🎤Basic Pitch Rap FT. DJ TALL GLASS OF MILK & Ling Ling Huang

FT. DJ Tall Glass of Milk & the BP Community. Contributions by Max Jacob and Ariadne Greif.

Rhymes By Ling Ling Huang inspired by "Wipe Me Down" by Boosie Badazz, Foxx, and Webbie and Hanif Abdurraqib's essay "Burning That Which Will Not Save You: Wipe Me Down And The Ballad of Baton Rouge"

From Ling Ling:

“The first line in “Wipe Me Down” is one of the greatest opening lines in all of rap music. Foxx says, “I pull up at the club VIP / Gas tank on E / But all drinks on me.” It is the entire thesis of the song, distilled to a fine point: I don’t have much, but what I have is yours.“ -- Hanif Abdurraqib

This song came after Hurricane Katrina drastically altered Baton Rouge. “When New Orleans became uninhabitable, the population of Baton Rouge swelled, almost overnight.” Tens of thousands of New Orleans residents sought shelter in Baton Rouge. The school system took in almost 6,000 new students.

In this context, “Gas tank on E / But all drinks on me” by three Baton Rouge rappers is an incredible show of generosity. It reminds me of my immigrant parents who had nothing but gave me everything they had, it reminds me of anyone who has dreams of making it in a big city, and most of all, it has become a sort of tenet for me. This is our job as citizens and as artists. To give everything we can to organizations and people in need. To lend our voices for those less disadvantaged. And though everything related to music has been paused, it is vital to find ways of being creative. When we get onstage again in front of audiences, we will remember when performances were on E, and we will give everything.

Performed by:
Nick Kendall
Celia Hatton
Estelle Choi
Victor Caccese
Kristin Lee
Siwoo Kim
Tomomi Sato
Henry Wang

🎙️LYRICS🎙️

"I pull up to the club middle finger on E, all drinks on me
pinky up drink up by the club I mean the traditional canon
You know Bach and Scarlatti and honestly we need to re-examine
Cuz where my ladies at!
No.. seriously where are the ladies ..

I need to do some scales, that shit never fails
to make me feel incompetent
just wanna feel accomplished, consummate
Think about the greats, (or you know, the ones I least hate)
Robert Lipsett
Tchaikovsky but make it Bruce Lee
Dorothy Delay
that bitch could teach you how to play
Paul Kantor, use your whole bow
AEB is how you get the cash to flow
Oistrakh coming at that intonation like Brraappp
Hilary Hahn, I’m ya biggest faaaaan

I got 99 problems and
PITCH is literally all of them
Vibrato is your friend, vibrato is your enemy
you see my crooked bow arm?
man that shit can do harm
on stage in a crowded hall gouge out someone’s eyeball

Everybody thinks that the viola’s a joke
what they don’t realize is that we’re the smartest folks
we play half the amount of music notes from violins
but we get the same bank notes, I call that a win
Kim Kashkashian started music for food
not like the other KK who makes girls starve to “improve”
their bodies, these poor girls try to whittle their waists to waste
Kashkashian instead makes our curves a thing to embrace
Why look like a viola when you can be a boss on one?
take off the waist trainers, eat the fries, it’s time to fuck up some Don Juan

Should I get a bite to eat
Nah I’m too hungry for a seat I don’t have time for self-care,
not til I’m fucking FIRST CHAIR
Not like the current concertmaster,
with that bow arm stuck in plaster
shit can’t you play any faster?
Why it gotta be bout violin all the time?
like the other instruments don’t have the right to be sublime?

You put that shit under your chin But I got an endpin
When I stab it in the ground
Bitch get ready to bow down
*Celloooo is it me you’re looking for?*
Jacqueline du pre I get down with her Haydn
courtésy of Esterhazyyyyy
Side bar can we all agree to vote for Biden?

Yuja Wang doing her thang,
people say she don’t have class because she
shaking her Philip Glass,
but watch yourself, show me what you workin with
she’s the real deal, baby you’re just a myth
got my fingers on the keys
I’m a whore for full score
look at all of the parts
My expertise bring the cheese
white keys are alright
but black keys make it tight
Inclusion in the arts the only way to our hearts

I play the tambourine, marimba and the vibraphone
when it comes to how many instruments, bitch I sit on the throne
they ask, even the drum kit? yeah I fucks with it
in every ensemble, group or track, we’re the glue,
we make sound waves bounce like tits in Pie Jesuuuuu!
I play the tambourine, xylophone and the vibraphone!
I’m ready to play with you and I’m bringing my glock-
en spiel everybody knows that percussionists hits don’t quit
come over sometime, and I’ll let you put your sticks on my woodblock

Does anyone want to hear me?
my Bach is on lock
or my Bartok or! not….
I guess everyone’s still on tiktok
so I walk into the hall,
audience attendance on E
cuz people sicker than beats
death is prowlin these streets

It's hell on earth and the city's on fire
truly the situation, it’s fucking dire
but drinks are still on me and we still bringin our all
so mask up, our mic is ready
tell us when things are steady
and then we’ll drop the music
that keep you in thrall.”