Peace everyone;
For those of you who do not know... the last week has been really crazy up in here... pollution that was literally beyond hazardous (For 2/5 of the week it just read "Beyond Index"), pollution-induced illness, two-year-old bill payments being demanded, shady landlords, upcoming evictions, unpaying debtors...
I was riding the subway tonight and my emotions on the situation just started writing themselves into a verse...
The Devil tryin' to lie to me - friends try to get high with me
People asking favors then turning a blind eye to me...
So I came home tonight and recorded then mixed this song about the emotions I've been feeling over the last week. I wanted to be honest and put myself out there in front of man - but more importantly, in front of God. You could say that Peace of Mind is a prayer of sorts... when I was feeling frustrated and absolutely knew that I would only get thru this with strength beyond what I myself could provide.
Peace of Mind is streaming on my Youtube channel right now.
-jglc a/k/a Grand Master Chu
This piece is merely a short summing-up of some musings I've been having over the past few months, as I've seen my investment - of time, finances, and identity - in music steadily increase. If you're involved in art too, please comment after you read and let me know what motivates you to do your art?
As far as I can tell, the common reasons people commit to a lifestyle in which music - or art of any kind, though music is the field about which I've been thinking the most, as it's also the most personally relevant - takes a high priority, comprise a short list:
1) money - $$$
2) sex - self-explanatory
3) fame - being easily or widely recognized or liked
4) power - becoming credible or well-known enough to be listened to (think Arnold Schwarzenegger - for him, art (acting... of a particular sort) => fame => power)
5) God - for reasons of religious calling or spiritual satisfaction
6) personal artistic satisfaction - you really love your art; you enjoying singing, or acting, etc.
7) being cool - similar to fame, but with more of an edge: being a figure to which others aspire or desire to be like in full or in part.
An 8th category could be "success" - but I'm guessing, when questioned as to the meaning of success, most would answer in some combination of the above 7 categories.
Of course a lot of these could reduce to one another - money leads to power, God leads to personal satisfaction, fame leads to money, being cool leads to sex, and so on. But they are still distinct.
Why think about these categories?
I've been thinking about these categories of motivation as I've been stepping up my own musical output, profile, and aspirations because the question of target is now coming into view: I've started talking to a few small labels, begun thinking about who I want to make music for, why I make music, where I want it to take me - and where I want to take it.
None of these questions can be answered without first knowing, or at least having some sort of handle, on the issue of goals: do I want to reach 5 people, 500, 10 thousand, 50 million? What do I do when I'm reaching them?
When artists catapult to fame without answering these questions, they have public meltdowns, imploding under their own weight: you get a Marilyn Monroe, a Kurt Cobain, a Lindsay Lohan. And so the Korean pop world has a well-covered-up but increasingly alarming pattern of celebrity suicides. People who rise to fame, all the while viewing fame as the ultimate goal, are consumed and spit out by the churning media machines.
But when those who rise to prominence have these questions of goal and drive answered from the start, you get artists like 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and whom it seems like Lady Gaga is becoming: men and women who understood the place for fame and artistic success in a larger picture of personal well-being. They are the ones who managed to use the pop culture/media machine while not succumbing to its ravishes - they may have been used in the process, but it was at least an exchange of sorts, instead of an enslavement.
So, for me, the initial question is: will you pursue music?
It seems that I have answered this question: yes.
The next question: why? And what will you do if - when? - that music becomes something - you become someone - people care about?
Well, let's see:
My self-assessment
1) money - this category is alluring, but ultimately, not a motivating reason. Whether it would be right for me to have significant amounts of money or not is another question: long ago, when I first began making music, I told myself that I would never have music be my primary income stream: I recognized then, as I still do, I think, that relying on the money I make from music is a very quick way to stop enjoying my music. It would be, at least, for me. I think. Whether this is true or not may be up for question in the future: at the moment, however, money is distinctly not the primary motivation for my musical aspirations.
2) sex - nah.
