I hate Rap music.

I fucking hate mornings. The bane of my existence. Always waking up an hour early, never rested. Blah blah blah, not about start whining, whatever. So this morning was no different. Reluctantly get out of bed, cold as fuck, I put yesterdays clothes back on and stagger to the shitter, iPod in hand. While I shit I check Facebook and Google and all that stuff to see if anyone died while I was asleep, or something cool like that, but instead I find something different. Really fucking lit a fire under my ass, and I don’t know why, because this isn’t the first time I heard something like this, I guess it’s starting to wear on me. Some body I know had posted this over night :

“i hate rap music and everything it represents!and i honestly cant understand how women even listen to that trash seeing as how 90% of rap music makes you out to be a whore/slut and worse..do people even listen to the lyrics of this bullshit they call music?the most worthless music ever put on this planet...and to actually see people idolize and imitate rappers absolutely blows my fuking mind!and for the love of god pull up your pants you jack ass!!that shits not gangster,it just makes you look like a worthless moron!!”

I know the guy, so I’m not going to pick this apart any more than I have to in order to make my point, but I’ll start at the beginning and work my way through it. “I hate rap music and everything it represents!” I love broad, sweeping generalizations like this. You hate EVERYTHING it represents? That must mean you’ve heard every rap song. I typed out about 8 examples of positive reoccurring themes in Hip-Hop, but I erased it, because I kind of find it below me. Go listen to Atmosphere or Sage Francis and tell me the same thing, you ignorant m…not going to start calling names. Breathe.

Moving on.. “and I honestly can’t understand how women even listen to that trash seeing as how 90% (I bet he looked that up) of rap music makes you out to be a whore/slut and worse.” I have so many angles with this one. First and foremost is the Chris Rock argument. Very few of those songs are generalizing women. They’re actually talking about sluts and whores, not normal, regular, respectable women. The women who listen to it are smart enough to know that. And that 90% figure is just fucking insane. There is so much pro-woman hip-hop out there, it’s not even hard to find.

“Do people even listen to the lyrics of this bullshit they call music? The most worthless music ever put out on this planet…” Hey man, you call it music too. I really want to go look up some figures to show how much money Hip-Hop has accumulated in the 40 short years it’s been around, but why bother. Hip-Hop has permeated into almost every facet of our lives through pop culture. Snoop Dogg is a house hold name. Ice Cube stars in your kid’s movies. And then to answer his question, no. Most people don’t listen to the lyrics. They just want to dance to the shit. And don’t even start to pick apart hip-hop lyrics. Some of those guys analyze their shit so much, with syllable counts and rhymes within rhymes, and I’m not even talking about content yet. I’m still trying to wrap my head ANYTHING Aesop Rock says.

 

“And to actually see people idolize and imitate rappers absolutely blows my fuking mind! And for the love of god pull up your pants you jackass! That shit’s not gangster, it makes you look like a worthless moron!” People imitate It’s what they do, so stop being surprised. And to call out hip-hop for their fashion is kinda funny coming from a rock n roll guy. Rockers wear make up. I could laugh at them for their chains and leather, looking like something from an S&M movie, and their stupid fucking hair cuts, but I don’t need to. They wear make up, end of story. Someone commented after his post laughing about the baggy pants thing, saying they heard it started in jail as a way to identify you as gay. I always heard you were a stupid cunt(sorry). Baggy pants came from poor parents having to buy their kids pants that are too big, because the popular sizes usually sold out, and the larger sizes were moved to clearance, so it made it cheaper to buy them. And then your older brother gave you his when he didn’t need them anymore, and so on. Go look the shit up before acting like you know.

So basically I’m saying “Fuck you.” I’d argue there’s more redeemable hip-hop music out there than any other genre, but then I sound just as stupid as this guy. Every type of music, just like any type of anything, must be viewed as a whole, being neither for nor against, in order to the truth. And every type of music, just like anything, has it’s good seeds and it’s bad seeds. If you want to rage against something, rage against society for embracing it, not the poor fucks trying to make a buck and escape their situation by preying on those who ask for it.

More ramblings and self realization you probably don't care about.

