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HipHop: Art Music of the Future

by Rico Sisney

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  • Streaming + Download

    Immediate download of 12-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire. Includes bonus tracks.
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1.
Rico: The Big Bang was a bass Drum The collapse of the cosmos will be a handclap and all the greatest moments in human history were syncopation on the hi-hat Maggie: Started so simply It's almost hard to believe that the beat of a drum like a tree in the heat could become Music... We never let it slip away No matter what else they take They can never replace this Touch because it's so basic but it's an Agent of Change It's Real so Real... It's everything they don't want us to feel It's Genuine so Genuine It's all that we'll have left in the end... Rico: The Big Bang was a bass Drum The collapse of the cosmos will be a handclap and all the greatest moments in human history were syncopation on the hi-hat It's Real so Real... It's everything they don't want us to feel It's Genuine so Genuine It's everything we have in the end...
2.
What Matters 05:04
Under a Scattered pile of ashes of a past life I wonder what matters/ She's got clothes here with wonderful patterns/ But she's chosen to wander without em/ ain't seen her new husband in six weeks/ she don't wonder about him?/She had the perfect life set to be the perfect wife/ but some people just can't be the perfect type/And she didn't even give a solitary reason/ One moment it's forever and the next second she leaves him?/His hearts bleedin evaluatin her treason/How she leave him in a home made to be greater than Eden?/ He had her finger lookin swollen all the time/ rock about the size of bowlin ball but now/that's in the pile with velvet robes and burberry clothes/ what she's wearin now God only knows/ with her husband's definition of wonderful shattered,/It kinda makes you wonder what matters. I wonder what matters She returns with springtime and her hair cut short/ and reports, I went through great lengths to get here/ And he wonders what she meant by that/ but for now he just smiles cuz he's happy to have her back/ She acts and looks a little bit different now/material things don't seem so significant now/so he asks her, "have you been brainwashed?"/ She says, "No, but I started thinking and now I can't stop./ I cut off more than a few lengths of hair out there/ I forgot a whole world about which I used to care/ She said think about it like this, I been dead for two months/Now I got life so the comforts in it just don't matter as much/ All the jewelry this house with way too many rooms/ Appliances and furniture we just gone lose when we move/ I'm not ungrateful baby these were wonderful flatters, but it really made me wonder what matters." I wonder what matters.
3.
Rico: There's a common misconception about the Devil's complexion He ain't red he green, put that on everything When people with him wish for more Turn proud women into whores turn small children from the Lord thinking they onto something more He's the green in the envy have somebody smilin friendly all the time if they want what's mine then they gone put seventeen in me the Devil's in the weed, in the stems and the seeds in the THC we believe that we need with each breath you let him a little bit deeper in he's what makes the girls wanna freak again He's the green in the grass on the other side That'll make a brother hide and wanna lead another life but he can't They say, "It's Mo Money Mo Problems, Mo Money Mo Problems." but I don't need no problems Look, I'm probably condescending in spitting what i envisioned, it's just difficult for me to fathom when people not listening. I'm basically saying, don't be a slave to cash and focus on the things that made to last. Get me further from what I want is all that I think my wishin did Soul compromising flaw is all that I think ambition is and with what I'm under, I wonder why haven't I considered giving in? I used to hate my life, then I just despised the dude that was livin it In every single being there's something deep in him eating don't mistake it though, most people are incapable of seeing or feeling this villain, when his venom is killin this innermost enemy's deep within you seepin to eat you keepin you see through and vulnerable man I don't know no more, am I supposed to go? I guess it's a blessin that I'm holdin on to the truth, I'm new to this thing I don't know what to do. I just sit with the spirit and hear what it says and then flip it and give it to you and it told Maggie: I cross a stream You're Standing (Rico: It's more money more problems) Your stained berry fingertips I'm so stained now Once the stars were in your eyes And now I see this Ego Over Eagle It flies so high And it used to live in Your Eye They say, "It's Mo Money Mo Problems, Mo Money Mo Problems." But I don't need no problems So No Money's no Problem Mo Money Mo Problems Mo Money Mo Problems...
4.
Slower Life 03:23
