"Rumble"
(performed by U-God, Inspectah Deck, Letha Face, Method Man)

[U-God:]
Countdown

Are you ready? Are you mad inside?
Got you strapped down to your seats
Out of the doorway, bullets ripped, full clip

God speed, approach follow my lead
Fire winds gust, empire crush

Full thrust, fall in the hole, roll wit the rush
Untouchable chunk of earwax and soul
Sound waves slay out the bat cave smoke
My belly-full prance dance, avalanche quote
Down slope, elegant as Fantasia
Killer whale tale inhale, black male from Asia
All out the wood works, hood shirts and wizards
No match, unhatch, the rap is rigid
In the shaft, shotty cocked, hip hop to the limit
Nightwatch, pad mark
Sparks spin a quake nuclear blast, heavy on the cash
Gimmie what it takes NOW!!

Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!
Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!

[Letha Face:]
The diabolic witty, dialect's darker than Gotham City
With the possibility to stop your walkin ability
God forgive me, spark enemies with pistol grips
The missile tip's impact hit you so hard, you shit through your dick
Official scripts strikes when physical hits
You physical bitch, watch for the imperial blitz, serious shit
Submit, subject to the wreck war tone, and thought poems
Liver than WWF Warzone

Walk upon them Gotti tracks, bodies collapse
Rap for lottery stacks, shatter like when pottery cracks
Logical facts from the terror dome
Spill from the guts, trail to you ?puss? from where you bust
In God you now entrust
Dog you like hound and mutts, Pound Pups get sound struck
Clown what? You'll get drowned in the cut
While crowd round up

[U-God:]
Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!
Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!

[Inspectah Deck:]
A-yo, yo
I spit bars, traveling tremendous speed measuring far
Been busting satellites circling Mars
Verbal onslaught, bring forth physical force
Of a hundred wild niggas piled in a Trojan Horse
Thought method, set it on generic mic ethic
Professional neck shit, left foes beheaded
This music, is mind control like computer chips
Been doing this for numerous years, refuse to lose it
With turbo tactics, maneuver like a trained soldier
Hall of Fame flame thrower, take game, it's game over
Ayatollah, high roller nine totter

Mind controller, 2009 time folder
My coalition, bring the demolition
Wu-blade decision, slate the competition, wit no intermission
Spitting hazardous darts, up front like Rosa Parks
Makin million men march

[U-God:]
Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!
Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!

[Method Man:]
Yo, who got next? Meth got next
I chin check, all these MC's line em up god, I go Jihad
Declare holy war, it be hard to dip and dodge
Police squads trying to bogard, we rip and rob
The boulevard ain't safe for your kids, that's how it is
In the ghetto, we ain't scared to death, but scared to live

So Goldy, mosey to the spot, get that moldy
Rusty-ass .38 Special, niggas owe me
Slowly I turn, face the one and only
Naughty By Nature, I Do My Dirt All By My Lonely

Ask Pretty Tony, when I got a bitch I keeps a bitch
36 Chambers, enter at your own risk

Take that watch off and tuck your necklace
City never sleeps, streets is restless
Rap style'll slave you, when you least expect it
Pull the plug on your respirator, leave you breathless

Wu-Tang forever and a day, better warn your boys
I deploy battleship rap, seek and destroy

[U-God:]
Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!
Rage, rock roll, fight
Brawl, fall, rumbleee!

"Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber"

[Raekwon:]
Yo, Meth, hold up, hold up
Yo, Meth, where my Killer tape at, God?
First of all, where my
Where the fuck is my tape at?

[Method Man:]
Yo, son, I ain't got that piece, son

[Raekwon:]
How you ain't got my shit when I let you hold it, man?

[Method Man:]
Yo, niggas came over to have 40s and blunts, kid
The shit just came up missin', son

[Raekwon:]
Come on, man, that don't got nothin' to do with my shit, man
Come on, man, go head with that shit, man

[Method Man:]
Come on, man, I'll buy you four more fuckin' Killer tapes, man

[U-God:]
Ayo! Ayo!

[Raekwon:]
Open the door, man! What the fuck, man?
Yo, what? What's up?

[Ghostface Killah:]
Yo, yo, God, word is bond, yo
Shameek just got bust in his head two times, God!

[U-God:]
Word to mother!

[Ghostface Killah:]
Word life, God
You know Shameek from fuckin' 212, God?
The nigga just got bucked
Niggas in a black Land, God, word is bond
Came through, God, from out of nowhere, God
Word is bond I'm comin' to get my Culture Cipher, God
And they just... word is bond
Crazy shots just went the fuck off, God

[U-God:]
Niggas let off crazy shots, kid

[Ghost:]
The nigga layin' there like a fuckin' newborn fuckin' baby, God

[U-God:]
Word up!

[Meth:]
Is he dead?

[Ghost:]
Is he fuckin' dead?
What the fuck you mean is he fuckin' dead, God?

[U-God:]
What the fuck kind of question is that, B? Fuck you think?

[RZA:]
Easy, easy

[Ghost:]
The nigga layin' there with his fuckin'
All types of fuckin' blood comin' out of his fuckin'

[U-God:]
(Sarcastically) Is he is he is he dead?

[Ghost:]
Yo, God, what's up, God? It's the God, God, word is bond
Yo, what's up? I'm ready to fuckin' lay
I'm ready to get busy, God, what's up?

[Rae:]
Yo, let's go do what we got

[U-God:]
What's up, yo?

[Rae:]
Yo let's go do what we gotta do, man, fuck it

[U-God:]
Yo, we out or what, man?

[Ghost:]
It's the God, God, fuck that, man

[U-God:]
You sayin' we out?

[Meth:]
They probably took the tape

[Ghost:]
What the fuck?

[Rae:]
Nigga still sweatin' the tape, man

[Ghost:]
What the fuck is you talkin' about? Get the fuck outta here!

[Rae:]
Fuckin' corn!

[Wu-Tang Clan:]
Good Morning Vietnam!
Yeah, good morning
To all you motherfuckin' knotty-headed niggas
Word to the camouflage large niggas
Bitch, where the fuck is my bottle?
Bring that fuckin' meth in here!
Yo, yo, yo
Now we gonna drink some good Night train
Yo, yo, yo, yo!

[Raekwon:]
Champion gear that I rock, you get your boots knocked
Then attack ya like a pit, then, lock shit down
As I come and freaks the sound, hardcore
But givin' you more and more like "Ding!"
Nah, shorty, get you open like six packs
Killa Beez attack, flippin' what? Murder one phat tracks, aight?
I kick it like a Nike Flight
Word life, I get that ass robbed on spite
Check the method from Bedrock, 'cause I rock your head to bed
Just like rockin' what? Twin Glocks!
Shake the ground while my beats just break you down
Raw sound, goin' to war right now
So, yo, bombin', We-Usually Take-All-Niggas-Garments
Save your breath before I vomit

[Method Man:]
I be that insane nigga from the psycho ward, I'm on the trigger
Plus I got the Wu-Tang sword, so how you figure
That you can even fuck with mine?
Hey, yo, RZA! Hit me with that shit one time!
And pull a foul, niggas, save the beef for the cow
I'm milkin' this ho, this is my show, Tical!
The fuck you wanna do on this mic piece, duke?
I'm like a sniper, hyper off the ginseng root
PLO Style, Buddha monks with the owls
Now, who's the fuckin' man? Meth-Tical

[Method Man (Inspectah Deck):]
On the chessbox
"Wu-Tang style"

[Inspectah Deck:]
Yo, yeah, yo
I leave the mic in body bags
My rap style has the force to leave ya lost like the Tribe of Shabazz
Murderous material made by a madman
It's the mic wrecker, Inspectah, bad man
From the bad lands of the Killa
Rap fanatic, representin' with the skill that's iller
Dare to compare, get pierced just like your ear
The Shooby Doo-Wop pop, strictly hardware
Armed and geared 'cause I just broke out the prison
Charged by the system for murderin' the rhythm
Now, lo and behold another deadly episode
Bound to catch another fuckin' charge when I explode!

[Ghostface Killah:]
Slammin' a hype-ass verse 'til your head burst
I ramshack dead in the track, and that's that
Rap assassin, fast and quick to blast in hardrock
I ran up in spots like Fort Knox
I'm hot! Top notch, Ghost thinks with logic
Flashbacks how I attacked your whole project
I'm raw, I'm rugged and raw! I repeat
If I die, my seed'll be ill like me
Approachin' me, yo, out of respect, chops to neck
I get vexed, like crashin' up a phat-ass Lex
So, clear the way! Make way! Yo, open the cage!
Peace, I'm out, jettin' like a runaway slave

[RZA:]
You gettin' stripped from your garments, boy, run your jewels
All the meth got me open like Fallopian tubes
I bring death to a snake when he least expect
Ain't a damn thing changed, boy, Protect Ya Neck!
Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah, jam is fatal
Quick to stick my Wu-Tang sword right through your navel
Suspenseful force bein' brought through my utensil
The pencil, I bring strong winds up against you
Havoc, then run through your county like the Maverick
Caps through the tablets, I gots to make the fabrics

[Ol' Dirty Bastard:]
A-a-a-ah-ah, are you a warrior, killer? Slicin' shit like a samurai?
The Ol' Dirty Bastard from the bar!
Ol' Dirty clan of terrorists
Comin' at your ass like a sorceress, shootin' that piss
Niggas be gettin' on my fuckin' nerves
Rhymes they be kickin' make me wanna kick they fuckin' ass to the curb
Boy got funky fresh like the Old Specialist
A carrier, messenger, bury ya
This experience is for the whole experience
Let it be applied, Unique, drop that science!

