Machu Picchu
I just thought I’d write a short post announcing my return from a vacation to Peru (where I’m from). Of all the places I went (Ica, where the huge earthquake struck last year, Lima, etc.) I was most interested in revisiting Machu Picchu (recently designated as a “Wonder of the World”). If you’ve never heard of it do a Google Search…it’s magnificent, for real.
I felt a little like Ernesto “Che” Guevarra in The Motorcycle Diaries except with a thousand tourists around me. I must say that even under those conditions, the fact that I was able to escape the reaches of a T-Wayne song somehow made the entire trip seem that much more distant.
Another thing that told me I was no longer in the U.S. was the police officer I saw get bribed for $3 and the homeless family who vigorously ate up cold leftovers from a restaurant we handed to them at a traffic light. The 7-year old selling candy alone at 2:00 am was nothing new and neither were the countless families that I saw living in mud/straw houses, yet they always help to remind you of your privilege. Do you really got the gulliest hood? You sure?
In Peru the name, “Tupac Amaru” does not bring with it memories of a slain rapper. Instead it brings to mind legends of a slain Peruvian revolutionary of Incan blood who around the time of the American Revolution had already freed African-Peruvian slaves (well before Abraham Lincoln) so they could fight alongside the Indians against the Spanish. When the revolution finally failed Tupac Amaru’s four limbs were tied to four horses who were whipped until the great grandson of the last Incan king was dismembered.
The reason for this post is simple. I needed a break from hip-hop…and now that I’m back I got a whole fresh new perspective on the game. I probably have enough song concepts in my head to fill an entire album (if I was inclined to do so). I imagine it might also help a lot of you out there with writer’s block (or laziness) to take an occasional break from the game even if it just means changing your radio station now and then.
I’m finally back in the U.S. where Tupac is Tupac and T-Wayne floods the radiowaves. Ahhhh….back to work!
Til next time,
-Carlos Bonett
Author & Site Administrator
TheStateofHipHop.com
RapFundamentals.com
