Harlot is a spoken word poem (by Michael Card, "Forgiving Eyes) that was done by a girl (Jennifer R./Akhon Apire) I met while in New York recording. She was one of Jesse’s friends and she came to the studio specifically to help with this track. I always wanted a female voice to do it.

            Jen was a testimony in and of herself. She was born Akhon Apire in Africa (I hope I get this story right!) she was born to a woman who died during childbirth. The surrounding clans people lived in such poverty that none of them could even imagine taking up the raising of an extra child. So Jen was simply placed in the corner of a tent as everyone waited for her to die.
            There was a missionary from an American church organization that was visiting the settlement and he heard the loud wailing of an infant. He asked the people to take him to the baby and they did. They explained to him what happened. And his heart, no doubt, broke! He lifted the little crying baby girl out from the corner of the tent where she had been condemned and told them that he would take her. He ended up adopting her and brought her back to America where she grew up. He gave her an American name and an African name. We, over here know her as Jennifer. But her tribal name was Akhon Aphire, which means ‘motherless child’.

            As she told me about this part of her life, I could see in her eyes how much of a redemption story she knew she had. And it didn’t hit me until later of how much she paralleled with the poem I wanted her to read. I didn’t write the whole poem. I read something that inspired me and used some of it, but have long forgot where exactly I what the original was (if someone knows, email me the name of the original author). It’s a well known story in the bible (John 8:1-12) of a woman who is caught in the act of adultery, a very serious sin in those days. She was taken out to Jesus who was teaching by some pharisee’s that wanted to catch Him saying something they could use against Him (in the old laws such a person should be stoned (Lev. 20:10). If Jesus was against her stoning he was ‘against the law of their forefathers. But if he agreed then they could say that he was a cruel person. So they asked him what they should do. And Jesus stooped to the ground and started to write in the sand, acting like he didn’t hear them. They asked him again and he said,’ Let him who is without sin cast the first stone’.

            This convicted the crowd so much that they threw down their rocks and walked away. This woman was condemned to death just like Jennifer. Two women at different times, in different circumstances, but both receiving the same judgement by man. Both women experiencing an awesome salvation! It was all too good for me!

            So Jennifer read the poem and it became the intro track to the ‘a War to restore’ album.

            Ok, maybe not that easy! Jennifer was a bit shy to record on that mic. We had all agreed that we wanted a bit of emotion in her voice. But she couldn’t ‘act’ with all of us standing there watching her. So eventually we had to hit the record button and leave the booth while she recorded with a friend in solitude. I dunno what her and that friend (Luke) did to get that emotion out of her but it worked!

            After Jen left, Jesse and me rented some old ‘Jesus’ movie and sampled pieces of this particuliar scene behind her (I don’t think a lot of people picked up on that!).  we did that in the same ol’ ghetto way as best I know how (see ‘Theophilus’ and ‘Apocalypse Now’).

            When the album released I thought it sucked the way some people took this track. My idea for this project was to make the first part of it a ‘concept album’. This means that my goal was to take the listener through a specific audible journey. And that ‘journey’ (without sounding too preachy) was certain steps of the salvation process in which God redeems sinful people back to Him! (look at the first 6 tracks: Untitled is a loop of a man saying ‘God make it stop haunting me’, ‘Harlot’ is the condemnation one feels in sin, ‘Blunted Edge’ is the struggle of a person living outside of Gods will, ‘Christ’ is the solution to that struggle that brings peace, ‘Scripture’ is where you learn about that Salvation plan, and ‘Saving Private You’ is how sometimes a friend has to come and help pull you out).

            But some peeps that reviewed the album complained that I didn’t just get up and move right into the album off the bat! No intro, just get to it! But the point I was making with the first 2 tracks is that any body can hit skip and go directly to their favorite songs. But I wanted to create an album that was pleasing at the times when you just pop in a CD and do house chores and actually listen to the whole thing. I wanted to give something to the people that want to take in the whole scene in patience.

HARLOT 
Surrounded by shouts, the cruel accusations
dragged to the court, no hope of salvation
all hope was lost, becuase those who contain me
knew who I was, they caught me in my iniquities
I thought it seemed strange as we entered in
they're stopping a young Rabbi to ask his opinion
'Imma prostitute', that's why they hate me
my body can feel the stones that await me
my judge...a man from Galilee
yet in his eyes I can see
a Father, a Brother, and a Son
a Lamb, and a Lion
the crowd is gathering, so angry and violent
as he stood beside  me, so peaceful and silent
then with one word and one question
 He shows them
that they too are guilty, and cannot condemn
what does He write in the sand
this man
that's asking me 'were are they'
I open my eyes...and through tears, see a courtyard that's empty
the stones that were gonna taste my blood
had been dropped back onto the ground were they came from
........
and in this new light, I now understood
that He would not condenm me, even though He could.....
(end  with  echo)

        Its quite obvious what the track is about (end days, armegeddon, Revelation, ect.). I always loved the way 7Lock ripped his verse. He used what he called his ‘Jamaican style’ where he spit it all with a ‘rudebwoy’ slur. This added to his gruffy vocal tones made for a verse that was intoxicatingly ununderstandable! So many people tripped off of it, “YO! What was he sayin anyway!?”

            GoldenChild was supposed to be on it too, but I couldn’t get my label to buy into the idea of spending the loot to get him on. Nowadays it’s a lot easier to just have some dope computer software and track these things yourself. But back in 96 the only way to do it was to pay bucks for a studio (which would have taken a lot added to the fact that GC lived in Florida). It was one of the major let downs of the album because he wrote a phat verse, and I really wanted him on it! In the beginning of the track I say some stuff that seems like I am giving a shot out to a ‘dead’ Goldenchild. Don’t worry he isn’t dead. But in a way I felt like the circumstances ‘killed’ his opportunity. So I gave that shot out in respect to the illness that he had written that would never be heard.

            The vocal sample in the beginning is from some TV show about disasters (recorded in the same ghetto way as the sample from Theophilus!). The piece towards the end is from a mythology record that says ‘I must be perpetually on my God, lest that movement which sweeps everything along, should hurry me along also’. I thought was a nice touch. The last sample is actually the ‘end’ of the album. A Rasta friend of mine once gave me a tape from one of his trips back home to Jamaica. It was ‘the Gospels in Patwois’ (Patwois is the slang and terminologies used in the Jamaican ghettos). The story clipped in the song (Mark 4:35:41) is when Jesus and the disciples are on the boat and a big storm comes and threatens all their lives. But “Jesus stayed asleep in de back a de boat”. And his followers scrambled to wake him up. So he went to the bow of the boat and commanded the winds and the seas to be still (“cease, Seckle”). And they did! And according to the taped story, Jesus ends by saying, “You still no believe that me run tings!”

            C’mon now! You gotta love that!

            My verse is literally me rhyming a ‘clip note’ version of the book of Revelation and its prophecies in order as they happen according to the book. 7Lock then comes in and adds by explaining how it might feel to be part of the rapture! I feel this track was a powerful ending to the album. It was a good finish. Sometimes I will listen to peoples stuff and they start out good but it fizzles at the end. I like to try to cap it where I will put any tracks that lack a bit in the middle but the ill ones at both ends. I dunno, just the way dirty dirt likes to do it!

            I feel the song moves through it’s ‘quitting point’ by the way Fingaz switched up the main loop halfway through my verse and then flipping back halfway through Lock’s.

If you listen to the sequencing of the whole track (I am peepin it as I write this) you can really respect the dope ear Fingaz had with music.

            This was another track that was a crowd pleaser when me and 7lock got to perform it. In 99 was probably one of the last times we both performed it though. But as of recently I been doin a few of the ‘oldies’ again. Bringin back the ol skool! I took this songs instrumental and chopped it up so that I could spit my verse when I am solo but I added this crazy gunfight and bombs exploding in the middle! I performed it at Cornerstone festival ’02 and it went off hot!

APOCALYPSE NOW 

(GoldenChild –verse not on album version)
IN  REVELATION  DEVILS  APPEAR  IN  HUMAN  FORM
TO  CONFORM  THE  LUKE  WARM, PROPHECY  SINCE  THE  VEIL  WAS  TORN
IT  ALL  BEGAN  WHEN  THE  SON  OF  MAN  WAS  BORN
IN  THE  FINAL  HOURS, YO  THE  GOLDEN  TRUMPET  BLOWS
DISAPPEARANCE  OF  CHRISTIANS  BLAMED  ON  U.F.O's
FROM  HELLISH  ASHES  THE  ANTI-CHRIST  AROSE
ASCENDIN'  TOWARDS  THE  SKY-QUIK  LIKE  THE  TWINKLIN'  OF  AN  EYE
TAKE  THE  MARK  AND  IN  THE  BEAST  YOU  WILL  CONFIDE
WICKED  BLOOD-BROTHERS  NOW  SWAP  D.N.A
LOOK  TOWARDS  THE  SKY  AS  THE  CLOUDS  TURN  GRAY
MANY  STAY  SILENT  WITHOUT  A  THING  TO  SAY
BETTA'  GET  READY  FOR  THE  SEVEN  YEAR  DELAY
ALLIES  ON  THE  FRONTLINE  BECOME  THE  DEVIL'S  PREY
ABOMINATION  OF  SIN  IS  WHAT  THEY  DISPLAY
WICKED  GENERALS  WITH  NOTHIN'  MORE  THAN  CROOKED  SMILES
SATAN'S  HENCHMEN  EXPANDIN'  ACROSS  FOR  MILES
I  SIT  BACK  AND  WATCH  AS  THEY  SINS  START  TO  COMPILE
YOU  BEST  LISTEN  TO  THE  WORDS'  APOCALYPSE  NOW
IN  THE  ENDTIMES  YOU  BETTA'  LEARN  TO  PREPARE
OPEN  UP  YOUR  HAND, INSERT  COMPUTER  SOFTWARE
SOCIETY'S  CLONES  LOOK  AT  ME  WITH  COLD  STARES

(Dirt)
ARMEGGEDEON  YOU  BETTER  RUN
SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST,  DEMISE  OF  THE  EVIL  ONE
BLOOD  SPLATTERS  THE  PAVEMENT
INIQUITIES  OF  FLESH  BECOME  THE  PEOPLES  ENSLAVEMENT
TELEVISED  PROPAGANDA
DEVILS  GIVING  OUT  GIFTS  LIKE  THEY  NAMES  WAS  SANTA
CULTS  THAT  BLASPHEME
"AVOID  GODLESS  TEACHING, SPREADING  LIKE  GANGRENE" (2 Timothy 2:17)
A  SERIES  OF  DISASTERS,  AFTER  SEALS  HAVE  BEEN  BROKEN 
CONQUEST  LEADING  SLAUGHTER,  DISEASE,  AND  FAMINE  (REVEL Revelation ATION 6:2-8)
FORCES  OF  DESTRUCTION,  HELD  BACK  BY  ANGELS
AT  THE  FOUR  CORNERS  OF  THE  EARTH (Revelation 7:1-2)
.......A  HUNDRED  AND  FORTY-FOUR  THOUSAND  CHOSEN (Revelation 7)
CAPTURED  BY  IGNORANCE,  BUT  MAKE  THE  TRANSITION
TRUMPETS  ARE  BLOWN,  HERE  COME  THE  JUDGMENTS (Revelation 8:6-13)
THOUGH  SEVERE,  ARE  ONLY  MEANT  TO  BRING  MEN  TO  THEIR  SENSES
(Revelation 9:20-21)
TURN  AWAY  FROM  IGNORANCE
AND  RUN  TOWARDS  REPENTANCE
FORCES  OF  EVIL  RELEASED  UPON  THE  LAND
LOCUST  FROM  THE  ABYSS  WITH  POWERS  OF  SCORPION (Revelation 9:3)
STINGS  THAT  CUASE  SPASM
PEOPLE  SEEKING  DEATH  BUT  IT  DOES  NOT  FIND  THEM (Revelation 9:6)
SEVEN  PLAGUES  STRIKE (REVELATION 15 AND 16)  BEFORE  THE  FALL OF BABYLON
FINAL  DESTRUCTION  OF  APOLLYON ("Devil" in  Hebrew)
WATCH  IT  GO  DOWN
YOU  TALK  ABOUT  LATER, I TALK  ABOUT  NOW

(7Lock)
BLOOD  DRIPPED  FROM  THE  SUN, ME  SAID  ME  SEE  WHITE  RIDER
ME  KNEW  THAT  BOY IT WAS  THE  HOLY  SON  OF  JEHOVAH
FOUR  WEEKS  THAT  I  HAD  PASSED  AND  I  WAS  SURE  DANG  COOL
CAUGHT  UP  IN  A  RAPTURE  AS  I  FLEW  THROUGH  THE  SKY  I  KNEW
ME  SEEN  THE  RAIN  FALL  DOWN  ME  HEARD  THE  BABYLONS  SHOUT
"PLEASE  HELP  ME  JESUS  'FORE  THE  LAKE  OF  FIRE  I  DO  DROWN"
ME  LEFT  MY  FLESH  ON  THE  EARTH  FOR  ME  KNEW  IT  WAS  CURSED
THE  BEAST  WAS  UNLEASHED  MAKING  RAINBOW  SHERBERT  OF  THE  EARTH
"I  WISH  I  WAS  A  BORN  AGAIN  MAN"  SAID  THE  BABYLON  MAN
AS  THE  PLAGUES  ATE  HIS  ARMS  AND  HIS  HANDS
YOU  DANG-DANG  FOOL,  YOU  SHOULD'VE  BEEN  LEARNED  MY  SCHOOL
AND  BOWED  DOWN  TO  THE  LAMB  WITH  THE  MOST  HIGH  RULE
I  HEARD  A  SEVENTH  TRUMPET  RISING,  RISING, RISING  ON  TOP  OF  
MT.ZION  WAS  MY  LORD  AND  HIS  CREW
A  SEVENTH  TRUMPET  RISING,  RISING,  RISING  ON  TOP  OF  MT. ZION  WAS
A  FACE  THAT  I  KNEW

                      >>>SEE THE LYRIC VIDEO HERE<<<
 This song became the epitome of me writing something too deep for anyone to pick up on. There are a couple ideas so interwoven into this track that some did not pick up on them alltogether.

            The main one is that it’s a song about a gun. Which most peeps understood. I actually concepted this track after what happened from the ‘Operation E’ song (gunfire at a house party I was performing at). I was tired of bullets in our culture!

            My uncle Merle told me about a scene in a Ray Bradbury book called ‘Farenheit 45’. I still haven’t read it but its something about a guy who see’s these crazy visions of war but in reverse. So the bullets are actually flying out of people and back into the guns. I thought that was dope!

