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I Turned Myself Into Myself

by SHIRT

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    Album produced by 3x Grammy Winner Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Lupe Fiasco). Special 180g Black Vinyl Edition,

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    Album produced by 3x Grammy Winner Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco). Compact Disc Pre-Order

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1.
Verse one The ones willing to kill everyone is ones in charge Scary I just do the bars, you won’t catch me in bars How many thought covid was sars? Normal people to sports stars We love looking at times people lived in but this is ours I might be from Queens, don’t ask ‘bout Nicki Minaj Don’t ask about her, don’t ask about Nas Ask me ‘bout Tremaine I seen Nas do “Rewind” in the rain, we been lied to our whole lives I seen it with my own eyes I need the Ferrari that’s Jony Ive’s Siri, show me my demise They make me an influencer, I’m making you one, what’s your size? I can’t think of a better way to do it, what you surmise? They sooner cut the horses, what a surprise Don’t act surprised, don’t be one of those guys Really listen to all that underlies I roll the dice like at the Taj and improvise Never been into people who pick sides Never been into pissing games ‘bout dick size My shit bigger anyway I look ‘em dead in the face when they tell me I couldn’t do it and did it any way Show me the proof right now yours is the better way I grew up, to me ‘Kiss is Hemingway Don’t make me take a trip down memory lane It may as well been MMA (May as well been MMA) Verse two I might’ve learned to fight ‘fore I learned to talk I got a slick mouth, you already know it I don’t wanna hear your musty Chappelle opinion I don’t need your review, I read a million I’d tell that man to his face: You hurt people and put people in danger Simple as that, the jokes put people in danger The dummies think it’s funny I think you should be more careful who you make comfy That’s just me, I don’t care about the money or the Verse 3 Since you don’t know me and you probably should I’m not one these niggas just got to Hollywood You gon’ learn to respect my mind or my right hook Look, everybody saying you gotta do it by the book ain’t never did shit I can tell by how it look Remember these words: ain’t one right way to do it Sometimes you gotta do it just to see how to do it
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Intro Those things that hold you back from executing on your dream are myth... Verse one People use any excuse to tell you who they are Risk death or dismemberment to tell you who they are Do what I can today and plan what I’ma do tomorrow Bump into you in the streets of Paris, that’s too bizarre That’s a testament to the wavelength, got tools to sharp I like the way you move, move forever Just don’t move too far Niggas wanna be him, bitches wanna fuck That’s a true star That’s a whole lot of energy I’m trying to move off Damn we lost another black hero that’s a north star Me and my girl really debating should we become porn stars? In this economy you gon’ suck You getting fucked anyway, let’s spend the day in Montauk Big gun cocked, I like to vintage shop My bitch too pretty to piss at the truck stop But not too pretty to catch a cu––I want the top I get a look like This where the buck stop, you might could hear a gunshot My shit punk rock Like finding a Picasso in a pawn shop Chill, Splash, this a lost art I wanna hear ‘bout the kids better than Mozart That’s really a lost art I’m here to identify all art, I’m talking all art Death to wall art I’m not just talking paint I’m talking all art What the white establishment ain’t wanna call art It’s a lost art It’s a lost art Hook [inaudible] Get that kid something, get that kid something Get that Get that kid something, get that kid something Get that kid Verse two If we being real, nobody wanna call it art You’d have to open your museum doors, it’d fall apart There’s more rappers than all the guns at Walmart There’s not a dumb nigga in the crew, they all sharp When I say “death to wall art” I mean fuck paint by numbers That’s a hallmark Don’t just color out the lines, tear the wall apart Don’t just show me a corny NFT of the shark Go swim with sharks, kill a shark My people here been killed off Building sealed off with the ceiling peeling off Whiff of piss smell coming from the fifth floor, that’s why it’s “piss poor” I can’t tell you what I’m gonna miss more The day I moved to the castle, that piece on the jigsaw No hit records, no jump shot, I’m not 6’4 No chain heavy, nah I didn’t misspoke So many blessings, too many for me to list off [Inaudible] Hook Get that kid something, get that kid something Get that kid something, get that kid Get that
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9.
I Make Art 02:28
Hook Aye, I make art like Aye, I make art like Aye, I’m the archetype Aye, I make art like How life less lifelike than it’s art like Riding ‘round town playing joints from the archive Aye, I make art like Aye, I made art like Verse one Pearls on the shovel, pearls on the joint I might put pearls on the rubble Don’t talk to me ‘bout a bubble People not being truthful ‘cause they don’t wanna get in trouble People not being subtle, that shit don’t work in the jungle Things I’m privy to, shit’ll stun you Do my dissertation at the tunnel Trust me, if I tell you some shit is the best then it must be Make you buy something right now, you my custy I’ma be real though, you don’t wanna rush me I do my best work now when I can get comfy Rethinking, redoing, remaking, retooling Relooking, rewriting I might use the lightning Hook Aye, I make art like Aye, I make art like Riding ‘round town playing joints from the archive Aye, I make art like Aye, I’m the archetype Aye, I make art like Verse two Brilliant, your mind, unseen potential My theory is true brilliance and dumb shit looks identical Don’t just wait for nobody hoping they let you I know exactly what to do but will I get to? That’s why I only move when my instinct says to Ten years ahead with the 4D chess moves Got best in class waiting on my next move They ask me if my raps from a test tube Maybe so, if I get the chance to Get Nore to host SNL too Get Nore to host anything that he want to Your interpretation of the work is really on you Hook Aye, I make art like Aye, I make art like Riding ‘round town playing joints from the archive Aye, I make art like Aye, I’m the archetype Aye, I made art like Outro Like a builder, like a painter Like a writer, like Rainer Like a dancer, like Baldwin Like

