Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part I

Sometimes I dislike song lyrics because of the juvenile subjects they take on. In some capacity they are brainwashing people to think of love and culture a certain way, just as musical jinlges in commericals eventually entice consumers to buy products. I think some of Ke$a’s song’s illustrate the latter thought. They remind me of reality tv, which I’m only peripherally aware of. Yet I think her songs could be the anthem for reality tv. I stopped watching reality tv about the time Laguna Beach was the thing on MTV, but I had long before recognized the odious quality of these shows. I would like to think Art is everywhere, but I find there really are very few tv shows worth watching; and luckily, they are all available on the internet--even Star Trek. There was a recent Futurama episode that explained reality tv shows quite well.
This is much the way reality tv shows work, a cast of extroverts are pushed together in such a way as to cause the most drama possible. Why is our culture so enthralled by this?
On that thought, I’ve herd of several popular soap operas are ending. I wonder if the fans of day time soap operas are dyeing off and the younger generation of reality tv show fans are replacing them? I suppose if I were a tv executive, I would hope so. :)

I tend to be drawn to media that transcends the realm of drama we live in, or think we live in (drama is an illusion, after all).


Here’s some songs selected mostly on the a basis of lyrics: <br>
 Erykah Badu- "Master Teacher" This the second part of this song. The first part is more about struggle, then the song ends and the second lighter part continues.

Alanis Morissette- Underneath  The lyrics are provided in this video.




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I've been listening to Erykah Badu's album "New Amerykah Part One." I’ve had it a while, but no time to listen to it. I liked what I herd. Particularly the song "Master Teachers." I thought the album would be good background music for paper writing, but I was wrong.
Who knew Badu could have such Insight Buddhist-ish leanings? I know absolutely nothing about the woman herself, but the undertones of the song are parallel with that which is but a whisper permeating our culture. You may have noticed a popular notion these days of achieving "Happiness" as if it were the only state of mind one should strive to maintain, and indeed Buddhism does have a lot to say about this happiness, but their happiness is something different than ours. Our culture mainly associates happiness with the temporary emotional state of happiness achieved not from practice over time, but by novel sensory stimulation. A movie with good graphics, driving really fast in a convertible Mercedes-- it's the adult Happy Meal, whatever that may be for you. But this chemical induced state will not sustain you through pain, and may cause suffering in the form of desire, since in order to feel good you must find the material means to provide yourself with this Happy Meal.
Even yoga classes cost something.
Thus one must be their own holder of joy by practicing a sort of meditation throughout their daily lives.
Back to Badu, “I stay Woke” is describing the process of staying “awake,” as they say.



"Master Teacher"

(dreams, dreams, dreams)

I am known to stay awake
(a beautiful world im trying to find)
A beautiful world im trying to find
(a beautiful world, im trying to find)
Ive been in search of myself
(a beautiful world) a beautiful world
Its just too hard for me to find
(dreams, dreams)
Said its just too hard for me to find
(dreams, dreams)
I am in the search of something new
(a beautiful world im trying to find)
Searchin' me,
Searching inside of you
And thats fo' real

What if it were no niccas
Only master teachers?
I stay woke (dreams dreams)
What if there was no niccas
Only master teachers?
I stay woke (dreams dreams)
What if it was no niccas only master teachers now?
I stay woke (dreams dreams)
(what if there was no niccas only master teachers now?)
I stay woke (dreams dreams)

Even if yo baby aint got no money
To support ya baby, you
(I stay woke)
Even when the preacher tell you some lies
And cheatin on ya mama, you stay woke
(I stay woke)
Even though you go through struggle and strife
To keep a healthy life, I stay woke
(I stay woke)
Everybody knows a black or white, there's
Creatures in every shape and size
(I stay woke)

Everybody
(I stay woke)
Everybody, stay
(I stay woke)
Get everybody
(I stay woke)
Everybody body baby
(a beautiful world, a beautiful world) (dreams, dreams)
(a beautiful world, a beautiful world) (dreams, dreams)
(a beautiful world, a beautiful world) im trying to find
(a beautiful world, a beautiful world) im trying to find
(a beautiful world, a beautiful world) im trying to find

I have lone to stay awake
A beautiful world im trying to find
(a beautiful world im trying to find)
See, I am insearch of myself
(a beautiful world, im trying to find)
Ooh its just too hard for me to find
(a beautiful world, a beautiful world)
Said it just too hard for me to find
(dreams, dreams, dreams)
Cuz i'm in the search of something new
(a beautiful world im trying to find)
Search inside me
Searching inside you
And thats the trill

What if there was no niccas
Only master teachers?
(I stay woke)
What if there was no niccas
Only master teacher?
I stay woke)
What if there was no niccas
Only master teachers now?
(I stay woke)
What if there was no niccas
Only master teacher?
(I stay woke)
Noo, what if there was no niccas
Only master teachers?

