Monday, February 23, 2015

Social Etiquette

Social etiquette says it’s okay to think of something nasty about someone or find fault with them behind their back but be polite to their face.
Social etiquette says a person can lie, cheat, steal and be the biggest crook in the world but it’s impolite for us to point it out.
Social etiquette says its okay for a man to have a huge sexual appetite, but if a woman does that, shes a total slut.
Social etiquette says a man’s and a women’s success will be judged using 2 different scales, why? It’s a women's “duty” to take care of the house and kids.
Social etiquette says we must trust our elders even if their values and idea’s are outdated and cannot be applied to society’s ever changing culture.
Social etiquette says we must listen to these elders and follow everything they tell us to do, blindly and without any questions. Why? Because I’m telling you to do it!
Social etiquette says it’s okay to make fun of someone and ridicule them if they have different views, but only if everyone else around you is doing it.
Social etiquette says religion is everything no matter how deeply 2 people care and love each other they cannot be together unless they belong to the same religion or their horoscopes match.
Social etiquette says women can’t cook or step inside a place of worship when they are menstruating because it is impure and unclean.
Social etiquette says you must do what other people in your community tells you to do because it is “socially acceptable” no matter how you feel about it personally.
Social etiquette says you can’t mourn someones death or be happy for someones marriage unless you dress your best and spend lavishly to show the world how happy or sad you are.
Social etiquette says your intelligence and success in life will be judged in comparison with everyone else and is not based on your individuality.
Social etiquette says you’re opinion is wrong if everyone else disagrees with it or if an influential person tells you it’s wrong
Social etiquette our society’s biggest flaw, generation upon generation of people programmed to blindly follow eons upon eon’s meaningless rituals passed down from person to person.
Simply follow it, you have to do it, don’t ask silly questions, no it isn't a law, just shut up and do as I say, why… because I’m telling you to do it!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

You call this music rap.. I call it crap

I was having an argument with a fan of rap music from the younger generation and I still can’t fathom what happened to rap music. Rap music used to be an art, it was poetry recited over music by master rhyhmer’s who maintain a flow without even breaking a sweat… it was so beautiful, it was similar to watching an artist painting a picture… watching him fill the canvas stroke by stroke and the end product leaves you with a smile and just stare at it with admiration. When did we trade all of this in for cheap product placement and sexual innuendos?

Compared to a lot of people my age my music taste is quite current. I’m a huge fan of the Dubstep and the Trap takeover which is happening right now; actually EDM on the whole is on the rise and taking a lot of the music industry by storm which is nice to see. The bar for EDM is being raised daily even though people say making EDM is done by computers and is so easy, well guess again, it’s not. Producers like Deadmau5, Zedd, Bob Sinclair, Skrillex (Some of my favourites, no disrespect to anyone not mentioned here) put in a great deal of work to stay relevant and keep coming up with unique content and they are reaping the rewards. I digress, getting back to topic, even though EDM has been getting better, rap just simply seems to be getting worse with each new song coming out.

So let me be straight with you, Even though I was born in 1988 and the 90’s is easily the golden age for hip-hop I got in to hip-hop very late in my musical journey. (I was in to some lame stuff which I still like such as Venga Boy, Toybox, Mr. President and West Life....etc , etc.) By the time I started listening to hip-hop the music industry was dominated by the likes of Chingy, Nelly, Usher, Ludacris, Missy Ellitot, Fat Joe  whose music I will say is still played in any club or house party you go for I must say… this was the gangster age of hip hop, as in the proper straight up cut you up gangster  if you bump in to me gangster age of hip hop where everyone even in Sri Lanka (including yours truly) dressed and talked gangster, walked around with chains, studs and the sideways cap.  You had songs like Lean Back, Stand up, In Da Club, and Get Low played all over… house music was still new and didn’t have a huge following yet, you had your rock heads who were an entirely different crowd and we co-existed with the dose of healthy rivalry and mockery. I digress again, sorry about that… the memories keep gushing out when I tend to go down this road. Mainstream hip-hop wasn’t the most intelligent at this point, no lie (Go read the lyrics to Oochie Wally, specifically the 3rd rap, you are definitely in for a surprise) but rappers made sense and the gangster culture was major at this point… everybody wanted to be a gangster, even if they came from a nice family, in short the music was written to suit the social context. Of course you had your unconventional rappers like Eminem, Flipside and Bubba Sparxxx (to a certain extent) offering music with more than simply  face value. But in general rap music was good… the music made sense, the rhymes were slick and the beats were pretty dope.  After I fell in love with the rap I started doing my research and started listening to G.O.A.T’s (Greatest Of All Time) of hip-hop… Tupac, Biggie, Grandmaster Flash and Dr. Dre, Wu Tang Clan, Cypress Hill, Ice cube, Snoop Dogg, NWA etc, etc,  some of the pioneers of hihop who made hip-hop what it has become. Hands down there will never be another Tupac or a Biggie ever born again, that spot will never be filled. Period!

