Music Fusion

DJ Shadow was one of the first musicians to fuse techno, hip hop and dance. This fusion was ground breaking and changed music culture forever.  His album was one of the first to consist entirely sampled tracks. One of the interviews that gave me a better insight of what DJ shadow has done for music culture was "Endtroducing..." By Tim O'Neil. The point that he made that stuck out for me was when he stated the impact that DJ Shadow has had on music culture. He stated that “Music had been rendered irretrievably plastic.” This is a powerful statement because so few have the ability and skill to change popular culture.  O’ Neil analyzes of DJ Shadow’s tracks. What amazed me most about his analysis of Shadow is that he used complex comparisons to describe DJ Shadow’s music.

O’ Neil emphasized Shadows cohesive philosophy and intricate melodies.  His music reminds me of Pharrell Williams. He is mostly hip hop but he is a great producer who has taken hip hop to another level. What I really like most about this article is that O’Neil wrote it on an underground artist.  I have not read too many articles on underground artist. Writers mostly go for the main stream.  Another point O’ Neil makes that really made me understand the historical significance of this album is when he states “… A breakdown crushes through your speakers like a bank safe tumbling down a flight of stairs.” I thought this comparison was interesting. His statement was true.  I felt this feeling when I listened to “Building steam with a grain of salt.” His music is truly amazing and O’Neil’s analysis of Shadow is accurate and informative. 

We are on a hard journey.

Enlightenment is a process that can take years, or even a lifetime. For the most part man does not achieve enlightenment. The meaning of enlightenment is when you realize your purpose. I believe that we all have a purpose and place in this world. Having an unknown purpose is torture. It can weaken and depress you. Lacking clarity and focus prohibits people from seeing their direction in life. Phil in the movie Groundhog Day was tortured for years. He did not realize his purpose and he contributed nothing to this world. He did not know his purpose and he was a selfish heartless human being. He lived the same day over and over again for years. This is life in general and we all live the same way Phil did to a certain extent. When we have the opportunity to correct our mistakes we do not. We continue with our bad habits and selfish acts. Life is a cycle of behaviors and a path of actions. The path to enlightenment is paved with bumps and obstacles. This path is called life. On the path of life there is enlightenment. It is hidden until we take a journey to seek it. One has to go through pain and suffering to see the light.




The main thing that stuck out to me the most in the movie is when Phil asked the question, “What would you do if you were stuck in the same day and nothing you did mattered?” In order to give life meaning one must give and make their actions worth something. I believe in purpose and destiny. Without a clear path to this you will always be down. To give your life meaning it is important to remove from your heart and soul, selfishness and greed. If you give more than you receive, life becomes more fulfilling and rewarding. When you finally offer the world something in return, you then can achieve true enlightenment.

Truth leads to purpose.

Truth is something that mankind seeks out. It does not matter your race, religion or culture. We are all on different paths seeking the same answer.  The question we are all trying to answer is what is truth?  That is a good question. There is certainly no universal answer. You must know what is untrue to begin with before you can even search for truth How can you know truth without knowing lies?  How can you see the light if you have not come out of darkness? Truth varies from person to person. When you find absolute clarity, the truth comes to light. We go through our whole lives searching for truth, but we may never find it , or it may pass us up.  The path to truth   is lined with obstacles. Without obstacles truth would have no meaning.  Without obstacles your purpose is unknown. This is best stated in a quote by Sigmund Freud, “From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.”It is only when we have made mistakes in our lives that we see the path to our truths.

            I saw the truth for the first time when I was in junior college a year ago. I was going nowhere fast and was not inspired to go to a university. I was only going to school so I could be a full time student and stay on father’s insurance.  All of the mistakes I had made in college and in my life finally paid off in a single moment in time.  I felt the truth for the first time. There I was, an unmotivated student seeking out some kind of direction. I had failed a few classes but that was the least of my worries. I sat for a moment right outside my class and asked myself         “ What and I doing here?”  It took for me to waste 2 years of time, my parent’s money, and  3 failed classes to realize the truth.  In that short amount of time I realized I did not want to be stuck at a junior college. I realized I did not want to work a 9 to 5. And most importantly I realized I was smart and had the tools to be successful. I graduated the following year.

It takes a person to be at the bottom looking up to know what the truth is, their path, and what their purpose is. There is no better quote than “From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.” The errors that we have made are pieces to the puzzle of the truth that we seek.