Motivational Music in the Morning … Big J, Higher than My Electric Bill (Audio) … from the Album: Unknown (2026)
Text
Motivational Rituals in the Morning … The Movement feat. Chali 2na, Break in the Glass (Audio) … from the Album: Ways of the World (2019)
What the Song is About:
“Break in the Glass” is a call to clarity, resilience, and awakening in the face of a corrupt, distracted world. The opening sets the tension: the singer wants to chase destiny and live simply — fire by the sea, feet in the sand — but the world keeps pulling him off course through “snakes of society.” The chorus plants its flag: under the sun our light will outlast / no time for waiting, life moves so fast / change the opposition, it shall come to pass / a break in the glass.
The central image is powerful and layered. A “break in the glass” can mean several things simultaneously: a crack that lets light through where there was only reflection, a moment of clarity that shatters illusion, a breakthrough past the barrier between where you are and where you need to be. It is simultaneously destruction and revelation.
Chali 2na’s verse deepens the social critique: “they want us to embrace the superficial / make the masses feel special / while this empire they run it corruptly / some do it for the income but we do it for the outcome.” Then the most striking line: “upgrade your faith just to match your vision / and your decisions will have risen from their natural prison / and if you listen you can hear every snake in the grass / and you can see them through the break in the glass.” Elevated faith produces elevated perception — and that perception exposes the corruption that was always there.
The Bandcamp page features an embedded philosophical quote: “The present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it exists forever… You may believe yourself out of harmony with life and its eternal Now; but you cannot be, for you are life and exist Now.” This grounds the song’s urgency in a deeper spiritual framework — the present moment as the only place where change is possible.
——————— Theological Viewpoint ———————
— “Gaia to Just Leave Me Alone and Allow Me to Be Me”: The invocation of Gaia — the Greek earth goddess, the living planet as conscious being — places the song in an animist/spiritual ecology framework. This is not the God of institutional religion but the sacred ground beneath everything, the web of life that is constantly being disrupted by human exploitation and distraction. The speaker wants to be in right relationship with Gaia — to live simply and authentically — but systemic forces keep pulling him away. This is the theological tension between right relationship with creation (a theme across Indigenous spirituality, Celtic Christianity, and creation theology) and the demands of empire.
— “Snakes of Society” and the Serpent Motif: The serpent as symbol of deception, corruption, and systemic evil is one of the oldest theological images in human civilization — appearing in Genesis, the Egyptian Apep, Hindu Naga mythology, and Indigenous traditions. Chali 2na’s line — “if you listen you can hear every snake in the grass” — gives the symbol a social-prophetic dimension: the serpents aren’t supernatural, they are the architects of corrupt empire who exploit human distraction and superficiality to maintain power. Discernment — the theological capacity to distinguish truth from deception — is what the break in the glass provides.
— “A Break in the Glass” as Apocalypse: The Greek word apokalypsis literally means unveiling or uncovering — the removal of what conceals truth. A break in the glass is exactly this: not destruction for its own sake but the shattering of the reflective surface that prevents seeing through to what is real. The Book of Revelation’s apocalyptic imagery functions this way — not as prediction of catastrophe but as a tearing away of imperial propaganda to reveal the machinery of oppression underneath. “Break in the Glass” is apocalyptic music in the original, proper sense of the word.
— “Upgrade Your Faith Just to Match Your Vision”: This is theologically remarkable. Chali 2na is not saying have more faith in the generic sense — he is saying that your capacity to see (vision) must be met with a corresponding capacity to act and trust (faith). In Hebrews 11, faith is defined as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen — it is the inner faculty that allows one to perceive and act on what is not yet visible to others. Chali 2na is saying exactly this: your vision has outgrown your faith. Expand the faith to match the sight.
— “We Do It for the Outcome, Not the Income”: In liberation theology, this is the distinction between ministry as service and ministry as career — between those who enter the work of justice because they are called and those who enter it for personal gain. The Prophets condemned the latter repeatedly — shepherds who fleece the flock, priests who trade truth for comfort. The Movement and Chali 2na are positioning themselves explicitly in the tradition of those who do the work regardless of the cost, because the outcome — justice, liberation, clarity — is the only thing worth working toward.
— The Reggae Tradition as Prophetic Lineage: This cannot be separated from the song’s theology. Reggae music — rooted in Rastafarianism, Nyahbinghi drumming, and the spiritual legacy of the African diaspora — has always been explicitly prophetic music. From Burning Spear to Bob Marley to Sizzla, the genre carries a theology of Babylon (corrupt empire) versus Zion (right relationship, justice, liberation). The Movement, as reggae artists, are inheriting this tradition when they sing about snakes of empire, the light that outlasts, and the break that allows truth to be seen. “Break in the Glass” is a song that knows exactly what tradition it stands in.
