if it makes you feel good, do it<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\nStitches<\/p>\n
\u201cNaw, man, that\u2019s some basic shit right there. Take a wider view of things. Contextualize this within the War on Drugs. Now people always talking about how it\u2019s failed, but that all depends on what you define success as \u2013 right? \u201c<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cTrue. So then how do you view the War on Drugs?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cGlad you asked. So, like, this cocaine right here started its production cycle in Colombia. Some broke ass farmers, whose major misfortune was being born into a region with limited choices for crops, into a family lacking any capital resources or ready legal access to it under a corrupt government still marked by colonial features that could give two shits about creating the economic conditions that will allow all but those that are already rich to thrive. Get me? So these people take this huge risk growing cocoa, cause their own government and the US government is trying to eradicate all their shit, because even though they\u2019re making only a fractional percentage of it\u2019s final street value they still make more than if they was growing maracuya, lulo, bananas or whatever the fuck. Now their doing this isn\u2019t going to give them the money to send their kids to a private International school to get the kind of education and connections that will allow them to obtain true upward social mobility, but at least shit\u2019s better and their not in as grinding a poverty if they were growing something else, right??\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cRight. But, well, I mean they face a greater risk of death and dispossession\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Stiches<\/p>\n
\u201cSpot the fuck on, man. Now think about it, that\u2019s some real heroic shit right there. They\u2019ve got super limited options in the conditions that they were born into and they decide to put their lives on the line to produce a product that people want just to make a little more scratch. Not to rob people or kill them, but just to be creators, producers of something. I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
“So in your mind the war on drugs is a war against small-business entrepeneurs?!”<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cNah, man. Like I said, think bigger and map out the connections. You\u2019re thinking is positivistic and reified.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean by that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cOk, so what I\u2019m doing is deconstructing these positivistic notions that you and a lot of other people have about the War on Drugs. According to Frederic Jameson reification is defined as the removal of traces of production from the product. Now included in the production process are all the traces of distribution and legislation associated with it. I was just talking about the production side, then there\u2019s the work that\u2019s involved with processing and distribution \u2013 which is where the gangs come in.<\/p>\n
These people are also subject to extra-national legislative pressures and policing powers that have terrible effects on the social order. Look at Mexico, man, when are people gonna start talking about that place as a failed state? Anyway, so the War on Drugs isn\u2019t just this overreaching government attempt at the regulation of social mores, it\u2019s really about means of partial control of countries through U.S. military aid. Not only do they give money to buy U.S. produced military equipment, but by training foreign soldiers at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of America, the U.S. is able to place sympathetic military functionaries throughout the top echelons of those governments.<\/p>\n
That ain\u2019t the limits of product\u2019s life cycle though. Many minds much more astute than mine have pointed out the debilitating social effects of mandatory minimum sentencing in America and how it mirrors Jim Crow policies. It\u2019s all just a method of social and political control. A large number of businesses have attached themselves to this legislation and perpetuate the continuation of these failed policies simply because they make a lot of money off it.\u201d<\/p>\n
*<\/strong><\/p>\nAs I tried to wrap my mind around his unexpectedly intelligent answer to my questions a ferret with hair as white as snow freshly dropped on a Denver mountain peak came into my peripheral vision. It had in its mouth a small bag of money. It scurried past the rosewood desk. It, I presumed, climbed up one of Stitches legs. Stitches rubbed the creatures head. It cooed, dropping the bag. I noticed as the side of the animals mouth was rubbed that it\u2019s teeth wasn\u2019t what it was born with but was a golden grill. For fear of upsetting Stitches I held back my smirk.<\/p>\n
Stitches then put the bag into a dropbox installed in the left drawer area of the desk. With his right hand still rolling circles onto the furred dome of the creature he then opened up the drawer to the right. The attention of the creature turned to the now visible booty. Stitches distracted the animal with by saying to it \u201cDineras is a good girl\u201d repeatedly in a baby voice and a steady rubbing between the eyes. After quickly grabbing the treat from the small plastic bag he closed the drawer, turned the lock and brough the treat close to his chest. Dineras turned around. He moved the hand that had been circulating between the eyes and the top of his skull to it\u2019s back. It ate the food from between his fingers and then continued.<\/p>\n
*<\/strong><\/p>\nAriel<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I take a picture of her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cNaw, the government\u2019s tracking everything. I don\u2019t want you uploading a picture that\u2019s giving away the location of my trap house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cHer name is Daenerys? Like G.O.T.?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cHuh? Don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about. Her name is like Spanish for money, Dinero, but cause she\u2019s female it\u2019s Dinera and because I want a lot of money it\u2019s plural: Dineras\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cOh\u2026 Ok… Anyway, So I\u2019m not going to lie, that was way more insightful than I was expecting. To follow up let me ask two things, first let me be clear, you admit then that you play a role in the perpetuation of this order of international domination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cBitch please, that shit ain\u2019t on me. The majority of American\u2019s are so apathetic to politics that they would rather let continue this sitch wherein their tax dollars finances civil wars in most of the countries that produce and traffic cocaine and pays for widespread violation of the libertarian intent of the Constitution through militarized policing just because to do otherwise would time away from their television watching.\u201c<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cOk, second question. So do you think that drugs should be legalized?