The Thoughts Of Just Another Brother: Lifes Factory...

Sunday 6 November 2011

Lifes Factory...

Most of us are sat upon the conveyor belt of consumerism, merely viewed as a product of our own individual environments. Walking endorsements, advertising the culture of the west with every step we take. We are branded by society like cattle, herded within groups but we accept and embrace. We never challenge but submit, shun those who have differences. Make fun of those, who dream just to fit in. What they would do just to look like us but their means of capital cannot permit. Some claim to be captive, how can the captive of consumerism feel caged if the key is always right by their side. Are they lazy or have they just adapted to make the cage their home?

The journey started a while ago cultivated and fresh now with time we impose a manufactured identity. Some with no substance, others forgetting the notion of inherited culture. We are clones that have lost our way, mass produced commodities of society. Why are we never satisfied and have the need to want more, when some have never had the ability to possess. Would you give it all up for a day, see the world from an underrepresented perspective? Or is another’s opinion vital to your existence? Are you dependent on others? Or do you use self-confidence as an excuse for consumerism?

We fancy many ideas in life, but if we agree to them is the internal debate of human nature. I’m no hypocrite so I accept my position within this but I will always question how and why my fascination has grown this far. Driven on the route of evil enroute to the capital, if money represents evil why do the good still suffer? So I guess it’s a lose lose situation. The westernised children of the darkness that shy away from the light of humility. The dark restricts the light but we still live within a world of poverty, where the hopeless chase shadows. When will they realise that they are the ones that are free, the sad truth is that they will never as they endeavour to assimilate into the west. Enchanted by the promises of a better life and better opportunities. The fairy-tale of the west exists, the change within a mere urban legend...

1 comment:

Anonymous8 April 2014 at 14:36
Deep!
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About Alph

Alph Arley

Performance Poet and Spoken Word Artist/ R.A.P Workshop Facilitator. It's deeper than R.A.P!

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Paragraph about me:

Hi my name is Alph Arley and I know that your certainly pleased to meat me, because I know that I am certainly pleased to you. I am a 90’s US Hip-Hop, 90’s U.K Garage and U.K Grime head, with a sneaker addiction which I had battled for 20 years.

I am a performance poet, as well as a spoken word artist who was born and raised in Stockwell, South London. I started writing poetry back in 2011, and started performing my poetry in 2012, whilst I was studying at university. When I am not playing Pokémon on my Nintendo DS, listening to Rap, watching Rap battles, watching cartoons, watching footie, watching anime or reading manga, I am thinking and writing. In my spare time I also facilitate and deliver poetry, spoken word and rap workshops which are called ‘The R.A.P Programme’ to young people. This is in order to help them to gain a greater, awareness as well as understanding about the importance their individual voices, as well as to help them to gain awareness, as well as help them to articulate their thoughts and emotions.

How I get started with poetry?

How it did I get started with poetry? I would say my poetic journey subconsciously started in 94. This was when I was about 3 years old. I grew up in a two bedroom flat, in a four flat building in Stockwell with Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Bone Thugs and Harmony, Puff Daddy, Mase, Dre Dre, LL Cool J, DJ Rob Base, Run DMC, Eve, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, Wycleff Jean, Lauren Hill, Fugees, Eryka Badu CD’s being played on my Mum’s black Kenwood Hi-Fi, with two standing speakers.

I remember by the age of about 9 I had my own portable stereo in my bedroom and started to build my own Rap CD collection which included Eminem, Dre Dre, Ludacris, D12, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg. Like, I remember getting printed Eminem lyrics on A4 paper, as a present from one of my Mum’s friends, after that there was no looking back. I actually started writing both grime and rap lyrics in secondary school, but those lyrics remained in the drafts of my 6230 phone. I admit, I struggled to spit in time with a beat and the lyrics did not make sense in the slightest. In 2011, whilst studying at university, I remember scrolling through my Blackberry, writing my thoughts in my note pad. I would say that my life experiences made it difficult for me to express my thoughts and emotions, which led me to become frustrated adolescent. I started writing my thoughts down and I found it helped me to come to terms with my experiences.

What does poetry mean to me?

That’s a dope question. I would say that poetry means everything to me, as it has not only helped me to come to terms with my life experiences, but it has also helped me to use my experiences to help others. I have read so many books from different poets, like Pablo Neruda, John Keats, Allen Ginsberg, Phillip Larkin, Sylvia Plath, Gertrude Stein, William Shakespeare, Benjamin Zephaniah, Linton Kwesi Johnson. Poems such as ‘Stackolee’ and ‘The Signifying Monkey’ , which are two of my favourites. I would say that it is important that everyone feels that they have a voice to express themselves as well as share with others, as growing up I noticed many around me felt that they did not have a voice. I feel that poetry is an art form which can give all the young homies on the block, that lady serving at the tills in Sainbury’s, Bossman in the local corner shop, a chance for them to express themselves, as well as voice.