{OT} Pain and Suffering

[djadonis206]

I have a friend who went to a NA meeting today just cause it seemed like the right thing to do

Now when homie was doing all the NA / AA stuff life was good (as in not depressed, healthy, had lots more cash etc etc)

However, pain is the greatest motivator

Since my buddy started kicking it again he's had a couple releases (with like 3 more set before the end of the year) has gone back to school and managed to get some really good grades and actually has a plan for the future.

When things are all normal and boring he goes to meetings and starts being all responsible it's like dude just exists, nothing else - goes to work everyday on time, is home most nights by 9:30, kisses his old lady good night gets up and fits back into the norm - blah blah blah - boring, so is his music and the drive to succeed is below par - he's just happy to be sober

Now, when dawgs in the streets acting a fool - he misses work, makes really bad decisions with his money but the things that matter start to work (better) his music, goals etc

What do you think? When Jimmy Page got sober his music began to suck

Do you believe for some (not all) it really takes that pain and suffering to succed - look at kids who grow up in the ghetto - they want out so they try harder <--- know what I'm saying

anywayz, he's already been to one today and going to another tonight

[err_eur]

Buddhist, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, etc. etc. all faiths believe this world to be a place of suffering. Life feeds on life, that is the nature of existence on planet Earth, if you do not consume, you will consume yourself. I believe drugs are a tool for coping and transcending one's personal demons and pain, an aenesthetic, and a source of spiritual insight and transcendental vision. The abuse of the substance is the problem, many have managed to use all types of substances in a regulated fashion and maintain a healthy life. Food, music, TV, Movies, exercise, relationships, sex, etc. are all drugs. Any of them can destroy your life if you become a slave to it, some people will sit in front of a TV all day and overeat, creating a hell of their life. Others have a meal, watch a show or two, a DVD, and move on to something else.


What works for one might not for the other. I know that the pain and frustration I feel at times is unbearable without getting fukked up.

I also know I am creatively useless anymore when I'm sober.

[sounds]

I recently stopped smokin after hmm.. 12 to 32 - 19/20 years
Not really coz i wanted, well i did and didn't, i love music and
when i'm stoned/high i make sweeter music, i'm full sure that's
the case for many musicians and artists.. but now that i don't
smoke no more, i don't have the same intrest in my music and
this was something i thought about many time while high;
Would i still love making music like i do when i've had a smoke.
I really do love music, but i think i'd prefer to be high while making it.

[err_eur]

I don't agree with the ghetto analogy at all, I grew up in the "Ghetto", and the oppression and hopelessness caused most of my friends to become crackheads, heroin addicts, or BOTH. Many are recovering, having been to rehab numerous times in most cases, or still in and out of addiction relapses, or dead and buried 6 feet under the ground. The world is painful enough. I envy kids that grew up with loving parents and money, they have a head start to success any way you look at it. I had to deal with too much growing up and I must say it has scarred me. As far as drug use is concerned, it is in many cases a persons only real escape from a tortuous thought-process, and that is their right to engage in that activity as long as they do not harm another directly. The problem with drugs is: they work, and a person does not want to come back to the "real-life" world of pain and suffering, so they attempt to drown theirself in intoxication. The only reason society looks down on this is REALLY because one ceases to be a productive citizen, not because society cares about one's pain and situation. It merely wants to reform the addict to make the individual suitable for the workforce again. If you wanna go out like that, it's your right.

[sounds]

Yea it must be tough in many situations to make a fresh start in life,
Even if you have loving families and friends it can still be hard, especially
when all around you are dabeling in drugs and what have ya.
I don't blame anybody else for my drug abuse because that's how i
escaped from the reality and hardships of the real world, i must say
it's still difficult to take part in the normal working life style. I just wish
i had taken all oppertunities thrown my way when i was a bit younger,
but maybe i was too wasted to care enough to turn anything into something.
You can be left scarred it's very true, i'm sittin here now in the republic
of ireland suckin long necks and messin with live, tryin to forget that i'm
dieing to get out of it, i just keep tellin myself tomorrow's another day,
But the reality is, i don't even know what today holds for me, it's like
ground hug day, i won't be searchin for a 9 to 5 job i know that much,
Allways wanted my own business, but that's far away if it ever happens.

