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I was worried about writing these sleeve notes as I wasn’t too sure how well the woman who had been pushed into the road by an unknown jogger had recovered. A quick search and I do believe she has recovered well; however the bloke who horrifyingly pushed her in front of a bus has still not been found. A tiny demonstration of just one of the many impacts that austerity has had on english society in the past decade. I also throw in a bit about the United States’s president, Trump’s high stakes gambling attitude to foreign policy which sets the song up as one that could be fear-laden and doom-mongering. The track quickly switches up however, as I’m attempting to show that despite such negativity and fear that gets pumped at us constantly; we can actually break out of the fear cycle hence the ‘expand and smash’ and pointing out that ‘muscles are the machines of our genes, so go move’ hopefully inspiring a bit of action into our generally sedentary, consuming lifestyles.

The bit about genes was inspired by reading Richard Dawkins “The Selfish Gene’ which is a fascinating read (did you know it was he that originally coined the term ‘meme’?). I massively respect his work, but at the same time he is one of the ‘drunk scientists’ I allude to earlier in Kick Your Own Arse Music’...drunk on the power of rationality; I’m not a fan of how easily he dismisses all spiritual and esoteric concepts. Similarly the critique was also against Oppenheimer, the genius behind the Manhattan Project which developed the Nuclear Bomb, whom I make direct reference to in this track with his quote about being the destroyer of worlds. It is a bit of a conflagration of his thought and my own internal machinacinations around depression, in which you can feel that you ‘have become death’ itself. However, much like Shiva, the destroyer is also the creator and there cannot be one without the other; so although dark there is always the promise of a brighter future.

Positive and negative concepts mingle throughout this song, especially with a brief reflection on my status as a privileged white male who was born in Australia, a country still plagued by huge racial injustice. My lyrics here could in no way fully ‘set the record straight’ but I have always felt the need to get something like this down in verse form, so here it is. As the verses draw to a close I try to bring a bit more of the spirit of positivity as ultimately the chorus is an absolute banger full of energy; which I hope you will enjoy as much as I enjoyed recording and now love singing along to while running around London town. ‘Rapping ace with the great doctor’ is a reference to three heros of mine, Hippocrates the Ancient Greek Founder of Modern Medicine, Doctor Who the cult BBC character who travels the Universe trying to do good, and my good friend Doctor Chima Anya who is an inspiration in both his work as a GP and incredibly talented and hardworking MC. Nothing like repping your inspiration! Until next time, Energy and Peace!

Since dropping home produced projects 'First Days' in 2001 Solo has hosted and performed at Hip Hop jams accross the UK, and gone on to make 'Citizen Framed' and Unstabalized' LPs (2006, 2008).

A veteran and champion of the Freestyle Art, Solo has headed up legendary ciphers that have led to collaborations with the likes of Chima Anya, Bennydiction and Scholarman.

Look out for Elephantitus soon

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