[GZA:]
My-My-My-My clan is thick like plaster, bust ya, slash ya
Slit a nigga back like a Dutch Master
Killer style jumped off in Killa Hilla
I was the thriller in the Ali-Frazier Manila
I came down with phat tracks that combine and interlock
Like gettin' smashed by a cinder block
Poaw! Now it's all over
Niggas seein' pink hearts, yellow moons
Orange stars and green clovers

"Method Man"

[Method Man & Raekwon:]
Yeah, torture, motherfucker, what?
(Torture, nigga, what?)
What? I'll fuckin', I'll fuckin' tie you to a fuckin' bedpost
With your ass cheeks spread out and shit, right?
Put a hanger on a fuckin' stove and let that shit sit there for like a half hour, take it off and stick it in your ass slow like "tsss"
(Yeah, I'll fuckin', yeah, I'll fuckin' lay your nuts on a fuckin' dresser, just your nuts layin' on a fuckin' dresser, and bang them shits with a spiked fuckin' bat blaow)
Ooh wassup?
I'll fuckin', I'll fuckin', pull your fuckin' tongue out your fuckin'
Mouth and stab the shit with a rusty screwdriver, blaow
(I'll fuckin', I'll fuckin', I'll fuckin' hang you by your fuckin' dick off the fuckin' twelfth stor-story building out this motherfucker)
I'll fuckin', I'll fuckin', sew your asshole closed, and keep feedin' you, and feedin' you, and feedin' you, and feedin' you
Yo, roll the dice, yo, roll the dice
Yo, so it's goin' down like that, huh? Yeah?
Niggas is wildin', check it out, kid

[GZA:]
From the slums of Shaolin, Wu-Tang Clan strikes again
The RZA, the GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck
Raekwon the Chef, U-God, Ghostface Killah and the Method Man

[Method Man:]
M-E-T-H-O-D Man
M-E-T-H-O-D Man
M-E-T-H-O-D Man
M-E-T-H-O-D Man

Hey, you, get off my cloud
You don't know me and you don't know my style
Who be gettin' flam when they come to a jam?
Here I am, here I am, the Method Man
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, hey, the Method Man
Don't eat Skippy, Jif or Peter Pan
Peanut butter 'cause I'm not butter
In fact, I snap back like a rubber
Band, I be Sam, Sam-I-Am
And I don't eat green eggs and ham
Style'll hit ya, wham, then goddamn
You'll be like, "Oh shit, that's the jam"
Turn it up, now hear me get buck w-w-wild
I'm about to blow, light me up (Light me up)
Upside, downside, inside and outside
Hittin' you from every angle, there's no doubt I
Am the one and only Method Man
The master of the plan, rappin' shit like Saran
Wrap, with some of this and some of that
Hold up (What?) I tawt I taw a putty tat
Over there, but I think he best to beware
Of the diggy dog shit right here
Yippy-yippy-yay, yippy-yah, yippy-yo
Like Deck said, "This ain't your average flow"
Comin' like rah, ooh-ah, achie-kah
Tell me, how you like it so far, baby paw?
The poetry's in motion, coast to coast and
Rub it on your skin like lotion
What's the commotion? Oh my Lord
Another corn chopped by the Wu-Tang sword
"Hey, hey, hey" like Fat Albert
It's the Method Man, ain't no if ands about it
It's the Method

Alright, y'all, get your White Owls
Get your Meth', get your skins
Don't forget your 'orty
And we gonna do it like this

I got fat bags of skunk
I got White Owl blunts
And I'm about to go get lifted
Yes, I'm about to go get lifted
I got myself a Forty
And I got myself a shorty
And I'm about to go and stick it
Yes, I'm about to go and stick it, uh

H-U-F-F, huff, and I puff
Blow like snow when the cold wind's blowin'
Zoom, I hit the mic like boom
Wrote a song about it, like to hear it? Here it goes
Question, what exactly is a panty raider?
Ill behavior, savior or major flavor
All of the above, oh yeah, plus seducer
Also, flam, I'm the man, call me super
Not an average Joe with an average flow
Doin' average things with average hoes
Yo, I'm super, I'll make a bitch squirm
For my super sperm (Check it)
Check it, I give it to you raw butt-naked
I smell sess, pass the method
Let's get lifted as I kick ballistic
Missiles and shoot game like a pistol
Clip is loaded when I click bang (Bang)
A Wu-Tang slug hits your brain
J-U-M-P, jump, and I thump
Make girls rump like pump and Humpty Hump
Wild, the Shaolin style is all in me
Child, the whole damn isle is callin' me
P-A-N-T-Y, R-A-I-D-E-R, mad raw, I don't fry
Meaning, no one can burn or toss and turn me
Ooh, I be the super sperm
Chim-chimney, chim-chim, cher-ee
Freak a flow and flow fancy free
Now, how many licks does it take
For me to hit the Tootsie Roll center of a break?
Peep and don't sleep, the crew's mad deep (Wu-Tang)
Fadin' motherfuckers like bleach
So to each and every crew
You're clear like glass, I could see right through
Your whole damn posse be catchin' 'em all, 'cause you vic'd
And you didn't have friends to begin with, I'm—

The M-E-T-H-O-D Man
M-E-T-H-O-D Man
M-E-T-H-O-D Man
Here I am, here I am, the Method Man

[RZA (Ghostface Killah) {Method Man}:]
Straight from the slums of Shaolin
Wu-Tang Killa Beez on a swarm
(Your soul have just been tooken)
(Through the 36 Chambers of death, kid)
{Word to mother, Method Man signin' off, peace}

"Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber - Part 2"

[The Genius/GZA:]
Niggas on the left, brag shit to death
Now hoods on the right, wild for the night
Punks in the back, c'mon and attract to what
Clan in da front, let your feet stomp
Niggas on the left, brag shit to death
Hoods on the right, wild for the night
Punks in the back, c'mon and attract to what
This goes back to nineteen
Ahem, check it, yo
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!

Yeah, good morning to all you motherfuckin notty-headed niggas
Word to the camouflage large niggas
Bitch niggas fuckin my body
Bring that fuckin meth in here
Yo yo yo yo
Now we gonna drink some good Nightrain

[Raekwon:]
Champion gear that I rock, you get your boots knocked
Then attack you like a pit that lock shit DOWN
As I come and freaks the sound, hardcore
But giving you more and more, like ding!
Nah shorty, get you open like six packs
Killer Bees attack, flippin what, murder one, phat tracks
A'ight? I kick it like a Night Flite!
Word life, I get that ass raw, I'm fulla spite!
Check the method from Bedrock, cause I rock ya head to bed
Just like rockin what? Twin Glocks!
Shake the ground while my beats just break you down
Raw sound, we going to war right now
So, yo, bombin
We Usually Take All Niggas Garments
Save ya breath before I vomit

[Method Man:]
I be that insane nigga from the psycho ward
I'm on the trigger, plus I got the Wu-Tang sword
So how you figure that you can even fuck with mine?
Hey, yo, RZA! Hit me with that shit one time!
And pull a foul, niggas save the beef on the cow
I'm milkin this ho, this is MY show, tical
The FUCK you wanna do? More than Spike Lee's Do
I'm like a sniper, hyper off the ginseng root
PLO style, Buddha monks with the owls
So who's the fucking man? Meth-Tical
On the chessbox

[Inspectah Deck:]
Yo, yeah, yo
I leave the mic in body bags, my rap style has
The force to leave you lost, like the tribe of Shabazz
Murderous material, made by a madman
It's the mic wrecker, Inspector, bad man
From the bad lands of the killer, rap fanatic
Representing with the skill that's iller
Dare to compare, get pierced just like an ear
The zoo-we-do-wop-bop strictly hardware
Armed and geared cause I just broke out the prison
Charged by the system - for murdering the rhythm!
Now, lo and behold, another deadly episode
Bound to catch another fuckin charge when I explode

[Ghostface Killah:]
Slammin a hype-ass verse til ya head burst
I ramshack dead in the track, and that's that
Rap assassin, fastin, quick to blast and hardrock
I ran up in spots like Fort Knox!
I'm hot, top notch, Ghost thinks with logic
Flashback's how I attacked your whole project
I'm raw, I'm rugged and raw! I repeat, if I die
My seed'll be ill like me
Approachin me, you out of respect, chops ya neck
I get vexed, like crashing up a phat-ass Lex'
So clear the way, make way, yo! Open the cage
Peace, I'm out, jettin like a runaway slave

[RZA:]
Ya gettin stripped from ya garments, boy, run ya jewels
While the meth got me open like falopian tubes
I bring death to a snake when he least expect
Ain't a damn thing changed, boy, Protect Ya Neck
Ruler Zig Zag, Zig-Allah jam is fatal
Quick to stick my Wu-Tang sword right through ya navel
Suspenseful, plus bein bought through my utensil
The pencil, I break strong winds up against your
Abbot, that run up through your county like the Maverick
Caps through the tablets, I gots to make the fabrics

[Ol' Dirty Bastard:]
Are uh-ah-uh Are you a warrior? Killer? Slicin shit like a samurai
The Ol' Dirty Bastard from the bar
Ol' Dirty clan of terrorists
Comin atcha ass like a sorceress, shootin' that PISS!
Niggas be gettin on my fuckin nerves
Rhymes they be kickin make me wanna kick they fuckin ass to the curb
I got funky fresh, like the old specialist
A carrier, messenger, bury ya
This experience is for the whole experience
Let it be applied, and THEN DROP THAT SCIENCE

[Genius/GZA:]
My my my
My Clan is thick like plaster
Bust ya, slash ya
Slit a nigga back like a Dutch Master Killer
Style jumped off and Killa, Hill-er
I was the thriller in the Ali-Frazier Manilla

I came down with phat tracks that combine and interlock
Like getting smashed by a cinder block
Blaow! Now it's all over
Niggas seeing pink hearts, yellow moons
Orange stars and green clovers

"Conclusion"

[Inspectah Deck:] Yo butter butter
[Method Man:] Protect Ya Neck baby

[Ghostface Killah:] Respect due pa
[Inspectah Deck:] Peace
[Ghostface Killah:] Peace
[Inspectah Deck:] Word up Wu-Tang in the house though

[Interviewer:]
I guess a lot of people in ya
I guess they can feel the realness you
They could feel the vibe
And I think hip hop, that's what I be tellin a lot of people
A lot of record promoters and a lot of artists
I mean it's like, it's music that you gotta touch and feel
You know what I'm sayin'
And I think that comes across well in the video
I haven't seen you live yet, I'm waitin for the chance
But I'm pretty sure that's probably what's it like
You know you probably really get into it
I guess I hear it in your voices when you sayin the rhymes
Um, what ya say ya style is?

[Kung Fu sample:]
It's a secret! Never teach the Wu-Tang

[RZA:]
You best protect ya neck
You best protect ya neck
You best protect ya neck
You best protect ya neck

Secret Supreme – Chapter Thirteen The Birth of the Tantras At the beginning of Satyuga Lord Śiva appeared in the form of Svacchandanātha, with five heads and eighteen arms. His five heads came into manifestation through his five great energies: cit śakti, all consciousness; ānanda śakti, all bliss; icchā śakti, all will; jñāna śakti, all knowledge; and kriyā śakti, all action. These five energies, which appeared in His five mouths, are known as – Īśāna, Tatpuruṣa, Aghora, Vāmadeva and Sadyojāta. Because of the grace (anugraha) of Lord Śiva, these five mouths experienced the sensation of illuminating the Universe.   Svacchandanātha – Aghoranātha You see, Lord Śiva wanted to enlighten the universe by manifesting the existence of the Tantras. In order to accomplish this, He manifested the sixty-four Bhairava Tantras, which are filled with monistic thought (abheda), and which are connected with Kashmir Śaivism. In the three yugas (ages); satyuga, tretāyuga, and dvāparayuga; masters and disciples were very great, and they were initiated verbally. The power of memory in them was so great that they remembered everything instantaneously, so there was no need to write anything down or to refer to books and papers. [But] when kaliyuga occurred, these masters and disciples were so disappointed they hid themselves in unknown places in order to avoid the touch of worldly people living at that time. Because of this the theory of the Bhairava Tantras and Kashmir Śaivism was lost. Lord Śiva, however, always wishes to illuminate the universe and so He reappeared in this world [at the beginning of kaliuga] on Mount Kailash, not in the form of Svacchandanātha with five mouths, but in the form of Śrīkaṇṭhanātha. Śrī Kaṇṭhanāth In the form of Śrīkaṇṭhanātha, [Lord Śiva] again taught the theory of the Bhairava Tantras to the sage Durvāsā Ṛiṣi, instructing him to expand the thought of the Bhairava Tantras in all the universe without restriction to caste, creed, color or gender. After Śrīkaṇṭhanātha taught Durvāsā Ṛiṣi in this manner, he disappeared into the ether. [ END ] — Excerpt #2 — Self-Realization in Kashmir Shaivism Talks on Practice (page 72) Svacchandanatha, while creating these Tantras through His five mouths, possessed eighteen arms. These eighteen arms are symbols of the eighteen elements or tattvas. These tattvas are offshoots of His five great Śaktis and are created in the following manner.  Cit-śakti gives rise to one element, manas-tattva, the element of mind.  Ānanda-śakti gives rise to two elements, buddhi and ahaṁkāra, the elements of intellect and ego.  Īcchā-śakti gives rise to the five vital airs (vāyu) of the body. These are prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna, and vyāna.  Jñāna-śakti gives rise to five elements known as the jñānendriyas, the five organs of knowledge: nose (ghraṇa), tongue (rasaṇa), eyes (cakṣu), skin (tvaca), and ears (srotra).  Kriya-śakti gives rise to the five organs of action, karmendriyas. These include the organ of generation (upastha), excretion (pāyu), mobility (pāda), holding (pāṇi), and speech (vāk). These eighteen arms of Lord Śiva, in the form of Svacchandanātha, are created by Lord Śiva for the protection of the individual, but in order to receive this protection, the individual must adhere to divine discipline [i.e., yama and niyama].

