Jump Up In The Air

I'm sometimes late in discovering music that others have both consumed and praised. I attribute this to my constant time shifting when it comes to culture in general and music in particular: I'm either rocking something from the past newly discovered (or re-discovered) OR , way off into some new,new shit.

So when I finally got around to putting on the new disc from Eryka Badu, all the hoopla surrounding her bare assed video for "Window Seat" had died down. I went through the tracks, and true to form, Ms. Badu had delivered another strong album, filled with slinky grooves and thought -provoking lyrics. I was most intrigued by the last cut, a bonus, entitled " Jump Up In The Air and Stay There" featuring the hardest working incarcerated rapper in the world, Lil'Wayne. The chorus sounded familiar to me right away: this song was a re-working of a George Clinton/Sly Stone composition from the early nineties entitled "Hydraulic Pump" which expresses the wish of so many"..I know you wanna, jump up in the air and stay there, jump up in the air AND STAY THERE.."

I meditated on the meaning of those words. George and Sly,once again, were right on point. Maybe we all feel that we belong up THERE. In that place, which can sometimes seem so far away, that place we dream about and WISH we could reside. We aspire to get to that place, if we, in fact, have the open eyes to realize it does,in fact, EXIST. Many of us have not a clue, and spend our time, on this plane, filling that void with whatever we can grasp: Money,drugs, booze,sex and all else. But, in the end, we're unfulfilled, disappointed. We again miss the target, and thus the point. We're all destined for some greatness, be it writing a book, painting a mural or scoring a touchdown. Others tell us, and then we believe, that we have to stay grounded. Fuck that, my peoples. Dare to dream, aim high, chart a course, pack your bags and JUMP.