1. |
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Innovations have risen
Millennia after millennia
Of aesthetics, functionality, and even life saving measures
Become norms to our present day
The Originator blessed those to improve fields large and small
However, the unscrupulous get fame
As they steal and don't create
That or the good become obscured
Its why demons incarnate
Can only imitate what they see or hear
This larceny rarely gets checked
These are the stories of those wronged for their nature
for daring to craft archetypes
Since imitation was backhanded
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2. |
Ishango
01:57
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Intro:
[Lingala]
Tosalaki eloko ya sika
(Eloko ya sika)
Mokuwa oyo ekosunga bato pona koyekola mitango
(Koyekola mitango)
Tozali basali ya eloko ya sika
(Eloko ya sika)
Over 20,000 years ago, we crafted something still being taught to future generations. We made a calculator and calendar from a baboon's bone. What a prime way for instructions from a primate. We solved problems and tallied up solutions. Nzambe bless our methods. Counting lunar cycles, adding, subtracting, dividing, multiplying notch by notch. We made generations smarter and efficient. We know other civilizations wouldn't be born in millennia. Our technology shall not be fractured, only modernized in future ages.
Ishango=Innovation (repeat)
[Repeat intro]
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3. |
Onesimus the Unsung Hero
01:05
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Bodies kept dropping in Boston
In the century of their so-called Lord in the 18th century
While I wasn't the same as the saint of the Byzantium,
We were both in bondage
My master begged me to save him and the city
With my memory from the motherland before I was chained
Once I was useful like my enforced foreign namesake, more kept breathing
All I want is credit and freedom, doctors
I don't know about their originator, but I had stubbornness to accept the faith of those who captured me
Shame on me
Boston would've been a ghost town without my medical services
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4. |
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Hours upon hours were spent reverse engineering and solving boring math problems given to me to kill time
I didn't want to kill it
I wanted to keep it watch after watch
I took them apart and reconstructed them at will
I wanted something bigger, so I stretched my hands
Every minute and hour of my life
These faces grew as did my ambitions
The majority of this country were confounded that someone they oppressed made something
America, I am the grandfather of your clocks
You can count on that.
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5. |
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I was the son of runaways, yet I would soon be the ignored father of electricity
Draft after draft, I would progress in my innovations despite the lack of praise
Gardens of inventions would be under my watch
They would certainly bloom
Trains would look like outhouses on wheels without me
I even drew up the first phone designs
Ask Alexander about that
Then came my electric lamp
Carbon would be king to shine brighter and longer
How well was a paper filament, Thomas?
I was an originator
The bigger One knows who I am when others give blank stares
This incandescent electric freeman lives whenever you turn a light on
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6. |
Lebombo
01:42
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Intro:
[Zulu]
Sisungule ithuluzi elisha
Leli thambo lizosiza abantu ukutui bafunde izinombolo
Singabaqambi bethuluzi elisha
In ancient times at the continent's Southern points in the mountain range
We told time, counted the days, and tracked the moon
All it took was a baboon fibula tally by tally
We taught our people from the highest to lowest veldts
At least 44,000 years ago
This wasn't decoration
This was for education as the Originator blessed us and those up north for our tools
[Repeat intro]
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7. |
Lifeblood: Monologue
02:13
|
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A World War and racial segregation
Wasn't going to stop me from saving lives
Soldiers were dying
I knew how to innovate in times like these
And even my enemies at home had to bank on it
Every type was given to me to save lives
I chilled the sources and stored them for emergencies
Next, came the samples as cargo on the go
To hospitals and beyond
15,000 in the UK alone
Better thank my inventions for saving their lives
Too bad my employer threw racist pseudoscience
As to who got transfusions or not
I would be cut off from this world
But my method of saving lives continues
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8. |
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More watchful eyes had to be manufactured
Whether hidden or overt, security had to be in order
All it took was the technological genius
Cameras became placed
Ruffians would think twice before invading
Under those watchful cybernetic eyes
The Originator blessed this woman to utilize these cameras
Protecting others
Those eyes will live on
Closed circuits, open mind
|
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9. |
||||
No one ever believed the blind could be restored to see
Those were saved for fairy tales
Science had to be called into change reality and several lives
It took a woman's touch to make it happen
There would be an innovative way to wash the blindness away
Under medical watch and an array of lasers
This medical maven would shape reality
First was oblivion
Then came walking trees
Next was technicolor sight
No spit was involved
But technology and pure scientific grit
The eyes have it now (X3)
|
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10. |
Keep On Building, Otis!
