Your Guide to The Broken Time Machine
It is finally here, ladies and gentlemen. Once stuck in time, TBTM spilled from the hourglass…. and YOU picked it up! This is a time for listening and critique as your eardrums welcome this colorful, sonic canvas. I have prepared a guide for you as you listen to this album; A road map of sorts. The Flux Capacitor may not be functional, but the Delorean still drives. Let’s go on this journey through the album together. Yes, now that the album is out, you can enjoy the music and finally hear my thoughts of the past 10 months. But, this is still not enough in my opinion. So, I wrote this guide to share with you MY thoughts on each track. God forbid that listeners lose their way to the present day. Just in case, this guide is here to supplement the material found on the album and enhance your TBTM experience. Let us get started!
WHERE YOU GOIN’ TO?? We’ve all been asked this question, even if not by another person. I know I’ve asked myself this. The answer I came up with is that is doesn’t matter where I’ve been in my life. What is past is past, and the only thing that can help me now is focusing on where I can go. People, even I, are guilty of dwelling on our past. If we take the lessons Marty McFly taught us, we know that attempting to alter the past can be catastrophic for everyone. DON’T ATTEMPT THAT! It is only appropriate that TBTM opens with a song about moving on from a period when time seems static. Time waits for no one. Keep moving. Stay ahead of the curve, and most importantly, encourage friends to do the same.
Don’t you hate when something happens to you and you wish you reacted differently later on? OOPS! There you go again…. dwelling on the past! Don’t get lost this early! Let’s face it… emcees are full of themselves. Yeah, I admit it. I talk a lot of trash and I gloat. Not a day goes by that I don’t recognize how ridiculously cool I am. However, what separates me from selfish tendencies is that I want to see the same confidence and passion for oneself in my friends and colleagues. We all should be walking around with the realization that we are all THE SHIT. Talk your trash! Throw poop at naysayers! But remember this… even those we dislike deserve respect of some sort… So if you call someone a piece of sh*t, throw some sprinkles on ‘em! WE LOCK IT DOWN, SEW IT UP!
Oh yeah, did I mention something about throwing poop? Yeah, I did. Not only do we lock time down, but we get FILTHY! What exactly does it mean to be FILTHY? I will tell you: *It means ignoring what people think you should be and not having the time to “play it safe” anymore.* Time gets shorter for everyone everyday, but since we live in the present now we can seize the day. Got problems? Don’t worry ’bout it. We haven’t found our way back to the future just yet. We have one foot on yesterday and one foot on tomorrow…. So why not take a big dump on your enemy’s day, today? Get your hands dirty. You can wash them later. Sing this chorus 10 times and attend 5 Carl Roe shows and you’ll be forgiven.
Evel Knievel, the prolific American stuntman, speaks my aggression away in an transition that touches my heart and I hope it does the same for you:
“Everywhere in this world I go, no matter who or what I know. The people, they look… and most of them stare. And I wonder if they really care. See this king with his golden crown? Some of them smile but most of them frown. Each time I was hurt… they all said that guy is lucky he’s not dead. And they were right. But I wanted to get up… and try it again. I kept telling myself that I knew I could win. So I’d close my eyes… and to the Lord I would pray: “Oh help me, God, let me walk some day.” And He did. Every stitch on every scar… They just brought me closer to my dream afar. To be a man and to do my best. To stand, alone, is my only quest. Success is a term that has a broad use. For you and I to have none in life, there is no excuse. For you to do what I do is not right… But for me, it’s not wrong. What I’ve been trying to tell you all along is that it’s got to BE. So, if you wonder why… the answer to that is JUST LIKE YOU: I’ve got to BE ME!”
***Be yourself. Never sacrifice your morals and personal values to be something you are not. MAKE PEOPLE ACCEPT YOU for what you ARE…. TODAY… RIGHT THIS SECOND!***
Start your engines! No time to waste! We are on a one-way trip back to present day! We have stated our independence from the dwellers; the ones still lagging behind and trying to drag us down with them. We call them STUNTMEN. We aren’t “attempting” anything anymore. We are “doing.” And we are getting results. The road gets bright as hell, so if you have a pair of Kanye shades then put them thangs on! Sword jugglers, hot-coal and tightrope walkers, fire-breathers, illusionists and idiots swimming in sub-zero temperatures: They are all blinded by the light of your righteous path.
What a crazy journey so far. Aren’t you glad you don’t need to worry about a stuntman killing your buzz anymore? I know I am. You know what you and I are? We are DESPERADOS! Merriam-Webster defines the word ‘desperado’ as “bold or violent.” When you speak out about anything passionate, you need to be bold. You need to be violent. And most importantly… YOU NEED TO BE AN AMERICAN! Okay, okay… the last tidbit isn’t necessarily true. But you see, that is what I am passionate about. Don’t say things to get a rise out of anyone else but YOURSELF!
We are all on this journey to the present, but we still follow separate paths. I don’t wear your shoes, and you don’t wear my boots. All I know is what I have been exposed to while coming into my own as a human being from a young male. My story is here for you to decipher and take with you what is valuable and current with your own life situation. This is the fork in the road for us. I must go my own way, and you must do the same. The night falls and the stars show their existence. We’ve never seen such a beautiful sky with clouds over our heads daily. The open sky allows a cool-front to move in. I don’t know about you, but I have the chills. We can’t be sure if any stuntmen have followed us to our current waypoint, so I will stay awake and keep watch. Drink water, it was a hot day. I found this old letter in my ACU trousers… I wrote it to my wife back in 2007 during my deployment to Iraq. For some reason, I grew tired of writing my thoughts halfway through that 15 month journey and I never sent this home to her. It’s folded, frayed, and stained with Iraqi dirt. Hell, why not… let’s read it……….. To my wife, WE OWN THE NIGHT.
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WAKE UP! Time to get a move on!!! The gate is open, and some higher power must want us to return home because your Flux is online! So is mine! It’s gonna be a damn party when we get to where we’re going! So right about now is the time where I extend my arm and hand to give you a parting handshake. ‘Turns out… every time I try to be awesome and do the cool-guy shake, I screw it up halfway to the follow-through, so I revert to the default white man’s business handshake. OHHH WAIT A MINUTE! I redeem myself with a lock at the crease between the index and thumb. We lock grip then conclude the friendly peace-out with the four-finger U-turn grip, pull, and no-homo pat on the back. YEAHHHH! Now that’s hiphop! We fought time together and it was a pleasure doing battle with you; Truly an honor. We are JOES. When you get to where you belong, have some drinks and don’t forget to buy a few for the ones that aren’t with you. IT’S ALRIGHT! IT’S OKAY!
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This concludes Your Guide to The Broken Time Machine. Share this experience with your friends and loved ones. Encourage in them the empowerment you possess. Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@carl_roe) to see how I am faring after this amazing journey! I would love to catch up with you, as well! Don’t be a stranger!
All the best,
Carl Roe