            If you pay attention to the second verse of this track I go through the story of a gun in the same way. Normally we dig the ores out of the ground, melt them down to metals, fashion the metal to guns and bullets, shoot them into people, and doctors have to pull them out. But I go in reverse:

-‘capsules of metal with evil intention/ were placed within my body with delayed explosion’

-‘this one had a handheld device…he pulled the trigger twice’ (he had a gun which he used to suck the bullets out of me)

-‘heat the oven up…we melted the bullets down’

-‘we took the secret of the gun and buried it deep within the earth’

The second idea was the acronym for the word heat in the song. I thought it was cool but alotta kids didn’t get it. HEAT stood for: Holyspirit Embodied As Teacher. And in the chorus I am saying that emcee’s can be dope as heck but if they aren’t led by God then they are still wack. People started calling the song ‘heat’ instead of ‘WoodBurnsFire’ (which was derived from the backwards gun idea).

People didn’t grasp onto the ideas as much as I wished they would have. Even so this was a popular request at shows. I would usually not do the second verse though, replacing it with a lot of crowd interaction. I would usually end a show (especially on my tours with P.O.D) with ‘Heat’ and then ‘Chant’.

In the song I liked how 7Lock backed up the track too. It ended up sounding real nice. Fingaz rocked the ill scratch of a Jeru song at the end. And if you listen in headphones you can hear the first time I used my now infamous ‘whisper’ backups.

            This track was recorded in Hollywood and remixed a few times in L.A. and San Diego before the final version

WoodBurnsFire 
(H.E.A.T-Holyspirit.Emodied.As.Teacher)

vs.1
THEY  TRIED  TO  DIS  THE  LOCUST  FIST
CLIMBIN  SIDEWAYS  THROUGH  THE  WINDOW,  BUT  THE  SECOND ONE  GOT  DISSED
SATELLITE  CONNECTION-CONNECT  ME  TO  MY  NUMBER  ONE
INSECT  REINFORCEMENT  MEET  AT  THE  JOINT  LIKE  SKELETON
EVIL  GRASSHOPPERS  MADE  A  MOVE  ON  US
CREATED  A  NEW  WEAPON  CALLED  CRANIUM  RUCUS-OR  GUN
RECEIVE  THE  PERIMETERS  OF  MY  MISSION
LETS  PUT  THE  SQUEEZE  ON  THEM  BUGS  LIKE  TWO  HANDS  AND ACCORDION
SOLAR  WIND  FASHION
PLANT  EXPLOSIVES-N-RUN
I  WANNA  GET  HOME  QUICK  SO  I  CAN  SEE  MY  CINNAMON
AND  CHILDREN-LETS  BLOW  THE  WICKED  OUT  THE  LAND
MOBILIZE-AND  SYNCHRONIZE  WATCHES  AT  MY  COMMAND
POSITIVELY  CHARGED-RADIUS  IS  LARGE
SECRET  UNDERGROUND  AGENTS  LIKE  MASONIC  LODGE
BEFORE  WE  DISMISS-AND  TAKE  CARE  OF  BUSINESS
RAISE  YOUR  ANTENNAE  AND  SING  THE  ANTHEM  OF  THE LOCUST.........

-EMCEES AIN'T NOTHIN IF THEY DON'T GOT H.E.A.T.
DON'T WEAR THE ARMOR-GET CRUSHED LIKE WHEAT
YOUR GHETTO SOUNDS ARE SWEET MELODIES
BUT THEY DON'T GOT NOTHIN IF THEY DON'T GOT H.E.A.T.

vs.2
A  CLOUDED  MIND  SEES  NOTHIN'
ALL  ALONG  THE  WATCHTOWER  THEY  SAID  THEY  SAW  AN ARMY  COMIN,
SOME  WERE  ON  HORSES-THE  OTHER  ONES  WERE  RUNNIN-                                 
IN  THE  HANDS  OF  THE  WICKED  MEN  THEY  SAW  THE  WEAPON
RUNNIN  PLOTS  TO  MAKE  US  BOW  LIKE  CELLO  OR  VIOLIN
WICKED  INSECTS  SNUFFIN  THE  SPIRIT  OF  MARANATHA
LETS  BREAK  UP  THEIR  PLANS  LIKE  BIRTHDAY  KIDS  AND  PINATA
----SPYIN ME WIT DEM BAD EYE---------
I  CALLED  BACK-UP  TO  THE  SPOT-LETS  STRIKE  WHILE  THE IRONS  HOT
BUT  THE  ENEMY  JUMPED  BACK  QUICK  AND  MY  SHIRT  WAS CAUGHT
CAPSULES  OF  METAL  WITH   EVIL INTENTION
WERE  PLACED  WITHIN  MY  BODY  WITH  DELAYED  EXPLOSION
I  SCREAMED  BLOOD,  MURDER  STYLE-BUT  NOBODY  HEARD  ME
THE  NEXT  DAY  I  AWOKE  WITH  VISIONS  OF  CEMETERY ACTIONS-STRONG  LIGHTS  WERE  BLAZIN  ON  ME
WHEN  I  CAME  TO, I  RECOGNIZED  DOCTORS  AROUND  ME
THIS  ONE  HAD  THIS  HANDHELD  DEVICE
TOUCHED  MY  SKIN  COLD  AS  ICE-HE  PULLED  THE  TRIGGER TWICE
I  LET  OUT-AS  THE  BULLETS  WERE  SUCKED  FROM  MY  CAVITY
MY  ANATOMY  NEEDED  TWO  WEEKS  OF  RECOVERY
NOW  LETS  FIND  THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  WEAPON
HEAT  THE  OVEN  UP  FIFTY-ONE  HUNDRED  DEGREES  LIKE  DRAGON
FLAME-WE  MELTED  THE  BULLETS  DOWN
I  SEEN  THE  SECRET  COMPOUND
INSTILL  MY  PEOPLE  WITH  FEAR  AND  MAKE  THEM  LIE  DOWN
WE CAN'T  LET  THIS  INFORMATION  GET  AROUND.............
I  SEARCHED  MY  HEAD  FOR  AN  ANSWER  BUT  ONLY  ONE  COULD BE FOUND
THE  DEVILS  WORMS  ARE  AT  WORK
WE  TOOK  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  GUN  AND  BURIED  IT  DEEP WITHIN THE EARTH............

 There’s not much behind this track. I just liked the beat initially when Fingaz let me peep it. It’s first impressions were of a dope Bboy type of track that all the crews could get down with on the linoleum. So that is what I eventually wrote with in mind. 

            I will however tell you the interesting story behind the name. It comes from the old ‘Dinotopia’ book. You gotta go back and check it out. It’s a fictional fantasy story about an island where dinosaurs never died out. Humans get shipwrecked on this island through out the ages and have to stay there because the way the currents flow around the isle, no boat is able to get out into the sea. So the main thrust of the story is about how man and dinosaur live on this island together in harmony (some of the dinosaurs can even talk).

            Well the book I read was about a father and two brothers who get washed up on the island. Their boat wrecks and dolphins save them from drowning by swimming them to the land (which is quite normal according to the story). then from there, the 3 are opened up to the exciting world of Dinotopia (go get a library card and check it!) and so and so forth. Find the book and read the story yourself fool!

 On the island people greet eachother by saying ‘breathe deep, and seek peace’. One day the younger son finally asks a native what exactly does that phrase mean and he is told that it is in reference to the dolphins that saved most of the inhabitants lives.

Dolphins are obviously mammals that need oxygen to survive, but yet they have been placed in the ocean surrounded by water. Well instead of complaining about it and being upset, they have chosen rather to learn how to adapt to their envioronment. They taught themselves to take deep breathes (breathe deep) and deal with the cards they have been handed (seek peace instead of being upset).

I just thought that was all cool. So much so that I even have a tattoo on each arm written in Chinese characters, one saying ‘breathe deep’ and the other saying ‘seek peace’. So when writing this track I used the name here again.

This track was remixed, by DJ Theatre over a new beat for the ‘Upsetter Mixtape’, 2009

BREATHE DEEP 

1st  breath 
ANSWER  THE  QUESTION, "WHY  DO  THEY  WANNA  STEAL THUNDER?
I  MAKE  YOU   WONDER  WHAT  KIND  OF  CAT  WANNA  BE  LIKE  THAT
STICK  MY  FEET  TO  LEVEL  PATH (ISA.26:7)
BUILD  MY  HOUSE  HIP-HOP  BECAUSE  THAT'S  MY  HABITAT
MONOTHEISTIC
BRAIN   PATTERNS   NEVER  SIMPLISTIC
OTHERS  PACKIN'  UP PIPES  WHILE  I'M  PACKIN'  UP  MANUSCRIPTS
GROWTH  LIKE  BOTANIC-SATANIC
THOUGHTS  ALL  UP  IN  ME  BUT  I  BLOW  THEM  LIKE  VOLCANIC

 2nd  breath 
SEEK  WISDOM   LIKE  MAGI
HANG  DEVILS  LIKE  HAMAN (Ester7:10), REVEALING  PLOTS   LIKE   MORDECAI (Ester2:19-23)
MISTIFY   LIKE   VAPOR
EMCEE'S  ARE   RUNNIN'  OFF  THEY  MOUTHS  SO  I  GET  THE  MASKING  TAPE
I  DO  NOT  FRET  BECAUSE  OF  WICKED (Psalm37:1)  MEN 
THAT  TRAVEL  SELF MADE  PATHS  AND  ADHERE  TO  THEY  OWN  RELIGION
I  KNOW  THAT  THEY  DRINK  AN  EVIL  GIN
AND  WHEN  THEY  PICK  UP  MICROPHONES  THEY  ONLY  SPIT  OUT  MENTAL  POISON
I'MMA  BURN  IT  UP  LIKE  GOMORRAH
CARRY  MY  SWORD  AT  ALL  TIMES  LIKE  CONAN  THE  DESTROYER
I  AIN'T  DOWN  WITH  SPIRITUAL  SLAVERY
MICROPHONE  IS  BLOWTORCH  TO  BURN  THE  SKIN  OF  ENEMY
AND  LEAVE  'EM  SUBDUED  LIKE  CANAANITE (Joshua)
WHO  TRIED  TO  KILL  ME  WITH  CAR-BOMBS  BUT  IT  WAS  ONLY  MY  PROTOTYPE
I'M  AFFLUENT  IN  THE  WAYS  OF  RHYMIN'
SPIT  SEEDS  FROM  MY  MOUTH  AND  WAIT  FOR  FERTILIZATION
I WREAK  HAVOC  LIKE  THE  4RTH  TABLET
A  MASSIVE  HEADACHE  TO  YOUR  MEMBRANE
GET  RELIEF  FROM  THE  BIG  CHIEF
EXTRACTING  JUICES  FROM  THE  TREE  (TRI)
THE  ANECDOTE-AAAHHH-TO  THE  SIN  THAT  YOUR  IN
THEOLOGICAL  LYRICS  ACTIN'  LIKE  POISON
IF  ONE  CAN'T  STAND  HOW  'BOUT  THE  OTHER  MAN
LET'S  MAKE  PACTS  IN  THE  DARK  AND  SMUGGLE  REAL  STUFF  LIKE  CONTRABAND
PROJECTION  LIKE  GANG  MAN  CARRY  GUN
VIBRATION  FROM  THE  SON  FILLS  UP  MY  LUNG

       This track was constructed around the chorus. The actual lyric content isn’t too centered on anything but phatness! It’s the chorus that delivers the main idea. Theophilius is an old Hebrew word that means ‘lover of God’. In the chorus we were saying that we love God too but when the church people met up with us they rejected us because we don’t do things exactly like them. We don’t dress like them, we don’t look like them, and we love hiphop. Because of this we get turned outside and considered as less.

            The point of the song is to say that we are human too and we deserve to praise God in our own way. That he accepts us as we are because He judges the inward and not the outward.

            The vocal sample in the beginning is from a TV show I was watching on Discovery channel. It was a documentary on the ‘Elephant man’, Joseph Merrick. He was born in London in the 1800’s and suffered from a severe case of elephantitis that deformed a majority of his body. Because of this he was a social outcast. He was treated as an animal most of his life until he met a doctor who took him in and allowed him to stay at the hospital. There, Joseph became quite popular amongst the social elite, even getting a few visits from the queen herself.

            Although Joseph had an exterior that was repulsive to view, he had the mind of a genius. While at the hospital he built a couple miniatures of famous London buildings out of cardboard. These replicas are exact to the finest details and made completely out of original pieces cut and glued together by hand. They are almost identical scaled models of the original buildings constructed only from viewing photographs of the structures.

            Joseph wrote a small diary before he died (some think by suicide) and what you hear in the beginning of the song is the narrator of the show reading the last entry of that writing. The last words that Joseph wrote before he left this world. I had seen the show and thought that it would be a dope sample for the intro to Theophilus:

‘Tis true my form is something odd

but blaming me is blaming God

could I create myself anew

I would not fail in pleasing you

If I could reach from pole to pole

or grasp the ocean with a span

I would be measured by the soul

The mind is the standard of the man.’

I had to wait for the show to rerun to catch the whole sample. And even then I applied ghetto techniques to catch it on tape. I ran a mic from my mixer all the way out into the living room where the TV was. Then at the right time I ran back into the Redroom and hit ‘record’ on my tape deck. GHETTO FABULOUS BABEE!!

I liked how the song came out. But alotta people didn’t understand the chorus as easy as I thought they would. Regardless, 7 and me had a lot of fun performing it.  And when he wasn’t with me, I would do my verses and then add some freestyling and crowd interaction.

We both recorded the song at the same time in south San Diego at ‘Abbot Sounds’.  The track was mixed down a few times before the final on the album. I let the drums ride out at the end for so long just to see if I could irritate somebody! HAHA! I remember trying to explain why to Fingaz and 7. I didn’t really have a good reason, I just wanted to see if someone would email me and complain about it. No one ever did. So get to it! Email me about it!

   This song was remixed by DJ Theatre for the ‘Upsetter Mixtape’, 2009.