02:10
|
|||
His mom's heart stopped beating
Those tears were enabling
To ensure every heart can keep
Beating at healthy paces
Keep on building
So many robberies and extortion
Plagued many businesses
The front end would take the
Brunt of it until he improved
On those registers
Keep on building
Monitors, keyboards, and programming
Would craft into a high-tech archetype
For an eventual household and office item
Games, research, and work can be done
Nothing personal, just a computer
Keep on building
|
||||
11. |
||||
America, you needed to be cleaned up in so many ways
I was only one man, but I had to make things right on a twofold account
I started with your laundry
There would be a new kind of care for your clothes and I id it in a dry fashion like you've never seen before
Millions of businesses would be created because of me
Next came real freedom fighters
The bread I got from my invention
Went towards those who wanted every man, woman, and child
To be free and equal
Its more than what a piece of paper could say
I hope they keep on fighting
How does it feel seeing a man like me being the first of his community to own a patent?
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12. |
Boyd Bedsteads
02:03
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An unmarked grave is where my mortal frame rests, yet my inventions let people sleep in style
Wooden frames and canopies were built for luxury and durability where commoners can sleep like kings and queens even to this day
While Ohio and Kentucky weren't always kind to me, I knew I had to have a twin set of endurance
My ethic, diligence, and carpentry had to see me through and spring into action
Brothers, sister, your freedom was paid for from my classy beds patent or not
They saw my name on every frame
I wish my company would've withstood the flames of envious arsonists
I would free those who were like me
My life has been used for the greater good
Let me rest
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13. |
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Falling from the empyrean
They managed to ascend on the earth
Their names were in lights with infintismal points
The innovators pushed to the side from the emulations with their ways and mores of supine larceny
Denials echo as earworm choruses worldwide with tunes, moving pictures, and museums
The masses become allured now knowing or caring that these were imitations
Originator, suffer not the true catalysts of Innovare
Penniless and undermined
The descendants want to demand restitution
Some emulations were honest, yet it was worse with excuses for the trendiest prints of ignored canvases
|
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14. |
||||
I alternated from nation to nation like the currents I created
Eventually, I became a Serbian in New York
An infantry of patents would be my brainchildren
Of course, its a shame that Thomas would steal my originator title
He smeared my name when he shocked the elephant
The nerve of his bullying
Electricity still became my forte and I wouldn't coil under pressure
I wish things would've been better than feeding pigeons and being alone
My body would be sent to Belgrade (Beograd) where I would be a hero
Thomas, you may have won the popularity contest, but you'd be nothing without me
Wouldn't it be funny if someone drove something with my name on it?
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15. |
Art Theft: Benin
00:54
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[Yoruba]
O ti ja aworan wa
Mase paro ki o so pe o se awon ohun-oso wonti
Awon ile iso re je awon ewon
Je ki a je ki eyi se alaye si o
[French]
Rends-nous notre art maintenant!
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16. |
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Born into chains and auction blocks
I was under the eyes of the Davis family
I vowed not to be chattel and kept myself learned
Those steamboats in the South enraptured me
Yet they could only do so much
One bad turn and a famine or shortage can occur
No need to steer people wrong and I would figure the right angles for this problem
Enter the propeller! (X4)
My design made these steamboats faster, more efficient, and had better navigation
Shame how my patent was denied (X4)
My former captors including the president of the South tried and failed to credit themselves for what I made
I dreamed of more despite my heartbreak
Isaiah, the rest is up to you.
|
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17. |
||||
There was always a lie
That someone of my complexion never invented anything
They surely never met me
I was known only as Ned
I created the cotton scraper
Much like how my master took humans like me, he took my invention
So, Stewart. How did you come up with my scraper again?
Even the patent office rejected you again and again
You're so typical in your laziness
When I cried, sweated, and bled more than you could imagine
|
||||
18. |
Larceny By Dirigible I
02:47
|
|||
Do You feel shame stealing melodies? (X2)
The spotlight must feel so nice
You can't see the enlightened leaving you
Its larceny in your backyard (X2)
Don't act like you're so confused
You put ignoramuses in a big daze
You live atop a mountain of theft (X2)
I hope endless water floods your realm
You won't rise anymore
How many years must you get away? (X2)
I guess your fans became a shield
Protecting you from swift justice
Joan Baez
Anne Bredon
Jake Holmes
Bert Jansch
Howlin' Wolf
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19. |
Art Theft: Nigeria
01:08
|
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[Igbo]
I bu ihe nleda anya
[Yoruba]
Nitori ti o ji wa aworan
[Hausa]
Bidajen kayan tarihin ku ya sa aka kama su. I ghotara?
