RHYTHM OF BECOMING — CONTINUUM REMIX

Paroles

BURG CITY RECORDS in Poetic Collaboration with tHE JB StUDiOs Presents: THE RHYTHM OF BECOMING — CONTINUUM REMIX INTRO — SIGNAL FROM BEFORE [Silence. One heartbeat kick. A talking drum speaks three tones, low, high, low. Wind across an open field. An elder voice, close to the mic.] Before-the-map, before-the-gap, before-the-ship wey cross the water with a whip… the drum don talk. The drum don walk. The drum don keep the record wey the paper no fit chalk. [Choir hum rises.] ANCESTOR ECHO: We were rhythm before border-line. We were wisdom before clock-and-time. [Bass drops.] BURG CITY — open the field. The JB STUDIOS — break the seal. AFRO-JUJU — make the memory real. VERSE I — THE MEMORY FIELD (REMIXED) Before-time align-the-mind, I find the line in the rhyme, the rhythm don dey pulse since the ancestral-prime. Before-tone found-sound, the drum don wound-round the memory-ground like a crown wey no fit drown. Before-fire learn-spark, the empire leave a mark, a warning in the bark of the tree inside the dark. Before-colonial-tongue try deny wetin we do, civilization remember: with-GOD, we-no-surrender-true. [DOUBLE-TIME] Lost-turn-found, round-turn-round, round-no-break, Afro-Juju-build-town, beat-turn-street, street-turn-code, code-turn-road, road-carry-load, node-turn-mode of-the-living-GOD, I nod to the rod and the staff wey I hold. Hope-carrying, pressure-burying, future-ferrying, spirit-marrying. See-the-scroll, feel-the-roll, claim-the-soul, become-the-whole. VERSE II — CROSSING (WAFFI CADENCE) [Beat switches to a syncopated Warri bounce. Snare rolls chase the talking drum.] We crossed-water, crossed-weather, crossed-together, crossed-forever, iron round the ankle but the anthem never severed. Ocean-divide-us, memory-guide-us, spirit-provide-us, GOD stand beside us. We carried the drum inside the silence, we carried our names inside the violence, we carried our hope inside defiance, and the rhythm got stronger through every crisis. Distance no fit vanish what the soul insist, resistance no fit banish what the root persist. From the hold of the ship to the hold of the mic, from the night of the whip to the light of the life. [INTERNAL-RHYME CASCADE] Drum-code, home-road, stone-load, known-flow, root-deep, truth-keep, proof-speak, youth-reach, far-scar, star-are, guitar-heart, start-art, GOD-nod, broad-road, word-sword, Lord-restored. CONTINUUM DECREE — REMIX [Beat slams back at full weight.] From-Amalgamation to-Reactivation. From-Separation to-Restoration. From-Colonization to-Reclamation. From-Fragmentation to-Continuation. JiNG-&-BiNG-remembering. Afro-Juju-recentering. Black-Rhythm-reentering. Soulful-Blues-rerendering. Signal-no-dey-die. Memory-no-dey-dry. Ancestors-no-dey-lie. Rhythm-still-dey-fly. Drum-still-dey-call. Spirit-still-dey-haul. Culture-still-stand-tall. GOD-still-over-all. CHORUS — FULL RECLAMATION (REMIX) [Full band: horns, bass, highlife guitar, choir, talking drum.] We are becoming. We are remembering. Every broken sound still worth redeeming. Street-turn-scripture. Silence-turn-meaning. We be the signal still endlessly-streaming. No beginning. No ending. Only returning. Fire in the drum still quietly-burning. CHOIR: LOCK-ME. FREE-ME. NAME-ME. SEE-ME. HOLD-ME. GUIDE-ME. TEACH-ME. KEEP-ME. SECTION III — THE -ILY CONTINUUM (REMIX CHANT) [Everything drops except the talking drum and claps. The chant builds line by line, each pair faster than the last.] Steadily-building-me. Mightily-shielding-me. Gradually-unlocking-me. Rhythmically-rocking-me. Holily-schooling-me. Lovingly-ruling-me. Quietly-loading-me. Patiently-molding-me. Gracefully-guiding-me. Faithfully-hiding-me. Spiritually-feeding-me. Ancestrally-leading-me. Intentionally-loving-me. Eternally-covering-me. Divinely-seeing-me. Completely-freeing-me. [Double-time, the choir doubling the lead.] History-singing-me, energy-spinning-me, memory-living-me, future-forgiving-me, city-believing-me, people-receiving-me, GOD-never-leaving-me, GOD-never-leaving-me. SECTION III — THE -ILY CONTINUUM (REMIX CHANT) [Everything drops except the talking drum and claps. The chant builds line by line, each pair faster than the last.] Steadily-building-me. Mightily-shielding-me. Gradually-unlocking-me. Rhythmically-rocking-me. Holily-schooling-me. Lovingly-ruling-me. Quietly-loading-me. Patiently-molding-me. Gracefully-guiding-me. Faithfully-hiding-me. Spiritually-feeding-me. Ancestrally-leading-me. Intentionally-loving-me. Eternally-covering-me. Divinely-seeing-me. Completely-freeing-me. [Double-time, the choir doubling the lead.] History-singing-me, energy-spinning-me, memory-living-me, future-forgiving-me, city-believing-me, people-receiving-me, GOD-never-leaving-me, GOD-never-leaving-me. GOD is the greatest, the Alpha and Omega, Our rock in the storm and our spiritual anchor! GOD IS IN THE WORK as Afro-Juju Continues again and again and again, again and again and again and again. [Final drum strike. Silence.]