Notes On Attention Paid

Wiki, Half God

… i am not generally a fan of rap music, it doesn’t connect much with any of my life experiences… it has to be pretty highly regarded for me to take note of it, thus, when a new release by a rap artist i have never heard (not because they are obscure, almost all rap artists are obscure to me) of gets an 8.5 rating i add it to my list of music to listen to and decide if i like it…

 His latest album, Half God, is a record about what it’s like to come of age in New York: the way it shapes, hardens, prematurely ages you. Produced in its entirety by Navy Blue—the skateboarder/model turned prolific producer/MC born Sage Elsesser—the record captures the varied tempos of city life in colorful vignettes. A warbling guitar loop soundtracks a contemplative smoke session on “Roof”; the stuttering soul samples on “Can’t Do This Alone” stroll with Wiki and Navy Blue through city streets; hi-hats crunch and snares snap on “The Business,” as Wiki spews vitriol at the gentrifiers changing his home into something unrecognizable.¹

… it’s Sunday morning, i peruse my Feedly feed and come across a review of The Score, by the Fugees on Pitchfork… i am not a fan of hip-hop, culturally it is miles from my life experience, but it gets a 9.3 (of 10) rating, so i decide to read the review… after a bit i decide to cue up the album and listen to it… i like it…

… this sentence from the article reverberates with my own life experience…

For Wyclef, the endeavor was a 24/7 lifestyle. He had moved into a bedroom upstairs after being kicked out of his home in Newark by his religious father for creating sinful music.¹

… i have a lifetime of experience with disapproving patriarchy…

… as i am listening, these words, “too many MC’s and not enough mics,” which sums up the attention driven culture we live in perfectly…

… the album is clear, beautiful in places, i understand it, at least partially, which i often don’t in this genre of music… so many references to history i experienced through tv news…