Rap/Hip-Hop
Words
Words Fail Me by Rachel Kann is one of the many songs on Kann’s Ptolemaic Complex album. The song isn’t the most popular song on the album, in fact on Amazon.com the individual song has not been downloaded by itself at all. The song lies under multiple genres, namely “Miscellaneous”, “Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews”, and “Rap & Hip Hop”. All these genres do fit as it is a piece of poetry with a hip hop style beat played behind it. But just because it wasn’t popular doesn’t mean its without merit, far from it. Based on Kann’s works of poetry and literature, words would seem to be the thing that matters most with her pieces not the beats in the background like many pop songs of today. So let’s take a look at the lyrics of Words Fail Me.
Kann has only released two albums in total, The Ptolemaic Complex album, and Word to the Why?S. The Ptolemaic Complex was copy written in 2004, and Word to the Why?S was copy written in 2002, so Words Fail Me was presumably written in the two year gap. At the time everyone was freaking out about 9/11 and the new War on Terror. The United States was at war both domestic and foreign, and during times of war freedom of speech has been historically hindered and during the earlier points in the war certain subjects weren’t exactly welcomed to be talked about. In fact there are still topics you can’t explicitly talk or write about without threat of suspension/expulsion from schools or even being arrested. That is what Kann is means when she says/sings:
…I get angry sometimes. Knowing full well they could get expelled or even arrested for said expression in this powder keg post-Columbine and 9/11 life they lead, literally (literally) Don’t believe me? Check the L.A. Times front page (Check the L.A. Times front page) June 18th 2003.
The front page article is about several different cases that involve creative works resulting in drastic actions on individuals that wrote them. Why? Because their creative works featured violent scenes taking place at schools, and their punishments are nothing more than an irrational action caused by the fear of school shootings and terrorists attacks much like the Columbine Massacre and the September 11th terrorist attack on the Twin Towers respectably. This is one of the many times that words would fail Kann, since fiction is supposed to be protected under the first amendment. But free speech doesn’t matter if the government just tramples over it and the citizens don’t react to it, explaining these lyrics:
I’ve been packing spiritual heaps smuggling secrets under my coat in the trenches infiltrating homes of so called knowledge. Attempting to eradicate the societally imposed literary laryngitis. To give voice to the voiceless presenting choices to exploited underage angels, begging them to break their own chains because only they can do it.
So Kann does what she would and uses her words to tell people that all is not well, and even if she crusaded the whole time for the rest of the country, it wouldn’t do any good if the rest of the citizens don’t care. She’s one voice of millions, and it doesn’t matter how loud the voice is if everyone refuses to listen.
Rachel Kann is a poet which is a tad unfortunate in the early 21st century since poetry seems to have fallen out of favor in the popular consciousness. But those who do listen to poetry all agree that Rachel Kann’s music/poetry’s strengths are the lyrics themselves and the emotion in her delivery. The podcaster in the aforementioned link claims that she could read anything and it would still be absolutely mesmerizing. However, all that praise isn’t exactly the reason Kann does this, “This is more than a hobby for me, it’s more than a way for me to get my face on TV, this is my everything. My roots grow deeper, I am of a different breed, this is how I breathe.” Above all else Kann is here to pursue her art and that’s a good thing. Poetry is how she expresses the words of her soul and that’s most likely why this song exists. The fact that anyone is being punished for writing is just unacceptable and the only way for her to express that anger and unfairness is through this poem, because if Kann was punished for doing it, it would be like strangling her because that’s what they June 18th 2003, and at times today. They’re strangling new voices and stopping new works that could really make people think. And no words could properly express that frustration.
Sean Linen
Sean Linen
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