THE RUNDOWN

The RUNDOWN is a compilation or final artwork, writing, audio samples, and further interpretations.

MOST HEROES FALL VICTIM TO MORTALITY

I pray the sun never sets on your treasures. I pray you a king in your next life like Nebuchadnezzar. We sparred in the shed and you were never the lesser. I brought the coal; you brought the heat and we made diamonds from pressure. And all those uncut gems were not made for division, we couldn’t count on marcs like Jacob to split the decision., f*ck the politics they brought more division, long lines I guess that I am fishing, I guess that I’m digging halfway to Africa. I landed in the Philippines I’m chewing on abaca. And now there’s smoke in my ceiling and it is filling my attic up. You finally freed your mind and then they caged your character. But I am glad you freed your mind before they caged your character. You had the wisdom of Solomon, now they break good news and the fam remain solemn damn. I guess the pressure was too tremendous, a gash as big as a great lake and you could mend it. I haven’t talked to a reverend, but the family was trying to recommend it. I’d rather wheelie off a balcony or dive a hundred stories into some alchemy. THE MIND HEALS THROUGH DARK SPELLS. The mind heals through dark spells. So, if heaven is the ceiling than earth must be the prism. I’m standing still in this prison, my head is still spinning, the devil is still grinning in the aftermath. I’m running late Ill catch you after class, matter fact I just copped a half on the way back ill cop some wraps. I know they give you a tough time at krauzers, they’re just doing their job, they do not want to see you get robbed of your innocence. Yah took you from this world and I swear to God I ain’t been living since. Took you like a tenant that wasn’t paying rent. Now I’m parrying sharp blows like I was playing fence get off the ropes I scream to myself. When you didn’t walk out the flames, I could have put the beam to myself. I stayed quiet I kept the screams to myself… Yeah, I got deep in my feelings and then I grabbed the suppressor I tried to triple the pressure. Reveal these uncut gems like I was Nebuchadnezzar. I am the desert’s protector. This is the fall of BABYLON… and its everything you said it’d be… its everything that you said it’d be…

GODS DON’T BLEED THEY SHED TEARS IN THE FORM OF CONCERTOS.

WATCH THE SKY OPEN UP BEFORE THE EARTH CLOSE THAT’S JUDGEMENT DAY FOR ALL OF YOU WEAK SHEEP.

Y’ALL HYPNOTIZED MINDS HAD Y’ALL STUCK IN A DEEP SLEEP.

The mother of the freedom movement.

In 1913 civil rights activist Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on the fourth of February in the heart of the south. Home to great treasure and great tragedy Alabama was the site of so many key events that took place during the civil rights movement. One of those key events being the Montgomery bus boycott that took place just days after Rosa’s arrest in December of 1955. Rosa was arrested when she refused to surrender her seat for a white male passenger who boarded the bus. Outraged by the arrest leaders decided to boycott the city line. White officials believed that the boycott would come apart quickly, and that the African American community was not capable of a long protest. To their surprise the boycott of the city line lasted a little over a year. The city’s government lost their final appeal in the Supreme Court, and the Montgomery's buses were desegregated on December 21, 1956. Rosa Parks is a thread that runs deep in this nation’s fabric. Her actions were able to inspire the nation and change the course of history. Rosa Parks is a Public Enemy.

The Seeker In The Age Of Ignorance

What do you believe in? I believe that the future belongs to those that prepare for it today. Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm X was an African American civil rights leader, a human rights activist, and a black nationalist leader who became a prominent spokesperson for the Nation of Islam during the fifties as well as the sixties. Malcolm believed that there would ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. He went on to say, “I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice, and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.” Ahead of his time and taken from us entirely too soon. The assassination of Malcolm X will never sit well with us.

Dear X,

we miss you.

It is not often that we encounter a seeker in the age of ignorance.

Malcolm X is a Public Enemy.

Stand for something or Die for nothing.

