Chance Questions ~ Haiku

I'm for the giver.
I'm the getter who's for-giv'n?
I'm the for-getter?

Music: Big Shaq's "Man's Not Hot"

Big Shaq ain't Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) by any stretch. But, by some accounts, Shaq suspects that Big Shaq is belittling him; insinuating that Shaq ain't 'hot' (that is, "cool") or big enough (that is, big) any more. What's more, he's scheming rather loudly to take Shaq's inalienable name -- even if the scheming 'alien' is the newly-arrived Big Shaq himself. Meanwhile, Big Shaq markets his brand as not hot at all -- as never hot, in fact; but rather, by some kind of super-providential twist(er), Shaq's ordained successor -- nay, 're-placer'. He's never hot. Whatever winter threads he wears, he can never be hot, he claims -- even sitting in the summer sun. He can never be hotter than the sun, which anyone can sit in! It's all so very confusing, even to Big Shaq -- and so, so fun. He, Big Shaq, has arrived -- but only to throw us all into a Black Hole which devours any enlightenment that veers too close to it.

Incidentally, Big Shaq -- born and raised in the UK to Ghanaian parents (his real name is Michael Dapaah) -- looks and, in some way, raps as if he's Kenya's very own Khaligraph Jones' twin (or double) -- or vice versa (view KJ's Nataka Iyo Doh). Perhaps the twain shall meet one of these days -- In Nairobi, or London.

Big Shaq has till now been better known, of course, as an irresistibly 'roguish', feather-ruffling comedian with an intimidating presence (when he wants to scare). He's become a rapper, certainly in his Man's Not Hot life, but maintains his "resistance" to all speculation. But he seems set to continue rapping in the 'after' of that particular life. The adulation he's obviously enjoyed with the release of the rap in 2017 is too tempting to walk away from. We'll be watching whatever space we can track him down to.

WATCH VIDEO: Man's Not Hot

Man's Not Hot is unvarnished rap. But is it a song, let alone pop song, to qualify for inclusion and ranking among pop songs? Here's one answer: S/He who raps sings. Rap is a form of singing. It has become plainly so in the music industry, in our time. Rap is singing in undertones, so to speak, but not at the expense of the overtones associated with the typical song. Singing is sugarcoated talk. Rap is rapid-fire, sugarcoated talk: "Skrrahh! Pap, pap, ka-ka-ka!" Moreover, it is helpful that, nowadays, rapping almost invariably has instrumental accompaniment of one mix or another. Singing an sich doesn't have to be so accompanied, but pop songs do. Rap is pop, then. He (Big Shaq) raps, therefore he sings. The instrumental music that runs in the background throughout the song is distinctly refined in tone and commands respectful audience-attention. The rapping practically turns into a subliminal rhapsody!

All this despite the fact that Big ShaQ mixes the sugar with ample gutter diction, which I hadn't quite realized till I read and re-read the lyrics and saw their graphical representations. We can do without that; but perhaps I'm talking only for prudish, older folks. Big Shaq's spoken English is far from Chaucerian, but still has things I didn't grasp. Yet not grasping never stopped us across sub-Sahara from loving the many foreign and African songs that we listened to and loved in our youth. Songs have a certain inner-outer pull.

READ: Man's Not Hot Lyrics (no graphics here)

I think that the most magical and mind-blowing part of Man's Not Hot (at once a "raw and cooked" song), is when Big Shaq gets that bobbing and heaving and frenzied multitude of fans to respond to his "Skrrahh!" in one big-family chorus, and so unexpectedly,) with: "Pap, pap, ka-ka-ka!" 

All that stream-of-consciousness chanting of mysterious and bewitching words (including supposedly African-origin monosyllables already distorted after just one incomplete generation) -- which would have greatly dismayed Kunta Kinte -- truly adds to the churn of sentiment and to existential charm, as well as to some sort of audience-awakening across the waters: 

"Skrrahh!

Skidiki-pap-pap!

And a pu-pu-drrrr-boom!

Skya

Du-du-ku-ku-[tun-tun]-pun-pun!

Poom, poom". 

Big Shaq brings the crowd face-to-face with creative possibilities hardly imagined till his sudden landing on the stage. In that sense he is truly one of a kind. Still, if you've read the commentaries, you'll know that his watchers and adorers already worry that, as a singer, with a persona which insists on deep winter-wear in the heat of summer, he's a shooting star -- an asteroid -- condemned to soon dis-appear from the glare of our telescopic but seasonal attention. 

Dead Matter ~ Haiku

How many horses
You rode? How many peuples
You shoot? You make dead?

Sugarboy's Kilamity, Featuring Kiss Daniel

Kilamity's powerful AfroBeats intention hits you as soon as the song begins. It is, indeed, how it starts. The beat lays the ground for the song's overriding tone (and its own particularity) right there -- and for all of the 4:04 minutes we're going to have, so to speak. 

If you know anything, already, about the duo of Sugar Boy and Kiss Daniel, you suspect that you're being set up for something out of this (musical) world; that you're entitled exactly to what you're beginning to get. Plus more. In unexpected twists and turns of "phrase". 

In that sense, the two are part of a small but growing class of super-talented musicians -- who are overturning things. And who are giving us so much hope for Africa's creative future.

Watch: Kilamity video

There's no cliche in this singing -- this throbbing multipresence. The vocal cords are deployed in harmonious synchronicity, and a wonderful range. The entire set, too, is sophistication itself -- cool and without rush. Great place for man-child, and for his female counterpart, to strut the "wares".

I'm loving the lyrics, rendered at the highest level of creative-poetic purpose: "Serious! Dangerous!". I'm loving the visuals too. The body-texts are fine, and even (re)fined. The ambience is art in motion.

I'd like to know the band behind the singing. All too often, bands remain anonymous and unappreciated. This one is truly accomplished, though out of sight, as we can all 'see'. It plays a great part, and even helps to make the difference that sets Kilamity so distinctly apart. There's no cliche in its instrumental renditions of this supple musicality, either. All of which goes to show just how important it is to have a great band in play. 

In another instance we will talk at some length about the roles played in such creative arts by Directors (Ani James here) and Camera Crews, both or whom are so obviously crucial in Kilamity. No matter how hard you try, you can't have great music video without either. In Kilamity, they interpret the 'impending' mood perfectly. To put it differently, the lyricists' mood helps to set their tone (and tome) exactly right. The point is, they obviously have the talent to do so, and do. It's all so wonderfully and even naughtily productive.










Update: October 20, 2018.

Air Canaan ~ Haiku

Year of headwinds:
Cura sao il Ibwo.
Haiku pig wo!












__________________
Images of Canaan

Season's Wish

Wishing all of you a MERRY
CHRISTMASTIME and A
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Stay in Good Health. Love
thy Neighbour, truly. And
drive safely.
Be, in all ways, love.ly!