A Piece of Strange

Let’s talk about lyrics, southern style and absolute inspiration. Without the Cunninlynguists my life would definitely be lacking. It’s tough to get gritty and raw on a track while discussing issues that most people choose to look right on past. I can actually thank my ex-girlfriend for introducing me to probably one of my favorite tracks of all times. After we broke up I checked her myspace page (back when I had it) and saw this song “Nothing to Give”. At the time I didn’t even know who the Cunninlynguists were, but for once cyber stalking turned out to actually be productive.

Okay so lets start by clarifying that if you don’t have “A Piece of Strange” you just don’t have one of the greatest CD’s of all time. Without being bias, which I am very often, there isn’t a single song that isn’t worth replaying over and over. I think when I first got the CD I listened to it for over 30 hours straight. I can do an analysis on each and every one of these songs and it would be like peeling the largest onion of all time. I mean lyrical depth on such a solid level and then to do that on every track…amazing. Don’t believe me? That’s fine the proof is in the pudding.

So we will start with my cyber stalking gem, “Nothing to Give”. Now I live in pretty plush part of the Bay Area, but Cunninlynguists hail from some of the dirty depths of the south. These guys have seen some pretty bad slums things I can only imagine, but when I listen to this track I get engulfed for wild ride of what it’s like to live in ghetto. I can’t even begin to comprehend how awful it would be to be born into a slum and try to overcome. The odds against are stacked so greatly it’s unreal. And then when you the turn radio on every morning you hear raps that teach you how the drug game will get you out of the Ghetto. Ohh man it just frustrates me beyond belief that the masses don’t get to hear this song. So without further ado take 3 minutes and 30 seconds of your time to experience a living hell.

So I will post all of the lyrics below, but just look at this verse and understand this isn’t fantasy this is reality for so many people.

Nightfall is curtain call for underhanded theatrics
Slugs travel through gun barrels from hands is half practiced
While rapists take this darkness and make alleys they mattress
Jonesin' junkies twitchin', no more hookers with coochies itchin'
Spreading disease, spreading they knees in different positions
In the abyss is children, they get lost in the mix
Gun-down for fresh kicks, or opposite color fits
It's demons that brood lewd manners behind tents
I'm sittin' in position to help the distorted blues
Only experienced doses of night that's on the news
Or BET showing the glamour without the blues
MTV helping you pick out Jessica's shoes
Just construes how you livin', confusin' your vision
Night's a politician 'cause only the truth is what's missin'
Dirty cops fight crime with dirtier ammunition
The night's salivatin', waitin' for me to finish spittin'

I love it! “BET showing the glamour without the blues MTV helping you pick Jessica’s shoes.” Meanwhile you have “Slugs travel through gun barrels from hands…rapists take this darkness and make alleys they mattress.” I don’t think its possible to write a whole essay on this subject and touch all these topics as flawlessly as Natti does. Alright maybe I am a tad over zealous, but you can’t tell me that BET or MTV show a fraction of harsh realities most of their audience faces. So here are the rest of the lyrics below and then we go on to another song on this very same CD that takes on a completely different issue…its like the 2000 Baltimore Ravens they just keep tackling.

When night falls and all lights off
You'll get robbed where I live
Crooks and robbers, villains and mobsters
The night's got nothing to give
(What's gone wrong?)
When late at night niggas be stealin'
When late at night niggas be killin'
'Cause late at night, the bad don't seem so wrong

(Natti)
Nightfall is curtain call for underhanded theatrics
Slugs travel through gun barrels from hands is half practiced
While rapists take this darkness and make alleys they mattress
Jonesin' junkies twitchin', no more hookers with coochies itchin'
Spreading disease, spreading they knees in different positions
In the abyss is children, they get lost in the mix
Gun-down for fresh kicks, or opposite color fits
It's demons that brood lewd manners behind tents
I'm sittin' in position to help the distorted blues
Only experienced doses of night that's on the news
Or BET showing the glamour without the blues
MTV helping you pick out Jessica's shoes
Just construes how you livin', confusin' your vision
Night's a politician 'cause only the truth is what's missin'
Dirty cops fight crime with dirtier ammunition
The night's salivatin', waitin' for me to finish spittin'

When night falls and all lights off
You'll get robbed where I live
Crooks and robbers, villains and mobsters
The night's got nothing to give
(What's gone wrong?)
When late at night niggas be stealin'
When late at night niggas be killin'
'Cause late at night, the bad don't seem so wrong