You better return what's ours!
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20. |
||||
I didn't care anymore how my last name was spelled after my time on earth
Just know that I was an innovator people haven't heard of
My family and I were in bondage in the Old Line State
Whenever I could, I'd learn from the children of my captors
That education would come to use
Printer offices and the Naval Academy would see my intellect
Too bad my captors got most of my pay
My greatest achievement involved gun barrels, pewter, steel, and random junk
With this mechanical trash came the first steam engine
My patent was denied even when my brainchild bought my family's freedom
Don't deny my innovations
By the way, steampunks. You're ever so welcome.
|
||||
21. |
Larceny By Dirigible II
01:31
|
|||
Quit complaining that success was the only reason you got caught
You need reality to set you straight, not a whole lotta fantasies
Your excuses are lemons better suited for lemonade to quench your desires
Watch your step on that killing floor, you band of pirates
Keep trying to bring your subterfuge
Willie Dixon
Howlin' Wolf
Robert Johnson
Albert King
Bobby Parker
Sonny Boy Williamson
|
||||
22. |
||||
Madame CJ Walker, you weren't the first lady of that honor
You were a former client of her
From Metropolis, Illinois to St. Louis, then to the Second City was the first beauty expert of her time
Hair, face, hands
All became better with Malone's expertise for those with melanin
She built a college just for cosmetology
Despite $14 million in her prime, you stole those formulas
Women of all colors benefited from the Poro Brand
CJ...or is it Sarah?
You'd be nothing without Annie
She lost her business, but she won't be lost in history anymore
No woman can be attractive
Without a beautiful complexion and an innovative mind
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23. |
Art Theft: Senegal
01:06
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[Wolof]
Luy sa tiis?
Am nga tere xewoonu Afrig?
Yeena ngi saacee yi
[French]
Comprends maintenant?
Vous ne possedez pas notre histoire!
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24. |
Larceny By Dirigible III
02:30
|
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There will be no hats off
To the glorified filchers of rock n' roll
Raking in millions for their laziness
Resting on instrumental talent
Its time to shake this fake originality down to make way
For real innovators
There will be no more pinching and crediting one's self in this zone
That will never happen
Since people have been lambasting you
Moby Grape
Bert Jansch
Bukka White
|
||||
25. |
One True Mayor
02:34
|
|||
Our island was the only one of its kind until you copycatted our geography
I am the mayor, yet you made a clone with a big head just like me
You think you made some edible paradise, but everyone is bloated and sick of your world
I thought you'd credit us for our existence
That certainly wasn't the case
I'm not the Originator, but I'm the one true mayor
And I'll put your million dollar fraud in its place
My island's filled with puppets, but there's no strings attached
With our living justice
I've dealt with witches and I'm going to deal with you and your high-calorie junk food of a haven
Your land wouldn't exist without mine, but at least our island is healthy and theft-free
|
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26. |
||||
Stop believing that you own all the dreams
2010 degrees of lies aren't fooling us
You don't need a DC Mini or an appealing alter-ego
To shatter deception or the world around you
We're not ghosts though we can float in hotel hallways
We made the spice to delve into dreams within dreams or converging reality
Years before you had a thought
The mass's perception is flawed
Because they see your take on caped crusaders
We'll keep the real dreams alive though our creator passed on
Awards won't save you, deluded thief
You're another soul in the demented parade
[Japanese]
Soshi-sha ja nai. Anata wa akumu da.
Soshi-sha ja nai. Anata wa akuma da!
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27. |
Halstead's Trophy
03:12
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I no longer wanted to be down
After you took my crown and cashed it in for millions of pounds
So shamelessly
I had to strengthen my heart
To withstand all your darts that multiplied from the start
Of your thievery
Originator be my guide
May justice be on my side
Halstead will be filled with pride with the trophy that's rightfully mine
You think you can do what you will
I made you admit your guilt
How does it make you feel that you're forced to know my name?
Take a picture now (X6)
To immortalize your shame
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28. |
Larceny By Dirigible IV
03:34
|
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Did it feel good opening for that band?
Did it excite you when you wanted that heavenly acoustic riff?
