melody to end with the previous phrase, but the extra notes here add a really nice emphatic beat to finish off the line.

So to recap the transitions: we see Soft Mist falling from the sky and get a close up of her face as she stabs her spear; this takes us to a closeup of Steamed Bun’s face facing roughly the same direction before we zoom out to his torso and he slashes from lower left of the screen to upper right; following the motion of that slash we see Windward Formation’s torso rotate in that direction as the camera zooms out farther; we follow the rays of his attack to see One Inch Ash drawing his sword; we zoom in on the flashing blade and zoom out on Concealed Light’s glowing book; we follow his gaze upward to see Deception running along the building behind him; Deception leaps and slashes and the slash becomes Little Cold Hands’ cross, which raises up and triggers an explosion. It’s just so dynamic and smooth even without taking place in one continuous setting, and it just really, really gets you hyped.

Also, starting from Happy’s team picture at the start of the chorus, which is during the day, it feels like Soft Mist and Steamed Bun’s moves are at late afternoon, Windward Formation and One Inch Ash take us to nighttime, and then you can see the first rays of morning in Concealed Light and Deception’s segments. This continuity also definitely helps with the feeling of natural flow through these scenes.

Anyway, this entire action segment is just so beautiful, I could watch it on loop. But we still have the final segment of this OP to analyze, so let’s keep going.

After the action sequences of the climax, we settle down a bit now as we approach the end. Here we see the Excellent Era team picture, in the same style as the team pics we saw earlier, but presented separately. It makes sense, as the role they play in the story is different from the roles of all the other teams.

Sun Xiang, Liu Hao, and Cui Li are at the bottom. Because we’re panning up, these three are the first we see. At first glance, the way they’re positioned is fairly consistent with the team pics we’ve seen already: Captain Sun Xiang at center-right, the largest figure; vice-captain Liu Hao, manager Cui Li in the background.

Sun Xiang’s position and expression is really the only one that fits the healthy pattern of the teams we’ve seen already - looking toward the camera, a confident (though arrogant) smile. He might be misguided, but there’s hope for him yet. Notice how Liu Hao isn’t even looking at the camera, which as we’ve seen before is somewhat of an indication of how unified and focused the team is toward its goal; instead, Liu Hao is doing his own thing, determined to prioritize his own desires over what’s best for the team. And manager Cui Li is in this image too, despite not even being a player. His sinister presence reflects the unhealthy interference of the business side in the gaming side. Excellent Era’s downfall comes about because of its prioritization of profit over victory.

As we pan up, Excellent Era’s logo comes into view. It’s larger than any of the other team logos we’ve seen so far, spanning around three-quarters of the screen whereas the others looked to span no more than half. Excellent Era’s legacy is a weighty one, to date the only team to have ever won three championships, and consecutively to boot.

It’s this immense, shining logo that seems to be casting Tao Xuan on the left into shadow. He cuts a large figure, reflecting the deep impact his actions have had upon the main plot of this story, even though he’s only now appearing for the first time in the donghua.

However, he’s also turned away from the camera, such that we can barely even see his closed eye. Because of that, it’s difficult to read his expression, but the impression given by this pose is not one of vindictive pride, but one of shame, as though he can’t quite bear to face what he’s done. On some level, no matter how he might try to rationalize it as necessary, Tao Xuan knows that his profit-driven betrayal of Ye Xiu was a pretty awful thing to do. It might be this amount of guilt that leads him to offer Ye Xiu a wish granted, a tribute to their years of friendship and partnership before their ties are severed completely.

In the end, Tao Xuan’s greed leaves him with nothing really to show for it. What had he gained? What had he lost? Those realizations are still a ways off in the story, but I like how this OP is already hinting at the depth of his character. Tao Xuan isn’t some glasses-flashing, evil-laughing, one-dimensional antagonist; he is in fact very realistic for the setting. We can condemn his actions and priorities, but at the same time we can understand how he ended up here.

As for Su Mucheng, her eyes are closed as well. She’s brightly illuminated, but pointedly turned away from all of the others in Excellent Era; she knows the direction of her future, and that it no longer lies with Excellent Era. Her loyalty was always to Ye Xiu, and as soon as he was banished, her relationship to the team was professional and nothing more.

“This light hidden in my heart is burning” - there are many ways to read this lyric and what exactly the light referenced here is, but because the line is paired with this image, I naturally think about Su Mucheng’s situation. Despite her pretty-vase, sweet-girl appearance, she holds a deep, profound anger at everything that happened regarding Excellent Era. It’s a testament to her immense strength of character that she lasted the remaining one and a half years of her contract in this hostile environment.

Yet even as she resolves to cut ties, there’s a sadness in her expression. She was here from the very beginning as well, when Excellent Era was no more than an internet cafe, and it pains her immensely that the powerhouse, championship team that they and her brother had built from the ground up would ultimately meet this tragic end.

It’s interesting to note that both of the “redeemable” characters here (namely Su Mucheng and Sun Xiang) are on the right, more brightly-lit side of the screen, so there’s a nice little dividing line you can draw there. Sun Xiang’s eyes are still looking toward the left, though, revealing how his character development still has yet to play out.

From there we cut to Ye Xiu holding Lord Grim’s account card. He’s standing back on top of the roof from the beginning of the OP, now in full daylight.

As mentioned… the animators really went ham on the bangs animation.

Ye Xiu turns away from the railing, the camera cuts to an image of Happy’s logo on a flag waving in the wind, and then we zoom out to see the current members of Team Happy gathered together in uniform, standing proud in the light of day. Left to right, Steamed Bun, Tang Rou, Luo Ji, Ye Xiu, An Wenyi, Wei Chen, Chen Guo. Presumably, this will be Happy’s lineup by the end of the season.

Up until now, we’ve only seen the real players separate from each other - they’ve all been in different places, never even in the same frame together. (This, of course, also contrasts the pro team pics that we have, which show everyone together.) Halfway through the OP, we got the group shot of them meeting in game with their characters. And now, they’ve finally met up in the real world as well.

One thing I like about this final pose is how it compares to the final pose of the OVA OP. It’s the same kind of power-pose vibe, but there we only had Ye Xiu, Chen Guo, and Tang Rou. Look at how we’ve grown since then! They’re well on their way to being a proper pro team!

And that’s a wrap! With this final image of Team Happy gathered together, we’re ready to enter the episode proper.

So let’s talk about the OP as a whole. Generally, an OP serves a couple of main roles: a) tells you a bit about what the show is about, b) gives you an overall feeling / mood for the show, c) gets you hyped and ready to watch the upcoming episode.

How well does this opening achieve those goals? Pretty well, as we’ve seen. Past OPs did a pretty good job of setting the mood, but they honestly just put some pretty visuals on the screen, only vaguely aligned to the music, and called it a day. This OP, however, has a cohesive storyline to tell, framed around Team Happy’s coming together (following the tagline of this season). Even in such a short span of time, it manages to convey so much information about its story and characters, both overt and implicit (as I hope this series of posts has managed to convince you). Paired with the music, which has its own deeper meanings encoded in the lyrics, the OP becomes incredibly effective and memorable as it makes its statement.

I mentioned an “interest curve” earlier (interest in the sense of interesting, not the money); this is part of the standard formula for anime opening songs, in my experience. I’m a little too lazy to draw a graph myself, so take a look at this image:

(source: https: //www. researchgate. net/figure/Example-of-an-interest-curve-for-a-successful-entertainment-experience_fig1_333917625 )

Although not all of the relative heights and segment lengths are accurate in this specific case, hopefully the general shape of the interest curve is enough to demonstrate my point. You’ve got the A-B peak at the opening instrumental segment, the C-D peak/arc over verse 1, the D-E-F peak/arc over verse 2, then the sharp F-G-H peak over the chorus before dropping off for a smooth landing right into the episode. This general pattern is effective at holding the viewer’s focus and managing their excitement over the course of this one and a half minutes.

Visually, the OP is just such a treat for the eyes. I’ve already talked about many of the little details I love - lighting, character designs, animations, transitions, etc. - but all in all the new animation studio is doing a really good job here. An OP is how you hook people, and I’d definitely feel comfortable using this to try and bait people into watching this show.

One comment I want to add is about the incorporation of the credits, which we didn’t see until the episode premiere. I don’t think there’s anything too exciting to say (and I also don’t have access to any images right now since the OP was only shown in episode 2), but the fonts and styling were a nice choice - it gave a gaming vibe, but if I recall it still used a serif font, so it didn’t feel overly modern - and the text positioning generally complements instead of distracting. I also liked how they showed the lyrics! I didn’t really expect them to include them onscreen, or if they did, I thought they would just be plain subs like they were in this video. But in the actual OP that plays at the beginning of the episode, they’re as much a part of the art as the credits!

If I had to make any criticism, my biggest complaint about the OP is, I think, the singers. I think having two different singers trade off can work nicely, but in this case, the switches are jarring because their voices are so different. The first singer has a lower, gravely voice, while the second singer’s voice sounds much brighter and more nasally. Furthermore, the first switch doesn’t come until we’re fully halfway through the song, which means that by that point we’re already used to this first singer. It’s also strange that they’d switch back to the first voice at the climax of the song, when I think the second voice would suit the high-energy segment much better. Switching from second to first right at this point feels like we’re actually taking a step down in energy, which is the opposite of what should be happening here.

Still, my main problem isn’t with the voice switching but with the voices themselves, and I think the voices are something I could get used to. The third switch, going from the first voice back to the second voice during the shot of Excellent Era, is much less jarring than the others - I actually like how it feels like the solo is passing naturally from one person to the next, emphasizing the ideals of this not being a single-player game and all that. For that transition in particular, I think (because of the added “it’s power” flourish) it happens too quickly for one person to sing it comfortably, so having another person pick up the line works best. And I do like how the voices sound when they overlay together for the final lines of the song.

So, overall? Overall, this OP is really damn good. It’s everything I could have asked for and more. After such a long wait, the OP, at least, does not disappoint, and I’m extremely excited to see what the series has in store for us.

If you’ve read to this point, thank you! I like this series a lot, as you can probably see, and I’m treating it as my glory :)

#quan zhi gao shou #qzgs #the king's avatar #tka #全职高手 #mine #qzgs commentary #synco talks

17 notes · View notes

astro-break · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on the 7th ep of Hypmic Rhyme Anima. Spoilers beware

Ep.1 | Ep.2 | Ep.3 | Ep.4 & 5 | Ep. 6

Can we get an MTC ep for Samatoki’s birthday please?

nope its MTR

ah man i always get really down whenever i see Doppo’s workplace environment. it suckssss

EYYYYY BUSTER BROS SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (i forgot the name of the song in the moment but is Ikebukuro West Gate Park which is funny since thats where the ikebukuro prelims are held)

OOO IRIS ON A MOTERBIKE!!!!!!!!!!!! thats so hot oh my god, the CGI was good too! she had no right making to popping a wheelie over speedbumps look cool

Tom mentioned last episode that he had picked these three up from bad places and I have a feeling that Iris was once either an adrenaline junkie, thrill seeker, or involved in something that had her on the run

I don’t know about Rex. I think society just took one look at him and pushed him away because his personality is weird. He’s honest and kind, almost too kind. It don’t help that he doesn’t look traditionally Japanese which will garner him a lot of unpleasant experiences

MTCCCCCCCCCCC HELL YEAH

love that theyre one of the few units shown actually going out and doing intel searching on their own

god the TDD flashbacks harken to the manga and thats so cool

There’s a lot of underline threads going on in here and its going to be hard keeping track of them. I hope that the anime doesn’t choke itself on all the threads

T.REX is hilarious i think i might actually grow to like him. he’s a dumb himbo

ah even more threads and previous connections. i really really really hope that everything is ties up nicely by the end of the season though that doesn’t seem plausible, not with only 5 episodes remaining

OH GOD WHY WAS YOTOSUJUJI BROUGHT UP NOW IM TEARING UP

ah of course robberies are going to happen on the day of the rap battle

That ruikawa guy is suspicious. it might be my INFP speaking but his kindness seems a bit weird

ah yeah red flags right there. he’s definitely one of the robbers or in cahoots with them

ah yeah hes a robber. theres no doubt about that. “ive found a place to release what builds up inside me”. thats crime isn’t it. the fact that he won’t talk about it just raises more red flags

ahahaha see i was right

hey at least it was doppo’s hardass boss. could be someone more innocent and less asshole-y

YOU JUST GAVE YOUR INDEITY AWAY ASSHOLE wow even doppo caught on

EYYYY SHINJIKU STYLE!!!!! HELL YEAH

Those stills are absolutely mesmerizing though.

i love the sense of trust and mentorship between matenro with Jakurai as Hifumi and Doppo’s mentors. At least that’s the feeling I get with them ahaha

Doppo’s english is a bit harsh but also weirdly fits his style. im a bit mixed on it but with the whole song being more melancholic with english sprinkled in, it matches the theme

The song itself is such a mellow and soothing song though. Its different than Maternro’s usual work and its a good different. I love the subway and old timey imagery that came with the song and the image of a subway train lighting up the way to a new path is such a great way of showing that there are different paths and different destinations that one can take. Even if you take the same train, you can end up in a different place. The light imagery in particular is just so good since Ruikawa’s original line of the city being a beacon of light for him is mirrored in the song.