(Deacon)
When them lights low and ain't no night glow from the moon
Scoundrels run towns, no hounds to hunt 'em down
Keep your sight low and get your life stole by some goons
Swindlers injure ya, a criminal's heart's miniature
Men in the dark paint sinister art in the park
Son of the morning star? Stringing hearts like a harp
Playin' melodies of jealousy, felonies strummed by
Hell and its philharmonic, bewitchin' our young guys
We no longer seek light to give us power
That voice gets hushed by the rush of the Witching Hour
The touch of the wicked cowards that lurk in the dusk
In even-tide, heathens rise, searching for bucks
Anonymous and corrupt, assure obscurity
In a spell under its veil, an impure security
We love it in our spirits 'cause we suckas for lust
Most even fuckin' it, we too ashamed to be just

When night falls and all lights off
You'll get robbed where I live
Crooks and robbers, villains and mobsters
The night's got nothing to give
(What's gone wrong?)
When late at night niggas be stealin'
When late at night niggas be killin'
'Cause late at night, the bad don't seem so wrong

When night falls and all lights off
You'll get robbed where I live
Crooks and robbers, villains and mobsters
The night's got nothing to give
(What's gone wrong?)
When late at night niggas be stealin'
When late at night niggas be killin'
'Cause late at night, the bad don't seem so wrong

~

A darkness carried in the heart cannot be cured by moving the body from one place to another.

Again, I live here in the Bay Area and for the most part we are pretty accepting of just about everything. But let’s take a trip down to the former confederate states where racial prejudices are still a part life. It is sad, but very true. On “Never Know Why” the Cunninlynguists team up with Immortal Technique to discuss why “Most don’t even know why they believe what they believe…never taking a second to look at life.”

What really is racism or any prejudice for that matter? It all boils down to ill informed people, and fear of something different. Reality is that it is tough to undue things that we are taught at a young age. If you were brainwashed good luck at cracking the code to freedom. This only reinforces why I think it is so damn important for better role models to be prevalent in society today, especially in the Hip-Hop community. I’m not saying the Cunninlynguists are role model citizens, but imagine turning your radio on to hear thought provoking music like this. The lyrics are below and hopefully by now I have started to prove to you why these guys absolutely rock!

Things
Just ain't like they used to be
Things
Sure ain't like they used to be...

(Deacon)
Put her out in the cold, didn't want her close to he
'Cause his granddaughter's diffrent than she suppose to be
Diluted their genes, it stopped the music, it seemed
That they'd only seen polluted stream, and that wasn't clean
Said he could almost no longer stand to breathe
From this pure horror, more worse than Amityville
So what's next? Don't answer me, yield; yup
This is a normal occurance, not something randomly real
Ain't even allowed visits over a child's pigment
His in-crowd ign'ant, a situation: "Wow!" isn't it?
Hard times, baby daddy grinds to support
His mother and a few other friends privately in her fort
For short stays, ya know? But more aid was needed
Baby is like a year and a half old now and speaking
More than I can say about that man with his child
They can't even come face to face and share smiles
Raining pure pain on her life by staying distant
Like she spawned a fucking anti-Christ or a Satan infant
Blatant mentions about family blood won't leave
Loves her deeply, but evil sends its opposite feed
Too set in his ways to ever relate
If he could just set that aside, there'd be heaven to pay
Then, weathered and aged time swept him to grave
Love conquers all? Shit, I'd say that area's grey

Old fashioned people, they never know why
Old fashioned people, they never know why
Old fashioned

(Deacon)
Most don't even know why they believe what they believe, man
Never taking a second to look at life
Bad water in our seeds, y'all, still growing weeds, dawg
In the dark, walls blocking all that light
Most don't even know why they believe what they believe, man
Never taking a second to look at life
Bad water in our seeds, y'all, still growing weeds, dawg
In the dark

(Immortal Technique)
Looking at life in retrospect it's hard to regret
Stuck in your ways 'cause hatred is hard to forget
Niggas talk all religious trying to barter with death
Parts of the flesh wrinkle up while you start to reflect
And even though nobody's life is ever perfect
You start to wonder if all the pain was really worth it
Pondering the purpose of living, the curse that was given
Dreaming about freedom and escaping the prison
People who pimp children are really raping religion
The Matrix is fiction placed in a vision
But now the technology follows me solemnly
Building the future laws to my philosophy
Alzheimer's cutting through like a lobotomy
Not even the golden arthritis of King Midas
Could buy comfort and peace for the righteous
I survived disease and political crisis
By backstabbing gnomes that are now lifeless
And now I live vicariously through my kids
Like people who love the sport, but can't play for shit
Fighting glaucoma, front the cops taking a hit
I slip into a coma, roaming over the planet
Leaving the gold and the granite, the old and the famished
But just before I vanish as I think I'm right at the end
The sun becomes the light of my birth and I live again
Yeah, nigga, remember way back when?

Old fashioned people, they never know why
Old fashioned people, they never know why
Old fashioned people, they never know why
World is changing day to day
Moves so fast, it leaves them in another time