Richard Francis Burton rap. It’s not a common commodity in 2012, or any other year, but World Around Records invests in exploration. This track is a cut from Naturetone’s second solo album for World Around, Turnings of the Sun, which is an ambitious & expansive project showcasing his continued growth as not only a producer but a composer.
The lyrics are a psychedelic mix of frontier mythology and the actual, unbelievable life of Burton himself, who was a legendary human being worth checking out.
One of the biggest lies in popular esteem goes a little something like this: There are no more frontiers for feral primates to explore and/or escape to, and every horizon has been conquered by the bland empire of the Parking Lot. Not only a lie, though: a lie with a bright future, a blossoming corpse, it gets less true with every passing day.
Fact is, the entire surface of the planet is unexplored terrain as far as your Personal Universe is concerned.
Get out there.
Over the Horizon | Lyrics
I turned my back on Oxford lectures and walked to Mecca
I’ve had the need to walk away since I cannot remember
wanderlust...all that London ever offered us
was cholera coughs and the constant smell of coffin dust
my hearts at home in parts unknown and forgotten
it’s not a hobby or job, I just got no other options
greed is a game, money’s just a means of escape
I was playing it by saying what I needed to say
lied to kings, queens and popes for boats and gold
gave them all the glory, gave them no control
we used to be pirates, today we disguise it as science
...obsessed with that silent horizon
the sky is not the limit, it’s stupid to assume
don’t underestimate the apes who put some bootprints on the moon
today the names that get admired are the petty liars
...Marco Polo never even went to China
I been alone for days on the frozen wastes
tracing constellations while Satan spoke my name
I stowed away on a boat from Spain
a boat that sank off the coast of Maine in the soaking rain
survived for weeks off whatever I could find to eat
no time to sleep, walked a hundred miles at least
saw lost monuments to wasted greatness
nameless places, pagan standing on the graves of ancients
off the map, on the map, constant back and forth
before I pass the torch understand what you’re asking for
and I will not answer questions so don’t bore me
there’s no glory, once you get to know the whole story
I got a thousand and one, doubt what I’ve done
scaled K2 shaking with a mouth full of blood
the sherpas turned silent, then turned and left
I headed further west in the face of certain death
Second verse
escaped from Nicaragua, sailed from Grenada
hit the rock of gibraltar and washed up in Malta
from there it gets sketchy and the symbolism’s heavy
walked to Greece, swam across the baltic sea
woke up sober in Genova with a migraine
stole a stolen horse and rode across the high plains
to Rome...in diguise since my face is known
you place faith in Fate but I create my own
secret chiefs speak to me in fever dream fragments
fasted for weeks on the peaks of the East Passage
the need to exceed the known, just leave and go
the fever broke, I walked bleeding down Phonecian roads
found London in flames...as the populace panicked
I finally found my ride back across the Atlantic
the family manor was a prison to me
so I will never regret the things I did to be free
besides, before his whole enlightenment gig
first the Buddha walked out on his wife and his kid
and I won’t deny I’ve provided some tribal chiefs
with some white meat from missionary bible freaks
and I know I don’t die because the Jungle doesn’t let me
off into the nothing with a compass and machete
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I notice you’ve been a real asshole on Twitter lately, no offense. I also remember an incident last year when I asked you for more information on something and you refused. So I have to ask, what’s the point of learning all this great knowledge if you’re not going to put it out into the world? Don’t you think you owe people? If you’re in a position to teach, aren’t you obligated to?
Sincerely, [redacted]
Well, Boy Howdy.
I definitely had to answer this one publicly. The answer to pretty much everything thrown at me above is a flat and emphatic No.
If anything, here’s what I’m working on in 2012: talking less. I don’t want to just be “holding my tongue” when I hear people say things that are factually wrong and/or deeply stupid, I want to let it all flow right past me, like a tachyon flows through purified water. I don’t say that with anything resembling malice, either. I firmly believe that I contribute less than nothing by trying to correct people. My own life is a vivid proof that I have absolutely no business doing that, under any conceivable circumstances.
Think about it this way: there’s millions of people who need blood, but I’ve only got about 8 pints of the stuff and I need pretty much of all of it. When people do give blood transfusions, it’s a small amount and they’re seriously debilitated for the rest of the week. Every single day, you’re confronted by a burning & gaping maw of ignorance, and it will suck you dry in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. You will be angry, stressed out, and depressed...and for what? Some bullshit noun you can’t even define in concrete terms?
I have no problem with the contention that I am an asshole on Twitter, of course: done deal.
I do have a problem with the fact that I’m an asshole for not putting the weight of a couple billion mouth breathers on my shoulders because you think I’m smarter than you. It’s not that I don’t care about other people, it’s that other people don’t care about what I have to say.
I don’t like being the dude who is always starting off sentences with “Actually...” because that, THAT is asshole behavior. Reality is insanely gnarled and complex, there are no simple causes for anything, history is almost entirely bullshit, and just because I might have read a couple books in my day doesn’t make my opinions any less wrong, shallow and completely inadequate in the face of God herself.
