Pins 'N' Needles
© Tim Barker (2001)
His name was Pins, hers Needles. Together they formed a hard-core Rap act born out of disillusionment with Gangsta. They intended to take hip-hop to a new level until they reached Old Skool flavour. "Reincarnation", they said. Like the proverbial Phoenix. Rising from the ashes of a long burnt-out wreck and taming the post-apocalyptic world with solid grooves and grassroots visions.
Pins was on his Technics, slipping
the needle on the vinyl, lining up the track with one hand on the cross-fader,
the other on his cans. Needles was mainlining, one hand on the belt, the other
on the pin. They were indestructible. Nothing mattered except the Gospel. And
the Gospel was the word. And the word was Rap.
Laying down a beat, getting into the
rhythm, feeling the space, breathing. Because with air came water and with
water came life. Life. Some life.
"Now listen here
To what I've got to say
Cause my rhymes are real
I won't go away
I'm here to stay
For another day
My dues I pay
The beat I lay
Now listen up
I don't care to think
Cause life does suck
When you're on the brink
Take it from me
The one who's free
What you see
Is what you get
And you ain't seen
Nothing yet"
It was lucky they were only practising
because at this point Needles fell backwards onto a huge soft cushion, overcome
by a great cloud of incomprehensible proportions whose soul intention was to
nullify the harsh reality of Life. Some life.
Pins continued with the aural
assault, dropping in a little scratching around a breakbeat foundation.
"Shit Pins !I can't feel my
legs and they're buzzing like Fuck !"
"Get up off y' dumb ass, I'm
needing some help here !"Replied Pins.
"Get up onto what ?"Asked
Needles.
"Oh Man, you're fucked again.
How we supposed t' practice when you're floating on clouds ?"
"Just pass me the mike, man,
I'll do it from down here."
"Yeah." Pins passed
Needles the mike then returned to the sanctity of his twin decks, creating a
mellow vibe conducive to alpha rhythmic mutations.
"Feel the groove
That helps y' move
Get in the sound
Deep in the ground
Pumping bass
Is the place
In y' face
Like my race
Uprising
Acclimatising
Downsizing
Truth y' hiding
Slippery slope
Land of no hope
Kill the dope
Love the Pope
Gotta get high
Till I die
Don't live a lie
Time passes by"
That was all that Needles could manage
before becoming fully recumbent, succumbing to an opiated haze which blanked
out existence. As Pins and Needles knew it. One day they would be big stars
but for now they could dream. And Rap.