art, culture

>Engravings of symbolism into flesh

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>Originally posted May 19, 2007.








Look at these tattoos. They surely represent more than just something nice and cool to look at. These engravings speak of something that matters to the one wearing them. They represent death, life and the madness of it all. That ugly truth staring you right in the face.

For me, to have a tattoo inked forever in the flesh should definitely mean something more than wanting to show it in front of your buddies, looking at yourself in the mirror, wearing that tank top wife beater…
The more shit you show off with, the more unsatisfied you are with your miserable life and looks. If you’re happy sporting the latest fashion tattoo, then fine. It’s your choice and you’ll have to live with it. If you’re in it for looks only then you’re just vain. Nothing wrong with that as long as you’re aware of your vanity and lack of confidence.
That’s how I see it. Or rather, that’s how I’d look upon myself if I had tattoos that meant nothing to me.

The tattoos I have are for me, not for somebody else. They represent something I truly believe in. As cliche as it may sound, that’s what matters. Still, to each his own, as they say.


The Public Enemy symbol
First and foremost, I got this made because Fear of A Black Planet by Public Enemy is one of my top five albums of all times, all genres included. It means so much to me for so many reasons, I’ll probably dedicate a whole post to this amazing work of art someday (the album – not the tattoo), even though it deserves an essay, maybe even a book. It’s that good. But it needs to be remastered! The levels are way too low and it bugs the hell out of me everytime I listen to it.
But anyway…

The symbol pictures a man in a classic hip-hop pose, arms folded, caught in the sniper’s crosshairs. This man is about to be taken down by the people in power, because he’s a public enemy and thus automatically an enemy of the state. (Actually, the man is apparently E Love, L.L. Cool J.’s sidekick at the time, and the symbol is drawn by Chuck D. himself, but that’s another story…)

To me this symbol represents rebellion, courage and the will to power – power to the people, to the individual and to the true folk soul, the spirit in man. To never deny your convictions. No comply!
As for the “will to power” concept, as coined by Nietzsche, it does not mean “a desire for and of power” as – for example – the Nazis interpreted it, but rather a display of creative energy put to use. And a whole lot more. Also, Nietzsche’s Will to Power manuscript was extensively manipulated and falsely edited by his fanatically anti-Semitic sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Go figure.

Nietzsche says:
I do not speak to the weak: they want to obey and generally lapse into slavery quickly. In the face of merciless nature, let us still feel ourselves as merciless nature! But I have found strength where one does not look for it: in simple, mild, and pleasant people, without the least desire to rule—and, conversely, the desire to rule has often appeared to me a sign of inward weakness: they fear their own slave soul and shroud it in a royal cloak.

It’s about respect – a word that’s been extremely worn out and lost its meaning a long time ago in the hip-hop community, where it is commonly used, thanks to soulless, mindless fucks praising the shit that flows on MTV.
Respect and rebellion. Evolution of the mind.

The PE symbol was engraved into my right arm by Mange at Evil Eye Tattoo, in 2001, I think.

To be continued…

philosophy, quotes, religion

>Nietzsche – Revaluation of all values!

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>Originally posted May 12, 2007.

With this I am at the end and I pronounce my judgment. I condemn Christianity. I raise against the Christian church the most terrible of all accusations that any accuser ever uttered. It is to me the highest of all conceivable corruptions. It has had the will to the last corruption that is even possible. The Christian church has left nothing untouched by its corruption; it has turned every value into an un-value, every truth into a lie, every integrity into a vileness of the soul. Let anyone dare to speak to me of its “humanitarian” blessings! To abolish any distress ran counter to its deepest advantages: it lived on distress, it created distress to eternalize itself.

The worm of sin, for example: with this distress the church first enriched mankind. The “equality of souls before God,” this falsehood, this pretext for the rancor of all the base-minded, this explosive of a concept which eventually became revolution, modern idea, and the principle of decline of the whole order of society—is Christian dynamite. “Humanitarian” blessings of Christianity! To breed out of humanitas a self-contradiction, an art of self-violation, a will to lie at any price, a repugnance, a contempt for all good and honest instincts. Those are some of the blessings of Christianity!

Parasitism as the only practice of the church, with its ideal of anemia, of “holiness,” draining all blood, all love, all hope for life; the beyond as the will to negate every reality; the cross as the mark of recognition for the most subterranean conspiracy that ever existed — against health, beauty, whatever has turned out well, courage, spirit, graciousness of the soul, against life itself.

This eternal indictment of Christianity I will write on all walls, wherever there are walls —
I have letters to make even the blind see.

I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great innermost corruption, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means is poisonous, stealthy, subterranean, small enough — I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind.

And time is reckoned from the dies nefastus with which this calamity began—after the first day of Christianity!
Why not rather after its last day? After today?
Revaluation of all values!

