I'm The Shinobiest!

I’m immune to headaches.

I’ve never had a legit headache in my whole life.

Kabuto the Python has all but come right out and said that he’s retired. He posted a note on Facebook. Here it is:

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okay, the caps charade isn’t fun anymore, I haven’t bothered to write stuff “in character” for a long time so Imma just drop it for now.  I just blocked two guys, one for posting some of my work on here that I don’t want posted, the other for posting this song:

http://soundcloud.com/drodeka/speaker-for-the-dead-regards

the latter I’m gonna just address here anyway.  I guess the gist of the song here is that he’s mad because I don’t do enough “meaningful” songs, and he’s telling me I’ll never be “real” because I don’t spill my emotional guts on every song.  with all due respect, fuck you dude.  I’m never going to write the majority of my songs that way because that’s not who I am.  I like clowning.  I like wordplay and rhyme schemes and technical shit.  I like hard, energetic songs that make me nod my head.  those are the qualities I emphasize in the music I make because THAT’S WHAT I LIKE TO LISTEN TO.

if you want to make a bunch of Atmosphere type sad songs with pianos and soul samples and lyrics about your love life and how depressed you are, go right the fuck ahead and do you.  but don’t contrive to suggest that I’m WASTING MY TIME because I’m not making music that YOU like.  seriously what the hell.

you also give me shit for hating on nerds in my songs, while making songs about things that are dorky.  that’s fair!  I haven’t really tried to explain my perspective on this, at least in song form.  let me try:

I don’t know if the word “nerd” is as useful as it once was (if it was ever useful).  I know basketball players who love adventure time, raiders fans who love my little pony, and weightlifters who love “the room.”  I know tons of people who are into games, science fiction, and even super nerdy computer programming and game modding and stuff who don’t suffer for it socially.  I like them!  they are my friends!  are they nerds?  I don’t know.  but I don’t have a problem with them.  to the extent that I was an “outcast” in high school it was due to antisocial and avoidant behavior, not because people found out I liked star wars and treated me like a leper all of a sudden.  I am a pretty introverted person.  I don’t always socialize a lot.  I don’t have a problem with people like that, either.

but I never felt a ton of affinity with the people who tried to attribute their lack of social success to discrimination against nerds, or worse yet, the people who would pretend they were just SMARTER than everyone around them, that the world just wasn’t up to their standards.  if only other people had a high enough IQ to memorize dozens of monty python quotes.  I can’t stand when unassertive people blame their lack of romantic success on women with misogynistic “women aren’t attracted to nice guys” fantasies.  I can’t stand the deeply rooted bigotry, privileged attitudes, and casual cruelty that pervade the “gamer” community (I also don’t like it when people self-identify as “gamers,” as if buying certain entertainment products is enough to define a person).  the overwhelming white-male-ness, the pretense of superiority, the insecure nastiness that pervades traditionally “nerdy” communities—internet forums, video games, tabletop games, comic books, etc.—THAT’S what I don’t like.  THOSE are the people I think deserve to be made fun of.  so I don’t think there’s an inherent contradiction there.

back to the song though.  i’m hearing shots about me never making money off rap?  when did I ever TRY?  I mean, I’ve made a pretty decent amount in the past month doing guest spots for money, but never in my life have I ever wanted to rap as a career.  I guess that sounds weird to cats who do but can’t rap as good as me, but seriously, it’s just a hobby.  it’s a thing I do for fun.  I am in college studying for a degree that will give me really good prospects for a rewarding career.  I’m not remotely worried about blowing up or not blowing up as a rap artist.  I don’t have a “failed career” because the bar for success is lying on the ground.

kabuto stopped being fun for a lot of reasons.  the expectations were too high.  people pestered me constantly for more music and more youtube videos, people found my personal Facebook and YouTube profiles and started to intrude on my privacy, people messaged me to tell me that songs I’d made for shits and giggles had truly inspired their lives or got them through difficult times or whatever, and more and more I felt like I was doing the music to satisfy people I’d never met, not because I was enjoying it.  that’s not good for me and my life.  nor does it produce good material.  I also felt like I couldn’t relate to my fans.  it felt like the people I was making fun of the most—juggalos, people who deride rap (or “mainstream” rap) and only listen to nerdcore, etc., white libertarian gamers—comprised the majority of people who were downloading my songs.  and I’m grateful for the listens, absolutely, but the more I noticed it the more fundamentally weird I felt about doing kabuto songs.  and yeah, there was a point a while ago where I got good enough at rapping that the mask and the voice were really pointless.  so point to you there, I guess.

I know you got another fb account there.  you want to talk about this?

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I’m just going to respond with what I’ve said in conversation with my friends.

[The Kvetch Sessions], when read into a little bit (or just plain listening to some of the lines) functions as a swan song to Kabuto. And whether you view [him] as the mask, the voice, both or whatever, either way it’s a roundabout way to saying goodbye.

I think the old me would’ve been like “wut da fuq mang taht sux dik y u no maek moozic no moar?” but knowing all the shit that Kabuto has had to endure as an artist, it’s understandable. People ruin everything.

