Bag Lady by Erikah Badu

"Bag lady you gon hurt your back
Dragging all them bags like that
I guess nobody ever told you
All you must hold on to
Is you, is you, is you"

I love music ya'll. But this is somewhat of a generic expression. There is no-one in the world that can say they don't like music. It is one of those things that is in everyone's "Interests" box (and I checked yours and its so there).

I am a fan of all genres, except seriously heavy metal and contemporary jazz. I can't stand the unmelodic shoop de boob boobity boob poop ba dow. It's apparenty called scat. It's sounds like a term that should be used to describe cat feaces. The cat scat on the mat.
Seriously, buy a tune.

So the title of this blog is one of the songs that made me fall in love with Ms Erykah Badu. She are a badass! She is a cool, cultured, and educated female from "the streets". She dated the antithesis of an oil painting Andre 3000 way back and then upgraded to that delicious tall glass of chocolate milk Common. Hmmm...
But he is seeing Miss Serena W. now so ja... :-(

But back to the song. Bag Lady is a catchy little ditty about how you need to let go of your issues because what happens to you, and specifically in a relationship does not have to define you. Having recently come out of a relationship I can relate on so many levels to the words. The lyrics are seemingly simple, yet the messages behind them are quite complex. I thought about this when I was recently chatting to my friend on gchat. We had made a date to talk on Skype (who sucks ass b.t.w. since it didn't want to work), and I told her that she may be a bit surprised by my appearance (understatement warning):

"ja, but I picked up a lot of "relationship" weight

LOL

I have baggage

extra junk in my trunk

LOL"

The LOLs were real then, now its like they are mocking me because when I wrote it I didn't realise how true they were on an emotional/psychological level and not just a physical one. It's weird how the most profound things come out of your mouth when your actually just trying to be funny or attempting to be a smart ass.

Lupe the Fiasco dot blogspot dot com...WHY?!!!

So if you've never heard of the rapper Lupe Fiasco, its ok. Until a few months ago neither did I. But OMG he is so DOPE!!! Yes, this is the blog where I will be pretending I grew up on the mean streets of Brooklyn, NY. At least I think they mean. That's what I heard...ya know, on the down low. The DL. I gots the 411. While I was hustlin' on the corner. (And by hustling I mean selling narcotics, not my body.) Ok, I'm losing my train of thought.
Whatever, I'm going with it.

So last night my flatmate had a dinner party. I know! Tres grownup no?!! I didn't do anything (it wasn't MY party) but did enjoy some fine dining. Hmm, home-made chicken chow mein. So we had an Islamic lady at the party, and she was telling us the story of when she got married and how her grandmother came the next day to "collect the laundry" (they check the honeymoon sheets for blood to confirm the girl was a virgin) and was surprised when her granddaughter's hair was not washed (everytime a muslim woman has sex she must wash her hair afterwards).

I was like "Imagine I was muslim growing up. Everytime my mom washed her hair....EW!!!!"

So ja, Lupe Fiasco. Isn't that name just so awesome?! It's almost as cool as Captain Steel, but he would be Captain Steel's arch-nemesis. I see him as the gangsta H.N.I.C. (if you don't know what that stands for you are sooo not gangsta.) with his finger in every pie, using his super-powers for creating mayhem wreaking havoc over the city. Come on people! Somebody that can draw bring life to this most genius of visions!!!

But I digress, again. You people should listen to this man's music. Here is a piece of my fave line from my fave song, Gold Watch:

"I am American mentally with Japanese tendencies
Parisian sensibilities so stay out the vicinity of..."

I mean, that is just...WOW!

One song that really sticks out for me is where he deals with the boy soldiers in Central Africa, but starts it off with a look at how guns are misused by youth around the world. "Little Weapon" is political/social commentary music at its most blatantly subtle.

Little Terry got a gun, he got from the store,
He bought it with the money he got from his chores,
He robbed candy shop told her lay down on the floor,
Put the cookies in his bag took the pennies out the drawer.

Little Kalil got a gun he got from the rebels,
To kill the infidels and American devils,
A bomb on his waist,
A mask on his face,
Prays five times a day,
And listens to Heavy Metal.

Little Alex got a gun he took from his dad,
That he snuck into school in his black book bag,
His black nail polish, black boots and black hair,
He's gonna blow away the bully that just pushed his ass...

[Lupe Fiasco]
I killed another man today,
Shot him in his back as he ran away,
Then I blew up his hut with a hand grenade,
Cut his wife's throat as she put her hands to pray,
Just five more dawgs then we can get a soccer ball,
That's what my commander say,
How Old?
Well I'm like ten, eleven, been fighting since I was like six or seven,
Now I don't know much about where I'm from but I know I strike fear everywhere I come,
Government want me dead so I wear my gun, I really want the rocket launcher but I'm still too young,
This candy give me courage not to fear no one,
To fear no pain, and hear no tongue,
So I hear no screams and I shed no tear,
If I'm in your dreams then your end is near.