3) fame - This is definitely a highly tempting aspect of musical success, more so than (1) but less than (7). To be well known is intensely appealing to me, for the same reasons, I suspect, that it is to many of people in my generation: popular media has told me, as long as I have been alive, that people who are widely known matter. And hence, I now believe, if I am widely known, I will matter! More well-known, more influential.
As I think about it, I do believe that fame is one of the reasons that I would pursue music. As my rap partner/strategic consultant D-One has often told me: if no one's listening to it, why are you recording it?
There are other motivating reasons - 5-7 being chief for me - for me to pursue music, but I will say this: I hope that my music can become famous among the right circles! They may not be large, and they may not be circles that are well-known, but I do hope that my music will have impact on the right people (finding who the right people are is a topic I want to reserve for a future post - suffice it to say that they don't always look like the people you would have chosen, but they are the people you need to grow to love!). And to do so, it must speak with authority (which I'll touch on next) into at least some group larger than myself.
4) cachet/authority/power - this is part of my hope for music. As I believe my life testifies to, there are deep truths and realities that I believe are important to talk about, bear witness to, experience, and share in community with others - the flip side of this is that there is an intimate privilege in being someone with whom people are willing to open themselves and show vulnerability. In music, especially if you're doing the kind of music that manages to resonate with people on an emotional level, you are given the immense honor of both speaking into people's lives as well as being someone with whom people want to share. This is important to me.
5) God - Is God directing me to do music? I think so. I find personal joy in it (more in 6, below), I find it natural, I believe the music I do is not only in line with my faith, but supplementary to it, and I believe that my music is fundamentally about Truth - which, coincidentally, is another name for God in my understanding. So, yes, 5 is a motivation for my music: To remain a venue for spiritual growth and expression of spiritual truths.
6) personal artistic satisfaction - This is also a high priority for my music. I want to make good music. However, I've realized that I am also fairly satisfied with making a plethora of styles of good music, from love songs to old-school lyrical hip-hop, to contemplative new-school joints, and in between. If I could make a VERY WELL produced Far East Movement/Black Eyed Peas kind of party/club joint, I would be happy with that as well! So, personal satisfaction is a high priority. But I'm also easily satisfied.
7) being cool - I do think that being cool is, well, cool. However, as I consider this category, I also realize that I'm more interested in (4) than in (7): if people will permit me to speak into their lives with some degree of trust, I don't care very much whether it's because I'm considered cool, or if it's because of some other reason. So, I would put down (7), but only as a means to (4), thereby indicating that (7) is not truly a motivation for music, but rather a step to the true motivation, which is (4).
So, it seems as though my answers are: I am pursuing music primarily for reasons of (A) fame (within certain accepted limitations), (B) cachet, (C) personal artistic satisfaction, and (D) I find in it a puzzle piece toward my spiritual calling.
The next question is: what if I could obtain (A), but at the cost of sacrificing (B) and (C)? What if I could obtain only 2 of the 3?
If you're a musician or any manner of artist - which of these categories motivates you? Why? What are your thoughts on this entire topic/issue?
Over the past few months, I've been documenting via this blog, as well as my Facebook artist page, how my ex-roommate (now living in Taiwan) MC D-One and I have been putting together an Asian-American rap crew along with his brother.
This past weekend, we were proud to release Model Minority's first mixtape, The Model Minority Report.
I'm proud of the songs we made, and feel that it embodies the voice of our generation of young modern Asian-Americans, filtered through a hip-hop lens.
The lead single for the project, A.F.R. (Asian Food Rap), has a music video on youtube:
Our hope is that Model Minority will be MORE than just three rappers, but a lifestyle movement among Asian-Americans... something we can represent with pride and feel ownership of. A voice to speak out about who we are, where we come from, and the shared experiences that make us Asian-American. If the music resonates with you at all, if you feel like it speaks about your life, you ARE part of the Model Minority Movement.
The first rap group formed specifically to tackle the issues of growing up Asian-American, each rapper brings unique experiences to the table: Grand Master Chu has a degree in Philosophy from Yale, D-One started his own clothing brand in college, and Inglish has a budding stand-up comedy career.
