Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Free You Mind and... Pardon Their French [NSFW]

Freedom is free of the need to be free.

Taken that way freedom is acceptance.

Strength. Serenity. Wisdom.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Work.

In trying or turbulent times an anthem goes a long way.  Some people seek uplift, some seek solace, others seek solidarity.  This is a song of solidarity.  Jars of Clay emerged on the national scene with Flood, and this song invokes the water metaphor again, but the context of the life of Dan Haseltine during the songs genesis paralleled the struggles of my life in late 2007 not too long after it came out.  Life is pain vs. Life if a blessing.  I'll take the latter, and take the prior to mean that living life in this world as humanity has known it can be a struggle.  Effort is required.  It is as it was.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Free

Sophomore year of college I experienced this song.  I was taken off guard by it, because my initial exposure to Goodie Mob as a full collective was Cell Therapy.  The latter spoke to the kid raised on Public Enemy, N.W.A., KRS - One, X-Clan, who entered manhood with Masta Ace, Souls of Mischief and Outkast blazing a new trail.  I don't return to it like I did then, partially because the reality of death has firmly cemented itself as a part of my reality, whereas at that time each loss was a soul jarring trauma I had no experience digesting.  The shell shock of international terrorism hadn't hit home, figuratively and literally.  I was just a young idealist with zeal and no direction.  Now, I'm grown, and aging, and the world has rushed into our insular worlds demanding our attention while we ignore it like a child who demands attention but has tested our patience to its limits.  Freedom isn't free.

What You Gonna Do?

I've been blessed/ fortunate in my life for a long time running, and yet I am always a paycheck from utter chaos and with that said, sometimes I have to scramble to get things in order.  There are so many doing so much worse.  This song is as low down and heavy as anything I have ever listened to, but as soulful and funky as I could ever ask for.  That's dUg Pinnick for you.  Needless to say, it pays to keep things in perspective, keep it real and what not.  I Love this Song, and like most of dUg's work, it means something on an intrinsic emotional level.  Count your blessings people.  Nothing's promised.  The serenity prayer is the answer to the question.