The day I started to really love rap. {Wasalu Muhammad Jaco}

Assalamualaikum ...

I have been listening to rap since we have all heard about MC Hammer & Vanilla Ice. Only when Eminem came with his Marshall Matters LP that I started to think that rap is a cool kind of music. So I bought the tape and another uncensored one so that I could hear all the explicit words. I love every single song in it. After that I started to listen to every single rap that are famous during those days; Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Redman, etc.

So the days of gangsta rap are over. I've moved to all sorts of other music genres. Rap is still around, but it wasn't my real interest (not trying to say that my real interest is now rap). It's not when I heard of the name Lupe Fiasco by a friend who introduced me to the song "Superstar". It didn't quite impress me, but it is a nice song, hearing it for the first time.

When LASERS came, I started to listen to the album. Just like any other album, you'd listen and love a few of the songs first ... in the end you'll love every single track. I started to learn what rap is about. I found out that rap is a form of poetry, and coming from a literary background I agree to a certain extent that songs can be poetry.

You see, to me (as someone who recently love poetic stuff) poetry is a form art using language. Thus to have it as an art, it requires something to make it beautiful. Just as paintings requires good colours, brushes, creativity,etc, poetry requires the right set of words, sounds, imagery,etc. Thus, the same goes with the lyric of a song.

I'm not saying that Lupe Fiasco's song are like Shakespeare's sonnets because that is too far apart. Shakespeare's sonnets are beautifully crafted. Rap (I'm referring to good rap), to me is beautiful because it usually rhymes and the choice of words used are just great.

While most commercial rappers are talking about dancing, partying, drinking, girls, sex, etc, Lupe being someone who go against establishments, raps about society, war, environments and other forms of awareness. It is really rare to hear a mainstream artist, especially from the US going against the occupation on Palestine by Israel.

After listening to Lupe, I got a whole new perception of rap. I could listen to Lupe singing about Islamic things with other singers; Snoop Dogg, Skylar Grey, Erykah Badu, etc without any issues. It just open up the way I think about something.

This is one of my favourite verse from "Superstar" taken from The Cool:

[chorus]

Yea, uh
A fresh cool young Lu
Trying to cash his microphone check 2, 1, 2
Want to believe my own hype but it's too untrue
The world brought me to my knees
What have you brung you?
Did you improve on the design?
Did you do something new?
Well your name ain't on the guest list
Who brung you? You
The more famous person, you come through
And the sexy lady next to you
You come too
And then it hit me
Standing outside of heaven waiting for God to come and get me
I'm too uncouth
Unschooled to the rules
And too gum shoe
Too much of a newcomer
And too uncool
Like Shadow and Lavelle
I battle with it well
Though I need a holiday like lady who sung blue
Go back what ever you did you undo
Heavy is heaven
The devil on me two tonnes too

p/s: Just listen to how well this verse rhymes. ~~

How much is Panipuri at Dharisha store on Chowpatty? Who stole constable Varmy's bicycle?

Assalamulaikum.

Jamal couldn't answer a simple question of "what is written underneath the national emblem of India?" where it is thought that every Indian should know.

Police Inspector 1 : My five-year old daughter can answer that question, but you couldn't.

Jamal: How much is Panipuri at Dharisha store on Chowpatty?

Police Inspector 1: What?

Jamal : Panipuri. One plate. How much?

Police Inspector 2: -10 Rupees.
Jamal: -Wrong

Jamal : 15 since Diwali

Jamal: Who stole Constable Varmy's bicycle?

Police Inspector 1: You know who that was?

Jamal: Everyone in Juhu knows that.

Jamal: Even five year olds

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

When we don't know, we ask. Sometime when we ask a simple question, that from the perspective of the listener(s) is something that everyone should know, they would look down on us, feel annoyed and would probably make fun of us.

Well, do you know "how much is Panipuri at Dharisha store on Chowpatty?" "Do you know who stole constable Varmy's bicycle?"