about

ALBUM PRODUCED BY JACK SPLASH

credits

released November 22, 2022

The old masters understood the inherent contradictions between artistic compromise and creative integrity. Guru indicted those who “sold their soul to have mass appeal.” EPMD condemned the shamelessness of crossover seekers. But we’re now approaching a second generation raised to believe that greed is good, popularity always directly correlates to skill, and the only reasonable response to late Capitalism is to “get the bag.”

The rebellion against this corporate hegemony has been circulating in some form or another since the late ‘90s underground. But credit the genius of Shirt’s new work with producer Jack Splash, I Turned Myself Into Myself for making this subversion feel entirely fresh. These are nine avant-garde broadsides that bang. Spoken word darts. Someone writing a poem on the sidewalk outside the gallery– maybe more innovative in their approach than the ordained canvasses on the inside. It is the sound of stained glass orthodoxy being shattered by a baseball bat. Think something like the avant-garde minimalism of Ka crossed with the sentences of Nikki Giovanni, but steeped in the subway car rumble through contemporary Queens. This is an album that understands that the devil’s greatest trick is mobilizing our collective fear, to render us catatonic and indifferent to so much possibility around us.

“Marni Invisible Cloak” is double-barreled manifesto. Shirt meditates on the nearly invisible line between genius and insanity. He evokes Walt Whitman’s claim that he (and all worthwhile artists) contain multitudes. You can tell in my voice I might not come to the party: A unique communique from an artist repulsed by the corruption of culture for profit. Over processed guitars and mournful pianos, Shirt recites an elegy for those who refuse critical thought à la Bell Hooks, and those who never reach their full potential because they are perpetually settling for less (while always trying to reap more). Cold facts in searing language. As he says, “I make art from a frozen glimpse/I got the mindset of them boys in Timbs.” It happens in this moment and maybe never again.

Let the codes speak for themselves:

From “Death to Wall Art”:

“When I say “death to wall art” I mean, fuck paint by numbers/That’s a hallmark/Don’t just color out the lines, tear the wall apart. Don’t just show me a corny NFT of the shark/Go swim with sharks.”