The lyrics especially are so soft and powerful with the imagery within the words being simultaneously rough and tumble but also soft and reassuring. It seems more like a lament or a elegy to a life that could have been if they had gotten on a different train. I love the lyrics, especially the chorus since it speaks of mundane things but things that everyone can understand and relate to

it also carries mad Spirited Away vibes. It’s also called Falling which I think is pretty fitting

the only thing that I don’t like about the song Jakurai’s vocal beats within his verse. Usually it works since there’s a big beatboxing feel to those beats but with Jakurai his lyrical rap doesn’t mesh well with the harsh guttural sounds beatboxing

The pain of having one of your few friends betray you hurts and wow this episode is out to make me feel a lot of sympathy for Doppo

SMILING DOPPO!!!

Hell yeah they actually had a plan and followed through with it

Did they just set up the MTC episode lmao. thats sneaky

OOh that beat change for FP ending is so nice!!

I think I’m only noticing this just now but the episode titles are all famous quotes from people/proverbs.

Ep. 1) “As Soon as Man is Born, He Begins to Die“ This is an old proverb. Who said it I don’t know and a quick internet search gave me nothing, but its commonly said to convey the meaning that nothing lasts forever. IDK why this proverb was chosen since there’s no indication of any of the teams disbanding any time soon except for TDD era teams which have already happened

Ep. 2) “Speak of the Devil and He Will Appear“ Again, another old idiom which dates back to the 16th century. This one is probably about Ichiro and how he appears whenever he is called or whenever he is needed. Though it could be a overall commentary on how the brothers are reliable no matter the situation

Ep. 3) “Two Heads Are Better Than One” - John Heywood This quote describes DoHifu pretty well. Its because these two work and rely on each other that they’re able to not only make it through each day but also make each day worth living. Because they help each other, but they’re not the same, they’re better for it. This could also apply to MTR as a whole being a team where each member thinks outside the box and their ideas collectively make such an interesting team

Ep. 4) “A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed” This one is an 11th century proverb which explains that in times of need, true friends will show their colors. That's the main mentality behind MTC though I believe that it applies to Rio in particular for this episode. While the entirety of MTC are willing to help each other in times of need, in this episode it mainly focused on Samatoki and Rio’s plights and how the members as a whole show that they are all true friends to each other

Ep. 5) “Seeing is Believing” The origins of this quote is blurry but there the bible seems to be the origin of this statement believe it or not. While it does fit the episode’s theme of ghosts and how rumor's can harm people and businesses, it doesn’t really describe FP like the other quotes do the other teams. I find it odd, but I hope that FP are redeemed in their next feature episode. FP deserves better and are being done dirty in the anime.

Ep. 6) “He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best” - The Christmas Prince. I think this one is pretty nice in describing not only the episode but the series as a whole. It doesn’t matter who’s winning in the begging, or the middle. The final outcome is what really matters. It’s pretty apt for the series since even though The Party of Words are winning currently, its who wins by the end of the series that matters. The episode encompasses this pretty well too with the whole plotline.

Ep. 7) “The Darkest Hour is Just Before the Dawn” Dating back to 1950 ish, this one carries the simple There is hope in the worst circumstances message. Again, its pretty suitable for the series as a whole since the Party of Words might be making life harsh, but there’s still hope to be found in the world.

Ep. 8) “Dead men tell no tales” - Thomas Becon. NGL, this one scares me because it can either apply to MTC, or the universe as a whole. We’ll just have to wait till next week to know for sure but i think we’ll get some Jyuto angst with his parents

#hypmic #hypnosis mic #hypnosis mic rhyme anima #hypmic spoilers

8 notes · View notes

alexanderking · 3 years

Text

Another top 20 albums of 2020

...So I’ve had a really hard time finding a number one this year...It’s likely’ I’ll choose which album I revisited the most although it may not have been my favourite...ANYWAY!!!!...

“...And have I left anything out?” – Albums of 2019

Thank You Scientist – Terraformer: I was going through the “liner notes” of DJ Jazzy Jeff’s ‘The PLAYlist’ project and clicked on the saxophonist Sam Greenfield as I’d recognised his name from a favourite of 2018. I saw that he had played on this ‘Prog Rock’ album. Having dabbled in rock over the years, I jumped on Thank You Scientist’s ‘Bandcamp’ page and pushed ‘Play’...and I’m so glad I did!!! This band for me is ‘Dream Theater’ meets ‘The Mars Volta’ in how explorative the music can become. I also found myself head nodding along like a madman. While the album does peak at its centrepiece, the amazing 10 minute instrumental ‘Chromology’, it does pick up again from ‘Life of Vermin’, not at the dizzying heights of earlier on, but enough for a satisfying conclusion. I think would made number 3 of last year’s list...

Alexander Claffy – Claffy II: ...Somehow I missed this despite loving this group’s 2016 album ‘Claffy’, which focused on a romantic break-up. This project feels like a continuation with what sounds like a new love interest coming into the picture. Toward the end of the 5-track project it sounds like Alexander is lamenting his previous partner. Will he be able to fully move on to pastures new? This would probably have made my honourable mentions...

Emmavie – Honeymoon: Towards the end of December, I was in the most AMAZING Neo-Soul room on ‘Clubhouse’ (thank you Shaniss and Shey!!!!), where I not only got to share a few tracks, but was thoroughly schooled with the amount of artists I had yet to check out, or in this case, revisit. Not only were shout outs aplenty for Emmavie, but she also shared a few tracks as well...anyway! This prompted me to check out the ‘Honeymoon’ album. This project for me progresses the UK Soul genre forward by utilising some elements of Broken Beat, a tiny hint of 80s Synth and a spot of Hip-Hop. I love that the interludes go harder than some of the main tracks. This may have made 19...

BlaqueStone – Full Circle: This was shared in THAT Clubhouse room by ‘S. Sweet’, ‘bassist and bandleader for the Neo-Soul outfit ‘Black Folks Don’t Swim?’. ‘Full Circle’ sucked me into that deep, rich Neo-Soul that I still visit every so often. Any tracks that didn’t really stand out for me were MORE THAN MADE UP FOR by the standouts on here. My favourites are ‘Peace of Mind’, ‘Find A Way’ and ‘Only Way Out’. This would’ve got a 16...

Danny Brown – uknowhatimsayin¿: ...I played myself by not checking this out when it released (sometimes I feel cheated by how short albums are these days that I take a while to get to them...). Strong production, great flows and feels like a much lighter note than ‘Atrocity Exhibition’. This might have made 13...

Blue Lab Beats – Voyage: And AGAIN!!!! -_- I missed the EP and the album, both which I thoroughly enjoyed and for me is a strong progression from ‘Xover’. From the airy optimism of tracks like ‘Voyage’ and ‘On & On’, to the soulful hip-hop stylings of ‘Next (Wake Up)’ and ‘What R U Here 4?’, to that insane horn cypher on ‘Stand Up’, ‘Voyage’ peaks time and time again. This may possibly have made my top 3!

Yakul – Getting Late EP: I wasn’t familiar with this group until the group leader James Berkeley featured quite heavily on Incognito’s latest project. My sister had played one of their singles from 2020, ‘Streetlight’, which caused me to look for more of their music. To which I found this 6-track EP. ‘Thoroughly enjoyed and looking forward to more! ‘Past Tense’ and ‘Blossoming’ are standouts for me...

Alfa Mist – Structuralism: Yep! I missed this too...literally JUST AFTER having shared my 2019 list...’Structuralism’ ventures as deep into the keys as its predecessor ‘Antiphon’, but this feels like the stronger project for me. I think I just enjoy the instrumentals more...This may have made 15...

...2020:

20) Dominic J Marshall – Nomad’s Land:

After a number of more beat-based projects, musician Dominic J Marshall returns with more of a Jazz-led body of work. This time around however, there is a fair amount of singing and freestyle rapping, which doesn’t always work for me. Fortunately the compositions saves and in some cases enhances the singing et al. My favourites are ‘Herb-Lady’, ‘Feeling’, ‘On Time’ and ‘Hypernormalised’...

19) Run The Jewels – RTJ4:

‘Run The Jewels’ released this project for free! Production-wise, El-P bounces between head-nodding, almost backpacker hip-hop and more synth-led sounds. While I haven't really taken much of the subject matter in (apart from ‘A Few Words For The Firing Squad’), I’m feeling the flows, features and of course, the production. My favourites are ‘Out of Sight’, ‘Goonies vs. ET’ and ‘Never Look Back’...

18) Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes – What Kinda Music:

I’ve been looking forward to more music from Tom Misch since hearing ‘Geography’. The teaming up with Yussef Dayes has a lot of the tracks feel more explorative; The first half of the album particularly has me picturing spacious landscapes, the drumming bringing visions of some kind of quest to be fulfilled. I haven't revisited this album a lot this year, but it gets stronger for me every time I play it...

17) Mark de Clive-Lowe – Dreamweavers:

This project is the brainchild of drummer Tommaso Cappellato, features bassist Andrea Lombardini and allows multi-instrumentalist Mark de Clive-Lowe to revisit his musical roots as well as a few of his earlier compositions. A lot of the music on here offers moments of reflection, although it takes moments to bring quite high energy in tracks like ‘Volta Ao Mundo’ and elevation in tracks like ‘Dreamweavers’ and ‘Masina’s World’ (if you got the additional tracks). I loved the cover of ‘Motherland’...

16) Royce Da 5′9″ – The Allegory:

The idea behind this project is that most of (if not all) the tracks contain a hidden story or meaning. While a few of the messages went over my head (that or I didn't necessarily agree), I really enjoyed Royce’s flows and rhyme schemes, the features and the production, most of which was handled by Montgomery himself! My favourites are ‘I Don't Age’, ‘Pendulum’ and ‘FUBU’...

15) Duckwrth – SuperGood:

I checked this out based on a share from Gia from Twitter (I get a fair few recommendations from her...). Hearing ‘Kiss U Right Now’ prompted me to watch the visual album, which REALLY enhanced the experience of the project! ‘SuperGood’ is effectively an opportunity to reflect on those moments in life...where everything is cool (-_-). This doesn’t mean to ignore the stresses life throws at us but to appreciate the good regardless. I feel quite uplifted after playing this album. My favourites are ‘New Love Song’, Super Bounce’, ‘Weekend?’ and the optimistic closer ‘Find A Way’...

14) Nubya Garcia – SOURCE:

The first minute of the title track on here initially didn’t draw me in to hear more. But when that break came in...I was pretty much hooked. ‘SOURCE’ showcases Nubya’s growth as both a player and a writer/composer, as well as further cementing her place as a standout in this wave of contemporary UK Jazz artists. My favourites are ‘The Message Continues’, ‘Inner Game’ and ‘Boundless Beings’...

13) Ivan Ave – Double Goodbyes:

I wasn’t privy to this release until much later in the year. I checked this out having really enjoyed 2017′s ‘Every Eye’. The first three tracks felt like a departure from the aforementioned. The slightly stripped down sound wasn’t one I was particularly feeling, but the album picked up for me with ‘Triple Double Love’ onwards. I really related to the subject matter on ‘Guest List Etiquette’ and some of ‘Doobie’s Shout Outs’...

12) Georgie Sweet – Misunderstood:

My relationship with the Futuristica label is kind of like my relationship with ‘WWE’. I’m really deep into them for a while, then I leave for a while...’then I return. 2020 has been a year where I’ve perused the Futuristica projects deeper than I have in several years. I heard ‘What Have I Done’ and liked the hip-hop tinged Neo-Soul sound enough to check out the full album when it came out. I found the first few tracks pleasant enough and then ‘Sorry’ kicked in! The album then peaked again for me with ‘Half Human’ and stayed pretty consistent until the end. I’d definitely be interested in hearing more from Georgie Sweet in the future...

