143 replies to this topic

[jtnc]

Just google Brother Ali....

Clicked on whatever song came up first on lyrics link...

got this...



Took him almost to the end of one breath to talk about himself.

Pure poetry. He is a regular TS Elliot

Okay, tell me if you can decipher this jay-z lyric.

Dark Knight feeling, die and be a heroOr live long enough to see yourself become a villain?I went from the favorite to the most hatedBut would you rather be underpaid or overrated?

Not all rap is terrible, people seem to dismiss things they can't understand.

[jtnc]

I'm eclectic, I'll listen from anything to Jay-z, Kanye, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar to The script, OneRepublic, The fray, Alabama Shakes, Daughtry, Adele, etc... because I know all music usually has a meaning or a message behind it.

[Zod]

Okay, tell me if you can decipher this jay-z lyric.Not all rap is terrible, people seem to dismiss things they can't understand.

You think thats deep? Ripping off an idea from a movie and putting it into spoken word? Is the bar set this low now?


Read this, and tell me if you don't see a huge yawning chasm of poetic quality...

The Soldier
Rupert Brooke

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Really, it is night and day.

[rodeo]

most music of most genres has terrible lyrics. rap is especially bad because most of the people claimed to have good lyrics would fit in very well in an 8th grade poetry class.

but it doesn't really matter, honestly. there are only 1 or 2 musical acts i've ever listened to specifically because the lyrics are amazing. it's not the sum of the experience.

[ButWhysTheRumGone]

You think thats deep? Ripping off an idea from a movie and putting it into spoken word? Is the bar set this low now?


Read this, and tell me if you don't see a huge yawning chasm of poetic quality...

The Soldier
Rupert Brooke

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Really, it is night and day.

I honestly don't. It depends on who is writing it and the overall vision or message they are trying to convey. That was an awesome poem though.

How does this sound to you?

My issue isn't televised, and you ain't gotta tell the wise
how to stay on beat, because our life's an instrumental
This is physical and mental, I won't sugar-coat it
You'd die from diabetes if these other niggas wrote it
And everything on TV just a figment of imagination
I don't want no plastic nation, (dread) that like a Haitian
While you motherfugers waiting, I be off the slave ship
Building pyramids, writing my own hieroglyphs

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Why does this have so many comments?

[jtnc]

You think thats deep? Ripping off an idea from a movie and putting it into spoken word? Is the bar set this low now?


Read this, and tell me if you don't see a huge yawning chasm of poetic quality...

The Soldier
Rupert Brooke

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Really, it is night and day.

See, his meaning behind it went waaaayyy over your elitist head.

Jay is using Dark Knight(Harvey Dent) as an example, Jay is saying had he died at the height of his career like 2pac or Biggie, who were claimed heroes of hip-hop after their deaths, his legend would have grown, but the more longer he lives, the more haters he attracts...so he's now witnessing himself become a villain.

[bleys]

music is dead... simple and plain.

[PhillyB]

[BigSyke]

I'm convinced now that more then truth is at stake
Where people create language that pretends to communicate
Euphemisms are misunderstood as mistakes
but its a bi-product of the ghetto music we make
From an extroverted point of view I think its too late
Hip Hop has never been the same since '88
Since it became a lucrative profession there's a misconception
that a movement in any direction is progression
Even though of the potency of it lessens
big money industries writing checks to suppress the question
And nobody gives a fug no more, no one goes to the book store
ever since the confluence of Moore's Law
But I stay in the lab, like Niels Bohr
and his son Aage, Edward Lorenz and Leo Szilard
Lyrically I took rap music and turned the knob
to the right full throttle and added panache

[BigSyke]

But I ignored, and explored my history that was untold
And watched mysteries unfold
And dropped a jewel like Solomon, but never followed men
cause if you do your brain is more hollow than
Space oblivia, or the abyss
With no trace of trivia, left with the hiss
Does it pay to be deaf, dumb and blind?
From a slave we was kept from the mind
And from the caves he crept from behind
And what he gave, was the sect of the swine
When the bible, it condemned the pig
I don't mean to pull your hems or flip your qigs
But we used to wear a turban, but now we're in the urban
No more wearing beanies and dress like a genie
No hocus pocus cause I focus on the facts
And put it on the tracks and brought it through the wax
I speak on Jacob, it might take up some time
And too much knowledge, it might break up the rhyme
I did it anyway just to wake up the mind
of those who kiss stones or prays on the carpet
Those who sit home, or sell books by the market
Need to chill and get their mind revived
For years religion did nothing but divide
The basic instructions before leaving earth


I strolled through the books of Job to unfold
And open bibles, instead of hoping on revivals
Calling on His name and screaming hallelujah
when he hardly knew ya, that's how the devil's fooled ya
See look into my eyes brethren, that's the lies of a Reverand
Why should you die to go to heaven?
The Earth is already in space, the bible I embrace
A difficult task I had to take
I studied till my eyes was swollen, and only arose when
I found out that we were the chosen
I deal with the truth, and build with the youth
And teach my son as he kneels on the stoop
Son, life is a pool of sin, corrupted with foolish men
and women with wicked minds, who build picket signs
to legalize abortion, the evil eye distortion
I quiz Son with my wisdom
Before I converted, I was perverted, and knowledge was asserted
The study of wisdom, I perferred it
The understanding, it gave me mental freedom
I even learnt Caucasians were really the Tribe of Edam
The white image, of Christ, is really Cesare Borgia
and uhh, the second son of Pope Alexander
The Sixth of Rome, and once the picture was shown
That's how the devils tricked my dome
I prophesized to save a man, but no one gave a damn
for my nation - the seed of Abraham

