Fuck being Relevant. That is Herd mentality. Trying to be relevant means to me you’re actively listening to radio artists with contracts with corporate labels owned by rich fucks paid by the deep state to sign ignorance because humans will glorify it and want to be ignorant. Which is how they want us. You’re basically trying to fit in with the enemy which is what’s popular and not make what you want to or would do if you didn’t have a self-induced restriction to what other popular artists are doing. In 2004, when I was the only rapper wearing skinny pants I was proudly irrelevant and I still am. I don’t give a fuck about fitting in with your success.
Ghost In The Shell: Worse Than We Thought
On February 28, I saw a 15-minute sneak peek of the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell. From the announcement of the project, this has always been a bad idea. But the announcement of the cast and story has made things much worse. Most noticeably, Hollywood adaptations of Japanese anime have yet to be successful. Either their stories veer too far from the source material, the director isn’t a good fit or the casting makes no sense. You would think Hollywood would learn, yet here we are, on the precipice of another anime-adapted flop.
Here are the takeaways from what I have seen of Paramount’s Ghost in the Shell so far.
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The Frustrating Aftermath of #AAIronFist
We are rapidly approaching the release of Iron Fist, the fourth Marvel series on Netflix, and reviews have been less than kind. When the show announced it had a (non-Asian American) showrunner, NOC re-introduced the hashtag #AAIronFist. It was an attempt to get Marvel to acknowledge that Iron Fist is a character whose origins are Asian, and should be played by a person of Asian descent, to increase representation in media.
For my part, I wrote an opinion piece about why we need an #AAIronFist. I submitted that being Asian, or even half-Asian, would give Danny Rand a depth to his character that we hadn’t seen before. The “stranger in a strange land” trope where the white man is the foreigner has been done to death, and is vaguely insulting. An 8-year old orphan comes to magical Asian land and becomes the ultimate martial artist?…
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Free Download: Define Your Own Hip-Hop
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ALL LYRICS ON BANDCAMP
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My Lyrics on Instagram
Hello,
As of December 2016, I started posting my lyrics on Instagram. Specifically the lyrics to the upcoming album “Extinction Of The Horse”.
So, if you interested in my writing you should follow me there. Thanks.
Why The Name Change?
My first rap name was Mic Kin when I started recording in 1995.
In 2000 I changed it to Mike Kenworthy. In 2001, I changed it to Dirty N’ Piss, but, people thought the name consisted of two people and asked which one am I? Dirty or Piss?
One afternoon in Burbank, on my day off, I was sitting in my studio and I decided to dedicate one day to figuring out a moniker.
I thought about it for hours and realized one day I might be 39 and rapping. An ego-boosting/cartoon-ish name in my 40’s seemed to me immature. So I thought I was doing myself a favor and going the honest, mature route using Michael Nhat. 15 years and over 10 albums later, I begin to wonder if was a disservice to myself.
And I think it was. No one cares how mature or immature my name is.
They only care about the name itself and the sound they associate with it.
For me to use an easily misspelled, weak sounding name, 99% Americans mispronounce was very Erick Sermon and Keith Murray-ish of me (Their usage of their real names also influenced me to just use my name), but in hindsight, a larger than life name would have been to my benefit.
When people hear a “provocative” name it entices them to want to hear what they’re all about. When people hear Michael Nhat, they mispronounce it, and that’s it. It doesn’t compel them to want to hear what I’m making. It’s boring. It’s doesn’t illicit anything.
Fans today, attached to the name, expressing their disapproval of the name change only like the name because they have already heard the music and know the name to associate it with. There’s nothing like-able about Michael Nhat the name. My content was not the issue all these years. I think it was my foreign uninviting name. I thought, since it was Asian, and my real name, I’d benefit like Wu-Tang, but Wu sounds cool. Nat, does not and Nat is the first impression of how it’s non-Vietnamese people assume it to sound. If I was not me, Michael Nat would not want to go google the guy and become a fan, but Ten-Headed Skeleton does.
Another reason I changed the name has nothing to do with how you pronounce Michael Nhat. It’s about me being pigeon-holed.
Some people from the past don’t like me because I’m a nerdy hipster and my lyrics are insensible. People can’t understand them.
Well, I stopped wearing glasses and I addressed the latter three years ago clarifying my writing. Making sure every song is understandable, so there’s no more excuses I don’t make sense. And that’s actually when I should have changed the name. I just didn’t realize it until now.
Why Ten-Headed Skeleton? Because I make my music with my hands and they have ten limbs known as finger and thumbs. They do all the button pushing like they have a mind of their own. So, Ten-Headed Skeleton.
They Want Rap From The Rich (Trump-Hop) Lyrics
“They Want Rap From The Rich (Trump-Hop)” Lyrics
By Ten-Headed Skeleton
They want Rap from the Rich
They want rap from the Rich
They want rap from the rich
because they wish they were rich
They want Rap from the Rich
They want rap from the Rich
They want rap from the rich
because they wish they were rich
I give you something you need
I give you something that feeds
but see you’re shallow and closed
to offerings from those
from people working like you
so you dismiss it and choose
to only play what the rich
Corporate labels say is
what normal people should play
I know it all sounds the same
Just blame yourself cause you buy it
that’s why they sell it you buy it
I’m trying to be myself
I don’t need help finding out
what works for me I can tell
You think I care what I sells?
I melt your standards and smile
That shit is timid and I’m loud
They sound all privileged as fuck
I sound like hip-hop gone punk
Trump supporters play that
Why wouldn’t they it’s all that
Get rich or die with an effort
While treating women like lesser
humans cause you should like know
that’s republican yo!
But no one’s said that before
you never thought there was more
than what the rich men will sign
read everything that I write
you might learn I was on point
or I had too many joints
I enjoy what I make
they enjoy what they’re paid
make me someone you’ll follow
now that you’re over this hollow
hip-hop the radio plays
you ask me where is a place?
that you can find underground
hip-hop celebs with a sound
unlike that mainstream crap
I’d say try U.G.S. Mag
that’s where I go when I need
to hear hip-hop that’s for me
I stream who hasn’t been signed
and go to shows you can’t find
You’re blind to sub-level shit
the dickheads making those hits
would shit on you ain’t it clear
And tell your bitch to come here
They want Rap from the Rich
They want rap from the Rich
They want rap from the rich
because they wish they were rich
They want Rap from the Rich
They want rap from the Rich
They want rap from the rich
because they wish they were rich
You should be playing my shit
you should be playing my shit
You should be playing my shit
and not that Trump-Hop
You should be playing my shit
you should be playing my shit
You should be playing my shit
and not that Trump-Hop
OUT OF THE MARGINS :: Michael Nhat — diacritics.org
from diaCRITICS, the leading blog on Vietnamese and diasporic arts, culture, and politics. diacritics.org Sometimes you can be Vietnamese and still not be Vietnamese enough. But, in truth, the diaspora yields many stories, many formulations of heritage and parentage–not all of which lead back to traceable roots, or the recognizably sorrowful sentiment often associated with separation from family…