Part of me will miss him because every new release saw his rapping getting SO much better. I always thought he was pretty damn good, but he always managed to out-do himself. I didn’t even look forward to the new music as much as seeing how far he’s built his skill set since his last release. It was impressive.

The other part of me is totally content with the content he’s released as of now. It feels full and complete. His catalog hits so many different areas — it’s all over the place without feeling too disjointed or overly eclectic.

So, like the death of a good friend, you just have to cherish the good memories. It’s easy to with something like this because all you have to do is press Play and nod your head…

I said this on Kabuto’s note, directed to him for the most part:

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Part of me is sad, but how can I be sad when this dude is just doing what he wants and feels is right? Have to respect that, especially after all of the crap. The apology means naught coming from me, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for the trouble. It’s all been unwarranted and borderline pathetic. Keep doing you, Kabuto, no matter what it means at the time. Because THAT’S what you’ll always be: you.

And for the record, The Kvetch Sessions is probably one of the best swan songs I’ve ever heard.
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And I guess that’s all there is to say about it.
 

EDIT: Well, I guess we all jumped the gun because Kabuto says: “for the record, I guess a lot of this sounded like I was saying “i quit,” which wasn’t the intention—I’m still going to do verses on people’s tracks and stuff, and I’m working on some right now. I was just trying to give a thorough response to the criticisms that were raised in the song, because it’s stuff I’ve heard a lot at this point. although it did turn into a kinda general expression of frustration I guess.”

Kabuto was even kind enough to directly reply to my comment with the “apology” and say “no apologies necessary! you are a kool kabufan. no beefs.”
:3

I did the typical angry nerd thing.

• Game announced
• Hate on it based on experiences with predecessors
• Be stubborn at first, promising not to buy it
• More and more information is released on it as it gets closer to release date
• Find yourself going “…that actually looks kind of cool”
• Hype train pulls into your house with less than a month before release
• Want game now

Seriously, I know a lot of people that have personally done this. I guess it’s only a little natural. But let me explain my side.

I think Modern Warfare was and is still a masterpiece. It’s still the best FPS I’ve played this generation. Almost everything about it is perfect, for me. Good campaign, great multiplayer. I still go back to play it once in a while.

Modern Warfare 2 was a mess. Campaign was less cohesive, but the story was still okay; I don’t take too much issue with that like most people. What really killed it was the multiplayer. It was disorganized and so over-the-top that it killed the balance that the game claimed to have. The ability to have shotguns as a secondary is an example. Also, stacking kills on killstreaks. Dumbest shit ever.

Now we have Modern Warfare 3 which promises to fix a lot of the bullshit that was wrong with 2. One big thing they’re doing is greatly reducing the verticality of maps that was retardedly huge in 2. Too many floors — if your team took a multi-tiered building in the map, YOU WON. Now it’s mainly a ground-level affair. Can you think of any non-DLC level on Modern Warfare that was more than two floors? I can only think of one, and that’s Crash, ironically one of my favorite maps. But you know what worked in that level? Balance. True balance. Enemy team take the three-story? Fucking air strike their cunt asses and run up in it.

The customization of classes is a little more fucking sane now, more akin to the first Modern Warfare. You can still do some crazy shit, and it looks like they added another type of armament, like a perk but different. But it’s resembling the Modern Warfare I know and love. It seems like a lot of the Michael Bay factor is gone from it. Which leaves me more than curious.

It comes out in nine days and I’m trading in a few games to Amazon for some credit (fuck Gamestop). Do I bite for the third time in a row (including Black Ops, which for me was a mating of the first two Modern Warfare games with the prominent genes being from MW2)? Do I spend my exceedingly rare game funds on a gamble and risk being butthurt as fuck that I bought ANOTHER GODDAMN CALL OF DUTY GAME? What about another game? If so, what? Halo: CE Anniversary is right around the corner, and I’m very much looking forward to that. It’s $40 which is easier to choke down, plus I’ll be left with about another $40 so I can buy the fucking Season Pass for Gears 3 AND change my Gamertag so I rep my clan. Battlefield 3 looks fun, and despite not seriously playing one since Battlefield: Modern Combat (excluding Battlefield 1943), they haven’t let me down yet; very solid games. Arkham City? Out of the question since I haven’t played Arkham Asylum yet. Skyrim? I never got fully immersed in Morrowind OR Oblivion and don’t consider myself a fan of the Elder Scrolls series, but I definitely respect the games and I’d be lying if I said Skyrim didn’t look fucking amazing. Saints Row: The Third? Maybe. Didn’t beat the second one though. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations? Haven’t played Brotherhood yet. What else is coming out? The rest of November’s releases, which are numerous as fuck, are escaping me now.

Fuck.

Guess I have some thinking to do.

If you really want, feel free to govern how I should spend my money. If I agree with you and do it, you win the thought of knowing your persuasion skills with me are high.

I wouldn’t know because Taco’s dumb ass was making me rage at Black Ops.

Why the fuck did I play that game again?

Can’t wait to trade that shit into Amazon.

Shoutsout to Taco for making me butthurt.

:l

I’m starting to move into the phase of how I feel about a girl where not talking to them all day starts to make my day suck dick.

Guess that means I like her… a lot.

Lol

I’m wounded.