The title of the blog comes from a song by Talib Kweli called Broken Glass. When I first heard the song I was around 14 or 15 years old. Initially, I loved the line because it just sounded cool. The way Kweli dropped his lines on that song made those long bus rides out to Carter High School a little less painful. However, like many other songs, the line hit me waaaay after I bought the album "Beautiful Struggle." The way I listen to music is Sound First. Then, the words slowly sneak into existence. At the core, when it comes to hip-hop, lyrics are what keep me listening. But for some reason, my mind does not notice them until my ear kinda accepts the music alone.
The line first hit me when I was talking to a friend about the lyric. At the time I was still 15 and was pretty Christian. My mind focused on the God part of the phrase. I concluded that the song actually meant that all plans are determined by God. So when one decides to do something, it is not set in stone until God puts his big ol' soul smitin' hand on it. However, now I hear the lyrics differently. Instead of focusing on the God part, my mind heard the entire sentence. Its not so much about God as much as it is fate. To many "fate" and "God" are the same. But if you are not religious, the line kind of seems to convey a similar message but one that is not so religious as much as it is common sense. Now the line means although a person may plan for their fate/future, it is not really known. Therefore, the plan may not be so helpful.
Today is the perfect example of what Kweli was talking about. I woke up this morning knowing only two things would be accomplished today: Japanese Studies and song writing. Its so simple when you make those hard things two sets of two words. It makes everything easier. Try it. "Today, I am gonna do just two things: Get money and buy a car." Seems easy, right? Well, fate/God/Zeus, thought otherwise. I get a call from my brother asking me to pick him up from Nashville and drive him back to Knoxville. Boom! I refuse to leave my brother in that kind of situation. So, I went and picked him up. 7 hours of my day have completely vanished. Instead, I had a really good 3 hour convo with my younger brother. Wouldn't trade that one for a few hours of study time.
It happens all the time. I make small plans and something gets in the way. So, I figured out a way to remedy this kinda of problem. Instead of making specific plans, I should make a bunch of things I should do. That way, if something does come along when I need to study Japanese, or write a song, I can always view the list of things I should do as back up plans. So, if I don't have anything to do, I should start writing songs for that album I'm working on. When I am just watching my friends play Yugioh, I can always just write Kanji. Setting up time to do things never seems to work for me. So now, I think I will just "use time wisely."
Oh shit...That whole paragraph was a big, fat plan.
Villainy...but...not plotted.
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