Following in the footsteps of pioneers like The Mountain Brothers, Jin Tha MC, and Far East Movement, the trio also draws from artists like Eminem, Mos Def, and Jadakiss. With their entertaining brand of hip-hop lyricism, they have drawn comparisons to the "Wong Fu Productions of rap".
... for the last week, all the hip-hop blogs were saying that Lil Wayne and Cory Gunz (his artist... a REAL New York head spittin flames) were going to drop a monster single soon for his upcoming Carter IV LP, and it just came out yesterday... the beat is pretty fresh, so you know I just had to do my own take over it...
The song is also streaming at my facebook page. If you actually do enjoy it, you can download the MP3 here.
If you have any comments or feedback, let me know what you think in the comments!
-jglc
Verse 1:
Askin for the beat up like I'm rappin with a glass jaw
And I could turn the heat up even when I turn the gas off
If the flow is bad you know it comes from an imposter
I could try to act but I would never win an Oscar
Step up in the studio like settin up a battlezone
Indiana Jones, leave my whip up in the catacombs
You got Game, Boy, but you never will Advance while
I might catch a loss but I'll face down any man who stands...
(sample: 6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot, 9 foot)
uh
uh
Verse 2:
Do it for the 16-year-old kid that I was back then
For global fans that speak with non-Americanized accents
Do it for the clubs - I'm just kidding, if you ever hear
my song up in a club, call me up and let a brother hear
I be chillin' late night in the apart-a-ment
Wishin that I had two houses like the Parliament
You'd get the joke if you knew the British government
These four bars explain why I'll never make a hit
I might never catch the ears of Clive Davis
But I'd be happy to just own a lightsaber
Fillin' reams of blank pages
With verses to last through the Ice Ages
I don't mean global warming
but them three cartoon movies that was just a little corny
Give a shout out to my shorty Jessii chillin up in Sac
While some dude up on the chorus sayin somethin in the back he go
(sample: "6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot, 9 foot")
Verse 3:
Battleaxe assassin slashin syllables for fun
Failed to pass gym cuz my uzi weighs a ton
I mean I Chuck D's at the open mic for fun
But the Flavor is exquisite when I'm goin' for my ones
Half the cats hear but they do not really listen
so I been workin on flows get their ears to pay attention
Get they souls to spark a vision set the cancer in remission
The doctors workin overtime to make the first incision
I mean that I'm iller, but those bars was just a filler
While I'm plannin out a Friday set with homeboy from Manila
What up Abz? I be chillin' drinkin' milk with some vanilla
In my studio listening to the 5th track on Thriller
And I'm spillin' out the vowels like AEIOU
While my consonants are competent in combat wit your crew
Yall just messin with some snacks, I'm bringin em brain food
So I'm up in the lab while you're cleanin aisle two
Last time I chronicled my journey around Beijing to find and purchase a dope mic and preamp...
well Monday afternoon after I finished everything else I had to do, I copped a mic stand and went IN!!!! Lyrics, samples, everything all done in one day and it turned out DOPE
co-starring Philip Lee and Sam Weatherford on the vocal samples...
and much respect to Just Blaze for the beat and Jay Electronica for SLAYING the original song...
download the MP3 at http://thesixtyone.com/grandmaster/
Tell Em
[Vocal Sample Intro]
I'm splitting atoms by spittin at em with written language
got the scriptures so vision vivid from different angles
catch the minds of imprisoned prisoners
movin roman senators even Trojan men at war
couldn't fathom the epic message that we bring to you
from the streets of new York to the sands of Malibu
got the gift of prophecy so my talent is the truth
it's biblical reality I'm spittin in the booth
and its nonfiction so I ain't fixed on fictions
no tales of cocaine or life in prison
...that ain't a diss to nobody's art
I just had a choice to make and i went smart
got knowledge in my head and my heart
and my hands and my feet on the path thru the dark
got my brothers all around me they sharp with the darts
we speak like lightning, thunder, sparks
(Tell em who you be) Grand Master in the house
Came in the game, ain't nobody throw me out
(Tell em where you go) I'm on the path
Did the math, it's my time now
[Phil sample]
No Sean John, no Sean Paul
when it comes to raps, I'm more John Paul
with the bars I'm apostle Paul
Gospel scrawled on high school walls
when hell freezes like bboy stance
I saw the Christ come down and give mad daps,
razing hell of the hellraisers
i'm like 8 mile meets wildstyle meets Brooke Fraser
[haha] now I'm wildin a bit
At the home studio got the mic in my crib
got the ESV on my hip plus the two-tone
black and white paint colors on the whip.
car twenty years old, it can almost drink,
ever since I seen the light I done start to think
...flashes comin faster now
My passion written in the sweat of my brow...