#TheMovement #Chali2na #BreakInTheGlass #WaysOfTheWorld #2019
Text
Motivational Music in the Morning … Puscifer, The Remedy (3 Kord Scissor King Mix, Audio) … from the Album: Money Shot Your Reload (2016)
What is the “3 Kord Scissor King Mix”?
The title is classic Keenan absurdism — 3 Kord refers to the raw, stripped-down three-chord rock DNA of the reworked arrangement, and Scissor King is a Puscifer luchador alter ego character from the Money Shot visual universe (Keenan performed in a Lucha libre wrestler persona for the album’s live shows and videos). Money $hot Your Re-Load contains alternate versions, remixes and reworks of all 11 songs from Money Shot, featuring previous contributors like Carina Round and new remixers including Tool bassist Justin Chancellor and Crystal Method member Scott Kirkland. The 3 Kord Scissor King Mix is Puscifer remixing themselves — stripping the original down to something heavier, rawer, and more guitar-forward than the polished album version.
What the Song is About — Keenan in his own words:
Keenan explained: “‘The Remedy’ really is a borderline-extinction-level event where we’re worrying about food, clothing and shelter rather than worrying about whether or not you should use the word ‘retard.’ We’re so far away from the reality of what it means to survive and buying into the polarized crap that goes on in the political arena and also caught up in what you think you deserve. ‘I deserve free shipping!’ You know? It’s just so disconnected with real life, and what it takes to survive.”
The song is a direct, unflinching confrontation with entitlement culture, internet outrage, and performative outrage politics. The verses build with cold, controlled contempt — “our home, our rules, respect them or / bitches receive stitches / trolls receive 86’s / stick around if you’re house-broken / can’t hold your shit, hold your tongue, you gotta go.”
Then the climax arrives like a sledgehammer: “You speak like someone who has never been smacked in the fucking mouth / that’s okay, we have the remedy.” It is blunt, funny, and genuinely threatening all at once — Keenan’s way of saying that real consequence, real physical or existential hardship, is the one thing that cures unearned entitlement and performative outrage. The remedy isn’t ideological argument. It is reality.
The Money Shot Album Context:
Money $hot was released October 30, 2015, written by Maynard James Keenan, Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round. The overall mood of the album — melodically pulsing songs including “The Remedy” — is darker, more somber, and more reflective than previous Puscifer work. Concocted over a three-year period with help from Tim Alexander (Primus), Jon Theodore (Queens of the Stone Age), Jeff Friedl (A Perfect Circle), and Maynard’s son Devo Keenan on cello — Money Shot feels like the most focused work the band created to date, and maybe the most personal.
The Luchador / Scissor King Visual World:
The ethos of “The Remedy” was very in line with the message at Puscifer’s 2015 concerts — a fictional Sheriff character appearing on video before the show saying essentially: “Don’t be a dummy.” The Lucha libre aesthetic — colorful masked wrestlers representing alter egos — was Keenan’s satirical frame for the album: the idea that public personas, political performers, and internet warriors are all essentially masked wrestlers, performing violence in an arena, while the crowd cheers without understanding what’s real.
—————— Theological Viewpoint ——————
— “The Remedy” and the Prophetic Tradition of Confrontation: The Hebrew prophets — Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah — are famous not for gentle encouragement but for fierce, scathing indictments of people who had grown comfortable, entitled, and disconnected from reality. Amos 6:1 opens with “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion” — a direct rebuke of comfort culture masquerading as spiritual health. “The Remedy” is this same energy. Keenan is not raging arbitrarily; he is diagnosing a civilization that has confused preference with right, opinion with consequence, and performance with truth.
— Entitlement as Spiritual Pathology: The theological term for the condition Keenan is diagnosing is pleonexia — Greek for insatiable greed/entitlement, the belief that one is owed more than one has earned or deserves. It appears throughout Paul’s letters as one of the defining vices of corrupted humanity (Colossians 3:5 lists it alongside idolatry). Keenan’s “I deserve free shipping!” is a perfect contemporary gloss on pleonexia — trivial on the surface but pointing at a deep spiritual disorder: the self placed at the center of all things.
— “Smacked in the Fucking Mouth” as Incarnational Correction: This is a jarring phrase, but theologically interesting. The entire incarnational tradition — God entering physical reality — is partly about the redemptive power of contact with reality. Kierkegaard wrote that the greatest human sickness is living in the abstract, disconnected from concrete existence. The monastery tradition of manual labor, fasting, and physical discipline exists because the body teaches truths the mind refuses to accept. Keenan’s “remedy” — the confrontation with physical consequence — is a secular version of this: reality, embodied and unavoidable, as the cure for abstraction and entitlement.