Chapter Fifteen: Kashmir Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta Although the main principle of both Kashmir Śaivism and Vedānta is monism (advaita), pure monism, yet there are many important differences in their thinking. For example, Vedānta masters teach that karmayoga means yoga in action. They believe that you must practice niḥṣkāma karmayoga, which means that you are to perform all the actions of the world without asking for any reward. They say that by acting in this way you are carried toward the existence of the Real Being, the Real Nature of Self. From our Kashmir Śaiva point of view, however, karmayoga means something else. It does not mean carrying out all of the activities of the world. Yoga in action is pure yoga and nothing else. Pure yoga is one-pointedness, and this one-pointedness must be developed in three ways. You must develop one-pointedness in the existence of your being. This is one-pointedness in the state of parā vāk (supreme speech). You must also develop one-pointedness in the state of madhyamā vāk (medium speech). And finally, you must develop one-pointedness in the state of vaikharī vāk (inferior speech), in the state of ordinary speech. In Śaivism, we begin with the central way, the way of madhyamā vāk. Kashmir Śaivism explains that yoga in action means that when you are seated in a bus, or when you are walking on the road, you must observe silence. Walk silently, sit in the bus silently. Do not talk to anybody. Continue your practice of contemplating Lord Śiva as you were instructed by your Master, without talking to anybody. This is how you begin. It is not possible at first to practice yoga while talking. In the beginning, you have to start with silence. This yoga in action is tremendously powerful. For example, if you were to continue your practice of contemplation for just fifteen minutes while walking, the benefit will be the same as you would acquire if you were to continuously practice contemplation in your meditation room for two or even three years. This is because yoga in action makes your practice of contemplation more firm, solid, and substantial. This is why Kashmir Śaivism puts stress on yoga in action, and not on that yoga which is inactive. In the practice of yoga in action in madhyamā vāk, you begin with silence. And when you rise from madhyamā, you will rise in the parā state of Śiva. This parā state will occur, however, only when you have completed your activity. For example, while practicing your contemplation, you take a ten mile walk, five miles going and five miles returning, after which you go home, where you sit in meditation. At this point, you will automatically enter the parā state of yoga in action and this will carry you rapidly to that state of Transcendental Being. You must enter into the parā state of yoga in action automatically. You cannot make it happen. If it does not happen, then you will have to begin again practicing contemplation in action. It is by the strength of yoga in action that you enter into the parā state of yoga. If your contemplation in action is spontaneous and break-less, then you will automatically enter into the parā state of yoga. If, on the other hand, your contemplation breaks at any time while practicing, then when you sit for meditation, contemplation on parā will not take place and you will have to begin again. This is called karmayoga. When you are established in the yoga of action in parā vāk, then, after some time, you have to travel from parā vāk to vaikharī vāk. Practicing yoga in action in vaikharī vāk means that you are to remain established in your own being while talking, while laughing, while carrying out all of the actions of the world. This kind of yoga in action in vaikharī vāk is not possible unless yoga in action in madhyamā vāk and yoga in action in parā vāk are complete. The sign of their being complete is that whenever you practice yoga in action in madhyamā vāk and afterwards you sit and meditate, you enter into parā vāk, you are inside, residing in your own Nature. Establishing yoga in action in vaikharī vāk is the completion of the course of yoga in action. Here, you remain established in your own Being in all the activities of the world. It is said that Lord Kṛiṣṇa was perfectly established in yoga in action in vaikharī. He was very active, doing everything while remaining established in his own nature. The first difference, therefore, between Kashmir Śaivism and Vedānta is in their different understanding of karmayoga. This difference, as you have seen, is very great, with the Vedāntins believing that karmayoga means doing all actions without asking for their reward and our Kashmir Śaivism teaching that yoga in action means doing all actions while maintaining a break-less contemplation of God. Another difference between Kashmir Śaivism and Vedānta concerns the existence of individual being and Universal Being. The Vedāntins explain that individual being is manifested only when Universal Being is reflected in the mirror of the individual intellect. They say that Universal Being is reflected in the intellect (buddhi) and that reflection becomes the existence of the individual being (jīva). Kashmir Śaivism, however, does not recognize this explanation, arguing that it is without any basis. As Universal Being is absolutely pure and perfect and individual being is filled with imperfections (malas) and covered by veils, it is not buddhi that will reflect Universal Being, but rather, it is Universal Being that will reflect buddhi. It is the purer and more refined reality which will take the reflection of that which is less pure and refined and not the other way around. Buddhi cannot hold Universal Being. Kashmir Śaivism explains that when Śiva is reflected by His pure will in the mirror of his freedom (svātantrya), this is the existence of the universe and the existence of individual being. Furthermore, in the theory of the Vedāntins, it is not clearly explained how, if the world were not existing, buddhi, in which Lord Śiva is to be reflected, could exist at all. How could the intellect (buddhi) exist before the existence of the world? Therefore, individual being is the reflection of Lord Śiva in His svātantrya śakti. This is the existence of the universe. The third area of difference between Kashmir Śaivism and Vedānta concerns the essence, the substance, the basis of this universe. Vedānta holds that this universe is untrue, unreal. It does not really exist. It is only the creation of illusion (māyā). Concerning this point, Kashmir Śaivism argues that if Lord Śiva is real, then how could an unreal substance come out from something that is real? If Lord Śiva is real, then His creation is also real. Why should it be said that Lord Śiva is real and His creation is an illusion (māyā)? Kashmir Śaivism explains that the existence of this universe is just as real as the existence of Lord Śiva. As such, it is true, real, pure, and solid. There is nothing at all about it which is unreal. The fourth important difference between Kashmir Śaivism and Vedānta is that Vedānta does not recognize kuṇḍalinī yoga. The Vedāntins say that kuṇḍalinī yoga is meant for those who are treading on the inferior path of yoga. From our Kashmir Śaivite point of view, however, kuṇḍalinī yoga is the most important yoga in this system. Kashmir Śaivism explains that there are three paths of kuṇḍalinī yoga: parā kuṇḍalinī yoga, cit kuṇḍalinī yoga, and prāṇa kuṇḍalinī yoga. Parā kuṇḍalinī yoga is supreme kuṇḍalinī yoga. It is functioned by Lord Śiva with the universal body, not the individual body. Cit kuṇḍalinī yoga is kuṇḍalinī in consciousness. Prāṇa kuṇḍalinī yoga is kuṇḍalinī in breath. The fifth significant difference between Kashmir Śaivism and Vedānta concerns the question of who is fit to practice this monistic teaching. Vedānta holds that this teaching can only be practiced by “worthy people” such as brahmins with “good qualities.” In fact, Śaṁkarācārya holds that Vedānta is meant only for saṁyāsins1 and not others. From the Vedāntic point of view, women and other castes are not allowed to practice the Vedāntic system. This point of view, however, is not recognized by our Kashmir Śaivism. Kashmir Śaivism teaches that this monistic thought can be practiced by anyone, man or woman, without the restriction of caste, creed, or color. In fact, our Śaivism teaches us that this thought can be practiced more fruitfully by women than by men.2 Kashmir Śaivism, therefore, is a universal system, pure, real, and substantial in every respect, which can be practiced by all.

