IB Fokuz Commentary on trk 3: Sophia

IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE SONG OF THE WEEK, GO TOHTTP://WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ADVENTISHERE TO LISTEN TO IT.

Sophia, a beauty in itself...

This trk really hit home as soon as me and Gilly put our pens to paper. But don't get it twisted, we took our time with this one. And the reason why we took our time, is because this subject had so many interpretations and many broad feelings on it. So taking a stab with our point of view had to be honest and most important, relatable, or in other words inspiring. That's why our verses reflects the present of the now so much. Building imagery on our own individual paths, evolving as this spiritual energy embraces us all one way or another. My verse really broke down my view and position as an emcee and where I stood spiritually. This song was beyond the flesh, this song is a mirror image of who we really are inside. Now a days, I believe our children are not being taught about how precious life is and what they can accomplish if they knew how important their voice and actions were in the center of these days of confusion. And I think its me and my comrades responsibility to speak on these issues whenever we have the privilege of open ears at our doorsteps. Gilead pretty much explain in detail where we were going with this, so I guest you can take this as a certain state of mind we were in, when created this trk.

It doesn't matter if you're catching the holy ghost or catching Sophia, it will always be that force of energy that you capture in it's brightest moments. It makes you feel free from the dark days and daily stress that is poured in your cup every time you walk out your door. When you find Sophia, you lead by example.

Until next time, Peace.
I.B. Out

Track 3 'Sophia'..Gilead7's thoughts

IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE SONG OF THE WEEK, GO TOHTTP://WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ADVENTISHERE TO LISTEN TO IT.

I'm writing this from the back of Cafe Florian on 57th St. Sitting with my laptop (peace to 2nd thought, who came through with the goods). Got a lot of songs in my ITunes library. This makes it hard to decide on what I should listen to. The collection of songs overflows with creativity. So much creativity. This is really what the 3rd ADVENT song 'Sophia' is about.

We're gonna go with Simon and Garfunkel's 'Scaroborough Fair/Canticle for now. On to 'Sophia." It's a hard concept to describe (at least for me), so theologians reading feel free to add or correct me.  In the book of Proverbs, what has been translated in some English versions as 'wisdom' comes from the Greek, 'Sophia'. The original Hebrew word is 'hokmah'. Sophia can be translated as 'God's creative agent in the world.' In other words, the creative work of God is carried out by Sophia. In the Gospel of John, the term 'logos' serves a similar function (thanks in part to Philo, a Jew who had become Hellenized, and spoke of wisdom as 'logos', or that through which all things come into being) with the author of this Gospel asserting that Jesus is synonymous with God's creative agent in the world (and the 'logos' was made flesh). Sophia can thought of as the life giving and life sustaining force of the universe; the ultimate guiding reality that humanity should strive to encounter and emulate. That's what this song is all about. Hendrix's 'The Wind Cries Mary' is blaring through my headphones right now btw. 

I haven't told you anything about the song. Irresponsible me. I.B. and I are at a point in our artistic lives where our creations need to to be recognized by a wider audience. Not just on some fame shit. We believe that our music has a significant contribution to pay to the world, with all of its joys and ailments. We have a lot to learn from Sophia, this endless ultimate creativity that impregnates the universe. So, we're not gurus who have something that the rest of you don't. We're on a journey with our lives and our art to pursue as much as we can handle with our 'feeble ass minds' to quote Reverend X The Spirit of Truth. This song is simply our speaking openly about a journey that all of humanity is on, and we 'glue our hearts to the millions, to the children that walk /their own path to find out they really wasn't lost'. That is the background of the song. 

The 'text' of the song reflects just what I've said, Let me point out some ways how. I should probably listen to Susan McKeown's version of 'Johnny Scott' while I type this part. Let's click that up. IB speaks about in the 1st verse about how his situation is '..portholes jammed,' and also references about how artists who take the road less travelled and create authentic art are overlooked. He also implies that those who chase after passing fads of music and urban culture (like many commercial musicians do) were on the path toward Sophia just by being alive but they have become sidetracked by what corrupt record labels and cultural norms have told them they should be. He says,' the gat that you raise is just a flag/you can wave it all you want, but what it mean if you don't last?' I B assures us that following the organic nature of the universe, the creative agency of Sophia, the energy of the universe, is to a large degree innate, and we can get there by not keeping up with the Jones', but following our heart. Many times, this is what leads us to that wisdom, that wisdom that is so powerful it changes in ways that allow it to give answers to whatever period its seekers find themselves in.

Let me take it home while playing GZA's 'Beneath The Surface.' My verse hosts me reviewing my career. You'll hear it. But simply, I planned to be a lot further than I am in my creations, like overseas, on tour, etc. But where am I? I'm '...in holes in walls where I hold the steel.' As I find Sophia, which is a never ending process, my passion to spend my life doing art for the audience of the world and contributing to a harmonious universe become one. This is a level when you can't tell where Sophia ends and where I begin.