I've allways been into my tunes and that would have been to most
fun career move if i had of went down that road, these days i see
my favourate dj's on flyers all over the country, and it aint me that's
doin the warm uo sets before the main event, it's the kids of our new
generation that get the gigs, yea i just pissed myself off even more now.

Good luck to anybody that has beeten addiction and managed to get
themselfs back in the real world, i'm tryin to buy egold rite now.

[5dots]

I guess I'm maybe the only person I've ever known whose music has gotten dumber the less sober I was. I used to make some real shit music...

[M. Bréqs]

A dude on these forums named Rahlo and I once discussed this. He's a clean livin dude, and so am I (these days). But there's MCs out there who can't flow without their "ghost writer" (weed).

For me, it wasn't drugs but adversity that really got me making solid tracks. I used to work 12 hours a day 6 days a week, and live in an isloated camp. I made more music there (no social outlet, no time) than I do at home working a normal 40 hour week and hanging with friends.

However, no music is worth the pain of addiction. If I had to choose between writing shit music and being a success with the other 95% of my life vs writing solid tracks and having cops on my ass, poor health and no money, well...

I would dump the music in a heartbeat.

[djadonis206]

Oh man, I can't write a beat to save my life stoned, drunk or whatever

however - a night out on the town, some really bad decisions and you can best believe all I want to do to escape the after thought, hang over etc is write beats

unfortunately the harder times get the better and more I get into the music

Sometimes I feel like it's the only way out of the fucked up situations I get into - just make beats

its fun, you can do what you want and you never know

but writing beats high is a no go

MY HOMIE SAID IT BEST

TOUGH TIMES DON'T LAST TOUGH PEOPLE DO!

[ilia]

A dude on these forums named Rahlo and I once discussed this. He's a clean livin dude, and so am I (these days). But there's MCs out there who can't flow without their "ghost writer" (weed).

For me, it wasn't drugs but adversity that really got me making solid tracks. I used to work 12 hours a day 6 days a week, and live in an isloated camp. I made more music there (no social outlet, no time) than I do at home working a normal 40 hour week and hanging with friends.

However, no music is worth the pain of addiction. If I had to choose between writing shit music and being a success with the other 95% of my life vs writing solid tracks and having cops on my ass, poor health and no money, well...

I would dump the music in a heartbeat.

I agree with the logic of your choices, but you know, I don't think I could ever write that last sentence in any context.

[Machinesworking]

I think artists.. (sometimes I don't like the way that sounds, you know what I mean? but it fits..) well artist tend to have screwy backgrounds, funny part is they never think they do..... last vocalist I had told me her mom explained to her when she was about 12 that she was raped by demons? (this is 100% what she said!) a year earlier she was telling me she couldn't figure out why she had "issues" her life was so normal growing up.....

Anyway, drugs don't make the problems go away, but drama is so much more intoxicating than depression....
I quit everything for a while in my earrly 20's and it was the big fear, that I would have no drive, that it would be like what happened to Areosmith!

Didn't happen, had the time and resources to work on music, music sounded the same, it wasn't the drugs..... This was a BIG revelation for me. I seriously was worried about that.
After going whole hog again for a while I'm done, don't do any of it. Now I have a shitload of gear compared. The main thing now is finding singers that aren't insane....
You tell yourself that you can't create without drugs, or that your music will suck without drugs and BAM! that's reality for you. Every individual makes up the rules when it comes to that sort of thing. You have no need for anything, unless you tell yourself that.

[njh]

[djadonis206]

Well our friend managed to actually go to 2 meetings, work on a track he likes, play lots of HALO 2

BarBq with the old lady and went on a Dog Park outing with his old lady and dogs

He should be done with the track tonight - curious about how lame it sounds now that he's BACK on the WAGON


we'll see