I’ve heard that one before actually but once my studio is in order again I could consider re-listening and breaking it down cuz I’ve only listened once 😁
I became interested in your take bc I read "Christian Rapper"; and found myself in agreement with you on a number of fundamentals but also felt you arrived with a few disappointing "pre judgements". One thing was that all of Tom's songs take the same tired view, and the other was the cynical assessment of his motives: 1. Create controversy 2. Get views $ I beg to differ: Tom raps about what he cares about, what he believes is important. On topics that are important to us, don't we all repeat ourselves, and approach with sometimes only slightly different angles? As far as not offering a satisfying solution, or having answers, so much of what is wrong with society is covered in 2 Chron 7:13 + 14... and Tom doesn't have that.** We do. **( I am fairly certain that Tom is not a Christian, (yet) because if he was, I'm pretty certain he would be *VERY* direct and upfront about it. That said, he's an incredibly moral person, and decided early on that he would not promote the things that caused such destruction in his own life.) Have you seen his breakthrough piece "Dear Rappers" or his "answer to the haters" piece God mode? This reaction is the first time I heard of you. Despite some disagreements I have with your approach to this piece, (which is NOT my favorite song of Toms) I subscribed. I will be happy to check out other things you have done, but wonder where you would recommend I begin?
Hey, thank you for this comment! I’m kind of starting my reactions at a weird time because I’ve known of Tom for several years now and heard like every single one of his songs. He has actually inspired some of my own music! I have a song called “Chronicle” (by C-DOT) that’s actually heavily inspired by Tom at times Dear Rappers was actually the first song of his that I heard and that’s what started my interest in his music because I love that song 😁 In terms of where to begin, we can begin together 😁 this is the first reaction to a big artist that I have. I myself am an Artist so I understand the creative/ creation process, and also the depth of internal reflection required to create art - I actually find it discouraging to see people in the comments saying I don’t understand what I’m talking about because to some extent, of course there are many things that I’m not aware of, but song writing is pretty much my bread and butter 😅 and self awareness is what that’s rooted in I appreciate your subscription despite your disagreements - I hope that going forward in other songs I’ll be able to articulate myself better and give better background/ context as to where my perspective is coming from
I disagree with Tom, about the conclusion he comes to specifically and concur with you about community. I just read "Live Not By Lives"*, which points out that one of the ways the Church survived under the scourge of Communism was by *being* community based. * "Live Not By Lives" was the title of the message Alexander Solzhenitsyn sent out the day he was exiled from the Soviet Union, as well as the title of the excellent book by Rod Dreher
Re: defunding the police, (as well as other idiotic moves, like not prosecuting shop lifting under $900) have made places like Oakland CA into war zones with businesses and restaurants closing and leaving... It's an important issue, part of the political debate, and to attribute it to a vanity/ego move by Tom is, in my opinion, unfair.
I understand, I agree that it is absolutely part of the discussion! And I agree with you that those things are ridiculous. I simply meant that in my opinion, how Tom lyrically set up the line about defunding the Police felt to me like a subtle ego boost. In the technical aspect of the song writing, to set himself up for that line falls flat to me. It sounds like he wrote the punchline before the build up - which as a song writer - in my opinion, shouldn't be so obvious. I feel that it loses impact because I recognize the thought process behind it, and I don't think he would have set up a line like that unless he thought it was clever - and the fact that he has control of what he says from both sides makes it lose some of it's cleverness to me. I hope that makes sense. Thats my thoughts from a Song Writer/ Artist perspective. Also, I do believe that Tom is to an extent Capitalizing on the conflict/ subject matter and I believe thats evident by the sheer volume of songs he has regarding the same Political issues. I don't blame him because it seems to be working for him, but personally, I would appreciate more depth about such significant issues. I hope that all makes sense :) let me know if it doesnt lol
Re: the withdrawal Biden kept his promise - to our adversaries, but broke faith with our allies and soldiers who were abandoned. Private citizens like Glen Beck organized and executed far more effective airlifts than our disastrous government did.
Re: abortion My best friend (and my oldest son) were conceived by rape. Glad they failed to kill her. Glad I realized my son was innocent and didn't deserve to DIE because his father committed a crime
Re: Hunter Yes he is an adult, makes his own choices, BUT Biden tacitly, passively gives his approval by working with him as though everything is fine with what he's doing. $$
25:58 If you look at the election results, Trump was way ahead and then suddenly they shut everything down, stopped the counting and by morning, all of those extra votes for Biden appeared.
I understand that bias is going to be evident in his music but people who back the Democrats are sometimes blindly following. My mother in law is a Democrat and when I try to talk to her about anything she shuts down and walks away. At the same time she is a practicing Catholic and believes in the morals that a Catholic would believe in. The problem is that she thinks that the Democrats are what John F Kennedy imbibed. Politics are horrible. In the end people are people and we don't have problems with each other, the people in power do.