THEOPHILUS 

(Dirt)
I'M  DOUBLE  SIGHTED  LIKE  SIAMESE
THROW  GRENADES  AT  YOUR  TOWN  LIKE  VIETMESE
VIETCONG, I'M  WORSER  THAN  IGNITION
WHEN  I  START  TO  CHANT  AND  WATCH  ALL  LOCUST  COME
HEED  THE  WARPATH, OR  SUCCUMB  TO  GOD'S  WRATH
SOULS  ARE  STRIPPED  OF  UNGODLY  PRIDE  IN  THE  AFTERMATH
GO  AND  GET  YOUR  HANDGUN  I  DON'T  NEED  ONE
MY  MIND  IS  MY  WEAPON-HA
WALK  THE  WAY  OF  CAIN  AND  GET  BURNT  LIKE  CREMATORIUM
THE  OUTCOME, YOU  THOUGHT  YOU WAS  SMART  BUT  YOUR  A  DUM-DUM
EVIL  GETS  BEAT  LIKE  WUVY'S  SET  OF  DRUMS........
"THEOPHILUS"  I  THOUGHT  YOU  KNEW  ME

(7lock)
LET  ME  RUN  MY  SCAM  , SON,  CAN  YOU  DIG  IT 
BRINGIN  YOU  THE  STYLE  FROM  THE  NAZARITE  SHIN  DIG
BRING  YOUR  BUDDHA  MONKS  AND  YOUR  36  CHAMBERS
AND  SON  I'LL  BRING  MY  STAFF  SWINGIN  ANCIENT  OF  DAYS
KNOCK  YOU  OUT  YOUR  FRAME  KID
KICK  IT  IN  YOUR  BRAIN  KID
BOY  LIKE  A  MAD  KANGAROO  NOW
WHAT  YOU  GONNA  DO  
WHEN  I  NAZIRITE  WARRIOR  OUT  THE  66  VOWS
LOCUST  SWARMIN  ON  YOUR  PATH  TO  BRING  YOUR  FOUR  WALLS  DOWN
BOOM-PA, MIGIS  IN  THE  JOINT  SCREAMIN  AAAHHH!!!!
BREAKIN  UP  YOUR  POW-WOW
GIVING  YOU  THE ZZZZZZZZ
LEARN, SONNY,  LIKE  BUTTER  FROM  THE  CHURN
I  COME  REAL
BRINGIN  YOU  THE  TRUTH  IN  YOUR  GRILL
ALL  HAIL  TO  THE  FIRST  TABLET
SON  GRAB  YOUR  MIC  LIKE  A  MAN  AND  STOP  YA  BABBLIN
SHADOW  10-STACKIN  EMCEE'S  BY  THE  PILE
BE  KNOWN  TO  WRECK  YOUR  CREW  LIKE  A  MASTA  OF  AN  UNKNOWN  STLYE

(chorus)
THEOPHILUS
I  THOUGHT  YOU  KNEW  US
BUT  WHEN  WE  CAME  TO  CRUSH
YOU  REJECTED  US               2Xs

(Dirt)
I  BURN  YOUR  TOWN  WITH  MENTAL  GASOLINE
CHECK THE CRIME  SCENE
I  STACK  KNOWLEDGE LIKE  JENGA
SCRATCH  UNRIGHTEOUS  LIKE RECORDS TO FINGAZ
AUTOMATICS-LET THEM HAVE IT
I  COME  IN THE  NAME  OF  THE  SPIRIT  TO  DEVOUR
THINK GODLY THOUGHTS INTO BRICKS AND BUILD BIG  
TOWERS
THE FORTRESS IS BUILT
BUT  IF  THE  FORTRESS  IS  BUILT  ON  THE  SAND
THEN  THE  FORTRESS FALLS
MY  VOICE  RISES LIKE INCENSE
POWER  COMES  BACK  DOWN  INTENSE
PROTECTION  ELECTRIFIES  LIKE  SECURITY  FENCE
LET  ME  SPARK  A  REVOLUTION
BECAUSE  WIDE  IS  THE  ROAD  THAT  LEADS  TO  STAGNATION  

(7Lock)
LIKE  A  LOLLIPOP,  KID, I  STRAIGHT  REPRESENT  THE  TRIUNE
GRAB  THE  MIC  LIKE   I ,  KARATE  ICHE'  RI
K.I.  ON  AN  EMCEE  STEPPIN
BEEN  KNOWN  TO  WRECK  YOUR  CREW  AND  MAKE  YOUR  WHOLE  SHIP  SANK
BOY  THINK   BEFORE  I  SEND  THE  BOUNTY
RAIDING  ON  YOUR  CAMP  LIKE  THE  MOUNTY
SON  IT'S  COMIN  DOWN  LIKE  SHOOP-SHOOP-SHOOP-SHOOP
NAZIRITE  RIDERS  ON  THE  STALLION  CREW
KNOWN  TO  BRING  IT  FORTH  LIKE  THE  TABLET  OF  THE  FIFTH
ARMY  ON  YOUR  CREW  LIKE  THE  SPECIAL  FORCES
RECON  MARINES,  STEALIN  ON  YOUR  GRAIN
LOCUST  ON  YOUR  CROPS  LIKE  GUERRILLAS  FROM  UKRAINE

            On September 28, 1996 my wife and I was at a house party chillin. There were probably about 400 peeps packed tighly in and around this house down in Chula Vista. When I came to the spot all these cats were freestyling in the backyard by the DJ who was spinning some phat instrumentals. Everything was peace! Instead of everyone on ‘battle’ mode it seemed like the emcee’s were just vibing and enjoying the fact that there was a mic, PA system, and a crowd! Even though there were different crews assembled there everyone was actin cool and united. No one was tryin to showboat and get all crazy. It was really peace.

            My wife was pregnant at the time with our second kid. We were both standin over by the sound system. The mic was being passed around and some people were telling me to get a piece of it. All of a sudden a couple of gunshots rang out from the far side of the backyard and the whole crowd started to scatter like a stampede! I was afraid for the life of my girl and the baby inside her, so I pushed her to the ground and layed over her. If bullets were flyin around I wanted them to hit me before they hit her. I was tripped out scared that my wife or the baby would be hurt!

            After a few minutes everything cleared up and most of the people had either left or were on the street in front of the house. A fight had started with two gansters in the back and one of them pulled out a glock and started firing. The half funny thing is that all he hit was the other dudes butt cheek! But nevertheless I was pissed off! To be sitting at a party and have so much positivity flyin suddenly interrupted by that drama was wack! To make it worse, I felt like the life of my child and wife were violated as someone acting stupid could have killed them with a stray projectile! I was mad!

            So mad that when I got home later that night I sat down and wrote this song from start to finish in less than an hour, which was a first for me. Usually I write a bit. Stop. Come back to it later and finish up when I can. But my emotions were running deep and the end result was Operation E.

            I got the name from an old Eek-a-Mouse song called ‘Operation Eradication’ which was about getting rid of violence in the shanty towns. The ironic thing was that this song was my ‘anti gang’ song but it seemed to be the gangtsas favorite jam! I performed it rarely but when I did, some crazy creased Dickie, flannel wearin cat would tell me he liked it.

            If you listen real close to the backups in the backround of the song, you can hear Rueben and me talking. I am telling him about the story above. We all thought that was a good effect. It made the song feel more like a conversation. ‘Dirt is telling you that guns are bad in the hands of evil people’.

            The track was recorded in the Hollywood sessions and mixed a few times before the final album version.

OPERATION E.

initiated  September  28, 1996 

FREESTYLE  FANATIC
RHYMES  COME  CLEANIN'  OUT  THE  DUST IN  YOUR  ATTIC
FOR  REAL,  SPRAY  THEM  LIKE  AUTOMATIC--WEAPON
OPERATION  E.  EQUALS  GUN  DESTRUCTION
ORIGINAL  TEXT  READER
MAINTAIN  POWER  LIKE  RADIO  RECEIVER
I  BRING  NAILS  TO  YOUR  STACKS  OF  LUMBER
LIKE  PHSYCICS  BRING  800-TELEPHONE  NUMBERS
INVITATIONS  TO  ROCK  THE  PARTY  SCENE
BUT  WHEN  THE  INSECTS  MOVED  IN  THE  PEACE  GREW  LEAN
PEOPLE  WALKIN'  CROOKED  LIKE  UN-V8-ED
LYRICS  BURN  UP  HOT-EVIL  GETS  CREMATED
HOODLUMS  APPROACH  ME  BUT  THEY  DAFFY  LIKE  DUCKS
TRYIN'  TO  COME  AROUND  AND  MAKE  MY  EONS  FLUX
PEACE-THAT'S  WHAT  I  GIVE  TO  YOU
AND  IF  YOU  DON'T  GIVE  IT  BACK  I  STILL  GIVE  IT  TO  YOU
RHYMES  AS  ASSUALT-CHICK-CHICK-HIT  THE  ASPHALT
LYRICS  HIT  THE  BODY  NOW  GRAB  THE  CHALK
MAP  THE  TERRAIN
BECAUSE  I'M  MOVING  IN  YOUR  FRAME-OF  MIND
AND  NOW  YOUR  STRUNG  UP  WITH  TWINE  
AND  WHEN  IT  BREAKS, WHAT  DO  YOU  HAVE  TO  FALL  BACK  ON
FAMILIES  OF  TREACHERY  OR  HOLY  SON
GET  MAD-PULL  GUN-SHOOT  ONE-CROWD  RUN
PUT  DOWN  YOUR  METAL  AND  CHOOSE  TRUE  WISDOM BECAUSE  THOSE  LIVING  BY  THE  GUN,  DIE  BY  THE  GUN

(  Chorus  ) 2X'S

GANGSTAS  THROW  YOUR  SIGNS-IMMA  DRAW  THE  LINE
KILLING  MY  INSIDES  ONE  MOMENT  AT  A  TIME
GANGSTAS  THROW  YOUR  GUNS  AND  YOUR  GUN  BATTLES  AWAY
BECAUSE  TOMORROW  IS  NOT  A  PROMISED  DAY
TAKE  HEED  TO  YOUR  WEAPONS  AND  USE  THEM
WATER  REFLECTS  FACE  SO  HEART  REFLECTS  MAN (proverb 27:19)
SECRETED  ON  EARTH  BUT  SCANDALOUS  IN  HEAVEN
YOU  THINK  IT  WAS  UNSEEN  BUT  ASK  THE  BIG  MAN
ADHERE  TO  THE  LESSONS  OF  PROVERBIAL  MAN
AND  WATCH  THE  DEVIL  GET  CRUSHED  LIKE  FOREHEAD  TO  CAN
YOU  WANNA  BATTLE,  WELL  BRING  IT  ON  MY  FRIEND
I  BRING  MY  BRAIN  YOU  BRING  YOURS  BUT  THERE'S  NO  EQUIPMENT
ALWAYS  YELLIN',"KEEP  IT  A  HUNDRED  PERCENT!"
BUT  THEN  YOU  BUY  DRUGS  AND  GOLD  BEFORE  YOU  PAY  RENT
WELL  GUESS  WHAT,  NOW  YOUR  STUCK  IN  THE  CEMENT
CAME  HARD  LIKE  TITANIUM  BUT  YOU  STILL  GET  BENT
AND  FOR  YOU  GUYS  OUT  THERE  THAT  SAY  THAT  YOU  KNOW  ME  
GET  TO  KNOW  ME,  BEFORE  YOU  TELL SOMEONE  THAT  YOU  KNOW  ME
GUNSLINGAS  PLAY  THAT  HARDCORE  GAME
SEEKING  HOW  MANY  BULLETS  CAN  A  BODY  MAINTAIN
THEY'RE  ATTACKING  OUR  CHILDREN
AND  YET  WE  CLOSE  OUR  EYES  AND  ACT  LIKE  WE  DON'T  SEE  THEM
WELL  IF  THOUGHT  IS  THE  ROOT  TO  ACTION
I  THINK  I'LL  THINK  ABOUT  THEIR  DESTRUCTION
AND  ACT  UPON  IT
WITH  IMMEDIATE  APPLICATION
GUN  ERADICATION
AND  STOP  THE  INTIMIDATION
YOU  CAN  STRIKE  MY  BODY  BUT  MY  SPIRIT  FLIES  FREE
THEN  I  BLUNT  YOUR  REALITY  LIKE  REFUGEE
ROCKIN'  THE  PARTY  400  DEEP
BUT  SOME  FOOL  SHOT  A  GUN  THEN  WE  ALL  HAD  TO  LEAVE

(out  on  chorus )

This is by far the oldest song I wrote appearing on the PLAGUE album. It’s hard to pinpoint but I would put it in 93, NO later than 94. I remember writing it during the time I was in an old crew called ‘Quest 4 Souls’.

            I can’t remember exactly why but I picked the American Indian culture as a background for the track. Growing up in San Diego there is a lot of celebrations and festivals centered around that community, and as a kid I always admired the fierceness of Indian warriors (the cowboys sucked!). The purpose behind this song was just a ‘warpath’ vibe so native American Indians just naturally popped into my head while writing.

            With that said, I will tell you about an unusually funny memory I have about this track. This song seriously is the oldest on the album. Even the track was completed shortly after writing it. So all the way back in 94 I was doin small shows and rockin this track. One of these performances was at an outdoor community block party in L.A. city. So here I am in the middle of the ghetto jumpin around performing this one. BUT…few people know that the original song had me doing this crazy chanted chorus. Kinda like the baseball fans that chant at the Redskin Indian games. Well at this particular show a 300-pound, drunk Indian lady that was very upset with me approached me after wards.

            She had got the feeling that I was mocking her culture. And, I kid you not, she almost killed me right there in the middle of the street. I tried to explain to her that I have alotta respect for the Indian culture and that is what the song stemmed off of. But she wasn’t having it (a scrawny kid tryin to tell a fully grown, fully intoxicated adult the depth behind a song)! She put a curse on me and my family then said that if I ever played that song again her spirit would hunt me down and choke me in my sleep!

            It was a long time after that before I even dared to rock that song again. And even when I finally did, that ‘Chanting’ chorus was definitely omitted! It was crazy. I laugh about it now, but back then I was 17 years old and having a huge older woman threaten to kill me was a bit frightening.

            When I toured with POD in 97 this seemed to be the favorite. I was used to Bboys and breakdancing. But alotta the shows I did with them was with other bands and I was the only hiphop act. So I used to get kids to start a mosh pit to this track! They all thought that was hilarious.

            I have an old Rescue records comp from 94 that has this track on it. It’s actually not the album version because it was the VERY first time I ever recorded in a studio and it showed. Walkin to school in the hood and freestyling while someone else beat boxed was far different than sittin in that vocal booth with that scary microphone hovering over you. But lemme tell you! I learned how to master that mic quick!

Out of all the tracks on PLAGUE I think Chant had one of the most memorable beats. It was just an ill and raw track. Real gritty and street level. Slow moving but powerful like a flash flood.

I was always a Micheal Jackson fan when I was little (yeah! Shaddup!) and always wanted to scratch ‘Smooth Criminal’ in a song. That worked out well here too! Then some goof balls make a million dollars recently by doin a cover of it (Alien Ant Farm)!!

            Out of all my tracks, this one has got to be the oldest and most history filled. To write a few paragraphs now doesn’t seem to do any justice. Chant is so old I can barely remember its beginning. Man! I’m getting old!

            Chant was recorded a few times before the album version and re-recorded over a new beat for the ‘Upsetter Mixtape’, 2009.