अभिलाषाद्बहिर्गतिः संवाह्यस्य ॥४०॥   abhilāṣādbahirgatiḥ saṁvāhyasya  // 40 //   “. . . by that desire to fulfill his nature of being, he feels there is a gap, it must be filled, and by that desire bahir gatiḥ, his flow and his movement move towards the objective world and not towards the subjective consciousness. Thus, he is carried from one birth to another birth, from one death to another death; he is carried just like a beast.”   Carried by whom? Carried by those energies which have been established, or governed, by the supreme wheel of the energies of God. And those are: Kañcukas – six coverings, kalā, vidyā, rāga, kāla, niyati and māyā; Antaḥkaraṇas – mind, intellect, and ego; Bahiṣkaraṇas – organs of actions and organs of senses; and five . . . Tanmātras – śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, and gandha. And by these he is being carried, from one state to another state, from one life to another life; from one womb he is carried to another womb by and by, thus, he is being carried, he is not the carrier. In brief, he is paśu, just like a ‘beast’, dependent upon his past and future actions. Hence, desire is the mala, desire is the dot, impurity. And that is āṇavamala, which has appeared by perceiving one’s own Self as incomplete. When you perceive yourself as incomplete, that is avidyā, that is ignorance, and that ignorance is āṇavamala. And by that āṇavamala, desire rises in you, and by that desire, bahir gati, you are carried in the outside world, not the internal world of spirituality. Hence, your consciousness is diverted towards worldly pleasures. Kālikākrama Śāstra also says the same thing. “When that ignorance covers that Self by the way of treading on vikalpas [thoughts, impressions], then, he cannot perceive this whole universe beginning from earth to Śiva as one with God consciousness. He does not perceive like that. He perceives differentiatedly, in a differentiated manner.” Then what is the fruit of that? He becomes the object of good and bad. And by becoming the object of good and bad, he experiences in his own nature only pain, and pleasure also [which] he experiences as pain.   When, on the contrary the grace of Lord Śiva is infused in his consciousness – pārameśa śaktipāta vaśa unmiṣitam – and by that infusion when he contemplates and realizes his own nature in the true sense, then he destroys all desires in himself, and he does not move towards the outside world, on the contrary, he is always centered in his own God consciousness. That is what he explains in this next śloka. तदारूढप्रमितेस्तत्क्षयाज्जीव संक्षयः ॥४१॥   tadārūḍhapramitestatkṣayājjīva saṁkṣayaḥ  // 41 //   “That fortunate person whose consciousness is established in his own real nature, all desires vanish in him, so the state of being an individual is finished.” As previously, in previous sūtras, we have explained, that state of turya which is only the state of knower, not known or knowledge – only knower, the state of knower – when, the yogi whose consciousness is established, and fully aware in that supreme God consciousness, then, that desire which seemed to be existing there, that desire vanishes, and jīva bhāva, ‘individuality’ is finished. Then, that state of being aware that, “I am puryaṣṭaka, I am the body, I am organs, I am the mind, intellect and ego,” that state is over. That means, it is appeased, it is śānta. On the contrary, his consciousness shines in cit, in his own nature. In Kālikākrama it is said: “When one is experiencing the dreaming state and he perceives so many dreams, various dreams, various ways of the world of dreams, when he gets out of it, when he enters in wakefulness, then all of those dreams vanish altogether, no dream is existing at all.” In the same way, when a fortunate yogi puts awareness in this way on this objective world of the universe, “that this universe is not the objective world, it is only subjective consciousness, nothing else,” and the more he puts awareness on subjective consciousness, he becomes one with subjective consciousness. So, this imagination also becomes true for him. By and by, by and by, you put your awareness in this imagination that – “this whole universe is nothing but my own Self-nature” – go on meditating on it in continuation and a time will come when you will become one with that God consciousness. That person who is established in his own nature always (nityam), and who is bent upon destroying the sphere of time, he wants to destroy the sphere of time by putting consciousness on the timeless point; and the timeless point is found between two breaths, the timeless point is found between one step and another step, one talk and another talk, one word and another word; in between there is the timeless point. When your consciousness is bent upon finding out that point, then you are said to be kāla grāsa-tatpara, you are bent upon destroying the sphere of time. So, in the near future, there will be no time existing for you. So that yogi is established in that final beatitude of God consciousness, and he achieves that state of nirvāṇa, mokṣa – final liberation. But the question is here: when in this way his individuality is destroyed, individuality is dissolved, he must leave the physical body at that very moment, as soon as that individuality is finished. So how can he say that he is established in God consciousness? So this theory of yours is incorrect! For that, he puts now the answer. भूतकञ्चुकी तदा विमुक्तो भूयः पतिसमः परः ॥४२॥   bhūtakañcukī tadā vimukto bhūyaḥ patisamaḥ paraḥ // 42 //   “He is said to be bhūta kañcukī, these five elements are just like covering for him, and at that moment he is vimukta, ‘absolutely liberated’, and he is patisama, ‘just like Lord Śiva’, and supreme.” And in the course of time when he leaves this physical frame also, he becomes one with Lord Śiva. So, for him, this physical frame is just like a blanket, just like some covering. Not like us, just as we do for our physical body, we insert I-consciousness that, “this is my body, this is me.” I go to some doctor, “Please see my pulse.” But I have no pulse! In fact, if you go into the true sense, I have no pulse – pulse is for the body. I say to the doctor, “See my pulse, I don’t feel well.” But the body is unwell, I am always the same. So this previous sūtra (3.26), in which we have explained, his body is just like that sheath in which we put a sword, like that his body exists. But he does not infuse his I-consciousness in that sheath, i.e., sword is sword and sheath is sheath, separate from it. Hence, when a supreme master reveals to you that supreme [state], from that very moment he is said to be liberated, absolutely liberated, and his remaining portion of his life is just like a yantra, just like a machine. So he is centralized in his God consciousness for eternity afterwards, and his existence of body is just like a machine, nothing else. So, what can we say to that wise person who is established in that supreme brahman only for one second; he becomes liberated, and he liberates the whole universe. In the Netra Tantra also it is said: If one realizes the state of supreme God consciousness only for a fraction of time of – nimeṣa unmeṣa – one twinkling, (i.e., eyes open and shut, that is twinkling), only in that fraction of time if you realize that real state of God consciousness, from that very moment he is said to be liberated, absolutely liberated, he is not to come in this world again. In Kulasāra Śastra also it is said: “O dear Devi, (Sundari, O beautiful Goddess, Devi), it is a wonder how great is the glory and greatness of that real nature of God consciousness. If that real nature of God consciousness travels from one ear to another ear – in sound only, not in actual existence – if that word only travels, that word will absolutely liberate him there and then. This is the greatness of that supreme state of God consciousness.”

"Soft Skies, No Lies" On a rainy day, let the children play All the games inside, come and take a ride We'll be on our way, I won't have to say Find a place to hide, on the countryside Where the soft skies, no lies Blue eyes, what lies? Now I'll have to tell you I think, I think maybe I love you When the sun is down, we can run around On a moonlit night, it'

"Wi$h Li$t"

They want that yacht life under chopper blades
They want those bright lights and Balenci shades
And a fat ass with a baby face
They want it all

They want that complex female character
They want that critical smash Palme d'Or
And an Oscar on their bathroom floor
They want it all

And they should have what they want
They deserve what they want
Hope they get what they want

I just want you
Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world to leave us the fuck alone, and they do
Wow, got me dreaming 'bout a driveway with a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down, got a wish list (Wish list)
I just want you

They want that freedom, living off the grid
They want those three dogs that they call their kids
And that good surf, no hypocrites
They want it all

They want a contract with Real Madrid
They want that spring break that was fuckin' lit
And then that video taken off the internet
They want it all

And they should have what they want
They deserve what they want
I hope they get what they want

I just want you (You, you, yeah)
Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you
We tell the world to leave us the fuck alone, and they do
Wow, got me dreaming 'bout a driveway with a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down, got a wish list (Wish list)

I made wishes on all of the stars
Please, God, bring me a best friend who I think is hot
I thought I had it right once, twice, but I did not (I did not)
You caught me off my guard
I hope I get what I want (Get what I want)
'Cause I know what I want

I just want you, baby
Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you (Got 'em looking like you)
We tell the world to leave us the fuck alone, and they do
Wow, got me dreaming 'bout a driveway with a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down, got a wish list (Wish list)

I just want you
And we could have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you (You)
We tell the world to leave us the fuck alone, and they do (Yeah)
Wow, and now you got me dreaming 'bout a driveway with a basketball hoop
Boss up, settle down, got a wish list (Wish list)
I just want you

"Never Fade"

I think you fell off of your cloud today
You didn't see it coming or did you
You tried to please everybody
But the sweet breeze swept you away

The sun goes down on a good day
Tomorrow is still an unknown
You think you're all alone in this place
I think you're crazy 'cause I still love you baby

Oh don't fade away baby
Blowing in the wind is getting harder to do
Don't count the days as they leave you
Count them as you find a day new
Don't fade away
Never fade

Hard to breathe, nobody knows it's you
Somebody blows your candle out
You wore a mask, now that's broken too
Everybody else was everything to you

The sun goes down on a good day
Tomorrow is still an unknown
You think everybody wants a fight
I think you're crazy 'cause I still love you baby

Oh don't fade away baby
Blowing in the wind is getting harder to do
Don't count the days as they leave you
Count them as you find a day new
Don't fade away
Never fade

I think you fell out of the sky today
I think you know it's true
You've seen the world, now all you see is me
Tell me now baby what are you gonna do

Oh don't fade away baby
Blowing in the wind is getting harder to do
Don't count the days as they leave you
Count them as you find a day new
Don't fade away
Don't fade away
Don't fade away
Never fade

Davey D: Give a little bit of background on yourself. What got you into hip hop?
2Pac: I'm from the Bronx, NY. I moved to Baltimore where I spent some high school years and then I came to Oaktown. As for hip hop...all my travels through these cities seemed to be the common denominator.

Davey D: 2Pac... Is that your given name or is that your rap name?

2Pac: That's my birth name and my rap name.

Davey D: You lived In Marin City for a little while. How was your connection with hip hop able to be maintained while living there? Was there a thriving hip hop scene in Marin City?
2Pac: Not really..You were just given truth to the music. Being in Marin City was like a small town so it taught me to be more straight forward with my style. Instead of of being so metaphorical with the rhyme where i might say something like...
I'm the hysterical, lyrical miracle
I'm the hypothetical, incredible....
I was encouraged to go straight at it and hit it dead on and not waste time trying to cover things...

Davey D:Why was that?

2Pac In Marin City it seemed like things were real country. Everything was straight forward. Poverty was straight forward. There was no way to say I'm poor, but to say 'I'm po'...we had no money and that's what influenced my style.
Davey D: How did you hook up with Digital Underground?

2Pac: I caught the 'D-Flow Shuttle' while I was in Marin City. It was the way out of here. Shock G was the conductor.

Davey D: What's the D-Flow Shuttle?

2Pac:The D-Flow Shuttle is from the album 'Sons of the P' It was the way to escape out of the ghetto. It was the way to success. I haven't gotten off since...
Davey D: Now let's put all that in laymen's terms

2Pac: Basically I bumped into this kid named Greg Jacobs aka Shock G and he hooked me up with Digital Underground and from there I hooked up with Money B... and from there Money B hooked me up with his step mamma... and from there me and his step mamma started making beats...[laughter]
Me and his step mamma got a little thing jumping off. We had a cool sound, but Shock asked me if I wanted a group. I said 'Yeah but I don't wanna group with Money B's step momma 'cause she's gonna try and take all the profits... She wants to go out there and be like the group 'Hoes with Attitude', but I was like 'Naw I wanna be more serious and represent the young black male'.

So Shock says we gotta get rid of Money B's step mamma. So we went to San Quentin [prison] and ditched her in the 'Scared Straight' program...[laughter. After that Shock put me in the studio and it was on..This is a true story so don't say anything.. It's a true story. And to Mon's step mamma I just wanna say 'I'm sorry, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. I'm sorry but it was Shock's idea-Bertha.. but don't worry she can get her half of the profits from the first cut after she finishes doing her jail time. [laughter]

Davey D: What's the concept behind your album 2Pacalypse Now'?
2Pac: The concept is the young Black male. Everybody's been talkin' about it but now it's not important. It's like we just skipped over it.. It's no longer a fad to be down for the young Black male. Everybody wants to go past. Like the gangster stuff, it just got exploited. This was just like back in the days with the movies. Everybody did their little gun shots and their hand grenades and blew up stuff and moved on. Now everybody's doing rap songs with the singing in it.. I'm still down for the young Black male. I'm gonna stay until things get better. So it's all about addressing the problems that we face in everyday society.

Davey D: What are those problems?

2Pac: Police brutality, poverty, unemployment, insufficient education, disunity and violence, black on black crime, teenage pregnancy, crack addiction. Do you want me to go on?

Davey D: How do you address these problems? Are you pointing them out or are you offering solutions?

2Pac: I do both. In some situations I show us having the power and in some situations I show how it's more apt to happen with the police or power structure having the ultimate power. I show both ways. I show how it really happens and I show how I wish it would happen
Davey D: You refer to yourself as the 'Rebel of the Underground' Why so?

