Telomere

by Ochuka

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  • Full Digital Discography

    12
    releases

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Telomere, Mbala, Proof of Life, The EP, I Give You Nothing But My Soul, Dua Ya Nafsi, A Cute Melancholia, Soul, and 4 more. , and , .

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1.
Pen, Mic, Philosopher 03:38
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Elite pen, Don Makameri Kill the poet, iron dome wino inamwaga vitu vagary Kill the poet, na droplet ya polonium na Mercury Basement, bloody pap smear Peksen, hadi body parts disfigured Flashback za pain, Chai machozi, rangi hibiscus Witness Matigari, historia imefutwa na mingi blisters Battle undertakers, Walimurder love kwa theatre Alphabetical slaughterer, Abattoir, hii classic already ni paraphernalia Vultures, si marcacass Voucher, si ya cancer Foretellers kustudy kasoro ya stars Forever ni ka ripple ya sorrow kwa scars Past imekuwa unpleasant, future kuna disaster Kila simulation kwa game ni fatal Kila equation, the same answer inaleta more questions Ripoti mbaya zimejazwa bio markers Sipati picha, anga zangu stargazer The wind sayer, blowing down pyramids, Beauty ya life ni kuishi ukiwonder rangi ya mirror ni gani? Mauti ya life? Journey ni tragic The faith sketcher, nafsi inatafsiri maana fiche kwa stretcher Hope baado kali Though soul imechoka, baado inashine kama mbalamwezi kwa giza Crotchet wool, ink na uzi Ricochet blues, dreams na blueprints Tattoos, tears na scars Wound ni ya survivor? Bangarang, kuta bloody blockbuster Kwa hizi frames, nishawa-picture Struggles hazitawahikwisha Disciples wako last supper, soul chunga Apocalypse inaeza-passover Mipigo heart pressure Rhyme altars Rhymesayer, jagoro olokore ajuok ndagla Chuny odagi loch, oluokore remo, chuny ligangla Gimakayi tinde niedel, okenanga Ngimasandi gi rem gi kech, onge konyruok da Natema vitu raw, vitu roho imewacha kwa limbo Void unaepuka, inakukutanisha na gridlock Voice unaskiza, ni character clash, unasip dose Ya Ochuka akiunda concoction ya primrose Song ni ya Lawino, Watho ka ywech, kagima wan lwang’ni maratiglo Abang’ chieth koso tiayuage choo? Aban pien, ombulu mienyona Wuon Awuor Piny omako kore, dhi gi duogo onge yweyo Pun intended, piny dong’ gunda maratipo Sentimental, El Paraiso Instrumental, love letter kwenye wino Waliotuacha rainy days Rest easy hadi maybe tukimeet again Boombap juu ya blues Mind yangu ni vaccine Body yangu ni blacksite ya battle ziko classified Before nisurvive defects ziko kwa genes Cure soul yangu na solitude Tumefight kila vita unaezaimagine Tumerewind picha, ka tunaezaondoa fate mbaya kwa scene Justice, be shield, tukingoja siku better kesho Dancing na rhythm broken bila threshold Mic, Knowledge, emcee, holy black candle Na mi sio ule hardcore, no Natokea shy uko backseat Kipindi underdog professor, Ochuka Airforce, airbender, Kill the poet, message yake? Return to the sender Kapok kwiri marach otieko denda To both kalam ong’ok omieno lemba: Ai, amina
2.
Satin 01:49
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Stop without a moment’s notice. Still moving inside the vessel. A sure life injury. No taking it back, now. The life is already in my breath, all air. Indiscretion, leads to truth instead of valor. We’ve walked away from worse wrecks than this, ones that have left their own impressions. Collectively, they’re me. Deep seeded, long term damage, and we’re never gonna heal. No. Nothing’s ever gonna be the same. We survived anger, pain, fire, water, and terror. We survived outbreaks and breakdowns without haul, storms broadcasts and that day in November, but now here we are facing each other in what feels like our last real conversation. We’ve survived life. Yet to survive not, all of it. We crash, and shattered glass goes everywhere. Bones break under the stress and there’s night with its unseen terror lurking beneath. I reach out to touch you and my heart leaps when I find you there, still breathing. We might still survive this, even with no help on the way. Life will find us alive, and not dead, today. We pull each other out of the wreckage and in the flames I see your face, and you’re beautiful. Fiercely. I embrace you. We walk back up to the road, suffering our injuries, but we’ll survive yet another tragedy. We’re not alone, as long as we’re alive. We will survive. — Things I tell myself ❣️
3.
Wounded Soul 01:32