11) Ego Ella May – Honey For Wounds:

What a joy to see Ego Ella May return to music over the past few years!! I loved her EPs from the mid 2010s!! ‘Honey for Wounds’ shows a strong progression from her earlier work, taking on a more jazzy element this time around. The album covers themes of current events, love (self- and interpersonal), belonging and self-healing to name a few. ‘Honey For Wounds’ is a fitting album for these times, but will most certainly play well when on mellow, relaxed, or reflective moods...

10) KinKai – A Pennies Worth:

This was a recommendation from Dan. I’d kind of liked his feature on the Blue Lab Beats album ‘Voyage’ but I didn’t really pay attention until checking this album out. I will say that the soulful hip-hop production sucked me in initially. The production compliments KinKai’s flows and bars really well...

9) Nick Hakim – WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD:

This was another share from Gia from Twitter. I would best describe this album as ‘Trippy Soul’. The music remains at a slow, almost sleepy pace, but with some welcome progressions. The longer tracks give me the opportunity to get lost in the instrumentals as Hakim’s vocals wane in and out during the vamps and ad-libs. My favourites are ‘BOUNCING’, ‘QADIR’, ‘GODS DIRTY WORK’ and ‘WHOO’...

8) Marie Dahlstrom – Like Sand:

This was a recommendation from Zoe, who was also in THAT clubhouse room! This album showcases the current direction that the Neo-Soul genre has been going in for a while, crossing over with some RnB elements and pushing that blunt delivery from time to time. ‘Like Sand’ stays at a relatively mellow pace, that for me is great to walk/drive to in the evening. My favourites are ‘Time’, ‘A Loveletter - And improvisation’, ‘I Want You’ and ‘Lullaby’...

7) Deborah Jordan – See In The Dark:

Deborah Jordan’s third solo album (I think it’s her 7th or 8th album overall) could possibly be her, dare I say it, magnum opus. ‘See In The Dark’ stays generally in the realm of Soul, but ventures into acoustic, hip-hop, broken beat and lo-fi genres. The subject matter covers self-belief, self-doubt, love, the pace of life and loss. The closing track ‘I’ll See You Again’ has become a personal standout for me...

6) Katalyst – Nine Lives:

I wasn’t privy to this band until World Galaxy Records said to check this out via Bandcamp. ‘Nine Lives’ is a welcome addition to the ever-growing slate of contemporary west coast Jazz albums coming out. This album for me stays at quite an optimistic tone, although the pace varies here and there to allow for the whole band, but particularly the horn section to showcase their versatility. My favourites are ‘BBB’, ‘The Leimert Suite’ and ‘Fitted’...

5) Thundercat – It Is What It Is:

This album title is easily the most used phrase of 2020 and that was before the handling of the current pandemic (specifically in the West). ‘It Is What It Is’ continues in a similar vein to Thundercat’s previous work ‘Drunk’. The subject matter stays particularly quirky, touching on trying to impress a love/lust interest, friendship and acceptance to name a few. The first third of the album does hint at the more focused direction that Thundercat could move on to. There are still the odd short tracks that don’t quite feel fully fleshed out. This has been a grower for me...

4) Quelle Chris & Chris Keys – Innocent Country 2:

Quelle Chris returns with previous collaborator Chris Keys to bring us the second season of ‘Innocent Country’. This album is more about the production for me although (again) I’m feeling the bars, flows and features. I particularly enjoyed the celebration of black culture toward the mid-portion of the album...

3) Kev Choice – Social Distancing:

The effects of the current pandemic inspired musician/emcee Kev Choice to write, record and release this time capsule of a project in the space of a little less than four weeks! ‘Social Distancing’ documents disappointment in the government’s response to the virus (specifically in the states), panic shopping, the effects on families, the self-reflection that time alone at home has offered and messages of staying positive despite everything. Standouts for me are ‘Morning Prayer’, ‘Be Still’, ‘Take Me To Your Leaders’ and ‘Break Me Down’...

2) Derrick Hodge – COLOR OF NOIZE:

Freda had shared the music video of ‘Heartbeats’, which prompted me to check out this album. Although Hodge on bass is clearly running the show, ‘COLOR OF NOIZE’ features two pianists and two drummers throughout the project. The music for me is like going on a long walk, my thoughts and emotions ranging from guilty, to angry, ultimately to hopeful, all while not really paying attention to how my surroundings have changed until the end...

1) Butcher Brown – #KingButch:

While this might not necessarily be my favourite of the year, it was (probably) the one I revisited the most. The band’s Trumpeter and (kind of) frontman Marcus Tenney takes on a fair amount of pretty well delivered emceeing throughout ‘#KingButch’. The first third is a funk affair, easing into Jazz after the mellowed out ‘Gum In My Mouth’, those tinges of funk do come and go in the latter thirds though. This was another project I really enjoyed driving to. The closing track ‘IDK’ is one of my favourite tracks of the year...

Honourable Mentions:

Nathan Thomas – Still Water: ‘Another Futuristica release. This project is also on the soulful side but makes the guitar more present on a lot of the songs on here. I did think this would make the list but (as always) there ended up being projects I enjoyed more so...

Samii – Figuring it Out: The 2000Black camp bring singer/songwriter Samii to the forefront for this 4-track EP. Tatham, Mensah, Lord & Ranks bring their signature genre-bending sounds and chord progressions as per...

Mike Blankenship – Living For The Future: This was released in 2015...

Cherise – Paradise (EP): My unofficial favourite project of 2017 was ‘Trope’s 5ive’ by the band ‘Trope’, which Cherise (Adams-Burnett) fronts. So I was quite pleased to find that this had been released. Throughout this 4-track EP, Cherise vocalises over quite a romantic soulful piece, a fairly traditional acoustic track, a grandiose jazz piece, ending with a stripped down orchestral number. The opener is my favourite...

Tatham, Mensah, Lord & Ranks – 6th: 2000Black doing what they do and still doing it well...

Bree Runway – 2000AND4EVA: Bree Runway elevates to Pop star status with her debut high-energy mixtape. This project flows so well; from the head nod energy of ‘Apeshit’, into the burst of electric guitar on ‘Little Nokia’, bringing us back to the poppy hip-hop sounds of ‘ATM’ and beyond. Hopefully we can get our act together by the summer and the music on here can be played where it’s SUPPOSED to be!!!...

Nate Smith – Light and Shadow: While waiting for the release of the next ‘Kinfolk’ project, Nate Smith gives us this short, cinematic collection of pieces, those elements of Jazz, Soul and Hip-hop ever present in Smith’s drumming and all around production. I can play this whole thing through pretty easily...I wonder if this is my unofficial favourite of 2020?...

Bluey – Tinted Sky: This is mostly more of the same from Bluey and (some of) the Incognito camp. I tend to like of a lot of the music they write and play. I do want to shout out the mid-portion of the album and Bluey’s disillusionment with how the UK has handled this pandemic so far was resonant...

Kamaal Williams – Wu Hen: The flow on this project is INSANE!!!! ‘Wu Hen’ realises what Kamaal Williams has been doing with his more recent live shows in such a coherent way!...

Andrew Ashong & Kaidi Tatham – Sankofa Season: Vocalist Andrew Ashong teams up with legend Kaidi Tatham on the music to give us a 30-minute project, covering looking back, love, positivity and encouragement for change...

1 note · View note

adevotedappraisal · 3 years

Text

The Carter Trilogy, part three of five

4:44: And you stare blankly into space, thinking about all the time you wasted on all this basic shit

During Fade to Black, the documentary following Jay Zs 2003 farewell performance for a short-lived retirement from rap, this curious thing happens. Between the setups for the performance at Madison Square Garden, and Jay traversing the country to nest with hit producer after producer, a scene appears of Jay, presumably at his Roc-a-Fella records headquarters, asking, actually beseeching, the motley crew of executives, rappers and goons to prod him to talk about the negative effects of drugs and guns in a song, being that he had glamourized them over the course of six or so albums by that point. No resolution to change course was made at that meeting, but the look of Jay Z in that scene was riveting. He looked like a man that wanted some kind, aged woman to hold his face in her hands and tell him to follow his heart. Instead he was surrounded by men only concerned with the bottom line, men he personally chose. “If that’s what they want to hear, then they buy it,” one says.

Then, there’s a moment on the album he traversed the country for, 2003s The Black Album, on the song “Moment of Clarity,” where he says the lines “truthfully I’d rather rhyme like Common Sense, but I did five mil, and I ain’t rhyme like Common since,” once again exposing some type of urge to, I don’t know, tell the world the tumbling and uncovered things washing around in his soul that sounded like the hot whiskey that sloshed around in Nina Simone’s voice, or like Un’s voice that night he was stabbed, or like that trembling awe in Donny Hathaway’s voice when he let go and sang about being free, or that sounded like his wife’s flat voice as she stared blankly into space over the phone. Well that urge, that curiosity, to step outside of the celebrity version that one constructs to present to the world, is found on 4:44.

A stark, bracing look at the life of Shawn Carter, rife with intimacy and triumph are found across these songs, some which show a Jay Z in charge, advising and boasting, and another set of songs that deconstruct the myth of the Rap star at the same time.

Opener “Kill Jay Z” is a series of clear-eyed, accusatory, second person couplets over a panicked muffle of a beat. Confessionals and invective pushed together into lines, not only in the famous Kanye “20 mill” line but also in “you stabbed Un over some records, your excuse was he was talking too reckless,” and “you got people you love you sold drugs to, you got high on the life, that shit drugged you.” It’s the type of shit men say into the shower in tortured litanies the afternoon after a late night bender, a shocking look at a man without his crown coming to terms with himself. The lines come off as strips of ego, revealing a man as used to failing as he is to winning.

Then there is the centerpiece and title track, which along with Cardi Bs “Bodak Yellow,” was one of the best songs a New York rapper released that year, a track that marries captivating lyrics over an equally striking beat.

He uses his voice in subtle ways now, to express shaded emotions, like in “Adnis,” from the set of throwaways-for-a-reason extra CD tracks, where he confesses about his father “you couldn’t kick the habit, wished you had said something,” and over that whinnying vocal sample and those somber piano chords I try to imagine the advice a drug dealer might give to a parent that uses, the karmic kindness he might have met him with.

And on “Legacy” he is limber and reflective, on a coolly lazy chop of some drums and that Donnie Hathaway voice sample I told you about, sounding like Train of Thought-era Talib Kweli. Rapping again about his father, or Father, he says, “I studied muslims, bhuddas and Christians, I was running from him, but he was giving me wisdom.”

First the beat, a joyous chop of some modern Blue Eyed soul from Britain, the swooping runs and hot yelps of the singer swirling into a deep groove, a masterful manufacturing of voice and instrumental bombast that recalls the great beats of J Dilla’s rhythmic juggling of Luther Vandross’ voice in “Airworks,” and Just Blaze’s arresting rendering of Gladys Knights voice on Freeway’s “When They Remember.” The song, and all production here, is handled by Chicago producer No I.D.

He came up producing the first three Common albums with the same multi-bar looping of sounds, with the Common songs focusing on the bassline and guitar of jazz and funk records. But with Jay, his beats has its main characteristics coming from the chopping of the piano, the voice and the soft harmonies of Soul songs, and this song it is said, was done after No I.D. sent him the beat and song to listen to, with Jay listening and then later waking at the titular time to compose and spew his guts out about his marriage and behavior.

Now whether that story is true, or whether it is true for marketing purposes, is immaterial, because the truth and the purported truth both resulted in this resolute, unflinched honesty, these lyrics cutting into not only the mirrored scales of celebrity drama, but into the dermis and flesh of relationships themselves. “I said ‘don’t embarrass me’ instead of ‘be mine,’ that was my proposal for us to go steady,” he says, the admission of a man on top of the Rap world at the start of the millenium, from when he was cocksure and unsure at the same time.

Later, he talks of stillborns, then threesomes and then there is the crushing observation “your eyes leave with the soul that your body once housed,” and then he ends a verse with the prayer of husbands in the quote “I stew over, what if, you over, my shit?”

This is an examination of the parts of a man when he was broken and flailing for control, the myth deflated into an approachable Clark Kent of a rapper, and broken down even more until the mask goes away, until the acknowledgement that Santa Claus is fake, until what results is an aesthetic of honesty, a veteran giving a seamless performance of realness.

There of course is still Jay’s expected brand of braggadocio, the songs that make up the mythical Jay, and that creates the tension of this album. “Smile” finds Jay and his mother rising above their adversaries of career and sexuality over a sweet sampling of a Stevie Wonder classic. “Aw you thought I was washed/ I’m at the cleaners, laundering dirty money, like the teamsters,” he boasts. There’s “Bam” with Junior Gong, where he is at his most alert and violent, surrounded by an angelic cloud of Sister Nancys echoing through the reggae strut. With “Marcy Me,” the rapper is at the top of his powers, each line filled with double entendres and agile flows, the song resonant and dense enough to be the type of track found on a late-nineties DJ Clue tape, and then it starts slowing down and expanding into an epic sprawl, the voices of yesteryear stretched, echoed.

