How did Angle get into hip hop? When? Why? What's the story? Enjoy this high-level overview that should be highly relatable by folks in the Midwest.
lyrics
Chorus 1:
Kids are color blind.
They color outside the lines.
They pay ‘em no mind.
We could learn something from them.
Kid are color blind.
They’re taught to see the divide.
It’s just a matter of time.
We could learn something from kids.
Verse 1:
Hey, this shit right here, ain’t nothing new. Rock and roll came from the blues.
Take away the wad of money, take away the fear. Knock on the soul with a bass heavy muse.
Categories I refuse ‘cause I’m fluid. I see the boundaries, but I run right through ‘em.
All it takes is to fill ‘em. Beats I’ma do ‘em. I’ma black and blue ‘em.
And Angle don’t look like emcees do. Don’t roll with a Wu Tang-type crew.
I’m not a sucka so I don’t need a bodyguard. I’ve had to run a tough gauntlet to fight through.
Black music from a white dude, in the middle of the map where the heart beats at.
Limited access around ’88, my attention was grabbed by Yo MTV Raps.
That’s all we really had. Don’t let nobody twist it or try to tell you anything different.
To find a hip hop cassette was rare, unless somebody imported or smuggled it from somewhere.
Cardboard on the neighbor’s driveway, breaking and popping, the older kids showing me,
a growing culture where my niche became emceeing with lyrics and poetry.
Age 12, rapping on stage at a 99% white school.
The looks on the teachers’ faces were priceless, like what I might do is burn with diverse defiance.
Got me thinking “I kind of like this, I might just, work on my craft until I bask in brightness.”
Comfort in my whiteness. Crusade against the blind and spineless. Ignorance in the mask of the righteous.
Chorus 1 Repeat
Verse 2:
So junior high and I’m, realizing that there ain’t no place for me.
Surrounded by country, but I’m rapping live on the air down at KUCB.
Sekou, Kalonji and Jeff T, showed us love where it wasn’t supposed to be.
And opened our eyes, that we blurred the lines. Before, that notion was opposed to me.
Teens can be cruel, but I never figured, over some music shit calling me “wigger.”
I blew it off quicker than tips on a stripper, ‘cause they were just lippy kids, my mind was bigger.
And that was the time when the x was the brand, the X was the Clan. The Colours were Crossed on an African palette, so I wasn’t confused, but my interest was valid read the bios of Malcom and Martin.
Got the light bulbs flashing and starting, to click with the history of racial parting.
Poking the local dogs got me into fights, but the bite seldom followed all that ignorant barking.
The tag “Angle” came into play. I could create jagged letters all day.
Did a mural on the DMI River walkway, got attacked by blacks ‘cause my head was shaved.
Never let a few dummies’ actions, speak for a color or race either way.
Riding by the Rodeo Club kids with the 15s force feeding NWA.
Whatever music I could get my hands on, single mom, bio dad was gone. Never met him.
All along, you might think it was wrong, but I found father figures in them hip hop songs.
Chorus 2:
Kids are color blind.
They color outside the lines.
(And it’s beautiful)
They pay ‘em no mind.
We could learn something from them.
(Uh we could learn something from ‘em. Uh we could learn something from kids.)
Kid are color blind.
They’re taught to see the divide.
(We teach ‘em)
It’s just a matter of time.
We could learn something from kids.
(Uh we could learn something from ‘em. Uh we could learn something from kids.)
Verse 3:
See all the while I grew, my skills, motivation and possibilities grew too.
But, if a dream was ever born, it’s stuck in infancy. I’ll never mourn ‘cause I got love for this infant city.
The lines have been blurred, but some of these Midwest folks haven’t heard.
The smartest ignorant folks missed a boat that may not return.
I’ve learned that perception is biased reality. The people I meet, I got to get ‘em to know the
Jarid C. real version of me, before I introduce them to Angle and album cover personas.
And that’s the paradigm, when a stupid little color line makes me hesitant to share my music with y’all.
From what I see in my little ones, Daddy rapping ain’t weird at all.
Chorus 2 Repeat
credits
from Talkin' Story,
released October 14, 2016
Produced by Tremayne of Straight Vodka Ent.
Additional guitar & bass by J8.
North Carolina MC Big Pooh tells it like it is, detail for gritty detail, aided by L'Orange, Steve Roxx, and Apollo Brown. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 24, 2015