 CHANT 
 I'LL   STICK    IT   IN  YOUR   BACK,    SON
I  BEAT  DOWN  PARTIAL  DARKNESS,  LIKE   THE  RASTA'S
BEAT   DOWN  UPON   THE  DRUMS
AT  THE  NIYABINGHI   PARTY
HA----HA
EMOBILIZIN'   DARK   AREAS
GOT  EVERYBODY  RUNNING ,  AND  SCARED  OF   A
LITTLE  BROTHA  LIKE  ME  BECAUSE  I  USE  MY  VERSES  LIKE  THEY  WAS  A  GUN
(  CHICK-CHICK ) AND  MAKE  AN  EMCEE  RUN
MY  STYLE  IS  INFAMOUS,   KNOWN   ACROSS THE  MAP
I'LL   BOARD  YOUR  SHIP  AND  TAKE  YOUR  LOOT  LIKE  THEM  PIRATES
I  GO  PUBLIC  TO  THE  ENEMY
DERIVE   MY  STRENGTH  FROM  GOD  SO  THE   IMMORAL  CAN'T  BEAT  ME
I  EXCEED  OVER  THE  DEVILS   SILLY   INSTRUMENTS
MY  WAYS   ARE   POTENT,  WHILE  YOUR  WAYS   ARE   IMPOTENT
SO   GET   YOUR  CREW  AND   WE  CAN   GET    IT   ON
LIGHT  A  FIRE  AND  SING  ALL  NIGHT  LONG

V.2
MY   EXPERTISE    IS   DANGEROUS,  LIKE  THE  WRONG  END  OF  A  SHOTGUN
BUT STILL  DEVILS  HAUNT  MY  CRANIUM
I   BE   BIG   CHIEF-WHILE   YOU   BE  LITTLE   CHIEF
'CAUSE   I   SMOKE   A  SPIRIT   WHILE  YOU   SMOKE   A   LEAF
I   GET  CRAZY   LIKE   A   PUNKROCK   MOHAWK
ANTAGONIZE   AND    HEAR  THE   SOUND   OF   THE   TOMAHAWK
WICKED  ALWAYS  PLAYS  THE  OUTSIDE,   NEVER  STANDIN'   CLOSE  TO   MY   WINDPIPE
BECAUSE   THEY   MIGHT   GET   SNIPED
A   PROCESSION   OF  LOCUST   STANDIN'   WITH   INDIAN   SPEARS
WAITIN'  FOR  THE  DEVIL  TO  COME  NEAR
HIT   UP   THE   ARMY,   LIGHT   THE   FUSE   OF   THE   WARPATH
AND   LISTEN   TO   THE   WAR   CHANT
THE   FIRE   IS   BURNIN'   WITHIN
TO   CHASE   ALL   THE  SNAKES   FROM   THE   SNAKE   DEN
AND   LAY   THE  DEVIL'S   WORLD   DOWN   LOW
AND   WHEN   HE   SAYS   WHAT   THE   HECK,   I    SAY.…
" YOU'VE  BEEN  HIT  BY  A  SMOOTH  CRIMINAL"
...(HEY YOU CAN'T  GO   IN  THERE,  THAT'S  ABBADON'S                   OFFICE)...

V.3
A  SHADY   CHARACTER   IN   THE   CORNER,   HA
I  SAID  TO   MYSELF   THIS   MUST   BE   THE  ENEMY
I   APPROACHED   THE   TABLE   SLOWLY
HIS   STINKIN'   MEN   STOOD  TO  THE  BACK,   AND   SURROUNDED   ME
NOW   THERE'S   MAD   BROTHAS   ON   ALL   SIDES   AND   ALL   THE  WHILE   
ALL   I   SEE   IS   CROOKED   UPSIDE   DOWN   SMILES
THEY   WANNA   TAKE   ME   TO   THE   RIVER
AND   GIVE   TO   ME   SOME   CEMENT   NIKE'S
I    BUST   A   MICROPHONE   OUT   QUIOK
GUNS   POINTED   AT   MY   HEADD-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK
I   LET   MY   VOICE   SLICE   THROUGH  THE   SILENCE
ALL   OF   THEM   ARE   SWEATIN'   BUT   NO   ONE   GETS   VIOLENT
NO  ONE  LET   THE  BULLET   DOWN   THE   SHAFT  
BECAUSE   I  STARTED   TO   GO   ON   THE   WARPATH
SCREAMIN.....

 No song came as cryptic and mysterious as 7Lock’s GRASSHOPPER track!

And it was a bit of a struggle to get it on the album. I have a fond memory of sitting down at a taco shop in downtown San Diego, pleading to my A and R. It was the old artist creativity against the corporations ideas saga! I have ideas on how things should be. One of those ideas consists of letting your boys get a piece too. It’s only right! The men that were with you for the ride the whole time. The men that supported you even back when you was in the cradle. That’s your people! Give em a chunk! 2 songs on this album became such a battle to get on because my representative wasn’t seeing it like that. One was ‘Good Medison’ and the other was this one.

            “We only signed you, Dirt, not 7Lock!” said Rueben (by the way, I love Rueben! Don’t read too far into this story.)

            “But I aint askin you to sign him too! This is just a solo track that he’s gonna rock. He’s my boy! C’mon, I’m just giving him his spot on my album.”

            “But that’s the point. YOUR album. Not His. Why is he getting a solo track on your album!?”

            “Because I want to show that we (Locust) are a team! How can I show that if I don’t let my man shine? I know it’s a little different the way I wanna do it, but trust me, it will be dope!”

            I finally got Rueben to agree after I cried a bit and then promised that 7Lock wouldn’t ask for money.

            7 and me went over to Fingaz, who showed us an extra track he had. I didn’t like it. To tell you the truth, I still don’t think I like it (the beat alone)! But Lock was all over it. So he staked his claim and wrote the lyrics. The ONLY reason I like the end track now is because 7Lock came ruff on it! I think if anyone else attacked it, I wouldn’t dig it. The dope vocal sample of Kane from ‘Kunf Fu’ leaving his master at the end of the song is a personal highlight too (I came to the table with that!).

            When the album dropped, most people seemed to like it. And there was a year, at least, where 7 Lock and I got to perform a lot on stage and that would be his solo for the shows.

Nevertheless that song sparked the biggest ‘Locust’ mystery ever. Everyone liked it but didn’t know why. Especially since they didn’t know what the heck the chorus was about! I got tons of email (and still get an occasional question) asking what he was talking about.

            So here’s an official explanation (I wont explain the song lyrics. You can get at Lock and ask him about those. But here’s the chorus explained):

            You see, in the ‘Shadow of the Locust’ universe there are times when we create our own ‘language’ or slang words. This song utilized on such instance where we had been using a slang term within the crew (and still do).

            A grasshopper and a locust are the same exact insect. The only differences is that a locust is when too many grasshoppers are born in one place and they start swarming. Their numbers make them ferocious because they are fighting harder for food and mates. So in a way a grasshopper is that insect you hear all solo in the field at night chirping away. A locust is that same exact insect with thousands of his friends coming to knock on your door! So in our slang terminology within the group, a ‘grasshopper’ is some dude that is either weakhearted or not saved. A ‘Locust’ is a warrior! A person who is tired of a mundane, mediocre existence and jumps up to join the plague! Although they are the same creature, locust tend to be much larger and vivacious because they get more exercise and build more strength through the fierceness of the extra competition.

            So when 7lock says, “you be the grasshopper, I’ll be the weedhopper”. He is saying that you can settle for being the weak one, but he is gonna jump over lifes’ struggles.

Make sense? Good! I am glad we could clear this up.

            7Lock recorded this track in a home studio in southtown Diego called ‘Abbot Sounds’. It was mixed a few times before the album version. 

GRASSHOPPER (performed by 7Lock)

I  GOT  FORM  LIKE  KATA  FROM A  JUDAN  SENSAI
TENTH  DEGREE  KID  BE  THE  LESSON  I  GIVE
PRETEND  YOU  BE  THE  GRASSHOPPER  I  BE  THE  LEAD
TAKE  HEED--7-LOCK  SWIFT  TO  LAY  DOWN  YOUR  NEED, CHUM
I  SEE  YOU, YOU  SEE  ME  LIVIN  LIFE  ABUNDANTLY
SOMETIMES  YOU  WONDER  BEE  WHAT  BE  THE  REMEDY
I  TELL  YOU  POWER  FROM  THE  MOST  HIGH,  GUY
BUT  STILL  YOU  PRAY  TO  JUBU  JI  AND  HAILE  SELASSIE
YET  I  TRIED  TO  SHOW  YOU MUCH WISDOM LIKE  THE  LORD  OF  ILLUSION
BUT  IT  ALL SEEMS  CONFUSING-ALL  YOU  CAN
IS  WHAT  I  SAY  WHEN  I  SPIT  THIS  FLAME  KID
IS  WHAT  I  SAY  WHEN  IM  LAYIN  DOWN  MY  GAME  KID
I  READ  MY  SCROLL  WHILE  YOU  SMOKE  YOUR  CANNABIS
STANDIN  ON  MY  FRONT  LAWN  TWIRLING  STAFF,  SON

CHORUS
YOU  BE  THE  GRASSHOPPER  I  BE  THE  WEED HOPPER
YOU  JUMP  THE  GRASS  AND  I LL  JUMP  THE  WEEDS
2Xs

I  GIVE  PLAN  LIKE  PROFESSOR X  TO  THE  WOLVERINE
LIKE  QUEEN,  ANOTHER  BITES  THE  DUST  EMCEE
I  SCRAPE  YOU  OFF LIKE  CREAM  ON  THE  COOKIE
7-LOCK  ON  THE  SPOT  RUN  THEM  VETS  LIKE  ROOKIES
LOOK  BEE  SHADOW  OF  THE  LOCUST  BE  MY  SECT
CHRIST  BE  MY  REFUGE  AND  YOU  BE  THE  REFUGEE,  BET
I  CAN  RUN  THE  SHOW  LIKE  THE  GONG
TEARIN  DOWN  THE  WALLS  IN  YOUR  WHOLE  SYNAGOGUE
LIKE  GHENGIS  KHAN  I  TAKE  CONTROL  OF  YOUR  KLAN
YOU  AND  MOHAMMED  AND  YOUR  WHOLE  HOLY  KORAN
SON  I  COME  TO  BRING  YOU  TRUTH  LIKE  TODAY AND  SON  I  SEE  YOU  COME  TO  BRING  ME  TRUTH  LIKE  O.J.
BOOM  EXPLOSION  LIKE  THE  SUN  HIT  THE  MOON
7-LOCK  ON  THE  WARPATH  DOOM
TO  ALL  YA  NOMADS  I  GO  CAUSE  DESTRUCTION  THROUGH  THE  WHOLE  DANG  CORE
AND  MY  GOD  GIVES  ME  FLAVA  FOR  SOME  MORE,  RAW

CHORUS 2Xs

MY  WHOLE  CLICK  BE  HOLY GHOST  LIT
SEE  I  BRING  IT  FROM  THE  TOP  OF  MY  MOUNTAIN
DOWN  TO  MY  FOUNTAIN
PURE  LIKE  EVIAN  MY  FLOW  COMES  TO  YOU
PURE  LIKE  EVIAN KID  JUMP  IN  MY  POOL
SON  I  COME  TO  SHOW  YOUR  WAY  OUT  THE  DARK
FOLLOW  ME  TO  MY  ARK  AND  WE LL  SAIL  TO  NEW YORK
AND  JAPAN
AND  RUN  IT  LIKE  A  GOSPEL  SCAM
YOU  AND  ME  LIKE  BILLY  GRAHAM
AND  WE  CAN  LEAVE  THIS  HERE  LAND, MAN
AND  THEN  I LL  SHOW  YOU  MY  HOLY GHOST  MANTIS
SPIRITUAL  TAI  CHI  AND  MY  JUDO  FROM  ATLANTIS
THEN  I LL  SEND  YOU  OFF  ON  YOUR  OWN
MASTA  OF  A  STYLE  TO  MAN  THATS  UNKNOWN

            This song is by far my favorite on the PLAGUE album. Yeah! GO AHEAD AND DISAGREE! I don’t care. To me, this song was the epitome of a perfect Dirt song. The right amount of everything. Just enough ministry but not too much. Just enough street credibility, but too much. Added with a hype beat, an ill concept, and even a dope scratch! C’MON NOW!

            This song actually has a crazy story behind it too (maybe that adds to the mix for me, the memories). As you might know, besides hiphop, reggae was a sincere love of mine. I became attracted to the musical genre during my jr. High days. I was lured in by the social and empowering messages of a povertized people on a small island in the caribbeans. To love reggae music is to love Jamaica and Rasta culture. And although I disagree with a majority of the Rastafarian theology, I saw past the debates and saw the people.

Rasta’s might have very different opinions and views, but to me they exemplify some of the most beautiful things found in scripture. The kindheartedness, sincerity and obedience of a true servant, magnified by the raw resisting strength of a righteous warrior. I didn’t grow up with a dad and, although my mom did her best, our house went without the discipline I saw in the Rastafarian community. When I saw their locks of hair, I saw more than a rebellious spirit against social norms, I saw dedication, commitment, long suffering, and endurance. And these were things that my upbringing lacked.

            So for a while, my attention to hiphop shifted as I began to search out the things I admired. I wanted to know why Rasta’s read and revered the same bible I did, but yet they were so different from any ‘church’ people I ever met (keep in mind I am talking about real Rastafarians. Not the Americanized version that is only concerned about smoking pot)? How come they seemed to know more scriptures than my pastor? Why were they so militant? Where their beliefs true and mine were wrong? So I searched. And like I said, I in no way would call myself a Rasta today because I do not agree with major theological tenents that they hold to. but nevertheless I developed very strong relationships within the small community of Rasta’s in San Diego. And to add to that, I learned how to ‘eat the meat and spit out the bones’ (how to absorb and apply the good things and disregard the bad).

            One of my friends was an older man named Casper. Caspers’ only source of income was selling weed and artwork (paintings and sketches he drew of the Rastafarian culture). Although he was one of the coolest and caring people you could ever meet, he was very harsh in his dealings with his narcotics sells. When people didn’t come correct with the money. He came correct with the beat downs! Even so, me and him were pretty solid friends. I was this young kid that always came around askin questions and he was willing to give answers. Beyond that, he respected me despite my age and treated me like a young adult (which was a first for me). And so our relationship became real tight.

            But as the years went by, there was a problem. The more I hung out with him the more my spirit felt convicted. In hindsight, simply because God had a plan bigger than both of us. I was young though, and I denied it for a while. In part, because of my lack of knowledge in Gods sovereignty and omniscience. And also because I really liked Casper and I didn’t want to walk away from our relationship (selfishness).

