#songbender part 54 – DJ Rap – Good To Be Alive
Well, well, here we go again, only after like NINE weeks of NOTHING, i’m sure this is no problem, as you have already completely forgot about this shit anyway.
But hey we have a, er, interesting one today.
So like just looking at the title, i mean, if you are like a person who decides that
–HEY MOM I WANNA MAKE MUSIC!
–splendid idea, Charissa, why don’t you just go ahead and you do you, but what will your industry name be? and also, you’re a girl, why don’t you rather…..
–MOM I THINK I LIKE RAP EVEN THOUGH I LIKE TO SING WAY BETTER BUT THERE’S ALL THIS DJ’S AND STUFF NOWADAYS SO I’LL BE DJ RAP, KAY?
i mean like what LEADS one to this. I can’t imagine.
Anyway, that’s not really the point. The point is that as noone will point out as I have no commenters or feedback whatsoever, but yes, this was ALSO on the movie soundtrack of the previous one but i PROMISE you this has nothing to do with why this one was selected this time. It really is just a coincidence, and i remember my friend (at the time) bringing this song to me and i was like “you’re shitting me that this guy is called DJ RAP” and he was like “hahhah yeah but he’s actually a GIRL”
and i was like WTF. W T F.
So to get down to it, this is nothing spectacular, it’s a nice song, the breakbeat is OK, the bassline is VERY NICE, the chorus is somewhat catchy, i’m not talking about either the official or the US video (apparently they couldn’t release the original over there for some obscure reason i’m not even interested in), but what sold this song to me was the actual production, which i have no idea whose work it was, but if it’s Charissa, then kudos, if not, then kudos to whoever. It perfectly fit the late 90s vibe of this “let’s mix the underground with the mainstream” kinda thing, and I think it’s the same reason why there is a video (of several versions) and why it got on the OST of Go. Someone wanted this to succeed VERY hard.
So it’s a POP song actually. But hey, we’ve all been there.
But it didn’t work out, as audiences needs symbols, and symbols are for the symble-minded, to quote my all time pal George C, so this did NOT blow up and DJ RAP went into the drain with so many others at the time.
But if you disconnect from all this, this is actually not a bad song, and i find myself coming back to it from time to time. It is produced very well, the music is absolutely well mixed, nothing is so out of this world or anything, but it’s ok, and it’s good enough. This falls very much into line with what BT did in the same era, and maybe he had more success, but this was a hard era, and the only one harder i can think of is today’s era, and let’s leave it at that. I’m not sure this song would be known AT ALL today if not for some unknown meme or traction reason coming from our beloved high and holy social media. Brrrr.
So if you start this song AGAIN, which i don’t think you will, but in the marginal case you do, just focus on the production value of the music, which is GOOD, VERY good even, the lyrics are ok (singing about getting high? and liking it? FKIN LIBRULS TAKING ER JUUUBS AGEN and the rest of it), but the bassline is nice, there’s creativity in this that you can spot, and maybe this is just one of the lucky ones that got more attention than 143954859 others that coulda been more valuable, but hey. This is history now.
Lyrics go like:
Don’t crucify if I feel alive
It’s a natural high and I’m satisfiedAbsolved from sin
I called the devil from within
He told me live my life
Don’t let them criticizeIt’s good to be alive
Sometimes I wonder how I survived
And in my minds eye
When you’re low no-one seems to know
A fallen angel tonight
I feel no shame when I’m high
It feels so good must be right
It feels so good inside
InsideI’d love to love you but I’m too impure an angel X3
I’d love to love youDon’t compromise
You don’t live my life
‘Cos l don’t judge you
When i look in your eyeslt’s good to be alive
Sometimes I wonder how I survived
And in my mind?s eye
When you’re low no-one seems to know
A fallen angel tonight
I feel no shame when I’m high
It feels so good must be right
It feels so good inside
Inside
So thanks for checking it out if you have, there’s a separate US version with, I guess, more US-compatible imagery (i have NO IDEA why they had to do this, probably a label thing). It’s always about MONEY, and someone apparently didn’t get what they signed up for. I hope they are satisfied now (by which i mean they rot in all fucking diseases that were discovered by mankind since the beginning of time)
and with this absolutely positive note, which does NOT correspond to the title – oh yeah i forgot to mention, yeah, disclaimer, it’s definitely NOT good to be alive these days, just so you know – i’m going to leave you right now and hope that it doesn’t take me this long for the next one.
Let’s all hope to be alive for it.
Cheers, goodbye.