Storm

by Shad

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about

[Losing our connectivity with nature]

This track hovers around environmental themes but touches directly on it only in my verse. The goal with this one is to connect the environment to us. To give off the sense that we, as humans, are nature. And that something is wrong. The repetitive but off-kilter beat. The soulful but ominous groove. I'm trying to create this sense that the storm in us and the storms around us are related--if not just the same. The well-being of black folks today, for example, is related to slavery and colonialism which is related to an approach to land and resources that is ruining the possibility of life on earth for everyone. I heard this chorus in a dream -- the lyrics, melody, arrangement -- and then got together with Jane's Party one day and ended up starting to try to make it a reality. They got the vision almost right away and came back to me with a track that I ended up further arranging as I got vocals from pHoenix and George Elliot Clarke (professor and former national Poet Laureate).

lyrics

-- Lyrics --

I can’t stand the storm (X16)

Hurricane in head
Whirlpool in my heart
Earthquake shakes my head
Richter scale’s off the chart
When Goddamn Job out that swirling whirling wind
Dude could only sob
How they helll have I sinned?

Oh Lord have mercy on me
I can't stand and my knees are so weak
I've been going for days and weeks
I just can'thandle no more on me
My shoulders are heavy
I can't stand the levy
It's all coming down on me
I need time to breathe
I need time to see
Where my life is really heading
Cuz I can't stand the storm...

My brain’s crinkled bad
The rain is drumming down
Wind blasts like a trumpet
Tempest is coming down
Drumstick hard
Raindrops hit

The heat wave freezes me
My blood ooze out sleazy
Self-evidently greasy

I can’t stand the storm (X16)

On strange terrain
prayin’ for a world
thats more tame
Their sources saying
all are from Abel or Cain
To say its ordained
Take in cold blood
And take the lord’s name
In veins that course
The same blue
As Pure flames
Poor skin marked
with shame
and war paint
And made to endure pain
Made to pour blood out
til the core’s drained
Now we spillin mud out
drains that stored rain
Dark clouds form
and the proud ignore claims
The crowds ignore warnings
We hate to force change
See I’m abroad planes
rides to foreign places
Drives to tour states
and eating off forks on
Plates thats gourmet
Makes me connect
The methane to the strain
That ate up Bourdain
same Hurricane on Houston shores
Whitney
Prince
and Cobain
Less is more sane
More names swallowed
by mine and your waves
The long lost always the cost of short gain
Long loss always the cost of short gain
Long loss always the cost of short gain
Dancing in the rain
Dancing in the rain

Too hot for me to chill
The Sahara’s a sirocco
Make a pillow a low pill
Rock N Roll gone rococo

Where can I find shelter?

I can’t stand the storm (X16)

The sky is full of drones
Aiming for me like I’m ISIS
Bad luck everywhere in the ozone
You know I’m in a crisis

The Arctic can’t be tropic
Not if you’re in love
Never is the weather just a topic
What’s below is what’s above
Who’s below is who’s above

I can’t stand the storm (X16)

Ain’t no tempest in a teapot
My troubles are steeped deep, deep
My tears cascade lava hot
I die when I drop asleep
I just die when I drop asleep

credits

released June 22, 2021
Shad - Vocals
pHoenix Pagliacci - Vocals
George Elliott Clarke - Vocals

Produced by Jane's Party.

Recorded by Crispin Day at The Cabin in Toronto.

Mixed and Mastered by Dan Weston at The Cabin in Toronto.

2021 Shad under exclusive license to Secret City Records Inc.

license

about

Shad Toronto, Ontario

Shad is a Juno Award-winning rapper from London, Ontario and the host of Netflix’s Hip-Hop Evolution. His albums have been recognized for their sharp lyrics and soulful arrangements.