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Prodigal Son: The Anthology

by Tim'm West

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tbrowntheoracle
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tbrowntheoracle ...incense burning, cleaning on a Saturday morning, coffee brewed and this soundtrack exposes a life well LIVING!! This is a beautifully curated project, my friend. Peace and love!!!
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1.
Prodigal Son 03:28
2.
Red Dirt 04:25
3.
4.
5.
The Lesson 03:01
6.
7.
8.
Iconography 03:49
Iconography produced by dirtybirdbeats Hook: I'm a grown man growing up My trajectory I'm a little bit city and a big country boy that's who I be I'm a blues, a jazz, a Hip-hop a rhythm don't ya wanna dance with me the most fa mous em cee you never heard of ICONography Verse 1: Born in the Nati, over the Rhine rebirth in a city where the river runs dry yet full of water for tears of the broken underground railroading freedom song getting us open Class politics and Midwest corruption race rioting, buildings smokin, folk chokin 1836, '67, 2011 folk actin' like we in a post-racial heaven that's a 175 years we still clash yet black folk still get shot you do the math in the Cincinnati The nasty nati the nastiest thing is bigotry not being catty first memories were of living on Race street where you could eat a bullet before gettin Grippos to eat it's not Calculus, the racial angst of the city where I was born who would have guessed: ICON (who would have guessed: ICON) Hook 2 I'm a grown man growing up My trajectory I'm a little bit city and a big country boy that's who I be I'm a blues, a jazz, a Hip-hop a rhythm don't ya wanna dance with me the most fa mous em cee you never heard of ICONography (ICONography) Verse 2: Then South Dallas OakCliff Neglect in a hot city not feeling too hot: Texas childhood abuses: homeless hungry momma walkin' streets with 4 kids, no money eventually we found a spot over the state line, Pig Sooey, life in the Rock That's Little Rock the biggest city in the ARK 5 with mandatory football cleats in Fair Park but it really wasn't fair cuz I was really rather bookish wasn't a good look for a dad with a straight plan to make sure none of his boys would be sissies especially me, all smart, proper, siditty just like my ma and if she was into men then I'd ask, "can I kick it" yes you can with a boy or girl, so I learned to box a black queer, Highland Court, Little Rock Hook 3 grown man growing up My trajectory I’m a little bit city and a big country boy that's who I be I’m a blues, a jazz, a Hip-hop a rhythm don't ya wanna dance with me the most fa mous em cee you never heard of Iconography Verse 3: to a small town where there less stress and killin and god willing, gang violence and blood spillin Be more protected in a red dirt bubble of 870 Taylor, Arkansas real slow a town barely on the map, fewer gun claps other side of the track town, white over black lots of church where I'd question my worth ask God: why I'd be cursed at birth for burdens I would carry fast, pray, and tarry do everything to rid the feeling, that had me demeaning the joy I felt dreamin’ when I crushed on guys ideations of suicide but I listened to a voice one front porch night said you aiight, in spite of inner fights and one day you'll find others who feel the same Icon, people gonna know ya name Hook to fade (music fade... a capella)
9.
10.
Stutter 04:22
11.
Carried Away 04:29
12.
13.
Irony 03:17
14.
15.
Get Free 04:47
16.
17.
Moms 03:19
18.
Gone 04:10
19.
Shoes 02:51
Shoes Written and Performed by Tim’m T. West 1st verse: This ain’t’ no oppression olympics But you tryin’ it Trying to minimize what I been thru I ain’t feelin it You want a final answer For a trick question I ain’t got no smith and wesson No smoking guns, just some life lessons Born with an intuition many moons before me Got that generational knowledge in my bloodstream Cross many rivers by spirit of breath before me So you bore me You’re very toxic it annoys me I employ most rappers to do better Upgrade the grade, flip the logic, get them letters Sharpen the cheddar ‘til it bites And put a lil mo time in on that scratch pad, that keyboard And actually pick up a pen and write So what’s that gay stuff up my sleeve? A rainbow library A very educated, petty, subtle read Just tryin’ to titillate that brain space Take you down a neurological wormhole Without a very straight face Cuz joy is how it fight the nightmares The weight of pain that debilitates And it feels like nobody cares My wordplay’s a tango between ballet And a break dancer I’m still here my final answer Hook: Cuz you ain’t walked a mile In my shoes So you can’t judge my life Sing my blues I really don’t have the time To prove (no point to you This is My Truth) 2nd verse: Never claimed to be the best rapper But I holds my own Got 10 rap projects behind me 6 of those alone Never paper chased or entered the rat race To compromise my values The Boom bap the back drop, and poetry my muse My albums go probably aluminium So ain’t got a thing to lose A few times I almost lost it all So value the right to choose: my life, the way I write, my destiny, even my plight And all the miles that I walk, as much as you stalk Don’t make you right Demean me cuz I gay (well what’s the meaning of your angst What’s that picture that you paint I’m that eisel you can’t break So you’ll never see me aim To walk in another’s lane I cover my ears with all your nonsense Blah blah blah blah lame Like Prince I’ll be unbothered Singing baby I’m a star Since you’ve walked a mile in my shoes Then tell me who you are [pause] Since you’ve walked a mile in my shoes Then tell me who you are
20.
Full Moon 03:21
21.
Song 02:38

about

In 1999, having just relocated from Brooklyn to Oakland, rapper and academic Tim’m West released an EP called Bayou Sessions, an experimental electronica and hip hop project that dared to bleed boundaries between Hip Hop and his beloved passion for house music—a genre with deep roots in the Black gay community he was seeking to give voice to.

