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Secular Monk

from 3Rhythms by Forefeather

/

lyrics

(Tea stirring)

(People Approaching)

(Madhur)
...Rock over there.

(Summer)
Mhm, oh, the big one, I saw it. Yeah.

(Madhur)
The big one, behind your cottage.
So that was...
When work was starting here, I used to sit there, for hours, and read.
And everybody would be working around me and... (laughs) I would be shamelessly reading. (Laughs)
And um, yeah. That's what I needed. I just needed to be here, that's all.
So, and I was just, brooding on that rock I was sitting on, and I was imagining what I would, you know, I want to do with the place, what I want to do.
I - I... was very very attracted to that one piece of rock, and I wanted to do something. So I was just wondering whether one could sculpt it.
And... by my realizing that there's no need to sculpt it.
It is as sculpted as it should be.
So, this is my ode to that rock.
To Angelo, as in, Michelangelo.

(Voices begin to banter in Hindi in background.)

(Madhur's poem)
Proud and tall, stand I.
Like the chapel towering, inert.
Or the David, breaching the sky.
Cause Him,
Our master, our lord.
The craftsman
Of the highest high.
Him, who crafted thee.
Crafting, for eternity.
From what little of Him, need I.

(Forefeather)
So, imagine if I was inanimate,
And didn’t have hands, or a body with organs,
Or a phalice, or if I’s a woman than maybe some breasts.
…Or maybe somebody with a piece of bread.
Cause everybody’s intestines wanna digest something.
So I brung it.

Eyyo, what’s this?
Everybody wanna be somebody else these days.
What up wit the rebate?
Well the mail was late, but I was looking for the mailwoman yesterday.
M’lady, what up with a way to communicate that I want coffee this time over tea?
I mean, I like tea sometimes…. You know, it’s great… but…

Something about my window to the museum is a little bit clouded up, but I can’t yet not see into it, so I’m gonna keep fillin it up.
Did you know the ceiling dumps gold dust on the audience if y’all jump up and touch it?
(So put your hands up.)

So get up, turn to the left, and let somebody know what it is-
To be living inside of your present experience.
In mine, I believe I found that the best way to really do this is to move around a lot.
(Just like, all around, and everywhere.)

So move, ‘cause somebody just told you.
When you don’t do what somebody wants you to, you might get a little bumped into-
Because this world is a dancefloor. Right?
That’s what you’re wearing pants for...?

(Madhur)
What I was trying to say is that… I didn’t create this.
(Summer)
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah! I got it! (Laughs)
(Madhur)
Somebody else did.
(Zac)
It is as perfect as it should be.

It’s like, I’m only the sum of everything around me with a reason to become a memory like everything, including you, you’re one.
Good luck becoming anything.
Good luck.
(Lol. ...What?)

I am a secular monk.
My place of worship is amongst a million particles of sound, and their relationship with love.
But I never thought about what would ever happen if I burnt my body up in, like, a crematorium.
Or, like, on a ghat.
It could be awesome.

When I went to India and saw all this worship of Shiva’s lingum,
It really reminded me of contemporary hip-hop’s conditions.
Yo. But, see, here’s my thing about that one.
No matter whatever you have son, we’re still at war even if your girl knows I have a bigger gun.

*Du-du-du*
I gotta find some holster that I can stick this into.
‘Cause when you misuse these pistols too much, you need two tissues for clean up at least.
‘Cause as a rap artist, it was my responsibility to bring these peanuts, right?
Peanuts!

So don’t tell me… the way that I’m ‘posed to be doing this rap thing is differently, but this one’s a bit distant for anybody with even a single cell of regular within their body.
I hear you, but that’s oddly just kind of inviting to me.

‘Cause I’m only the sum of everything around me with a reason to become a memory like everything, including you, you’re one.
Good luck becoming anything.
Ha.
Good luck.


Somewhere in my paradigm,
I’m a little tied up to this concept of “someone”,
And I’m a little dried up since we’ve been spending so much time flying.
(Good luck becoming anything.)
One feather forward.
Follow me.

Somewhere in my paradigm,
I’m a little tied up to this concept of “someone”,
And I’m a little dried up since we’ve been spending so much time flying.
One feather forward.
Follow me this way!

credits

from 3Rhythms, released January 2, 2015

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Forefeather Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dedicated to infusing hip-hop with the art and practice of skillful living, Forefeather creates conscious rap music that is danceable, mindfulness-oriented, and celebratory of hip-hop’s lush history.

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