In 2015, Erykah Badu released an album entitled “But You Caint Use My Phone.” Coincidentally, the title is a reference to the last line in the hit that kick started her career, “Tyrone,” where a phone call is prominently featured. Me writing about phones while talking on a phone #wfh However, what this book got me onto is the idea that objects can carry meaning, and this meaning is understood on a large scale. It’s dense as hell, some of the hardest stuff I had to work with in college, and to be honest, I’m still learning about it. Semiotics is basically the study of creating meaning, down to how human beings decided how letters correspond to sounds. It ended up being my first introduction to semiotics, which after “holistically” is maybe the most important word I learned in college. Each group in society has established meanings for symbols, and if you understand those symbols you can use them to tap into emotions.
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Specifically, how to reach target markets by speaking through symbols. It’s been years since I read it, but what I recall is that it is a book about advertising. I don’t know if this is something I heard about on NPR and asked for to seem smart, or my dad, thinking I needed enriching, just saw it and thought, “why not?” Both are plausible. Somewhere in the timeline of my high school experience, my father bought me a book called “The Culture Code” for Christmas. So, in the wake of the coronavirus and the potential onslaught of monster killer wasps threatening Washington, I’m searching for shortcuts to mind-hearts. I love my Spotify! But, having a bucket of songs to shuffle through is not the same as hearing a mixtape organized with intention, a crafted message from one person to whoever is listening. This is a great feature, and one of the many boons to come from the digital age. I am one of many people I know that uses a playlist to just collect new songs that I like. You got to strategize and really plan that biz out! I feel like the whole point of mixtapes are to use songs as shortcuts to the feelings and deep thoughts seeded in our mind-hearts, and summarize them in four minutes or less, preferably with a Sam Cooke-type, or maybe Brittany Howard (exceptions notwithstanding).Ī playlist is like a collection. Think of the cliche of making a mixtape to confess your feelings to someone. The classic homemade mixtapes are well-planned procedures, like surgery. What separates a playlist from a mixtape is intention. A finite amount of time on a CD-R meant you had to get down to business. I treasured my $49.99 Discman and the terrible headband earbuds that came with them, and every 80 minutes I didn’t really mind the effort it took to find the next disc. It’s one of the many fads that saw its prime before the digital age,and lost something in translation. The mixtape feels like an ancient, lost nerdy art. One of the fortunate byproducts of this quarantine was a friend reaching out and asking me for some music. I used to love doing this in high school, but somehow between then and now, I lost the spirit. The only thing that beats someone giving you a mixtape is someone else asking you to make one for them. I didn’t ask for it, it appeared because someone had something they wanted to share. He pays attention to what’s going on and then he embodies it.In the spirit of self-mythology, I can trace the trajectory of my life back to the moment I got my first mixtape. “When it comes, it comes, and I can’t force it, but recently I got it back with ‘Hotline Bling’ and all the other things I’ve been experimenting with … I love Drake because he’s ever-evolving. “I’m writing all the time, but recently I got the bug back,” she said. In a recent interview with Noisey, the singer praised Drake’s creativity and explained how “Bling” gave her a musical boost. Phone will feature “several surprises,” including a few unspecified guests, and finds Badu combining elements of psychedelia, hip-hop, smooth R&B, jazz, art-rock and found sounds into a style she’s dubbed “TRap&B.” Badu also experimented with a tuning fork and Tibetan singing bowls, resulting in what she describes as a “whole new frequency.”īadu released her “Hotline Bling” remix in October, following it up earlier this month with “Phone Down,” another mixtape track. Gaining creative momentum, she began working with producer Zach Witnessin and wrote, recorded and mixed the album across 12 days in Dallas, Texas. The project began life this fall, after Badu recorded her “Hotline Bling” remix (now retitled “Cell U Lar Device”) as a birthday gift for a friend.