Chorus: You'd rather plant seeds than grow trees, buy fast food than groceries, A slower life's what we both need So please stop chasing your trophies and hopefully we'll both have piece x2 I'm from the burbs where the drug scene's worse Where people who smoke weed take adderall first. I know plenty coke fiends who don't know what broke means cuz they pay for those things with cash that daddy offers and most are close to bleeding from the Have-it-all curse Now I suppose that you believed you had it off worse in the struggle I'm burstin your bubble My generation's thirstin for trouble and for our ADD I blame Sesame Street. For stereotypes and anger I blame the Power Rangers the danger in these times, is the family decline If it comes up, she can count on me being a man for mine cuz it's a lot of Baby-daddies who don't wanna bother with being a father and they come from both blue and white collar backgrounds but when dad's around physically and emotionally where he's supposed to be, supposedly a stronger kid's brought up but you say you don't wanna get caught up in the game but your kid needs more from you than a momma and a name Chorus: You'd rather plant seeds than grow trees, buy fast food than groceries, A slower life's what we both need So please stop chasing your trophies and hopefully we'll both have piece x2 Maggie: He feels like winning the race But where are you headin towards? He moves so swiftly Trying to get more But don't you know the man Who walks so slow Sees every bird, mother, munch and smile Chorus: You'd rather plant seeds than grow trees, buy fast food than groceries, A slower life's what we both need So please stop chasing your trophies and hopefully we'll both have piece x2
5.
He had to be, Harder better faster stronger more efficient and fluid He had the funds to do it. From Lakeforest but he was raised in the Old Money way. Cd's and IRA's make sure no money fades. By the age of seventeen, his parents had made his self-esteem So high that he believed he would achieve everything. He was named a national scholar although he was caught with coke. That file was never seen, his parents had the juice to keep his records clean. He kept it clean both in fashion and in manner. He worked out and had a frame like Bruce Banner, Dude was slammin. Women said that he was witty and charming and they found his game pretty disarming. He moved from his home in the burbs cuz the city was calling and spent money so fast that it was alarming. He needed to make his first million, Then by a home in Lake Forest get a beautiful wife maybe some children, etcetera, etcetera... Now she had to be... Thinner, cuter, smarter and work harder than anyone around her just so she could get caught up. She was raised on the southside Calumet class of '98 One of a few to graduate She ingested, stories of princes and princesses Naive, but her memory was quite impressive, Nevertheless it didn't help her with life's daily stresses. Friends said, "Get rid of the books. You sendin men the wrong message." It's funny how girls without a man always try to give advice... If they did it right, they'd have somebody in they life. She wasn't gone compromise her self like her mom did. You cannot give up what you want to feel wanted. The boys from around the way called her bougie, seditty, Girls said, "you think you pretty. " Finally she moved to the city and started chasin her dreams the mistake that she made was to think you had to just get what you want, it's better to want what you need They met on a summer day The sun was shining but not as bright as the diamonds beside him. She saw her lovely face. With him she wanted to run away. Her friends were shy the sight of him excited them and she said, "Hi" to him in spite of them He asked her out and invited them She thought he had what she needed like a vitamin. Sizzled like a fryin pan Looked at Tony Stark envisioned Iron Man While the lonely hearts club peeped his bony parts Uh... As far as marriage he met her requirements, So before he popped the question she'd mostly decided it Ceremony and reception, his parents provided it. He could purchase or invest in whatever she'd try to get. Life was bliss. His friends thought his wife was just... So fine. Way cuter than them lipo chicks in magazines. It seemed they were livin a fantasy. Things were wonderful then, cuz they agreed what wonderful meant. Way up on that hilltop... She sees that castle from afar... Way up on that hilltop She sees that Castle from afar and it looks so much better, better from afar
6.
1773 (free) 05:11
When you breathe, You're taking in toxins impossible for you to see. Our culture and politics operate similarly. If we believe in the lies, we could get eaten alive Why do we try to breathe? basketQASE: The Great liquid bead enormous in diameter falls Direction of Gravity Adapting to the contour of Mother pulsating wall Leaving behind a lengthy trail of evidence of Stress related anguish, Global Tremors Approaching cliff damnation It attempts a hold on a gigantic thread the likes of a whisker but doesn't achieve traction Beginning flight of the bead into the dreaded fields of cotton As in tear versus man made garment rapid absorption level that will absolutely consume disappears and all that is left are memories of a legend of an entity of pain inspired moisture Hot sodium filled resembling the Dead Sea Scrolls hidden in a man eating clam You thought, I was going to say, "Oyster." When you breathe, You're taking in toxins impossible for you to see. Our culture and politics operate similarly. If we believe in the lies, we could get eaten alive Why do we try to