2Pac: Cause, as if Digital Underground wasn't diverse enough with enough crazy things in it, I'm even that crazier. I'm the rebel totally going against the grain...I'm the lunatic that everyone refers to. I always want to do the extreme. I want to get as many people looking as possible. For example I would've never done the song 'Kiss U Back' that way.I would've never done a song like that-That's why I'm the rebel.

Davey D: Can talk about your recent encounter with police brutality at the hands of the Oakland PD?

2Pac:We're letting the law do its job. It's making its way through the court system.. We filed a claim...

Davey D:Recount the incident for those who don't know..

2Pac:For everyone who doesn't know, I, an innocent young black male was walking down the streets of Oakland minding my own business and the police department saw fit for me to be trained or snapped back into my place. So they asked for my I-D and sweated me about my name because my name is 'Tupac'. My final words to them was 'f--- y'all' . Next thing I know I was in a choke hold passing out with cuffs on headed for jail for resisting arrest. Yes.. you heard right-I was arrested for resisting arrest.

Davey D:Where is all this now?

2Pac: We're in the midst of having a ten million dollar law suit against the Oakland Police Department. If I win and get the money, then the Oakland Police department is going to buy a boys home, me a house, my family a house and a 'Stop Police Brutality Center' and other little odd things like that..

Davey D:In the video for the song 'Trapped' do you think that would've had the police want to treat you aggressively? After all, the video is very telling especially in the un-edited version where you have a cop get shot.

2Pac: Well the ironic thing is the cops I came across in that incident didn't know about that video. The second thing is that everything I said in that video happened to me. The video happened before the incident. In the video I show how the cops sweat me and ask for my ID and how I can't go anywhere...

Davey D:Let's talk about the movie 'Juice'. How did you get involved? Where's it at? and what's it about?
2Pac: MMM what led me? Well, we have the Freaky Deaky Money B and Sleuth [raod manager for DU]. Money B had an audition for the movie Sleuth [road manager] suggested I also come along so I went. Money B read the script and said to me' this sounds like you- a rebel. he was talking about this character named Bishop. I went in cold turkey, read, God was with me...

Davey D:Have you ever had acting experience before?

2Pac: Actually I went to the school of Performing arts in Baltimore and that's where I got my acting skills.

Davey D:Ok so you weren't a novice when you went up there... So what's the movie about?

2Pac:The movie is about 4 kids and their coming of age.

Davey D:Is it a Hip Hop movie?

2Pac:No, it's not a hip hop movie. It's a real good movie that happens to have hip hop in it. If it was made in the 60s it would've depicted whatever was 'down' in the 60s...My character is Roland Bishop, a psychotic, insecure very violent, very short tempered individual.

Davey D:What's the message you hope is gotten out of the movie?
2Pac: You never know what's going on in somebody's mind. There are a lot of things that add up. There's a lot of pressure on someone growing up. You have to watch it if it goes unchecked. This movie was an example of what can happen...

Davey D:Can you explain what you mean by this?
2Pac:In the movie my character's, father was a prison whore and that was something that drove him through the whole movie...

Davey D: This was something that wasn't shown in the movie?

2Pac: Yes, they deleted this from the film. Anyway this just wrecked his [Bishop's] mind. You can see through everybody else's personality, Bishop just wanted to get respect. He wanted the respect that his father didn't get. Everthing he did, he did just to get a rep. So from those problems never being dealt with led to him ending four people's lives.

Davey D:Do you intend on continuing making movies?

2Pac: It depends on whether or not there are any good parts. I want to challenge myself.

Davey D:What is your philosophy on hip hop? I've heard you say you don't to see it diluted?

2Pac: Well when I said that, it made me think. It brought me to myself. Now I have a different philosophy. Hip Hop when it started it was supposed to be this new thing that had no boundaries and was so different to everyday music. Now it seems like I was starting to get caught up in the mode of what made hip hop come about. I would walk around and hear something and start saying 'That's not Hip Hop'. If someone started singing, I would walk around and say 'That's not Hip Hop'. Well, now I've changed my mind. That could be Hip Hop.As long as the music has the true to the heart soul it can be hip hop. As long it has soul to it, hip hop can live on.

Davey D:I guess my question would be, how do you determine what's soul and what isn't?

2Pac: Well you can tell. The difference between a hit like 'Make You Dance' [C&C Music Factory] and 'My Mind Is Playing Tricks On Me' [Geto Boys]. You have to ask yourself, 'Which song moves you'.

Davey D: Well actually both. Both songs move me

2Pac: Really? well... ok there you go

Davey D:So they both would be Hip Hop, right?

2Pac:I guess so, at least in your opinion. 'The Make You Dance' song didn't move me. But the Geto Boys song did move me

Davey D:Well for the record Bambaataa says both of them are Hip Hop. I asked him what he thought about groups like C&C Music Factory. He said they were part of the Hip Hop family...But that's his philosophy on things. So what's your plans for the next year or so?

2Pac: To strengthen the Underground Railroad. I have a crew called the Underground Railroad and a program called the Underground Railroad...I wanna build all this up, so that by next year you will know the name Underground Railroad...

Davey D:So what's the concept behind The Underground Railroad?

2Pac:The concept behind this is the same concept behind Harriet Tubman, to get my brothers who might be into drug dealing or whatever it is thats illegal or who are disenfranchised by today's society-I want to get them back into by turning them onto music. It could be R&B, hip hop or pop, as long as I can get them involved. While I'm doing that, I'm teaching them to find a love for themselves so they can love others and do the same thing we did for them to others.
Davey D: How many people in the Underground Railroad? Is it a group that intends to keep constantly evolving? Also where are the people who are a part of Underground Railroad coming from?

2Pac: Right now we're twenty strong. The group is going to be one that constantly evolves. The people that are in the UR are coming from all over, Baltimore, Marin City, Oakland, New York, Richmond-all over.
Davey D: What do you think of the Bay Area rap scene compared to other parts of the country?

2Pac: Right now the Bay Area is how the Bronx was in 1981. Everybody is hot. They caught the bug. Everybody is trying to be creative and make their own claim. New York just got to a point where you could no longer out due the next guy. So now you have this place where there isn't that many people to out due. Here you can do something and if it's good enough people will remember you. So that's what's happening. here in the Bay Area, it's like a renaissance.

Davey D: In New York the renaissance era got stopped for a number of reasons in my opinion. What do you think will prevent that from happening in the Bay Area?

2Pac: Well at the risk of sounding biased, I say Digital Underground. They are like any other group. I'll give that to Shock G. He made it so that everything Digital Underground does it helps the Bay Area music scene. It grows and goes to New York and hits people from all over the country. That helps the Bay Area. Our scene is starting to rub off on people. We want everyone to know about Oakland. When other groups come down, like Organized Konfusion or Live Squad and they kick it with Digital Underground, they get to see another side of the Bay Area music scene.It's a different side then if they kicked it with that guy... I don't wanna say his name, but you know who he is he dropped the 'MC' from his name [MC Hammer].

Davey D: So you think Digital Underground will be more strength to the Bay Area rap scene because they help bring national attention. What do you think other groups will have to do?

2Pac: What we have to do is not concentrate so much on one group. We have to focus more on the area. It's not about just building up Too Short, Digital Underground and Tony Toni Tone and say; 'That's it. They're the only groups that can come from the Bay Area'. We have to let the new groups come out. Nobody wants to give the new acts a chance. Everybody wants to only talk about Too Short and Digital Underground...We have to start talking about these other groups that are trying to come in that are coming up from the bottom.

Davey D: When you say 'come up' what do you mean by that?

2Pac: It's like this. Instead of letting them do interviews where nobody ever reads them, let a good newspaper interview them. Instead of putting them on the radio when nobody is ever going to hear them or where nobody is going to hear them, have them where people can hear them and get at them where they had a better chance, just like if they were Mariah Carey.

Davey D: Do you find the Bay Area sound is being respected? Do you find that people are starting to accept it around the country?

2Pac: I feel that the Bay Area sound hasn't even finished coming out. It's starting to get respected more and more everyday.

Davey D: Your brother Moecedes is a rapper for the group Tony Toni Tone. What's the story with him? Are you guys gonna team up?

2Pac: He's in the Underground Railroad. He's also about to come out with another guy named Dana.

Davey D: Who produced your album and are you into producing

2Pac: I co-produced it with the members of the Underground Railroad which is Shock G, Money B, Raw Fusion, Pee Wee, Jay-Z from Richmond, Stretch from the Live Squad. It's really like a life thing-this Underground Railroad. It effects everything we do.

Davey D:Is there anything else we should know about Tupac?
2Pac: Yeah, the group Nothing Gold is coming. My kids are coming out with a serious message...NG is a group coming out that I produce.. All the stuff I say in my rhymes I say because of how I grew up. So to handle that, instead of going to a pyschiatrist, I got a kids group that deals with the problems a younger generation is going through. They put them into rhymes so it's like a pyschology session set to music. It'll make you come to grips with what you actually do..

Davey D: What do you mean by that? Are they preaching?

2Pac: No they're just telling you straight up like Ice Cube or Scarface. They're being blunt and it comes out of akid's mouth. If you're a black man, you're going to really trip out cause they really call you out and have you deal with them...NG will make us have responsibility again. Kids are telling you to have responsibility...
Davey D: What do you think of the current trends in Hip Hop like the gangsta rap, Afrocentric Rap, raggamuffin and the fusion of the singing and rap? Some people call it 'pop rap'.

2Pac: I think all the real shit is gonna stay. It's gonna go through some changes. It's going through a metaphorphis so it will blow up sometimes and get real nasty and gritty, then the leeches will fall off and Hip Hop will be fit and healthy. Hip Hop has to go through all of that, but no one can make judgments until it's over.

Davey D: What do you think the biggest enemies to Hip Hop are right now?

2Pac: Egotistical rappers. They don't wanna open up their brain. Its foul when people are walking around saying things like; 'Oakland is the only place where the real rappers come out. New York is the only place where the real rappers come out. They booty out there or they booty over there...' All of that just needs to die or Hip Hop is gonna have problems. Its gonna be so immature. Thats just conflict in words. We can't be immature we gotta grow.

Davey D: Cool I think we got enough out of you 2Pac.

2Pac: yes I think you got enough

Davey D: Peace.

