stuff songwriting taught me

I have been in the middle of writing lyrics to a dubhop song for like 2 weeks now - an impossibly long time. The "block" is holding up many of my other efforts, which are actually much more important.

The song is about drugs. Two verses. One verse talking about the "id" of drugs (dirty sex, misogyny, fighting) and one verse referring to the "superego" of drugs, as it were (acuity of awareness, repressed feeling confrontation, Free Love Syndrome).

The id verse came very quickly, because it is like all other rap verses. The superego verse is the holdup. Why?

I'm beginning to think it is because I have closed my mind off to positive thoughts, which has implications far beyond this song, reaching into my entire perspective on life. I hope that I am wrong.

I am also rejecting certain thoughts that don't "sound right" over a hard, thumping beat...but like, why am I trying to make the concept of "hugging your enemies" hardcore? Why can't I just write what is the truth?

Am I misinterpreting the lesson here? I'm sure I'll get mostly trolls here, but if this story resonates with anyone, that's why I took the 4 minutes to write it out. Peace out

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Poniiboi 2012-11-29 03:29:10

I also don't treat my parents very well. Anybody know what that's about?

JBK 2012-11-29 04:46:12

I always had rrouble writing abour things that were real because I live in a fantasy world.

BOULLIE 2012-11-30 06:07:37

As far as I know, the super ego refers to things that you learn under conditioning (The shit you learn as a kid, like "Don't hit anyone, or they might hit you back"

But addressing the examples ya got in them there parenthesamajiggers, not many know what it is to experience those freedoms, yourself included, I'm sure. We live in a society (if you live in the West Coast) where individualism is pushed to the point of isolation, which is a VERY unhealthy thing.
Many people need alone time, but connections are what the Human species thrives on. In fact, many of the things that the ancients thrived on, are the same things that the modern world often rejects (Such as psychedelics drugs and the role of the shaman)

Maybe you need to go out and hug a stranger, make some love with someone you just met somewhere, or go to a party where everyone's just coolin'. The important thing is to reconnect. In the face of negativity we tend to shut some things and you've been going through some shit lately.

Instead of hoping you are wrong, dive head first into this.

Seriously..

You may go through the pain of realizing that some things aren't what you thought they were, but the pain will give birth to a new chapter in your life, something which will not happen if you stagnate and refuse to address what is trying to speak to you.

Life and Death, Yin and Yang, Darkness and Light, after every finished chapter begins a new one

It's up to you to decide what that next chapter depicts. What story will you tell?

As for that hardcore concept ya got there, it sounds like the problem of the male ego to me. Something which has developed in astonishing forms in the modern world. Many of us are taught that men and women are separate beings. We're told that a man who shows love, who cries at a movie, or who is moved by a sunset, is a soft man, and therefore, a man not worth respecting and not worth taking seriously.

Maybe the reason why you feel you cannot write the truth is for fear of rejection or discovering that a piece of you exists that you didn't know of.

Or maybe the cosmic rays are damaging your spirimental frequencies.

If the cosmic rays are an issue, I suggest a cap, or hat (I prefer a classic British bowler hat) made of aluminum foil so that you might block these rays.

BOULLIE 2012-11-30 06:09:19

Meant to refer to North America when I brought up the West Coast.