Gaining One’s Definition

I have posted this one before, years ago now.   But, it imparts a lesson that is timeless.  You may need to go through it a couple of times to follow – lyrics appended for clarity. By the way Lonnie Lynn is Common’s father.

lyrics:

featuring Cee Lo

Common:
After bein’ 25 you know just trying to survive in the world
Bout to have a little boy or baby girl. Who knows?
Anyway just when you start gettin that little age and experience to you
You start thinkin about stuff…tryin to make the right moves
So bust it out this is what I was thinkin check it

Yo the education of the Lon chicka Lonnie Lynn
Began, began with time
Bein my bloodline is one with the divine
In time brotha, you will discover the light
Some say that God is Black and the Devil’s White
Well, the Devil is wrong and God is what’s right
I fight, with myself in the ring of doubt and fear
The rain ain’t gone, but I can still see clear
As a child, given religion with no answer to why
Just told believe in Jesus cuz for me he did die
Curiosity killed the catechism
Understanding and wisdom became the rhythm that I played to
And became a slave to master self
A rich man is one with knowledge, happiness and his health
My mind had dealt with the books of Zen, Tao the lessons
Koran and the Bible, to me they all vital
And got truth within ’em, gotta read them boys
You just can’t skim ’em, different branches of belief
But one root that stem ’em, but people of the venom try to trim ’em
And use religion as an emblem
When it should be a natural way of life
Who am I or they to say to whom you pray ain’t right
That’s who got you doin right and got you this far
Whether you say “in Jesus name” or Hum do Allah
Long as you know it’s a bein’ that’s supreme to you
You let that show towards others in the things you do
Cuz when the trumpets blowin, 24 elders surround the throne
Only 144,000 gon get home
Only 144,000 gon get home
Only 144,000 gon get it baby

Chorus Cee-Lo:
I’ve lived and I’ve learned
I have taken and I’ve earned
I have laughed, I’ve cried
I have failed and I have tried
Sunshine, pouring rain
found joy through all my pain
I just wanna be happy with being me

Cee-Lo:
Let me voice my concern
So many of my fellow brothers have given themselves a title
That their actions didn’t earn
Our ignorance is in the same breath as our innocence
Subconciously, seeking to find an impressionable mind to convince
I’ve finally come to the realization why Black people in the worse place
Cuz it’s hard to correct yourself when you don’t know
Who you are in the first place
So I try to find the clue in you
But evidently, White folks know more Black history than we do
Why’re we bein’ lied to? I ain’t know our history was purposely hidden
Damn, somethin’ in me wanna know who I am
So I began my search, my journey started in church
It gave my heartache relief when I started to understand belief
Hustlin was like a gift spent my share of time in the streets
Taught me survival from this evil I’m just gonna have to deal with
And I felt like a fool when I tried to learn it in school
It almost seemed like a rehearsal when the only
Science and math are universal
Takin elder advice, read the Bible, the Koran
Searched scrolls from the Hebrew Israelites
Hold on, this ain’t right, Jesus wasn’t White
Some leads were granted with insight
and it’s all in the plan, but it took me some time to overstand
He still created with the imperfection of man
So, with followin’ I disagree
By no means have I forgotten or forgiven what’s been done to me but
I do know the Devil ain’t no White man, the Devil’s a spiritual mind
That’s color blind, there’s evil White folk and evil niggas
You gon surely find there’s no positivity without negativity
But one side you gonna have to choose
Any chance to speak I refuse to misuse
So how can you call yourself God when you let a worldly possession
become an obsession and the way you write your rhymes and
Can’t follow your lesson
If a seed’s sown, you make sure it’s known, you make sure it’s grown
If you God, then save your own, don’t mentally enslave your own
If you God, then save your own, don’t mentally enslave your own
If you God, then save your own, don’t mentally enslave your own

Well, I’ve lived and I’ve learned
I’ve taken and I’ve earned
I have laughed, I have cried
I failed and I have tried
Sunshine, pourin rain
I found joy through my pain
Just wanna be happy…bein me
Bein me

30 responses to “Gaining One’s Definition

  1. word up…

  2. Marty, this is great!! I didn’t catch it the first time around. Glad you put it up again.

  3. Gerhard Waterkamp

    Beautifully said.
    “If a seed’s sown, you make sure it’s known, you make sure it’s grown
    If you God, then save your own, don’t mentally enslave your own”

    Never thought I would actually like a rap song. 🙂

  4. Beautiful , honest poetry. Full of heart.

  5. The rapper has more widom than the pope on the stool. McTinyfists be a hater…word!

  6. These lines caught me:

    I have laughed, I’ve cried
    I have failed and I have tried
    Sunshine, pouring rain
    found joy through all my pain
    I just wanna be happy with being me

    Swept me back to the 70’s when lots of us in my group heard the song “I can see clearly now the pain is gone …” (Nash, early 70’s I think). Those of us who were seeking a state of clear loved that song. It made our spirits rise and gave voice to our deepest longing of freedom and clarity.

