PFC Chapter 2262 Gotham Music Chapter (1)
Chapter 2262 Gotham Music Chapter (1)
Chapter 2262 Gotham Music Festival (I)
Accompanied by the rumbling sound of cannon salutes, streamers floated down, and the crowd around the square was like the waves of fountain water, with colorful banners and hand banners surging one after another.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Gotham Music Festival was held in Central Square. Before the official opening ceremony in the afternoon, the float team drove out of Central Square and marched along Central Avenue in the East and South Districts where the most out-of-town tourists come. More than 70 floats were connected end to end and performed continuously for 8 hours between 00:12 in the morning and 00:4 noon.
The floats are divided into five themes: music and art, architecture and city, humanities and history, sports and dance, and life and nature.
Needless to say, the theme of music naturally fits the Gotham Music Festival, which focuses on East Coast rap.
East Coast rap in the 90s was in a period of weakness, struggling between artistic exploration and commercialization. Although there were godfather-level figures like Puff Daddy who never gave up and insisted on discovering new talents, to this day, the headphones of most rap fans are filled with those popular West Coast albums.
Fortunately, in 1994, a miracle album saved the East Coast. The well-known "Ready To Die" quickly became popular across the United States, and slightly brought people's attention to rap back to the East Coast.
The Notorious BIG, who is still admired and remembered by countless rap fans, was like a god descending from heaven, and his album dominated the charts that year.
Although his achievements are quite dazzling, in fact, Biggie is now in some difficulties. Some rap fans who were active in that era may know about his feud with Tupac, a famous West Coast rapper.
Simply put, the two of them were once good friends, and could be described as heroes admiring heroes, but unfortunately, one day in 1994, Tupac was attacked while recording an album in New York.
He believed that the scene described in the lyrics of the album that Biggie was recording at the time was very similar to the scene when he was attacked, and speculated that this might be the other party's dishonorable means of competition.
Based on this, a vigorous battle between the East and West Coasts began. In addition to the singers fighting each other, the fans' verbal battles have never stopped, and many have even turned into offline threats, as if the fight will not end until one of them dies.
But just one year after this incident fermented, an album from Gotham came out - "King of Gotham", from a singer who called himself Gotham Boy. Within just three days of its release, it caused a sensation in the rap circles of the East and West Coasts.
Some people may wonder, since Gotham’s gang culture is so developed, why hasn’t it made any achievements in the rap world before?
You have to know that Gotham's gangs are still traditional Italian gangs, which are completely different from the modern gangs in Chicago and Miami. They still value family honor and decency. It is almost impossible for such a soil to breed any rebellious spirit.
Well, in addition to the high-level gangsters, there are of course also low-level gang members, but unfortunately it is difficult to survive in an environment like Gotham, let alone engage in music and art.
But the facts have proved that after the gang order gradually collapsed and the social environment gradually improved, the genius imagination of Gotham people is no less than that of any other city.
And because of the extremely unique atmosphere of this city, the art that can be nurtured is also unique and shocking.
The issue of highlighting personal style and commercialization that East Coast singers and record companies have been struggling with has been perfectly unified in the album "King of Gotham".
The emphasis on narrative in East Coast rap actually means that the fluency of the melody is not polished rigorously enough. A good commercial album should not only focus on the aggressiveness of the lyrics; rhythm and musicality are also very important.
However, the music genre of rap itself is limited by the cultural and artistic level of the musicians. In short, the vast majority of rappers do not have the ability to create a relatively popular piece of music that can be accepted by the public.
Composing music is actually very difficult. First of all, you need to have solid knowledge of music theory, be familiar with the current public's aesthetic tendencies in music, and even have some knowledge of hearing and sensory science.
But rhythm is more difficult than composing music. Composing music at least has a basis to rely on, but rhythm basically depends on talent. Throughout history, there has been no outstanding pop composer who does not have his own unique rhythmic style.
The lyrics of East Coast rappers are indeed good, but the melody is not catchy and the rhythm is not popular, so no one buys it. The album "Ready To Die" was a hit, in fact, it was a compromise made by Biggie and Puff Daddy in commercialization. The use of lively and catchy samples of Juicy, Big Poppa and the like completed the last piece of the puzzle for Biggie's rap style full of visuals.
Although it is now considered a classic, no one knew at that time whether such an attempt would be successful. Perhaps the public would get tired of it if it happened a second time. Perhaps if it continued in this way, it would lose its unique style.
It was impossible for Biggie, who only had one album at the time, not to be confused. In addition, he was involved in a war of words with his former friend. Everyone was expecting him to fight back with an excellent album, and the pressure on this sudden superstar was also huge.
The album "King of Gotham" perfectly solved the dilemma of East Coast rap. In the title song of this album, the song of the same name, Gotham Boy used a very unique melody with a strong tragic color. Fans called it Gotham Punk.
