Do you know how great it feels to sing a freedom song? Heit & Cheri celebrate the 50th episode of The Axiom Amnesia Theory with the addition of a special music show to the weekly lineup. That’s right! Now, you’ll get to enjoy even more of the Axiom Amnesia Theory, with a second show every week dedicated just to music. Their love of music made this music show a natural progression in terms of expanding the show. You’ll get to hear some of Heit & Cheri’s special picks, and listen as they discuss the lyrics, music, and connect ideas within these songs to the concept of Axiom Amnesia.
On this show, you’ll hear songs by 2Pac, Lauryn Hill, Max Minelli, Alicia Keys, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, Dessa, and Chrisette Michele.
Call us at 202-446-1886 and let us know what you think about the show. Also, please consider donating your Facebook or Twitter account for an occasional post to help us get the word out! => http://bit.ly/LhEeiC
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Song 1: “Changes” – 2Pac ft. Talent
Come on come on
I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
is life worth living should I blast myself?
I’m tired of bein’ poor & even worse I’m black
my stomach hurts so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
pull the trigger kill a nigga he’s a hero
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares
one less hungry mouth on the welfare
First ship ‘em dope & let ‘em deal the brothers
give ‘em guns step back watch ‘em kill each other
It’s time to fight back that’s what Huey said
2 shots in the dark now Huey’s dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin’ changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that’s how it’s supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he’s close to me?
I’d love to go back to when we played as kids
but things changed, and that’s the way it is[Chorues with changing ad libs]
Come on come on
That’s just the way it is
Things’ll never be the same
That’s just the way it is
aww yeah
[Repeat][Verse 2]
I see no changes all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let’s erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they’ll be acting right
’cause both black and white is smokin’ crack tonight
and only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain’t ready, to see a black President, uhh
It ain’t a secret don’t conceal the fact
the penitentiary’s packed, and it’s filled with blacks
But some things will never change
try to show another way but you stayin’ in the dope game
Now tell me what’s a mother to do
bein’ real don’t appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way
“I made a G today” But you made it in a sleazy way
sellin’ crack to the kid. ” I gotta get paid,”
Well hey, well that’s the way it is[Chorus]
[2pac Talking]
We gotta make a change…
It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes.
Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live
and let’s change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn’t working so it’s on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.[Verse 3]
And still I see no changes can’t a brother get a little peace
It’s war on the streets & the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
so the police can bother me
And I ain’t never did a crime I ain’t have to do
But now I’m back with the blacks givin’ it back to you
Don’t let ‘em jack you up, back you up,
crack you up and pimp slap you up
You gotta learn to hold ya own
they get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone
But tell the cops they can’t touch this
I don’t trust this when they try to rush I bust this
That’s the sound of my tool you say it ain’t cool
my mama didn’t raise no fool
And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped
& I never get to lay back
‘Cause I always got to worry ’bout the pay backs
some buck that I roughed up way back
comin’ back after all these years
rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat that’s the way it is uhh
- Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996 from injuries sustained in a shooting on September 7, 1996. Some people count it as seven days that he lived from the time he was shot until his death.
- Part of the beat was sampled from “Mandolin Rain” by Bruce Hornby and the Range.
- Heit’s favorite line was “they get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone.” Although it dates the song, it points to this idea of people who don’t want to see you do well.
- Cheri’s favorite line was, “We gotta start makin’ changes, learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers.” She likes this because everything else he addresses in the song is found in this line. If we saw other people as ourselves, there wouldn’t be racism, classism, sexism.
- Discussion of the line, “I’m tired of bein’ poor & even worse I’m black.” Discussion of the fact that being Black on top of all of the other economically disadvantaged circumstances makes matters worse.
- Discussion about Tu2Pac’s legacy, and how everything he did was centered on being immortal. What could be more immortal than words that can transcend time?
- Heit would like to bury a time capsule with an mp3 player, along with a sustainable power source.
- Discussion of whether 2Pac knew he was going to die young. Heit feels as if this was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He ultimately died in his prime.
Song 2: “Mystery of Iniquity” – Lauryn Hill
The Mistery Of Iniquity
(sing songy Chorus intro)
It’s the mystery of Iniquity…
Said it’s the misery of Iniquity…
Said it’s the history of Iniquity…
When it all…
All falls down…
Telling you all…
It all falls downChildren…
Eat your bread
Little children…
Eat your bread
Cuz it all…
All falls down…
Telling you all…
It all falls down(First and only verse)
Yo!
