Here come the drums.

“as the universe expands, I consider and contemplate if it was God or the big bang that made man”…

Im paraphrasing here, for Wyclef and for Canibus on their late 90s song “How come?”.

I find that a lot of wisdom visits us from the music that we listen to, and I believe that all music is universal, and I listen to all sorts, from black artists and white rockers alike. When it hits it hits and it gets me, and I sing along.

But I have always struggled with Christian music, I could only get drawn to Tree 63, and likely their first album which contains some gems that I found refuge in when I was searching for my Christian spirit, around 2005 I think.

But I find that Christian music is devoid of real life experience, and the coaching and teaching that you find in the other genres. Because when you take out the expletives, the story telling that comes from Drake’s relationship soapies, and from Wu Tang’s ghetto commentary, or even Kendrick when he speaks truth to power, there is some learning there.

All that comes from a lived experience of the black man, and I get empowered when I listen to Jay-Z as he traverses boardrooms and still gives out hints in rhyme to us in the streets on how to make good use of $1.99, and how to atone to your woman when you stand to lose $1 billion between the two of you, if ever.

And I struggle with praise and worship songs because, at the core they are supposed to be for spiritual elevation. And I understand that God wants to be praised for the good that we receive, and that our prayers have to arrive at His feet and His ears alongside our songs of tribute.

But I think we are also endowed with this great creativity as people that can only come from a place and time of great enlightenment and proximity to a spiritual power. And you feel that much spirit that moves you, when you listen to a genius level piece of artistry, and I insist that that spark of creativity is a narration and translation of His words.

Because those majestic musical moments that transcend time and decade can only be just that. And Phil Collins' “In the air tonight” has recently proven that.

Some artists struggle to handle the spiritual elevation when they reach it at some point in their creative journeys and they fade into obscurity or kill themselves.

And some have been known to numb themselves with drugs and psychedelics. Kanye West saddens me. But he hasnt done what Kurt Cobain did when he got to his peak. And what happened to Amy Winehouse, and Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson et al..

Because something happens, a force is revealed, and their talents get taken over, I think.

And as the drums come, or the guitar strings, and a reverb opens up, they bring with them a message. And if it does land, it incites some greater thought and action, and it elevates. And it captures the listener.

And that’s what good music does. Its the angels speaking, its an awakening, its to get you lifted to do stuff, and to act better, and at times to reconcile some emotions.

You dont believe me?

Play some Anita Baker on a Sunday, and as the day rolls by, break into some Coldplay or Kings of Leon, some of the B-sides that never got played much on radio. And just the emotional swell of Ghost Stories when you are letting go of a relationship? You will understand.

Have you listened to Comeback Story when you have been down in the dumps?

And Im not saying Joyous Celebration or Dr Rebecca is not good music. Im just thinking that maybe I havent travelled enough into the genre, and I get more grip in Hip Hop and RnB, soft rock, Scathamiya and Maskandi to get me road-tripping through the trials and tribulations, and pulling the wagons of life along, like my mans used to say in contemporary colloquium when we were growing up.

Im listening to Isambulo at the moment.

No blasphemy.