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a tax-payer, yes. As a Christian, yes. As a libertarian, absolutely. But as someone that\u2019s in the game and an American, hell no! The regulation that would be involved in something like that would rapidly deflate all the bumper profits from the trade. Plus without this means of controlling Latin America it\u2019s possible they\u2019d unite and be able to more seriously compete with to our economy instead of being crypto-colonial appendages to it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cSo who are some of your favorite producers and musicians right now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cMike Will Made It and Juicy J are killing it. I\u2019d love to work with DJ Holiday and Southside. Trap Back is just fucking killer, man. You know what I\u2019ve been playing on repeat though for the past few weeks, Run the Jewels I and II. Those tracks Oh My Darling Don\u2019t Cry<\/em> and Early<\/em>, man? Fire! Speaking of which! You got to see this.\u201d<\/p>\n*<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Stitches got up from his chair and went into the other room. I looked at the large pile of white powder with curiosity and thought about whether this was not a set up like some of the other stunts that I\u2019d read about. I wanted to know if it was real but didn\u2019t want to actually try it. Right after the thought left my head he came back in with a tortoise in his hands. Every inch of its shell was various colored jewels. Green sapphires, red rubies, purple amethysts and what looked like a few diamonds were all arranged in such a way as to give the creature a motley pattern. He put it down next to me. Each step looked pained to it, as if it struggled under the weight of all the precious stones attached to it.<\/p>\n
*<\/strong><\/p>\nStitches<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s Run the Jewels. I call him that cause he\u2019s covered in jewels and he can\u2019t really run. It\u2019s ironic, get it? I also call him El-T, like El-P, cause he\u2019s a Tortoise and Killer Mike cause he likes pizza. Get it? Like the Ninja Turtle? Hahahaha!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s pretty funny\u2026 So, I\u2019m curious, why you selling your donk?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stiches<\/p>\n
\u201cGot tired of getting pulled over in it and don\u2019t want people to forget about me while my next mixtape is in production. I wish someone would buy it already cause I\u2019m donating the money that I get from it\u2019s sale \u2013 because I\u2019m such a baller and respect the people that helped me gain the fame that I currently have \u2013 to a Colombian collective farm so they can use the money to buy more livestock and thus more quickly multiply their standard of living conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cOk, before I leave. I got to ask, is that real?\u201d then nodded my head to the bag of cocaine.<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean, is it real? It\u2019s there in front of you isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I get that. But, well, I haven\u2019t seen you do a single line of that powder. Is it actually cocaine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re welcome to try it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cNo thanks. Can you just honestly answer the question?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stitches turned a little bit in his chair. It was the first time that I saw his swagger falter. A little turn in his chair, that\u2019s all that it took. I went on the attack.<\/p>\n
Ariel<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy won\u2019t you answer? Do you have something to hide?\u201d<\/p>\n
A tear came to his eye.<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. No man, ok, no. That\u2019s not cocaine. It\u2019s flour. Truth is I used to work at Panera Bread, \u00a0and I love baking bread<\/span>. Waking up really early, mixing and baking things that would feed lots of people gave me an incredible sense of purpose. It was one of the best times in my lives. The smells. Rye, barley, rosemary… Anyway, I got fired from there after I got caught smoking herb on my break. My songs are really just a celebration of that time that I felt such purpose and connection to the people around me.<\/p>\nHe was now sniffling to hold back tears.<\/p>\n
My song Brick in Your face<\/em>? I came up with that when I was working there. While making stuff I\u2019d rap about what I was doing, you know? Cause I was happy?\u00a0So I was all like at my station making a sourdough and I get this feeling inside and just blurt out\u00a0\u201cI love pounding dough!\u201d which later became the chorus of \u201cI love selling blow!\u201d And cause I was always curious with what kind of fillings people would put between the slices of bread I\u2019d made I was all like \u201cI put that loaf in your face! What\u2019re you going to do with it? You like that taste best give me respect,\u00a0bake u\u00a0bake up bake up!\u201d<\/p>\nAnd Mail<\/em>? Man I’d just been thinking about how I’d know that if people were willing to buy my pastries via the mail then that’d mean they\u00a0really respect my skills as a baker.\u201d<\/p>\nAriel<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the tattoos of the AK-47 on your face and the stitches across your mouth..?\u201d<\/p>\n
Stitches<\/p>\n
\u201cAre just part of a carefully crafted image designed to give me and my music the aura of illicit drug culture authenticity that unsophisticated audiences require while simultaneously arresting the drift of all of my creative significations as an musician\u00a0to reference all of the colonialist, racist and classist ideologies that various\u00a0state and private apparatuses use to justify\u00a0micro and macro management of fears through various forms of repression and policing while also indicating the need for people to speak up and be active against the perpetuation of such widespread human suffering so that a a few people can profit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0***<\/strong><\/p>\nYou can watch the video for Stitches new single Facts<\/em> below.<\/p>\n
![\"Screen-Shot-2014-05-16-at-6-26-05-PM_vice_970x435\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arielsheen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Screen-Shot-2014-05-16-at-6-26-05-PM_vice_970x435.jpg?resize=840%2C377&ssl=1\" "\\"Stitches")
I first met Stitches outside of his now infamous show at Propaganda in Lake Worth. Halfway into the set he left in order to chase after his baby-mama, who was upset with him for giving out cocaine to some scantily-clad female fans on stage. I\u2019d write more about it, but the video is, of course, available online. A few weeks later I started a correspondence with him. After he became convinced I wasn\u2019t trying to do a hit piece similar to the one previously published by New Times but simply learn his thoughts about the role of drugs in music and society, he agreed to speak with me. He asked for my address, which I hesitantly gave, and said he\u2019d be in contact with me. Three days later I received a letter in the mail. On it was a piece of paper \u201cNo photos bc GPS\u201d and on the back an address with a date and time on it. When I put in the address snailmailed me into Google maps I became a little worried. I promised I wouldn\u2019t say where it was, but this particular neighborhood has an sketchy reputation. I put aside my reservations and went anyway.<\/p>\n