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long-ass post! scroll, scroll, scroll if you aren't in the mood for reading!Juniemoon, our constant food-for-thought provider, posted this piece of art in Moongarden. Here's her intoduction:
Patrick Martinez, an L.A. visual artist who incorporates a lot of hip-hop ideas into his work. Some of his works are neon signs with social commentary. 
Thanks for posting that art piece, Junie. Here's my take on it and it is somewhere along the line of yours and Mahailia's ideas.
And it is Adam related.
While I was MIA, I read a couple of posts here that Trespassing the album is too personal, that it lacks the general appeal, and that Adam should team up with Max Martin or some other hit maker asap if he is serious about wanting major success.
I couldn't agree more with this. I want that, too. The thing is, our wants and aspirations are not so clear cut, they come with obstacles, additional baggage, the cost and, sometimes with, what I think Martinez' work suggests, the idea that we are somehow selling out by doing everything that needs to be done to reach our goals. Also, imo, by saying that it means we're just 'keeping it real' by doing so, it introduces certain pragmatism and that old Machiavellian that the end justifies the means... Does it? Sure, sometimes... for some people. I don't think Adam or anyone of us is above that, it's just not what this album is about. It was not born out of plan so much as it was born out of necessity.
I am under the impression that Adam needed to make this album. That is why I perceive him as a true artist, not some one hit wonder a la Gangnam style or Macarena or... the list is endless. I'm not an artist myself, but this urge, the need, the helplessness in front of the words or music or images that want to leave them and lead separate lives is the most distinct quality of any artist, imo... Sometimes they cannot choose, they cannot help but bear the art.
All the themes of Trespassing are so personal, so deeply rooted in his DNA, in his past and present and promises of future, that they feel like confessions. The impressions on how well he's managed to do that, or the quality of the music and songwriting are subjective. I find the album magnificent, and as an art consumer, I couldn't care less what others think about it. But the meaning of the album for him is indisputable . Especially after the rushed , albeit great, FYE. This Trespassing stuff was just waiting inside of him for its release. It's his signature; his artistic ID.
So, what's next in store for him? Does Adam think he can hold on to his integrity and have major success at the same time? Is it possible for him? Would making a more commercial, mass appealing album feel like selling out or not? What has he learned from this experience and how will it reflect on his future plans?
I have no idea. I don't have these answers, because they cannot be black and white, they all lack the finality of a definite solution. They belong to the grey area Adam was talking about, where there are no boxes and labels and certainties of limited minds. The evasiveness of definite answers is good, it makes people think and feel and reassess... it makes their brains work and come up with sometimes good, and often times bad ideas... Which is all fine, as long as it is a process. A creative process.
Would making a more commercial album mean that Adam would deprive himself of a creative process? I don't think so. I am forever grateful he needed to make Trespassing, though. It's such a generous gift. He put his heart upon his sleeve and laid his heart bare in it. For us Adam fans, it will always be a landmark of his career.
The next question, I presume, would be: It's all dandy, the quality over quantity stuff, but what if he falls into obscurity?
I actually have the answer to this one.
According to some people, that's precisely where he was for the past year and a half. And yet, somehow he's managed, during those exact obscure times, to reach me, make a huge impact on my not-so-impressionable self, and turn my life upside down... Change me, for the better. Make me redefine, reassess,... question, others and myself. Whether he found me or I found him will remain a sweet little mystery. Now multiply me, not by a lot, but by great. Atop is the mirror of it. So many great people. Did you know we have a member from Madagascar?!?!
Her name is Shimayo. How awesome is that?!
If you expected me to say yes or no, then you have failed to get the point of this post, if that's what you wanted at all. Here's one certainty, though: Adam will make the next album. What it will look and feel like no one knows. Another certainty: I'll be there for it. Everything else is relative.
PS - If you wonder why I didn't post this in the Moongarden, the answer is: keep wondering... j/k, PM me
PSS -
Shimayo, come out and play, bb!
Isn't he the most classy and at the same time HOT AS HELL 