I'm sorry if I don't know the answer to that simple question. At least I have the courage to ask and have the need to know.

Taxi-ani (two Taxis)

Here's a story about two different taxi drivers that I've encounter with. I'll try to write it as a play.

------------

Boy, Man, Malay Taxi Driver (M.T.D), Chinese Taxi Driver (C.T.D)

A teenage boy, standing and waiting for a taxi to town. Came one; a Malay driver in his 30s. The boy enters.

Boy : Bandar ya

M.T.D : Okay.

The trip is not far. Silence accompanies them as they went on the road to reach the destination. The fee is RM1.

Boy: (opens up his wallet, hands the driver a RM5 note) Nah ...

M.T.D : (looks for change) Isshh ... takde duit pecah la (looks again)

Boy : (looks again in his wallet, trying to find coins as substitute) Takde gak ni ... camane ya?

M.T.D : (still looking for change while putting on a thinking face) Kire halal la ek? takde duit pecah ni (smiles)

Boy : (blurs) Ah ... Okay ... (exits the taxi)

M.T.D : (drives away)

(Time move slowly)

Boy (monologue) : Celaka betol ... kena rembat duit aku ... senang betul aku kne tipu ... baik sangat ke aku ni? macam sial rembat duit orang macam tu ... celaka.

Lights off
Lights on

A man walking towards a long queue of taxi. He stops at the one in front of a Chinese driver ones looking in his 50s. He opens the door passenger's seat door. It won't open.

C.T.D : (points towards the backseat)

Man : (opens up the backseat) Wangsa Walk?

C.T.D : Siffllas sd (slurs)
Man : (enters taxi) Mende tadi?

C.T.D : Sila masuk (pushes the meter button on)

Man : Wangsa Walk ya ... Brape ringgit ah?

C.T.D : Tak jauh pun ... lima ringgit pun tak makan.

Destination reached. The meter indicates that it's RM3.80. Two Malay boy is looking towards the taxi outside of it.

Man : (opens his wallet, he only have two RM1 notes and a RM50 note) Takde pecah la ... (hands the driver a Rm50 note)

C.TD : Aiyooh ... takde pecah la (check in his pocket and counts his money for change) tak cukup laa ... (checks again)

Man : (checks his wallet and bag for any possible changes that can be use) ... takde duit kecik la ... camane ya?

C.T.D : takpela (smiles) bagi je dua ringgit ...

Man : isshh ... mana boleh camtu (looks around if there's any shops for change, there ain't any)

C.T.D : takpe, takpe ... saya drive jauh boleh dapat passenger lagi ...

Man : Betol ke ni? Minta maaf sangat-sangat (shakes hands with the driver)
C.T.D : betol ... takpe-takpe ...

The two boys standing outside comes closer to the taxi and signalling the taxi driver for a ride.

C.T.D : haa tengok suda ade passenger ... tak rugi pun ... (smiles)

Man : Terima kasih banyak-banyak ya ... minta maaf skali lagi ... (exits the taxi smiling)

Lights off

-----------

That's the story of my experience taxi riding with two different kind of driver that I'd value the memories. To be honest, I'm quite ashame with the Malay driver as a Malay myself. I always thought that Chinese would be stingy on money (I know it's prejudice). because of this I will never again view people in stereotypes.

For the Chinese Taxi Driver, I really thank you for your hospitality and generosity. Even though it's just 10 minutes ride, I will remember it for the rest of my life.

As for the Malay Taxi Driver, I don't like the way you treat me, but I do thank you for the experience you gave me because it has made me a different person. Thank you.

May God bless you both.

p/s: I would love to take a ride in Robert de Niro's taxi. (Taxi Driver 1976)

Kampung Life Part 2 (raya + explicit)

Assalamualaikum ...

This Raya I want to show pictures of rendang making at my home in Kuantan (how to make rendang our style).

It starts with selecting the right knife (to slaughter the chickens of course). The knife must be extra sharp as to make the slaughtering process easier and less suffering for the chickens.