"2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted"
(feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg)

[2Pac:]
Up out of there
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
Eh, light that up, Snoop! Why you actin like that?
Ah shit, you done fucked up now
(Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party)
You done put two of America's most wanted in the same motherfuckin' place at the same motherfuckin' time
(Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party)
Y'all niggas about to feel this
(Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party)
Break out the Champagne glasses and the motherfuckin' condoms, have one on us, a'ight?
(Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party)

[Snoop Dogg:]
A toast to the gangsters

[2Pac:]
Picture perfect, I paint a perfect picture
Bomb the hoochies with precision
My intention's to get richer
With the S-N double-O-P, Dogg, my fuckin' homie
You's a cold-ass nigga on them hogs

[Snoop Dogg:]
Sho 'nuff, I keep my hand on my gun
'Cause they got me on the run
Now I'm back in the courtroom, waitin' on the outcome
"Free 2Pac" is all that's on a nigga's mind
But at the same time, it seems they tryin' to take mine
So I'ma get smart and get defensive and shit
And put together a Million March for some gangsta shit

[2Pac:]
So now they got us laced
Two multi-millionaire motherfuckers catchin' cases
Bitches get ready for the throw down
The shit's about to go down
Me and Snoop about to clown
I'm losin' my religion
I'm vicious on these stool pigeons
You might be deep in this game, but you got the rules missin'
Niggas be actin' like they savage
They out to get the cabbage
I've got nothin' but love for my niggas livin' lavish

[Snoop Dogg:]
I've got a pit named Petey, she Nigerina
I've got a house out in the hills right next to Chino
And I think I've got a black Bimmer
But my dream's to own a fly casino
Like Bugsy Siegel, and do it all legal
And get scooped up by the little homie in the Regal
It feels good to you, baby-bubba
You see, this is for the G's and the keys, motherfucker

[2Pac:]
Now follow as we ride
Motherfuck the rest, two of the best from the West side
And I can make you famous
Niggas been dyin' for years, so how could they blame us?
I live in fear of a felony
I never stop bailin' these motherfuckin' G's
If you got it, better flaunt it
Another warrant for two of America's most wanted

[Daz Dillinger (2Pac):]
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
(Nothin' but a gangsta party)
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
(Nothin' but a gangsta party
Ain't nothin' but a motherfuckin' gangsta party)
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
(Nothin' but a gangsta party
Ain't nothin' but a motherfuckin' gangsta party)
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party

[2Pac:]
Now give me fifty feet
Defeat is not my destiny, release me to the streets
And keep whatever's left of me
Jealousy is misery, sufferin' is grief
Better be prepared when you cowards fuck with me
I bust and flee, these niggas must be crazy, what?
There ain't no mercy, motherfuckers who can't fade the thugs
You thought it was, but it wasn't, now disappear
Bow down in the presence of a boss player

[Snoop Dogg:]
It's like Cuz/Blood gang-bangin'
Everybody in the party doin' dope-slangin'
You gotta have papers in this world
You might get your first snatch before your eyes swirl
You doin' your job every day
And then you work so hard 'til your hair turns gray
Let me tell you about life and about the way it is
You see, we live by the gun, so we die by the guns, kids

[2Pac:]
They tell me not to roll with my glock
So now I got a throw-away
Floatin' in the black Benz, tryin' to do a show a day
They wonder how I live with five shots
Niggas is hard to kill on my block
Schemes for currency and dough-related
Affiliated with the hustlers, so we made it
No answers to questions, I'm tryin' to get up on it
My nigga Dogg with me, eternally the most wanted

[Daz Dillinger (2Pac):]
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
(Nothin' but a gangsta party
It ain't nothin' but a motherfuckin' gangsta party)
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
(Nothin' but a gangsta party
It ain't nothin' but a motherfuckin' gangsta party)
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
(Nothin' but a gangsta party
It ain't nothin' but a motherfuckin' gangsta party)
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
(Nothin' but a gangsta party
It ain't nothin' but a motherfuckin' gangsta party)
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party

[2Pac:]
Biatch! Where you at? Where you at?
Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party
Yeah, Death Row

James Franco seems to be everywhere these day in all kinds of different guises. He is a movie star, soap-opera actor, author, director, Yale PhD student, drag model, performance artist, 2011 Best Actor Oscar nominee. Yet even with this eclecticism, the 32-year-old's casting as Allen Ginsberg - the gay Jewish Beat poet who helped lay the foundation for '60s counterculture in America - appears at first glance to be somewhat counter-intuitive.

Franco, who broke through internationally playing Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, admits that he was surprised when the director Gus Van Sant handed him a screenplay for the film Howl, by writer/directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (makers of The Celluloid Closet, an acclaimed documentary about Hollywood's treatment of homosexuality on film).

He had actually been a fan of the Beat generation ever since friends at his high school in Palo Alto, California, turned him on to them at age 15. "When I started acting, I thought it would be great to do a movie about them," he says.

However, Franco always imagined himself playing one of the hipper Beats, like Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road, or his womanising buddy, Neal Cassady. "I never, ever thought I would play Allen Ginsberg . . . I was very, very surprised. And very interested. But I think I had a moment where I just had to consider, 'Okay, I'm very honoured. But can I do it? Am I really the right person?'"

Franco had good reason to wonder. Photographs of Ginsberg from around the mid-'50s period during which Howl is set, reveal a nerdy-looking figure in thick-rimmed glasses, while the actor has the kind of matinee idol looks that have recently seen him cast as Julia Roberts' love interest in Eat Pray Love, and as the face of Gucci men's fragrance line. You could, arguably, imagine the young Woody Allen as Ginsberg, but Franco?

Snapshot
Born: April 19, 1978
Early life: Franco grew up in California with his parents Douclas and Betsy. He dropped out of UCLA to pursue acting.
Career: His first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes in 2000 and he won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of James Dean in 2001. He has been nominated for an Oscar for 127 Hours
Personal life: Franco has been in a relationship with actress Ahna O’Reilly since 2006
Coincidentally, at the same time as he received the script, Franco was hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time. Their make-up department had just won an Emmy, he says, "so I brought in a picture of Allen Ginsberg and I said, 'If I were going to do a sketch about Ginsberg on your show, how would you make me look like this?' And they said, 'Well, it wouldn't be that hard. We would just comb your hair in a certain way and give you the right glasses. Your colouring is very similar, it's just the nose is a little different and his ears stick out a little more than your ears. So we'd push that a little bit, maybe.' And they were right." He told Epstein and Friedman. "They liked the ears idea. At first we just used putty and then they made some prosthetics" and the process started.

The film revolves around the obscenity trial in America that resulted from the publication of Ginsberg's groundbreaking epic poem, Howl - a celebration of the Beats and an anguished, rebellious fusillade of frankness in the face of repressive attitudes towards homosexuality, among other things, and the forces that alienate people from themselves. The film gives us versions of the poet before and after the poem was written, as well as recreating its first reading at Six Gallery on Fillmore Street, San Francisco, in 1955. Beautifully drawn animated sequences visualise Franco/Ginsberg's words in sequences which, the film's makers acknowledge, offer just one version of the poem's meaning.

Writing Howl was an act of liberation for Ginsberg, who growing up was, as Forward.com's Jay Michaelson put it, "the Jewish Every-teen, a middle-class boy in New Jersey indistinguishable from thousands of others like him". His plan upon enrolling at New York's Columbia University was to become a lawyer. The Ginsberg of the pre-Howl flashbacks in the film is therefore different to the one giving the reading, and the one being interviewed by a journalist in 1957.

"After doing research about his young life," says Franco, who listened to every reading of Howl he could find, "and everything he went through up until the publication of Howl, he was a very confused and insecure young man.

"He was growing up in the '40s and '50s. He was gay, there were no real public role models around for that kind of lifestyle, and in addition to that there were extreme societal pressures; people were being treated in institutions for being gay. He was expelled from Columbia in part for being gay [he slept with Kerouac], and it must have been very, very hard for him."

By eliding the line between the public and the private self in Howl, Ginsberg freed himself; he became more comfortable in his own skin and more confident.

If the poet's Jewishness set him slightly apart from the other Beats, who occasionally mentioned it, Ginsberg himself did not really address the topic in his work until later, in poems such as Yiddishe Kopf and Kaddish, the latter written for his mother, Naomi, who died in a mental institution and was denied a reading of the Kaddish at her funeral for want of a minyan. As for Franco, though his mother, Betsy, was Jewish, his upbringing was largely secular.

"I do feel like I missed out on the Jewish experience," he told Amy Raphael in 2009. "My Jewish friends tell me not to worry… but I like the idea of religion as a source of community."

That same year, Franco experienced a spoof barmitzvah when he was voted Man of the Year by Harvard University's venerable Hasty Pudding theatrical company (think a kind of American Cambridge Footlights). The fake ceremony reportedly featured a Rabbi Spider-Man and Yentl Express dancers who danced in drag to Havah Nagila.

"I don't know if this counts in rabbinical law," Franco quipped, "but if it doesn't, I do plan to have a barmitzvah."

In the meantime, he has another ceremony to think about: on February 27, he will co-host the Oscars with Anne Hathaway, putting him in the unusual position of being both a compère and a nominee for his performance as Aron Ralston, the outdoorsman who escaped from a canyon by cutting his arm off, in 127 Hours.

Whether he will also add Oscar winner to his other roles that night, only time will tell.

Howl opens today.

February 2003—At this point Franco’s still seems like a pretty normal guy. Sure, he’s mid-way through a very successful superhero franchise and is being interviewed by people like Nicolas Cage for Interview, but he hasn’t yet gone back to UCLA to complete his BA. He’s just another run-of-the-mill really, really good looking, college dropout actor.

NICOLAS CAGE: When did you first discover James Dean?

FRANCO: I was aware of him in high school. He still seemed so alive. He was so relevant to us, as teenagers. Then, when I started taking acting seriously, I looked at him more from a student’s perspective.

NICOLAS CAGE: Describe a scenario where you wake up in the morning and you decide you’re not going to act, paint, or anything. You’re just going to relax. How would you do it?

JAMES FRANCO: Never. It’s impossibility. I don’t even like to sleep—I feel as if there’s too much to do.

February 2006—Franco will soon be back at UCLA. For now, he’s trying his hand at big-budget leading men such as Tristan in Tristan & Isolde. Here Franco talks to his former on-screen father, Willem Dafoe, about acting:

WILLAM DAFOE: You seem to inhabit roles really well. What do you find you need to get started?

JAMES FRANCO: I want to make the performance as realistic as possible, unless there’s some strange requirement. Now most of the time that means research, because it’s something like boxing or sword-fighting or doing an accent or playing a pilot.

DAFOE: The cool part of being an actor, right?

FRANCO: Yeah, I got my pilots license, and I got to see what boxing is like and all that stuff. Taking those steps is what gives me the confidence to say, “Okay. I can play this role,” as well as the confidence to fall on my face. But I also feel like there are some roles that don’t need that.

DAFOE: Baby you are my son! [both laugh] I’m agreeing with you.

FRANCO: When I was starting out, doing guest spots on TV, and even commercials, I would go in with a whole crazy wardrobe and some terrible accent. Obviously I was doing too much. If you bring to much flavor to it, it’s absurd. There’s something to just being spontaneous.

October 2008—Francophrenia (the phenomenon, not the film) is spreading and James is beginning to diversify his film and educational pursuits. Step one—landing himself a plum part in a Gus Van Sant’s Milk. Franco and his director discuss other iconic figure pop-culture figures River Phoenix, Andy Warhol and Zac Efron; and improvisation:

JAMES FRANCO: You were going to do a movie with River [Phoenix] about Andy Warhol, right?

GUS VAN SANT: Yeah. River kind of looked like Andy in his younger days. But that project never really went forward. I wanted to set it at Serendipity, the restaurant where all of the art directors and advertising guys and gallery people went.

