history is not now

The song “why hip-hop sucked in 96” was in terms of beat insane. The melody played to me and made me think of those songs that inspire me to take up arms, a pen or marker and even made me want to write. The piano sounds gave it an ominous melody that to my ears played well with the rest of the beats, specially the deep drum bass sounds. Though the middle was a bit out of touch with the vibe of the rest it did play well and within the 40 seconds or so. As the song finishes on a different vibe then the beginning the spoken word element about money was a great addition. This is one song where I can understand the message and agree with what DJ Shadow may be trying to say via beats.

            

       Yet given all this my final opinion stays, while I will give to the fact that the album made history and many people at the time slept on its accomplishment, to me right now as I progress I need and want more from it. If DJ Shadow came out with an updated version using the last few years as inspiration I could see another piece of history being made. Though like my feelings torn down fourteen years later by someone else’s blog.

Bill Murray meets PLato

Same thing day in and day out, trying to figure out if it’s true, if it’s a dream and if not why are you stuck in this repetition. Phil, while more of an ass then I hope I am, still shares the same feeling about doing something that doesn’t make you happy as I do. While for the movie the concept was one day, I speak more about a life time, and to bring it into full circle with Plato our lifetimes split in two; Our reality and our perceived reality, in other words what we see and the availability of the MORE, the truth of not just the world but ourselves. For some the world we are stuck in is school, for others their neighborhood surroundings and for others still it can be the pitch black of their set ways. Whatever the day, week, moment, lifetime is that we keep repeating it takes a spark in order for us to escape that and actually see reality for what it is. The more we tell ourselves this is a horrible circumstance the more the situation beats your soul. The same can be said if we see the mundane and everyday as a reason to exploit the situation. Its hard to imagine how one could exploit something he or she finds terrible, but examples of people taking advantage at work, the kindness of others and even classmates is not hard to think up in our own lives or stories we have heard. Plato would say we all live in this fake reality, this cave shrouded in false truths, and as I am reading it and putting Platos words in the context of Bill Murray’s movie, our egos, our perceptions and overall our outlooks when not consistent with the true self, the true reality and the outside world will afford for us to do no more then relive the same days and make it much more difficult to see tomorrow

The 50 cent story

  In reading Plato’s Cave and trying to write this blog I have searched my mind in order to figure out some time in my life that the allegory has happened. In all honesty I cannot say that I have ever truly reached some enlightened truth, not one that has made sense at this point in my life. The closest I can think of is my decision to continue my education along with my future career. Even now as I put these words on paper I cannot say that I am completely out the cave, but I do see some light that is greater then five years ago, but still not enough to let my mind wonder about the things around me.

  I grew up in San Francisco in an area called Hunter’s Point, not the best of places I will admit. On the other hand nor was I the best of residents, not innately bad, but not a shinning example of intelligence. I had an array of bad influences around me and given that I still took a different path, I became what most of you would see as a “tagger”, yet to me I was an artist (though I still believe that). Against the words of wisdom from teachers, words of advice from family and even the determination for police enforcement to stop me I continued to practice my form. Long story short, the police was my nemesis and I considered them “stupid” in my eyes. They would rather chase me around the Marina, a prominent SF neighborhood, then to show up when we called about a man who was dying on my stairs (he had been badly stabbed). As I grew up and got older (notice growing up does not necessarily come with age) more of the same was around, but I no longer focused on only the police as enemies by themselves, but also school. I knew both were necessities in society, but it did not stop me from seeing them as a burden. I spent most of my time in school doodling on notebooks, desks, and some girl’s arm but instead of taking my education serious I just waited for practice to be over so I could do “me”. Teachers would scold me and my parents would let my excuses (at the time true reasons) fall on deaf ears; the world was against me. There are only so many times I wanted to hear or could hear “you have so much potential, use it for something worth wild”. Their shadows were always looming over me; from the brick building of my school, to the shadow of my mothers tears, even my own shadow covering me away from the lights of the red and blue. How wrong I was, how utterly simple and thus blinded I was, is in all honesty surprising to me even now. After doing this till my early twenties and consequentially never moving ahead in anything I wanted to achieve I broke the chains that I put on myself. That in itself was a struggle because I never wanted to admit I was my own cave, my own chains and still the prisoner, how could I believe that? Why would I want to do that myself? I decided to get my act together and take my education more serious and put down my markers, paints, ECT in exchange for a book and a pen. At this point it was not an easy climb out my cave. At first I was completely blind, no direction, and no idea of what I wanted to do. I had spent from 18-21 in college, but really had done nothing of significance. As I looked for guidance within some sort of soul searching I ended up where I am now, close to graduating from college (the first in my family ever) and taking the steps towards my eventual goal of becoming a police officer working within the system.

  This might not be the same as Plato’s intent with the cave, but I also believe that once out the cave, even in this simple instance I would be done, be bored. Part of the strive to better myself, to keep seeing light is because I like the chase. I enjoy smashing into the wall at times and still have the ability to climb up, even as I leave a trail of blood against the cave floor. If the opening is so close and achievable then what’s next? As I said before I have seen true truths and false truths, and as much as I search for the truth in all, the point is in searching. When I find truth or knowledge I will be able to say it three times and know its absolute and just be able to sit back and reflect, no longer with an ability to search. So as of now I can see the outside, I can see what the light hides, but still need the walls of the cave to guide me.