Briefly: The DaVinci Code samples at the beginning of the track simply enforce that Sophia comes in a variety of forms from Christian to Atheist, Masonic to Pagan, etc. Sophia is NOT any of these forms, but transcends them. Also, Sophia is very closely related to divinity in the Christian tradition. Much of the tradition would say there is no difference. Sophia is a female, and coincides with how God is referred to as female throughout the record. Go Bahamadia. Listening to Respect The Architect.

PS. The waitress in this joint is beyond beautiful. Beyond goddess. So be it.

WE'LL SEE YOU AT DARKROOM FOR THE SHOW ON THE 23RD>>>>2210 W. CHICAGO...FIRST OFFICIAL UNVEILING OF THE ADVENT IDEA

I.B. Fokuz commentary on Trk 2: Baptism

And we continue...

IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE SONG OF THE WEEK, GO TOHTTP://WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ADVENTISHERE TO LISTEN TO IT.

"Baptism" was a fun trk to do. "Just so you know", I asked Gilead to give me a CD of songs that he would like for me to sample so I could kinda get a vision and sound of where he wanted to take this project. And also, I felt it would be more of a comfort zone to have a sound scape that mirrors what he listens to on a regular and what inspires him as a fan. Like I said b4, I aimed to link his past projects to "Advent" but also letting the songs on this project bring imagery. I wanted it to feel like the listener can actually see his steps into becoming complete.

Since we started the album off with the self title trk "Advent"(explaining his transition from darkroom to death Penalty Shots to now). The next trk had to be that traditional 2nd song that kinda gets the album rolling. The sample I used came out to be very atmospheric to me, as if it was a breath of fresh air. So I suggested coming off "Death Penalty Shots" with dead bodies on the floor everywhere in the room and picturing this song as a door that he is finally opening, that leads him down a path of his own spiritual evolution. Which he executed perfectly!!! I can go on and on about how I feel about this trk, but really in my heart I'm curious to see what the people feel. So please, tell us your thoughts and tell us what you got from this trk: "Baptism". Until next week.
Peace
I.B. OUT!!!

Track 2: Baptism...Gilead7's thoughts

IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE SONG OF THE WEEK, GO TOHTTP://WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ADVENTISHERE TO LISTEN TO IT.

Ok ya'll...

To make up for this lengthy exposition of 'Advent', last week's track, this one will be a bit shorter. This is also because I have to finish a lecture on the relationship between theology and philosophy in 13th century universities and the major thinkers in this movement. Anyway, let's get to it.

This song contains a triumphant sample from Kate Havenevik's 'Travel in Time', found on her Melankton album. She opened for Air at a concert in Chicago that I attended along with the austere Pastor Jose Morales, Eli and Esteban Rolon. Morales (DJ Rhemaogix to ya'll trance/progressive heads) passed the record on to me, and I was like, 'We gotta sample this.' In the hands of I.B., the atmospheric sounds turned into a perfect introduction into a new way be of being me. IB uses hard yet elegant drums that complement the samples borrowed from Havenevik, thus creating a suitable red carpet entrance for a Tomorrow King. It's so suitable that a wretch like me hesitates to walk on it with my vocals.

Simply, this song draws from the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist at the age of 30 (Matt 3:13-17, among other places in the gospels of Mark and Luke also).  There are differing takes on the significance of Jesus baptism, but one that is commonly taken is that this baptism was a 'rite of passage' so to speak, after which was able to embark on 'fulfilling his father's will.' In other words, this was the precursor to his ministry of peace through violence to the current oppressive order, thus ushering in justice for all regardless of their religious, cultural, and class identity. I relate this to my own art, this song being my own 'rite of passage' into a way of being in the hip-hop culture that works toward a consciousness of the interelatedness of all people and things. In a brief sketch (not 185, peace to that TK though), my hip hop history has been about a thesis (Christianity and following it as it was traditionally articulated, as seen in my records up to and including The Darkroom), an antithesis (the departure I took from this in The Darkroom and Death Penalty Shots), and the synthesis of the two (the goal of ADVENT).  ADVENT is not about a turning away from me as was stated in my first post on the song 'Advent.' Rather, it is about a turning toward who I am fully, no parts excluded. After going through these joys and pains, I am finally ready to do that which I am supposed to do: use art to make humanity conscious of how the separate is more together than it realizes. For me, 'Baptism' is where the idea/reality/metaphor 'God' intersects with the world, for both are equally represented and enacted. In order for there to be a 'baptism', both God and the world have to be present. What sense does it make to go through a rite of passage and have nothing to pass into but some spiritual fantasy world that may not exist anyway? I'm reminded of John Wesley's phrase 'The world is my parish." For me, it's reciprocal. I can only save the world as I allow it to save me. 'That's what 'Baptism' is about. I shed the dross of useless battle rapping and struggling against ultimate reality and channel both the natural and the metaphysical to change my now into a rich later, and it inevitably changes me also. The song ends with a Deftone scratch from Common, '...writing for freedom.' I write for freedom. You write for freedom. Whatever you do, live for freedom. She will 'baptize' you into this freedom, and will be well-pleased with you.