You need to listen to K.R.I.T.’s first song, “Mixed Messages,” from his Tiny Desk Concert. I contemplated sharing the studio version of this song, but I keep finding myself coming back to this version—perhaps because there is something so authentic or even vulnerable about it. The song kicks off with the following lines:
I got a whole lotta, mixed messages In my songs, am I wrong to feel this way? Revolutionary, although I’m free I got me a lover, but I still wanna cheat I wanna be safe, but it’s fuck the police Don’t wanna be here, but I’m too scared to leave
I’ve always found myself frustrated by contradictions, whether someone elses or my own, and it has only been in recent years that I’ve come to terms with many of my own contradictions. Or at the very least, I’ve become aware of their role as opposed to allowing that awareness to lead to hyper-critical analysis or feelings of guilt. In fact, I now fear that a life devoid of contradiction is more dangerous. We need these mixed feelings, we need a sense of frustration, we need a bit of doubt in our lives, otherwise our crusade towards a single tracked mind will leave us not enlightened but blinded.
If you haven’t watched Snoop Dog’s Plizzanet Earth then what are you even doing?