Ya’ll can’t handle the truth in a courtroom of lies
Perjures the jurors
Witness despised
Crooked lawyers
False Indictments publicized
Its entertainment…the arraignments
The subpoenas
High profile gladiators in bloodthirsty arenas
Enter the Dragon
Black-robe crooked-balance
Souls bought and sold and paroled for thirty talents
Court reporter catch the surface on the paper
File it in the system not acknowledged by the Maker
Swearing by the bible blatantly blasphemous
Publicly perpetrating that “In God We Trust”
Cross-examined by a master manipulator
The faster intimidator
Receiving the judge’s favor
Deceiving sabers doing injury to they neighbors
For status, gratis, apparatus and legal waivers
See the bailiff
Representing security
Holding the word of God soliciting perjury
The prosecution
Political prostitution
The more money you pay.. the further away solution
Legal actors
Babylon’s benefactors
Masquerading as the agency for the clients
Hypocritical giants
Morally non-compliant
Orally armed to do bodily harm
Polluted, recruited and suited judicial charm
And the defense isn’t making any sense
Faking the confidence of escaping the consequence
That a defendant is depending on the system
Totally void of judgment purposely made to twist em’
Emotional victim blackmailed by the henchmen
Framed by intentions
Inventions whereby they lynch men
Enter the false witness slandering the accused
Planting the seed openly showing he’s being used
To discredit, edit, headed for the alleged
Smearing the individual fearing the unsuspected
Expert witness (the paid authority)
Made a priority to deceive the majority
Of disinterested peers
Dodging duty for years
Hating the process
waiting to be returning to their careers
Do we expect the system made for the elect
To possibly judge correct?
Properly serve and protect?
Materially corrupt
Spiritually amuck
Oblivious to the cause
Prosperously bankrupt
Blind leading the blind
Guilty never defined
Filthy as swine
A generation purin it’s own mind
Legal extortion
Blown out of proportion
In vein deceit
The truth is obsolete
Only two positions:
Victimizer or Victim
Both end up in destruction trusting this crooked system
Mafia with diplomas keeping us in a coma trying to own a piece of the “American Corona”
The Revolving Door
Insanity every floor
Skyscraping, paper chasing
What are we working for?
Empty traditions
Reaching social positions
Teaching ambition to support the family superstition?
When the Son of Podition is Commander in Chief
The standard is Thief
Brethren can we candidly speak?
Woe to the men
Trusted in the chariots dem’
Leaning on horses
They run their intellectual sources
Counterfeit wisdom creating the illusion of freedom
Confusion consumes them
Every word they speak it turns them out really white
Internally they absent of light
trapped in the night and bonded to the Cain of the night
Under the curse
Evil men waxing more worse
Faxing the first
Angelic being cast to the earth
It’s time for rebirth
Burnin up the branch and the root
The empty pursuits of every tree bearing the wrong fruit
Turning me ill
Let him who stole, no longer steal
Oh it’s real
Surrender for Jehovah is real
How long will you sleep
Troubled by the thoughts that YOU keep
The idols YOU heap
Causing the destruction you reap
Judgment has come
Find it and return to the One
Abandon the flesh
Self-interest: Broadway to death
Pride and the Greed
Hide and subdividing the seed
The knowledge of Good and Evil is what caused us to lie
Caused us to die
Let your emotions be crucified
Renounce all your thoughts
Repent and let your mind be re-taught
You’ll find what you sought…was based on the deception you bought
A perception of naught
Where the majority remains caughtLoving a lie
Not realizing in Adam, all dieLoving a lie
Not realizing in Adam, all dieLoving a lie
Not realizing in Adam, all dieLoving a lie
Not realizing in Adam, all die(sing songy Chorus Outro)
It’s the mystery of Iniquity
Say it’s the history of Iniquity
Say it’s the misery of Iniquity
When it all…
All falls down
I’m telling you all…
It all falls down
- Lauryn Hill performed “Mystery of Iniquity” during an MTV Unplugged that aired in the early 2000s.
- The mixture of the spoken word with the singing and the acoustic presentation really added to the beauty of the song. The delivery was excellent, and Lauryn Hill said so much in this song.