Did it arouse you to become rock gods from one song?
Did it please you when their leader drowned saving his son?
Did it heal your soul that the plaintiffs didn't match your bank accounts?
Did you smile even when that constellation called you on your stolen bull?
Jay Ferguson
Mark Andes
John Locke
Ed Cassidy
Randy California
SPIRIT!!!
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29. |
||||
Disposable generations mandated by unseen authorities
The young are on the front lines across TV screens
Abductions from schools to teach them to be gladiators or assassins
What kind of government would copy this tournament of death?
Its all sanitized keeping it PG-13 despite the dystopian realms where people starve
How foolish to volunteer to kill
The guise of arrows and secret lands were paltry
The governance claims to be originators, but that's a bloody ruse
The first mandate only involved killing, but this one stole from it
Stealing and killing as they disguise themselves as angels of light, yet soar with blood-drenched wings
They fly mocking at these conscripted warriors as their tournament is an expensive sham
You think you're so royal(e)
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30. |
I, Axum
01:02
|
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Were the invaders fascinated by my beauty?
I stood tall in this living city
My creators took care of me every step of the way
Its a shame they never foretold of my destruction and abduction
While my homeland was never colonized, I was taken defiled, and cloned
I'm disgusted by my inferior leaning tall north of me
My people...rescue and reconstruct me
The world must know I exist
May the originator give me renown despite my obscure state
|
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31. |
Larceny By Dirigible V
02:13
|
|||
You think crediting someone's mom was good enough?
How pathetic
It shows how much you don't care
You're too busy making custard with blues legends' works
Heads are hurting from your ill-gotten success
Yet the masses continue praising
You when it was undeserved on so many levels
Sleepy John Estes
Bukka White
Blind Boy Fuller
Ritchie Valens
Oh, so now you want to start acknowledging others?
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32. |
Albert Holly
03:17
|
|||
Abington-on-Thames and Lake Placid are fighting about what never belonged to them
Covering their tracks from a real cover song
Too busy calling Pablo or lusting for life
Ignoring the vital air around them
Too selfish to notice they aren't free
From an originator
At least the first cover knew it's dues
It knew it's dues
You won't get hitched by following ladies
Even when they end up at your shows
Same with stalking melodies you didn't write
Absinthe won't make your song better nor will those dead notes
They're so desperate
They're so freaking desperate
Just let the air in...
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33. |
||||
This is WOSPR Speaking
Foreign shores wanted more in store for stealing funky scores
Saturday night brought the fight to ignite to prevent the plight as we regained our rights
No matter if its Brooklyn, Echo Park, or Tulsa, Oklahoma. We'll get our song back and clear your pop-coated aroma
The oil capital's gonna get ya uptown, downtown, any town
Everybody sing like the Originator told ya: We gonna strike back with this groove!
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34. |
||||
I would never meet my captor's grandson, but I can only thank him from the beyond as he put my name on the record
Shame on this country for not realizing my brainpower and physical endurance
Robert, Cyrus, you know it's true
The reaper wouldn't exist without me
I guess people like me are used to doing all the heavy lifting
1834 saw the birth of this new tool
However, the McCormick's names were on it
Cyrus II, you did what you could to make things right
I may have been a slave, but I was still an inventor
|
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35. |
||||
Attention!
[French]
Nous avons des vautours de la culture a venir!
Notre musique est attaquee!
Marche en avant!
Oui, monsieur!
Barnwell, Baranquilla, Gary, Portsmouth
We're coming for all of you
Your status as godfathers, hip shakers, kings, and misdemeanors
Have nothing on us
We'll keep marching on (X2)
[French]
Nous devon securiser le berceau de nos ancetres (de nos ancetres) [X4]
What do we want? (Our original tunes!)
When do we want them? (Right now!)
(X4)
|
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36. |
||||
[Zulu]
Bass voice: Kumele adale
Baritone voice: Inkosi yethu izokwaziwa
Tenor voice: U-Linda ungumbali wangampela wengoma
Johannesburg was where the lion was born
It had a roar that shook the concert halls
Collective voices made sure no one slept
Only controlled by the uncrowned king
Ethnomusicologists stepped in
To colonize the canorous monarch's song
That lion was poached as it reached stateside
Leaving the king without a cent to his name
What a token gesture that was thievery
New York and Burbank usurped his throne
His daughters were neglected by their greed
They had to keep that lion and king alive
|
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37. |
||||
Such a naughty girl typical in copying imagery
Not from precambrian times, but from 2018
I wouldn't blame your man or blaming fire
But your employers who were accomplices
It sucks to be you abducting the black house
While you call your vanity project a "gift"
Your daughter must be so proud of you
Your shame ya mobali ya mobali [Lingala for "To the right, to the right"]
Oh wait, you have none
You may be called a queen, but I see a phony
Keep thinking you're a survivor
[Lingala]
Ozali mokonzi mwasi te
Ozali nkosi te
Ozali Nzambe te!
|
||||
38. |
||||
[Swahili]
Tazama! Mfalme anainuka!