This look at the man behind the throne is what gives a lot of 4:44 its social and emotional push forward. As time has passed though, we see that the album that came with building-spanning pomp and mysterious advertisements, is in reality an insular record, with wisened words cosseted in beats with warm, swirling harmonies. What the Brooklyn, N.Y. rapper manages to do is produce a solid album, not about relishing in cash, money and hoes, but about a life in the wake of those excesses, and about the barbed reckoning in the heart of marriages necessary for them to beat again. I don’t think Jay is haunted by his searching questions from that moment in the documentary. And I don’t think he gets up at four-something in the morning anymore either.

But there’s something that stops me from just calling 4:44 a new classic and an epic comeback like others did upon release. It’s just that, well, I wish this album swung for the fences more. There’s a ton of great album tracks dealing with the knotted distemper of love and of life, but only “4:44” and “Marcy Me” even try to whip any of this up into a frenzy, and I think that is because other than the tangled root of Frank Ocean in “Caught in Their Eyes” and the thick chants of “Bam,” there isn’t much in the way of choruses here.

There is a hermetic groove here, the songs that Jay picked for NoI.D. to chop up included a number of warm Soul records from the seventies. The songs are turned inward most lines, causing him to employ more relaxed tones in his voice, like his drugged, mocking confessions on the foggy “Moonlight.” This works well for some songs to play after some fine Common or Talib Kweli joints, but Jay Z, and his voice, are at their best when they are on top of the world, not coiled and engaging in self-flagellation.

#music review #essay #jay z #444 #rap #hip-hop #Common #thecartertrilogy #Long Read #black creatives

1 note · View note

eng-hypnosismic · 5 years

Text

Spoon Interview (Shirai Yusuke)

Please support spoon 2Di !! You might be able to find them on Amazon.jp (international credit cards accepted) and CD Japan. Please show Hypmic that international fans also contribute to the sales!! This article is from vol. 41.

Shirai Yusuke is the voice actor of Shibuya’s cute idol Amemura Ramuda. How did he perform the cuteness unique to the bubbly Ramuda, or his intriguing duality? We’ll be asking him about all that!

——How do you feel about the current boom of popularity?

“Until the release, I was still unsure about how well the hip-hop genre would be received, but now that I know a lot of people are listening to it, I’m delighted. I never imagined it would have such a sudden upsurge in popularity.”

——During the nico-nama live stream the other day, you probably directly felt the reaction of the audiences.

“The enthusiasm was just incredible. I felt like we were all enjoying something new together.”

——How did it feel to actually rap freestyle?

“I took up the challenge just like that, but freestyling was difficult (laughs). You have to get your words in rhythm, and keep going at it while rhyming nicely; I really felt the importance of wit, vocabularies, etc. However, it was something that I don’t usually do, so it was refreshing and felt good. If there’s another chance, I want to practice a bit more and take the challenge again no matter what!”

——So in hindsight, how did you feel when you heard about the project of Hypnosis Mic?

“Since I always sing songs of rappers I like at karaoke, a rap project seemed interesting to me. Actually, I auditioned for other characters instead of Ramuda. But then after that, they sent me an offer that said, “please be Amemura Ramuda.” There I saw Ramuda for the first time and was a bit shocked, like, “this cute boy... me?” So I had to go up to my manager and confirm with them if the role of this character was really offered to me (laughs).”

——Ramuda's visual is really cute like a girl (laughs).

“They directed me to make him bubbly and sly like he knows how cute he is.. However, even though his appearance is this cute, he’s still a grown man who’s 24 years old, so it has to be within reasons, as I was told. So I did my best to show as much slyness as I can. I I have never played any characters look as androgynous as he does, and I think this is my first time playing a main character whose voice is this high-pitched.

——So you really focused on showing the cuteness and slyness while you’re performing as him.

“That’s right. Ramuda himself is also “clever, and understands how others see him [according to the character profiles],” meaning that he makes himself look cute; his slyness probably comes from him trying to act cute. So I thought that if that’s the case, I could pull it off, too. Therefore, when I voice Ramuda, I try to make sure I show a little of that forced cuteness.”

—— In the drama tracks of Fling Posse VS Matenrou, weren’t there parts when you had to also portray his other side?

“When I first voiced Ramuda, I didn’t know about his duality, so I didn’t act with the thought in mind that he had another side. Therefore, I was also shocked by that side of Ramuda!”

——Now that you have performed as him so far, what do you think Ramuda is like?

“He’s just full of mysteries. We still don’t know about his past, and just like how Gentaro was saying in the drama track, Ramuda is "too spotless" and it feels almost like it's all made up. In Fling Posse VS Matenrou, I played “Dark Ramuda.” ...that’s how I called his other side (laughs). Since I don’t know whether that was his true self or his acting, I am looking forward to how it will turn out. What’s more, since he also has connections with Kadenokouji Ichijiku-san (who is a high-ranking official of Chuo-ku), I think he’s going to be the key character of the plot. I am also looking forward to the story’s development.”

——It was really shocking that he was in communication with Ichijiku-san; as his voice actor, how did you feel about this?

“I had so much fun. Finally, I could talk in a comfortable tone (laughs)! Though I had also wondered if I should keep a little bit of his usual cute vibes, I intentionally changed [my voice] to the extent that it sounded like a different person. When people told me how shocked they were to find out about that Ramuda, it made me grin thinking, “I know right” (laughs).

——So what kind of team do you think Fling posse of Shibuya Division is?

“Fling posse started off with Ramuda forcing Gentaro and Dice to join, but taking that into consideration, they’re getting along pretty well. They have bright, pop-like vibes to them. However in the drama tracks of Fling Posse VS Matenrou, Gentaro was also suspicious of Ramuda, so they were both probing into each other and things were turning a bit sour… And then amongst them there is Dice who’s the only one not caring about anything (laughs). That’s why I think thanks to Dice, the team can maintain its balance. His lightheartedness really helps; I think he’s a great guy. Gentaro is a serial liar, Ramuda is full of mysteries, and maybe that’s how Dice’s straightforwardness stands out so much. Even though Dice loves gambling to death, he’s in general a sensible person. For example, he stood up for Gentaro when Hifumi dissed his clothes. When you see how much he treasures his friends, you can really tell that they’re ‘posse’. I am glad to see that their relationships have improved a lot compared to when they first started.”

——What do you think about the relationship between Ramuda and Dice?

“It feels a bit superficial. But since Dice trusts Ramuda, the exchange between the two is generally pleasant.”

——What about Gentaro then?

“Even though he likes saying “it’s a lie,” I think there has to be some truth in there. Anything could be a lie or a truth; it’s fun to ponder on it. Actually, I wonder if Ramuda already saw through what Gentaro was thinking; as I mentioned just now, in this CD’s drama track both Ramuda and Gentaro were figuring each other out. But Ramuda didn’t really let him know much more than what he revealed. However, there are also quite a few mysteries regarding Gentaro. For instance, he was angered by Hifumi’s comment on his vintage outfit, he seems to have all sorts of secrets. Not just Ramuda and Gentaro, everyone seems to have their own past. I really want to know about them soon.”

——What do you think is the strength of all three of them as Shibuya Division?

“Although they seem to have nothing in common, surprisingly they get along. I think their charm lies in their youthful, pop vibes, as well as their positivity.”

——As your opponents in Battle Battle Battle, what kind of team do you think Shinjuku Division is?

“Contrary to Shibuya’s youthfulness, Shinjuku are adults, and they are a team of mature appeal. However, they also surprisingly get along, which is nice. Jakurai-san seems like a loner at first, and yet he goes fishing with Hifumi. Doppo and Hifumi were friends since they were very little, but I didn’t expect that they’re living together. They’re so close with each other.”

ーー In Jakurai and Ramuda's duet, it has awfully thrilling feelings when you listened to it, is there anything you were conscious of when you perform?

“I try to be offensive and snappy towards Jakurai at full power. Therefore, I exaggerate my expressions, and put extra effort in delivering the taunts. Honestly, I had fun doing that (laughs). They were in a team together in the past, but curiously he seems fine with Ichiro and Samatoki; it was only with Jakurai that he has this antagonism. Ikebukuro and Yokohama, or Ichiro and Samatoki are also hostile towards each other; I really want to know what happened between them.”

——We were only given some intriguing keywords. Like how Samatoki calls Ichiro a “hypocrite”, and that Jakurai mentioned that Rumuda had “done something inhuman”.

“Oh well, what inhuman things have you done, Ramuda…(laughs)”

——For the next part, I would like to know more about the songs. To start with, please tell us was there anything you were particular about or paid attention to while you were recording your solo song Drops?

“Since it’s a solo song, it is the most Ramuda-style song ever. When I recorded the very first drama track, I did the highest voice I could to show Ramuda’s cuteness, so at the song recording I was worried like, “do I have to rap in that tone all the way…!?” (laughs) However, once I found out that the song only had rapping at important parts [and the rest was singing], I remember feeling a bit more relieved (laughs). It’s a stylish and cool song, I like it.”

——While rapping with a cute impression is good, I think the faint, sexy undertone of a 24-year-old man in there was brilliant.

“I'm glad you say so! At the beginning of Ramuda's rap, the feeling of him acting all cute and charged up really was intense, and the pyon pyon part really hit the limit. I sang it like I'd exhausted all my brain cells (laughs). I tried to sing it at karaoke once, but my heart broke in the middle of it (laughs). I had wondered if I would be able to sing this live. Ah, but when this interview gets published, the live will have already taken place! I think it'd be nice if I can sing it well (laughs). However, my feelings of wanting to sing it in front of everyone are strong, so I think it'd be nice if I could sing it happily. Also, Gentaro’s VA, Saito Soma told me that he thinks the lyrics at the chorus - "if you want to pick it up, do it" are superb! I was like, "ehh, is that so~" (laughs). Other people also told me the same thing, so I thought, "I guess it is~!”

——How about your division song, Shibuya Marble Texture - PCCS- then?

“This song is stylish, isn’t it! When I listened to it for the first time, I was surprised that this type of style can exist in the project, too. So far, all the songs have had either a fast tempo or they have loud and offensive moods to them. A rap with a relaxing tune was really refreshing. Although, Ramuda's voice was high as always (laughs). I think the song suits the evenings, so I listened to it on the way home from work. Because this song is the most recently recorded, I noticed some improvements in my skill after singing a lot of songs before it. At first I was really struggling, but it became more and more enjoyable as I went. Comparing it to the first time and the stage live... It's a bit embarrassing to say (laughs). Anyway, in contrast to the peaceful feeling of this song, the plot twist in the drama track is so...! There is this lyrics verse, "Shouldn't the world be more interesting?" rapped by Ramuda which makes you wonder which the true one is; the Ramuda of those lyrics or the one from the drama part. I think everyone ponders about that.

Since you can feel the bonds of those three in the lyrics "Side by side we watch the sunset", it would be nice if their bond pictured here [in the lyrics] is not a lie. It leaves a lot to the imagination.”

——On Ramuda and Gentaro's part, Dice who shouted their names was impressive, but on the contrary, when Dice got his, Ramuda was all-out with his, "Di~ce!", it was really cute.

“I put my everything in that ‘Dice’ (laughs). That part was originally not included in the song demo, but since Dice's VA, Nozuyama, shouted Ramuda and Gentaro's names, Ramuda decided to do it too when recording, because it’s not in character for Gentaro to do it. Speaking of which, Doppo's VA, Itou Kento, said he always listened to this song during the morning commute and that made me happy. It does get you in the mood if you listen to it when you are traveling!”

——Well then, how about Shibuya and Shinjuku's battle song, BATTLE BATTLE BATTLE?

“I'd say it was a real battle, like up until now, they never attacked each other, I think. In the song, there was a line, “Quit draggin’ someone’s past up to the surface over and over”. In that you could see a glimpse of the “Dark Ramuda”. Since the song was distributed before the CD release, if you listened to the song before the drama track, I think you would have been surprised like, "who was that just now?!" (laughs)

Still, I recorded that part separately, so I wondered how everyone would react when they have heard it. That too made me grin a bit while recording (laughs). Then during the verse which said, “without a promise, I won’t forgive that scenario”, he was already back to the usual Ramuda. But there was still a bit of the manly charm and his dark side left in there while I sang it; so when you listen to it, by all means please pay attention to that part.”

