"When those color lines come we can’t see between, we just close our eyes till it’s all black everything"
Long time no see, feeling a little ambiguous about being hella lazy lately, my absence is both my guilty pleasure and my deadly sin of sloth combined in one powerful package of passive complacency. But nonetheless I am back, like most annoying things I tend to stick around even after my leave seems evident. Frelsesarmeneren and yours truly got a little thing going where we spin the same subject, so you can get a lateral opinion or take on things, like we did with the Kanye-piece the other day. It really serves me well, as I’m worthless when it comes to finding new subjects, whereas he usually has something boiling which I can leech off of. This time the initiative was mine however, as I felt the need to mark the drop of Lasers, the latest project from the unparalleled genius that is Lupe Fiasco. One can say whatever they want about Atlantic Records, but I’m still grateful I got Lasers at all. After waiting for 2 years for anything to drop, I can’t really say I’m bummed I didn’t get a second F&L or The Cool, but rather a collection of very temporary songs that I can thoroughly enjoy without the religious worshipping I delegate the likes of Kick, Push and Failure. (I’ll still be more psyched for F&L 2 & Friend Of The People though.)
Regardless, some of the tunes are ever so Super Lupe Lyrical, and amongst these I feel Beautiful Lasers and All Black Everything are the gems, two extremely important songs both for the audience and Mr. Fiasco himself. Beautiful Lasers is basically a song about hardships he endured after losing his father, and can pretty much be summed up in the line:
No winner when it’s me against me/
One of us ain’t gon survive/
My heart been broke for a while/
Yours been the one keeping me alive/
He contemplated suicide, and was in a really dark place for a long time, resulting in a lot of great music for the fans, but I really feel sorry for the man. He also lost a brother the day after Lasers leaked, seems like fate has a way of throwing things his way when he’s on a roll. But grim things aside, the song I was supposed to bring up is All Black Everything, which received a well earned amount of hype prior to its release. The song is basically a “what if” about a world where racism and slavery never existed, and some interesting “plot” twists to the history of mankind. And it truly is an appealing concept, spiced with the usual wit and intelligence of the Fiasco-standard, with references to W. E. B. Du Bois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Bertrand Russell, Malcolm X and even some ironic nut busters towards ethnocentric people of power. Maybe not as forward as his “Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist” lines from Words I Never Said, but the Bill O’Reilly line where he reads from the Quran during the eulogy of Malcolm Little, followed by the discreet paradox where right-wing Fox News reports from Iran with President Bush’s condolences leading up to the Mandela peace prize to Ahmadinejad, one of the most hated men in the western world sums up the surrealistic, but ever so welcome alternate universe where these things could be plausible. As a fond believer in the good in all of mankind, I would really love to see that people one day just set aside the insignificant things and grow the hell up (Funny how insignificant can be applied to the things mentioned prior, but when it comes to getting along, it really can). It’s embarrassing really, but that’s an anecdote for another time.
Further on he refers to a scene where pretty much every notion we have regarding skin and background is reversed, an Eminem without racially challenged career, a black rapper inspiring a white 50 cent, a backspinning Fred Astaire, a black Rat Pack (Sammy Davis aside) and a white The Jacksons. This is a world where “keep it real” has no meaning, because complexion is no contest and racism is without context, where people like Bill O’Reilly can’t claim that Hip Hop is the reason for trouble through glorification of violence, where rap doesn’t spawn problems, but where problems spawn rap. It may sound like this song is strictly about those of darker persuasion, but the entire concept of the title is narrowed down to the color specter, where the only time unison is achieved, is when we close our eyes “until it’s all black everything”.
by 13th Witness.
It’s truly a beautiful tune, all the way from the 1938 sample of “I’ll be seeing you”, to the flow and the message conveyed. The sad part is that it’s going to be ignored by a lot of people by a number of reasons. Many belittle Lasers as a lesser record, whereas I am tempted to say shame on you, for not understanding that ANY Lupe Fiasco is still better than your favorite artist’s favorite artist. The second variable will probably be the fact that there is close to no hook on this track, and those of you who are just about smart enough to sing along to Waka Flocka tunes (No hate, just very little appreciate) will not understand a damn word of what he’s saying. The last part is that many of you understand that it’s an intelligent song, and use music only as a stimulant to the ears, not the mind. I’m not ridiculing the rhythm-people, I just find it hard to restrain my own comprehension of music to just the tunes, the lyrical part is ten times more important to me. But relativism is on point as always, and if the song is not your cup of tea, you should at least give it a shot and read the lyrics on the side and really UNDERSTAND what is being said, then think about while you stroll about in the beautiful spring sun. Even in Norway this thematic is quite relevant, and instead of just putting some random ass chain-letter message on your Facebook-status, treat everyone with their justified amount of deserved respect all day, EVERY DAMN DAY. It’s really not that hard being a nice guy/girl. Sad finishing a blurb with a lot of morale, but it’s not nearly as sad as the fact that many of our fellow men need it.
by 13th Witness.
On a last note, a quote from Lupe himself about the song he holds the highest from his new album.
“Jay-z made it a dope line; I made it into a dope song.”
Lupe Fiasco
SenseiRydis would like to remind you that Love Always Shines Everytime, Remember to Smile!