Of course the 2000’s also saw the birth of Lil Jon, Lil Wayne and Akon (Yes, like it or not Akon is to blame, he will actually accept all the blame) which caused the demise of hip-hop as we knew it. If you look at most of the hip-hop songs it’s a repetitive chorus and some random lyrics about drugs, sex, money or brand names thrown in. Don’t get me wrong the music is catchy, sure I am a sucker for some of these songs but if you look at the songs and you ACTUALLY listen to the words their pure garbage, nonsense sung over a catchy beat and a sweet hook to get the fans addicted. I challenge you, show me one commercial song produced or sung by one of the modern era rappers which offer more than face value and aren’t crude marketing tools. Sure you have a few rappers that actually who I will acknowledge as Rappers rather than wannabe gangsters…. Macklemore is honestly is the only guy that comes to my mind right now, I actually have to think to find rappers I actually respect! Ooh Skepta is pretty good, at least his song Hold on … and so is No Regrets by Nappy.

So as you can imagine I am totally doing a hip-hop flashback while writing this article, here’s a preview of what my Youtube playlist was:

Dr. Dre - The Next Episode ft. Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Nate Dogg
Lil Bow Wow Feat Snoop Dogg - That's My Name
Nelly - E.I
Nelly - Ride Wit Me ft. St. Lunatics
Jagged Edge featuring Nelly - Where The Party At ft. Nelly
Nelly ft. P. Diddy & Murphy Lee - Shake Ya Tailfeather
Chingy feat. Snoop Dogg and Ludacris - Holidae Inn Music
Terror Squad - Lean Back ft. Fat Joe, Remy
Houston Featuring Chingy, Nate Dogg & I-20 - I Like That
Ludacris - The Potion
Missy Elliott ft. Ludacris and Trina - One Minute Man
Wyclef Jean Ft Missy Elliot- Party to damascus
Grandmaster Flash The Message
Skee-Lo - I Wish
JAY-Z - 99 Problems
2pac – Changes
Biggie Smalls - Hypnotize

Which brings back me back to my initial question, when did we trade real hip-hop music for cheap product placement, drug related songs, parties, prostitutes and sexual innuendos?


Sunday, February 1, 2015

A little kiss

It started with a crooked smile and flirty wink which was followed by a little kiss,
You drew closer and pecked me on my lips and I pulled you closer to me,
You giggled softly and fit right in to my arms like that’s where you were meant to be,
Chest to chest we felt our hearts pounding in sync waiting for what was to come next.

Brush of a nose while our eyes met as we stared right in to each other’s souls,
Leaning in gently our lips meet gently as if it was the first time we kissed and two people became one,
The rest of the world just disappeared and all that was left was me and you locked in our embrace.
Me and you, right here, right now and nothing and nobody else in the world matters anymore.

Me and you under the sheets snuggled up holding each other tight as it if was our last time,
As if tomorrow would never come and we wouldn't be together ever again,
The flame kept burning stronger and stronger and our souls interconnected as we exhaled in to each other,
We became one person with two hearts, beating at the same time as we are engulfed in to pure ecstasy.