Tazama! Ukweli utatawala!
Tazama! Hatutakubali wafalme bandia!
Father, I hear your voice in the eastern sky
Mother, I hear you from the constellations
I will make you both proud in being the one true emperor
As I express myself in this human song,
I will right these misdeeds
I'll still have unity with mankind and the wildlife in my kingdom
I've survived capsized ships, weapons, and bigger animals, and I'll survive this
(Japanese backup vocals: Taitei o nagaku ikiru)
(Swahili backup vocals: Mfalme ni bandia. Wambariki mfalme wa kweti)
I hear the cries from Kinshasa, Toronto, Saitama, Grimes, Kigali, Kampala, Dodoma, and Nairobi
While I fight for peace and make sure my kingdom has dignity
I have to address the king who swindled me
You wouldn't exist without me, but you're so full of pride
(Japanese backup vocals: Kare wa honto shishi desu.)
(Swahili backup vocals: Ukweli unaishi ndani yake. Akawa ukweli!)
Like uncle, like nephew
You enjoy usurping the throne
Your gods had no worries
Profiting and suing others
For cultures they don't own
Much like your father you dreamed of
Devastation and deceit
Have you seen a human before?
Have you found a way
To punish without genocide by starvation?
Shame on those humans who are allured
By your mate's bedroom eyes
Was she your sister or your cousin?
You vagabond in denial
I never ran away when my parents died
Artifice flows through you
And permeates every time that you breathe
You tried blocking my existence
And denying it, too
You're a false king
I'll break your deception (X3)
Cause I'm the one true emperor
Copycats get no mercy!
|
||||
39. |
||||
Fifty-seven patents not that I'm blowing steam
Glowing with overlooked esteem
Not fronting or stunting
You'll know more than just my name
Than some hall of fame
Everybody trying to plagiarize my work
Like parasitic jerks
But they can never materialize my prized inventions
A folding ironing board? Built that!
Lawn sprinkler? Built that!
Oil lubricators? Built a bunch of those!
I was never bored when I was a tinkerer
With indicators pointing to me being an inventor like no other
The stars and stripes and the maple leaf
Better recognize and save their gripes for some fakers and thieves
Who da realest? Elijah! (X8)
Colchester, keep it real, eh?
|
||||
40. |
||||
I'm not an Edison clone
The railroads were my domain
The damage in those fields were staggering, so I started with the telegraphony
Relayed messages ensured safety, wire by wire
Then Edison wanted credit for my work
How nice, I sued and beat him twice
He was on his knees begging me to work for him.
Nah, bruh
I kept my head up and crafted overhead lines to clear road traffic of cable cars
Automatic brakes, circuits, and egg incubators
Would become part of my repertoire
Although I would rest in an unmarked grave for sixty-five years
My name would be on streets and schools
I'm glad the afterlife wasn't the end of the line for me
All aboard the originator's express!
|
||||
41. |
Ode to the Innovators
01:45
|
|||
Doctors, kings, educators, singers, and many more
Who dare to be outside hellish boxes deserved the praise for their endeavors
While history books may not have their names in stone, they shall be immortalized for future days
No more theft
No more exploitation
No more ignoring
This prayer shall extend to those daring to put dreams into practice
The world is certainly too heinous for its own good
And thieves will try to steal
They cannot take the originators in them
Dear Innovare...The souls of ignored pioneers shall be renowned
These archetypes shall be remembered
Forever and ever
So shall it be written
So shall it come to reality
|
Ospreyshire Illinois
Spoken word verses coalesce with brief acousmatic and experimental noises in such urgent timing. This microcosm of experimentation is the M.O. of Curtis M. AKA Ospreyshire. Is he a poet who dabbles in the avant-garde or an abstract artist who uses free verse poems? Ospreyshire could care less and just release these crystalized moments in sonic form. ... more
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