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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. |
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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
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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
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11. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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
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18. |
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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19. |
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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.
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20. |
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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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21. |
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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22. |
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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23. |
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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24. |
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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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25. |
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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!
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26. |
Ode to the Innovators
01:45
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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
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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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