I haven't listened to the full DONDA album
I don't have that kind of time
I can't just sit around my house staring at the ceiling and listen to music. I need to be driving or exercising or cleaning so I can focus on that thing + the music. If not, I totally zone out and start doing other things. I mean, shit's 2 hours anyway (it's actually 1h 46 min, but that falls into the final 15 minute quarter that would lead it to be 2 hours, in which case, we're just going to say it's 2 hours. That's a lot. If you can just sit around for 2 hours and listen to music while staring at the ceiling, good for you. You could've watched Chicken Run during that time.)
That's not a diss to Chicken Run. The story is a nuanced piece about the power of the working class banding together to free themselves from exploitation by the elites (but that's a whole other email)
I did have time to watch 8 episodes of the zombie show Z NATION
(I love zombies, I consume all zombie content, give me more, please, )
One of the ways this show differentiates itself from other zombie shows is with the language characters use
In this case, they all say "I give you mercy" when they kill a zombie (or a person who's going to become a zombie)
"Give Mercy" is the idea that they are liberating these people from the purgatory of being zombies. They are no longer humans, but they're stuck in an undead state. A terrible state for someone to be in. It's so common that characters regularly say, "I don't want to turn in to one of those things. If it looks like I'm gonna die, just give me mercy."
This idea of killing someone to Give Mercy™
before they turn into the worst possible version of themselves made me think of the evolution each of us has as complex, emotional beings. It also made me think of Kanye (now legally known as ye. probably one of the most complex and emotional beings to ever walk the planet)
(also, yes, for a second, you thought this email wouldn't be about ye
BUT
It made me think of ye because he's reinvented himself for every single album he puts out. Here's a very incomplete list of the ways he's done that:
While touring Late Registration, he realized his lyrics were too wordy for the crowd to rap along to. He decided his next album, Graduation, would be made STADIUM STATUS, aka he wanted to make bangers/anthems that would be incredible live and people could easily sing back. So he turned the HyperBangerType Beat up and shortened all his lyrics
When he made My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, he only wore suits the entire time in the studio
When the Wyoming run was happening (ye, Kids See Ghosts, DAYTONA, Nasir, Teyana Taylor's album) he decided the perfect length for an album was 7 songs, so every album he released during that time was 7 songs
Then he said he was only rapping about God and released Jesus is King (longer than 7 songs)
Then he upended everything we thought we knew about roll outs and making an album for DONDA (and we've all been lucky to witness it live because say what you will about ye, the man is a genius at his craft)
I think of each of these moments as ye letting go of the person he once was in order to make room for the person he was becoming
In short, kanye decided to Give Mercy™ to kanye
And I think that's the most beautiful thing we could do for ourselves. Let go of the person you think you are or are supposed to be and embrace the person you are becoming. It's actually a lot easier than you think because life does it for us naturally. It's called growing up. And let me tell you, it's fucking incredible
"Pero, david, don't you always use the phrase NEVER GROW UP??"
*confused face emoji*
I do. But I don't think being able to Give Mercy™ to yourself needs to be in conflict with growing up. Because the idea of evolving, of adapting to the world, will not destroy who you truly are. That is if who you truly are is the real you. If you're confident in {insert Your name here].
If you're set in your morals and the very things that deep down in your core will never ever change. If all that is valid for you, then evolving is just a matter of you letting it happen
If you ask anyone who grew up with me to describe how I am now, they'd probably say I'm the same person. Because I am. I'm still david (not david). I'm the one who talks way too fast and too loud when I get excited about something. I have a ton of emotions, and sometimes I put them all out there (too out there), and sometimes I don't put out any at all (when maybe I should have). I know way too many random lyrics and movie quotes. I still love hip-hop, and my friends, and my family, and I get goosebumps and teary-eyed at regular shit that people are probably like "really? That?"
yes, Ghost of Girlfriends Past is the first movie that ever made me cry, and I have those same feelings today.
But I'm also so different than the person I was then. Because, fucking life dude
You see shit
You meet people
You experience things
You learn new, incredible things
You unlearn other things that you thought were right but actually weren't (aren't)
That's what life is all about. And if you're lucky, you don't see change as something to fight, but something to embrace and evolve with.
If your life was a video game, would you want to end the game being the same character you were at the beginning? With the same exact skills, the same exact clothing, the same exact experiences? Basically, you didn't do shit, you never leveled up, and you played it safe.
You're the Charmander that never became Charizard
You’re the Mew that never got his Two
And the thing is, that's totally possible
You can live a perfectly good life having the same interests, and listening to the same music and only thinking the things that were cool during your childhood are the things that are actually cool and that all new music and movies and shows suck
But I'll share a secret with you, I'll give you a life lesson (I'm old enough now to do that type of shit)
The lesson is:
There's only one thing I can promise you about life, and it's that everything is going to change. You can either enjoy things while they last and be ready to embrace the change or stay stuck in your ways and never spend your time to its fullest potential. The choice is completely yours.
