The modern music world literally swells from an overabundance of all kinds of rap / hip-hop / pop content. At the same time, it is excessively difficult to understand the plan, to be able to catch the note of uniqueness of the author / artist. Everyone is “lazy” - they “create” - write, rhyme and readily call themselves “poets of the 21st century, the brutal present of the lost generation”. However, it’s not permissible to classify many of them as incomprehensible creators-philosophers for several reasons: unconsciousness, barrage, disorder and baselessness of their creations. However, real writers and musicians with an individual style, expressive presentation and an extraordinary mind still exist! The text below will focus on Oxymiron, which is to be expected. To be more precise, my mini-study is dedicated to the meaning of the song “Interwoven” from the album “Gorgorod” released in 2015.
The shortest album creation history
It's no secret that Oxymiron is far from being as simple as all of its song lyrics, which are actually aimed at an audience who is knowledgeable in history, savvy in literature and loving rhetoric as the art of laconic utterance. And the rapper himself is an Oxford graduate with a degree in literary criticism. An exceptional case for a Russian rapper, isn't it?
Of course, the conceptual nature of the album mentioned above goes wild. It contains many metaphors, comparisons and a double bottom of hidden subtext. But, first of all, “Gorgorod” represents a certain system, a story told by the rapper through rhyming, that is, complicating the understanding of both the general idea and the main source of inspiration, thanks to which the concept of the album was reformed towards a literary text with a plot that lies between the lines. He was even nominated for a book award.
Whom did Oxy have bored with and what is the meaning of THEIR messenger?
However, let’s take up the analysis of the textual content of the song, referring to the first verse:
Everything is intertwined, but a sea of threads!
Pull the thread, a ball will follow.
This world is a spindle, matches zero;
A thread can be either a string or for a bowstring battle.
The introductory verse in advance declares the content of the following recitative: the world is an interconnected and complex system that can only be interpreted through the connection of one-another-third. Like the theory of five handshakes! Moreover, the text of the first couplet “Interwoven” clearly echoes the poem of O.E. Mandelstam "Silent Spindle", having the same concept. From here, with particular accuracy of quote, only one expression is taken - "Everything in the world is intertwined." The rest are separate words taken out of the context of the poet’s work. However, the composition of the narrative is structured in such a way that the very essence of Mandelstam's poem is conveyed by synonyms of phrases (synonyms within the meaning). For instance:
“But everything is intertwined - by itself, on one side, diagonally” - in the song of Oximiron
"It is not given to stop me - Spindle" - in the poem of Mandelstam.
“Interweaving by itself” is as if a synonym for the phrase “It is not possible for me to stop”, because both quotes describe the non-subservience of events to the human hand. The author extremely skillfully uses synonyms of phrases, because Mandelstam’s rather laconic and unstretched poem, thanks to the same synonyms and plot additions, acquires a more lively coloring, saturation with representations, as well as the reader / listener's ability to more clearly contemplate in the mind an immense chain of sequences in life.
“Interwoven” - the theory of a certain guru, a representative of the opposition to the current government. The basis of the theory is the relationship between the lower and the higher, their bilateral influence. In this case, the work of Mandelstam is the main undeniable truth, on the basis of which the law of the Guru is built.
Who else has Oxy bumped into and why is it so important for the whole album?
The album “Gorgorod”, as I mentioned earlier, is a book that has its own plot, heroes, as well as some events and climaxes that make up the same plot. And in fact, the title of the album is almost identical to the name of the board in Mordor's “Gorgoroth”, described in Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings. And going into deeper semantic connotations, including another source for inspiration of the author-rapper, namely the novel mentioned above, we are convinced of likening “Gorgorod” to “Gorgorot” due to the gloominess of both places. In the city of Oximiron - drugs reign, the sovereignty of the mayor, greedy people. On the almost deserted Gorgorot board is eternal war, struggle and horror.
The plot - the struggle, opposition to this world - the works are also similar! However, exactly, we cannot define local stories in the novel as a completely taken sample for the album and each song as a whole, because Oxy wrote a personal music book, supporting only with conceptual titles and a reference to a certain fictional chain of events. In other words, he took as a basis the idea of the novel - its fiction, fantasticness, gloom, names. “Interwoven” is included in this system as the thoughts of the writer Mark, the protagonist of the story.
Thus, “Bound” by Oksimiron is an expanded postulate from Mandelstam’s work, which is included in the book system, trying to become similar in the plot and external content (cover) of Tolkien’s novel “The Lord of the Rings”.
