Independence Day
I want to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July. I hope everyone enjoys the rights and freedoms granted us by the Constitution.
I don’t write much in the way of political statements anymore. It’s generally a waste of my time. I have too busy of a life. By the time I write a condemnation of some despicable act of corruption or injustice, the Cheney administration has committed two more. By the time I lament the loss of one of our essential rights, entire sections of the Constitution have been trampled.
In a recent post, Ken put up the Declaration of Independence. Give it a read. It’s amazing how many of those things could be applied today.
July 29th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Hey. A few years ago I rewrote the declaration of independence with just a couple of modified words here and there to make it completely relevant and topical. It’s somewhere on the computer at my old job. I was pretty proud of myself at the time.
I have to agree with you that political diatribes are tired. The current state of affairs in the world is such that focusing on any one single point seems to be hopeless. As you say, they pull at least two more crazy stunts by the time we’ve even formed a “WTF?” about the first. It’s been that way since day one of this administration. Remember when everybody forgot about the stolen election after 9/11? I’ve grown tired of writing songs about that sorta thing, too, because ultimately these are just superficial corruptions stemming from a place far deeper. You can remove Cheney and them, and you’ll get people who are maybe less evil, but are still gatekeepers for a system that revolves around stripping people of their autonomy and self-agency. But you know what is hard to express in rap? Really abstract political/psychological/philosophical/spiritual concepts. So, I think I’ve reverted back to just some ol’ club rocking shit. Funny, huh?
July 29th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I don’t know whether it is funny or sad. I know that I love your political stuff, but I understand the burnout, too.
Really, we hired people to reign in people like the Bush Administration. Congress. Trouble is, some of them don’t understand that he is making them irrelevant and others are too scared to fight it out.
Though when it comes to your art, being political and rocking a club aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive talents. Bob Marley is one of the greatest examples of someone who could make you shake it and then want to go right the wrongs. While shaking it.
So I think it is great if you want to change gears a bit. We all do. Let me know when the Rev1: Surrender The Booty album comes out. I see the cover with you pulling a Run-DMC arms-crossed pose and wearing a pirates hat. Or an eyepatch. Never mind the eyepatch, everyone would think you were Slick Rick.