I want to be the old dog that learns new tricks
I want to understand the new jokes, and the new references, and appreciate the new music, and try that new dance out even though I look fucking stupid doing it
Don't be that person who every time a Lil' Uzi Vert album drops you're like: "If 2pac was still alive these rappers would never yada yada yada tik tok dances are stupid yada yada yada there is no substance to this music it's not as good as before bla bla bla I want this person's album at 42 years old to sound like the album they made at 26 years old scoopty whoop blef — more stupid shit coming out of my mouth"
Like I said before, you can totally live your life that way, but there's a better way. Appreciate the new things (in this case, I use music as an example because I'm david. But it applies to everything: books, movies, fashion, the internet, the way we go out, the way we order food, the way movies are released, the way we greet each other, the way we communicate)
I'm not saying that everything changing is good
I'm not saying that everything changing is bad
I'm just saying everything is changing, no matter how you feel about it
You can either make the most of the changes or spend your time being bitter thinking about how much "better" it was before
But if you want to make the most of your time here on this floating piece of dirt, you have to give yourself mercy (#Give Mercy™)
You have to open yourself to being wrong. You have to open yourself to not understanding. You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable because that's when the work happens and growth happens.
(yes, I'm quoting you and you know it 💖)
People always say geniuses are crazy when they're alive. Then hundreds of years later, we look back like, "yo, this person actually had a great point, and they were way ahead of their time."
kanYe is a genius. I think that phrase might upset you because you're stuck with the original definition of "genius."
Please give that definition of genius some mercy, let it die (#Give Mercy™
Back when there was no internet, and you couldn't see a random dude in India making a beautiful jacuzzi in his backyard with 2 sticks and some duct tape, the only people we thought were geniuses were academics who could do crazy smart math things and remember a bunch of shit that other people couldn't (and play chess really). But we don't live in those days anymore. And we’re better for that
(also, I have no way to prove this, but I know I'm entirely correct, the basis of excelling at academics to be considered a genius is definitely White Supremacy)
If you think Picasso was a genius, Mozart, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Shakespeare…then you should have no problem calling kanye a genius either. Because what makes him any different? He pushed the boundaries of his craft to limits people never knew existed. He is changing everything about everything when it comes to music and what a rapper/artist should be/can be and molding it into his views. And we're all along for the ride. That, my friends, is #Genius
(i add the hashtag to add insult to injury to your silly little definition of what a Genius should be)
And the only way he's able to do that is by showing himself mercy (#Give Mercy™)
By not being afraid to be wrong (like, super wrong, the most wrong at times, and even in public, but deep down in his core always knowing who he truly is)
By not being afraid to kill everything that We (capital W) thought made him who he is and embracing something completely new
If you're wondering how you can get started, here's a list of people/things you should Give Mercy™ to:
Your parents.
Because there comes a time in your life when you're old enough that you realize nobody has any fucking clue what they're doing, and they're just making it up as they go along. You're 29 years old, secretly shit-posting memes on your Snapchat for the same 6 people to view when all of a sudden you're talking about mortgages and giving life advice, and it's like, "Oh shit, I'm an adult now too. Is this how they felt when they were raising me? Like maybe they had no clue what was going on, but they tried their best?" Anyway, thank you for trying your best. I love you so much
90's hip-hop being the only good hip-hop
We get it, you know every A Tribe Called Quest album front to back and you think Playboi Carti is a silly man making silly sounds. Get over yourself. You're not cool because you don't like what everyone likes. You know what's actually cool? Being in a crowd full of people milly rocking to magnolia or screaming out I DON’T REALLY CARE IF YOU CRYYYYYYYYY. Trust me on this. I've done it a few times.
Using the n-word if you're not black
yes, even if you're Latino and you “don't consider yourself white.” Are one of your parents black? Are one of your grandparents black? Even if "you don't mean it in a bad way." Seriously, move on.
Glorifying American presidents
Every. Single. American. President. Is. A. War. Criminal.
Also, the American military created the Taliban. This is literally their own fault. Then a few days after those Marines died in the suicide bombing they did a drone strike that killed innocent civilians including 7 children. Also, eyewitness reports after the bombing say that many people had been killed by gunfire and not the bomb. In which case, the American military continues to carry out atrocities and kill innocent people from other countries (and its own country) and get away with it.
My parents beat me, so I'm going to beat my kids
You're just telling me you have terrible communication skills, you resort to violence, and don't know how to talk to kids without disrespecting them. Here's a suggestion: just respect kids the way you would any other adult. I know. You probably think that's crazy. But when you respect someone, you can actually get through to them (and they respect you too, and there's this beautiful thing called a relationship you build together. Shit's wild)
Social media ruined everything
Na, people ruined everything. Social media just made it easier for people to show you who they are in real-time. It isn't making people do anything they wouldn't have already done. It's just giving them an outlet in which to do it. If it wasn't social media, we would've found some other stupid way to put out all our stupid thoughts into the world (like a weekly email on a 2uesday)
Bill Maher
Who do you know that’s watching Bill Maher who’s younger than 25?
being upset at someone’s pronouns
You spend more mental energy being upset at someone for choosing to tell you their pronouns than you would just referring to them as “they” like they asked you to
The person you were yesterday
If you loved that person. If you thought that person was a great person. That's awesome. Kill them and continue becoming an even better person. If you thought that person sucked, today is your chance to be a new, better person. Either way, you're growing.
Any other things you think we should ##Give Mercy™ to? Let me know in the comments, or text me, or DM me, or show me in any way you're actually reading this and paying attention
See you next 2uesday, which will be even better than this 2uesday because it's another 2uesday we're alive and (hopefully) learned something new along the way