As we get our hands on the chickens (8 of them) we will start slaughtering them one by one.



Slaughtering a chicken is not an easy thing as we must grab/hold/pinch the right ... thing and slaughter/slice/potong the right part of the neck. The process must be done in haste as slowing it may cause more sufferings to the animal.

After doing that, we will let the animal to die at peace before we pick them to pluck the feathers.

The following image may be disturbing.

Note that we must ensure that it is really dead before we pick it up. Here's one which took so long to die. I had to chop of the head later because my father said that it'll only cause it more suffering if it remains alive like that.


When you are sure that it is really dead then you can dip/rendam in boiling hot water to pluck the feathers easier. This is the part that I hated the most in making rendang.


We have to ensure that all the feathers are plucked because ... how would you feel if there's still feathers on a KFC Dinner Plate?


After that we'll remove the intestines.

While removing the intestines we can find eggs which were not layed yet (the white one) and even eggs which are not yet to become eggs -erk?- (the orange ones) This one you cannot find it in stores/pasar malam.

The you'll cut it to pieces and wash it.

Next we have to get some coconut milk . This the tool used to rip open the cocunut.

Just poke the thing in and rip it open. After ripping off the outer layer, we'll smash/cut the cocunut into half and ... get it processed to get the coconut milk/santan.

After done cutting/slicing/blending the onions,spices, etc we'll set up the place to cook the rendang.

Here's the ingredient from afar . The coconut milk is poured in when the other ingredients are well mixed.

Half way there after pouring the santan/coconut milk. Sorry I forgot to capture the picture of the finished ones.

Here's a picture taken from the net of how the chicken rendang would look like.


Selamat Hari Raya ...

A unique ketupat brought by my aunt. A Ketupat made using (tq teyhah) Pitcher Plant/Periuk Kera.


My dad says that this banana is called Pisang Tanduk/Horn Banana. I never knew that it can get until this big.

It's a kampung life ... ( especially for Willisena and Syaiful)

Assalamualaikum...

I know I haven't updated my blog for quite a while. I'm so sorry because I just want to inform my friends about my missing hand phone.

Here's a post about my kampung life. This post is especially for my dear friend sister Willisena and her dear husband Syaiful.

I went back home last Tuesday and I had to borrow my dad's digital camera to take the pictures because I lost my camera phone.

It's the fruit season, at home we have lots of seasonal fruits. Here's the Rambutan.
Here's another Rambutan tree.

Here's a picture of the Durian tree from below. I don't eat Durian but I do love Tempoyak (processed Durian like how they make Cheese from milk, I think)

Here's some Ciku. Kak Lis said that in English it's called Chiku. I hope she's referring to the same fruit. It's called Sapodilla (thank you al-Azhar Tengku al-Walid)

Here's the equipment we use to pluck those fruits. Just imagine how it works because I don't know how to explain it to you.

Here's a view of one of the fruit's tree. Guess what kind tree it is?

Yes it is a Manggosteen tree.

I have to climb the tree to get the fruit. It's fun to climb the tree because the branches are strong and it goes like a ladder.

To make it easier I have to hang the bag (I'm using a plastic bag) on one of its branches so that it's easier for me to climb the tree and pluck the fruits.

I can see the fruit now...

Got it...

A picture taken on the tree.

Moving on to the chicken barn(Jali's Palace).

A view from inside of the barn.

I think you guys have been expecting him. Yup, this is Jali. He's busy at the back part of our house now.

Jali. No he is not snobbish(Thank You Alia for the translation of 'sombong') . He does come to our kitchen but rarely now because he's busy being the King at the backyard. He's no 'Kacang Lupakan Kulit'.


This is my home. We're trying to grow grass but it's the season where it rarely rains, so it's a bit hard for that.At the back there there's three trees. Those are the manggosteen trees.


And finally a picture taken by my brother. I love this.

Thank You.