THE RHYTHM & THE ALGORiTHM

Paroles

BURG CITY RECORDS in Poetic Collaboration with tHE JB StUDiOs Presents: THE RHYTHM & THE ALGORITHM: NOW LISTEN SHARP.. THIS NA BLACK RHYTHM & XOULFUL BLUES CONTINUES — WEY BECOME THE BLUEPRINT OF DEM JUJU XOUND AS IT RENEWS-RHYTHM-NO-LOOSE.. INTRO — THE FIRST KNOCK [Rain on a zinc roof. A single talking drum asks a question in three tones.] ELDER VOICE: Listen. Before anybody write am down, somebody beat am out. Before anybody print the page, somebody carry the sound. The drum no dey wait for permission. The drum no dey beg for a name. The drum just open its mouth and the village come. [Bass rolls in like distant thunder.] BURG CITY — tune the sky. JB STUDIOS — raise am high. AFRO-JUJU — let the old roots reply. VERSE I — SEED-SOUND I was a seed-sound, deep-down, sleep-bound inside the clay, waiting for the rain-train to carry my name away. Root-fed, truth-led, dew-wet before the day, GOD-planted, never-abandoned, no storm fit wash me away. My grandmother hum-hum, the hum become drum, the drum become a road wey the young ones still come. Her palm on the pot, her song in the plot, the lesson she taught na the treasure I got. Dust-road, trust-load, must-go, just-grow, slow-step, no-debt, soul-set, whole-flow. Hand-shake, land-wake, stand-straight, grand-gate, GOD-made, faith-paid, never-late, never-fade. PRE-CHORUS — THE TURNING The ground dey turn. The fire dey learn. The river dey bend, but the river no end. Small-small, tall-tall, the seed don dey call. Wait-wait, gate-gate, becoming no be late. CHORUS — I AM BECOMING [Highlife guitar opens wide. Full choir.] I am becoming what the drum don dey say. I am becoming the answer to the prayer of yesterday. Not finished, not vanished, not banished, not famished, just rising, surprising, the Maker still dey polish. LEAD: Who dey shape the clay? CROWD: GOD dey shape the clay. LEAD: Who dey light the way? CROWD: GOD dey light the way. LEAD: Who dey count the days? CROWD: GOD dey count the days. ALL: And the rhythm dey stay, and the rhythm dey stay. VERSE II — WATER-WALK (WAFFI CADENCE) [Beat flips to a fast, syncopated Warri bounce. The talking drum chases the snare.] Creek-side, deep-tide, keep-pride, no-hide, canoe-glide, true-guide, GOD-beside, open-wide. Warri wey teach me to talk with my chest, to laugh in the pressure and dance through the test. Oil for the ground but the people still thirst, the last get the shame while the loud get the first. But I no go curse, I go reverse, I go write the hard story inside one better verse. Mangrove-root, hold-the-boot, story-in-the-flute, no-dispute, GOD-salute, turn-the-mute to the truth. Engine-cough, never-off, struggle-tough, still-enough, when the road get rough, the rhythm come through, sharp. [DOUBLE-TIME] Paddle-push, rattle-hush, battle-rush, settle-plush, crossing-fear, tossing-near, glossing-clear, GOD-is-here, rising-tide, guiding-light, fighting-right, shining-bright, water-walk, drummer-talk, father-stock, solid-rock. VERSE III — CITY OF BRONZE (BENIN BOUNCE) [Heavy Benin percussion. Brass stabs. The march slows down and gets heavier.] Ring Road circle like a crown for the head, the walls of the old city still talk though dem dead. Igun Street fire still dey glow red, the casters still feed the bronze wey the ancestors fed. Wax-melt, fact-felt, back-belt, craft-dealt, the mould keep the shape that the old hands built. No guilt, no tilt, no silk on the spilt, na sweat and na prayer wey the palace walls built. So when I walk the street with the dust on my feet, I feel the old beat under every concrete. Heat-meet, beat-sweet, street-complete, GOD-seat on the throne, and the story repeat. [Double-time, choir doubling.] Dust-to-clay, clay-to-hand, hand-to-way, way-to-land, hum-to-drum, drum-to-song, song-to-sun, sun-to-strong, search-to-learn, learn-to-earn, earn-to-burn, burn-to-turn, turn-to-GOD, GOD-to-all, all-to-rise, never-fall. CHORUS — I AM BECOMING (REPRISE) I am becoming what the drum don dey say. I am becoming the answer to the prayer of yesterday. Not finished, not vanished, not banished, not famished, just rising, surprising, the Maker still dey polish. FINAL DECREE — THE NEW BECOMING [Full band returns at maximum weight: horns, choir, bass, highlife guitar, every drum.] From the seed to the street. From the street to the song. From the song to the people. From the people to the throne. Old-root, new-shoot. Old-drum, new-sun. Old-name, new-flame. Same-GOD, same-claim. Benin-Bounce, Waffi-Wave, Lasgidi-Rise, Afro-Juju-Pave. JiNG-&-BiNG-in-the-frame, Burg-City-carry-the-name. LEAD: What we becoming? CROWD: What GOD don write. LEAD: Where we going? CROWD: Into the light. LEAD: When we go finish? CROWD: Never — we dey rise. ALL: Again and again, under GOD's open sky. OUTRO — ELDER VOICE: The drum asked: "Who are you?" And the people answered: "We are still becoming." The drum asked: "Who made you?" And the people answered: "The One who never stops making." GOD IS IN LOVE WITH JING & BING..