Death Smiles at Us All

*Disclaimer* I AM NOT SUICIDAL!!

No secret I’m not afraid of dying and I have always said I wanted to die young.  Shit, through my life I have never ever thought of what my future would be like when I’m older.  That’s just me, I guess.  Not only the Christian in me has me comfortable with dying but just the place my mind is at, I’m ok with what I’m done so far.  I’m not like Pac or BIG predicting my death or anything like that.  But I have thought about what I wanted when I die.

1. If I have not been roasted by the time I die, I give permission to do a comedy roast…as long as it’s in good spirit.  Don’t go bring up some pinned up hatred you was too scared to say when I was alive.  Nothing mean spirited.  You all know I loved to laugh when I was alive and had a healthy sense of humor.
2. If a ceremony is had, make it one to remember.  I’m used to having people tell me of the good times they remember, now give them one more.
3. Finally and most importantly, I want these songs played.  They are the final tracks to the soundtrack to my life.
   
   Cosmic Slop by Funkadelic
   
   I see myself and others close to me in it.  But not literally!  The song is about an impoverished mother with five children who has resorted to prostitution in order to support her family. Although she tries to shield her children from the knowledge that they are poor and she is a prostitute, every night the narrator hears his mother beg God for forgiveness and understanding for doing what she has to do for the sake of her children. As I have said so many times…the world we live in is not in black and white. Also asking for forgiveness for trying to do the right things is a major theme in my life.
   
   Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
   
   This instrumental tugs at your emotions and soul.  And the history of it pulls even more.
   
   
   

   According to legend, George Clinton, under the influence of LSD, told Eddie Hazel to play the first half of the song like his mother had just died and to play the second half as if he had found out she was alive; other variants of the story suggest that he was simply told to play as if he had found his mother dead. The result was the 10-minute guitar solo for which Hazel is most fondly remembered by many music critics and fans. Though several other musicians began the track playing, Clinton soon realized the power of Hazel's solo and faded them out so that the focus would be on Hazel's guitar. Critics have described the solo as "lengthy, mind-melting" and the ending as "an emotional apocalypse of sound."
   
   The entire track was recorded in one take. The solo is played in a pentatonic minor scale in the key of E over another guitar track of a simple arpeggio. Hazel's solo was played through a fuzzbox and a wah pedal; some sections of the song utilize a delay effect. This style would be revisited later in Standing on the Verge of Getting It On on the track "Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts". The original version with full band accompaniment was released in 1997 on the album "Funkadelic Finest".

   
   

The fear of death follows from the fear of life.  A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.  ~Mark Twain