Why Have You Forsaken Me?

I think the Biblical story of Job is funny. Not funny ‘ha ha’, but funny ‘interesting’. You have God and the Devil making a wager to test the faith of the most righteous man on the planet? First of all, I didn’t know those two were on speaking terms. It makes them sound less like two warring deities, and more like CEO’s of competitive corporations.

Secondly, I get this image in my head of Lucifer (everyone calls him Lou) showing up at God’s condo for brunch, and they start arguing over this cool guy Job, chillin’ on his farm below (cause they can see him through the clouds, right?).

God looks up smiling and says ‘Job’s cool as hell!”

Satan replies. “No he’s not! I could turn him out, if you gave me the opportunity.”

From there, ‘Mr. Pitchfork’ puts Job through waves of pure evil to make him rebuke God (which never happens, cause then the story would suck). Lou kills his family and his animals, and inflicts pain on his body, yet Job stays cool with God.

God wins the bet, so per their agreement, Satan has to give him back the Catholic church. (just kidding) [Due to divine intervention, Todd retracts that last sentence]

Back to the subject. So what’s my point?

The story of Job is one of the infinite number of classic stories dealing with possibly the greatest discussion piece in human existence: Good vs. Evil. The concept of two complete polar opposites (Black and white, yin and yang, God and Satan) endlessly waging a war for dominance.

It’s the foundation for ‘freewill’. There can be no freewill without equal capacities to do good and evil, because without equal portions from both sides, we’d be Angels or Demons.

It’s also built into the basic foundation for humanity. There’s the concept of Heaven as the ultimate good, Hell as the ultimate evil, and us as their tortured offspring. It’s almost as if it’s some type of celestial experiment that God and Satan are playing. One day they decide to finally answer the question: “Who is more powerful?”. To do so, they jointly create a planet in a controlled environment and a race of beings called humans, who possess 50% from each of them.

The truth is, we’ll never know the truth of God and The Devil. We’ll never really know what religion is the ‘true’ righteous path. So the only thing we can do is look inward and try to figure out what is good and what is evil within the hearts of man.

Interview With A Vampire

Possibly the greatest ‘internal dialogue’ ever penned by an artist would have to go to Ras Kass. Vastly under-rated as an hip hop artist, Ras is possibly one of the greatest ‘wordsmiths’ in the business today. On his last album, ‘Soul On Ice’ he had an incredible song called ‘The Nature Of The Threat’, which chronicles the origins of Racism in the world. Although the facts are given throughout the song, Ras’ bias comes out in the way he worded his stanzas.

The same can be said for another song on his CD ‘Rasassination’. In a song called ‘Interview With A Vampire’, Ras Kass chronicles his ’roundtable’ discussion with himself, God and Devil. The content and verbal imagery is incredible. He manages to take what we know from mainstream religion, and create an open discussion with both sides. You can almost visualize God and the Devil sitting on each of his shoulders.

What becomes clear in the dialogue is that it’s not God and Satan he’s talking to. It’s more of an internal dialogue with himself playing all three parts. But regardless, the conversation is so explicit and straightforward. Everything from science, to race, to nature, Ras covers the entire spectrum of what the Deity is suppose to be.

Below is a transcript of ‘Interview With A Vampire’ for reading your pleasure. I separated the dialogue for easier reading. Enjoy.