This does borrow some elements from punk music, but it is more of a musicality that is condensed from the contradictory and dark history of the city of Gotham. It is dark, but it is definitely not just darkness.
The name of the album "King of Gotham" makes people think that it may be another story about some arrogant teenager who thinks he is the king of a city, and writes stories about those who drive luxury cars, live in luxury houses, fight for dominance of the city with their good buddies, and shoot all the enemies.
But in fact, it is completely the opposite. The lyrics of this song use a method of alternating reality and fiction. It tells the story of an old low-level gangster who works for his boss for the last time, is shot by the enemy, falls in a pool of blood and waits to die, and imagines a series of scenes before he dies.
The so-called King of Gotham actually only exists in the old man's fantasy. The Gotham Boy stands from the old man's perspective and uses an extremely angry tone to expose the bloodiest darkness at the bottom of Gotham like a machine gun.
When you are a gangster, your son will definitely be one, and your grandson will definitely be one, but this is not even because the gangsters threaten you. You should even be grateful that your relatives can make a living from the gangsters, because there are many things on the streets outside that are thousands of times worse than the gangsters.
It seems to be just a passionate insult by the Gotham kid against the bad situation in Gotham through fictional characters, but this can bring the greatest shock to rappers on the East and West Coasts, because most of them come from gangs. Don't they know what gangs are like?
If even gangs are considered a thing of order in Gotham, then what exactly are they fighting against besides the gangs?
What follows is the fantasy of this hapless old man. This section can even be called magical realism, because the most interesting thing is that the old man's fantasy of starting his life over again is not at all the dream that most people would have, such as being born into a wealthy family, attending a prestigious school, becoming a senior executive in a company, and reaching the pinnacle of life.
It's not even what most rappers dream of, being in a gang and eventually ruling an area, driving luxury cars and living in luxury houses, and being able to concentrate on making music with their friends.
What he actually thought was that he had become a magician, and used his magic to kill everyone in the city step by step, exterminate the entire Gotham, and then break into the empty Wayne Building, overlooking the city littered with corpses, and be crowned on the throne on the roof, becoming the true king of Gotham.
Of course, Batman has not been forgotten here. The biggest enemy the old man encountered in this fantasy section is Batman. The Gotham Kid calls Batman a transvestite dreamer through the old man's mouth. He says that Batman must have entered this fantasy world before he died, because he will never succeed and will die in the end.
At this point in the narration, the picture still reveals deep despair. The real world part reveals all kinds of details of life at the bottom of society, making it difficult not to empathize with the people. The fantasy part is too bizarre and violent, with a kind of insane beauty that makes people's heads buzz.
The second half of the song breaks the convention and starts a flashback, telling how the old man fell here - he worked for his boss for the last time, and it was not until the penultimate paragraph of the song that people heard the old man call his boss "my dear little Shaq".
As mentioned in the first half of the song, the old man's nickname when he was young was Big Shaq, which means big shark. This means that the boss of the gang he is in now is most likely his biological son.
This unexpected reversal made the listeners begin to wonder: with a gangster boss as his son, why didn't he enjoy his old age? Judging from the lyrics, they should have a good relationship, so why did he end up like this?
Then the lyrics begin to switch rapidly, telling of the old man's glory in his youth, from attending the Godfather's dinner, to witnessing the bright lights of Grey Street, to being framed and living on the streets, to marrying and having children with his wife who was also from the lower class, to his wife's death, and his son growing up.
There are inevitable sentences complaining about the son's lack of knowledge, but more often than not, he points out the most fatal flaws of the gangs of this era, and it is full of the tragic perspective of the impending collapse of order.
But suddenly the style of painting changed, and the Gotham kid began to express his curiosity about the new things that appeared in Gotham from the perspective of an old man of the previous generation, with quite a bit of black humor. He said that the last ones to experience the Ice Age were the dinosaurs, and the gang bosses suddenly became moles digging holes everywhere to build cold storages. The equipment of the Gotham Police Department looked like it was going to take down Australia. If he had a daughter, he would never let them scream at Batman standing on the roof.
It is not until the very end that he finally reveals who he is fighting against—a gang has occupied the land of his grandson's new school, kidnapped and killed his grandson's classmates, and now they are trying to take the land back.
The last sentence of the song is quite darkly humorous, saying that he actually has grandchildren, and his grandchildren actually have schools, and that a person who has lived on this land for more than 60 years actually has the opportunity to take back his land.
The last scene of the song's narration stops at the moment when more and more blood gushes out and becomes like a small puddle. The mirror-like surface of the blood reflects the first ray of sunlight that falls after the dark clouds break through and the shocked look in the old man's eyes before he dies.
(End of this chapter)