Tag Archives: Art

“This Ain’t Nothin New” Official Music Video

Black Radical Thought, History, Music, Music Videos, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This song has been to date the longest project I have ever worked on. It is simultaneously one of the musical accomplishments I am most pleased with. Not only does it sound good sonically, but the message is also precisely what I want it to be. As a writer and an artist I often find myself wanting to change things when I return to a project. Like oh, that is the wrong snare, that hi-hat is just a little too high, or that line could be rapped better. However, with “This Ain’t Nothin New” none of that is occurring. Part of my deep sense of accomplishment is the feeling that my project is finally complete.

You will find “This Ain’t Nothin New” on all major streaming platforms.

Verse one of this song is about how the history of oppression has been washed away and made trivial. It calls into question the sources of our information and reassert the importance of our internal understanding of the oppression we feel.

Verse two digs into the contradictions between the supposed oppression overcome and the current counterpart. Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” was a major influence to the formation my analysis. Jim Crow being another name for #segregation Alexander cleverly argues that serrations is very much still alive and thriving, it is merely couched under a new name with different conditions. This verse piggy backs on that understanding and expands the conversation to more than prisons. The right to abortion and bodily control seems always under threat and Arizona just repealed the Roe v Wade legislation in the State. The real argument of this verse is that not as much had changed as people often want to believe. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Verse three is about the continued reactionary response to social justice and Liberation movement across generations. It’s also about how the hate groups of the past, namely the Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens Councils have their modern counterparts; i.e. the Tea Party and Proud Boys, etc… not to mention the fact that there are still kkk and Nazis out here. Fascism has not died. In fact, it seems like there is a resurgence of it on every continent. These are scary times, for certain. The nasty part about having our history rewritten to make invisible the truth of the past and to hide the factors of our present, is that they can use that foundation to manipulate our acquiescence and thus our consent to be oppressed. Thus, #KnowledgeIsPower in this sense because we will not accept anything other than reality and from that point is the point at which our struggle for Liberation begins to thrive.

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Sweetest Lie

Poetry, , , , , , , ,

You lied to me

You told me, that it was, just, going to be a ride, on your bike

Now, I am not upset that you lied to me; looking back…

But you still lied to me

If you would have told me then, when it was in the middle of winter, raining, icy-cold and too late to catch a bus home

because we stayed out all night studying,

that I was about to sign up for the love of my life, the greatest partner I would ever have, some of the most emotional fights and passionate nights…

Honestly,

I probably would have run for the hills half-naked and risked the frostbite crossing over Seattle to get home walking for hours in the rain, snow, slush crap that we get here, to get away from your bike

Which was the fastest way home, and I had class the next morning,

Love, terrifies me,

and back then I didn’t what a thing to do with it

Not even a nice little romp in the sheets, with no strings attached

because I am a Pinocchio with big dreams and a heart worn on my sleeves, and strings that reach from my most intimates, dangling behind me, blowing in the wind getting caught in everything I cannot detach my heart from

And I’m sorry, I must be failing as a man, but I just cannot detach my heart from my intimate connection with another human being

There is no, just romping, in the sheets for me

And I had been through the ringer with this whole love thing, had my heart torn out, stomped on and spit on, laughed at, disregarded, burned, pushed aside, forgotten…

And I had failed those who loved me, violated trusts, got too busy in saving the world to remember she needed me too, until she left me because she wasn’t receiving the attention and affection she needed me too

I was not a good lover and love terrified me

More importantly though, I already loved you and did not want to accept that as a reality

But I thought, it’s just a ride on your bike, and its cold outside, shes the homie, my study buddy

Never in a million years would I have ever thought that you were crushing on me

Funny thing is, you were testing me to see if I could check my male privilege, my patriarchal tendencies, and jump on the back of a bike being driven by a woman

Fuck a patriarchy, you are a boss, a king, always have been and always will be

and if men were so good at running things, just because they are men, then why do we have so much Hell in the world today with all its attendant sufferings?

Just saying…

You stuffed this helmet on my head, condensing and smashing all of the ego that surrounds my better nature, which blocks me from the sunlight of the spirit of who I was born to be, and you knocked me back down to size, which is the true definition of humility,

but you were also trying to save my life in the event of the unlikely circumstance of a crash

And as hard as I tried to fight it, not because I was afraid of a woman being in control, but rather, because I was afraid to lose control over my affection for you; I hesitated climbing onto your bike

And you turned around, in that wonderful way you always do, annoyed as shit because I am not moving fast enough for you, unaware of what was really running through my mind at the time

How am I going to hold on to her and not fall madly in love with her?

she will know, and I will be exposed!

And you yelled at me “Get On!”

As I climbed onto your bike and slid into the seat, wrapping my arms around you, all my fear melted away and I realized that there was in place on the world, and no person that I wanted be with more than you in that moment, right there.

Thank you for lying to me, sometimes that’s just what we need to bring us to where we belong

and it brought me to you, MyHeart, I love you.

Renotography

Photography, , , , ,

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So seldom does the photographer get to become part of the art and the vision shared with the world. However, sometimes accidents turn out to be quite spectacular. I wanted to capture the image of Seattle’s downtown while riding the Light Rail southbound, but the reflective glare of the windows were impeding my ability to do that. Instead of becoming frustrated, I decided to use the reflection to my advantage and used the lens of my camera as a static fixture in this piece and used my body as the back-drop thus, making the city part of me and myself part of the city. Then I edited the picture to draw out the colors beyond the reflection and viola, a beautiful picture emerges.