- Cheri’s favorite part was the following because it encompasses the ultimate question that anyone in this social and political system should be asking themselves:
“Only two positions:
Victimizer or Victim
Both end up in destruction trusting this crooked system
Mafia with diplomas keeping us in a coma trying to own a piece of the “American Corona”
The Revolving Door
Insanity every floor
Skyscraping, paper chasing
What are we working for? “ - Heit’s favorite line was,”Empty traditions, Reaching social positions, Teaching ambition to support the family superstition.” This points to how everything that is set up in society in terms of value is fake. She also later mentions “counterfeit wisdom,” which underscores the illegitimate system of value that is prevalent in society.
- Discussion of the questions that the song challenges us to ask ourselves and answer. The true starting point for wisdom and growth is the day you decide to step away from the programming and move toward exploring that which is beyond what you have been taught is true about the world.
- Discussion of how people act and believe based on tradition, rather than logic and experience.
- We encourage you to listen to this song a few times, and examine the lyrics as well.
Song 3: “Louisiana Sky” – Max Minelli
- Discussion of how some people take joy in “throwing bricks and hiding their hands.”
- One of Cheri’s favorite lines was “Why the fake niggas live, and the real niggas die?” One idea is that some people live such risky lifestyles, yet manage to beat the odds. At the same time, there are people whose life is ended in a flash by just one bullet. Another interpretation is the broader view of world politics–how some countries rape and pillage other people and their land for resources. They kill and are rewarded for it. They lack respect for life, yet they continue to thrive in spite of it.
- Discussion of the use of the “N-word” and how they are removing that word from Huckleberry Finn.
- We’re so busy being fake and politically correct, while still holding on to the sentiments that lead to racism and other “isms.” The irony is very interesting.
- Discussion of the line, “Swallowing my pride feels like I’m eating a skyscraper.” In this society, people who have needs are made to feel “less than” those who have means–groveling and begging for what they need to survive.
- Discussion about “trickle down” economics, and how the poor are ignored.
- Discussion of the “middle class” and how they view themselves.
- Aligning yourselves with policies that don’t have your interest in mind does you a disservice. You end up fighting against yourself–against your own interests. You’re lumping yourself into a group that chooses to ignore people like you. What sense does that make?
- Max Minelli talks about his own life experiences in order to tell his story in a way that people can relate to them.
Song 4: “Wait Til They See My Smile” – Alicia Keys
When the wind is blowing in your face
sometimes in life you don’t see straight
Pray to him
He will showWhen your head is in a certain place
Nobody around to make you safe
Stand strong and you will growoooooooooooooo
wait till you see my smile
oooooooooooooo
wait till they see your smiledon’t they love to see you down
kick you while you are on the ground
don’t let emotions showmmmmmmm, people always speculate
don’t let them get in your way
see they say things they don’t know
singoooooooooooooo
wait till you see my smile
oooooooooooooo
wait till they see your smileHey
So your doing better now
Everybody comes around
but you don’t really need ‘em
‘Cause your stronger and your better and you’re ready for whatever
Singoooooooooooooo
wait till you see my smile
oooooooooooooo
wait till they see your smileoooooooooooooo
wait till you see my smile
oooooooooooooo
wait till they see your smile, smile
- Alicia Keys is Heit’s favorite modern singer.
- This is such a beautiful and airy song–it just feels like freedom. Despite all the wrong that happens, you can still feel good. You don’t have to worry so much about those bad things, even though you’re aware that they are there.
- Alicia Keys has a wonderful range that adds a lot of drama to the song.
- Heit’s favorite line is “Sing!” It feels like it means, “Just let your soul out and be free.” The smile lets you know that you have transcended the troubles. The smile can also do things for people. If someone else is down and you smile, it makes them want to smile.
- Cheri’s favorite line was, “When your head is in a certain place, nobody around to make you safe, stand strong and you will grow.” It speaks to the whole idea that there are some things that you have to do alone–like personal growth. Nobody can do this for you. There are some things that there are no shortcuts to.
- Discussion about how people are always writing books about how to be successful and happy in yourself.
- Discussion about how people love to give the boilerplate solution of loving yourself as the end all be all to problems.
Song 5: “The Message” – Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5
Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just
Dont care
I cant take the smell, I cant take the noise
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldnt get far
Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car
Chorus:
Dont push me, cause Im close to the edge
Im trying not to loose my head
Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going underStanding on the front stoop, hangin out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes
Blow
Crazy lady, livin in a bag
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag
Search and test a tango, skips the life and then go
To search a prince to see the last of senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got so so so ditty
She had to get a pimp, she couldnt make it on her
OwnChorus:
Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from goin underMy brothers doing fast on my mothers t.v.