            Well the convictions got worse until I broke and obeyed. I felt that I had to stop hangin around. That I had to ‘cut’ the relationship, and I finally submitted. Its hard to remember exactly what I desired from God, but I recall just feeling like I wanted to leave Casper with ‘something’, but I didn’t know how to come about it with him. How does a small runty kid tell a grown man that maybe he’s wrong and he should try to get better?  How does a son tell his dad that he’s gonna leave because the dad is a bad influence?

Well God delivered an answer as usual. It wasn’t what I expected though. I thought God was gonna have me gear up for battle and go in there slingin! Ready for war! God was gonna have me be the young student that humbles the teacher with his insight!

‘Just tell him to read a chapter of the bible a day.’

            That’s it? That’s all I have to say? You don’t want me to run up in the spot and spit some big theological sword into the guts!

            ‘No. Just tell him to read a chapter of the bible a day.’

            So that’s what I did. I went and told Casper that he probably wasn’t gonna see me for a while because my mom needed me at home more (HAHA! Blame it on moms as usual!). And in the most sincere way that I could, I asked him to promise me he would read a chapter of the bible a day. And, likewise, in the most sincere way he could, he agreed. So little by little I stopped comin around. But every time I saw him, I reminded him of his promise. Soon I didn’t see Casper any more altogether.

            Until……
            Fast forward over 3 years. I think I was 18 or 19 when I was chilling down at the beach and guess who rides up on a bike? Good ol’ Casper!
            ‘Maga Kong! Yeah man! Whaya say? (Maga Kong was his nickname for me. It meant ‘Skinny King’).
            ‘CASPER!’
            Reunited and it feels so good. So we talked for a while. And lo and behold, I come to find out that Casper has since renounced his faith in Haille Sellassie as a deity (Ras Tafari) and accepted the scriptural account of Christ as saviour! He also informs me that  he has also let loose with the narcotic trafficking and makes money legally now. Then he tells me that it was largely due to the promise he made me and kept!

            You might disagree, and that’s your right. But I think that the inspired word of God can change even the hardest of hearts.

   This track was remixed by DJ Theatre for ‘the Upsetter Mixtape’, 2009.

A CHAPTER A DAY 

 INIQUITOUS  SOLDIER-BUST
HE  RIPPED  THE  PAPYRUS
HIS  STYLE  WAS  RECKLESS
BURNT  THE  CAMP  TO  ASHES
RAP  SHEETS  LONGER  THAN  THE  LOCH  NESS
WHEN  HIS  MIND  BUBBLED  HOT  HE  SPRUNG  HIS  PLANS  MATTRESS
EVIL  WORDS  FROM  HIS  MOUTH  HIT  THE  HEART  PIECE  LIKE  A  GUNSHOT
ANY  ATTEMPT  AT RIGHTEOUSSNESS-HE  JUST  BLEW  IT  LIKE  SNOT
HIS  DEVELOPMENTS  GOT  ARRESTED
NOT  REALIZING  THAT  BY  GOD  HE  GOT  TESTED
AND  TEMPTED  BY  SATAN
HIS  WAR  WAS  SPIRITUAL-LIKE  VIETNAM  OR  SAIGON
LIFE  WAS  LOST-UNFOCUSED  HIS  ATTENTION  FROM  THE  CROSS
THE  CRUCIFIXION
HIS  ADDICTION
NARCOTICS  IN  THE  PROJECTS
CRIMES  THAT  LEAVE  NO  EVIDENCE
FORGET  THE  6th  COMMANDMENT
EVIL  RADIUS-STUDY  HEATHEN  SCIENCE
BACK-STAB  BUSINESS  AND  KILL  THE  WITNESSES
RESIST  BENEVOLENCE  WITH  FLESHLY  DEFENSES-HE  WANTS  TO  BE  THE  PRESIDENT
HE  PLAYED  HIS  GAMES  LIKE  SNAKES  IN  GRASSES
CLIMBED  TREES  LIKE  ZACHEUS  AND  DROPPED  WICKED  VIRUSES
MY  COMPANIONS  TRIED  TO  BREAK  IT  UP  LIKE  GLASS
BUT  HE  LICKED  A  SHOT  REAL  HARD  AND  SPREAD  OUT  LIKE  A  RASH
YOUNG  SOLDIERS  GOT  STUNG  LIKE  THE  TAIL  OF
A  SCORPION
GOOD  MEN  TURN  LIKE  ANIKIN-THEN  HE  BRINGS  IT  AGAIN
HE  COPYRIGHTED  HIS  TACTICS  LIKE  A  TEMPLATE
N-BRUSHED  OUT  HIS  ENEMIES  LIKE  TOOTHBRUSH  AND  COLGATE…
HOLD  BACK  THOSE  STUMBLING  TO  THE  SLAUGHTER
CAUSE  WHEN  I  SAY  CHAPTA  I  MEAN  HOLY  SCRIPTURE

CHORUS
HE  READ  A  CHAPTER  A  DAY
KEEPIN  THE  DEVILS  AWAY
CORINTHIAN-BROUGHT  FORTH  A  NEW  PROPOSITION
WITH  A  CHAPTER  A  DAY
I  SEEN  HIM  CHANGE  HIS  WAYS
HE  READ  A  CHAPTER  A  DAY
JUST  A  CHAPTER  A  DAY

FORWARD  JEHOVAH  SOLDIER-EXCEL
STAGNATE  THE  OLD  SHELL......
HE  WENT  FROM  SLAVE  TO  SON FOUR  SEVEN  GALATION
BOXED  UP  TIGHT  RECEIVING  VENTILATION
FORMER SELF GOT HIT
WITH HIGH POWER FROM GOD THRU HOLY SPIRIT, MAN THE VEIL GOT RIPPED
HE TOOK A SIP, AND NOW HE STICK IT
TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PATH, YAWHEH BROUGHT HIM BACK
INFESTATION GOT PEIRCED BY AN ARROW FROM GOD
AND GOT HEALED LIKE THEM PEOPLE THAT TOUCHED MOSES ROD
HE WAS LOOKIN FOR THINGS HE COULDN'T FIND IN WEED
TIRED OF DAMNATION
PORNOGRAPHIC STATIONS
SATANIC EQUATIONS, THAT EQUAL CALCULATIONS-OF RUCUS
HIS SOUL YEARNED FOR EXODUS
HIS ATHEIST WAS SWITCHED TO AN ESOPHOGUS
THAT SCREAMED 'JEHOVAH-AH-SHALOM'
HE TOOK HIS STUFF TO THE GRINDSTONE
HE WORE TOMMY HILFIGER
TOOK IT OFF AND COME WITH TOMMY HELL FIGHTER
CHURCH EDIFIER
YOU CAN COME AGAINST THE FATHER WITH CLENCHED FISTS
BUT GO AWAY PREACHING THE TRUTH LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST

Man! When Fingaz showed me this beat, I tripped out. I was immediately attracted to it. It was real unorthodox just like me. It was an ill beat but it didn’t make sense why. I thought that it was also a welcomed change from the downwardly moody direction that most of the music on the PLAGUE album seemed to have been taking.

So I snatched up the tape and skated home to start writing. The lyrical content is based around the chorus, which I thought up first. I personally liked the chorus, but I think alotta people thought it was too ‘deep’. It wasn’t anything that could be chanted on stage to get the people to ‘cut a rug’. It was a song that was seemingly hard to get across on stage. And because of that I think I only performed it a few times live.

The idea of the name is pretty self explanatory. When you are not obedient to God, you are ‘drunk’ with your own desires. Your disobedience brews an intoxicating feeling of being in ‘control’ of yourself. You start to feel as if you don’t need God and you can take the wheel yourself. You get all big headed and self centered. That all just reminded me of a drunk person.

There is the popular saying of ‘being drunk in the spirit’ used to explain someone who is deeply and intimately acting out in accordance to God moving in their life. I just thought the same could be said about a person who is not in accordance with God. They are not intoxicated in His spirit, but in the spirit of themselves. Intoxicated by self. This egocentrical concentration seems to always lead to very destructive consequences not only to others, but ourselves too.

This was one of the songs that were recorded in the Hollywood session and later remixed in San Diego.

INTOXICATED BY SELF 
 
THE  JOURNEY  HAS  BEGUN  FIRST  STEPS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION
INTOXICATE  LIKE  BOURBON
DO  NOT  CUT  THE  STEM  FROM  THE  FLOWER
SEEDS  TURN  SOUR
FACILITATE  LIKE  NINTH  HOUR  
WITH  SOUND WAVES  THAT  DESTROY  THE  TUNNELS  OF  PRISONS
I  RELEASE  VISIONS  OF  DEMONS
BEING  PURGED  FROM  HUMANS
THEY  TALKIN'  ONE  MAN  CLAN
I  TALK  UNIFICATION
NOURISHMENT  FROM  SELF  RIGHTEOUSNESS  BRINGS  A  GIANT  TO  THE  GROUND...........
GO  YE  FORTH  TO  ALL  CORNERS  OF  THE  EARTH
MOM  HOOKED  UP  FIRST  BUT  GOD  HOOKED   SECOND  BIRTH
WICKED  MEN-  YOU   TRANSCEND  YOUR  OWN  LEVEL
SITTING  AT  TABLES  AND  MAKING  DEALS  WITH  DEVILS
EVIL  SEMEN
IMPREGNATES  AND  TURNS  TO DEMONS
CHORUS
INTOXICATED  BY  SELF-  WHO'S  AT HOME
NOBODY- WE  LEFT  OUR  CHILDREN  ALONE
WE  BURNT  DOWN  OUR  HOUSES  WITH  EVIL  FLAME
SEEKING AFTER JEWELS OF  WHICH  WE  CAN'T  OBTAIN
-INTOXICATED BY SELF  WHO  LEAVES  THE  KNOWLEDGE  ON  THE  SHELF
AND SEEKS  WORLDLY  GAIN  AND  WORLDLY  WEALTH
WE  PILLAGE  OUR  TOWN  AND  RAPE  OUR WOMEN
N'  WHEN  WISE  MEN  RISE  AGAINST  WE  KILL  THEM

V.2
WE  TAKE  OUR  TUMBLES  
IN  THE  JUNGLE  WE  RUMBLE
IN  THE  GHETTO
SEEING  THE  SILHOUETTE  OF  THE  UNTRAINED
WE  NEED  POWER  AND  FUEL  LIKE  METHANE
A  DULL  AXE  REQUIRES  GREAT  STRENGTH
BE  SEEKING  WISDOM  AND  SHARPEN  THE  BLADE  (ECLES. 10:10)
BRINGING  FORTH  FELLOWSHIP  BUT  NO  ONE  OBEYED
BURN  THE  TIP  LIKE  BIDIS
START  THAT  HEART  PUMPING  LIKE  3  WEEK  OLD  FETUS
WORLD  THOUGHT  DISENAGRATION
MENTALLY  SPARK  FIRES-  AND  WATCH  'EM  SMOKE  FROM  CRANIUM
SHADOW  MOVE  LIKE  MARINE
SETTING  STANDARDS-  AND  STIMULATE  LIKE  CAFFEINE
OUR  ENEMIES  IN  THE  MIRROR
ATTACK  BACK  WITH  MEDITATION  AND  PRAYER

CHORUS
INTOXICATED  BY  SELF-WHO'S  AT  HOME
NOBODY  WE  LEFT  OUR  CHILDREN  ALONE
WE  BURNT  DOWN  OUR  HOUSES  WITH  EVIL  FLAME
SEEKING  AFTER  JEWELS  OF  WHICH  WE  CAN'T  OBTAIN
-INTOXICATED  BY  SELF-  I  SEEN  THEM  PEOPLE  BUILD  UPON  THEY  HATE-
STACK  IT  UP  LIKE  CRATE
A  NEW  SEED  IS  IN  THE  CHAMBER
THEY  FILLED  WITH  ANGER-  SINGING  SONGS
ENTICING  ME  TO  COME  ALONG

V.3
SELF  INTOXICATION
UNHOLY  GHOST  CAPPING  OFF  MAD  AMMUNITION
AND I-
CRY  THROUGH  MY  THIRD  EYE
MY  BODY'S  TREMBLIN'
THE  JUNGLE'S  BURNIN'  UP  SON
GANGSTA'S  GRAB  YA'  GUNS  REAL  HEADZ  GRAB  WISDOM 
E-NUFF  TALK  ABOUT  COMBAT-  COMBAT  THAT
OR  GET  DESTROYED  IN  THE  AFTERMATH
NO  MORE  FRUITS  OF  DECEPTION
NO  MORE  DREAMS  OF  GRANDEUR OR  MENTAL  DELLUSIONS

       This song is the second part of ‘Evilution’. It is a statement of victory through uniting with your peoples and fighting against the evils surrounding you. Lock and me didn’t want this song to be as heavy as the Evilution song. So we wrote it as a ‘fight’ song in the disguise of a ‘party’ song  (‘and all the party people threw all their hands up’).
            7 and me always seem to sound so natural together. It is the differences in our styles and voices that compliment eachother. We wrote this song in the living room of the second ‘locust mansion’ (the one that you see on the enhanced CD of the Plague album). My last verse on this track was actually taken from an old skool verse I wrote way back that I never even thought I would use. We laughed about it because it came from a whole song that was a big cheesy story. I told Lock that I used to think the original song was so dope! But it really wasn’t. It ended up sounding good by using a fraction of it at the end of this song.
            This was one of the most responded to songs that 7lock and me used to perform together, we used to have the crowd jumpin outta shoes and socks! I enjoyed it because thats how I saw the song.  As a ‘warcry’ that is sung before a battalion of soldiers before going to battle.
            I’m listening to the song right now, and I’m laughing some of the over exaggerated backups here and there. The crazy sounds we were doin in the back would almost be comical if they were heard solo. There is a part where I say ‘they hit up my playground’ that was supposed to be enhanced by a sample from the ‘Playground’ song that Another Bad Creation did back in the day. And most of those sound effects I was doin on my own were supposed to be taken from actual sound effects CD, But hey, we were on a budget.
            There was a mess up that I still aint happy with. At the end I am giving out a rollcall of some dope emcee’s and bands that we like and I say ‘mighty army drawn up for battle’. But my tongue slips and it sounds more like ‘mioghty ormy’!!