    The lyrics above remind me very much of what we were seeking. That’s a valuable purpose to revive. I recollect LRH saying something along the lines of “revive a man’s purpose and you can almost bring the dead back to life” — okay, I may have butchered it and it is bad paraphrase and certainly not a real quote.

    The main point for me is that when “logic and proportion
    have fallen sloppy dead …” that our muted voice finds a new vocabulary in art and music, and we can rise again.

  7. Thanks for sharing, Marty. Very interesting lyrics, I’d say 🙂

  8. Phil Bruemmer

    New favorite.
    Thanks!

  9. I’m not much of a hip-hop guy
    but there’s no reason why
    I can’t look up in the sky,
    See it’s blue,
    And then learn somethin’ new.
    One thing I do know is true…….
    “Common” is not your typical-typical,
    And he’s not quite your mystical-whimsical,
    But on-topic, topical?
    Yeah, that may do…
    If you ask him, he might tell you.
    Or tell you to shoo.
    What I’m saying is just one thing:
    His stuff has his own personal ring.

  10. Wow. Love that shit.

  11. Hey Marty,
    The last two posts have been absolutely beautiful.
    Thank-you,
    Vic

  12. Wisdom right there in those lyrics.

  13. Love it!

  14. Theo Sismanides

    Beautiful song, beautiful lyrics on subject so difficult to put in music… Rap does it though with this song!

  15. Nice, Marty! Thanks!

  16. Very good Marty
    I like the last two posts also.

  17. Powerful!

  18. Beautiful philosophy.

    Music alone can also be quite tone rising :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=GBaHPND2QJg&feature=youtu.be

    Pythagoras was using music to heal.

  19. Claudio Lugli

    Such great lyrics….

    Well, I’ve lived and I’ve learned
    I’ve taken and I’ve earned
    I have laughed, I have cried
    I failed and I have tried
    Sunshine, pourin rain
    I found joy through my pain
    Just wanna be happy…bein me
    Bein me

    They go straight to the heart!
    Thanks Marty.

  20. “And use religion as an emblem
    When it should be a natural way of life”

    Apt indeed. Applicable to so many aspects of life. Maybe this is how gems like the factors, axioms, logics, the structure of all tech solutions, all are reduced to Ideal Org barbecues, IAS Status, mandates of behavior, massively inhibited communication and the reduction of living and art to regimented must-be, must-do, must-haves. Emblematic in a bad way.

    Thanks for the post. Prods the grey-matter.

  21. Tom Gallagher

    Thanks Marty and Mosey for another elucidating moment contained within a song.

    Much love!

  22. Barack just gave a great, positive acceptance speech.

  23. That would be his Victory speech, I mean.

  24. Jean-François Genest

    Awesome!! Nice recollection & revival of the great years. A large number of us are recollecting and rekindling. Here is the quote you paraphrased WELL, started a bit earlier to include context:

    ” As man [human being] all too easily specializes in stops, he tends to stress what SHOULDN’T be done. While this enters into it, remember that it is a STOP.
    STOPS ALL OCCUR BECAUSE OF FAILED PURPOSES.
    BEHIND EVERY STOP THERE IS A FAILED PURPOSE.
    A stuck picture or a motionless org are similar. Each has behind it a failed purpose.

    → THERE IS A LAW ABOUT THIS – ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO RESTORE LIFE AND ACTION IS TO REKINDLE THE FAILED PURPOSE.
    THE STOPS WILL AT ONCE BLOW.

    That law (it comes out of OT VIII materials) is so powerful it would practically revive the dead! ”
    LRH, 14 January 1969 – OT ORGS

  25. Jean-François Genest

    Thank you for this post. I enjoyed the song & lyrics.

  26. Jean-François Genest

    ♫ Θ Thank you Curiosus for this fine moment in æsthetics! 🙂

  27. Jean-François Genest

    The IDLE, motionless “Ideal Orgs” all have this in common ▼
    “A stuck picture or a motionless org are similar. Each has behind it a failed purpose.” – LRH, 14 January 1969 – OT ORGS

  28. Wow! That’s Incredible!!

  29. Great observations, green.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s