Says she watches to much, is just not healthy
All my children in the daytime, dallas at night
Cant even see the game or the sugar ray fight
Bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when Im not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Cant take the train to the job, theres a strike
At the station
Me on king kong standin on my back
Cant stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
Midrange, migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think Im going insane, I swear I might
Hijack a plane!Chorus:
My son said daddy I dont wanna go to school
Cause the teachers a jerk, he must think Im a
Fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think itd be
Cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause its all about money, aint a damn thing
Funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and
Honey
They push that girl in front of a train
Took her to a doctor, sowed the arm on again
Stabbed that man, right in his heart
Gave him a transplant before a brand new start
I cant walk through the park, cause its crazy
After the dark
Keep my hand on the gun, cause they got me on the
Run
I feel like an outlaw, broke my last fast jaw
Hear them say you want some more, livin on a
SeesawChorus:
A child was born, with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but hes frowning too
Cause only God knows what you go through
You grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
Youll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them
Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers
You say Im cool, Im no fool
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now youre unemployed, all null n void
Walking around like youre pretty boy floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you done did
Got send up for a eight year bid
Now your man is took and youre a may tag
Spend the next two years as an undercover fag
Being used and abused, and served like hell
Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so youngChorus:
- “The Message” is classic hip hop. You get great music, with a great message.
- This song is still a hit, and is often played at the skating rinks. Throughout the years it has been a popular song at rinks around the country since it dropped back in the ’80s.
- The beauty of this song is that it can be as deep or shallow as the listener.
- Heit & Cheri’s favorite line was, “A child was born, with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind.” They don’t know the ways of the world until the programming and indoctrination begins.
- Discussion of people who were crying at the Democratic National Convention while listening to Obama’s speech. The trick that the politicians use is making their followers believe that the politician is just like them, when they are not. Even the least among the most popular politicians are millionaires, yet the same is not true of their supporters.
- Discussion about how politicians make things more affordable by working on the financing end, rather than making things cheaper. They increase credit, rather than bringing the prices down.
- Discussion of the “ha, ha” tactic that is used in the song to maintain the cadence.
- Discussion of how mention was made in the song about medicine and technology.
- Discussion about mentioning that the rapper has a wife. How many rappers today talk about their wives in their songs?
- Discussion about how Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Ice-T never mention their wives in their songs.
- The song also gives a representation of life in the hood. It was some of the first real exposure to how many people in the country live. At the time, there were very few depictions of hood life that weren’t solely about the crime and social ills.
- One of the most famous lines in the song–and the greatest too–is “Don’t push me ’cause I’m close to the edge.”
Song 6: “Go Home” – Dessa
It’s too dark
Just the passing cars
Illuminate the room
And it’s harder every time I see you
And then when you leave
I’m wondering when
Would be too soon
But you ain’t mine to miss
And it’s time we put a
Line down in the dust
I know what friendship is
And it sure doesn’t feel like usGo home to her
While you still can
It’s much too late now
For drafting up new plans
Your woman’s got an honest man
I always thought
So don’t do nothing now
To make me take it backWell I’m sure
That you’ve seen
A girl go flush before
But I don’t want to get touched
I don’t want to be moved
I don’t want to think much
I just want to get through
With my hands in my pockets
While we can let’s just stop
Already have my own problems
I’m not trying to be sainted,
I don’t need to be good
I’m just trying to stay blamelessGo home to her
While you still can
It’s much too late now
For drafting up new plans
Your woman’s got an honest man
I always thought
So don’t do nothing now
To make me take it backI’ve seen our better natures
Flashing like a pair of flipping coins
And I know it’s getting late cause
Cause I can see exactly what’s been
Running through your mind
I don’t pretend it’s easy
I like it less than you
It’s been a long time lonely
I’ve got less to lose
But here’s a chance to do right
This is the stuff of real life
Let’s just let this one slide
Say our good byesGo home to her
While you still can
It’s much too late now
For drafting up new plans
Your woman’s got an honest man
I always thought
So don’t do nothing now
To make me take it backDarling go home
- Dessa started out doing spoken word poetry. She’s classified in the genre of alternative hip hop. She doesn’t sing much, but this is an awesome song.
- Heit & Cheri love how the song fit together so well. It was just enough, and not too much. It’s a very sexy song.
- The song covers the whole idea of infidelity from a different angle–the point where the decision to cheat hasn’t yet been made. It is like a tug of war, because she wants him, although she’s telling him to go.
- There is this dichotomy that exists between the lyrics and the delivery–she’s telling him to go, but her delivery is telling him to stay.