From The Antichrist, Section 62, first published in 1895.

philosophy, quotes

>Nietzsche – Perhaps premature

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>Originally posted May 06, 2007.

Perhaps premature.

…There is no morality that alone makes moral, and every ethic that affirms itself exclusively kills too much good strength and costs humanity too dearly.
The deviants, who are so frequently the inventive and fruitful ones, shall no longer be sacrificed; it shall not even be considered infamous to deviate from morality, in thought and deed; numerous new experiments of life and society shall be made; a tremendous burden of bad conscience shall be removed from the world – these most general aims should be recognized and promoted by all who are honest and seek truth.

From The Dawn, Aphorism 164, first published in 1881.

music, politics

>Tool and die

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>Originally posted April 17, 2007.


NOV 2007 UPDATE: Click here.

The Virginia Tech Massacre.
30+ killed this time.
And still people ask the same stupid question: Why does this always happen in the United States of America – the land of the free, the biggest and best democracy in the world?
To answer this, once again I turn to rap music: one of the few genres where social realism and urban youth is allowed to collide head to head, no holds barred, free from moral restrictions (as we all know, punk and hardcore ought to be like this, but is far from it…).

Back in 1992 there was this pretty strange rap group called Consolidated. Strange because they were white, and strange because they were dealing with political issues on a higher level than most other rappers at the time. They weren’t in it for the fame. And not for the game either. They wanted world wide change. They were the white equivalent of Public Enemy, in a way, and they started already in 1989 unleashing the This is Fascism EP.
Their song Tool and Die is still as relevant today as it was back then, 15 years ago. Sadly, not much has changed. The NRA and the gun lobby are working hard for gun rights instead of gun control.


Download Tool and Die here, and get with the lyrics. Truly great stuff!
No lame bling-bling shit, this is true hardcore.
Can you deal with it?

Consolidated – Tool and Die

Damn, this is madness
its the fourth consectutive week I’ve had this
reoccuring nightmare of a woman who tries to walk her child to daycare
they pass some liquor store
see an average looking kid running out the door
in a moment frozen
they watch as he reveals a handgun
terror in her voice, no sound,
he unloads a round, her son goes down
then I wake up screaming but am I dreaming
cause its just another day
so many killings repeated until people have no feeling
when every two years guns take more
american lives than the whole vietnam war
Six teens and children die every day in gun homicides
and the NRA lobby fool
pay athletes to tell kids to stay in school
whoever said that must be joking
go tell that to the kids in Oakland,
DC. Detroit and Newark
and you wonder why kids don’t do their homework
the school is a warzone
teachers and students alike are afraid to leave home
hallways are an innocence tomb
the principal’s office a grieving room
this is a malignant cancer
guards and metal detectors won’t be the answer
hundreds of thousands of students say
they carry guns to school daily
growing up with fear and panic.
Bang – Nine – Automatic!

It’s genocide
America has the most homicides
Society devouring its own young
Take away the guns we need gun control

How can we stop the violence
when everywhere we look is the image of gun death
the Rodney King explosion is just one result of inner city erosion
take away all hope and kids will turn to robbery and dealing dope
you don’t care about elections
what urban youth want is protection
from a life of war
could be the Iraqi war or war in the Filmore
There is no more tragic sight
than a heavily armed youth with no respect for life
The leading cause of death in African American males under thirty five
at the funeral the friends will cry
but on the streets they tool and die
and Hollywood has done
more than anyone to glamorize the gun
movies, music and TV.
Its Genocide…can’t you see…
Got to take the profit out of crime
stop glamorizing death on primetime
Cities are the only places
where kids are waging arms races
in suburbs and rural areas
Across the country kids are carrying
three more hours and another teenage youth will have committed suicide
while his mothers crying
gun advocates are on TV lying
to the public
about how people are the ones who kill and guns don’t
until we have gun control
we can’t stop these ten year olds
from going in their father’s closet
were the gun was left unlocked and loaded
Where does it end?
When everyone gets their own piece, dividend

Driving down Guerrero
cut off a psycho kid looked like Sendero
Luminoso, words were froze so
I don’t start talking shit or acting macho
you could get popped in a minute
this is the wild, wild west and we’re in it
and my kids don’t want to play
when they have to worry about ducking spray
or two drunks having an argument
in front of our apartment
when I hear that sound
I yell: Everyone get inside and get down!

literature

>Stig Sæterbakken and Sauermugg

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>Originally posted April 08, 2007.
Stig Sæterbakken is an interesting author straight out of Norway. Here in Sweden he’s well known for his books Siamesisk and Sauermugg Redux unleashed by Vertigo förlag in 2002 and 2007 respectively. Just recently his norwegian translation of Nikanor Teratologen’s Äldreomsorgen i Övre Kågedalen was released over there.