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Good moans the body moans Look close, we about to clone… Music crawls, in purple tongues and goes Touch boards, wax clothes And the rip the walls Where one is whole And none is odd Give a wounded soul a touch of coal To burn with flames that no one told Bring the drums Mix these rhymes with the paint Smooth gravels rushing in sweet pain Behold the joys of my heart Red like, war or love Or bred like, walls of craft Happy is the idiot rich in doubts Or grey and ugly clouds Wrinkling on heavens Rooftops with new arrival traps; Music and cigarettes Mystery add sicker sets Tender, my heart bursts bonds I am a slave of my happiness All these Rough edges I am not my journeys I am little joys and mercies I am journey Refine, redefine the pledges My heart skips ropes that get me enslaved Like playful children and babes In glycerine and green alcohol, I crave A return to the vicious cycle of a Happy Mind: frame.
4.
Quiet Storm 03:54
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Ilikuwa ka 4-caliber love stencil Sondo rach asere neko, wiwa kanowilgo nyaka chil Nyabondo yandininde nyadidi? Mamoni duogo dala, masira tami yoro thim? Dissected ka river ina-flow under the bridge 96 revolver zikaandika eulogy ya Pac na Big Tapes mbili kwenye decks In the beginning, poetry yangu ni we ulipea color grade Kalashnikov, love protest, bao othung’o kori Kulundeng’ Aluongo nyingi nyadidek, koth goya gidiek Akandi emarwako wachung’ e got isiemona gweng’ Mirima maka, sanaspit mana blood stains Picha iko na tanzia, dibaji yangu nani nitadedicate? Tumesurvive vita vingi kwa njia Koth chwe to chieng’ rieny, to wating’o mama e ndiga Tumeroll dice chini hii mitaa Kogwen kapod dwe rieny, to watiyo matek e dala Ratego kothgi Rabala Wuod Koguta Aywani waya rapar Ochuka ji noywak Merchandise, blisters vidonda, Mchanga ni keja, na kila mtu gharama atalipa Kujadili mawazo Ka labda time ili-expire na future haikufollow after Wino ilimwagika Pasipo wema, fikra soothing itself na mvua ya rasharasha Window pane, hakukuwa hata na curtains, ni we ndio nilikuwa naona How I wish kuna cure ya hii pain, labda in good luck naezapona Korona yandobiro, piny oner, ji sandore marach Ankona yande wuoyi siro, tho omiyo agolo koke kwach Sama ajiki molgi chia Taparo duondi, oriti jalwenj polo piach Decimated apoyanono, mudho odinonwa, ilikuwa setback Tunangojea tu siku njema High on the mountain, baba akiplay keys, we uko juu ya tarumbeta Wanasema hakuna kitu vague ka beauty ya maua Soul train Kipindi ajali fatal, tofauti ya picture broken Kwa dimbwi, maji ikisplash mchanga ni metaphor najua iko forbidden For real men, quiet storm Heavy crown, only way kulet go ni kubeba weight ulikuwa nayo kwa bega Dance floor, let it rain, journey on you barzenga [Chorus] At night all I do is write these walls down The quiet storm overtaking me Pen down verses when my soul levitating Some people hold they pain like wild flowers growing inside the bubble Two lines going three My metaphors keep looking deeper for ruins that can build the rubbles The pinnacle witness lightning splash over the hills, the roof of the chapel The lines are blank, but I can feel the crowded roses echo in silent fields That’s when you wish These stanzas could slow down time’s compex Or the ink reservoir could cure the terminally sick Streets where knives lay on ward beds, Time to clean the closet Skeletal Neanderthal, Faith dead Manuscripts, the fiercest battles are quarry graves in the soul Poetry of Alternative prose, The mind gathering table of contents, the epigram laid out from the hole Whether it’s two thugs Or the agony of caskets lined on thoughts From the cradle to the grave [Chorus] The weight Of loneliness walking after my soul I cry homie They say tears are a waste the flesh, Pleading for my body to hold on me Rain dropping Like torn veils of the last wedding I can feel, words beautify I try to dial these hazy numbers, Heavy dumper Of dark clouds over my memory One day even they too will find a stickers on my rhymebook, where I wrote goodbyes Before becoming part of pain that becomes good-nights Roses serenade the pulpit At crossroads You can see tragedies They translate lost ones in the mist gathered on the windscreen Do winds speak? [uh] Who would I be, an echo in the bleak? Every stroke symbolizes sad epiphany Quiet fall of rains All of the alphabets plead with me to put them to rest on both knees: Quiet Storm
5.
A Song of Myself 02:03
