- published: 16 May 2011
- views: 100530
Vast Aire (born Theodore Arrington III on February 5, 1978) is a rapper from New York City. He is one half of the New York hip hop duo Cannibal Ox, which consists of him and fellow rapper Vordul Mega. He is also a member of the rap group Atoms Family. He was born in Mount Vernon, New York, then lived in Jamaica, Queens before moving to Harlem, and became acquainted with the underground rap scene, performing in many clubs while still a teenager. He was once a part of the underground hip hop group The Weathermen.
Vast Aire's fame increased significantly as part of Cannibal Ox with Vordul Mega. Together with producer El-P, it recorded its debut album, The Cold Vein, and released it in 2001. The album was a critical success. Since then, Vast Aire has pursued solo interests. His first solo album Look, Mom...No Hands was released in April 2004. This was followed by The Best Damn Rap Show, a collaborative effort with DJ Mighty Mi from the High and Mighty in 2005. These solo projects did not break Vast Aire from his obligations at Definitive Jux with Cannibal Ox. Vast has since gone on to work with members from the Megahertz crew, and was a member of The Weathermen alongside Copywrite, Yak Ballz, Cage, Aesop Rock, the late Camu Tao, and Tame One. However, he was kicked out of the Weathermen by Camu Tao after allegedly stealing from both Yak Ballz and Tame One.[citation needed] He has recently[when?] denounced the Weathermen group as a whole after the rapper and Weathermen founder Cage wrote the song "Nothing Left to Say" about Vast Aire trying to profit from Camu Tao's death, and then called him out on his Myspace page. He is also a part of a group called LXG, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.
The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.
The earliest recorded use[citation needed] of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." [dubious – discuss] In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.
Walter Reed, better known as Killah Priest, Iron Sheik from the Middle East, or Masada, is an African-American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate who was raised in Brooklyn. He is known for intensely spiritual lyrics loaded with metaphors and religious references. He is connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites through his rhymes, and is known for controversial and Afrocentric subject matter. He is also a part of supergroup the HRSMN along with Canibus, Ras Kass, and Kurupt. He has a hardcore fan base and has been known to be very generous and giving of his time to his fans and various charitable organizations.
Priest first made himself known to the hip hop world rapping on two songs on the Gravediggaz album 6 Feet Deep in 1994, and followed this with two appearances on each of two Wu-Tang Clan solo albums, Ol' Dirty Bastard's Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version and GZA's Liquid Swords, both from 1995 (see 1995 in music). Liquid Swords in fact included a Killah Priest solo track titled "B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)". Also in 1995, Priest's group Sunz Of Man with rappers Hell Razah, 60 Second Assassin, Prodigal Sunn were signed to Wu-Tang Records and released three 12" singles through the label. Initially Sunz Of Man included Shabazz the Disciple, who had previously been in a duo with Priest called The Disciples, but Shabazz basically left the group before the contract with Wu-Tang Records was signed, thus only appearing on the B-side "5 Arch Angels".
[Intro: Vast Aire]
Deuces wild, I'm callin the shots
[Verse 1: Vast Aire]
You don't wanna wake up
With a horse head at the end of your bed
That shits pathetic
I will bite your face you'll just stand there
Holding your nose crying for antiseptic
You better step quick the crew is LXG
And we are bout it
Kids your mic should be off
If she's feeling me her pants will be off
The cycle of sin is Sampsora
But it's hard to resist the Carmasutra
I treat MCs like Naomi
And hit em in the head with a Molla-Rolla
Just like I told ya
With a sword in my hand I'm like a soldier
But this ain't no game this ain't no scrimmage
Let us make man in our image
[Verse 2: Genesis]
I am what was and shall be again
Full name is Genesis now call me Gen
Foes called me enemy now call me friend
My flow got white supremacists tryna darken their skin
You couldn't call a better man veteran
Who thinks that they can hang with Letterman
But if your gonna bang with me nigga you better win
Caus I'm like predator I want like a competitive skeleton
Still you be hard-pressed like a star dress
To approach this heartless nigga in the darkness
Regardless of your boys and their bullet proof vests
My back was against the wall I fought best
Then I fought stress inside the fortress of solitude
Like Clark Kent in a dark bent
Spent nights like life can't be like this
Like Eddie Cane let it rain on nights like this
Nice pain is he vain
Nope I'm just rich obnoxious bitch
Mad caus I got this gift
My glock if swift
Just beggin it's loaded with clips
The glow from the wrist
It caught the sun the solar eclipse
In matter of respect, kids nice hand em a check
I get brains on the planes like Hannibal Lec
And I could shoot like Rashid Wilis hand me a tech
My gats too mechanical now watch an animal wreck
[Verse 3: Vast Aire]
This is real hip hop holmes you don't need Sherlock
You could keep your chicken noodle and your soda pop
I see you laughing now but it won't be funny when I spin your top
He tried to say I ain't fly
Come on dude look at the space I occupy
Now that's about six feet
And with my wings spread you better watch my leap
The angelic sorta like Michael
When we fight your gonna get an eyeful
That means we don't give slack
You better leave Gamura and don't look back
Look at your face white like talcum
Because you saw the Phoenix Millennium Flacon
I want peace like the king but my actions are more like Malcolm