Song: “Duality”
Artist: K-Rino
Album: Annihilation of the Evil Machine (2010)
Lyric: “One a thought is born, nothing can harm it/You don’t understand the magnitude of torment, that it took for me to form it/I dare ya to deal, each of the labyrinth characters killed/Got a Captain America shield that I wear in the field.”
Character Reference/Meaning:
What is more American that Hip-Hop and being a nerd? The correct answer to that is Captain America. However, today on “DTC,” we combine all three to possibly make the most American thing in existence. Surprisingly, today’s song “Duality” fits in perfectly with all of our topics. For those “DTC” fans out there, you might remember a while back we did a “DTC” about Captain America (Hopsin’s “Lunch Time Cypher”), yet contrary to this week’s article, it was about Cap getting… well, Cap’d. Today’s article is all about surviving through the battle. K-Rino takes this duality notion to heart by posing the question, what would happen if he had a rap partner. So rather than finding a rap partner, he decided to just split himself in half and become his own rap partner. Similar to the superheroes of the world, they all have duel identities. For every Bruce Banner, there is a Hulk. For every Bruce Wayne, there is a Batman. And for every Steve Rodgers there is a Captain America.
We all have this other side of us that either contradicts who we are or thrives in addition to our known character. Everybody has this dual identity. It’s not just superheroes; rappers are no different: where there is a Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, there is also a Lupe Fiasco . With a Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr, you have a Snoop Dogg, and if there is an Eric Kaiser, there is always going to be a K-Rino. For most rappers and poets of today, their dual identity comes with one powerful weapon – their words. That is exactly what K-Rino is trying to say in this lyric. Once an artist develops a thought behind a song, and spends so much time and energy to make it into a harmony, followed by a rhythmic flow, nothing and nobody can take that away from them. A majority of hip-hop artist form their songs based off of their personal lives, so when K-Rino speaks about the torment involved with forming that thought, he is talking about the difficult life he has had to go through, which has been the reason he is a rapper today. Without that life and that hardship, he wouldn’t be able to form such a song. And if you dare challenge him on those thoughts, it can only end badly for you.
So, similar to Captain America’s vibranium shield that keeps him safe in harms way, words do the same for the rappers of the world. Just like nothing can harm Captain America when he is covered by his shield, nothing can harm an artist when covered by his poetry. The same can be said for anybody and everybody, you just have to go figure out what your shield is. Coming back to the notion of duality, just like we all have that one thing that makes us feel safe, we all have that one thing that can harm us. For Captain America that opposing force is the Winter Soldier. Within the next few days the world will get to see that battle play out on the big screen. Dropping April 4, 2014, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is going to shoot off vita-rays into every nerd heart, turning them into super nerd soldiers. This film looks to be a great one with the reappearance of some of our major characters such as the Captain and Black Widow, and the addition of some new ones, mainly Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I don’t know about you, but me and all of my other dual identity cannot wait to see this movie in theaters. So check out Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and go our there and discover the duality in your life.
Cover photo taken from houstonpress.com
Hush Comics 