JAMES FRANCO: The first piece of art I ever bought—when I could afford it—was a Warhol sketch from the period when he was just getting out of doing commercial work and more into art. It’s a sketch of a young guy’s face. I guess the gallery that I bought it from thought I would like it because the young guy kind of looked like James Dean. I don’t know. But I liked it because it was unusual for Warhol. It was kind of before the silk screens or anything that is really recognizable—it’s almost like a fashion drawing, but it’s a portrait.

FRANCO: I just played a stoner in Pineapple Express, and I don’t really smoke weed anymore, so everyone says, “Oh, you looked really high in the movie. How did you do that?” And I say, “Oh, I just pretend the wind is in my eyes.”

VAN SANT: So we haven’t talked about Zac yet.

FRANCO: What is Zac?

VAN SANT: Zac Efron.

FRANCO: Oh. Well, yeah, we can talk about Zac.

VAN SANT: Where did you see him?

FRANCO: I met him for the first time backstage at the MTV Movie Awards. Lucas Grabeel, who is in Milk, is also in High School Musical [2006] with Zac Efron, and so we had been talking about High School Musical a lot. I hadn’t seen it, but my girlfriend was a big fan of the movie—I don’t know why. She was like, “You’ve got to watch it.” And I was like, “All right, I’ll watch it because Lucas is in it.” So I watched it, and I guess I could kind of see the appeal. Some of the songs are kind of catchy. There’s one where Zac is playing basketball, but it’s also like a musical number . . . I don’t know. [laughs] I remember we were all sitting around on the set of Milk and I said, “I saw High School Musical.” I said it like I had never sounded so interested in anything before. Then I think you said that you had tried to get Zac for a small role in Milk.

VAN SANT: Yeah. The pizza guy. He never had time.

FRANCO: Right. So then when I saw him at the MTV Movie Awards, I was like, “Hey, man. Good to meet you, Zac. I really like the movie, and I just worked with Gus, and he tried to get you in his movie.” And Zac was like, “Yeah, yeah. It just didn’t work out.” And I was like, “Well, you should really do a movie with Gus. I think it would be a good contrast to your other stuff.” He’s like, “Yeah, maybe.” And then I was walking away to go back to my seat, and he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “We should do it together, man.” And he, like, gave me a high five. He was really the nicest guy.

VAN SANT: Yeah. He is really nice. We should all do a Judd Apatow movie. You and Zac and me.

FRANCO: Yeah. You should do a movie that Judd produces, and we’ll do it with Zac. What do you think?

VAN SANT: Keep your eyes open for it.

FRANCO: What kind of movie do you think it could be?

VAN SANT: I’ll have to think about that one.

FRANCO: If you have an idea and it’s like me and Zac playing basketball or delivering pizzas or whatever, I’m in.

VAN SANT: So the lines that were written in the script for Pineapple Express-were they basically what we were seeing on the screen?

FRANCO: Oh, no.

GUS VAN SANT: So in that movie, you’re improvising a stoner as well as just pretending there’s wind in your eyes.

FRANCO : Yeah, well, I don’t actually use the wind in my eyes—I just rub my eyes a bit and talk slowly or something. When Seth [Rogan] and me were doing interviews for the movie, everybody would ask us if we were smoking real weed when we were filming. And basically we’d say, “Did you ever see Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke? That’s what happens if you really smoke weed and make a movie. You get two guys and no plot and it’s basically like, ‘Yeah! Let’s drive a van made of weed!’ ” And that’s pretty much the movie.

FRANCO: Freaks and Geeks was TV, so there were lines you had to say. There was a little improvisation, but nothing like what Judd [Apatow] and those guys do in their movies now. I think I would try and improvise more than anybody on that show. When we were doing Freaks and Geeks, I didn’t quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn’t on me. I thought I was helping the other actors by keeping them on their toes, but nobody appreciated it when I would trip them up. So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way. [laughs]

April 2012—the present day. The apex of Francophrenia? We have no idea. It’s hard to imagine Franco becoming more intriguing to the public. Here, we ask Franco about his most recent experiment, Francophrenia

MICHELLE LHOOQ: People might say that you’re pulling a Joaquin Phoenix with this, except Joaquin took his performative madness even further by bringing it on Letterman. Did you ever think about extending your act beyond General Hospital?

JAMES FRANCO: I think the impulses that have pushed me to do the projects I’ve done for the last five years are maybe similar to what inspired Joaquin to make that mockumentary. In the early part of that movie, he has this little speech, “I hate being an actor, they dress you and put on your makeup and you just feel like a little baby.” And I think that’s something a lot of actors feel. You work really hard to make it, and maybe you get some acclaim, but then you realize there are certain limitations as an actor. Generally you don’t initiate the projects—they’re designed and you’re inserted. Your material is edited by somebody. You feel a lack of power over your work.

LW: Will you please state your full name?
AG: Allen Ginsberg.
LW: What is your Occupation?
AG: Poet.
LW: Have you authored any books in the field of poetry?
AG: In 1956, Howl and other Poems; in 1960, Kaddish and other poems; in 1963, Empty Mirror; in 1963, Reality Sandwiches, and in 1969, Planet News.
LW: Now, in addition to your writing, Mr. Ginsberg, are you presently engaged in any other activity?
AG: I teach, lecture, and recite poetry at universities.
LW: Now, did you ever study abroad?
AG: Yes. In India and Japan.
LW: Could you indicate for the court and jury what the area of your studies consisted of?
AG: Mantra yoga, meditation exercises and sitting quietly, breathing exercises to calm the body and calm the mind, but mainly a branch called mantra yoga, which is yoga which involved prayer and chanting.
LW: How long did you study?
AG: I was in India for a year and a third, and then in Japan studying with Gary Snyder, a Zen poet, at Daitoku-ji monastery, D-A-I T-O-K-U-J-I. I sat there for the zazen exercises for centering the body and quieting the mind.
LW: Are you still studying under any of your former teachers?
AG: Yes, Swami Bahktivedanta – faith, philosophy – Bhakti Vedanta, B-A-H-K-T-I V-E-D-A-N-T-A. I have seen him and chanted within the last few years in different cities, and he has asked me to continue chanting, especially on public occasions. This involves chanting and praying, praying out loud and in community.
LW: In the course of a mantra chant, is there any particular position that the person doing that assumes?
AG: Any position which will let the stomach relax and be easy, fall out, so that aspiration can be deep into the body, to relax the body completely and calm the mind, based as cross-legged,
LW: And is it – chanting -to be done privately, or is it in public?
Thomas Foran (prosecutor): Oh, your Honor, I object. I think we have gone far enough now..
Judge (Julius Hoffman): I think I have a vague idea now of the witness’ profession. It is vague.
TF: I think I might also indicate that he is an excellent speller.
AG: : Sir,,
Judge: Yes, sir.
AG: In India, the profession of’ poetry and the profession of chanting are linked together as one practice.
Judge: That’s right, I give you credit for that.

Allen Ginsberg & Jerry Rubin – Photo: Larry Sloman
LW: Mr. Ginsberg, do you know the defendant Jerry Rubin?
AG: Yes, I do.
LW: Do you recall where it was that you first met him?
AG: : In Berkeley and San Francisco in 1965 during the time of the anti-Vietnam war marches in Berkeley. I saw him again at the Human Be-in in San Francisco. We shared the stage with many other people.
LW: Would you describe for the Court and jury what the “Be-in” in San Francisco was?
AG: A large assembly of younger people who came together to…
TF: Objection, your Honor.
Judge: Just a minutes I am not sure how you spell the “be-in”.
LW: B-E I-N, I believe – “be-in”.
AG: Human be-in.
Judge: I really can’t pass on the validity of the objection because I don’t understand the question.
LW: I asked him to explain what a “be-in” was.
TF: I would love to know also but I don’t think it has anything to do with this lawsuit.
Judge: I will over the objection of the Government, tell what a “be-in” is.
AG: A gathering-together of younger people aware of the planetary fate that we are all sitting in the middle of, imbued with a new consciousness, a new kind of society involving prayer, music, and spiritual life together rather than competition, acquisition and war.

LW: And was that the activity that was engaged in in San Francisco at this “be-in”?
AG: There was what was called a “gathering of the tribes” of all the different affinity groups, spiritual groups, political group, yoga groups, music groups and poetry groups that all felt the same crisis of identity crisis of the planet and political crisis in America, who all came together in the largest assemblage of such younger people that had taken place since the war, in the presence of the Zen master Suzuki, and in the presence of the rock bands, and the presence of Timothy Leary and Mr. Rubin.
LW: Now, later on in the year of 1967 did you have occasion to meet again with the defendant Jerry Rubin?
AG: Yes, we met in a cafe in Berkeley and discussed his mayoral race for the city of Berkeley. He had run for mayor.
LW: Did you have any participation in that campaign?
AG:: I encouraged it, blessed it.
LW: Now, do you know the defendant Abbie Hoffman?

Abbie Hoffman (1982 at Naropa) – photo (c) Lance Gurwell
AG: Yes.
LW: Now, calling your attention to the month of February 1968, did you have any occasion in that month to meet with Abbie Hoffman?
AG: Yeah.
LW: Do you recall what Mr. Hoffman said in the course of the conversation.
AG: Yippee.. among other things.. He said that politics had become theater and magic, that it was the manipulation of imagery through mass media that was confusing and hypnotizing the people in the United States and making them accept a war which they did not really believe in, that people were involved in a life style that was intolerable to young folks, which involved brutality and police violence as well as a larger violence in Vietnam, and that ourselves might be able to get together in Chicago and invite teachers to present different ideas of what is wrong with the planet, what we can do to solve the pollution crisis, what we can do to solve the Vietnam war, to present different ideas for making the society more sacred and less commercial, less materialistic, what we could do to uplevel or improve the whole tone of the trap that we all felt ourselves in as the population grew and as politics became more and more violent and chaotic.
LW: Now, did he ascribe any particular name to that project?
AG: Festival of Life.
LW After he spoke to you, what, if anything, was your response to suggestion?
AG: I was worried whether or not the whole scene would get violent. I was worried whether we would be allowed to put on such a situation allowed to put.. I was worried, you know, whether the government would let us do something that was funnier or prettier or more charming than what was going to be going on in the Convention hall.

