The yetzer hara, the yetzer tov, and Ukrainian rap

sequoia

Thu, Feb 02 2017, 8:13 pm

Today, two years ago, the Ukrainian singer Andrey Kuzmenko was killed in a car crash. (It was the other vehicle's fault). He was universally beloved in his homeland. He left behind a wife, to whom he'd been married since 1994, and a daughter. I was listening to his music and reflecting a bit.

He had two stage personas. The primary one was Kuz'ma Skryabin, the lead singer of the group "Skryabin." He was a sort of universal benevolent presence. He did charity work for hospitals and orphanages. He was always cheerful and friendly, greeted everyone with kindness, shook hands, and gave interviews happily. Parents would bring four-year-olds to his concerts. He'd bring his littlest fans onstage and have them sing. "Skryabin" had all nice songs, about love, kindness, friendship, and family. The most popular at the time of his death were "Mam" (Mom) and "Dobryak" (Nice guy).

His other persona was "Angry rapper." Literally, that was the name LOL

He performed explicit, incredibly obscene, angry rap songs, some of which were just long strings of swear words. Listening to them is weird and hilarious.

I got to thinking that we could learn something about how he handled his "yetzer hara," if you will.

1. He didn't attempt to suppress it or deny its existence. That's pretty useless. We all have moments when a string of curses appears to be the only rational response to a situation.

2. On the other hand, he didn't let it control him. "Angry rapper" was a tiny portion of his creativity and time. Most of it was spent encouraging, uplifting, helping, and bringing light. He probably wasn't always in the mood to meet fans or do charity work. But he did it anyway.

3. He didn't inflict his alter ego on unsuspecting audiences. Nobody brought their kids to hear "Angry rapper." (I hope LOL

) He performed these specific songs for people who were comfortable hearing them. The content was pretty obvious from the stage name. And he kept it far, far away from his primary persona.

Which bring me to...

4. He didn't pretend to be better than he was. The styles are so insanely different, it would have been easy to cover it up. Some may say this is a negative. That he ought to have kept his alter ego completely anonymous. And it's a valid point. But for me, it was inspiring that he showed his entire humanity, while never letting the darker aspects predominate or control him.

RIP, dear friend. You are missed.

sequoia

Thu, Feb 02 2017, 10:03 pm

Thank you for your kind responses.

I think we all have a Kuz'ma Skryabin and an Angry Rapper inside of us. You know what they say. "Which one grows stronger? The one you feed." Not "Which one disappears completely? The one you ignore." Which one grows strongER. Which one predominates. Which one determines how you live your life, how you affect the people around you, and how you will be remembered after you're gone.

Looking at Andrey's life, it is clear which one he chose.

This is my favorite music video of his. The song is called "Old Photographs."

https://youtu.be/n9NZSW4xTE0

Fox

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 12:25 am

Thanks so much for sharing this along with your thoughts. I'm probably the most musically illiterate person in the world, but I like the idea of the two different personas.

I remember reading a study once that found that patients who swore during painful medical procedures actually felt less pain. Maybe that's true on an existential level, too. If you have an outlet for swearing at the pain, either literally or metaphorically, you are better able to focus on the good.

PinkFridge

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 8:23 am

Fox wrote:

Very interesting study. Check out www.kidskickingcancer.org for alternative methods of dealing Wink

Sometimes you find this in literature too. There's an author I read (ok, no reason not to say who. It's Tamar Myers) who's written IMO silly, though often decently constructed, cozy mysteries, and also has an entirely different series than the other two that take place in the Belgian Congo in the 50s based on her life growing up as the daughter of missionaries. I remember thinking, if you can write like this, what took you so long.

Though I don't think that's perfectly analogous to Sequoia's rapper.

cbsp

Tue, Feb 07 2017, 1:06 am

Fox wrote:

Did they take the study from "Mama's Bank Account"? Very Happy