— The Scissor King as Trickster-Prophet: In many religious traditions, the trickster figure — Loki, Coyote, the Fool in Lear — is the one who speaks uncomfortable truths through absurdity and comedy precisely because the court cannot hear them delivered seriously. Keenan’s luchador alter ego is this archetype. By placing “The Remedy”’s hard theology inside a wrestling persona, he makes it simultaneously laughable and undeniable — the truth arrives wearing a mask, which is its own commentary on how truth must sometimes travel to be received.
— “Our Home, Our Rules” and the Theology of Sacred Space: The opening lines establish a space that has norms, limits, and expectations — a temenos, the Greek word for sacred precinct, bounded territory where different rules apply. Every religious tradition has its temenos — the Temple, the mosque, the monastery, the medicine circle. Entry requires orientation toward the space’s values. “Stick around if you’re house-broken” is a coarse but theologically coherent statement: sacred spaces require that you bring your whole self under something larger than yourself. Those who cannot are asked to leave — not in cruelty, but in fidelity to the space’s integrity.
#Puscifer #TheRemedy #3KordScissorKIngMix #MoneyShotYourReload #2016
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … Seether, No Jesus Christ (Audio) … from the Album: Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces (2007)
#MMitM1
[What the song is about: According to Seether frontman Shaun Morgan in a 2013 interview, the song is about people with God complexes he was surrounded by for a while and may have been inspired by a girlfriend who criticized him in the press. That girlfriend was Amy Lee from Evanescence, who wrote “Call Me When You’re Sober” about Morgan in 2006 and made negative comments about him publicly.
So, despite what the title might suggest, the song isn’t about religion or questioning Jesus’s existence. It’s directed at someone with an inflated ego who acts superior to others, telling them they’re not as righteous or perfect as they think they are. The lyrics criticize someone who pretends to take the moral high ground while actually being hypocritical and hurtful.]
#Seether #NoJesusChrist #FindingBeautyInNegativeSpaces #2007
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … JID feat. Kenny Mason, Dance Now (Official Music Video) … from the Album: The Forever Story (2022) #MMitM1
[What the Song Is About: “Dance Now” blends rapid-fire lyricism and Southern-hip-hop energy with a melodic hook. Lyrically, JID explores themes like:
— The pressures and expectations of success — how people judge him and what they expect from his art and lifestyle.
— The “allures and pitfalls of dancing with the devil” — a metaphor for navigating tricky situations, temptations, and the costs of choices in life and the streets.
— Representing his city (Atlanta) and personal identity within a larger social landscape. Critics and descriptions highlight his tight flows over a catchy, looped beat with Kenny Mason on the hook and Fousheé adding soulful backing vocals.]
Style and Sound
The track is known for:
Fast and intricate flows from JID showcasing his lyrical dexterity. A melodic, smooth chorus by Kenny Mason, giving the song its more laid-back vibe amidst the hard verses.
Production that fuses hip-hop with soul and atmospheric elements, creating a contrast between urgency and groove.
Visuals and Impact
The music video (released alongside the single) mirrors the song’s themes, showing chaotic, gritty imagery — from suburban streets and unrest to dancers and riot-like scenes — visually portraying tension and celebration intertwined. #JID #KennyMason #DanceNow #TheForeverStory #2022
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … Jeris Johnson, The Story of Our Lives (Official Music Video) … from the Album: Dragonborn (2024)
#MMitM1 #JerisJohnson #TheStoryOfOurLives #DragonBorn #2024
— Composer: Jeris Johnson and Alexander Sacco [What the song is about: Based on the lyrics, “The Story of Our Lives” appears to be an empowering anthem about living life on your own terms and creating your own destiny. The song touches on themes of individuality, breaking free from systems and expectations, and embracing one’s unique energy and purpose. The chorus emphasizes that living forever means dying (metaphorically speaking about not truly living), and that what we leave behind is what matters. It’s about writing your own story rather than following someone else’s script, with Johnson expressing confidence in forging his own path and “breaking the mold.“]
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … JID, Never (Official Music Video) … from the Album: The Never Story (2017)
#MMitM1 #JID #Never #TheNeverStory #2017
— Producers: Christo and Childish Major
[What the Song is About: JID wrote the song during a difficult period when he had nothing and his future was uncertain, with only his family and supportive people around him allowing him to express his pain and pursue his dreams. The track describes the hardships he faced and what he lacked in life—expressing that he had “never been shit,” “never had shit,” and “never knew shit.” Despite these struggles, the song also conveys his perseverance and determination, with JID saying he “never gave two shits.”