ーーHow was it when you heard the finished song together with rest of two members?

“I like how this song gave off the feeling of passing on a baton to each other while battling, but Gentaro's part was too tricky! I mean, it's difficult even if you were told that you can sing it, it’s just impossible (laughs). I really like that, while dodging Hifumi's diss, he provoked the other side with his last line, "A howling imbecile wouldn’t understand that, though, would he?"; I have been looping it in my head all this time. Also, with Dice going against Doppo, the salaryman, I like the feeling of how he struck a great blow with his last one phrase "I ain’t some collared pet.”

——Ramuda's taunting phrase "I’m disa~ppointed" was also good.

“If you were told something like that, you'd certainly get irritated (laughs). I can see Jakurai’s annoyed expression in my head (laughs).”

——Then, please tell us if you have a favorite character and a character you are interested in.

“It's (Iruma) Juto from Yokohama. Even if he is a policeman, he has this shady feeling, and I think how his manner in speaking holds hidden meanings is also nice. In the drama track, it is said that he even questioned Doppo in the past, but I feel like he changed a lot from his old days. Hifumi's duality is also interesting and how even if he is afraid of women, he works as host.”

——Do you have any favorite song aside from Ramuda's?

“Of course it's Ore Ga Ichiro from Kimura Subaru who plays as Ichiro. How he wrote the lyrics by himself is amazing, and the tune is just right. I thought that this guy is totally a rapper and that it was shown clearly.”

——It will be fun if a The Dirty Dawg song were to be made someday, with Ichiro and the legendary team The Dirty Dawg together.”

“Certainly, that possibility is also there! If the songs increase, there could be various combinations even outside the divisions, and perhaps there would be a rap for Dark Ramuda, too.”

——Hypnosis Mic held a Champagne Tower with everyone (the collab drink with karaoke shop), everyone in the cast gave off the impression that they were enjoying their work.

“That champagne tower party was totally private, and yet everyone gathered to that extent, I think that was amazing. Contents of Hypnosis Mic had been exciting so far and I think that it's really pleasing for a lot of people to accept it because we are having a lot of fun too. After all we got to listen to Hayami Show-san’s rap, right?”

——Right. How did listening to Hayami's rap feel like?

“Really cool! Because Hayami is Jakurai, I thought that as Ramuda I should do my best not to lose.”

——Thank you. Lastly, please give a message to your fans.

“By the time this interview gets published, I think we will have already finished the 2nd Live successfully and that the 3rd Live will be decided in November, too. It's unusual to conduct a live in such a short time span, but I think next time we can have fun with more people, so I'd be happy if you could come and play. I don't know how the story will progress according to the battle results, but I am also looking forward to see how Ramuda will get involved. I also want to work hard to improve my rapping skills, so I'd be happy if you can keep supporting Hypnosis Mic in the future.”

#t:interview #Shirai Yusuke #amemura ramuda #hypnosis microphone #hypmic #hypnosis mic #FLING POSSE

824 notes · View notes

fuckmemattitsdiannaross · 5 years

Text

Bare: The Musical

It’s known that there is a lot of discourse surrounding the rock musical, so I watched it and made a list of some of the pros and cons and what I liked just to try and understand it better. It is very different from the original, but there are some element of it that are interesting and good even. So here is my official unedited 2 am review.

Pros:

- Gerard Canonico

- Alex Wyse

- Taylor trench

- Barret wilbert weed

- Dianne lee has a bigger role

- More funny jokes

- Gerard sings portrait of a girl like the fucking savage he is

- Interesting aspect with the basketball team and the spring break houseboat and how popularity is more of a reason not to be out for Jason

- Matt is The Bisexual™️

- Peter has a cute little hat

- Acting is A+

- Jason singing role of a lifetime really works with this production especially at the end of act one

- The best friend song is fun

- Peter and Jason sing a cool new song in act two that offers some good insight

- Peters thoughts before the god don’t make no trash replacement song are interesting and different-ish

- Ivy’s lil speech in promise was really good and spoke the truth

- The whole phone thing with the picture was interesting

- All of promise was pretty good tbh

- The guy who plays Jason does it SO WELL I really like his portrayal

- Jason walked into the light and that was so powerful

Cons:

- no Lucas

- Peter and Jason have only been together for a week

- Missing a lot of great songs

- NO SISTER CHANTELLE (this one is unforgivable)

- Portrait of a girl isn’t a self reflective deep song

- “Portrait of a boy”

- No birthday bitch except the one Jason’s friends did

- the absence of birthday bitch and the banter between Nadia and ivy in auditions and wonderland kinda take away from the establishment of their dynamic (even though they have this establishment in other places)

- No white boy drug rap

- The whole basketball team thing I don’t like that Jason is more “popular” and that’s more reason for Jason not wanting to be out than his religion, and while this is interesting, I just really don’t like that they are mean to Peter.

- Matt has taken Lucas’ place as The Bisexual™️

- Matt is an “emo puppy dog” and not the classy boi I know and love

- Jason’s dumb ass friends

- Jason is an even bigger dick than usual still a really big dick

- “Like what, your boyfriend” “I’m not your boyfriend”

- Ever after isn’t as emotional and it’s only sad because you feel bad for Peter

- Peter is basically the main focus of the whole thing

- Didn’t rhyme alone with itself three times

- God don’t make no trash is extremely lack luster

*side note: ivy is okay with the gay and so is Dianne and all the other play people so Really religion has not even anything to do with this really they just make jokes about it and the whole gay shame thing is about Jason’s friends

*sode note: Jason having the birthday works with what they were trying to do in this production but I just really like the other birthday bitch

*side note: most of the pros are all casting

*side note: it seems more focused on Peter and Jason’s respective storylines, and Jason’s story seems more detached from peters because they haven’t been in a relationship very long or really even at all. It’s really hard to get a lot of emotion behind Peter and Jason’s relationship because they’ve been together so sort a time and that make this more of a story about individuals

*side note: I really loved the take on the death scene and even though the og one is more realistic it was a really interesting artistic choice to make it quiet like that and it really conveyed a message instead of just plot

*side note: it’s hard to listen to the characters sing songs from the original because they just don’t fit in them. So many songs are taken out that it’s weird to even hear them in this because it’s like an entirely different thing

Overall Review:

My favorite part about it was the acting, I think the portrayal of the characters was really good on all parts, there were just some things changed about characters that I didn’t like, specifically Matt, but still I think his “emo puppy dog” persona was an interesting take on the character (I’m going to use the word interesting to describe a lot of things so be prepared). I also thought it was interesting (haha) how they chose to do the death scene and how Jason walked into the light because that had me crying real hard. This production focused a lot on the individuals, and so it was hard to focus on Peter and Jason’s relationship during all the stuff the characters go through, because I was just feeling for the individual characters, and I think that was because Peter and Jason weren’t really a couple at all and they had gotten tighter so recently it didn’t feel like the situation warranted such dramatics from that aspect. To be honest, the relationship didn’t feel like it was there to be a relationship? But to just show more about the characters. And the plot of how their relationship kind of played out was really interesting and I liked it a lot. There were actually a lot of elements about it I really liked and that I thought offered a really interesting perspective on everything that happens, and it went more in depth into Peter and Jason’s story’s than just their relationship, which was interesting. However it left out some bops, and Sister Chantelle who is the heart of the show, and those were mostly the biggest things I didn’t like about it. Overall, when I’m not comparing it to the Pop Opera and looking at it as something completely different, it’s actually really good because there was so much I liked about it, and I think that was the point, not for it to be as good as the Pop Opera, but for it to look at it in a different way, and I think it does did that effectively. It’s very different, but not bad. Official rating 8/10. I have no credentials. Goodnight.

#bare the musical #this has been fun but now i have to sleep becuae i have the pacer test tomorrow #bare a pop opera #jason mcconnell #peter simmonds #nadia mcconnell #ivy robinson #lucas carter

55 notes · View notes

thefreshfinds · 5 years

Photo

Dre Skuffs - Shade Theory

An album that gives back to the world & then some, Dre Skuff’s 18 tracked album Shade Theory (prod by Pawcuts & more) shows all sides of who he is as an individual in one. Each track alone looks beneath the surface.

Cornered in by a vision, Dre is able to scope out his truth. Their truth. “This project is for the world to hear all shades of me.” Dre adds “I’m not just calm or on my thugged out sh*t or a ladies man & that’s the greatest part about it. I had no difficulty even making this because it’s just so easy to be yourself. Shade Theory was moved by a feeling”

One moment the disciple could be fighting for what’s right for the people (Can’t Stop), showing a more vulnerable side (Sippin’ Yak) or even letting the suckers know that he not the one to be pushed! (Handouts & Fed Up). Yet Dre’s star-power remains on a thou’ (Hot & Top Ace Intro).

He’s as ill as it gets & creates a different illustration through the means of storytelling & complexed flows.

THE BREAK-DOWN

1. Top Ace Intro: Wow! What a way to make an entrance! Followed by the jingle of gold coins, the elevating pattern from the beat leaves room for Dre Skuffs make his triumph. Announcing himself as an emcee whose “rap style is impeccable” over a hallow chant in the background, he goes in about how he’s never going to stop(even if life throws some obstacles in his way.) While others may do it for clout, Dre does it simply because it’s something he’s good at & destined for.

2. Can’t Stop ft Jah Vision: Easing in with talks of struggle & making a change for the nation, this beat screams POWER as Dre allows that same laid back demeanor he carries to wrap into his verses. At most this song speaks about issues that need more awareness (like led in water fountains or even overpriced education) that people aren’t woke to. Through it all, his people remain strong so it doesn’t matter what the world tries to throw their way. To add an moving effect is Jah Vision’s war-ready vocal arrangement which subconsciously makes the people feel like they can get through anything.

3. Intelligent Thug: In pursuit of an glimmered blare of trumpets, Dre uses his eloquent ways to speak about women who want a man who’s gully & book smart. Although Dre has been through the wringer, he doesn’t allow it to determine where life takes him. He’s a knowledgeable being with a good head on his shoulders but in this song it seems like he’s mimicking the girls of this generation who just want a “bad boy.”

4. Hot ft Big Rod: An more upbeat track that aims some flexecution at his haters, Dre pulls out a “I win you lose” attitude in his verses. He’s coming for his spot & is damn if he lets anyone take it!

5. Phone Call 1 + 15. Phone Call 2: These two are basically conversation’s Dre has with another. Phone Call 2 is a conversation with a loved one about his recent tour & how he’s been living it up! (He also doesn’t forget to show her love for all she does. I mean.. this mysterious woman has been showing love since day one so it’s only right.) But in Phone Call 1 it surfaced around the Ghostface Killa & 50 Cent beef. *The speech is slowed down for effect*

6. Handouts ft. N-Omega: Bouncing through your temple with that West Coast vibe, Dre & N-Omega spit about the sleazeballs who just want to benefit off of their hard work. Frankly, they’re just fed up & advice whoever thinks to try it to just not. (Just invest in yourself. They’re not your ticket out of Bumsville.)

7. The Unknowing ft Courtney Danger: “In life no one knows what shall unfold.” This very line is best sung smoothly by Courtney Danger in this track & it’s true. Though someone’s actions may appear vile, there could be a better reasoning as to why it is done. Luckily Dre Skuffs gets it & so he tells a number of stories revolving around it over a soulful production. This track just oozes into your listening stream! You can’t help but to leave it on repeat.

8. Gimee My Cash ft Khalil Jibran: Most likely to make you two-step, Dre Skuffs is all about his business in this track! (& yes he wants to be PAID. IN. FULL.) It could all be so simple yet people want to make it difficult by not giving credit when it’s due but Dre & Khalil are here to set them straight. The versatility from these two emcees is apparent as the breakdown from the track builds up in time for them to both speak their piece.

9. Insane-Mesmerized ft. Johanny: A track that’s sure to woo the ladies, Dre Skuff puts on his charm & speaks of a lady who he attracts to like a magnet (but he seems to be caught up in his ways). In the bridge of 3:13 Johanny speaks in the woman’s perspective, singing ever so softly about how she feels the same. (Alexa cue Dangerously in Love by Beyonce’). As a sweet touch, the beat makes sure to center on a lightly pressed snare drum & trickled, lightly pressed piano chords, slowing down in time for Johanna’s piece. (Kind of how Drake does in some tracks off his latest album: More Life)

10. Mile Away ft Sunnie: Jazzy yet soulful (thanks to Sunnie’s powerful range), this track speaks about the ones who thought they blindsided Dre Skuffs but boy were they wrong! Stronger than ever, Dre Skuffs comes in empowered & ready for any other obstacles headed his way.