I like to hide behind this façade that I don’t give a shit. I think it’s because in reality I actually care too much, and I use that as a safe guard for when things fall apart. Too much passion, and at times, it seems like for all the wrong things, and possibly, the wrong reasons. For as much as I try to rise above it, I find it does me no good. Letting go doesn’t mean it’s not there anymore. Embracing this I don’t give a fuck attitude is only making it more real, easier to shut off and tune out, easier to detach. I wonder if once it takes hold I won’t be able to change it. It’s arguable if I get good songs out of it. People only wanna hear shit like that so much, and it’s not easy to write anything else when that’s where your head is. But then, how else are you supposed to look at things these days? We’re definitely facing a no-future type scenario. So much is in question, and things appear to be getting bleaker by the day. I’m not an end times kind of guy, that stuff is just ridiculous, but we’re slowly strangling ourselves, that much is for sure. So with all that going on, I should write some party rap or club bullshit? I know that’s not my only alternative, but as Rome falls, any other subject seems trivial. I struggle between a me that wants to inform people, and the me that wants to watch it fall apart. People go to shows and listen to music to escape from the stress of every day, and you’re sure as hell not going to do that while listening to me. So do I embrace this madness, let it pull me in, and see where it takes me, or do I fight it, so maybe I can write the next Billboard Top 100 single? Seems like an easy answer, yet I struggle. Call it what you will, but at the end of the day, we're a rap band. Joe and I rap. Put any genre behind us, and we're still rapping. You can add any cute little adjective you want, but as long as that's what we're doing, there's no other way to look at it. But to me that's the cool thing about rap music. The common things that bind it are the lyrics and mc, but beyond that, the sky is limit. Drop a drum beat over it and you can rap over any kind of music. So while at times the label it's self may be a hindrance, and new words are sought to mask the underlying truth, rap shouldn’t be as broadly judged as other styles of music, because it embraces all styles. I think our band is a great example of that. From the heavier shit, to blues and classical, a little pop influence, and straight up hip hop, we've got a pretty good blend of different sounds. We'll always have to deal with the stereotypes of rap in general. Almost anything mainstream paints it in a negative light. There also seems to still be an inordinate amount of people who smirk at the white rapper thing. I guess anyone who does anything has that kind if shit to deal with. From here on out I'm going to embrace the title, and shun the naysayers. I've always hated the overwhelming majority of my peers in anything I've been involved with, why should this be any different. I know I'm not the first with this thought, and I know it's a losing battle, but I will destroy the definition and perception of my chosen genre from within. Twist and warp it until it barely resembles what it was when it started. I'll only write for myself and no other reason, no motive of any sort will cloud my vision. I see no other way to remain unscathed as I do this. This isn't some oath of purity bullshit. I don't know what it is. I just know that anything else isn't real. CD release party is a week away. Make sure you all show up that are able to, and don't hold any of this against me.

Adam

My songs don't sparkle

Seems like everything I write lacks an upbeat vibe, or at the least couldn’t ever make it as a radio single, not that’s what I’d ever strive to do. Most of my songs have a common theme, or thought that connects them, the same that dominates my mind all hours of the day. I doubt a lot. Never been one to do things because they were the thing to do, or because of how others perceived them. I guess it comes down to the futility of everything, but it’s so much more than that. Ritual, tradition, habit, custom, it’s all bullshit. So much is done through out the day without any thought at all being put into it, the hello and goodbye interactions with people, the routine of a job, generic reactions to similar situations, it all reeks of bullshit. Little of this is sincere. It’s preformed in a mechanical way, doing it just because it’s the way things are, or because you were told it’s how to interact. The origins of many of these things are unknown to their users, or just flat out ignored. Some is also explained away as just being the polite thing to do. It’s all become meaningless. You see a person and say hello, someone sneezes and you say bless you, you celebrate this holiday on this day because the dead people before you did it, your mom made the sandwich this way, so you do it to. These all may seem trivial, but when added up, it forms a giant ball of bullshit. People like to claim individuality, but most are built on a foundation of their parent’s or some other god-like figure’s ideals that they never question. One can try and say that everything comes from something else, and all you really are is a collection of someone else’s ideas put together, but it’s why those ideas are put together, and what motivations formed them. I wish this was something I could let go, but I find it too hard to look past. If the general foundation of everyone is an amalgamation of their parent’s (or whatever the hell else influenced them) thoughts, then who is that person really? I find myself desperately searching for an escape, either from them or from myself. It really sounds so petty as I look this over, and I don’t expect anyone to understand it from my words alone, but it’s enough to eat at you, really drive you mad, if you open your eyes to it. The worst of it all is that I don’t have an answer, and don’t expect to find one. This isn’t something that can be fixed, other than within me. I like to hope the more I write and rap, the closer I’ll get to some sort of inner peace. Enlightenment and happiness don’t walk hand in hand. Thinking I picked the wrong one to go after first. Whatever, enjoy the songs, or don’t, but that’s one of the places they come from.

Adam

First post

So I guess this the first Post Vinyl news letter, or rather, what it will evolve from. Nick suggested we make one, and I offered to write it, considering the inordinate amount of free time I seem to possess. I haven't sat down to write like this in about 5 years, this might get more personal than other things I write, so I'm sorry ahead of time. Our first full length album release is upon us. Some of the songs go back 3 years or longer to when I first joined the band, but the actual recording process started in the beginning of July. In the midst of a summer filled with Boy Meets World and assplay, this was the perfect thing to top it off, finally getting to record some of our favorite songs we've made. Not to shit on any one we had recorded with prior to this, I'm very thankful for all the help we received, but this just had a bigger feel to it. Late afternoons on the weekends spent at Bad Racket, laying down vocals, nights spent at home trying to convince a girl to let me violate her in return, with much reefer in between. Definitely riding high. Like whenever anything is going too good, set backs occur. Andy got a new job and was moving, so we were losing our practice spot, my advances were denied and I was tossed to the curb, and our mixes were taking a little longer than desired. Add to it we hadn't played a show since May. That brings us to the beginning of November. We were able to get ourselves a spot at Level 5, our old practice spot where we first started playing together, and we booked a show for our album release party. Now that shit's a little over a week away. The set list is solid. We're also working on trying to get some shirts together by then. Playing live for the first time since May has me a bit excited, and with my current mind state, I can't wait to get shitty and let loose. Here's a link for info on the show City Hum Release Party. And here's where you can download our album if you can't make it to the show City Hum. Hope to see you all there.

Adam