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Styling Divine 4: Immaculate Conception · by R.H.S.
For the new jacks: this is the fourth installation of an ongoing series that chronicles the artistic development of rapper Divine of New Jersey.
I can say with certainty tha the comments on the past installments have been fair and valid. It’s good to see the interwebz put to good use: Divine and Co. are getting great feedback from around the world in real-time. Divine‘s 1995 equivalent might have been relegated to belting out his verses in a playground over a pause-tape or amateur beat-boxing, garnering the attention of maybe five people at a time. I wonder now how to relate the valid critiques to Divine in a manner that produces results.
Surely Divine and his net-savvy friends read the responses, but seemingly random web commentary is not nearly as impactful or valuable as advice from a friend and collaborator. My main criticism of Divine‘s rhyming thus far is partly related to his development as a song-writer: he is too wedded to rehashing themes that have been exhaustively explored in rap. Now, despite what some contrarian bloggers might tell you, there’s nothing inherently wrong with clever bragodocio rap, or crime narrative rap, or mystical introspection rap.
There only exists a problem if you revisit these formulas without improving upon them or spinning them in a fresh way. For better or for worse, Divine‘s is still mostly the sum of his readily identifiable influences. His verses hint at a desire to innovate at the poetic level, or at the very least interweave concepts and symbols that have been ignored or underexplored in the genre for some time, in particular motifs related to sin and absolution. In my opinion there’s no need to pursue complete originality at the expense of legibility – the human condition is rife with conditions that will fester in perpetuity, and the arts should address them – frequently.
That said, emceeing in 2008 must move steadily forward, combining interesting but intelligible vocal presentation with inspired, topical, engaging verse. Allusions and stylistic nods to the past can add to conceptual depth but they cannot be the sole blueprint for devising songs. Topics, much like styles, have to be flipped, re-flipped, re-thought, and re-drawn with an eye on the future. That next shit. And it has to all look natural. So, how do you inculcate such values into your disciples and collaborators? Any suggestions?
To his credit, Divine did record a song with his friend Slick that explores the concept of artistic tradition and legacy and one’s place in it, which you are free to download and critique. I like the rapping, especially the back-and-forth in the third verse, but the track itself is a little too subdued (even if the Metallica sample is a good idea on paper). This is a step in the right direction, but I’ve always found rapping about the rap genre to be a little too insular and cheerleading for my tastes, at least in large doses. Where should we go next?
In other news, I found a Stanton counterweight DJDeals.com online (shipped in just a few days, too) which means that Verge‘s turntable is now fully operational and that he can fully exploit his vinyl collection. Prior to this find we were using all kinds of improvised solutions and they all failed. For those of you who still rock the MPC1000, I also found Fuji zip disks for sale online at an excellent price – I had the disks in my hand the day after I placed the order. Verge is now in the market for a desktop computer to assist in production and recording – any opinions on the HP Pavillion HP6400f?
I’ll check in again soon.
You articulated it much better but this post basically sums up what I was trying to say with my last comment. I think one of the most valuable things an artist like Divine could have at this point is access to a myriad of literary sources that will push his pen game to the next level. We all know that every MC’s style is born from that of his/her influences, and something that I think the game hasn’t heard yet is someone who’s style is a pivot on classic literary themes(all El-P, Def Jux Phillip K. Dick Orwell fuckery aside)as much as much as it is rooted in Rakim, BDP, etc. Kurt Vonnegut, Shakespeare, Langston Hughes,J.D. Salinger. ALSO:Link for the track you mentioned?
— the dough Apr 18, 04:21 PM
Dough, the link is in the paragraph, hover the cursor over the sentence.
— R.H.S. Apr 18, 05:33 PM
wtf? is this? are u niggas serious? you could go to any street corner and find someone to rhyme like this toy. “its that fucking gutta mother fucka like no otha”
real game changing shit he’s spittin herethat contrary to what he’s saying is exactly like every myspace page buy my cd “rapper” in the world. you actually sat there and typed up this articulate well constructed piece of journalism for this clown? and u have 3 more to boot?? all you hippity hop bloggers need to stop talking out of ure ass like u know good music when u dont know a squirts worth of shit about this culture.— really? Apr 19, 03:50 AM
The rhymes you are deriding are actually by his boy Slick. If you had bothered to pay attention to the song you’d have noticed that there are two distinct voices on it. Thanks for the feedback though.
— R.H.S. Apr 19, 05:04 AM
don’t be bitter, u need to stop deriding your boy’s dick. i know, he’s your girls cousin or or your weed man or whatever, that don’t mean he has any talent.
— wow u really are serious Apr 19, 07:50 AM
^e-thuggery.
since everyone in rap has some made-up, fake origin story they like to sell, why not have your boy flip the concept and come up with a persona he can use as a vehicle for narrative? Remember how T.I. tried to do this, but he acted like tip was real? yea, not that. if he treats his persona as mere fiction, is conscious that it’s a story he needs to tell, i think he can go toward interesting places. the man’s name is derived from ‘Divine Comedy’, I think he can come up with some nice literary references and put together a cohesive narrative.
lyrically, divine is a good 7, 7.5 on a 1-10 scale (tho maybe that’s lowered expectations) i think homie can improve if he avoids rap cliches, which i think you pointed out in your post. long as he got a trusted critic, i don’t see how he couldn’t improve.
give this kid some Wu, have him listen to Inspektah Deck. I think he needs to learn to ‘get to the point’. kill it from the first bar, the first line. tighten up, y’know?
like i said before, i’m rooting for yall cats.
— coqui Apr 19, 04:37 PM
and the song:
real slow man. one of them songs you have to be in a certain mood to vibe with. this kid really is leaps and bounds ahead of his partners, they gotta step they game up. he’s rapping about rapping again, which is cool, but like you said, he’s got to bring something new to the table. don’t want to sound like one of those mad rappers…
the beat is a little muddy. yall come up with a (sonic) theme for the project your working towards? have your producer keep that in mind as he lays these tracks.
— coqui Apr 19, 04:42 PM
you ask where divine should go next. i think there’s only one answer – he has to begin to write more personal songs. not songs about topics that he’s trying to choose, but about his life. be they dark, funny, witty, whatever – we need to start to hear about divine and what makes him tick. i know he’s on some lyricist shit, but he has to marry that with some expression of divine the rapper, and let us know why he raps.
PS. perhaps we could keep the metallica samples to a minimum from now on? i’d personally like to start hearing him go over hot beats – like a hip hop weekly thing, a regular freestyle to work on the flow and get serious.
i’m also rooting for you guys.
— London Apr 22, 07:32 PM
idc what any of these kids say cuz 200 bucks sayz i rip em to shreds in a battle
— SLiCKK Apr 22, 08:55 PM
London, great suggestions.. We’re working on a song that is more personal and poetic than what you’ve heard.
The metallica beat was put together by divine and slick. Like I said it was better in theory. It was a noble attempt but absolutely NOT the direction that Verge and I are pushing.
— R.H.S. Apr 22, 11:44 PM
What Sankofa said.
And the demo is dope.
“The Evidence” is super grimy sounding, in a good way.
I’d love to hear some finished Verge tracks with vocals.
— AaronM Apr 23, 01:30 AM