That’s fair & I definitely understand that 👍🏼 I agree that if we simply made more of an effort as individuals to find common ground and reserve our bias a little, we’d have FAR less conflict And yes I know many people that are similar - I was just trying to do my best to play Devil’s advocate on both sides
There are three versions of Tom here. Red - Hard Right Blue - Hard Left Black - Moderate You complain about the dissonance between moderate Toms soft-spokenness and the "I HATE YOU", but that is the point. The moderate voice is drowned out by the extremist voice. Ironically enough, you dislike the moderate voice the most which is the problem in politics today lol.
I hear what you’re saying. Your point about the choice to use the moderate, more calm voice sounds fair to me & that’s a very interesting point actually - I never thought of that - I guess I still am simply not a fan of it artistically. I wouldn’t say I “dislike the moderate voice” 😅 in fact, I would argue that in my breakdown, I am attempting to be a moderate voice. I’ve just heard many songs from Tom that sound very, very similar, over & over and I just wish he’d dig a little deeper 😅 But I think you’re right that I missed part of the point of the song in that it’s more of a commentary/ observation of the hard ends of the spectrum as you put it I guess I just fail to recognize any deep, meaningful, solution-based significance in the song. Yes there’s a bit at the end of the song and he’s articulating the division as negative, I guess I just think it could be more effective to lean into that moderate voice more and maybe hear out both sides and play devils advocate, but that’s not really what this song is about. It doesn’t really address any particular issue but rather that the division on the issues is at least in part fueled by “them” - as he might put it in another song, “the system” “the elites” “the government” etc Thanks for the comments 👊🏼 I’m glad it sparked discussion 😁🙌🏼
"I think this is such a shallow conversation...where people are parroting what others have said" ... But thats the point of the song. The creation of division in politics by politicians so that they can profit from it.
I definitely understand this and I believe I stated my agreement in my other comment 👍🏼 I guess another thing to potentially consider is that division isn’t ONLY a result of Politicians and the “powers that be.” We also divide ourselves sometimes separate from that, and I guess as an individual, I’m generally more interested in what internally drives division in each circumstance as opposed to a vague, overarching division somewhat imposed by “the system”/ “the government” I hope that makes sense For example, I’m more interested in why an individual is for or against “abortion” or “gun rights”, etc than I am about the looming division The reason I say this is because I believe that if I can genuinely understand one person’s perspective, there’s likely millions of others with the same deep thoughts. I love to genuinely understand people, even when I disagree, because that empowers us to build common ground/ a connection that we can work together towards truth from (if they are willing) and if they’re not willing, at least they receive a sense of respect which may open their mind a little. In the end, I’m also much more interested in the Spiritual War at hand than the Political realm - my friend told me that’s made pretty clear in the video and he actually suggested I retitle the video to what it is now 😅 Again, I appreciate you 👊🏼 many of your words are making me genuinely reflect and consider what you’re saying and my potential bias or hypocrisy
Your views seem rather prejudiced. The title doesnt refer to Tom even though its say Me. It is the hard right vs hard left mentality. Honestly, he articulated the arguments of both far end sides pretty fairly, in that there was no real viewpoint, just insults and division. I mean, the song is literally about how politicians want us to act as he portrayed people because it is better for them. They want division. Sure, not EVERYONE acts like this, but many arguments DO happen like this. I myself have tried to argue a right viewpoint and instead of facts or logic, insults were thrown. Ive also had a couple debates where the person with the left viewpoint was civil and well-spoken, but that isnt the majority. I cant even talk to my step mother about politics because she gets upset if I try to espouse a right viewpoint. You seem to have forgotten that this is in a battle rap format in that the arguments are meant to tear down the other person. The "If you're anti-LGBTQ then why are they always on your mind" is a dig saying that he is in denial. It very much sounds like an argument made by people on the left (anecdotally I have heard similar things from my left wing friends dozens of times). The clan member line is the same way. Again, similar to arguments made by people on the left, but more exaggerated because it is a battle. Essentially, you are guilty of what you criticize Tom for. You are looking at his arguments as you them and based on your beliefs about Toms ideals. You blame Tom of perspective bias while having perspective bias from literally the first word Tom said.
that's fair & I agree - I guess I just think that wasn't clearly expressed so it sounds like a vast generalization on both sides. And I know that what you said is where he's coming from cuz I've heard his other stuff in the past but I think that's something he should still express somehow
red-rum in the background is insane.. but fr tho, the thief on the cross thing also makes me so confused, like, he didnt (as far as im aware) repent for his sins right? Like he just asked to be remembered and Jesus told him "nah we'll see eachother there" like i find that so interesting. Good stuff bro, this got me thinkin fr
Glad it sparked reflection :) and the thief on the cross repented to the extent that he was able to I believe. He recognized that he deserved his punishment due to his crimes (sins), but that Jesus didn't. Have you seen the scene from the Passion of the Christ?
@@owenfeilds ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PHq4D7rnTVs.htmlsi=AmAQlLLOGwchY7_7 here's the scene. The Movie is so incredibly powerful, although I must warn you, if you do watch it, it is very gorey (jesus being whipped is one of the most brutal things I have ever seen in my life)
I legit just checked my email, went to the 2nd channel email sent to me and saw that u were at 99 subs here, so im the 100th, i find it funny how that played out lol