11. Voice Drop ft. Big Rod & Liftoff: It’s survival of the fittest & so far, these three have killed off the rest. Big Rod, Liftoff & Dre go 0 to 100 & say they’ll continue to reign as number ones.

12. Fed Up: Dropping in with a dauntful beat to scare away those who try to test him, Dre Skuffs is fed up with these n*ggas. In this track he’s basically in full savage mode. He doesn’t care about these groupies (male or female) phonies, media platforms or DJ’s. At the end of the day Dre knows who really rides for him & is willing to show THOSE people love. For those plotting: He wants the smoke. All of it.

13. Sippin Yak ft Maxx Gilliam: We all need distractions to get away from the pain (whether good or bad) it just comes easy to us. This track is significantly relatable because we’ve all been there & it specifically focuses on the pain he endured while his cousin is suffering through an illness.) Whether it’s losing a loved one or just a love.. the pain can just be unbearable. Maxx Gilliam’s sweet, hallow singing pattern also makes you feel like things will indeed be ok.

14. Wanna Tell You: Seductive in its own manner, the production that Dre Skuffs chose for this track leaves a perfect imprint for his emotionally captivating rhymes. Followed by some slick Spanish murmurs & silhouetted piano chords, the multi dexterous Dre Skuffs places himself in the tale as a knuckleheaded young bull who’s just “DTF” with a beautiacious woman. As a result, Dre leaves room for milennials to relate & ponder on. This track shows others that their are consequences to every action we make so it’s best to consider all of the outcomes.

16. Real With Me ft Sobmar: Bringing back that 90’s soulful feel Dre speaks about the woman he looks for, one that’s honest, into him & someone he can just kick it with. That’s really all he ask for. Plain & simple. In pursuit is Sobmar’s mellow singing voice.

17. Be Free ft. Trish Jane: Smooth at it’s finest with the same trickled piano chords, the light hitting drum helps to tell an intriguing tale about a man who’d do anything for his family if it means to keep them happy “who’s lost in the sauce forreal”. Little does he know it’ll have the worst outcome. It just goes to show you that humans will do anything for materialistic things & it’s sad. I especially love Trish Jane’s risen singing pattern because it helps to deliver the main message.

18. The Charge Up: The instruments are HEARD in this last track. From the cymbals to the low guitar riffs, they bring the track to life. Dre Skuff is really trying to tell the TRUTH to everyone but sometimes it’s taken as being “boring” or “corny”. Advising others to not give into the evils of the world, he just wants his people to spread the love & fight for justice.

In a word, Shade Theory is timeless. It’s going to affect the world in a positive way. Each track is different & gives you topics to ponder on. “The sound is just us [NJ artist].” (But that can’t be said about every artist. Dre’s manager even thought Fetty Wap was from the South!)

Shade Theory is full of realizations, words of encouragement & shows that Dre’s drive is apparent. “You can break me down in 20 ways, but Shade Theory..that’s me.”

By: Natalee Gilbert

Shade Theory **Available on all platforms**

https://soundcloud.com/dreskuffs/sets/shade-theory

5 notes · View notes

lizzzgee-blog1 · 5 years

Text

Sorry to Bother You

When I first saw the preview for this movie, I thought it was a vague preview but nonetheless; assumed it was a comedy movie because it showed a partying scene. It was not until this movie was assigned that I was completely off. This movie has a lot to unpack because there are many blatant topics addressed in this film. The main one that stood out to me was the major corporation, WorryFree. The goal of this corporation is to try and enslave people to live and work in their company. The way this corporation is advertised as a mock parody of MTV Cribs, almost as if showing off and showcasing as it is the best place to live and work. The fact that there are many political statements throughout the film, is a political statement all on its own. This is pointing out the fact that because of our capitalistic society, everything IS political because money involved.

Throughout the film, Detroit is the true rebel-focusing on the cause and being a part of the movement, making bold statements with her fashion, especially her jewelry. However, I was shocked but not surprised when she also used her “white voice” to up-sell for art of Africa. This is almost counterproductive because she left Cassius for not being a part of the strike and earning money instead. Another interesting point is when in the beginning of the film, the telemarketer manager is telling Cassius the most important rule of the job; which is “stick to the script”. This applies to real-life society because people are so complacent with where they are in life, they stick to that sucky job, or gender norms because of it simply being “the way it is”. There are many flaws in capitalism, and personally I dont think its the best for society because it puts people against each other when instead we should be helping and uplifting one another. The director emphasizes that a common misconception of the american dream is not true. There have been many people who have worked hard and still live in poverty. Capitalism sells you that dream that if you work hard enough you will succeed. This is resembled in the film with the “power caller”, a position that only the best telemarketer gets and moves up in the hierarchy. Hierarchy is a common theme in this class because it resembles oppression to not just black people but underrepresented communities as well. The director critiques capitalism because it is an illusion for success that people never reach no matter how hard or long they work.

Another scene that stood out to me was the rap scene in the huge mansion private party with all the white people. At first, they wanted to get to know him better and hear his real voice and not his white voice. It was as if they were at a zoo and looking at him as someone who is different from them. It was not until they asked him to rap where it got awkward because when he attempted to rhyme, the whites looked confused and almost disgusted. Cassius then proceeded to say the n word and shit that got the whole white crowd riled up and participated. This depicts how whites actually view hip hop culture, they deem it as irrelevant and only fetishize black bodies as market.

1 note · View note

thefederalistfreestyle · 6 years

Photo

A Student Day at ‘Hamilton’ (ZEALnyc):

[. . .] On the day of the event students begin arriving at the Richard Rodgers Theatre at 9:30 a.m. checking in for the morning session. For this particular student matinee on May 23, the audience was comprised of students from sixteen different high schools (all from the New York City school system), and from which ten have been chosen to perform in front of their peers on the stage of the theater — the same stage where they will see Hamilton later in the afternoon.

I was able to speak with two different groups of students to find out how each of them found their way to Hamilton. First, speaking with Isabel Rambarran and Nicole Nelson from the Manhattan Early College for Advertising, I wanted to find out how much they knew about the show Hamilton prior to working on their project. Isabel said “It all started in our history class. I had only seen billboards (of the show) and stuff and I said ‘yeah, I’m interested.’ I never thought we would get to this point (onstage of the Broadway theater hosting the production). We got an amazing response from our performance at school.” Then Nicole offered her completely opposite experience: “I love musicals. I’ve been to probably over 50 musicals in my lifetime. I’ve seen Hamilton twice before — including the original cast at the Public Theater.”

I then asked how seeing and studying Hamilton affected the way they look at history, with Isabel offering “I feel like Hamilton puts a modern twist on history because not everyone can learn from a textbook, but by coming to a Broadway play it teaches in an understandable way.” Nicole added “It’s a really diverse cast, and coming from a diverse school, I know that we can all benefit from seeing people who look like us on the Hamilton stage, so I think that’s better for us to relate to what they are talking about from 200 years ago.”

Speaking with students from the West Brooklyn Community High School (Leonard Silva, Hector Yanez Rosales and Jesenia “Jessie” Hernandez), they offered their perspective on the experience. Jessie said “[It] started with a history class and then through class we started making creative pieces that were poems or songs or skits, etc.” Hector said “I didn’t even really know about the show until I got this opportunity, but as soon as I started working on the project I have learned so much about it.” When I asked who was responsible for the script of their presentation, they said that it was a group effort by many of their classmates, but Leonard admitted “He (pointing to Hector) did a lot of the writing.”

[. . .] The session begins with a skit by “47” The American Sign Language and English Secondary School voicing anti-establishment sentiments with the words “Trump” and “dirty dump” as part of its rhyme scheme; the audience reacts accordingly.

The presentations continue with a variety of poems and rap, with the students of Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School of the Arts bringing out a drum, trumpet and a euphonium to back up their rapping vocalist (Zanaya Hollis). There is dramatic monologue by Peony Nobrega-Walcott from the High School of Economics & Finance that references black slavery and the “Massa” of Massachusettes harkening back to the form of address used by enslaved ancestors, while students from Robert F. Kennedy Community High School presented a strong assault on the horrors of our present gun control laws in relation to the Second Amendment, incorporating statistics and the realities of what going to school in this current climate of mass shootings is like and the fear and pain that high school students (and younger) are dealing with on a daily basis.

I must say I wasn’t prepared for the affect these student presentations would have on the audience, as well as for myself — someone so far removed from the everyday experience of being a teenager attending an urban metropolitan melting pot institution of learning. The students in this particular audience may not have reflected the “average” NYC student, since each one of them had to study and prepare to prove themselves worthy of taking advantage of this opportunity, but it was heartening to hear their words, have them share their talents, and realize this is our future — America’s future. And to also understand that an artistic work such as Hamilton could be the catalyst for focusing these future leaders to learn from the past and try to avoid previous mistakes, all while hoping to make things better. It was a humbling and awe-inspiring experience to say the least.

[. . .]

The morning’s presentation came to a close and a much needed lunch break began so everyone could clear their heads and prepare for what brought everyone here in the first place — seeing a matinee performance of Hamilton. Flash forward to 1:30 p.m. as the students are assembling back to the theater and taking their seats for the main attraction. Again, the energy in the theater is palpable, and as the house lights dim the show begins. I think I am able to say that this is a day that everyone in that theater will remember for a very long time, if not for the rest of their lives. [. . .]

#hamilton #eduham #nyc #ZEALnyc

50 notes · View notes

topismyworshipmusic · 6 years

Text

Be Concerned.

Under the cut is a little Bible study thingy on the song Be Concerned by my favorite band of all time Twenty Øne Piløts. I hope you enjoy it!

I’m so sorry that I didn’t post anything last week. Last week was a rough week and this week has been proving to be even more difficult with some drama from work. I had planned to write a study for A Car, A Torch, A Death, but I felt that this week I need to do a study on Be Concerned. Be Concerned is one of the songs that I scream out to God when I’m shaking hands with the dark parts of my thoughts. This song is my 2nd favorite Twenty Øne Piløts song of all time, whenever I listen to it I can feel it. I can feel the words and the urgency of them, I can feel the low point Tyler was in when he wrote the song and I can feel the healing that the gorgeous piano and Tyler’s vocals bring me towards the end of the song. Rapping this song gets my frustrations and depression out while also talking to Jesus and asking Him to Be Concerned for me. This song is aggressive, talks a lot about being suicidal in my eyes and about doubting God, Jesus and His plan. The main theme of this song is doubt and helps me when I doubt God’s plan for my future.

The beginning of Be Concerned starts with Tyler aggressively rapping the lyric “Where'd you go? Huh, they all think I know. It's so hard to motivate me to devote a single inch of me to something I can't see”; this lyric reminds me of Romans 12. The whole chapter of Romans 12 is about devoting your life to Jesus, to love what is good and hate what is evil, to follow Him and His will blindly because we know that His will is good. In this lyric Tyler is saying that it’s hard to devote his life to Christ and become a living sacrifice to God and His will (Romans 12:1- I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him). Besides Romans 12, this lyric made me think of 2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we live by faith, not by sight” it’s a hard thing to remember, but after you’ve been baptized in the name of Jesus you are not of this world anymore, you are a child of the one true King, the only God who created the heavens and earth for you to enjoy. Living by faith, even in times of trial is the hardest thing to do, to keep reminding yourself that God is guiding your paths and making them straight as you walk even when it feels like you’re walking off of a cliff. In Matthew 6 Jesus tells us not to worry, God takes care of all of the animals of the air, sea and land, but we are much more valuable to Him than them, so He will take care of us too. This lyric also reminds me of Hebrews 12:2 which says; fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The only way we can live by faith and not by sight is by keeping ourselves focused on Jesus and making Him a part of our daily routines. We can do this by being in prayer constantly, studying His word everyday and talking about Him to people who may not know Him yet, the best way to make your faith in God grow is by helping someone else find Him.

The next set of lyrics I would like to look at is where Tyler says “I will deny you for years and I'll make you raise me from the dead and if I said that I would live for you for nothing in return, Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Gullible, but lying's all I've learned”. The first half of that lyric reminds me of Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” When you get baptized you are participating in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the day you make Jesus LORD of your life is the day you die to sin and live for light, the day you die to yourself and live for the one who created you. We all have periods of our life where we deny God, I know before I was a disciple I denied Him so much that I didn’t even acknowledge His existence. Even Peter, a man who saw Jesus and was one of Jesus’s close friends denied Jesus in John 18. After we are finished denying and God humbles us into admitting that He is LORD, He raises us from the dead and the only thing He asks is that we live for Him, for His glory and for His honor. The next lyric “ if I said that I would live for you for nothing in return, Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Gullible, but lying's all I've learned” is just an example for me of how even after we get baptized and are disciples of Jesus we still have that sinful nature. A self serving, self pleasing nature that is only focused on how God will help me and not those around me. Look at the people of faith from the Old Testament; Noah, Moses, Ruth, David, Bathsheba, Abraham, Daniel, none of them got to see the fruit of their faith. Not a single of one them was alive to watch Jesus save the world, but while they were alive they lived in faith because they knew God was faithful to His promisesses, even if they weren’t going to be around to see it.