On October 16th in 1968, documentary photographer John Dominis captured what would be known as the “Silent Gesture”. The image of the three athletes on the Olympic platform, heads bowed with Tommie Smith and John Carlos giving the black power salute is regarded as one of the most powerful images of the 20th century. The 1968 Olympics in Mexico City was full of tension as well as talent. In America there were talks of a potential Olympic boycott by The Olympic Project for Human Rights. The Olympic Project for Human Rights or (OPHR) was primarily made up of African American athletes. When the boycott failed to come together some athletes decided to wear OPHR badges when they would receive their medals as way of protest. However, no one could predict what was on the horizon. The two American athletes were expelled from the games for their racial protest and all three athletes were ostracized by the sporting community as well as their country. It is still one of the greatest 200-meter Olympic performances to date. Tommie Smith, John Carlos, and Peter Norman are public enemies.

We fight for life.

While we fight for time.

I fight for you.

You fight for mine.

Give a piece of yours.

I will give all of mine.

Pray You Catch Me

I pray your cup is full and if it is empty.
I pray it overflows again and again.
I pray the Grand Architect sees what I see in you

I am Weary

We have been at war for ages. So, I pledged to be different than those before me. I was ready for change and extended an invitation to dine with us. I offered you a seat at our table. you accepted. I prepared the table for a feast. I fetched wine from different continents. Enough wine for this lifetime and the next. We were set out to exchange the intricate delicacies of our cultures. With no fear of our cups running dry. Instead, you looked down on us. You took our gifts and threatened to enslave us. There is no glory in what you stole from us. The real glory is in us. It was at our table, it bounced off the walls whenever we opened our mouths to speak. Yes, I am weary from war however, this war cannot come to an end until the foul treatment of my people has been acknowledged and corrected for good.

THE WATERDANCER

Good to see you alive black boy
I know they tried to take your body
You must fight to keep your body intact
Make no sudden moves in the water
Be still and let it guide you
Do not be scared of the depths
Be still black boy be still
Make no sudden moves
I have seen too many black bodies disembodied
Fragments from their past wash up onshore
We run to them
Trying to cling to life that has moved on
Be still black boy be still…
It was good to see you alive black boy
I know they tried to take your body
But you fought to keep your body intact
We do not fear death. We fear disembodiment

SOMEBODY LET THE YELLOW IN

“Soon I will see the king and he will remind me that some give presents before they’re ready.

I could see that she loves me, I know her heart is heavy”

(bye bye baby)

…

On the second to last track of Noname’s debut album ‘Telefone’ she tells a story of abortion. A carefully crafted lullaby becomes a farewell song. In it we have two perspectives; the perspective of a child who doesn’t know why their mother is saying goodbye, and the perspective of a mother who is struggling to parts ways with her unborn child. She is telling herself that she will fall in love again, because she knows that it is imperative she find her happiness. And despite the overwhelming grief she is still asking for the yellow to come in and wash away the blues surroundings .

…

“On a lonely road, where happiness needs us”

(bye bye baby)

Why are you searching for the conductor?

To find the conductor, is to find life. There was a tale of a man who spent his entire life searching for the conductor, not knowing that the conductor would be the one to guide his soul to the other side. Oh, what a parable. If you rely only on your eyes to see you will be blind forever. We push, we pull, we hold each other down. Where there is blue, there is also green. Where you find death, you will find life. I would not be here if I did not believe in that. We must be able to feel and feel freely. To be as sharp as time itself. There was a tale of another man who found everlasting life and passed at the age of 32. They say he reigns in the north and rose from the village. Life is more than just the physical and his life will continue long after my heart stops beating… That is everlasting life. Now do you see why I searched for the conductor…. You see its crate diggers over grave diggers. The first man reached into the crates and was faced with death and gave us life…. The second man was faced with death and only sought to bury it.

So how…. could we remember him?

….

So Did you find the conductor?

….Of course

CRATE DIGGERS

OVER

GRAVE DIGGERS

CRATE DIGGERS OVER GRAVE DIGGERS

CRATE DIGGERS OVER GRAVE DIGGERS

HANDS OFF

I will live in a scope forever beyond your reach

I have suffered enough at your hands

There I still blood coursing through my veins

The same blood you sought to beat out of me

The same blood you were prepared to spill on the canvas you call America

I will not find justice here

So, I refuse to have my fate decided here

Today I refuse to let them write my history

Tomorrow I will do the same