The intelligent hip hop listener will notice the pun in the title.
I've recently released my third mixtape in The Mixtape Series, called Vol. 3: Supernatural Horror in Rap Music (Supernatural Horror). It took eight months from conception of ideas until release. Perhaps the most appropriate words to describe those eight months are an epigram from Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil:
If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you
Supernatural Horror is the abyss, and I've gazed into it for eight months. In search of inspiration and reference, I watched countless horror movies and TV shows, listened to American horrorcore rap until my ears throbbed, read horror fiction by the numbers, memorized ghostly folk tales and urban legends, cajoled people to share their ghost stories, and kept myself in ominous situations in order to capture the mood of horror in my rhymes. For instance, I deliberately stayed up alone until 3am to write my songs, even though I'm actually an early-to-bed type.
And what happens if you gaze into the abyss? The abyss gazes back into you.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I had some really terrifying nightmares over the course of those eight months. One of those nightmares even made it as a song in
Supernatural Horror. There were also times when I felt as if I was being watched while I was writing or mixing the songs. I had this nagging feeling that what I was doing is actually dabbling in things I know very little about and things that are best left alone, for true knowledge of those things might literally tear my mind apart and haunt me for life.
Needless to say, I was extremely relieved when
Supernatural Horror was finally uploaded for download and burned onto CDs. It's like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders; not only a burden of doing something that other people haven't done, but one of perpetual terror and paranoia. I originally wanted to release the mixtape on Halloween, but I shifted it to July because I wanted to get rid of the project as soon as possible and move on to the next, less depressing one.
The abyss has gazed into me, and I don't like it one bit.
I used to snicker when an actor/actress playing a horror (especially supernatural horror) movie revealed strange things happening at the scene or a creepy atmosphere pervading the shooting. I simply thought of it as a gimmick to boost ticket sales. Now that I've walked a similar road, I understand how they feel. Regardless whether it is a gimmick or not, when you deal with these things, you tend to feel something. It may be the result of a gentle brush between our world and theirs (whoever 'they' are) or it may be just the effect of hormones secreted by fear. I can never know for sure. What I do know is I'm glad to have released
Supernatural Horror and I'm not looking forward to doing it again.
Now it's time to do my love mixtape.
Thanks for reading
The Rhymeweaver
The Rhymeweaver
Malaysian hip hop for the intelligent listener
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Rogue Squadron's Schizzow has released his debut solo album titled The Schizzowphrenic this month. You can get the album for only RM20.00 at these Rock Corner outlets:
