kweejibo stories, December, 2012: Tricky, Nearly god or just embodiment of the spirit of trip-hop?

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Salvador Dalí was uncomplicated in his revelry in his fame and his talent. He was more "Freddie Mercury", who basked in the glow of his people's adoration than "Kurt Cobain" or "Tricky", with their many ambiguous feelings about their overwhelming success.

The lyrics to Tricky Kid, by the man itself can be misunderstood. He can be interpreted as being more "Dalí" than the actual Dalí.

they used to call me Tricky Kid

I lived the life they wish they did

lived the life, don't own a car

now they call me superstar...

Everybody wants a record deal...

Everybody wants to be just like me

I'm the kid

and famous...

Except that it is easy to overlook lines such as :

Everybody wants to be naked and famous...

Everybody wants to know what my momma did...

As long as you're humble

Let you be the king of the jungle

He refers to extremely painful personal history as well as difficulties with his race and his representation in the press, as well the huge hullabaloo over fighting with another major presence, Goldie, over Bjork.

He is not ready to declare as Dalí did "It is very important for an artist to have a developed sense of his place in the cosmos, I am more important as a cosmic genius than as a painter."

In his second album Nearly God, 1996, he refers somewhat ironically to the interview in which he was asked "So how does it feel to be god... well, nearly God". He was twenty-seven years old at the time. Even Jesus had the benefit of thirty-two, thirty-three odd years to work up to being the Son of God. It is no wonder that, for Tricky's following album, Pre-Millennium Tension, he wrote Tricky Kid :

album cover Nearly God

Here comes the Nazarene*

Looks good in that magazine

Haile Selassie**

They look after I

God will receive us

Got me like Jesus...

Mary Magdalene

That'd be my first sin

Being with this temptress...

*Jesus of Nazareth
**Haile Selassie, believed to be a God-figure or reincarnation of God, by Rastafaris

I saw Tricky in concert in 1998; i heard him played in my store on Haight Street hundreds of times from 1995 through 2000.

Sometimes, it seems inevitable that so many rock stars refer to Jesus. It is no secret that Jesus was the original celebrated personage; that thousands came willingly to hear him speak, worshipped his words, fainted at his feet. It is not an original concept that our society seeks constantly to elevate someone to preside over us, while at the same time, waiting for the slightest misstep to bring them down.

By bringing someone to this status, and then mentioning their name, we bring ourselves nearly to God. The act of saying out loud this name brings us a powerful feeling of mysticism that is irresistible.

Don't be fooled by the notion that the subject of Jesus is for Christian movement singers...

Leonard Cohen sang about Jesus all the time. The act of comparing his love for God to his love for a particular woman**... this is a powerful act of seduction, even if unintentionally so, for the ladies. Tom Waits sang about Jesus, as if he were a derelict who reconciles his act of doing nothing but sitting and drinking, as an act of "waiting for his lord". P.J. Harvey, who sang with Tricky on Broken Homes, sang in her own song To Bring You my Love, "Jesus come closer, I think my time is near, I've travelled over dry earth and floods., Hell and high water, to bring you my love"

**Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah, and Suzanne

Salvador Dalí's depictions of Christ