What if there was niccas
Only master teachers now

Teach us, teach us teach us [fade]

What if there was niccas only master teachers now [fade]

I stay woke [fade]

I stay woke
Mmmm, hey
I stay woke

1,2
1,2,3,4

Baby sleepy time
To put her down now
Ill be standin' round
Till da sun down

I stay woke
I stay woke
I stay woke
I stay woke

Congregation knod they head
And say amen
The deacon fell alseep again and

I stay woke
But i stay woke
I stay woke
I stay woke

Lovers holding hands
And falling deep in love
And sleeping and
Passing conversation

Ooh, i stay woke
I stay woke
I stay woke
I stay woke

Pretty rings and pretty thieves
With shiny lights and little
Pieces of tomorrow

I stay woke
I stay woke
I stay woke
I stay woke

Oh ah, oh ah
I stay woke
Oh ah, oh ah
I stay woke

Baby sleepy time
To put her down and
I'll be standin round
Until sun down, hey

Oh ah, oh ah
Oh ah, oh ah
Oooooh, ooooh, ooooh
(oh ah, oh ah)
I stay woke
(repeats)

The message is, whatever happens, happens--even when unfortunate events occur in our lives, it is but a trivial matter compared to the way the moon looks and and your girlfriend smiles at you. A singular experience is no better or worse than the next, which means you can experience time differently in the form of stretching minutes into hours, in only a few seconds--or not;  because it's not always appropriate.
I think the key to this song is the line “To keep a healthy life, I stay woke.” She’s not talking about becoming numb to the world and achieving a certain standard of living--she means something else entirely. Whether it is enlightenment or something on the mystical end of Christianity or Islam that she means to be referring to, I don’t know. Yet she is referring to the idea of the transcendental. If you listen to the entirety of the song, you may notice it has two parts. The first part is survival oriented, the second is lighter, more elevated.
Like Nietzsche, or most authors I read, I am not the target audience. By this I mean her primary audience is afro-american, and although you don't have to be any particular ethnicity to understand the lyrics, if you aren't in touch then you may miss some concepts.
For instance, I was listening to "The Healer" and I interpreted it as a sort of call to be present, because children are often in the present. I reasearched a bit and came up with the idea of Indigo Children ("they call you indigo, we call you Africa"). It's my guess that the New Age concept of indigo children is pretty white. This is not to say there are no black indigo children, but that white parents with white children came up with this idea of "indigo children." I don't think she is calling for hip-hop to be a religion. Notice how she is using the words "hip hop" in the song as a rhythmic device. It is the rhythm itself that points to something.

"The Healer (Hip Hop)"

[Chorus:]
Humdi Lila Allah Jehova
Yahweh Dios Ma'ad Jah
Rastafara fyah dance, sex, music, hip-hop

It's bigger than religion
hip-hop
it's bigger than my niggas
hip-hop
it's bigger than the government
(humdi luli lali lulo)
This one fa' Dilla, hip-hop
(humdi luli la, humdi luli la lilulo, humdi lulila humdi lulilaaa...)

[V1]
we ain't dead said the children don't believe it
We just made ourselves invisible
underwater, stove-top, blue flame scientist come out with your scales up
get baptized in the ocean of the hungry
(Humdi luli lalilulo, Humdi lulilalilu)
My niggas turn in to gods,
walls come tumblin...(aaahhh)

[Chorus]
Humdi lila Allah jehova
yahweh dios ma had ja
Rastafara fyah dance, sex, music, hip-hop

It's bigger than religion
hip-hop
it's bigger than my niggas
hip-hop
it's bigger than the government
(humdi luli lali lulo)
This one is the healer, hip-hop

(humdi luli la, humdi lulilalilulo, humdi lulila, humdi lulilaaaa)

[V2]
Told you we aint dead yet
we been livin' through your internet
you don't have to believe everything you think
we've been programmed wake up, we miss you.
they call you indigo, we call you Africa.
go get baptized in the ocean of the people
(Humdi luli lalulilo)
say reboot, refresh, restart.
fresh page, new day, o.g.'s, new key...

(humdi lulila, humdi lulila lilulo, humdi luli la, humdilulila)

"How to Grow Roses" Horace McFarland and Robert Pyle

I found this gem of a book in Denver Botanical Gardens' library sale shelf (that's right, they have a library). It was on sale for $2 and it's cute little red hardback book from 1937. I truely am interested in growing roses, so I was reading along and came across this part in the section about obtaining adequate soil:

It pays to go to some trouble to secure cow-manure in any form. Some enthusiastic rosarians have started dairies for that very purpose. But the small rosarian will have to rely upon what he can buy, beg, or borrow, or steal. The family milkman, if he is a human farmer and not merely a minion of a soulless corporation, may sometimes be prevailed upon for a bushel or two of the real stuff; and a scouting trip in the family flivver by day, and a raid by night upon sundry fields, may provide much precious loot. The need for cow-manure transcends ethics, and such predatory adventures may prove more thrilling than mere aimless drives along hot dusty roads, or vernal assaults upon innocent unoffending wild flowers.

Wow. Predatory adventures? Those rosarians in the 30's were some serious mofos about their soil. Also "flivver" is "a cheap car or aircraft, esp. one in bad condition" but you knew that. Who would fly around in a flivver aircraft, that sounds crazy.
The authors were both presidents of the American Rose Society, and this book was actually an 18th edition, which means the first one must been written in the 1800's. The book includes very nice color illustrations and black & white photographs of famous rosarians, it was a fancy book, which why someone is selling it Etsy.