breathe? Rico: I believe it was 1773, When Washington chopped down a million american trees and he couldn't lie about it people I highly doubt it Our education's naive We take it for granted that the system that we have been handed is better than anything we've ever seen on the planet But that is just damaging lies, helping in managing minds Our vanity gives them advantages what if our vanity vanishes? They'd be left with less weapons livin less effortless lives effervescent they'd be left confessin their lies as we rise, no longer just tryna to get by When you breathe, You're taking in toxins impossible for you to see. Our culture and politics operate similarly. If we believe in the lies, we could get eaten alive Why do we try to breathe? Maggie Vagle: Love, Beautiful Energy Creator of Cosmos and Galaxy Healer of hearts and minds Many names that you have Surround me with your Love If I didn't believe in you Love... All of me would be dead Fill me with your Love. When you breathe, You're taking in toxins impossible for you to see. Our culture and politics operate similarly. If we believe in the lies, we could get eaten alive Why do we try to breathe?
7.
Yellow Light (free) 04:31
Cast: Driver...Rico Sisney Guest...Maggie Vagle Light...Band The rain had just stopped, leaving debris in the streets from all the leaves of the trees and sticks caught in the wind. They just pop as again they get caught. This time by the tires of a red mustang, her engine killing the silence born after the rain. She growls- drowning out the plit-plat of the drips from the trees. The leaves and sticks crack as she hits. Though her top is down, her Driver is bone dry and unaware of the time that’s going by. He’s been out here for years and he doesn’t know why. In fact, it barely enters his thoughts. He pulls up to a red light and just stops. The engine’s growl becomes a purr; he doesn’t notice her. Only the wind whispering madness in his ears He forms an original thought (he hasn’t had one in years) He thinks, “I can control this light.” He speaks, “I can control this light.” He blinks…and it’s a green light. …again and it’s a red light. …again and it’s a green light. II Thoughts become ideas. Ideas become obsessions Beliefs are most powerful if perceived as possessions instead of mere suggestions. My apartment’s usually lonely, but tonight I’m letting a Guest in like Best Western Inn. She’s both lovely and bright and I’m getting lucky tonight. I skip to the corner, move the blanket and uncover the light. She looks surprised. I can see it in her eyes. Her hair is soaking wet it’s pouring down outside. She grins at me. Her smile says she’s never been happy. She’s had too much wine and wants the night to end badly. She asks me, dispassionately, “Would you like another drink,?” She holds the Wine-- I clutch the light-- I say I’m fine and just in time, I-- blink…We get a red light Give me an hour she’ll be in my bed tight. I Blink. She laughs. “Do it again.” “Okay.” I Blink. She laughs. “Do it again.” “Okay.” I Blink. She laughs. “You know who you remind me of?” “Who?” “Jeannie from ‘I Dream of--’” “Genie?” “Yeah, Jeannie. She did that blinking thing.” “I see, I Remind you of Jeannie. Does that mean you find me Dreamy?” “If I compared you to my coffee, would you say you’re--” “Black and Steamy--” “actually Creamy. I mean--” “There’s no need to interpret meaning. Language is full of static so we find words deceiving especially if we refuse to accept the sovereignty of phrases heard on TV And attempt to say what we really think. {SILENCE. Driver approaches Guest and at the last second turns away} I Blink. She doesn’t laugh she must be catching her breath. I Guest: (quietly and out of time) Stop it. Blink. I Guest: (louder) Stop it please. Blink. She doesn’t laugh she must be catching her breath. I Blink. I Blink. I Blink. I Guest: (frantic) Stop it! Please Stop! Blink. She doesn’t laugh she’s still just catching her breath Stop it Now! I do it again though she didn’t ask I don’t remember when she left. {Driver blinks} III. Ideas become obsessions. Beliefs are most potent baked at 477° like Shadrach and Abendego. Picture ‘Me Shacked’ Up with a stoplight-reality is bending over. I blink the light’s red, I Blinks the light’s green I remember Barbara Eden always had to nod her head, but the from nose witch twitch just ‘Bewitched’ her. The Head thing was a part of it. She was submissive to his wishes a Blink. He treated her vicious as paper would to scissors if it could ever gets the upper hand to switch sides I love control. I want control. She laughs, “He doesn’t know.” She was lovely and bright and I’m alone. She’s been gone for--how long? Why did I let her leave? The light grins menacingly upon me, it’s tight lips reminiscent of something ugly A disturbing thought gives birth to itself. A disturbing thought not the first one I felt I don’t control the light. “You don’t control me!” Thoughts become posessive obsessions, “Light this control can I?” speaks he. “Light this control can I? thinks he. “Wake up!” Red. Green. Red. Red. Green. Black. White. Never Ever. Yellow. Red A blink. A change. A change. A blink. He blinks I change.- Genies are slaves. Coffees, wines, lipsticks, leaves, mustangs. My mind is my lamp. I can’t be losing it if I know I’m insane. Can’t be losing my mind if I know I’m insane. Can I? Be losing my mind if I know I’m insane? Can he be using my mind if he knows I’m insane? Water drips from my forehead. It’s started to rain.