The next verse is rapped by a rapper named Josef, this is one of the only two colabs done in Twenty Øne Piløts history. Josef’s verse is all about the Christian walk and how hard it is. He talks about how he can feel God, how he knows that Jesus is there with him, but he still feels faithless like Jonah. If you don’t know the story of Jonah I recommend reading his book, it’s a wild ride and a good lesson on why you should always trust God. Basically, God asks Jonah to go down to Nineveh and speak out against all of the wickedness that is there, Jonah doesn’t want to listen to God and he hops onto a boat that’s going in the opposite direction from where God told Jonah to go. God sent out a storm and all of the passengers on the boat determine that God is trying to punish Jonah with the storm so they throw him overboard. After they throw Jonah overboard God sends a huge fish over to swallow up Jonah whole and Jonah lives in the fish for three days and three nights, on the third night Jonah starts crying out to God and praising Him, saying that if God gets him out of the belly of the fish he will follow his commands and go preach to Nineveh. After Jonah sings His praises, God commands the fish spits up Jonah back onto shore and then Jonah sets on his mission to tell Nineveh that God is going to destroy the town in 40 days. This story shows me that sometimes God asks us to do things that we don’t necessarily want to do, but we should always do His will even when we don’t want to because if we don’t do His will we can get into trouble and end up in our own version of the fish’s belly. This story also shows me that even when we don’t do God’s will and we get ourselves into trouble God is still there with us, He is always there with us and wants us to cry out to Him while we’re in the belly of the beast. God is our rescuer and He will rescue you out of any situation that you need Him too.

The next verse is back to Tyler rapping, he says “I am disappearing inside my bird's eye theories. I tried to say goodbye, defy, and deny what it is I'm fearing. Clearly I am dying, dearly I am writing, merely testifying that a test to fly requires I pass the test with colors flying”. I think this verse highlights the pressure of being perfect that some disciples struggle with. When you openly claim to be a follower of Jesus there feels like there’s a magnifying glass on you to always be perfect, to be positive and joyful person all of the time. Sure, the Bible does tell us to have joy at all times, but it never says not to feel upset or not to feel depressed. The Bible never tells us to suppress our emotions because we are humans and we were created with a wide range of emotions, some people just feel emotions deeper than others and that is okay. We just need to learn how to express our emotions in a Christ like manner without hurting ourselves or others. The next lyric in the verse is “I don't believe you most of the time, I'm lying cause I say I am fine, You are the pearl, I am the swine. So break my life and take this rhyme, I'm so sorry but I do believe that all my bridges I have burned and I've earned a policy of no-return”, this set if lyrics just screams doubt and depression to me. I know that in my own walk with Jesus I feel the way Tyler does in this verse. I know Jesus is the way, the truth and the light, I know that without Him recovery from my mental illness isn’t possible because He is the chain breaker, He is the freedom maker, but even though I know all of these things and I know Jesus would never back down from a promise or betray my trust it’s hard for my emotional heart to 100% believe all of these things all of the time. When Tyler says “You are the pearl, I am the swine” he’s referring to Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces” in this verse Jesus is warning us against persisting in sharing what is sacred to people who find no value in it because you’ll just be attacked for doing so. In this lyric Tyler is referring to himself as the swine because over and over again God shows his grace to us, but over and over again we use that same grace and throw it back in God’s face. We all abuse His grace and His unconditional love for us daily. Everyday we indulge ourselves and deny serving others. We are all the swine, but even though we are depressed, doubtful, suicidal, angry and anxious Jesus still loves us, He meets us where we’re at and works with our broken bodies to make something glorious. All we have to do is trust Him.

#trench #Twenty One Pilots #regional at best #be concerned #bible #bible study #vessel #blurryface #top #christian #about:regional at best

6 notes · View notes

techcrunchappcom · 4 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/kanye-west-says-hes-done-with-trump-opens-up-about-white-house-bid-damaging-biden-and-everything-in-between-forbes/

Kanye West Says He's Done With Trump—Opens Up About White House Bid, Damaging Biden And Everything In Between - Forbes

Kanye West’s Fourth of July declaration, via Tweet, that he was running for president lit the internet on fire, even as pundits were trying to discern how serious he was. Over the course of four rambling hours of interviews on Tuesday, the billionaire rapper turned sneaker mogul revealed:

That he’s running for president in 2020 under a new banner—the Birthday Party—with guidance from Elon Musk and an obscure vice presidential candidate he’s already chosen. “Like anything I’ve ever done in my life,” says West, “I’m doing to win.”

That he no longer supports President Trump. “I am taking the red hat off, with this interview.”

That he’s ok with siphoning off Black votes from the Democratic nominee, thus helping Trump. “I’m not denying it, I just told you. To say that the Black vote is Democratic is a form of racism and white supremacy.”

That he’s never voted in his life.

That he was sick with Covid-19 in February.

That he’s suspicious of a coronavirus vaccine, terming vaccines “the mark of the beast.”

That he believes “Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil’s work.”

That he envisions a White House organizational model based on the secret country of Wakanda in Black Panther.

And that’s just for starters. For much of the phone calls, his core message, strategically, was that he has 30 days to make a final decision about running for president. At that point, he says, he’d miss the filing deadline for most states, though he believes an argument could be made to get onto any ballots he’s missed, citing coronavirus issues. “I’m speaking with experts, I’m going to speak with Jared Kushner, the White House, with Biden,” says West. He has no campaign apparatus of any kind. His advisors right now, he says, are the two people who notably endorsed him on the Fourth: his wife Kim Kardashian-West, and Elon Musk, of whom he says, “We’ve been talking about this for years.” (Adds West: “I proposed to him to be the head of our space program.”)

An hour into the interview, the hedging was done: He says he definitely plans to run in 2020, versus his original plan in 2024. The campaign slogan: “YES!” His running mate? Michelle Tidball, an obscure preacher from Wyoming. And why the Birthday Party? “Because when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.”

If it all sounds like a parody, or a particularly surreal episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, West doesn’t seem to be in on it. Calling from his ranch near Cody, Wyoming, where he says that he registered to vote for the first time on Monday, West denies it is a publicity stunt for his upcoming album. (“I give my album away for free.”) A few weeks after he ended two separate text chains with me with the message “Trump 2020” and a fist raised high, he insists he’s lost confidence in the president. “It looks like one big mess to me,” he says. “I don’t like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker.” West also says that he contracted the coronavirus in late February, though he maintains that had nothing to do with his thoughts on running this year.

That said, he won’t say much more against Trump. He’s much less shy about criticizing Biden, which certainly won’t tamp down the idea that the Birthday Party is a ruse to help re-elect Trump. “I’m not saying Trump’s in my way, he may be a part of my way. And Joe Biden? Like come on man, please. You know? Obama’s special. Trump’s special. We say Kanye West is special. America needs special people that lead. Bill Clinton? Special. Joe Biden’s not special.”

From there, he holds forth on pretty much everything else, and occasionally breaks into spontaneous freestyle raps (“If I catch a vibe, I’m gonna catch that vibe”).

Rapper Kanye West speaks during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval office of the White House on October 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. GETTY IMAGES

ON HIS NATURAL POLITICAL PARTY

“I would run as a Republican if Trump wasn’t there. I will run as an independent if Trump is there.”

ON HIS PREVIOUS SUPPORT FOR TRUMP

“Trump is the closest president we’ve had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation.”

ON HIS MAGA HAT MOMENT

“One of the main reasons I wore the red hat as a protest to the segregation of votes in the Black community. Also, other than the fact that I like Trump hotels and the saxophones in the lobby.”

ON DISCUSSIONS ON RACE WITH THE WHITE HOUSE

“One time I talked to Jared Kushner who was saying we don’t have Black leaders, we just have hustlers. Why? Because they killed all the Black leaders.” (Requests for comment from the White House and the Kushner Companies last night were not immediately returned.)

ON DEMOCRATS

“That is a form of racism and white supremacy and white control to say that all Black people need to be Democrat and to assume that me running is me splitting the vote. All of that information is being charged up on social media platforms by Democrats. And Democrats used to tell me, the same Democrats have threatened me…. The reason why this is the first day I registered to vote is because I was scared. I was told that if I voted on Trump my music career would be over. I was threatened into being in one party. I was threatened as a celebrity into being in one party. I was threatened as a Black man into the Democratic party. And that’s what the Democrats are doing, emotionally, to my people. Threatening them to the point where this white man can tell a Black man if you don’t vote for me, you’re not Black.”

ON HOW THE RACE WILL BE DECIDED

“Let’s see if the appointing is at 2020 or if it’s 2024—because God appoints the president. If I win in 2020 then it was God’s appointment. If I win in 2024 then that was God’s appointment.”

ON THE CORONAVIRUS CURE

“We pray. We pray for the freedom. It’s all about God. We need to stop doing things that make God mad.”

ON VACCINES

“It’s so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralyzed… So when they say the way we’re going to fix Covid is with a vaccine, I’m extremely cautious. That’s the mark of the beast. They want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can’t cross the gates of heaven. I’m sorry when I say they, the humans that have the Devil inside them. And the sad thing is that, the saddest thing is that we all won’t make it to heaven, that there’ll be some of us that do not make it. Next question.”

ON DECIDING TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

“It’s when I was being offered the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Awards at MTV. I remember being at my mom’s house, my mother-in-law, because my house was being worked on, she calls me ‘son’ and I call her ‘mom,’ I was in the shower thinking, I write raps in the shower. It hit me to say, ‘you’re going to run for president’ and I started laughing hysterically, I was like this is the best, I’m going to go out there and they’re going to think I’m going to do these songs and do this for entertainment, how rigged awards shows are, and then say I’m president. And I just laughed in the shower, I don’t know for how long, but that’s the moment it hit me.”

ON HIS FOREIGN POLICY

“I haven’t developed it yet. I’m focused on protecting America, first, with our great military. Let’s focus on ourselves first.”

ON ABORTION

“I am pro-life because I’m following the word of the bible.”

ON BEING A POLITICAL NOVICE

“I have to say with all humility that as a man, I don’t have all of the pieces in the puzzle. As I speak to you for what a political campaign—a political walk, as I told you, because I’m not running, I’m walking. I’m not running, we the people are walking. We’re not running anymore, we’re not running, we’re not excited—we are energized, Someone can say, ‘Hey, I got a brand new car for you, it’s across the street and you get so excited you run across the street and get hit by a car trying to run to your new car. That’s how they control the Black community, through emotions, they get us excited, we’re so excited, but then for 400 years the change doesn’t truly happen.

ON THE NEED FOR RACIAL HEALING, AFTER GEORGE FLOYD

“Well, God has already started the healing/This conversation alone is healing and revealing/We all need to start praying and kneeling… another bar after that, but when a rhyme comes together I’m going to complete it, not inside the lines created by organizations that we know as our reality. The schools, the infrastructure was made for us to not truly be all we can be but to be just good enough to work for the corporations that designed the school systems. We’re tearing that up, what we’ll do is we’re not going to tear up the Constitution, what we will do is amend.”

ON BLACK HISTORY MONTH

“Oh one other thing, Black History Month. That is torture porn because when that comes up what we do is we see—and by the way, if I get that vibe—that’s the process and we are going to a beautiful, uplifting, fun, creative process as a people, as America collectively, and show the world how great we are. So here we go. Black History Month every year they gotta remind us about the fact that we couldn’t vote, they meaning white supremacy construct, and I said that with the CT at the end, I knew what was I was talking about…Our minds are so much more infinite than what’s coming across TikTok or Instagram, what’s trying to influence our children and the next generation of who we are.

ON HAVING COVID-19

“Chills, shaking in the bed, taking hot showers, looking at videos telling me what I’m supposed to do to get over it. I remember someone had told me Drake had the coronavirus and my response was Drake can’t be sicker than me!” (laughs)

ON RUNNING IN 2020

“God just gave me the clarity and said it’s time. You know I was out there, ended up in the hospital, people were calling me crazy. I’m not crazy. Between all of the influences and the positions that we can be put in as musicians—you go on tour, you put out all these albums, and you look up and you don’t have any money in your account. It can drive you crazy, through all of that I was looking crazy because it wasn’t the time. Now it’s time. And we’re not going crazy, we’re going Yeezy, it’s a whole ‘notha level now. N-O-T-H-A.