Pt.2 (Revolution:Revolution)

(DIRT)
EVIL  GETS  RIPPED  LIKE  TWO  HANDS  RIP  PAPER
TECHNIQUES  MORE  MYSTERIOUS  THAN  A  HARDY  BOYS  CAPER
MY  SOUL  EQUIPPED  WITH  STAINLESS  STEEL  BOBWIRE
UNLIKE  THE  WALLS  OF  JERICHO  I  WILL  NOT  RETIRE
COULD  NEVER  HANG  WITH  A  NEGATIVE  VIBE
AND  LIKE  SATURDAY  NIGHT,  I  COME  LIVE
THESE  FIENDS  ARE  OUT  TO  DESTRUCT  ME,  THEY  HIT  UP  MY  PLAYGROUND  
WHEN  THE  LIGHTS  ARE  DOWN
BUT  I  COME  BACK  LIKE  A  SUPER  SECRET  AGENT
ONLY  USIN'  SHADOW  OF  THE  LOCUST  SPY  EQUIPMENT
I THROW  OUT  A  SMOKESCREEN  AND  LURE  THE  DEVILS  TO  A  BUILDIN'
SET  UP  WITH  TRAPS  FOR  THEM
THE  FIRST  ROOM  WHEN  THEY  COME  INSIDE
CLIK-CLIK-THE  DOORS  LOCK  AND  IN  THROUGH  THE  VENTS  COME  CYANIDE

(7-LOCK)
BOY  THEY  TRIED  TO  SNEAK  IT  ON  UP  FROM  THE  BACK
I  HEARD  'EM  COMIN
WHEN  THEIR  SWEAT  DROPS  HIT  THE  SMUT
DREW  OUT  MY  SWORD  WHEN  IT  ALL CAME  DOWN
EMCEE'S  BY  THE  DOZEN  TRIED  TO  STEAL  MY  SOUND........
1800  DAYS  AND  I  WAS  SITTIN  AT  HOME, YO
THINKIN'  'BOUT  THE  TIME  WHEN  THEY  WAS  ATTACKIN'  ME  KID
SMACKIN  ME  KID
WICKED  EMCEE'S  TRIED  TO  INFILTRATE  MY  PATH
WHEN  THE  HAND  OF  THE  ALMIGHTY  ONE  STRENGTHENED  UP  MY  WRATH
FLEW  IN  GLORIOUS FLIGHT
LOCUST  SWARM  LIKE  JAPANESE  KAMIKAZE  IN  THE  MOONLIGHT

(DIRT)
LIGHT-THEY  TRIED  TO  IGNITE
THEY  BROUGHT  THE  WRONG  WEAPONS  TO  THE  FIGHT  AND  TRIED  TO  RAIN  ON  WATER  TIGHT
I'VE  PULLED  OUT  SCRIPTURE  AND  SEEN  KILLER  BOYS  RUN
USE  PSALMS  AND  PROVERBS  AGAINST  FALSE  RELIGION
I  SHAKE  VIPERS  OFF  LIKE  PUAL  SHOOK  THE  ONE  FROM  HIS  EXTRIMITY
THEN  I  BLOW  UP  THE  VICINITY
LIKE A FIRE  BRICK
SO  YOU  BETTER  GET  HIP
TO  THESE  EMCEE'S  THAT  GLORIFY  THE  FIRST  THREE  TABLETS
MAN  THIS  REVOLUTION  IS  STRAIGHT  UP  TO  DATE
COMIN'  THROUGH  THE  HEADPHONES  SO  TIGHT  IT  MAKES  ME  LAMENTATE
'MASTA  GOD  HAVE  MERCY  'PON  THE  MIC  INNA  ME  HAND
GIVE  US  GOOD  RANGE  AND  SIGHT  TO  BLOW  UP  WICKED  HEATHENS
'-YOU  SAID  THAT  YOU  WANTED  A  REVOLUTION
SO  THE  LOCUST  CAME  IN  WITH  THE  GOOD  SOUND  SYSTEM
AND  ALL THE  PARTY  PEOPLE  THREW  ALL  THEY  HANDS  UP
'CAUSE  WHEN  WE  GRIPPED  THE  MICROPHONES  WE  BLEW  THE  DANCEFLOOR  UP

(7-LOCK)
ANNIHILATION, THE ARMY OF EVIL WITHDREW THEY HEAT
TESTED BY THE FIRE, MANS WORKS, THEY COME TO NOTHIN
APPROACHIN ME IN THE FORM OF AN ANGEL OF LIGHT
THE CRAFT OF WICKED MAN BECAME FUTILE
AND LIKE REPTILES, THEY STRUCK DOWN LOW TO STING MY SHINS
SON, THE BATTLE WAS ON WHILE EMCEE’S CONFESSED THEY SINS
AND FELL SHORT OF THE GLORY THAT SHINED THAT NIGHT
MAD BOY 7 LOCK MADE THAT MIC IGNITE

(DIRT)
THEY RAN OUTSIDE TO A BLACK HELICOPTER
I GOT A LASER GUIDED MISSILE LUANCHER
I WATCHED THE BIRD FALL TO THE EARTH IN FLAME AND FIRE
THEN I CHECK THE RUBBLE FOR SURVIVORS
ONE OF THE THEM ARE DEAD THE OTHER TWO STILL GOT BREATHE
SO I TAKE THEM TO A SECRET UNDERGROUND BASEMENT
NOW I GOT P.O.W’S
THAT I TIE UP TO CHAIRS ALL BEAT UP AND BRUISED
AT FIRST THEY WONT TELL ME THEY SECRETS
BUT BEFORE THEY DIE THEY BECOME WEAK AND START TO SPEAK
NOW I KN OW THE PLANS OF THE OTHER SIDE
I FAX A MESSAGE TO SATAN ‘YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE’
(out on chorus)

            Back around ’94 through ‘’97, I was associated with a crew called ‘Quest 4 Souls’. There were 8 of us in all. I ended up being close to all of them in different ways. But one of them in particular became a unique friend. His name was Bju and he was a native of Trinidad Island. Before I met him I had branched out from my first musical love, hiphop, and started to absorb myself into reggae and its rich culture. Since Bju was from the Caribbean I was immediately attracted to him. And since I was very well versed on Jamaican music, culture and history he, likewise, was drawn to me. We became good friends because of our shared love for the Islands.

Bju had a strong addiction to marijuana. Almost daily he would partake in the aesthetic pleasure of inhaling the weed. Although I did not share his habit we were still cool. His moms would be at work and he would burn it, while I sat their playing Nintendo or cooking top ramen. I was never really a judgmental person. Live and let live. So I let Bju live. But we’d often get into disputes about it. Not because I wanted him to stop. He had to make his own decisions and stick to his own commitments. The reason I would get upset at times, though, is because he wanted to stop. He was always complaining about how he wished he had enough discipline to quite. So I would tell him that he had to make a choice and commit to it. He would reply with some ‘easier said than done’ remark. And it would roll around the pit from there.

I was his friend. I believed in him. But it was his rollercoaster ride. He would try his hardest to quite. It would last a short time, and then the levy would break and the temptation would rush him again.

            I remember that there was one time where he seemed to be setting a personal record. Every day I would ask him, “what up?”.

And he would say, “Naw man, I didn’t light any today”.

And so it went day after day. From an ‘every other day’ habit to almost 3 months!

Well one night I was chillin at the crib doing whatever. And outta no where Bju admits to me that he had been lying about not smoking. We had been friends for close to 2 years and although we were punks to eachother at times, we had never been dishonest with one another. He told me that I seemed so proud of him as the days went by that he just kept telling me that he was clean. I knew Bju enough to know that he had very few people ‘proud’ of him in his life. Everything was cool. We were still friends after that and life went on.

But that night, after I gave him dap and bounced out the door, something kept me on the porch of his house. I was sad for Bju. I had pity. To watch a friend struggle so hard with any issue, in such a drastic way, for such a long time gets to be harsh even for the spectators.

So for the next hour and a half I sat under his dim porch light, unbeknownst to him, and wrote the EVILUTION song. In actuality I pretty much plagiarized it from the book of Lamentations in scripture. Bju’s war made me think of a tormented person spiritually crying out for strength. Crying made me think of lamenting. And that directed me towards the book. So I pulled out this dope little pocket bible I had and my notebook and started reading and writing. The book was so thick with imagery that all I had to do was find the rhymes.

In the song I wanted to mimic not the conflict of an inner war, but the times in which you feel like all is hopeless. Like the enemy has the upper hand. Because to Bju it was hopeless. He gave the enemy too much credit and gave up fighting too much.

The track, on the album, was produced by Tim (Sir Roc) from ‘Sackcloth Fashions’. Tim doesn’t ever believe me. But out of all the songs on the PLAGUE album, his soundscape for this one is the closest to what I heard in my head when writing it. It was one of the ones recorded in Hollywood and then mixed down in San Diego.

I always wanted to perform this one live but have actually never done it. I couldn’t really say why. I was just convinced early on that people at a live show would probably not like hearin such a moody song and I bought into that lie.

Pt.1 (EVILUTION: UNHOLY GHOSTS)

NOT  EVIL  FLESH  AND  BLOOD  BUT  EVIL  PRINCIPALITIES
THEY  TRIED  TO  DECEIVE  ME
SPOKE  SOFT  LIES  SINCE  MY  MOTHER  CONCEIVED  ME
I  PUT  MY  EAR  TO  THE  GROUND  AND  TRIED  TO  LISTEN  FOR  THE  TRAPS
THEY COMIN'  2,000  MEN  ON  HORSEBACK
THEY  BRINGIN'  FORTH  THE  WAR  OF  MY  ARMAGEDDON
SEEKING  FOR  SOMEONE  TO  DEVOUR  LIKE  A  HUNGRY  LION
THEY'RE  THROWIN'  CURIOSITY  AT  MY  BRAIN
USING  TECHNIQUES  OF  TORTURE,  THAT  ARE  JUST  NOT  HUMANE
BARRING  MY  WAY WITH  BLOCKS  OF  STONE (Lamentations  3:9 )-ENTICING  ME
MUD  WAS  PLACED  UPON  MY  EYES  AND  WHEN  IT  DRIED  I  COULDN'T  SEE
THE  AFFLICTION  IS  COMING  AND  I  CAN  FEEL  IT (lamentations  3:1)
ATTEMPTS  WERE  MADE  TO  END  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BOTTOM  OF  A  PIT  (Lamentations  3:33)
HANDS  WERE  PLACED  OVER  MY  MOUTH  SO  MY  LAMENTATIONS  COULD  NOT  REACH  THE  EARS  OF  THE  MOST  HIGH
THEY  SAID  THAT  MY  SOUL  MUST  DIE
AND  WHEN  I  ASKED  WHY.....
THEY  REVEALED  THERE  PLAN  FOR  THIS  AND  EVERY  GENERATION
MANUFACTURE  SEEDS  OF  WICKED  AND  PLANT  THEM  IN  ALL  GARDENS
CONCEPTS  OF  IMMORALITY  HAVE  PERMEATED  MY  HEAD
MY  FLESH  REBELS  AND CHOOSES  THE  PATH  OF  THE  DEAD
THE  GATES  OF  THE  CITY  SINK  INTO  THE  EARTH  (Lamentations  2:9)
THE  BONES  WITHIN  MY  FLESH  BREAK  AS  SIN  IS  GIVEN  BIRTH  (Lamentations  3:4)
A  NATION  OF  PAGANS  ENTER  THE  SANCTUARY
THOSE  THAT  WERE  FORBIDDEN  ARE  NOW  MEMBERS  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY  (Lamentations  1:10)
THE  COMMUNITY  IS  STUNTED  BY  EVIL  INTENTIONS 
AND  THE  PROPHETS  OF  THE  LORD  ARE  NO  LONGER  RECEIVING  VISIONS  (Lamentations  2:9)
FINE  GOLD  HAS  BECOME  DULL,  THE  SACRED  GEMS  HAVE  BEEN  SCATTERED  ( Lamentations  4:1)
ON  THE  CLOTHES  OF  THE  UNRIGHTEOUS  INNOCENT  RIGHTEOUS  BLOOD  IS  SPLATTERED  (Lamentations  4:13)
THOSE  WHO  ONCE  ATE  FINE  FOODS  ARE  DESTITUTE  IN  THE  STREETS  (Lamentations  4:5)
ALL  THIS  IS  GOING  DOWN   'CUASE  OF  THE  INIQUITIES  OF  THE  PRIESTS  (Lamentations  4:13)
UNTAINTED  BABIES  ARE  ABORTED
SINS  ARE  IMPORTED  AND  EXPORTED
TRANSMISSIONS  FROM  ON  HIGH  HAVE  BEEN  DISTORTED
"RESTORE  US  TO  YOURSELF,  SO  THAT  WE  MAY  RETURN"
(Lamentations  5:21)
THIS  ECHOES  IN  MY  HEAD  AS  THE  FOUNDATIONS  BURN...................
...................MY  MIND  BLURS,  TRANSGRESSION  MATURES
UNHOLY  GHOSTS  TO  MY  RIGHT,  UNHOLY  GHOSTS  TO  MY  LEFT
LEADING  ME  DOWN  A  HALLWAY TO  THE  MORAL  LAW  OF  DEATH