Creativity and innovation are necessary ingredients to a good and happy life full of growth.

The Last Supper

The Last Supper
By Michael Anthony Moynihan a.k.a. Renaissance the Poet

 

Influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” I chose to use stones and amber to represent the Disciples and Mary Magdalena, and  crystal to represent the Christ.

I selected these materials because stones are immutable, i.e., ten years from now, a hundred years from now, a thousand years from now they will still be essentially what they are today. However, their outward appearances may be altered a little bit depending upon what circumstances they face over time. This to me seems equitable with the varying representations of these figures throughout time. Their essences seem to hold static, but their outward appearances and some of the minor interior nuances have tended to shift over time and between cultures. So, the selection of this medium, seems to me, more than satisfactory to represent how these figures are and have been represented differently by different peoples.

In regard to the selection of crystal to represent the Christ, as you can see, the light shines from a source beyond through unto the audience. In all the representations of the Christ that I have been acquainted with is the theme of the Christ being the light: “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (St. John, ch., 1. vs. 4-5). This seems to be very consistent, i.e., the Christ is represented as shining light onto the world. A common and more traditional representation of this is the use of the halo and the crystal medium functions as a comparable representation of this.

Collegiate Rapper ((Rappers = Nerds))

https://soundcloud.com/renaissance-the-poet/collegiate-rapper

New track from the “Rappers = Nerds” project, ‘Collegiate Rapper’ byRenaissance The Poet a student at the University of Washington and prior co-creator and co-host of The Cornerstone Open Mic & Artist Showcase.

This project is about building the community, and empowering ourselves through education and this song is about the struggle a young minority faces while dealing with the system of higher education.

Project Info:

https://renaissancethepoet.wordpress.com/music-and-poetry/
For some background on the song check out:

https://renaissancethepoet.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/reflections-of-my-first-quarter-at-the-university-of-washington/

Song Lyrics

 Verse #1

Started on this track, way back, but never thought I’d make it

Pain is over-rated, fated, to be illustrated

So to demonstrate it, the facts originated,

Inside the heart of a mind, addicted to rhyme, that’ll never be faded

See, seein ain’t believing, but reason the season needed

Feed it, like a stomach and read it until defeated

Would ya believe it, I succeeded?

 Beat it, and now it’s more that I’m needin?

Feanin for readin like treasures or women, shit, I’m a heathen!  I’m breathin

Dreamin, while feadin off demons

gleamin  the realist of feelins

As They, surface to meanings,

I mean I’m seein the end

as I be turnin the bend

Of desire, fires of love

burn inside of this man

 Passion’s more than enough, to accomplish my plan

My Intellect sure helps, as I seek to expand

the limits, and the boarders, of all that I am

As a Rapper and a Poet with a Bachelor’s in Hand

Verse #2

Who’d have thought, who not, that I would go to college

Go to get that knowledge, polished, rivalin scholars

Spendin all them dollars, to rise up out the garbage

The steep end of the heap, deep, leaping from the trenches of Martyrs

Me, never thought I’d see it, sobeit that I’m not dreamin

See it, I’m in these classes, & I, still hardly believe it

But must concede it, In to the Realist

Chapter of my life, and into the illist, challenges, so fearless,

But Humility the dearest

Because, when it comes to the task,

alone is a mask, that’s worn in a dash,

the rash are reluctant to ask, for help in a smash

but how are they goona pass their classes

When they’re movin so fast, they can’t, hold onto their asses

the masses drownin , assignments are mountain

& he with the skill surpasses

Expectations, foresight insufficient to displace this

Boils down to relations, and who we orbit in these space ships

Cause this is a foreign land, for a man, who should be in prison

Not at the UW, doing the best that he can, to earn degrees,

Can you feel this?

 Verse #3

I walked into school, cool, with one goal to find

Earn a Law Degree, complete, with an opened mind

Shatter the glass ceiling, pealing, the feelings denied

Breaking the cycle, inventing the Michael, and vetting out all of the lies

Free, or so I thought, the plot, coined me enemy

I’m black, and I rap, that there, the center piece

Of their argument, I must be ignorant, try’n to be

& try’n to see, more than was destined to me, more than being a thug in the streets

But why, supply the American Dream

If the plan was to hold it from me

But they don’t understand that I walk with a team

Composed of friends and family

Who will never see me fail

cuz  I fight for them like they fight for me

and together, we trudge this hell

So, no I won’t be giving up

Renaissance ain’t had enough

Graduating Valedictorian, just the beginning of

My struggle to become a lawyer

at the UW

A dream once impossible

A crude bluff

Chorus:

Dreams, are how it all begins

Dreams, are what define the ends

Dreams, are not just latent plans

Dreams, are what define the man

 

Beats, instrumentals, music…

That is what the lifeblood of a great track is composed.

It may be the lyrics of the song that make it unique but it is definitely the beat that makes those words stand out against the cacophony of artists vying for attention.

If you are looking to stand out than I have just what you are looking for at:

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Here is a taste of what MusicaDiction Beats has to offer
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Finals ((Sneak Peek) of the “Rappers = Nerds” album

 I am a student at the University of Washington and just graduated from North Seattle Community College and  I think that those of you who are in colleges, universities or high schools you will be able to relate to this song. This song is about the pressure that surmounts as I enter into finals week with all of its incumbent pressure and utter craziness. I made this song both to decompress from all of the stress and to share a method with you that I have found to help with it all. The first verse unfortunately is not the complete story, this just a sneak peak. The completed version will be released spring 2014.

 https://renaissancethepoet.wordpress.com/music-and-poetry/