- Heit & Cheri’s favorite line was, “I don’t need to be good. I’m just trying to stay blameless.” It touches on the idea of right and wrong being a relative thing, so she focuses on the potential consequences of the action instead of the notion of right or wrong.
- Illustration of the point of the consequences of one’s actions using the idea of voting as an example–the blame that the people who put the person in office have to bear as a result of their decision. People need to acknowledge the connection between their own consumption or pleasure and the impact on someone else’s life.
- The vocal stylings and old fashioned sound make the song a pleasure to hear.
Song 7: “Let Freedom Reign” – Chrisette Michele ft. Black Thought and Talib Kweli
Oh, American citizen, come, collect your freedom
No matter what you’re living in, no more giving in
Oh, American citizen, come, collect your freedom
No matter what you’re living in, it’s time to winKeep us in the four walls of our church, we’ll be quiet
Most of us aren’t even Democratic or Republic
Can and by coincidence we love the elected
Until the detected of being humanAmerican falls, minorities lose war
But if we unite we would have won the war
On poverty, war on drugs
War on medicate, war on loveFreedom isn’t given, it is taken
Freedom isn’t free, it’s earned
Not, no, it’s learned
Been hung and burned
Yet rest in peace, resurrected pleaThis ain’t black or white, it’s gray
This is not about my face
Most of us don’t know what to say
Right from wrong or free from slavesLet freedom reign
Do you wanna be free or do you wanna be down
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be freeLet freedom reign
Do you wanna be free or do you wanna be down
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be freeAmerica, the beautiful, suspect as usual
Liberty and death, give me freedom on my funeral
I walk across the planet with the steps of a giant
My rhymes bridge the gap between religion and science‘Cause my evidence is spiritual
I know my sheer presence is a miracle
I wasn’t supposed to be here to share with youBut here I am, standing with my chest out
I take my place in history, I never get left out
You stressed out and scared
So it’s causing you to act hardFreedom ain’t free, gotta put it on my black card
My passport claim, I’m an American citizenThe constitution said I’m three fifths
I’m not a semi and gorilla
Make my songs stronger than the horn of GideonTruth is [Incomprehensible]
Gave the native people syphilis
Consider this, Christopher Columbus
Ain’t know where he was goin’
So let’s stop calling our native brothers IndiansLet freedom reign
Do you wanna be free or do you wanna be down
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be freeLet freedom reign
Do you wanna be free or do you wanna be down
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be freeWe were carried here in shackles from the homelands
Broom chop, chain locked, brain washed, programmed
Time’s change, freedom reigns, I’m a grown man
Holding the future in the palms of my own handsIn this world, the coonery and tomfoolery
All I’m trying to do is stay true to my community
The daily news ain’t the only thing that’s schooling me
Watching these haters operating with impunityThis journey dollar signs, black and white collar crimes
Running out of time, out of sight, out of mind
It gets realer and it’s real in Palestine
Troubles of the world start to seem intertwinedWar criminals, conflict minerals
Pillagers are coming home, five star generals
Telling lies in press conferences and interviews
I’m trying to take back the power
‘Cause it’s been abusedLet freedom reign
Do you wanna be free or do you wanna be down
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be freeLet freedom reign
Do you wanna be free or do you wanna be down
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be freeI’m just black in America
I’m not Afro-American
Just a passive American
Making belief I’m better than
What we’ve been, what we’ve beenI said, I’m just black in America
I’m not Afro-American
Just a passive American
Making belief I’m better than
What we’ve been, what we’ve been
- Discussion about how the song makes a person want to march.
- This song exudes movement, and the chant-like vocals bring the energy.
- Heit & Cheri’s favorite part of the song was:
“War criminals, conflict minerals
Pillagers are coming home, five star generals
Telling lies in press conferences and interviews
I’m trying to take back the power
‘Cause it’s been abused.” - The idea that people are being rewarded for being predators and scavengers is appalling. Discussion about which entities are the predators and scavengers.
- Discussion of the line, “Do you want to be free, or do you want to be down?” This addresses the idea of being part of the group versus being free–you cannot follow the status quo and have freedom at the same time. It’s the small decisions–the incremental ones–that add up in the end to the decision to remain a slave to the system. If you don’t stand up in the face of wrong, then you are making the decision to remain where you are–a slave on a really big plantation.
- Discussion of voting rights and whether to cast a symbolic vote.
- Discussion about nonviolent protest, and that you have to be willing to give up something in order to get what you want.