       In ’97 I got to go on tour with P.O.D.. We left for 6 weeks as we made our way up to the Cornerstone festival (http://cornerstonefestival.com). It was one of the most enlightening times of my life. Not only did I learn a lot from watching Sonny and them boys on stage and behind stage, but my mind was opened to the fact that there were more musical genres out there beyond the one I grew up in. And even beyond that I realized that in reality there is no good reason to shut off a group of people because of their outer appearance or customs. There are excellent things to be gained from opening yourself up to other cultures and societies. It was a great time, and the lessons of those days have yet to leave me.
            Most of the Plague album had been recorded by this time. I had a strong desire to establish ‘Shadow of the Locust’ with on this album (a network I had started of likeminded musicians across the U.S.). Obviously to do that, I had to get some of my cats on the album. At the time my record label was not seeing my vision, and understandably so, because they had signed just me as a solo artist. The misconception on their part was that I didn’t want my people to be ‘signed’ on the label with me, I just wanted the world to know that there was a whole crew of similarly creative emcee’s that had been kept underground with me. I was never good at self promotion and I am always concerned with allowing the people around me to climb the ladder with me.
            The original plan was to have all the cats in ‘Remnant Militia’ and ‘Sons of Intellect’ to represent themselves throughout the Plague album. But it turned out to be a hassle for me to gain the label support financially and spiritually to do this. So in the long run, I opted for the second best option. One chance, one song, all emcee’s. My one opportunity came on the tour with P.O.D.
            I set it up so that I had a ride from Cornerstone down to Florida, were those two crews were based. From there, I had bought a one way plane ticket back home to San Diego. There was a band that was from Florida that was willing to give me a ride down after the Cornerstone event so that I could get the ‘Good Medison’ song recorded. But things just never seem to go as planned in the crazy adventurous world of Dirt. At Cornertsone, the band that offered the ride never showed up. So after my opening set for P.O.D, on stage in front of 9,000 fans, I humbly asked for a ride down to Florida. Throughout the next few days I was approached by a few groups of people that were willing, but ended up goin with a youth pastor and his group. His name was Chris Boggles, and if you look in the credits he is listed as the ‘executive producer’ of the song. It was my way of saying thanks for the ride. They were able to take me to Atlanta Georgia, and Chris bought me a plane ticket the rest of the way to my destination.
            While in Cape Corral I was blessed. I spent most of my time with Goldenchild and his family. We had to drive about an hour away from his pad to meet up with ‘Remnant Militia’ at the studio. Everything concerning the song was kinda up in the air. The song was goin to obviously be long, so we had decided to make it as one solid drum track, with 4 different loops coming in as the song progressed. So in most respects it would not get boring because it was almost like having 4 separate songs mixed together instead of one long one. Upon arriving at the studio, no one had written anything, and the beats were yet to be ‘complete’ (oooh, that’s a rhyme!). Even though there was a bit of stress to get the song done (we only had that night to do it), it really became a great time of fellowship. I hadn’t seen my family in 6 weeks while on tour, but being with these guys I felt like I was surrounded by fam!
       Needless to say, the song got done. I had to leave the masters with Drastic and Architect/Construct so they could mix it. I didn’t hear the end result for another month or so. I was highly impressed considering the rushed atmosphere surrounding its creation, but I wasn’t hopeful that the fans would like it. It was really long, clocking in at 7 minutes and 40 seconds. I was afraid that it didn’t move enough to capture the ears of kids for the whole length.
But after the album was released, my fear was put to rest. Some songs on the album I have gotten little or no feedback, But not ‘Good Medison’! I have never heard anything negative about it. The time factor actually played well because most kids said that they were enraptured by the fact that it was so long but still remained phat all the way through.
       The song was placed as the second on the album because after making my intitial ‘impression’ I wanted to show that there was a crew behind me that was also geared up and readied for any knuckle ruckus.
       I got the vocal sample in front of the song (‘insects are all around us…’) from a ‘Money Mark’ album. I chose this sample because it states at the end that some things are ignored even though they are beautiful to listen to. Through out the song, there is another vocal sample from the GI Joe movie. It’s Destro saying ‘Behold, the culmination of centuries. The ultimate fruit’.  I am pretty sure Architect was responsible for that one. I liked it because in ‘christian terms’ fruit is symbolic to the result of your work. Your efforts will bear ‘fruit’.
       My favorite of the 4 loops used in the song was definitely the first one that I appear on. But I equally love hearing Oposit and Roldan on their parts. The small backup before Oposits’ piece is me ‘creatively’ explaining the meeting of Dirt, Remnant and Sons.
      The name comes from the idea that medicine is good because it heals. But the word medicine was spelled wrong on purpose to suggest that Gods son (medi-son) is the ultimate doctor.

GOOD MEDISON 

 (DRASTIC)
IT DON'T MATTER, WHO YA ARE
BOO YA KA! SCATTER
DRASTIC FIRST BATTER UP TO CAPTURE, YOUR IMAGINATION
WITH A 4RTH DEMINSIONAL, GRAPHIC, SCHEMATIC
ON TELEPIC COMMUNICATIONS
SELECTED METHOD UNDETECTED
TELEPATHIC PERSUASION
ADVISE ADVACUATION
YOUR DEFENSE STATIONS BEEN SABATOGED
BY LIUTENANT COMMAND ROLDAN MESSIANIC
PEASANT ASSASSIN AT LARGE
I'M BLASTIN A BARAGE
OF VIVID LYRICS
IN 5 DIFFERENT SPEEDS LIKE A CIVIC STICK SHIFT
MY MIND DRIFTS IN THE SPIRIT
GOT GIFTS NOT TO RECEIVE BUT TO GIVE IT
WON'T SAY IT UNLESS I LIVE IT
DRUNKEN DRAGON SLAY IT THEM EVICT IT
FROM MY PREMISES
CAN'T MEASURE THIS WITH THE UNFOCUSED EYE,
OR MIMIC THE STYLES OF THE NEMESIS
DOPEST LYRICIST
LOCUST SWARM THE SKY
AND EVER SINCE MY SECOND BIRTH, I BEEN TRANSFORMIN LIKE THE FLY
BODY PARTS  START TO FALL OFF ONLY TO REPLENISH
WHAT MY GOD STARTS HE'LL FINISH 
SO I DEFEAT AND DIMINISH
THESE POSSESSED EMCEE'S 
I TOLD YA SOLDIERS NEVER REST AT EASE

(DIRT)
YOU PRESSED ON YOUR GAS AND WASTE YOUR FUEL, SON
SHOULDA REMEMBERED, THE WEAK SHALL INHERIT THE KINGDOM
OF HEAVEN
21 ATTACKED, I KNOCKED EM DOWN TO 7
AND SAVED PRACTICE FOR MILITIA
BULLET LIKE LYRICS HIT YA
AND RIP YA, REDEFINE CRAYOLA OR CHALK
LIKE THE SCARE CROW IN THE CORNSTALK
I PETRIFY WICKED BIRDS THAT WANNA EAT UP THE CROPS
REAL HIPHOP
STRAIGHT FROM GODS SOIL
WE BURN IT LIKE VEGETABLE AND SQUEEZE LIKE SNAKE COIL
THEY GAVE US MICROPHONES BECUASE WE WRAP (RAP) LIKE TIN FOIL

(DEACON)
LEAVIN SPOTS BLOWN FROM CTATACOMBS I EMERGE
DEACON PREPARIN FOR WHATS ABOUT TO OCCUR
FULLY RHYME SET THAT FLASH LIKE A BLUR
THE WATER IS STILL SO IT'S TIME FOR US TO STIR
WITHIN THE FAMILY WE'RE SHARPENIN OUR SWORDS
ENTER IN WITH NEGATIVE, GET CHECKED, KID!
CONNECTED LIKE SKIN TO YOUR PORES
EXPECT IT, EVERY TIME WE STEP IN TO BLOW DOWN YOUR DOOR
SO WHAT!?
YOU DIDN'T THINK WE COULD ROCK LIKE THIS
DIS WITHOUT THE FIST
AND STILL PUSH WACKNESS OFF THE PRECIPICE
NEVER LET IN ON THE HILL, BORN TO THRILL
GOIN WORLDWIDE, YO, THRU THE LORDS WILL
IT'S THE CONSCIENCE ONE, THE REMNANT REPRESENTA
MILITANT MIND, YAHWEH'S THE EPICENTER
BENT YA LIKE PIPES AND BLEW UP LIKE DYNAMITE
PHAT EMCEE IS THE STATUS, SO DON'T TEST-AIGHT!?
INVASION FROM CELESTIAL LIKE I WAS DEAMONITE
TAKIN FLIGHT LIKE I WAS A LOCUST IN THE NIGHT
GODS GOT THE BACK, NO NEED FOR HINDSIGHT
LIVIN BY THE SPIRIT, NOT BY MY MIGHT

(KJ52)
I BREAK FORTH LIKE SUMMER ROSES IN JUNE
EMPTY TOMBS CROSS MY MENTAL CACCOON, I ASSUME
CAPTIVATION BY VERBAL TRANCES
OF SPOKEN WORD SPLASHED ONTO THE CANVAS
CUASING SPANSES
OF HIGHER LEARNING TO SOME FORMS QUITE TOXIC
CHRIST FORMS MY OPTIC, CHECK MY LOGIC
IT KNOCKS YA OUT LIKE ANASTEZIOLOGIST
TAKIN NOTES TO COPY THIS
THERE AINT NO STOPPIN THIS
I'M DROPPIN THIS MENTAL STRATEGY
CUASE WHO'S THE NEXT TO BE THE CASUALTY
CHECK MY MASTERPEICE
I PRODUCE LINES AND LOCUST SWARM UPON THIS
THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM
DO NOT CONFORM TO THE LUKE WARM
TENDENCIES
ENEMIES FIEND TO APPREHEND ME
THE SONS OF INTELLECT WILL NEVER BE DUPLICATED, ORIGINATED
KJ5 LEAVES YOU ALL STRAIGHT UP JADED

(GOLDENCHILD)
SHADOW OF THE LOCUST CONSTANTLY STAY FOCUSED
MY WHOLE STYLE IS MAGIC, SO HERE'S THE HOCUS POCUS
DON'T OVERDOSE THIS, THE POTIONS TOO POTENT
THE USE OF SHARP PHRASES
AMAZES EMCEE'S TO GATHER ROUND
WITNESS MIRACLES IN THE UNDERGROUND
SALIVA DRENCHED MICTROPHONES MAKE WEAK EMCEE'S DROWN
THEY TRIED TO APPLY FORCES FROM THEIR WACK HIGH HORSES
I THEN USE METHODS OF MEDITATION
AND CREATIONS THROUGH SENSATIONS
JUST A SOLDIER, THAT'S MY OCCUPATION
WHO'S THE GOLDEN ONE? SHINING LIKE THE SUN
GETTIN AIR AND ROCKIN MICROPHONES JUST FOR FUN
I TAKE OFF YOUR MASK TO DISCOVER OTHER ONES
YOU CLONES
POISON MICROPHONES AND ANNOY MY EARS LIKE DIAL TONES
TIME TO SET YA STRAIGHT LIKE BROKEN BONES
I THROW PEBBLES WHILE YOU PERSIST TO THROW STONES
IMITATIONS GET SENT BACK LIKE HAITANS FOR THEY PREMEDITATIONS!

(ROLDAN)
SPIRITUALLY INTOXICATED
BIBLICAL CONTEXT DOCTRINE HAS MY SOUL ILLUMINATED
THE RISEN MESSIAH IS ANXIOUSLY AWAITED
AINTICIPATED BY A NATION,  BEFORE CREATION PREDESTINATED
TO BE HATED BY MODERN PHARISEE'S WHO ARE MENTALLY DEVASTED
PHILISTINE MINDED, CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION
IN CONSTANT WAR AGAINST CHOSEN ARMEGEDDON VIRTUAL FIGHTERS
HOLY SCRIPTURE, ANGELIC NINJA
REMNANT MILITIA MINISTER
A CALLED SOLDIER ON THE FRONTLINE
IN THIS WORLD WAR 3
RIGHTEOUSS ARMY,  DIVINE MILITARY
RECEIVING STRATEGIC BATTLE CODES FROM THE TRINITY
THOSE FOES WHO OPPOSE JEHOVAH ROFFI
WILL BE SENTENCED TO A FIERY PENETENTARY
TILL INFINTY, ETERNAL CATASTROPHE IS THE PENALTY
FOR UNREPENTED SINS, SCENTED TROOPS OF INIQUITY
PERPERTRATORS OF MOUNT ZION
CLINGIN ON TO BLASPHEMIC ICONS
PRESENT DAY BABYLON
LIKE THE POPES OF THE ROMAN  EMPIRE
TO THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG-KONG

(CONSTRUCT)
WHEN THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK WE ATTACK WITH FULL FORCE
ARTIFACTS SEALED TO DAT, CONTINUE ON COURSE LIKE AT-AT
I WEILD THE SWORD AND POETRY WITH EQUAL SKILL LIKE THE SAMURAIS
NEVER ANALYZE, MISSION EXECUTE WITH NO COMPROMISE
NOTARIZED BY MY COMMANDEER AND CHIEF
TO EXTERMINATE THE FALSE BELIEFS
THAT INFILTRATE THE WEAK
ZERO TOLERANCE TO FRUADULAENT
MINISTER'S OF ANY MANNER
WHEN SNAKES RISE AGAINST THE ARCHITECT, THE FAMILY HAMMER
DIGITAL VANDALIST, ORIGINAL
AMPHYDIS PROGRAMMER
DO YOU HAVE THE STAMINA TO OUTLAST THE SOUL DISMANTLER
IF SO, FOLLOW THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW
DON'T FALL FOR LIES OF PHAROAHS
BLOCK THE FIERY ARROWS
SHADOW OF THE LOCUST FOCUSED ON THE I AM I
ELSHADAI WE GLORIFY
TIME IS NIGH, DON'T LET YOUR SOUL RUN DRY
NEVER FOLD, STAND BOLD AND IN CONTROL 
AS THE WINTERS GET COLD 
WE PLAN TO FULFILL WHAT'S BEEN FORETOLD
WITH MILITANT TACTICS, BIBLICAL MATHEMATICS
HITTIN YA ATTIC, SQUASHIN HUMAN PHILOSOPHICAL STATIC
SINCE GENESIS, BEEN DOIN BATLE WITH MY ARCH NEMESIS
SO I CONTINUE UNTIL FROM EARTH WE MAKE OUR EXODUS

(OPOSIT)
NOW IT'S TIME FOR THEE
REMNANT THEOLOGY
TO ATTACK SECULAR CEREBELLUM, CUASING FATALITY
ITS CHRIST'S REALITY, PUTTIN HOLES IN DEMONS LIKE CAVATIES
ACTUALLY, JOHN 3:16, OR FAZE A CASUALTIES
ONE REMEDY AGAINST THE DEVIL BE
MESSIANICLY, DRAMATICALLY  I SPREAD THE SEED
EXPOSING HYPROCISY, THEY ACT FANTASY
NO APOLOGY NEEDED FROM FALSE CHRISTIANITY
LAME PROPANE INVADES LIKE SCUM IN HUMANITY
BRAINS NUMB, PROLONGS HITS FROM THE CYCLONE
OPOSIT SPREADS THE WORD LIKE TAGS FROM KRYLONS
THAT TRAPS BABYLON, DIVERTING THE LOST FROM THE STORM
7TH DIMENSION SWARM STRONG WITH SHADOW OF THE LOCUST
TO CAPTIVATE YOUR IRIS AND DROP YOUR DEMONIC FOCUS
NOTICE THE DEVIL IS HOPELESS, AND FOR THIS
HE WILL PAY DEARLY, FOR CONFUSING THE EARTH FOR CENTURIES
DAMAGIN CROPS AND FRUITS FROM TREE'S
SINCE ADAM AND EVE, THE PLANETS BEEN DECEIVED
SO LUCKY GOD'S WILLING TO FORGIVE SO I'M FREED TO BE
CAPTIVE FOR THE LORD, YOU'LL NEVER SEE MY SOUL FALL IN A CASKET

       First off, there’s the ‘Suitcase Packed’ intro that appears before this song on the album. While we were in L.A. recording most of this album, I got to meet a group of bikers that had devoted their lives to serving God. They had started an inner city ministry called ‘One Way Posse’. Back in the 80’s they were doin alotta street evangelism to people in the grittiest areas of Hollywood. On one of those occasions they took out a small mixing board and a PA system and recorded a live album of singing and preaching. They had pressed the recording on to vinyl and, after hearing that I was a bit of a DJ, had given me a copy of that wax. The ‘Suitcase Packed’ song was on this record. I dug the sound and thought it would be the perfect intro to the album. It was funny because I was still searchin for an intro. I didn’t want to just fly right into my tracks. I like to build it up a bit.