Look: I used to think I wanted to save the world. A perceptive and blunt woman showed me what a masturbatory lie that was and I am eternally grateful for it. I don’t do all this reading and research because I’m a good person, I do it because I love doing it. I always have. I fill up notebooks and smile politely at strangers who ask me what school I go to. I don’t do it for anyone but myself.
If you think you’re different, right on. That’s a good thing, zero sarcasm, all heart. I cannot help but admire that. I’m not going to tell you that I know your motives any better. I’m not going to tell you that you’re lying to yourself because I have no possible way of knowing that.
Either way, Death is breathing down the back of my neck every single day and I have so much, so much work to do. I won’t pretend it’s more important, or better than yours, but it’s what I’m here to do.
Life is short, too short. Fuck the dumb.
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We obviously had a blast shooting this. Short, strong and simple. Signifire has been coming through Vault 46 and putting in regular work on the #SQUIDTAPE project, so we decided to start shooting video. Workflow: Kodak Zi8 ==> Sony Vegas ==> Your Eyeholes. All critical feedback welcome: and yes, the Ask Hump Jones video series is being shot now, too. Not to mention Sixteens Walken...but, you know, stay tuned.
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An interesting peek at the mind behind Rap Genius—with the more than slightly hysterical title ”The Take Over and Ether of Hip Hop Sites?” but hey, headlines are all about grabbing eyeballs...and those eyeballs, they’re getting dumber every year. What matters is the meat, and this is blogger brainfood.
Mahbod drops some science: “Lyric sites are all run by these wack ass Russian mobsters and they’re all totally a joke. And blogs, music blogs especially, are completely horrible. Like, Pitchfork is a joke, I think the writing’s terrible.”
Their whole project is some highly elevated rap nerdery that I highly approve of, and they’ve definitely got a big team because that Big K.R.I.T. mixtape that dropped today? They’ve already got all the lyrics up.
I definitely recommend Big K.R.I.T. to young and hungry emcees because he’s not very good at writing rhymes yet he’s fucking great at writing songs. Anyone working on their craft seriously should value cats like K.R.I.T. (or GZA or DJ Quik) who can teach you the intangibles. Rapping is one skill set, but songs and albums are a whole other Universe. Get inspired…
Fresh tracks for the seventh installment of World Around Wednesdays...
For the last installment, we dug into the archives, but this latest cut actually got finalized the night before we released it. Exceedingly fresh. IV the Polymath is a spooky talented, hard-working producer who integrates vinyl and live instruments and builds his beats on the MPC: a real-deal classical stylist. It was an honor to get handed such a lush banger and I hope I did it justice here.
Lyrics - “The Frame” - IV the Polymath x Thirtyseven
flavor of the frickin’ week, critics say you’re spitting heat
I say you lack the minerals to skin a beat convincingly
got a thousand faces, a lotta doubt and hatred,
recording albums naked, you can take it how you take it
I got mild tourettes, got X-Files connects
reptiles for pets who fuck other reptiles to death
framing it up, everything I came to discuss
is courtesy of good books and some dangerous drugs
yeah we got some new shit my neighbors just love
cuz I cranked it up to eleven every day for a month, yup
...got proud mistakes, I’ve got down and prayed
lost countless games until I dropped out of frame, cut
...got hopeless, upped the raw dosage
now I’m making power plays in fuzzy soft focus
with a face full of acid, my life is straight page turner status
paperback mass made murder madness
like Stephen King getting hit with a van,
same shit, now I’m a different man, just give it a chance…
went from stupid cynical to “way too political” quick
it’s never fashionable giving a shit, but shit
if it’s not a revolution, I’ll take an occupation
but if it’s not an occupation then I’m better off just moving
exactly what the fuck is wrong with white people today?
I’ve watched a lotta closet racists go completely insane
please, say you’re not racist...bro, it’s so obvious
he’s a black George Bush and y’all are calling him a communist
look....I’m not saying I have faith in my leaders
I’m saying, fuck your Fox News motivational speakers
fuck every last democrat, all republicans
plus the dumb-as-shit citizens who vote these blooduckers in
and if you’re listening, that’s probably you
...so stay tuned and turn the volume up, too
like: Tea Party Nation.. here’s the situation…
your grandma was an activist… FOR segregation
against brown vs. the board of education
march to montgomery, she was there waiting
...but brainwashing is a dangerous game
so granny had a daughter and she raised her to hate
she lied about Jesus and she claimed it was Faith
and she filled her with guilt that remains to this day
but if you’re an 80’s baby, the hate’s undercover
it’s baked in the system, the guns and the butter
claiming that victims create what they suffer
made welfare queens out of poor black mothers
languages changes, but goals remain
that’s exactly why the CIA sold cocaine
now this is not a secret, it’s an open case
all those men are still alive and we know their names
...powdernose rappers wanna floss in the source
I just want an honest talk with Oliver North
like I just want a couple million dollars or more
fuck status, get power, that is all that it’s for
conspiracies are nothing, the big open secret
is how we all slit our own throats but won’t believe it
and every rebel wants to fight the machine
it’s easier than questioning the life that we lead, peace
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I definitely had to answer this one publicly. The answer to pretty much everything thrown at me above is a flat and emphatic No.