From “Dave Chappelle Is Wrong (Beef With God)”:

“I might’ve learned to fight ‘fore I learned to talk/I got a slick mouth, you already know it/I don’t wanna hear your musty Chappelle opinion, I don’t need your review, I read a million/I’d tell that man to his face: You hurt people and put people in danger/Simple as that, the jokes put people in danger.”

From “No Magic No Music”

“I’m just leaning in. You become what you set out to be, but then you become rigid in your ways, can’t see the bend. Watch these fools on Fox News and CNN/Houses and personas like cards be in the wind. Break your own rules but even then don’t be stuck being a rule breaker, you feeding in.”

From “Cancel Culture”:

I’m tired of the bullshit/Every motherfucker nowadays on they pulpit/And they talk cancel culture is the culprit. If it’s really that what was it before?/If you being honest then you already know The way we treat women here for years been atrocious/From how we treat rape to wage gap…I don’t do the unspoken truth, you should know this.”


If you’re familiar with the last decade of underground hip-hop, you probably do know this. Over that span, Shirt has emerged as one of the foremost conceptual artists in hip-hop, an heir to another Queens hero, Rammellzee. He’s made several video works that are closer to documentary sequences – in particular, “Woman is God,” filmed during a revelatory 10-day stretch in Sierra Leone, and “Wolfgang Driving,” swiping footage from Wolfgang Tillmans,as well as presented many live performances, including, “Fine Art Of Rap,” in which he reads an essay of the same name, while playing beats on stage in London’s Royal College of Art.

Inspired in his teens by the action paintings of Jackson Pollock, and later the ideas and performances of David Hammons, Pope L, and Lorraine O’Grady, the high school dropout received his MFA from The School of Art & Design in Basel Switzerland, and completed a fine art residency this summer in an Italian castle. Currently, Shirt is a resident at Abrons Arts Center in the Lower East Side. Shirt’s visual art practice has earned frequent comparisons to Marcel Duchamp. He was the first rapper signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records. He’s designed conceptual clothing lines, has sold snowballs and phonecalls. In 2018, he held listening sessions for his new album by driving people home from work. His work hangs in museum shows and he guestlectured at the University of Pennsylvania. Shirt even famously designed a fake New York Times website to write a rave of his work – a stunt worthy of the wiliest Dadaist subversion.

In I Turned Myself Into Myself, Shirt has his mind set on rap music as sculpture. . Fully committing to weighted production from the Grammy-Award winner, Jack Splash, the pair operate with both meticulous precision and fluid improvisation. Having produced for everyone from Kendrick Lamar to J Cole, Alicia Keys to John Legend, Splash bringshis grimiest palette. Yet there’s a remarkable versatility. The drums on “Dave Chappelle is Wrong” sound built for BedStuy, but they bleed into the celestial harpsichord elegance of “Marni Invisible Cloak.” “I Make Art” creates a downtown funk that you could imagine setting Danceteria aflame. “718 to the World” summons a vintage Low End Theory scenario. Over each suite, Shirt never fails to drop allegorical parables and throat-slitting propositions..

In an era where the consumption ethos threatens to consume us all, Shirt stays true. He repeatedly questions himself and society, evolving, second-guessing, making eversharper his vision. Like all great art, I Turned Myself Into Myself is fearless. It speaks truth to power and refuses to punch down. It is a reminder to relentlessly pursue your desired outcome through the pervasive shadows of avarice and self-doubt. It’s going out of your way to hear the kid better than Mozart.

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Mello Music Group Tucson, Arizona

Hip Hop • Jazz • Funk • RnB • Soul

Mello Music Group provides music for the soul, from the heart of our cultural experience, opening the realm of the intelligent music experience through melodic evocations, beats that corroborate the truth, and voices that roar above the rising void and impose order on the terrible & triumphant moments of everyday life. This is the sound of Mello Music Group. ... more

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