Ras Kass:	Inside my mother’s womb, doomed to return to the tomb. Or was it from the dead I was raised? All too soon to pay, on Judgment Day. Is this the beginning or the ending? Died sinning, still winning, still grinning. Descending, verdict still pending, born pretending. Three-hundred billion men, women, and children..
God:	..cringing
Ras Kass:	Deja vu, could be I’m dreaming? But we all ask for divine reason, While still breathing, and until leaving. Who? What? When? Where? How? But most of all why?
God:	Why what?
Ras Kass:	Do we live just to die?
God:	The Book was written, way before the apple got bitten. There is no God but me. Mathematically, in division, my decision was all inventions. I need not mention infinite dimensions. But the human mind’s flaw was limited comprehension. So while you try to travel to Mars and the stars, The God manifests through the entire universe. From the Sun, Moon, the Earth, I created man in my image and the Black man was first. The scientific explanation? Yeah I made man out of dirt.
Ras Kass:	But how can a man be first, when it’s the woman that’s giving birth?
God:	[Sigh] Listen.. Single-celled organisms, The Homo Sapiens, The alchemy.
Ras Kass:	What’s that?
God:	White people.
Ras Kass:	They keep the world separate and unequal.
God:	They teach you, right is wrong, wrong is right, up is down. Kick the King off his throne. Is the planet flat or round?
Ras Kass:	Can we really time travel, and is there life in outer space?
God:	Wait, you knew all this in the first place. You’re trying to get to God!
Ras Kass:	But, I’ve fallen from your grace. A billion paths to take, but which one is truly straight?
	Chorus
God:	It’s a process, sh*t don’t just happen, I create it. Everything you see, and sh*t you don’t, son I made it, and waited. I’m the big bang theory and evolution. Been there, done that, from revolution to prostitution. The first and final solution. The Koran, Bible, and Veda’s, is only tools, Don’t be confused when the medulla oblongata do
Ras Kass:	Oh, so revelations is Genesis.
God:	Three-sixty degrees are limitless.
Satan:	Sh*t, my motherf*cking nemesis.
Ras Kass:	Who is you?
Satan:	Chump, I thought you knew. Who else? Lucifer, the Lie Bearer, stupid. The Devil himself! He the creator, we all the creations, guess i’m Eternal Damnation. Got you b*tches seeking your own salvation. Who taught you how to pray? You read it in the book? Look, your bear witness to Amen-Ra. Every day when you say Amen, And then turn around and preach worshiping false Gods, Is an unforgettable sin. Yeah the good book is like comic books. You take them too literal, I tricked you in to believing the power to reason, Makes you able to live infinitely, in the physical. Guess I’m the pawn, con miracle. Basically I tell true lies in general, the yin and the yang The player with a trillion years of game.
God:	He got you selling your spiritual, for power, money, and fame, I came out of triple stage darkness, gave mortals my attributes. But even you made me a mystery God, like the Loch Ness. Or used science to prove or disprove my existence. Trying to unlock this, artificial intelligence, cloning and space stations, Trying to build the Tower Of Babylon. But you’re sadly mistaken, When I start erasing Homo Sapiens. You’re looking for an angel with wings, I’m'a bring young n*ggas with a AK, f*ck an alien.
Ras Kass:	So what you saying then? You the one that created sin?
God:	What you call mother nature, was the nature of me.
Ras Kass:	Oh..
God:	What you call evil, ultimately, was the force inside of me. Matter can’t be created or destroyed, it just changes shape. One God, many people, and many faiths. And this is how I wanted it done.
Ras Kass:	Wait, wait, hold up. Father tell me, who is God’s son?
	Chorus
God:	I be your Jesus to your Buddha, the Krishna and your Judah, The Big Kahuna, Jehovah Witnesses, suede pumas. Zeus, Pharaoh, Elohim, Saturn, Yahweh, Jahve, Rastafari, Ra, Allah, The Most High. But then, only Adam and I. I’m the oceans, the trees, a bumble bee, and a Glock. Earthquakes, how much money you ever take. The reason behind every mistake mankind continually makes.
Ras Kass:	Did God create man, or did man need to create God?
Satan:	The answer is both, cause how mortals look at God is odd.
God:	You try to customize me to be comfortable. For what you want to do, and how you choose to act. The Pope and Christians will tell you God ain’t Black. But to get something from nothing is physically impossible, that’ s a fact.
Satan:	Black is the combination of all colors
Ras Kass:	White is the lack thereof.
God:	Darkness is beneath the ground, and in the skies up above. The clue, is that the true illumination is me, not illuminati. Cause I alone discriminate, and illuminate Any who be believing they can rationalize and out-reason me. Who created your creature? Student can never be greater than the teacher. Whether its Adam and Eve, or atomic chemistry. I’m the one true source of all energy. Who will eventually destroy every enemy when I see fit.
Ras Kass:	Oh sh*t…
God:	I can’t blaspheme my own name so when Godd*mnit, so be it.
Satan:	That’s called the wrath of God, but we gotta deal. I can chill. F*ck up the whole world, and in the end, He’ll still fulfill his plan, to restore man to his original position. N*gga gave me some hooks, and said I gets to go fishing.
God:	I gave man dominion over the Earth, to master the wealth. But most of my children don’t have dominion over they self.
Satan:	That’s where I come in. Call it original sin. Well, who really gives a flying f*ck? I taught you how to blood suck, and ultimately self destruct.
God:	Know the ledge, wise the dome, do the data. I’m the alpha.
Satan:	I’m the beta.
Ras Kass:	And I’m omega. To be or not to be was man’s question since conception. I think therefore I am, was man’s perception. But the birth is the resurrection. The son of God!
God:	Christ!
Ras Kass:	Or God’s son, that lights our entire spectrum. You got everlasting life, long as you got day and night. Illumination, not education, to bring the blind sight. And what you need to know is that you’ll never know it all. I’m a lowercase g, son of the ever-living God..