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I was just like you, brother, I was hurting too High walls past life bootsraps, crayons casting you It ain’t simple, it ain’t black and blue Silhouette boudoir, they say scars are wounded divine Through the great divide Butwa, siro uno twech, Bechwa, chiro huno gweth? Thuth be kech chamo adier? Chutho gunda bie bende liel? How was life like for you, brother, was it dejavu? High dose blueprints, Child of fate Yesterday I wrote rainy days, No wonder last supper, huwa na ladha flani ya sorrow Kesho ikikuja after, kusahau kila jani liligeuzwa kiporo Though they say everyone’s fate has inevitable defects Born blind, once your eyes see the night of the soul, you’re forever changed There’s a blade in my garden There’s a burden resting on the shoulders of my existence Breathe, brother, like your life depend on it Dreams, deferred, these days only pain bait on me Pedestrian on a journey I pedal my body Pedagogy of my melancholic Waiting for the inevitable to pawn on me Pour on me Brother, would you hold on me? Sometimes I wipe away the stains on my life’s fabric The way days unfold And nights uphold —. It’s like, the last mould of dust thrown upon these bodies laid below the ground Still they say, Blessings everyday above the ground Rest your head, dear brother, heavy was the crown The things you survived could make a grown man cry May the rains trickle down on you through these broken skies May all the flaws that demonstrated your life Mellow candles waxing through the winds like loved ones who stayed by your side Some days time will soothe our cries Today, I hope tomorrow we’ll learn to sing requiems at night.
6.
Everyday Forever 05:16
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“I’ve seen the world. A mother’s heart can only weep. Should I place a stone over it?” — Dani, Photograph. The world’s heavy Through lonely cracks, everyone craves breathing Even day stars don’t stop drifting Even when you receive, don’t stop giving Even when we had fire in our eyes, Only the unseen side of the moon knows we’re still bleeding They say it’s a river drowning on tender reeds Old dilemma Of all the pains we collected like paraphernalia There he goes Deep again, Like (a) captain of a sinking ship I live now, right here I couldn’t choose between a black rose or a thorn Yeah, it rains dark That’s why we camouflage in these thoughts These scars healed, turned into braille dots I give you straight from my sleeve Never been afraid to stir the silence of my soul Midnight memories With only the taste of salt in your lips I crave deep I give only me To the gliding tides when the body sleeps Except maybe the chronic wounds They bloom From tiny flowers, to war stories so San Tzu Pedestal how life clamours the side view It’s endurance when you can still face the depth inside you. |Bridge| |Hook| Oh, tell me now, tell me now, Oh, was it worth all of the pain? Are you better now? Are you better now? Now everybody knows your pain Could you leave it all behind, For the bigger brighter lights? Oh, was it worth giving your heart away? Yeah, you gave it away, Will you give it away? Ayahuasca with the pain I swallow Shaman reaching himself the roads that lead home Crooked smile, In plain sight, See the love we borrow? This was tomorrow Yesterday, Son, stop wearing your pain like medals Didn’t we cry most times? Did we never laugh at night? Did we not love even when they were all out of sight? Caressing where they sleep, without any reply? Othung’a gi nyiero When I think of mama praying at night And wonder why those dreams never saw the light Talent won’t be enough, my boy, you’ll have to show your teeth Beautiful mind, gifted with its own undoing Even though you bud from the dirt, You never stopped blooming I know how it feels Unburden the roots, if it keeps you from growing Hera lokoji mbese, Emomiyo kumidhiye to tiponi luwi The nightmares are stacking up Every line I ever wrote was like a pin off the grenade A hallelujah with raw body catching the flames The pain I feel, Battle scars, It’s only healing I crave. Wreck me up, Break the odds open, Let the light enter my heart I only cry with those who speak the language of my pain I only root into those who flower where my source is felt I only connect with those who enter where my light is kept So this is for all my homies who walk me home, No doubt in you I have a friend “I remember the hard times too, son. I raised all of you by myself. All of you. Did you just cy all the time then? Did we never laugh?

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released December 31, 2022

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Ochuka Nairobi, Kenya

Omondi Ochuka is a Kenyan poet, visual artist and thinker whose literary flare spans ages beyond his time. From an early age, he displayed an adept intimacy to books.

He's been defined by critics as abstract, rich in metaphor and symbolism; a Saul William-esque pen with a cryptically profound nature. Fused with classical verses and Hip-hop, he gyrates words into a web of intricate melodies ... more

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