Dubioza Kolektiv - Wake Up
Lyrics:
Sign up, this is the time to begin
if u want to stand strong
come with a rhythm
wake up in this world full of sin
'everybody sleeps
doesn't care for a thing
while you stand still, world spins
you got what it takes
will you pull that string?
are you sick of the mad right wing
fed up of being stuck
in this endless ring
knowledge is all
eduction is a key
yourd mind is a weapon
lay down the message
without any fear
and teach generations
it's you and yourself
this fight is for real
gotta set an example
snap out of the bad dream
wake up and hear
this sound of rebellion
wake up
or you gonna swing
like a puppet on a string
europe,you are under the scope
divided you stand
will there be any hope?
balkan,evil's gotta resign
show your real strenght
and shut'em all down
whole world
don't forget what you've heard
It's time to stand strong
let'em hear your word
rise up, dethrone false kings
you got what it takes
you will pull that string
power,money,crime,hype
news,war,mind is controlled
you do what you're told
future,freedom,honour,truth
peace,life,pride,behold
now everything's sold,hunger
disease,virus,pollution,thirst
weather hot or cold,stories
untold,fear in the eyes,secrets
and lies that you're sold
we're not different
shaped in same mould
wake up
or you gonna swing
like a puppet on a string!
Nothing is potentially more exciting than a musical fusion of two very different cultures. Of course, one thing that makes such a project exciting is the possibility that it will result in musical disaster, and one might be forgiven for expecting exactly that outcome from a fusion of reggae, hip-hop, and Balkan brass band music. Throw in some regionally specific politics and you only make the recipe more volatile. As it turns out in this case, however, the results are mostly very tasty. A sonic and conceptual model for this group would seem to be Asian Dub Foundation, who very successfully blended bhangra, reggae, hip-hop, and jungle in the U.K. in the 1990s (less successfully in the 2000s), and indeed there are tracks on Wild Wild East that reference the ADF formula more or more explicitly: the especially hip-hoppy "Warning" and the especially dubwise "Move Ya," for example. But other songs explore less familiar territory: "90's Surprise" is a weird sort of funk with a slow and rather disjointed groove, while "Whistleblower" has a straight-up vintage punk feel and "U.S.A." moves on a stiff-legged beat around which the horns do a minor-key dance. Music that's this much fun can make it easy to overlook lyrics that say things like "Celebrate the riot/Pull the government down" -- lines that should perhaps give a thoughtful person pause.