The song has been compared to Kendrick Lamar’s style from “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City,” and critics have praised JID’s wordplay and delivery over the hypnotic production. The music video depicts themes of police brutality, showing JID being beaten by police officers and running from them.
The song became certified Gold in both Australia and the United States, marking a breakthrough moment for JID before the release of his critically acclaimed debut album “The Never Story” in March 2017.]
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … Toasty Digital Presents: Kanye West, Maybe We Can Make It to Christmas (Full Album) FAN-MADE MASHUP MIXTAPE (2020)
#MMitM1 #ToastyDigital #KanyeWest #MaybeWeCanMakeItToChristmas #2020
[About the Album: This is a fan album that features songs, primarily featuring Kanye West, mashed up with Christmas songs.
The EP contains 4 tracks:
1. “Bigger Bag,”
2. “Switzerland,”
3. “Yeti,” 4.
“Yeezy Workshop,”
Deluxe version with additional tracks that mashup Kanye’s songs with Christmas classics, featuring creative combinations like “Christmas in Paris” and other holiday-themed remixes of his popular tracks.
The title is actually a reference to a lyric from Kanye’s song “Bound 2” where he says, “we made it to Thanksgiving, so maybe we can make it to Christmas.” This is an unofficial fan project, not released by Kanye West himself, but it’s become popular among fans who enjoy creative mashups of his music with holiday themes.]
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … Brenda Lee, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (Audio Track) … from the Album: Single (1958), Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee (1964)
#MMitM1 #BrendaLee #RockinAroundTheChristmasTree #MerryChristmasFromBrendaLee #1958 #1964
— Release Date: 1958 (recorded when Brenda Lee was just 13 years old)
— Chart Success: The song didn’t become a major hit immediately. It gradually gained popularity over the years and has become one of the most beloved and frequently played Christmas songs, regularly appearing on holiday charts decades after its release.
[What the Song is About: The song captures the joyful, festive atmosphere of a Christmas party. It describes people dancing, celebrating, and enjoying the holiday season together. The lyrics paint a picture of:
— Couples dancing around a decorated Christmas tree
— The warmth and excitement of holiday gatherings
— Traditional Christmas imagery like mistletoe and pumpkin pie
— The sentimental, nostalgic feeling of the season
The upbeat, rockabilly style combined with Christmas themes was somewhat novel for its time, helping to establish the rock and roll Christmas song as a genre. The song has a cheerful, optimistic tone that celebrates togetherness and the spirit of Christmas celebration.Fun fact: Brenda Lee’s youthful, energetic voice and the song’s catchy melody have made it a timeless classic that continues to be played every holiday season, more than 65 years after its original release!]
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … The Lennon Sisters, A Marshmallow World (The Lawrence Welk Show, ABC Broadcasting) … from the Album: Various Albums (1955)
#MMitM1 #TheLennonSisters #AMarshmallowWorld #LawrenceWelk #ABC #1955
“A Marshmallow World” was written by Carl Sigman and Peter DeRose and has become a popular Christmas/winter song, though it doesn’t specifically mention Christmas.
[What the Song is About: The song describes snowfall as marshmallows covering the ground and whipped cream, with the sun compared to a red pumpkin head. It’s a whimsical, joyful celebration of winter using sweet, playful imagery. The song captures the excitement of winter and snow with lines about it being a time for play that the singer waits for all year long.
The song has been covered by many artists over the decades, including Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, and Darlene Love, making it a classic winter standard. The Lennon Sisters’ sweet harmonies made it a perfect fit for their wholesome Lawrence Welk Show performances.]
Video
Motivational Music in the Morning … Gayla Peevey, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (Audio Track) … from the Album: A-Side Single, “Are My Ears on Straight?” B-Side (1953)
#MMitM1 #GaylaPeevey #iWantAHippopotamusForChristmas #1953 #ASideSingle #AreMyEarsOnStraight #BSide
—Artist: 10-year-old Gayla Peevey
—Writer: John Rox
—Label: Columbia Records Chart Performance: Peaked at number 24 on Billboard’s pop chart in December 1953
[What the Song is About: The song is a playful Christmas novelty tune from a child’s perspective, expressing the unusual wish for a hippopotamus as a Christmas present instead of typical toys. The lyrics feature a young girl insisting that only a hippo will do, dismissing dolls and other conventional gifts.
Notable Story: After the song became popular, the Oklahoma City Zoo and a local newspaper launched a fundraising campaign, and Peevey was presented with an actual hippopotamus named Matilda, which she donated to the city zoo. Matilda lived for nearly 50 years! Peevey performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in November 1953, and the song has since become a Dr. Demento Christmas staple, experiencing renewed popularity in recent decades.]