Let’s face it, it’s on life support and needs saving

Why support a mantra laden with degrading lyrics?

I’m tempted to pull the plug and kill it

I can barely stand to hear it, so redundant

We’ve already done that, let’s move beyond that

Better yet, let’s return it to its roots

Back when kunta lost his foot

Back when ‘give us free’ was the hook

Now it’s the same tired beat with the same tired look

A bunch of rooks rapping bout how they hook and crook

Cook up the ‘cane, then package it to slang

But they leave out the number of our people they’ve slain

Destroyed, deranged brains, just to make a dime

Inhale a line, no nine, but genocide, why?

Yeah the man gave us guns and drugs

But they aint make you a thug, or run with cuz

They aint make you spill blood

And rap about it on your platinum albums sold to us

The new form of drugs, your cd’s like pcp

Your single might as well be primo to me

You rehash your hood stunts, split it so blunt

Then sprinkle it with little white lies of mistrust

Till it takes over my mind it’s no longer mines

Cause all I can think about is rolling a new ride

With way too big tires, eel on the inside

And enough tv’s to start a best-buy

Every other word is b*tch or hoe

I see the same girls they vid-e-hoes

Butt-naked and half-clothed gyrating like lasso

Bent over a dashboard or skinning a brass pole

Then we wanna boycott the don imus show

For nappy headed hoes, this must be a joke

This must be a soap

Opera

Get off ya soap box bruh

Box yourself before you out us

You expect more respect from one that’s not us

When you driving the bus?

And then get pissed cause they riding witcha?

Have pride in us

Then others will follow suit and tie with us.

Hip Hop or bust.

—mosaeus

www.mosaeus.com

follow mosaeus on twitter

So, who is Raine Maida?

Raine Maida is the lead singer of Our Lady Peace, a once great Canadian Alt-Rock band. Their 1997 release, Clumsy, is a perfect album in my eyes. Every track on that album could have been a single. In the 11 years since it’s release, it hasn’t once lost its place in my rotation. As for the rest of their work—it’s forgettable.

When I heard Maida was releasing a solo album, I was expecting old school Our Lady Peace style rock—big guitars, edgy vocals and great hooks. I was wrong.

From the first beat, The Hunters Lullaby grabbed my attention. Nothing was what I expected. The sound was fresh, different, something I hadn’t really heard before. Acoustic guitar, piano, strings, Hip Hop drum beats, exquisite harmonies. It seriously blew my mind. 30 seconds into the first song I stopped, grabbed my headphones and did nothing but listen to the album in its entirety.

Maida’s music is so creative and his vocals so unique, it is impossible to describe. But I shall try:

It’s almost what it would sound like if Leonard Cohen had started making music in 2008 instead of 1968 (Coehn is referenced in the opening track, Careful What You Wish For). Beautiful instrumentation and impeccable production with vocals that aren’t quite spoken word, not really Hip Hop, and just shy of rock—yet totally lyrically driven.

He’s obviously heavily influenced by spoken word poetry and Hip Hop throughout The Hunters Lullaby. (He even gives Saul Williams, one of my favorite poets of all time, a shout out.) Most of the tracks have a distinct Hip Hop beat to it. And contrasted against his acoustic sound, they evoke a kind of Roots feel to it, yet so much more interesting.

In all sincerity, this album is AMAZING. It is exactly the type of music sexy gypsy was meant to bring to your attention. I cannot put into words the feel of this album and how truly special it is. You have to listen to it. So I’ll end with this:

In Macbeth, Shakespeare says this about life …

“It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”

Raine Maida’s The Hunters Lullaby embodies this sentiment. It’s an album full of sound, full of fury that examines the futility of life through poetry.

by shutting my eyes

i would go blind

never see the world

to have you in mine

if i could spin back the world in time

i would live june forever

i love you

i looked beauty in the eyes

saw a heart turn black

love melt to hate

a different woman stare back

i died a thousand deaths

i just can’t stop

an addiction/affliction

i can’t shake it

it shakes me

breaks me

she

makes me

whole

and in control

heals and feels

breathes deep

into my soul

i think i dream

is it real?

i cannot feal

i cannot breathe

i watched you leave

just walked away

i cry, i pray

please just stay

you’re all i need

i scratch, i BLEED

yet still i see

hope my eyes

tell me lies

this can’t be true

this can’t be you

i bend, i break

i weep and shake

i  need you here

to take these tears

and make me whole

to have and hold

to shape and mold

to grow old

but now

awake

and it breaks

not what it seems

its all a dream

and tag pages with soul

here to make you think

fuck what you been told

i got god in my pen

a prophet, timeless and true

the beginning, the end

where one and one no longer are two

a poet, i am.