One has to remember that in the '90s there existed this precious notion that queer men didn’t (and couldn't) rap. Suspicions about who the then infamous “The Gay Rapper” might be in speculative articles in hip hop magazines like Vibe and The Source stood as evidence that people couldn’t wrap their minds around seeing an openly queer presence in the hip hop landscape (it ended up being a gag invention of hip hop ghost writer Ivan Matias and later publicly foisted upon would-be rapper Caushun, who has long since disappeared from pop culture consciousness). Enter Tim’m West, who was not an invention or a satirical musing, but an authentic rapper with a real message and a previously unheard point of view within this space. The year 1999 was also a time when West and two other Cancerians, Juba Kalamka and Phillip Atiba Goff, dared to bring their own brand of Stanford emcee, counter-hegemonic, no chronic, pro-womanist brand of brohemian flows to the hip hop landscape with the formation of Deep Dickollective (DDC). And, like many rap collectives that amassed nearly a dozen rappers, West would also eventually seek to find the uniqueness of his own voice as a solo artist. A thinking hip hop philosopher known for what some have called a "masculine mystique," West’s charm has always been in his capacity to be both an exemplar of masculinity and a betrayer of it. The softness, for those bothering to get past the surface exteriors, is in the song.

His first single, "Red Dirt," is one that appeared both on the "Bayou Sessions" project and later reappeared on the full length Cellular Records supported “Songs From Red Dirt.” It begins with the hum and wail of a southern Baptist call. In it, one hears the vulnerability of surrender, of black men kneeling and calling on their Lord for all the worries of the world that racism, poverty, and making do can bring. This humming, on front porches or in churches is the reprise and sunrise of West’s journey. Lyrically, he brings with it an edge heavily influenced by Golden Era Hip Hop. In his voice you hear influences spanning from Big Daddy Kane and Heavy D to Fresh Prince or KRS One. That his students in 2003 referred to him as “the other Mr. West” a reference to Kanye’s debut, is part of what marks a distinction in purpose (and a dramatic difference in politics). West is an educator, one who dares to sing sometimes with the imperfect cry of a surrender. The depth of this baritone or bass are both the smooth and rough that parallel his life. Cincy born. Arkansas raised. City and Country. Masculine and Soft. West’s work has thrived for two decades because few others have created music covering the range of topics and experiences he has. He was once recalled saying: “There are hundreds of topics that never get broached in hip hop with everyone trying to keep it real for real, but failing in the process.” West sings and raps about love and heartbreak as seamlessly as he does Black Pride, freedom, and justice.

Prodigal Son (2018) is a timely project. Given his more recent mark in the world as a Brave Educator, West expected to retire the hip hop making and settle in the very nest where he was born: Cincinnati. And, yet something about the rolling hills, the promise of prosperity in the air in Cincy, the related deprivation and social neglect that comes with gentrification inspired music for him again. A philosopher by training, West has frequently referenced Lyotard’s differend as that space where language is doomed to fail but tries anyway. For all the words West can muster to speak truth to power, the most true part of him rests in the hum. "Prodigal Son" takes the listener on a journey through six solo albums; and what some fans might consider a particularly Hip Hop centric exposition of his work. He interestingly didn’t include the house music and electronica that defined many of his projects for his insistence on the blend, a project he will perhaps explore later.

On "Prodigal Son," you’ll hear the best of "Songs From Red Dirt" (2003), "Blakkboy Blue(s)" (2007), "In Security: The Golden Error" (2009), "Fly Brotha" (2011), "Snapshots" (2013), and "Iconography" (2015). The listener familiar with his body of work will receive three additional treats, including the title track, a song called “Shoes” (which also boasts his first music video in five years), and an epic collaboration with the Cincy standout group TRIIIBE. If "Iconography" was a pre-emptive reference to the making of an Icon, then "Prodigal Son" is the project that validates it. You’ll listen to this project over and again…and perhaps find the others that made up this project afterward. You’ll wonder why Tim’m West hasn’t received more play in the mainstream? And, perhaps the answer rests in the reality that he’s simply never tried to and just wants to make good music, for good people, keep them moving, hoping, dreaming for the better world he imagines.

-- L. Michael Gipson

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released October 5, 2018

(see individual songs for credit information)

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Tim'm West Cincinnati, Ohio

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