Oh, my! Old school beats, B-movie samples, and political raps - along with some conspiracy theories/Art Bell/alien invasion raps. Circus vs. Andre Afram Asmar's Gawd Bless the Faceless Cowards runs itself right into the face of government officials, religious leaders, America, and "little green men." The Art Bell/alien invasion raps combined with the strange drawings in the CD artwork are a little like if the National Enquirer produced a CD. There's odd pictures, odd stories, and odd theories about what's going on out there in space. These raps I could take or leave. What is extremely eye-opening, fresh, honest, hard-hitting, and terribly cynical are the political raps. The album begins with "Bully." Check out some lyrics, and you get the idea: the album was produced with November 2, 2004, in mind. "A lot of rumors floating around the world today / About weapons of mass destruction / But it seems you're the only one / Who's actually in possession of any / So who's the real bully?" That track ends with a George W. Bush soundclip of a classic Bush gaff: "This would be a heckuva lot easier if this were a dictatorship... just as long as I'm the dictator." You can hear the smirk! "Holy Blood" takes the sarcastic question of conservatives, "Who you rootin' for? Saddam or George Bush?" and flips it back right around them. "It's like sh*t! I can't decide which one of these two a**holes I dislike the most." Besides being very clear about their views of the 2004 election, these raps often are very pointed questioning of American's attitudes. I find these refreshing, important questions that may be over the top but cause us to really realize that the world is watching. The world does see our attitudes, and it may be making it more and more difficult for America to cooperate on the world stage. From "Bully": "Cuz the sh*t's so simple / It's kill or be killed / If the atom bombs don't kill us / Then the fast food will! / We will probably all die / Of some cause and never know what for / That's why you gotta fight for your right to be a lazy American / And die an unknown soldier in someone else's war." From "Holy Blood": "It's like everyone's saying Gawd bless America / But that has to be the most selfish and greedy thing I have ever heard in my entire life / And I'm disgusted and unimpressed cuz it's everywhere you look / And it makes me so embarrassed / To be classified as something so stoopid as a lazy American / Come on now / Why not something like Gawd bless the world?" Such rhetoric is clearly turning off Circus, Andre Afram Asmar, and others from believing in Christ or any other religion actually. While realizing that this album often rejects my faith, I see this commentary through Gospel eyes, realizing that such rhetoric in today's political and public life is causing there to be roadblocks to people coming to know Jesus Christ. I don't think of this album as so much a denigration of the Church as it is a wake up call. Watch how you use God in politics, because to champion your cause over another through saying that it was ordained by God will make it very hard for your enemies or those who disagree with you politically to ever hear about that God. Musically, I appreciate some of the best incorporation of Middle Eastern sounds into a Western rock album since The The's Mind Bomb. While not only appropriate to the political climate of the CD, Circus vs. Andre Afram Asmar show how readily Middle Eastern rhythms fit into old school hip-hop, creating a worldly funkiness beyond Compton, while also hinting at that ongoing sadness in the Middle East region being constantly under tension, if not all out war. Those Middle Eastern sounds on the album may have partly come from the purported mixing location: bin Laden's Cave. Oh, my! - Music Spectrum |