            The second sample you hear, right before the song actually starts, is a vocal sample taken from the movie ‘Heat’ with Al Pacino and Robert Deniro. It’s the part where Al Pacino’s wife in the movie is talking to him about his dramatic lifestyle. I chose this sample to reference the idea of the song. In the song I am a hunter, and devils and weak emcee’s are my prey.

       The chorus of the song ‘Look to the sky, heed the warning’ was taken from a bible verse. While I was in the studio recording ‘Breathe Babylon’ with P.O.D, we ended up using this chorus in the middle of that song also. It was all of our idea that the ‘Babylon’ song would be the official ‘Dirt intro’ to the listeners. And therefore this song would turn out to be like a ‘Breathe Babylon pt.2’. In fact I remember that I was gonna call it ‘Babylon Breathes’ at one time.

       As a mini chorus, I had DJ Fingaz scratch the line ‘Even men of steel rust’ from a Jeru the Damaja song called ‘hate when the devil’s happy’ (the Sun Rises in the East). I liked this scratch for a couple reasons. To me it states the obvious, that no matter how dope you think you are, you have weaknesses. And once those weaknesses are exposed, no matter how small they may be, they will become like raw steel when exposed to water and the elements. In my opinion only God is above that ‘rust factor’.

       This song, like most of the Plague album was initially recorded in Hollywood but remixed a couple of times in San Diego and L.A. before the album was released. I chose to place it first on the album because I wanted to set the standard high in the beginning and loosen up from there. This was my first album. My first opportunity to display what I have to listeners. One of my biggest problems with the Christian hiphop music industry was that there seemed to be an attitude that believing emcee’s were not allowed to go to war. On the contrary, life is full of inner and outer warfare. And in my mind the most prepared people for a ‘military conflict’ are those that are willing to stand up for their beliefs even unto martyrdom. There are certain things that I believe in that no one can shake me from. And in this song I wanted to show that I don’t have to submit to these things that would rather see me fail in my attempts to devote myself to my beliefs. Placing the song first on the album was me saying ‘we can have fun later, but here’s who I am if you wanna get down and dirty!

 INIQUITIES TURN RUST 

 LOOK  TO  THE  SKY  HEED  THE  WARNING
USE  YOUR  AMMUNITION  WITH  DISCRETION
CAUSE  WHEN  BULLETS  RUN  OUT  AND  ALL  THE  SMOKE  CLEARS
ALL  YOU  SEE  IS  WARRIORS  COMIN'  NEAR...............

vs.1_
I  FEEL  A  SLIGHT  PAIN  AS  BULLETS  BOUNCE  FROM  ME
EVEN  HALLOW-----------TIPS  COULD  NOT  PENETRATE  MY  ARMORY
SCALIN'  WALLS  LIKE  SOLDIER, CHARGE  LIKE  WARRIOR (JOEL 2:7)
KILL  ENEMY----------  TAKIN'  NO  PRISONER
I'M  INVADIN'  YOUR  NATION (JOEL 1:6)
YOUR  WALLS  ARE  WEAK  CAUSE  THEY  WERE  BUILT  WITH  TRANSGRESSIONS
I'M  CHARGED  UP  LIKE  ELECTRONIC, SUPER BIONIC
CHEMICALS  AGAINST  YOUR  WORLDLY  ELEMENTS
YOU  GATHER  YOUR  SKILLS  YOU  BRING  YOUR  SCIENCE
I  SHOOT  THEM  FULL  OF  HOLES  AND  NOW  YOU  CALL  ON  YOUR  BALLISTICS
TO  INVESTIGATE  THE  MURDER  SCENE
BUT  IT'S  TOO  LATE, CAUSE  I  BURNT  UP  ALL  EVIDENCE  WITH  GASOLINE
AND  FLAME,  NOW  WATCH  YOUR  HABITS  GET  TAMED
ON  TO  THE  NEXT  SPOT  FOR  MORE  LESSONS  TO  OBTAIN
YOUR  DETECTIVES  RECOGNIZE  MY  M.O.
BUT  THEY  CAN'T  CATCH  ME  CAUSE  I'M  HIDIN'  IN  THE  SHADOW

chorus

YOUR  WEAPONS  CAN'T  DEFEND  YOU  EMCEE ("EVEN  MEN  OF  STEEL  RUST")  2x's

V.2
"I'M  LEAVIN'"  BUT  YOU  CAN'T  RUN  TOO  FAR
I  USE  PERCEPTION TO  TRACK  DOWN  WERE  YOU  ARE
AND  CHANGE  YOUR  WHOLE  SCENE  LIKE  OIL  FILTER
I'M  STRATEGICALLY  PLACED  LIKE  THE  ROCK  OF  GIBRALTAR...........

LOOK  TO  THE  SKY  HEED  THE  WARNING
USE  YOUR  SPIRITUAL  WISDOM  AND  MAKE  THE  TRANSITION
CAUSE  WHEN  ROOKS  ARE  GONE  AND  YOUR  QUEEN  IS  COMMANDEERED
ALL  YOU  SEE  IS  WARRIORS  COMIN'  NEAR

I  START  STRIKIN'  LIKE  LIGHTNING, STICKIN'  LIKE  LICHEN
OPPOSITION  GETS  MENTAL  WHIPPIN'
MY  MIND  IS  SUPERVISED
I'M  PICKIN  UP  SIGNALS  FROM  THE  SATELLITE
TRANSMISSION  RECEIVED
FIND  THE  KNOWLEDGE  THAT  WAS  LOST AND  RETRIEVE
I'M  CONCENTRATED  LIKE  THE  FROZEN  LIQUID
MY  SOUL  RADIATES  MAKIN'  YOUR  MIND  GET  FRUSTRATED
I  BRING  THE  SHADOW  TO  THE  MIND  OF  A  CARNAL  MAN
LIKE  SPEARS  ARE  BROUGHT  TO  THE  ANTELOPES  BY  THE  AFRICANS
APPETITE  INSATIABLE
YOU  TRIED  TO  KILL  LIKE  CAIN  BUT  YOUR  JUST  NOT  ABLE

chorus  2x's 

                  >>>SEE THE OFFICIAL VIDEO HERE!<<<

Alotta History behind this song! For one it was my personal favorite song on the PLAGUE album next to ‘a Chapter a Day’. Both these songs always stood out in my mind. Mustard Seed, because it was just a raw track. There was really no point to the song besides to be ill!

I built the song around the scratch. One day at a swap meet I found two old Star Wars records. ON WAX! They were story records that used actual samples from the movie (instead of those cheesy second rate actors and noise effects on some of those old tapes/records). I was lit! I was so excited about it! I found ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ both on wax, took em home and placed em on the Technics. I was doin some house chores while listening to them. Towards the end of ‘Return of the Jedi’ came that infamous scene were Luke is goin nuts on Darth Vader. He almost kills him! And then Emperor Palpatine comes in and says (paraphrasing)”Good! Good! Now kill your father and take your place at my side!”

OH MAN! That scene is crazy! But our boy Luke doesn’t submit. He turns his lightsaber off and says, “Never, I’ll never turn to the darkside.”.

And now…rotating on my turntable, I had this all on wax! I was trippin! I immediately concepted this idea where I would just scratch Luke saying the first ‘never’ through the chorus. People would be like, what is that scratch saying!?’. It would hook them into the rest of the song! Then all the way at the end of the song POW! Hit em with the rest of the line!

Needless to say, the end result is phat! I remember that we recorded this song in one of his friends personal studios. They didn’t have DJ gear in there so Fingaz was on the floor while he was laying down the scratches. But that night when I first heard my idea getting dropped in reality…I knew this song was gonna come nice!       

The beginning vocal sample is Emperor Palpatine laughing and then telling Luke to kill his father and join him at his side. It was sampled backwards on the turntable (I got to do that!) by simply turning the Technic off and pushing it in reverse with my finger. (Hey! We didn’t have all those fancy computer programs that do it automatically nowadays!) . It ended up causing the biggest stink in the Christian market. I remember a few times some pastors calling rescue Records and complaining that I was satanic because I had some ‘evil backwards satanic bible verse’ playing at the beginning of Mustard Seed.

If you listen at the end of the song to the last vocal sample of Luke finally saying, “Never, I’ll never turn to the darkside.”. You can actually hear the crackle of his lightsaber turning off. I LOVE THAT!

When I went on tour with POD, this song and Chant seemed to be the heavy hitters with the peoples. A few times I was able to actually have a DJ with me to do the chorus (usually Mike Czech or Manny) but most times it was just a crowd interaction thing. I would yell for everyone to say, ‘NEVER…I’LL NEVER TURN TO THE DARKSIDE!’. Then the crowd would respond by repeating me in this crazy loud ruckus!

Somewhere in 98 or 99 I was at a local show and started jokin around on stage. Instead of just doin the back and forth scream of the chorus with the crowd. I tried to mimic the actual scratching noises on the album version of the song (think Rahzel from the Roots). It was purely screwing around and havin fun, but after the show a bunch of kids remarked how it was fun to do that. Then a couple of shows later before I went on, a couple people came up and asked if I was ‘gonna do that scratching thing on Mustard Seed’. Truthfully I had thought it was a bit silly. But I promised them that I would. Then everytime I did a local show people started to make me promise that I would do it and so it has been to this day! Its really quite funny how some of these stage habits get started (throwing up the ‘Locustfist’ started the same, almost as a joke that just stuck with the crowd).

This is one of the few songs that got recorded a few times before the album version. It was done in Diego at ‘Green Leaf’ studio with Fingaz crew. And then again, later, in the Hollywood sessions. It was mixed a couple times also before the final version. I always thought Fingaz came raw with that dope piano loop.

George Lucas, please don’t sue me.

This song was remixed for ‘the Upsetter Mixtape’, 2009.

Mustard Seed

BODY  FRAME  LICKLE-BUT  STILL  DAVID  ROCKED  GOLIATH
HOTTER  THAN  THE  PLANET  SITH
FLAMING  ARROWS  COMETH  BUT  THEY  USUALLY  MISS
AND  THOSE  HITTING  TARGETS  ARE  GETTING  EXTINGUISHED
I  SPEAK  MY  OWN  SLANG  LIKE  PATOIS
DISPATCH  LYRICS  TO  GRAB  YA
AND  NEVER  EVER  LET  GO
INSECTS  MOVE  OUT  THROUGHOUT  THE  GHETTO
SPICING  UP  ACTIVITIES  LIKE  DRIED  OREGANO
GIVING  UNDERGROUND  PEOPLE  H.E.A.T.
WITH  A  FINGAZ  MIX-DOWN  THAT  SMASH THE  CONCRETE
TUNE  IT- INTO  YOUR  MENTAL  STATION
TRANSMITTING- ANNIHILATION  TO  YOUR  FOUNDATION
IT  CRUMBLES  THEN  IT  COLLAPSES
SHADOW  MOVES  LIKE  VIRUS  WORLDLY  SYSTEM  CAR-ASHES
PHILOSOPHIES  OF  TRANSGRESSION
AND  YET  WE  SIT IN  CLASSES  AND  STUDY  THE  LESSONS
FIELD  SOULJAZ  AND  LOCUST  LETS  PUT  IT  TO  WORK  
INDIVIDUALS  DONT  MOVE  AND  STILL  GET  HURT
THE  GUNS  ARE  ON  THE  BLOCK- PEOPLE  ACTIN  HARDER  THAT  ROCK
TEMPLES  DESTROYED  FROM  CRACK PIPES  THAT  BURN  HOT
LETS  MISDIRECT  THE  MISDIRECTION
SIT  DOWN  AT  TABLES  AND  COME  UP  WITH  PROPOSITIONS
TO  UPROOT  TEENAGE  STAGNATION
AND  DESTROY  GUN  TOWERS  THAT  SHOOT  PERVERSE  AMMUNITION

(Chorus Scratch "Never, I'll Never Turn to the Darkside")

GRIP  EVERYONE  UP- WHATS  UP- WE  GET  RAW
WITH  NO  WEED  OR  ALCOHOL
WITH  THE  HOLY-SPIRIT  WE  LICK  UP  THE  DANCEHALL
CARRY  OUT  LIKE  U-HUAL
MAKE  ENEMIES  SIT  DOWN  LIKE  BATHROOM  STALL
PUT  TITLES  ON  WICKED  EMCEES  LIKE  TOMBSTONE
LET  THEM  DO  THEIR  SOUND CHECK  THEN  BLOW-UP  THEIR  MICROPHONE
THE  ATTITUDE-CHILL LIKE  THE  CORNER  CAFE
THE  WEAPONS-TAPEDECKS  WITH  REVERSE  PLAY
THE  ONLY  GHOSTFACE  THAT  YOU  CANNOT  KILL
SOUND  SYSTEM  MOBILIZE "DIRT  UP  IN  YOUR  GRILL 
NO  EAST  OR  WEST  BECAUSE  WE  PENTE-COAST-AL
DONT  TRY  TO  MASTER  THIS  CUASE  WE  METHOD-IS
TO  GET  UP  IN  YOUR  FACE  LIKE  ZIT  AND  TRANSMIT

(Chorus Scratch "Never, I'll Never Turn to the Darkside")

CHECK  THE  IMPLOSION- LOCUST  STARTED  WITH  ME- BUT  LOCUST  IS  NOT  ME
LOCUST  IS  US
MANY  ROCKS  CRUSH  CUP
RIGHTEUOSS  PEOPLE  GET  UP
AND  NEVER  DEGENERATE
DONT  GIVE  UP  LIKE  STORES  THAT  LIQUIDATE
RECORD  FREESTYLES  ON  HIGH  RESONANCE  TAPES
HADES  LOCKS  ME  BUT  WE  FIND  FIRE  ESCAPES
---AND  BRING  IT  HARD  LIKE  IMPACT
CANT  FIND  RIGHTEOUSNESS  LIKE  NEEDLE  IN  HAYSTACK
POLICE  STICK  US  TO  THE  WALL  LIKE  A  THUMBTACK
PEOPLE  BURN  US  WITH  JUDGMENTS  SIMILAR  TO  SHADRACH
- 
BUT IT COMES STEREO PHONIC
AND BLOWS YOUR EARDRUMS WITH THUNDERCLAP LYRICS
DON'T GET MAD....TAKE A DEEP BREATHE AND COUNT TO TEN
SETTIN OFF CAR ALARMS WITH HIGH POWERED VIBRATIONS
YOUR MAN TOLD YOU, THAT YOU OUGHTA, BRING YOUR CAMCORDER
AND RECORD IT ON FILM, WE BURN HOT LIKE KILN
CHECK IT OUT, NO DOUBT, THEN BURN OU LIKE THE END OF A JET
THE SEED IS BREAKING BRICK WALLS IN THE PROJECT