Whispers of Dreams
Your dreams are waiting for you,
In the gentle stillness of the morning dew.Life whispers secrets through the gentle breeze;
Heed its call, for wisdom unlocks doors with ease.Feel the rhythm deep within your soul,
As the universe reveals your role.Seek the truth amidst the lies,
And find the spark within your eyes.Through trials and triumphs, highs and lows,
The essence of your spirit forever grows.So, I challenge you, before your journey’s through,
To give your all and watch your dreams come true.
So, I was listening to Kanye West’s new song ‘CARNIVAL’ on the metro on my phone using the Spotify app, and then I started thinking that I should explore more of Kanye West’s music. While searching for his best songs, I stumbled upon his old track “I Wonder.” I instantly liked this song, especially because of the hook by Labi Siffre: “And I wonder, If you know what it means; To find your dreams come true” Only a great poet or artist can write such verses with deep meaning.
Personally, I listen to rap only when I’m in a specific mood, and I don’t particularly enjoy the language used in it. However, when I’m angry, it becomes tolerable and a little enjoyable too. Since I’m not American, I don’t relate to the verses or lines of rap songs as much as locals might.
I find it difficult to fully grasp the meaning of English rap songs because English is not my first language. As humans, we all have limitations in comprehending things or individuals from diverse cultures. This limitation becomes evident, for instance, when we see a person of another race, such as Korean; we can’t accurately gauge their attractiveness because we may not understand Korean beauty standards well enough.
This is why I somewhat enjoy English rap, but when I listen to the same genre in Hindi, I notice in rap songs there is shallowness, lack of depth, vulgarity, violence, and overall lack of class and respect for fellow artists. Apart from a few really good rap songs, most fall into this negative category and seem appealing only because of their catchy tune or indecency in the video or lyrics.
As many philosophers have noted, the concept of beauty is slowly fading, and in the future, things might be deemed beautiful or good merely because of their indecency, vulgarity, or strangeness. I think we have already entered that era.
This is why we often love songs in foreign languages or languages we don’t understand well. However, when we do understand the lyrics, we often realize how stupid, simple or mediocre the song is, not the masterpiece we initially perceived.
Most rap songs and rappers are overrated. Many might disagree with me, but just listen to most rap songs these days. For example, ‘WAP’ by Cardi B. Can you play these types of songs in front of your young siblings, children, or parents? No, you can’t. I understand that each generation creates songs that are perceived as vulgar and corrupt by older generations, but songs like ‘WAP’ are just bizarre.
Warren G’s ‘Regulate’ is one of my favorite songs, even though I don’t understand most of the lyrics due to the slang. However, I appreciate the sound, tune, and quality of the rapping regardless of the lyrics.
Art is art. While many rappers may not have great lyrics, their teams—like producers and sound engineers—do amazing work in creating great music. This helps compensate for weak lyrics, mumbling, and shouting in rap songs. Some rap songs are perfect when you’re upset after hearing something bad from your boss, going through a breakup, having a rough day, or feeling angry.
Let me shift away from discussing rappers and criticizing rap music to what inspired me to write the poem. As I mentioned earlier, I loved Labi Siffre’s part in Kanye West’s “I Wonder.” After that, I searched for the original “I Wonder” song on YouTube. Kanye West’s version came up first, so I added “original” to my search query and found Labi Siffre’s original song. I listened to it on a loop for two days. I’m a bit of a critic, so I felt that something was missing from the song; it needed more verses like the hook that Kanye used in his song.
Then, an idea came to me: I would write the perfect version of the song and use AI to create the new song in Labi Siffre’s voice. After two days, I had written a different version of the song.
I then tried to create an AI version of the song sung by Labi Siffre, but the free tools I used produced really poor results. The more I read my version, the more I started appreciating Labi Siffre’s original song. After several failed attempts at creating an AI cover, I decided to stop. I spent two weekends on this process, and the end result was nothing.
Then I realized why wise people say, ‘Don’t try to fix things that aren’t broken.’
I thought about deleting the song I wrote because it kept reminding me of my failed attempts, and I might be tempted to try creating the AI version again. Then, something hit me—I could delete some lines, change some verses, and turn it into a poem about dreams and making them come true. After spending 2-3 hours, I was able to write this poem. I think it’s a nice poem, but I’m not sure how a native English speaker or writer will perceive it.
Anyway, in the end, I just want to tell everyone reading this blog: if you have a dream, you should either be doing something to make it a reality, or if you’ve forgotten about it, I urge you to start thinking about it again and take steps to pursue it.
You will never know what you’re missing out on until you fulfill your dream. As Labi Siffre rightly said in his song, ‘And I wonder, if you know what it means, to find your dreams come true,’ many people, including myself, don’t truly understand what it means to achieve their dreams. Let’s stop procrastinating and start taking action to make our dreams come true.
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Thank you for reading!