[Sam sample]
[Chorus]
[Phil sample - outro]
I arrived at Beijing's Capital International Airport at 4:30 this evening... grabbed my bag and took the airport rail line back home... hit church to link up with my Embassy fam, then went home...
And what did I do there???
Forget going to sleep, D-One was jumping on a track so you know we HAD TO GO IN!
Check it out... Black & yellow... for our people worldwide:
and download the MP3 at http://grandmaster.bandcamp.com/
Hello hello
We're at a place called Vertigo
Lights go down and all I know
Is that you give me something
I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how,
how to kneel.
Bono: ''Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff''.
Assayas: ''I'd be interested to hear that''.
Bono: ''That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep shit. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace.
"I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity''.
There's something right about listening to a Christmas song in February.
With the bout of advertisements and seasonal jingles ringing through the air, Christmas can be - has become? - passe by December. Christus missus est ("Christ has come"), but so have Toys 'R' Us, Wal*Mart, and Best Buy, for all his consumer children.
But in February, snow lies dense on the ground; it was a brisk day, a sharp day, a clear day. I'm a little tired, and I'm nursing a little bit of a cold. It's late enough in the semester for me to have made mistakes, and plenty; early enough that I'm still uncertain about the rest of the school year. What might Spring's warmth bring? What shape will this semester take?
It seems like there's room for hope; and right now, with no holiday in sight, I feel readily the need for a Christmas (mas Cristo?) more than I did in December, December with its heady air of holiday and presents, home, finals, excitement.
So, you know, I listen to a Christmas song.
jasoncollegechu (1:04:20 AM): So I guess I'm a fan of the new Kanye West
jasoncollegechu (1:04:24 AM): The album, I mean
jasoncollegechu (1:04:28 AM): Not the person
a****e******713 (1:04:33 AM): i see
Auto response from jasoncollegechu (1:04:33 AM): it's chillin', chillin
jasoncollegechu (1:04:40 AM): yeah
jasoncollegechu (1:04:56 AM): when I thought about it, it's really the first time autotune - in a pop setting - has been used as more than a gimmick
jasoncollegechu (1:05:17 AM): but rather, to express (even if clumsily) angst and emotion
jasoncollegechu (1:06:30 AM): and I got to respect that... plus it's superbly evocative of a mood, an atmosphere
8/31/2008
Sunday8.31.2008:
About 36 hours after getting back into the States, I
prepared to move back to New Haven from my
parents' place in Delaware.
First, though, Mir0 and I grabbed lunch at Caffe
Gelato in Newark.
Mir0 was a senior at Charter when I was a freshman;
after graduating college, he spent a year at Yale. Best
a/k/a founder of PhalanX. He's in a doctoral program
on the West Coast now.
Main Street, Newark. I spent many of my formative years on this
street.
Lunch was aiight. A little classy for my tastes.
My parents and I drove up the coast shortly after
lunch.
After unpacking my belongings, we went to East
Melange for dinner.
A disaster.
Tree in the bathroom.
August 31st was the night of the Woolsey Jam, Yale's
a capella showcase for freshmen, so I hung out with
Living Water.
Luke.
Karen.
Kevin.
Amy.
Wen was in town too, just before leaving for Harvard
to begin med school.
After Living Water finished singing, a few of us
headed over to Jae's newly inaugurated freshman
counselor suite.
Soren: fellow DS kid.
Vic and summer roommate/PaperG intern Allen.
All '08ers, God bless them.
Rug. Or secret code?
