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!! PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE LISTENING !!
Allah'u'Abha,
Before I begin the blurb for this song, I must send a truly heartfelt
'thank you!' to everyone who showed me such loving encouragement and
support for my last song. Your overwhelming support was instrumental
(no pun intended) in giving me the courage and volition to do more remixes.
A special thanks must go to
Martin Braithwaite for his constant encouragement
and for agreeing to host my raps on his site, and of course for designing
that clever graphic of me exposing my chest hair to the world! :D Special
thanks must also go to
Vafa for his encouragement and kind support.
Again, thank you!!!
I enjoy exploring new ideas, concepts, and styles. This next remix is
an exploration of rhythm and rhyme. I was listening to an Eminem song
on the radio one day, and one thing that struck me was how well he varied
the length of each rhyming line, and used rhythms in interesting ways.
I sought to emulate this, and my first attempt is the following.
There is not one theme in this piece; rather, the topics jump around
quite a bit. One line or set of lines may make a particular reference
that is unrelated to any lines around it. It's like flipping through
the pages of a Baha'i book and letting your eyes land on a sentence
or two on each page.
I am always looking to experiment and explore. If I could do reggae
vocals (I remember one person commenting on the 'Stand
Up' page that
I should consider doing reggae remixes), I most certainly would, and
if I could incorporate some middle eastern beats or melodies into my
remixes, I would be all over that. Unfortunately, time is always against
me, and resources such as decent recording equipment are always out
of reach.
I welcome any comments, suggestions, resources, tips, constructive criticism,
etc.
This song is dedicated to a very special friend, one whose friendship
is dear to me, who has been blessed with a deep love for Bahá'u'lláh,
and who has always managed to put up with my being a "fathead"! :)
Enjoy!!
>>>>>
Listen to Rap. Click Here <<<<<
LYRICS & COMMENTARY
In this song, there are many internal
references to Baha’i Writings, events, and concepts. There is even a
reference to another hip hop song by a Canadian hip hop artist. But,
rather than suck all of the life out of my song and dissect every
stanza, this commentary will instead focus on the more abstruse
references in here.
The Man with the Plan, Allah-la-la,
Bahá'u'lláh has come, Allah'u'Abha,
Sing His praise from the morning to evenin' star,
From Baha [or 'now'] all the way to Ayyam-i-ha
Come on,
We should come,
show the world the way,
each and everyday,
hear what I say,
Man, it's about to go down...
Hold up, skip all the sinnin'
Puts a frown on your face, makes you live in disgrace
Keeps your heart in a sad embrace.
I wanted to get across the fact that,
as my good friend Pej once pointed out in casual conversation, we
cannot hope to be happy as long as we sin. Profound, simple, and so
true!
But come, give some,
Should us how it's done,
And show the world why you can be the number-one
At your game... with a spiritual aim,
And it's a crying shame but you shouldn't complain,
that the world has forgotten the Greatest Name,
and ignored, Bahá'u'lláh's Claim to fame
If you can't understand the words, then open your heart,
The lyrics are a flock of birds, out my mouth they tear me apart
I live the feelin,
I'm just soakin it up,
When I read the Dawn Breakers
I want to meet the heroic defenders of Tabarsi, and tell 'em "Yo,
wassup",
"Let me be like you, firm in the Cause,
"You use, swords of steel, I'll use the swords of my words,
"and actions,.. which speak louder than words,
"bless my endeavours, should i hear divine applause?"
<chorus>
Come on,
Rovin all over the place, this is,
Meant to fly right into your face, I hope you,
Choose not to live in disgrace
It's urgent:
Skip all the hatin',
Focus on the white teeth
of the dead dog -- at the side of the street,
The angel Gabriel proclaims the signs are complete,
It's time to reco'nize our time in life is unique
<uh!>
Some have asked about the “dead dog”
reference. In one of His Writings Abdu’l-Baha referred to a story,
apparently also published in an anthology of Islamic traditions, of
Jesus Christ and His disciples coming upon the carcass of a dead dog
in the street. I’ll let the Master tell the story:
“It happened one day in the time of Christ -- may the life of the
world be a sacrifice unto Him -- that He passed by the dead body of
a dog, a carcass reeking, hideous, the limbs rotting away. One of
those present said: 'How foul its stench!' And another said: 'How
sickening! How loathsome!' To be brief, each one of them had
something to add to the list.
“But then Christ Himself spoke, and He told them: 'Look at that
dog's teeth! How gleaming white!'
“The Messiah's sin-covering gaze did not for a moment dwell upon the
repulsiveness of that carrion. The one element of that dead dog's
carcass which was not abomination was the teeth: and Jesus looked
upon their brightness.
Thus is it incumbent upon us, when we direct our gaze toward other
people, to see where they excel, not where they fail.” (Selections
from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 169)
Inebriated with the Choice Wine of love, In truth,
the laws are thus,
They carry us to the realms above
We cuttin it straight for all to see, and I be,
elevatin' discourse for you and me, and it be,
the time for I is He and He is He
This line may seem cryptic, but it
was great because it rhymed! In Shi’ah Islamic tradition, the
Promised One would utter ‘one word’ which would cause people to flee
from Him. According to Baha’u’llah, this word is the changing of
“He” in the phrase “He is God” into “I”, making it “I am God” (see
Revelation of Baha’u’llah Vol. I, p. 46). In Baha’u’llah’s first
known Writing, a hauntingly beautiful 19-line Persian poem revealed
in the Black Pit entitled “Rashh-i-Ama”, Baha’u’llah makes a
reference, I think, to this tradition. Here are two different
provisional translations of the same verse from this poem, with
translators in parentheses:
Confessed Our face to the cycle of: "I am He"
Baha is brimming with the epoch of: "He is He" (translated by Ramin
Neshati)
On account of Our Visage the dispensation of “I am He” hath
commenced;
The cycle of “He is He” poureth forth from Our Trumpet-Blast.
(translated by Stephen Lambden)
Just as a side note… these two translations are very different,
aren’t they?! No wonder it takes so long for a new volume of
Writings to become available in English! ;)
-the time is come, do you all agree with me?
If so then it's time for you to sing (it) with me,
If i'm confusing you, good,
that's what I'm all about,
Use your brain and try and figure it out,
Day by day, we'll see more of your Face,
Speed through the heavens, we'll never find a sweeter embrace,
Than Yours...
Here comes the chorus...
<chorus>
Areh areh, dobareh! (x3)
Hehe, this and the Baseh below are
all Persian words. Areh means “Yes”, dobareh means “again”, and
baseh means “enough” (As in, “I’ve had enough already!”)
Baseh!
Skip all the rappin,
I be talking too much,
Put my money in my mouth,
Turn it up hotter than the south,
-central ottawa, that's where you'll find me,
Can I disclose what i think i know,
is it timely,
is my utterance suited to your capacity?
Forget this, lemme get your attention,
shouts out to DJ's Vafa, dalai rama,
ya, and even martin
premiere rappers in this, the dopest city,
It's an A cluster 4 sho, "Haha..., really?"
Back to my theme, what's it all about?
I'll close my eyes, plunge hands into the sea,
and pull something out
and expand the theme in lyrical prose,
by the grace of God, the secrets of our hearts he surely knows
huh, what else can I say?
the proof of light is the sun, the sun is the light of day
...From behind the clouds it comes out,
in your heart, keep the lord,
and throw the stranger out
SEND LINKS TO FRIENDS
"La La La":
http://martinsquest.com/lalala
"Stand Up":
http://martinsquest.com/standup
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