[BigSyke]

Now that I'm grown, I got my mind on bein somethin

Don't wanna be another statistic, out here doin nuttin

Tryin to maintain in this dirty game, keep it real

and I will even if it kills me, my young ni**az

break away from these dumb ni**az

Put down the guns and have some fun *****, the rest'll come ni***

Fame is a fast thang, that gangbangin

puttin niggaz in a casket, murdered for hangin

at the wrong place at the wrong time, no longer livin

Cause he threw up the wrong sign, and every day

I watch the murder rate increases, and even worse

the epidemic and diseases, what is the future?

The projects lookin hopeless, where

more and more brothers givin up and don't care

Sometimes I hate when brothers act up, I hit the weed

and I proceed to blow the track up, for young ni***z

[BigSyke]

If I could recollect before my hood days
I'd sit, reminisce in bliss on the good days
I stop and stare at the younger
my heart goes to 'em
they tested, it was stressed that they under
we never realy went through that
because we was born B.C. - you and me before crack
And nowadays things changed
everyone's ashamed to the youth cause the truth look strange
and for me it's reverse
we left them a world that's cursed and it hurts
cause anyday they'll push the button
and y'all condemned like Malcolm X and Boby Hutton died for nuthin'
Don't 'em let me get teary
the world looks dreary
But when you wipe your eyes, see it clearly
there is no need for you to fear me
If you take the time to hear me
maybe you can learn to cheer me
It ain't about black or white cause we're human
I hope we'll see the light before it's ruined
My Ghetto Gospel

[BigSyke]

n the event of my demise don't shed no tear
I'll share my wisdom with the world, they'll know I was here
Know I was clear, every thing I said I ment
A outlaw, when I was born they prepared my ditch
Said I won't live long, statistic show
I'm tryna past 24 realistic goal, listen though
You gotta stay cold inside
That's what I tell myself when I feel alone sometimes
But I can't cry, I don't tear no more
I love god, so death I don't fear no more
I part take in this movment to better my people
Though they see me on TV, I tell them we equal
Don't look at me as a stranger, I'm one of your own
We was raised in concrete and grew as a rose
Still I rise, but never get a chance to fly
Mama please don't cry
In the event of my demise

If I should die before I awake
let my family be stairght of the money I make
Give my son, what he needs, other than his father
Is it self respect, better yet his honor
when the lord come to swallow my soul, it's so big
Cause the street took enough of my life, we all see
It's a cycle make you feel psycho
Everything struggles behind this man, see nobody love you
Got a piece of the streets and it's gonna die with me
may your, soul forgive me
Makaveli's within me
In principle we stand by stronger than power
We gon' die by the rules you can never devour
On the earth from my birth felt nothing but pain
only thing I ever gained was a baby to name
that's my heart, and if I should go I'll go on in the sparks
that's the event of my demise, and it lurks in the dark

Now as I stand here, a man here
Not a perfect one, but a searching one
Seek in another, blazing time
Sound crazy but I'm actually tryin to escape my mind
Tryna erase in time
but hoping that you didn't notice
When i was at my lowest
Although I knew they was watching, I couldn't stop it
So many things I wanted to accomplish
Too many dreams, wasted with no promise
From out the darkness I struggle to see the light
Rumble deep in the night
Hustlin with all of my might here
Some won't see it that way
But us is given praise
But all of them will prayin'
That I did it my way
In the event of my demise

[BigSyke]

Can you picture my prophecy?

Stress in the city, the cops is hot for me

The projects is full of bullets, the bodies is droppin

There ain't no stoppin me

Constantly movin while makin millions

Witnessin killings, leavin dead bodies in abandoned buildings

Can't raise the children cause they're illin

Addicted to killin and the appeal from the cap peelin

Without feelin, but will they last or be blasted?

Hard headed bastard

Maybe he'll listen in his casket - the aftermath

More bodies being buried - I'm losing my homies in a hurry

They're relocating to the cemetary

Got me worried, stressin, my vision's blurried

The question is will I live? No one in the world loves me

I'm headed for danger, don't trust strangers

Put one in the chamber whenever I'm feelin this anger

Don't wanna make excuses, cause this is how it is

What's the use unless we're shootin no one notices the youth

It's just me against the world baby

With all this extra stressin

The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath

When will I finally get to rest? Through this supression

They punish the people that's askin questions

And those that possess, steal from the ones without possessions

The message I stress: to make it stop study your lessons

Don't settle for less - even a genius asks-es questions

Be grateful for blessings

Don't ever change, keep your essence

The power is in the people and politics we address

Always do your best, don't let the pressure make you panic

And when you get stranded

And things don't go the way you planned it

Dreamin of riches, in a position of makin a difference

Politicians and hypocrites, they don't wanna listen

If I'm insane, it's the fame made a brother change

It wasn't nuttin like the game

It's just me against the world