As of late, Travi$ Scott has been one of my favorite rappers.
I’ve been listening to a lot of his new music recently, to the unique sounds he makes, the music he chooses for the background, the overall feel of the song. I find his sound so interesting, and I can see a lot of other artists inside of the sound that he creates– almost like an intertextual composer. (Like my high school Photography teacher told us, so much art has already been created. It’s nearly impossible to create a work of art that has never been made or used before. In this way, it is the role, responsibility even, of the artist to somehow take this template and make it different, make a re-creation that refuses to conform to the old art piece. This same concept can really apply to all things, music especially.) This is what I think he does, he reinvents the wheel, sonically.
I was searching for new music to listen to, and stumbled upon one of his songs called “Blocka La Flame.” Sounded interesting. Something about the hook of the song made me want my car back, made me want to drive around with my friends like we always do when we’re together, blasting music so loud that we could barely hear the words coming out of our own mouths, could barely remember how to think.
So naturally, I listened to the song as I was walking to class, and then again during the walk to class, and then another couple of hundred times in class while working on our second paper. Suddenly I hear the rapper say the word “Zulu.” And suddenly I just saw the lightbulb go off and it all felt almost obvious, “Ohhh, I see.” It all just made sense. According to Cathy N. Davidson and Theo Goldberg who are quoted in Interdisciplinarity, “It [interdisciplinarity] derives from the sense that objects (and subjects) of social and cultural life (real life, real conditions, real relations) exist beyond the constraints of analytic singularity and methodological rules” (Moran 180). Interdisciplinarity exists in everything, and it transcends the physical world of literature, and being aware of its existence makes it that much more evident.
How often does something like this happen? Am I only now aware of the word “Zulu” because of my recent literary experience with it?
In any case, I looked up the lyrics to the song to make sure I was right. As it turns out I was, and Travi$ was saying “Shaka Zulu,” which upon further reading was a prominent leader of the Zulu ethnic group of South Africa.
Perhaps in the context of the song, the input of a little cultural anecdote was more or less irrelevant, but just the fact that it appeared there, after reading the book entitled Zulu, was an amazing interdisciplinary revelation I had to share.