Shut Up! Be Happy. 2020
(interpreted by me via Ice T and Jello Biafra.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMQHVzSPTec
We Interrupt this program with a special Bulletin. America is now under martial law. Stay in your homes. Do not congregate with your loved ones or attempt to gather in public. Shut up ! Do not question your doctors, the media or the world health organization. Your constitutional rights have been suspended. Stay in your homes. Curfew will be enforced at 8 p.m. Sharp. You may only go out to get groceries and toilet paper. Anyone who will not agree to the vaccine will be blacklisted and economically cut off. Your neighborhood watch officer will be by in the morning to collect your viral test. Anyone caught interfering with the collection of viral testing will be ineligible for stimulus package. Stay in your homes… remain calm. Your favorite programming is free for a limited time. Our collective health is more important than individual will. No more than 10 people can congregate in public without permission. Stay at least six feet from everyone at all times. Use lots of cleaning and soap products. Obey all orders without question you will evacuate your home’s if directed. Be happy. There is only a small percentage a chance that you will die if you obey and do as you are told. Be afraid. Trust your government and preferred news source. Everything is under control. At last everything is done for you.
Points of interest that I find cool. Ice T and Jello collaborating. At the time this was released, it was a time of civil unrest, the L.A. riots re: Rodney King were not far away. Racial tensions were beginning to run hot. Hip hop and punk were not as corporatized. Public Enemy, N.W.A., Ice T, and KRS ruled with supremacy. Punk rock knew no Warp Tour, and Lollapalooza was not a fest, not yet. Jello Biafra had just released LARD and was known for his poignant spoken word performances. So, when Ice T had him as guest on Iceberg it was exciting for me and my friends. We were into punk and hip hop. It shared a mutual aesthetic. I reimagined this spoken word to reflect 2020. Jello Biafra saw this back in 1989, I reckon maybe sooner than that but since I don’t know the bloke or have an in with him I am forced to speculate. Noteworthy sample : Black Sabbath s/t song from s/t album used ever so strategically to build tension. If you don’t know Sabbath (smh) click below.