TF: I object and ask that it be stricken. It was not responsive.
Judge: Yes. I sustain the objection.
AG: Sir, that was our conversation,
LW: Now, during that same month, February of 1968, did you have occasion to meet with Jerry Rubin?
AG: I spoke with Jerry Rubin on the phone, I believe.
LW: Will you relate to the Court and jury what Jerry Rubin said to you?
AG: Jerry told me that he and others were going to Chicago to apply for permission from the city government for a permit to hold a Festival of Life and that he was talking with John Sinclair about getting rock and roll bands together and other musicians and that he would report back to me.
LW: Mr. Ginsberg, do you recall anything else that Mr. Rubin said to you in the course of that telephone conversation?
AG:: Yes, he said that he thought it would be interesting if we could get up little schools like ecology schools, music schools, political schools, schools about the Vietnam war, schools with yogis.
He asked if I could contact (William) Burroughs and ask Burroughs to come to teach non-verbal, non-conceptual feeling states.
LW: Now you indicated a school of ecology. Could you explain to the Court and jury what that is?
AG: Ecology is the interrelation of all the living forms on the surface of the planet involving the food chain—that is to say, whales eat plankton: larger fishes eat smaller fish, octopus or squid eat shellfish which eat plankton; human beings eat the shellfish or squid or smaller fish which eat the smaller tiny microorganisms
TF: That is enough, your Honor.
Judge: Yes. We all have a clear idea of what ecology is.
AG: Well, the destruction of ecology is what would have been taught. That is, how it is being destroyed by human intervention and messing it up with pollution.
LW: Now you also indicated that Mr. Rubin mentioned nonverbal education. Will you explain what that is to the Court and jury?
AG Most of our consciousness, since we are continually looking at images on television and listening to words, reading newspapers, talking in courts such as this, most of our consciousness is filled with language, with a kind of matter babble behind the ear, a continuous yakety-yak that actually prevents us from breathing deeply in our bodies and sensing more subtly and sweetly the feelings that we actually do have as persons to each other rather than as talking machines.
LW: Now, Mr. Ginsberg, on March 17, where were you?
AG: I took part in a press conference fit the Hotel Americana in New York City.
LW: Who else was present fit this press conference?
AG: Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin were there as well as Phil Ochs, the folk singer, Arlo Guthrie, some members of the USA band, some members of the Diggers groups.
LW: Could you indicate to the Court and jury what Jerry Rubin said?
AG: He said that a lot of younger people in America would come to Chicago during the Convention and hold a Festival of Life in the parks, and he announced that they were negotiating with the City Hall to get a permit to have a life festival in the parks.
LW: Do you recall what Abbie Hoffman said?
AG: He said that they were going to go to Chicago in groups to negotiate with representatives of Mayor Daley to get a permit for a large-scale Gathering of the Tribes and he mentioned the human be-in in San Francisco.
LW: Did you yourself participate in that press conference?
AG: Yes. I stepped to the microphone also. My statement was that the planet Earth at the present moment was endangered by violence, overpopulation, pollution, ecological destruction brought about by our own greed; that our younger children in America and other countries of the world might not survive the next thirty years; that it was a planetary crisis that had not been recognized by any government of the world and had not been recognized by our own government, nor the politicians who were preparing for the elections; that the younger people of America were aware of that and that precisely was what was called psychedelic consciousness; that we were going to gather together as we had before in the San Francisco human be-in to manifest our presence over and above the presence of the more selfish elder politicians who were not thinking in terms of what their children would need in future generations, or even ill the generation immediately coming, or even for themselves in their own lifetime and were continuing to threaten the planet with violence, with war, with mass murder, with germ warfare. And since the younger people knew that in the United States, we are going to invite them there, find that the central motive would be a presentation of a desire for the preservation of the planet. The desire for preservation of the planet and the planet’s form was manifested to my mind by the great mantra from India to the preserver god Vishnu whose mantra is the Hare Krishna. And then I chanted the Hare Krishna for ten minutes to the television cameras, and it goes:
Hare krishna/hare krishna/krishna krishna/hare hare/hare rama/hare rama/rama rama/hare hare.

LW: Now in chanting that did you have all accompaniment of any particular instrument?
( laughter)
LW: Your Honor, I object to the laughter of the Court on this. I think this is a serious presentation of a religious concept.
Judge: I don’t understand. I don’t understand it because it was… the language of the United States District Court is English.
William Kunstler (defence attorney) : I know, but you don’t laugh at all languages.
Judge: I didn’t laugh. I didn’t laugh.
AG: I would be happy to explain it.
Judge: I didn’t laugh at all. I wish I could tell you how I feel. (laughter) …I didn’t even smile.
Laugh—I didn’t even smile.
WK: Well, I thought—
Judge: All I could tell you is that I didn’t understand it because whatever language the witness is using..
AG: Sanskrit, sir.
Judge: Well, that is one I don’t know. That is the reason I didn’t understand it.
AG: Might we go on to in explanation?
Judge: Will you keep quiet, Mr. Witness, while I am talking to the lawyers?
AG: I will be glad to give an explanation.
Judge: I never laugh at a witness, sir. I protect witnesses who come to this court. But I do tell you that the language of the American court is English unless you have all interpreter. You may use an interpreter for the remainder of the witness’ testimony.
WK: No. I have heard, Your Honor, priests explain the mass in Latin in American courts and I think Mr. Ginsberg is doing exactly the same thing in Sanskrit for another type of religious experience.
Judge: I don’t understand Sanskrit. I venture to say the jury members don’t. Perhaps we have some people on the jury who do understand Sanskrit, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t even have known it was Sanskrit until he told me. I can’t see that that is material to the issues here, that is all.
LW: Let me ask this: Mr. Ginsberg, I show you an object marked 150 for identification, and I ask you to examine that object.
AG Yes.
[Allen “identifies” the object (a harmonium) by playing it]
TF: All right. Your Honor, that is enough. I object to it, your Honor. I think it is outrageous for counsel to..
Judge: You asked him to examine it find instead of that he played a tune on it. I sustain the objection.
AG: It adds spirituality to the case, sir.
Judge: Will you remain quiet, sir.
AG: I am sorry.
LW: Having examined that, could you identify it for the court and jury?
AG: It is an instrument known is the harmonium, which I used at the press conference at the Americana Hotel. It is commonly used in India.

Allen Ginsberg’s harmonium
TF: I object to that.
Judge: I sustain the objection.
LW: Will you explain to the Court and to the jury what chant you were chanting at the press conference?
AG: I was chanting a mantra called the “mala mantra,” the great mantra of preservation of that aspect of the Indian religion called Vishnu the Preserver. Every time human evil rises so high that the planet itself is threatened, and all of its inhabitants and their children are threatened, Vishnu will preserve a return.

President Trump: Well, thank you very much, everybody. I just want to say, His Highness is a warrior. He was in there fighting, and he does what has to be done and he's known for it. He's a courageous man he's got a great country. It's a fantastic country. And they've been with the United States for a long time, but I would say much -- much more so since I came on board, I will say.
And they've invested trillions of dollars in the United States. And I was telling them before, in another meeting, that we have over $19 trillion being invested in the United States, which is a record, and it's building factories, car plants, everything. We're doing things that have never been done. The record was $3 billion many years ago with a different country, and we're going to be over $19 trillion.
I think we'll hit $19.3 trillion. So there's probably not going to be anything -- maybe we'll do better next year. I don't know if it can -- I don't know if you can do better. But I just want to say that the relationship has been outstanding. He's a man of great respect. Everybody respects him and they respect your country, and it's an honor to be with you.
And we just signed a deal with Iran and this country was very, very -- a very powerful ally and good things are happening. The ships are starting to move now. We're going to have it fully open by Friday. The ships are starting to move nicely.
Oil is starting to go, and the prices are coming down rapidly. Stock market is going up rapidly. A lot of good things are happening. And most importantly, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. That was how I got involved in this. We can't let that happen.
So they will not have a nuclear weapon. And other than that, I'd like to ask His Highness to say a few words. Then, if you want, we can take a couple of questions. Please.
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan: Well, it is my pleasure, Mr. President, to be with you here. And I want to say that we are so grateful to have you here. And as a president of the United States and thank you for your support, your commitment to your friend, to your allies, and especially, thank you for your support during the six war -- six-week war.
It means a lot to us and you show us who's really ally. And without your support, your commitment, Mr. President, not my country only, but the Middle East would be [Inaudible] different situation today. So really, my pleasure to see you today [Inaudible] Thank you for giving us the time and there is a lot of things we can talk about for going forward between our two countries, how we can make our relationship even better.
Trump: We love it. Thank you, my friend. See, when you're that rich, you can speak that lowly. I was just wondering, can anybody hear that? But when you're so rich, you have such confidence that you don't have to do any strain to the voice. He's great. So, do you have any questions, please?
Question: What should we expect from the second stage of the negotiations from --
Trump: I don't know. It's a 60-day period or so. I think it's going to happen fairly on time. We've been both involved. I think they're going to want to get it done. If Iran wants to get it done, they have to get back to business. And the relationship is now normalized, so I think it's going to go pretty quickly, Steve.
Could go faster. Could take longer too, but it could go faster.
Question: There's so much interest in the text of the document. Why not -- why not release the --
Trump: Oh, I will.
Question: Why not release it --
Trump: Well, because I'd like to get a formal setting first before we do that, but I have no problem with that. It's a great document. Here's what it says, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. That's what it says. It won't have one. Dubai, to develop, they will not have a nuclear weapon. And I would say that's about 99.9 percent of what I wanted, because we couldn't let that happen.
You couldn't let that happen. Uh, and they won't have a nuclear weapon. Now, in addition to that, the strait is going to be open, toll-free. And it's toll-free beyond the 60 days. It's not -- somebody said, oh, it's toll-free for -- no, no, its toll free, period. When it opens permanently, it'll be toll free.
Uh, I want to congratulate our Navy because the naval blockade was unbelievable. But I will -- actually, I'll not only release it, I'll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word, so that the press covers it accurately. Because it's a -- it's a very important document. And, uh, unlike Obama, who could have destroyed the Middle East with a horrible JCPOA, it is the worst agreement.
That was a road to a nuclear weapon. Mine is a wall against a nuclear weapon. I mean, I see these people say, but we already had one. That was the worst. He paid a fortune for it. We pay nothing. We don't pay. There was some statement, we're going to spend $300 million, no, we're not. We're not allowed to go and invest if we wanted to someday in the future.
We have no obligation whatsoever. It could be that Iran will turn out to be successful one day. They have oil. But, uh, if we left a week ago, just left, before the last two attacks, it would have taken them 20 years to rebuild Iran. So -- but I'll go over the document with the media in a couple of days.
Question: Mr. President, a few weeks back, you said you'd like to see other nations join the Abraham Accords, much like the UAE has. Um, have there been any discussions with Arab leaders about that?
Trump: About what?
Question: Joining the Abraham Accords like UAE does.
Trump: Yeah. Well, I'd love to have them. This is a man who's very advanced. He was early in and he's done very well with them, the whole -- the Abraham Accords. Uh, no, it's, uh, I think -- I think they should happen. The big -- the big impediment to the Abraham Accords, we have our original countries, very smart countries, every one of them.
Do you notice that even during that period of conflict, nobody dropped out? Nobody said, oh, gee, I'm going to drop out, nobody. Um, I think they're all going to come in, yeah, into the Abraham Accords. The only conflict was a place called Iran. And I understand that. You know, it's a little bit tough when people were afraid of Iran.
Uh, so -- but I think they're going to all start coming in there. Good question, actually. Yeah.
Question: Mr. President, what do you say to Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham, who is skeptical of the MOU? Um -- to --
Trump: Lindsey is skeptical?
Question: Yes.
Trump: I'll have to talk to Lindsey. He'll be in big trouble. Lindsey's good. Lindsey is fine. He's not skeptical. He's just fine. Look, this agreement covers something very nicely. We're not paying for anything. We're not doing anything. The markets now are higher than they were when we started. