“You don’t know what is avant-garde.” Fatboi Sharif is an artist whose work breaks every conceivable standard. His albums create mind-bending worlds; his art is both innovative and avant-garde. In his own words, he seeks sound and expression not created yet. We recently asked Fatboi about his Top 5 mind-bending rap albums to share some of the interesting and innovative rap records that have shaped the artist. His great list, however, gave us the idea for the article. So we went to the very essence of avant-garde art to help us reflect on the importance of Fatboi Sharif’s work and the albums he chose as his favorites. But we did it differently. Full of inspiration, we also wanted to break down boundaries, and so we created our little fictional sci-fi world, an experimental article, a short story in which you and an unnamed hero will explore the nooks and crannies of avant-garde art, mind-bending rap, and the album Decay.
THE GARDEN STATE GARGOYLE (Part one)
“In order to rise
From its own ashes
A phoenix
First
Must
Burn.”
From Parable of the Talents (1998) by Octavia Butler
This wasn’t the first time he had wondered at his own twisted sense of humor. At the moments when despair gripped him most tightly, he found the absurd course of history most humorous. The escalation of world violence was not ended by nuclear bombs but by cognitive bombs. On that day, when the sky stopped singing, the United States of America was transformed not into a wasteland but into a ghost world. In his dreams, he sometimes remembered that his brain had worked differently before, but each time the freezing cold woke him in the morning, the dreams dissipated. Still, he clung to them each day, hunting them in his mind, where their only safe haven was. He was an anomaly, slowly fading away. He looked out the window of his room at the crowds of people (ghosts) heading with utter abandon to factories, offices, and training centers. Their minds were normalized by the blast of the cognitive weapon. Colors vanished, and ideas disappeared. He was different; his brain was able to critically perceive his surroundings to some extent, yet he didn’t know what to do with the information. It was as if he was missing necessary pieces of a puzzle that someone had turned to ash. He went back to his dreams again, and for a split second he felt determination. He put on his shoes and walked towards the door of his room. He went in search of new ideas.
“The artist is like an abuser of everything, picture, history, and other people.”
African/American (1998) by Kara Walker
The streets seemed rotten to him. The air was heavy; he could feel his lungs working, moaning. His footsteps headed towards the abandoned building that had been etched into his memory a few weeks ago. He remembered it in his dreams, after he had walked home ripped from the meat preparation center where he and the other workers used special technology to remove microplastics from the meat of animals that went on the plates of the rich. It was snowing outside, and every few steps he could see a deviant lying on the ground, shivering with cold. The deviants were those who had not been fully normalized by the cognitive bomb, and the new system had driven them insane. Some disappeared off the face of the earth; others were marked and left to the streets to suffer. It was rumored that a few formed secret groups of artists who created paintings, music, books, and videos to remind people of a long-lost time when the world was still free. But he never met any such group.
“Going after these truths with the tension of the crisis of civilization, avant-garde artists discovered new paths, explored new areas, and found new ways and new means, both in technique and expression. This opened up new possibilities for art that did not exist yesterday.”
From Le Avanguardie artistiche del Novecento (1964) by Mario de Micheli
At the end of the neighborhood he was passing through stood the mysterious house, the destination of his journey. He didn’t know why he was going there yet, but he was convinced that he simply had to. Despite the heavy snowstorm, there were quite a few people on the streets, as it was nearing the time for the shift of workers in the factories. Outside, it was beginning to get dark, and an inhospitable atmosphere permeated the streets, enveloping everyone it encountered. His attention was drawn to two dead bodies lying motionless by the stone fence. He knew he shouldn’t do that, but he walked a little closer to them anyway. Beside the bodies, white chalk rolled in a red pool of blood. The children had drawn odd shapes on the stone fence that didn’t match any of the allowed symbols. Whether it was an act of rebellion or just childish naivety, no one will ever know. The police made a decision—they eliminated them. He must not be distracted, so he set off again. But the symbols on the stone fence were etched in his memory. He didn’t know what they meant, and that was what gave him strength. Death was becoming less frightening than the void.
“Art that pushes boundaries and embraces the avant-garde plays a key role in individual and social transformation. It serves as a catalyst for change, challenging established norms and provoking critical thinking, which is essential in a world often characterized by complacency and alienation.”
From Avant-Garde, Emergency, and Digital Games Discourse (2022) by Aleksandra Prokopek
He was standing in front of a sad, dilapidated wooden house. This was where his path led. He was amazed that the old roof could hold the snow. For a moment he wanted to wonder why such a strange place, which had mysteriously attracted his attention, had not yet been destroyed by the regime. But why bother with it and waste money when you’ve destroyed people’s ability to think, create, and defend themselves, right? It was unlocked, just as he suspected. He walked in. The interior of the house was not interesting; none of the furniture that was left stood out or caught his attention. What did catch his attention, however, was the graffiti on the walls. “Age Of Extinction” was on the wall next to the half-collapsed shelves that might have been used as a bookcase. The opposite wall was graced with the words “Cyber City Society” and “Planet Unfaithful.” It had been a long time since he had encountered so many ungraspable impulses, and he could feel his brain adapting once again to ideas he didn’t know, ideas that didn’t belong in the normalized world. His footsteps headed for the table, which was almost undamaged. On the table was a diary.
“Avatngarde art promotes social change by challenging norms, uniting different perspectives, and inspiring collective action against repressive systems, thus playing a crucial role in transformative movements.”
From Art Rebellion (2022) by Malcolm Miles
He picked up the diary. Will he find in it the new ideas he is looking for? Is it even possible to regain a 100% free mind after being a victim of an attack and living in a world that has lost its colors and its magic? He soon discovered the author of the diary was Fatboi Sharif. He had never heard that name. On the front page, it said:
„The hip hop that inspired coming up and to this day and when I could hear it and say to myself that is not easy to do at all or have to be studied to figure out that keeps me returning. That is my aim always.“
Fatboi Sharif (Twitter)
He sat down beside the table, shrugged off the winter chill, scanned his surroundings to make sure he was alone in the house, and began to read. “Top 5 mind-bending rap albums” was the title of the first chapter.
ELABORATE LITERATURE (Intermezzo)
„There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.”
Octavia E. Butler
„Album from 2012 that electric velocity and pulse pounded lyrics and production painted a picture that that you have to revisit in order of detailing the full spectrum, and that’s the beauty of it. For me, this is the exact feeling an album is supposed to give you when you hear it. It’s my favorite Jus project and one that will always keep him in my top 10 favorite MCs ever list.“ – Fatboi Sharif
„Cult classic from 1998 that was way ahead of its time upon its release and an album and artist that I have always been a fan of from when I first was put on to it more than 15 years ago. For the time period it was released, many concepts and topics on the album were taboo, but afterwards had influenced many others.“ – Fatboi Sharif
„On March 26th, 2002, one of the most exciting and groundbreaking hip-hop albums ever was released. This album was really influential for me because I heard it in my early writing days, and it geared how I looked at writing lyrics to this day. For me, when I first got into hip hop, what influenced me to be a lyricist was hearing things that I thought to myself, Damn, that doesn’t sound easy to do at all, or how did they think of that in amazement, albums and songs that I would have to revisit on numerous occasions to finally get the full genius off, and this album is jam packed with those moments from Futurama, The C.I.A. Is Trying To Kill Me, Rock Stars, Black Helicopters, Strange Universe, Suicide Bomb, We Are The Future, and many more.“ – Fatboi Sharif
„The collab masterpiece of Tame1 and Cage is literally some of the most original rap styles, flows, and whole project concept in general I’ve ever heard. Before this album they had worked together on a few other tracks that are considered classics as the Leak bros so when they finally made it a full project, it certainly didn’t disappoint and spotlighted what was so incredible about those previous tracks times one million.“ – Fatboi Sharif
„Truly a one-of-one group with a one-of-one body of work that over years has aged like fine wine for the soul. The most original hip-hop group of all time, whose impact still carries through generations to this day.” – Fatboi Sharif
He understood that the diary entries were about music. In his world, music as he once knew it had disappeared. Every day, the streets rang with only military drums and the system’s song of praise, urging people to work. The albums, which Fatboi wrote about in his diary, he had never heard. Yet his mind was working at full capacity. The tide of new words was stirring it to rebellion. It planted the embryo of something new that needed to grow. He put down the journal and opened the desk drawer. There was a dusty device that was vaguely familiar to him. His grandfather had once told him about it. Yes, he remembered, it was a cassette player. Next to the cassette player was an empty case. “Fatboi Sharif & steel tipped dove—Decay,” it said. He took the player out of the drawer. If he had pressed “play” that day and nothing had happened, he would have put the player away again and gone on exploring. But fate had other plans for him. Music started pouring out of the player.
CHALLENGING THE UNKNOWN (Part two)
„In search of sound and expression not created yet“
Fatboi Sharif (Twitter)
It felt like his body was frozen. The music coming out of the player immediately hypnotized him and took root in every part of his brain. The words he listened to painted pictures he couldn’t even imagine until then. His thoughts fled from the cell in which they had been held after the cognitive bomb exploded, towards the unknown. Even those trapped in the underground bunker of his mind were breaking out and building new worlds within him. His body trembled, and even though he was close to death, he felt the power.
„Whatever happens, death is not the end.“
From The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) by Wes Craven
A festival of thoughts at midnight, a hypnosis of melting colors. His mind was experiencing a renaissance, and his body was feeling the toxins that listening to music washed away. Guitar strings turned into shaky electronic loops and vice versa. As his mind took on new dimensions, he realized that for the past few years he had been a sad clown with a futile, twisted smile. The flood of new stimuli was impossible to process, yet he could do nothing but continue to listen. New worlds were forming, and darkness surrounded him. The fires of the mind flared, marching across the red carpet towards the open gates. In the distance he heard screams.
„Vampires are lucky, they can feed on others. We gotta eat away at ourselves.“
From Bad Lieutenant (1992) by Abel Ferrara
He traveled through a vast universe where technology intermingled with ancient gods, seeing beings in his mind’s eye that he could not describe. The Jesus in the glass case toppled over, and it shattered, the shards evaporating like souls and disappearing to God knows where in the interstellar. In one of the worlds that listening to music had grown in his mind, children cried. Armies marched towards violence yet fought with silent weapons.
“They bury the dead so quickly. They should leave them lying around for months.”
From Crash (1996) by David Cronenberg
Tears streamed down his face; new worlds shattered the illusion created by the repressive system, and only pain remained. Nothing was clear; everything blended in strange shapes, and that was exactly why he was beginning to think clearly. The music from the cassette player took on a relentless energy, consuming all time and space—a tragedy of ancient proportions seeping into his world. He remembered the world before the war, and his heart filled with remorse. How could he have been so blind? How could he have been so weak? He had been living in a spiral for the last few years, but that was the end of it. Saddest pleas. Tragically, he had no other choice. Please don’t be mad at me, he thought. The music ended. Decay was complete. The mind mist was gone. He was thinking clearly.
„Boring repetitive, non experimental music is the worst. Let´s push these boundaries yall.“
Fatboi Sharif (Twitter)
THE END