8.
In The Dark 03:28
With my eyes closed, I cease to exist Speech becomes meaningless I reach inner bliss I Feel it fade quickly though cuz peace can't exist I smell nothing at all save a creeping abyss I think only of glasses drained past half-empty Degradation of the world over the last half-century Wars on every ism and religion in sight I'm beginning to write, Inspired by the absence Of light, I can only dream It's a force that I've never seen It's like Gravity It's not real until the fall... In the Dark, we make decisions and judgements But we can't see or be seen so we're hidden in public For the truth we're left diggin and hunting so we're driven by nothing except the feelings in the pits of our stomachs I envision the coming of a candle that burns without wax and fuel A cycle of relapse and renewal but our generation's lacking the tools Left separated by the presence of privilege and the integrity we lacking in schools but the light is out there with golden arches While the world's in the hold of darkness It slowly marches towards our woeful call but it's presence won't be made real until the fall... until the... until the fall... until the fall of man. until the... until the fall of man. until the... until the fall... I was born clothed in blackness, so I been told. So I been warned, "don't let it take control of your soul." So I been sold. Been told that it's a weight I'm meant to carry Have to view black as a burden 'til they change the dictionary. Black is defined as, "Destitute of light or incapable of reflecting it. Having dark hair and a dark complexion with Dark eyes. Foul, dirty, dismal, gloomy, forbidding like darkness. Destitute of moral Light or goodness. For those who have endured this, it's hard to seek pureness. Hard to seek light, with so many people keen to obscure it. The truth is, while white might reflect more light, Black absorbs more. If anything, that makes it more pure. I thank God for my skin color. It wasn't his means of cursing me. There's no one on this earth he sees as any better or worse than me. Personally, I think Self-education can change a lot. Our brains are blocked with misinformation we should've taken with grains of salt. His presence won't be made real until the fall. until the... until the fall... until the fall of man. until the... until the fall of man. until the... until the fall...
9.
I'm a peon, developed over eons and eons to be the only incarnation of me. Nietzschean truth that everybody's waiting to see that there's no truth. And that's the truth take it from me. But uh...If you got yo pop culture nachos, put the Woody Allen chip in the J-lo dip That's a twist. Not if they makin a flic we takin a trip into the world of naked abyss Oops...my bad that's what I call T.V Next time you all see me, We will all be three time units closer to death I don't fear it, I just chose to give it open respect Now in the beginning, just living meant giving your living to him in the sky and men didn't try to glorify themselves cuz they knew that they couldn't live self-contained and that wealth was a curse just like welts or pain Open Your Eyes Open your Eyes Open Your Eyes in spite of all of life's disguises I'm the Barbara Walters of the Universe You wanna ask me a question? You better ask it quick. I'm probably gonna ask you it first. Of second place and last place, I'd say that two is worse I'm so socratic, when I interrogate, if guilty you would burst. What if you found out Mother Theresa used to be bad? Isn't the Father of the Earth still Lucifer's dad? Meaning everything in life, stems from your choices? Imagine if Tupac Shakur was born voiceless or if Martin Luther King had never started worshipping the Lord Jesus, if the constitution had been ripped in four pieces, if Einstein ignored reason, Ray Kroc Abhorred eating or Washington felt compelled to never commit no more treason... I gues we'd be up the creek with no paddle but false are all the above mentioned things so it don't matter I guess my point is, If I hadn't started questioning things, I wouldn't be me. So tell me now where would we be? Open Your Eyes Open your Eyes Open Your Eyes in spite of all of life's disguises I'm a penguin and Rap music is my cold weather they tell me to move on quick, but I know better. If I go where I heard that it gets cold never, even with no sweater I'd be no better than a bald eagle with broke feathers. I'm just a Native American under Andrew Jackson They say, "Now Moving Lips, it's time to send you packin." I'm like a jew back when Nebuchadnezzar or Caesar sad, "We're gonna put your stuff up for seizure. But please don't be angry we can't be havin that. we only movin you out of your natural habitat" I've entered the real world, where serial killers kill girls and other men fill girls heads up with lies that you worth absolutely nothing if you plus-sized but I'm just another Black on the Bus while Rosa Parks stood up for herself, I sat quiet later I participated in that riot that you heard about word of mouth See you don't need to start a revolution as long as you recognize when one comes on and Get your feet to movin. x3 and then Open Your Eyes Open your Eyes Open Your Eyes in spite of all of life's disguises