ON JOE BIDEN

“A lot of times just like political parties they feel all Blacks have to be Democrat. This man, Joe Biden, said if you don’t vote for me, then you are not Black. Well, act like we didn’t hear that? We act like we didn’t hear that man say that? That man said that. It’s a rap. We gonna walk, all the people. Jay-Z said it best. For the other candidates, I just gracefully suggest y’all bow out—Trump and Biden, gracefully bow out. It’s God’s country, we are doing everything in service to God, nobody but God no more. I am in service of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and I put everything I get on the line to serve God.”

ON DEVELOPING POLICIES

“I don’t know if I would use the word policy for the way I would approach things. I don’t have a policy when I went to Nike and designed Yeezy and went to Louis and designed a Louis Vuitton at the same time. It wasn’t a policy, it was a design. We need to innovate the design to be able to free the mind at this time.”

ON THE WAKANDA MANAGEMENT MODEL

“A lot of Africans do not like the movie [Black Panther] and representation of themselves in…Wakanda. But I’m gonna use the framework of Wakanda right now because it’s the best explanation of what our design group is going to feel like in the White House…That is a positive idea: you got Kanye West, one of the most powerful humans—I’m not saying the most because you got a lot of alien level superpowers and it’s only collectively that we can set it free. Let’s get back to Wakanda… like in the movie in Wakanda when the king went to visit that lead scientist to have the shoes wrap around her shoes. Just the amount of innovation that can happen, the amount of innovation in medicine—like big pharma—we are going to work, innovate, together. This is not going to be some Nipsey Hussle being murdered, they’re doing a documentary, we have so many soldiers that die for our freedom, our freedom of information, that there is a cure for AIDS out there, there is going to be a mix of big pharma and holistic.”

ON PRAYER IN SCHOOLS

“Reinstate in God’s state, in God’s country, the fear and love of God in all schools and organizations and you chill the fear and love of everything else, so that was a plan by the Devil to have our kids committing suicide at an all-time high by removing God to have murders in Chicago at an all-time high because the human beings working for the Devil removed God and prayer from the schools. That means more drugs, more murders, more suicide.”

ON TAXES

“I haven’t done enough research on that yet. I will research that with the strongest experts that serve God and come back with the best solution. And that will be my answer for anything that I haven’t researched. I have the earplug in and I’m going to use that earplug.”

ON CHINA

“When I become president—let me make some promises—the NBA will open all the way back up from Nigeria to Nanchang and the world will see the greatest athletes play. The world will experience the change in their element. The money is gonna come back. I love China. I love China. It’s not China’s fault that disease. It’s not the Chinese people’s fault. They’re God’s people also. I love China. It changed my life. It changed my perspective, it gave me such a wide perspective. My mom as an English professor taught English in China when I was in 5th grade.”

ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

“Thou shalt not kill. I’m against the death penalty.”

ON POLICE KILLINGS

One of my to-do lists is to end police brutality. The police are people too. To end laws that don’t make sense. Like, in the George Floyd case, there was a Black guy that went to jail and it was his first day on the force. So if it’s your first day on the force and it’s your training day, and this OG accredited cop with 18 violations already starts filing out, are you going to jump in front of that person and lose your job that same day? Especially in this climate when 40,000 people lost their jobs? This man was put in a position where—and also he probably didn’t realize that the cop was going to take it that far, he probably was so scared, in shock, paralyzed, like so many Black people. I’m one of the few Black people that would speak openly like this.

ON HIS OTHER PRIORITIES

“Clean up the chemicals. In our deodorant, in our toothpaste, there are chemicals that affect our ability to be of service to God.”

ON HIS CAMPAIGN SLOGAN

“Well my second album is called Late Registration. I got a rap … The other thing is, my campaign is Kanye West YES, not YEP, not YEAH. YES. YES. YES… When I’m president, let’s also have some fun. Let’s get past all the racism conversation, let’s empower people with 40 acres and a mule, let’s give some land, that’s the plan.”

#Uncategorized

0 notes

thejonymyster · 6 years

Text

unsorted thoughts on mf doom's mm food

im in a weird spot mentally right now and i feel like just getting all these thoughts off my chest might help. no specific order or anything just as i can flow it out into text

[[read more]]

hopimh that read more works. ok so first of all id like to note that this album is immensely cool and good and while overall the project is great it kinda has some things i dont like about it which keep me from coming back to it so often save for some tracks i just cant get enough of (like beef rap and hoe cakes)

the main thing is this: a lot of the samples are kind of in a high register and just. Dont hit hard enough. theyre cheesey and high pitched and light. it makes sense cause mf dooms voice is low and in the opposite register or whatever but like. i dunno i feel like it didnt have to be exclusively like that? there just isnt enough oomgfhue to the beats and stuff. its like. unsatisfying to my ears but i feel like thats my fault for listening to earblastingly shitty music all the time im used to getting my ears imploded by every bass hit. which is a slight exxaguration but my point is i think the beats need a lil more power but i couldnt say how much. however. my brain tells me this from memory and i go back and listen and i cant find so many like that? where the beat is too soft? or maybe it is but its subtle? i dunno!

another thing is the big chunk of the album which is just dialogue from stuff with a beat over it. i dont have much fun with that? idk i dont mind it as a concept but its just. too Much filler? i mean gumbo is cool and fun n great but like i dont care about the old man talk. and then the doom narrative? its like pick one? dunno

anyway these dont stop this from being a fucking cool ass album please dont get me wrong.

Little things i rlly liked: funny sounds in beats like the Buew sound in Kon Karne and the fart noise beat in hoe cakes and i REALLY love the "Supah!" that honestly just. i love it. Im a sucker for uncharacteristically genuine joy and like careless happiness in like grittier works... its funny to me. i dont like that the "super" is slightly off time

i love the raps obviously but sometimes i have trouble focusing on meduim length straightforward raps so thats on me. The album cover is great and the samples conceptually are great But also like the mm food bein made out of the same letters as mf doom is just really funny to me idk!!!

thank u for listening to me

edit: i also love when he rhymes with the sampled voice clips

2021edit: changed my mind obviously, masterpiece. long live DOOM

#long post

2 notes · View notes

rainydawgradioblog · 4 years

Text

Maggio Interview

I don’t remember how I discovered Maggio - probably due to the mysterious magic of the YouTube algorithm - but I do remember I was instantly hooked. Since 2017 he has released music with his producer Tanca, as well as the collective Klen Sheet, which consists of other Italian musicians and visual artists, eventually signing with the label Asian Fake. His latest EP I Nostri Fallimenti came out towards the end of last year and within the first listen I knew it had made its way into my favorite albums of all time. I got the chance to ask the 26-year old Rome native about his foray into music, influences, and plans for the future.

- Yogasai Gazula

Maggio - Photo by Alecio Ferrari

Yogasai: Starting with your debut, Manuale di sopravvivenza per fiati corti, a few tracks in particular stand out to me, such as “Cancello” and “Orientarsi con le stelle”, the latter which is a reference to a collection of works by Raymond Carver. What inspires you, and how do you engage with your inspirations in your work?

Maggio: Usually it always happens without planning it, especially referring to the first EP. “Cancello” was born because of a joke. During summer 2018, my girlfriend told me: why don’t you write a song and name it Cancello? I thought it was a good idea because in Italian cancello stands for gate/fence but it also means to erase. A few weeks later, Tanca (by that time his name as a producer was zteph) sent me an instrumental and I thought that everything was connected. I just write about what surrounds me and how it makes me feel in the inside. After and during the writing sessions I always try to say things between the lines. It could be that I’m just telling a story about my girlfriend, or that I’m only talking about me, or everyone else. I always think that after the release, you can choose your vision about what I say, especially if you empathize with it. The same thing happened with “Orientarsi con le stelle”, it was the last track we finished. I was watching Cowboy Bebop on the sofa after some attempts made to complete the production of the EP and when I went to bed I realized again that I could connect Raymond Carver, Cowboy Bebop and my life. I remembered that I’d read this short story from the original version of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and that there were some images and expressions that I also put in the lyrics. To someone it should be clear, to others probably not, but that’s the funny thing.

Yogasai: You’ve previously commented on your “unlikely” start as a musician, that it happened without much planning, and in a way was a spur of the moment decision. What drives you? Why this medium? And how are you able to work through those motivations through these projects?

Maggio: When I was a child I read a sort of horoscope that tells you who you would become in your life. About me - I’m a Libra - it was written that I would have become a singer. That never happened during my adolescence. I was frustrated and I kept procrastinating everything, though I used to feel all the time that I had to change my life to reach something good that could allow me to be remembered. In 2011 I started writing constantly cheesy poems, short stories and stuff like that. In 2015 I met Ngawa at a birthday party and we became friends. He was a rapper and after a year he convinced me to try rapping. Only when I moved from Rome to Milan it really began. I was mentally alone and unprepared but I had a plan on my mind. So I started working as a graphic designer and a fashion model but everyday I was thinking about how to bring the things I used to write on a beat, because it was clear that it was the best way to communicate and to have something back. Plus I was really into rap music by that time, so it was just the right thing for me. It took me a year of training to feel good enough to publish my first video on December 23rd, 2017. I don’t know why I’m doing it, I just know that it’s the first thing that I always think about and it gives me the chance to be there for someone who I don’t even know and to live a good life even if it’s not always easy. I know that it sounds a little bit like a stereotype, but it’s just that. One of the biggest reasons I always think about, is that I want to tour with my best friend as a co-worker. When I think about what I can reach, everything’s okay. Yogasai: Your sophomore album, I nostri fallimenti just came out towards the end of last year. This album seems to be a departure from your debut both in terms of themes but also in terms of the production style. How does it reflect where you were/are as an artist? What do you hope listeners will take away from it?

Maggio: I think that the second work was more mature, especially thinking about the way we worked on it. We had a real studio and a label (Asian Fake) helping us and some songs made after and during the release of the first record. When Tanca and I were told to think about a project I focused on a concept to glue the songs together. Failures. If my friends and I were there it was because of the failures. People are afraid of being judged for their failures. Right now I don’t care, fuck it. I feel insecure most of the time but I’ve learned to fight these feelings also because my reaction to them was writing and feeling proud about it. So I hope that my listeners will take away some courage to face the things that just don’t go really well.

Tanca (L) and Maggio (R) - Photo by Alecio Ferrari

Yogasai: One of the trends that has been gaining popularity, but also critique, in Italian music has been trap music. What’s interesting though, is that many of these current trap artists make references to rap artists from previous decades, and continue to draw on these various traditions. How do you situate your work in relation to Italian music and tradition as a whole, as well as other transnational movements? How do you define your style?

Maggio: I was born between two cultures. My parents are Chinese, they’ve been living in Italy for the past thirty years. I have also been raised by an Italian family when my parents had to work for the first five years of my life. So I always felt “liquid”. I really like some Italian music but I grew up with bands such as Yellowcard, Blink-182, Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky, She & Him, Nada Surf (one of their last album is called The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy (2012) – going back to Carver and “Orientarsi con le stelle” ahah) and everything that was okay to me, besides their genre. So I don’t really know how many things shine through my songs, but I noticed that sometime my voice takes something from Modern Baseball. Modern Baseball is surely one of the main inspirations. I really like them because their writing style is really clever. They make you feel that way. Moreover I’m Italian, so I used to read their lyrics just to see things that in my mother tongue I couldn’t have seen. I like trap music, but it’s not really a big inspiration to me about how it sounds. I always focus on flow, assonances, delivery, rhymes and stuff like that. Tanca, who made all the productions, plays the guitar and we have a mutual love for emo/post-rock/etc. and he really likes everything, so we live the same way this music thing. Maybe alternative-rap wouldn’t sound that bad, but let’s not define it and we’re good. Sometimes changes just happen and if you spend too much time defining yourself maybe you won’t feel yourself anymore.

Yogasai: What would your dream collaboration look like, if you could work with any artist/ artists?

Maggio: Modern Baseball!

Yogasai: For those who haven’t listened to your music before, if you had to choose a few tracks for them to listen to, which would you choose?

Maggio: “Raffreddore” from I nostri fallimenti and “Sconto” from Manuale di sopravvivenza per fiati corti.

Yogasai: What directions do you see the project heading? What can we expect in the future?

Maggio: Hopefully we’ll release more tracks soon. Just wait for that: it’s the only thing we know.

0 notes