Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Hip Hop in the Northeast of England

Chris you have to remember not to rap this as it will sound like Goldie Looking Chain but worse.

The theme should be church-y?

When I were a lad, Hip-Hop WERE Hip-Hop
See Malcolm X preaching on Yorkshire Cliff Top!
So come back with me as we burn fifteen candles
(When I had a C.B. and I had my own handle)

A Verse and a curse, packed lunch and sandwiches
School boy and Sony would merge with the Bitches
But "Ho-s" and misogeny always felt wrong
(and I wanted to state that early in the song)

My-Black-Psalms-made-my-"friends"-restless
Their cultural zenith? Whitesnake and their set list!
And as they stacked shelves at weekends at Netto
I studied the scriptures of ghetto libretto

I took my Eucharist with P.E. and Def Jam
NWA and The Real Roxanne on
c-90 sermons with pent up performances
MY Sonic Sustenence and Hip Hop Hypothesese!

The only phat beetz around these parts
Grew in Saltburn allotments with artichoke hearts
I, Podgy-Faced Pioneer sticking to sea coal
Lonely Rap pilgrim, North East culture-hole

Obscuring the Sound of The Surf and the land
I fucked up my mum and dad's stereogramme
When trying to mix beats and with none of them matching
Offending my Gran with my ill fated scratching

See, there's one thing I have to tell you
I don't know if you heard don't know if you heard
It's that Hip Hop in The North East of England
Can be absurd Can be absurd

Now any good beat boy or girl will tell you that
The difference 'tween the hip hop and the rap
Hip Hop is the life and t'other's the song
I'd be really ashamed if I got this wrong

And even before they coined the term Bling
I didn't buy Gold or a cheap Ratner's ring
Hang with the homies that would have seemed mad to me
Besides, my town only had just one black family

So in the tradition of keeping it real
I did try some more on my school's reel to reel
I'd be lying when saying the results were spectacular
But I learned not to fuse rap with my vernacular

And as time went on it ocurred to me that
I never was going to carry a gat
And although, generally, I was in sonic heaven
I couldn't afford an AK47

My walkmans' headphones to my ear-bones alone
I thought of my friends with their dull metal clones
While I contemplated untied sneaker shoes
Forgive them f'ther for they know not what they choose.

possible midi to expand on :
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/d/a/daretobe.htm

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