Sauermugg, one of his projects, has been in development for quite some time, and the latest installment is Stig inviting others to participate in continuing and developing the eternal curse that is Sauermugg. This is what he calls Sauermugg +.
Nikanor Teratologen, Gunnar Blå, Stefan Whilde, Terje Dragseth and Anastasia Wahl are some of the participants. I was asked as well, and I wrote this dark, dystopic, futuristic piece that Sæterbakken published on his homepage. I’m very thankful for that. It was an interesting process writing this kind of stuff and it certainly got my mind going.

art, culture, literature

>American Splendor

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>Originally posted March 24, 2007.


Comics, that’s kids stuff, right?
Well, that’s what I thought as well for quite some time.
As a kid I was kind of obsessed with Spider-Man for some years, but by the time he’d went black I was out there riding my skateboard and listening to records instead. I guess I wasn’t into comics that much after all. I still find Spider-Man among the coolest of superheroes, though. He’s metal, you know, the way he shoots his net making the sign of Satan:


However, I didn’t quite realize that there were “adult” comics (except for the crappy “erotic” shit) until I got hold of some anime movies (which I bought from the drummer in Sator, by the way! This was in 1990…). Those movies made me rediscover comics in a way. But since the style still was that wild and crazy shit it didn’t make any lasting impressions. It was fun for the moment and then forgotten about.

In 2003 I saw American Splendor. Yeah, I’m one of those late losers who discovered Harvey Pekar through that movie. I really loved the film, so I bought Our Cancer Year, one of his and his wife’s comic books that they based the movie upon. And it fucking touched my soul, I tell you!


American Splendor is all about life, death and the things that matters – things and thoughts that at first may seem pointless, but after some consideration may turn into mindbending visions. It did for me.
I spent a lot of time thinking after reading Our Cancer Year, the same kind of thinking that may occur after reading a really thick, good book or seeing a mindfucking movie. I just love the way that a few strokes and a few lines can get your thoughts going.

Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff. That’s probably the best and most accurate summarization ever, even though it’s become quite a tiresome cliché since the movie hit the charts.

Harvey’s life is drawn by a lot of different artists (Our Cancer Year excluded, which is fully drawn by Frank Stack), and that in itself makes this comic really interesting. Here’s just a few examples of how some artists perceive our man:








And of course I identify with Harvey. He’s just an honest and literate guy with a sense for politics and music. Him being a Jew and just being so goddamn tired of the exploitation of the Holocaust is a revelation. This strip is from 1994:


And the cover of The New American Splendor Anthology has the coolest quote:

When I was younger I thought about women constantly… I was always running around looking for a good time… Now I’ve matured, my priorities have changed. I’m aware of what’s really important: CRUSHING MY ENEMIES.

The fact that I discovered American Splendor so late bugs me. I’ve missed so much. Harvey’s been doing his comics since 1976! Bah…

Harvey Pekar – homepage and blog
American Splendor – The movie
A list of some of his comics

Other adult comics that’s touched my soul lately:



culture, music

>The return……

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>Originally posted March 08, 2007.


It’s been a long while since B-Girls got down.
T-Love said it, and she said it ten years ago. So where the fuck are all the ladies at? Being a woman in the rap scene is definitely not the easiest of tasks, but every once in a while it’s time for one of them to step up and shine.
I’m talking about MC’s who can rock the mic and spit lyrics that kill, and who’s got skilled producers to back them up.
We’ve got Lady Luck, What What, Sonja Blade, Leila K (!) and sadly not that many more (in my opinion and to my knowledge). Sure, there’s always underground female MC’s ready to pop, but they rarely show their skills. Too bad.
And please, don’t give me crap like Missy Elliot. She’s just super wack.
Lady Sovereign? Eh… Well, for fun maybe.
Lil’Kim? Hmm… Every once in a while. At least she’s portrayed really cool in this photo:


There’s probably some really cool female grime artists as well, but that’s not my kind of rap really, so I can’t speak about that.

So it was back in ´97 that T-Love made this super dope track Return of The B-Girl. She was supported by Kool Keith, one of the most sexist dudes in the whole rap industry, but also one of the very best. How awesome then that this amazing collaboration turned into one of the fattest hip hop joints ever.
Listen to the song and fall to your knees pissing. It’s that good.
Download the Return of The B-Girl mp3 here! Do it. Now.

And listen to the lyrics:

There’s a lot of girls rhymin on the mic with no direction
Don’t know why they flexin, forgot rules and lessons
The essence: beats and rhymes and shit
I’m about to show these bitches that I’ll die for this
…
It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you
Sorry for the wack shit you slept through

Yeah, it’s been ten years of wack shit. Where are you now? Please, I’d love a re-return of the B-Girl. Hear me now, T-Love.

—–


And get this book:

by Mattias Indy Pettersson