Lee Scratch Perry created the song “people funny boy” in 1968 as a protest when he finally couldn’t take the music producer he was working, Joe Gibbs, getting all the credit for the endlessly creative work he was doing. That song broke the charts and many say created the new sound called reggae as well as one of the first uses of sound sampling. He started his own record company called “Upset Records.” Perry was a genius and an artist. Everything he said always had multiple meanings, including naming his company Upset Records. Yes, he was upset and it did mean that. What it also meant was his company was going to upset the “big shots” in the industry. Upset in this case means to turn over as in to upset a boat or to upset the tables of the money changers. Righteous indignation is a powerful motivator. A voice unheard triggers the speaker to raise their voice until it gets heard. Many stand by and criticize the speaker for shouting, “oh what a bad attitude” they say. Of course those scoffers have probably never had anything worth saying and have never had their voices suppressed. Usually when we have reached the point where in desperation we raise our voices much of our eloquence has left the room and so we can become easy targets for our detractors. Life is, difficult. There is a rawness and truth though that many do hear and more importantly feel when exasperation, desperation and indignation stir the hearts of people to raise their voices beyond polite levels. For some reason I have never identified with great wealth. Perhaps growing up in poverty affected me in this way, I have been very hungry as a child and have never wanted to take anyone else’s food. A few years back while dealing with the most difficult things I had ever encountered I got upset. A brutal reality sets in when you face insurmountable odds dealing with life’s greatest struggles and the system of human greed tries to parasitize your last breath and then sends you the bill. Nina Simone was indignant, exasperated and desperate to tell the truth, to give voice to those no one would listen to. She however had true mastery over her voice, her personal sound that wrenched emotions out of a vast community of folks from all walks of life. Many hated her for it. Mississippi God Damn was not polite. Mississippi God Damn was deserved. My brother played me a recording of a song he had taped from a late night “world beat music” program local public broadcasting radio station hosted when I was probably 12? It was “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense” by the great Fela Kuti. It changed my life, it spoke to my very soul. The word teacher is a respectful word, it implies a place of honor for one who guides you. This song asks with deference that the teacher also respect the student. Fela was from Nigeria and was singing in protest against the endless political corruption that had tainted everything. He became a target and so did his family. They killed his mother, beat him and broke his bones and locked him in prison. Of course this only made him more vocal. He became the most well known African musician and created a new style of music in the process. These are some of my greatest inspirations and every time I feel indignant, exasperated and desperate something in me decides to fight the good fight by improving my own work, radically. Many of my biggest leaps as an artist have come from this place where I had to just let my creations scream for me. Greed sees you as a product, not as a human. It wants to own and categorize you, carry you in as a monetizable item that uplifts itself, not you. You may rise up a notch but the greed always rises above exponentially off of your merit. No one is free of the taint because our perceptions of need change when we think of dollars and not dinner, properties and not home, cars and not transportation. I am pretty upset right now and have been busily working on my personal ladder so I can scream a little louder from a little higher up. I hope to God I can carve soon because I have a lot I want to say. Random photos below.