about

HipHop: Art Music of the Future is a live album taken from a concert of the same name. Performed April 6th, 2009, the concert was the brainchild of emcee/composer Rico Sisney. It focuses on some of the basic elements of HipHop compared and contrasted with elements of classical and jazz composition. It features a jazz song cycle as well as 12-tone and octatonic pieces. The message is that all music should be accessible to the people, not just academia. And nothing has to be "dumbed down."

The musicians include Charles Coffeen and Garrett Mcginn, the keys player and bass player for Sidewalk Chalk of which Rico is also a member; Drummer Rob Dicke; percussionist Chris Paquette; a string quartet featuring Johnathan De Souza on Viola, Chris Beckstrom on Saxophone, and Sally Blandon on Backup Vocals. Fellow Sidewalk Chalk Vocalist Maggie Vagle Contributes in a variety of roles and basketQase Rodriguez makes an appearance.

credits

released September 12, 2010

Composed by
Rico Sisney

Emcee
Rico Sisney

Backup Vocals
Maggie Vagle
Sally Blandon

Strings
Viola - Johnathan DeSouza
Cello - Hillary Bauer
First Violin - Alexander Stabrawa
Second Violin - Christine Knodle

Sax
Chris Beckstrom

Keys/Piano/Vibes
Charlie Coffeen

Drums
Rob Dicke

Bass
Garrett McGinn

Percusssion
Chris Paquette

Executive Producers
Rico Sisney
Aunnoy Badruzzaman
Sound
Ben Gordon
Elliot Little
Dana Minetti
Brandon Vogel
Tom VanDerBeek

Mixed by
Elliott Little

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all rights reserved

tags

about

Rico Sisney Chicago, Illinois

I am the emcee for Chicago bands Sidewalk Chalk and Treehouse and the founder of Chicago Artist collective The Gala. Artistically, those are my main pursuits so please follow and support them.
I rarely release anything solo and even when I do I enlist an "Army of Geniuses*" to help make it happen. I make music that I love. If you dig it, let's get down.
*Quote from Lawrence Binkey Tolefre
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