Aesop Rock- Citronella

Well, for those of you bloggers who are fond of music, I thought I'd offer a parallel to Amusing Ourselves To Death through the wonderful world of hip-hop. Yes, hip-hop.

And if your general hip-hop knowledge knows not of anything beyond your local radio station or MTV, then allow me to introduce you to hip-hop artist, Aesop Rock.

Aesop Rock tends to use hyperboles, metaphors, similies, personification, and other literary elements to express social commentaries such as interactions between humans, politics, religion, and as I shall showcase momentarily; television's effect on society.

Though Aesop's lyrics can be overwhelming at times, and he himself even expresses that at times, it's only "poetic gibberish", this song I will now reveal manages to pound the subject at hand rather well.

citronella-
a fragrant grass, Cymbopogon nardus, of southern Asia, cultivated as the source of citronella oil.

"I stood before the glittery borders of new radius

In search of the fabled city of mud and crushed velvet

What I found was a gutter where the love of entertainment

Meets the lust for blood and demerits"

- Aesop Rock on the intro of the song

"The mobile infantry is so postal

Coast into the quotient provoking the local Pistol Pete

Choking his liberty and justice quotas and cloaking his folk in smithereens;

Smokey little pile of bloody pulp and co-dependencies

Dopey, no surrender, bender in effect

Sole defenders of the longest night New York had never slept

And there were jumping jacks and whistlers over Christmas
Like Rockets From The Crypt spilling the festive morning beverage of your preference
I step in Hog Heaven, stony, with no weapons

Pissing on teleprompters, selling megaphones to hecklers

Who broadcast 80 million versions of the sermon

For that one indisputable masterpiece before the curtains

Pale, Arcadian moon, high-definition, flat plasma

IMAX, city-wide transfer

Artificial Einstein-Rosen out the tenement

Ease into the "Xanadu", let it hammer the tension out

I'm talking cool, calm, dominant phenomenal

Monitor face to the wall opposite

U.F.O.'s and locusts sing the same old song

While the Weathermen get retarded as the day is long"

- Aesop Rock on the 3rd verse

"Kill television, kill television

Kill television, kill television"

- Chorus

While much of the song is up for interperetation, I thought this segment that I chose corresponded well with the overall objectives of Postman. There are other segments that do that as well, but I thought that too much text would alienate a few.

I just thought I'd share this song with you fine folks to see if you'd agree that this song does indeed parallel as I believed.

You may listen to it if you'd like. But, make sure you have a parent present, as it contains coarse language!

http://www.imeem.com/pitchforkmedia/music/gfvGc2bY/aesop_rock_citronella/