Track 1, 'Advent' Gilead7's thoughts

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


Where do I begin with this one? I've never focused on giving commentaries on my song lyrics, but many people have said that I need to. So, in the spirit of refining myself by the advice of others, I move to talk about the opening and title track of Advent: A Modern Bible, 'Advent.'

I B heard my first record, The Darkroom: The Abandonment of Christendom, and said that he related to how I was writing about struggling with making sense of the Christian faith (pick it up @ http://sphereofhiphop.myshopify.com/products/gilead7-the-darkroom or a shortened version on ITunes), and wanted to produce my next record. This was right after I released a conceptual battle EP entitled Death Penalty Shots (out of print, only available as a digital download on ITunes, etc.) record that I B and Collasoul Structure helped me promote. I B was like, 'So in The Darkroom you battled with God, and in Death Penalty Shots you battled others, so your next record needs to show you just being an artist creating after you've proven yourself against the opposition.' No fighting, just feeling. That's exactly what the whole record is, and the first track is just a shadow of that.

It starts with me giving an intro of what Advent is in Christian theology, a season of expectancy surrounding the birth and second coming of Jesus. Several Christian traditions perform rituals around this time that serve to cause believers to reflect upon both the birth and second coming of Christ. In the writing of this song, I saw it as a ritual of my rebirth and you could say a third coming (this being my third substantial project), and in turn my own Advent. It was the gateway into a fresh era with a renewal of how I rhyme, view the world, and contend for divine justice within it.

I wrote another version of the song (maybe it will surface some day, maybe on this blog :-), but I didn't feel like it embodied the 'Advent' experience that I was going through during the creation of this album. So, back to the drawing board. What I came up with the second time around was two verses with double meanings and coded references that related to both my first and second albums, but with the purpose of showing my progression up to Advent. The first verse is simply an exposition, conflict, and resolution of me vs. God, the heart of The Darkroom material. With lyrics such as 'stained the mic with a passion of blastin' at God then relaxing in black holes/of flower children matresses/listen to stars that can't rap kids/I rule a darkroom where I make luminous pass like laxitives/Evil laughter of Canibus/Art institute anti amateurs/Flew on walls, spied on the past, and plastered makeup on damages,' I'm describing this toiling against religious traditions, my own hedonism, and ethical dilemmas by employing the very song titles themselves ('Black Hole', 'Flower Child Neo-Hippie', 'Star', 'Evil Laughter', 'Art Institute', and 'Fly on the Wall') to do this. The verse ends with the admission that while I can put a good whipping on the shell that may house the spiritual life force of the universe at certain points in history (the church, tradition, dogmatism, etc.), I can't attack the force itself. In doing so, I 'kick against the pricks', as the book of Acts reports Paul to have done prior to his conversion. The verse ends, 'I fought God in her own system, recording the war as wav files/And thought because I dissed her being that I was brave child/She healed my fragmentation as I strove to erode her/And hung my negatives crucified on 16 exposures.' In a nutshell, the Darkroom project is a 'record' (pun intended) of how I came to the consciousness that Goddess is and was never my enemy, but my co conspirator in the fight to 'hang my negatives' on these '16 exposures' (the number of tracks on The Darkroom album), and reflect on them to build another tomorrow.

In the 2nd verse, I began with two lines that I felt embodied the Death Penalty Shots album concept, which was to run over all opposition mercilessly. These two lines were 'Bring life into the beat/Mic fight up in the street/Let me cremate your MC career when I compete' At the recording of this album, I'd pretty much had it with the Chicago hip-hop scene, holier than thou Christian rappers and media who had distanced themselves from me because of things I had said, and MCs in general who had clout but were plain garbage. Those two lines demonstrate my rage toward all of that, and I took out a gun of hip-hop pride on that record to fill anyone or anything that stepped in my way with endless holes. But after I did the album (which Okayplayer gave a 3 out of 4), I realized that in putting too much emphasis on my own honor and saving face (I'm reminded of the end of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), I'd forgot that a universe needs me and you to fight for its survival more than I need to fight for my own vanity. So, I said, 'But no, I slight myself when I cause a rapper some pain/When a sphere is global warming death by tsunamis and rain.' In light of ecological and social catastrophes I grasped the revelation that it's better to call again on the Goddess by a waging '...war with Hindu images of Kali growling/Her two-edged blade slicing demons entrenched within the system/Of rich and richer/Moguls who piss on lower social/My song called hate'll break em, my Love Supreme not supposed to.' Again, using song titles from the DPS ('War of Images', and 'A Song Called Hate'), I communicate that the real battle is injustice on all fronts, the weight of the world. The Goddess can get us out of this, but we have to move our hand as she moves her hand, slicing patriarchy, economic imprisonment, waste dumps in underpriveleged areas, below standard school systems, etc. That's what this second verse is about.

Whew, that was long. See, that's what you get when you ask me to do an exegesis (interpretation) of my songs.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on I B and my walking across the border into our Advent.

Peace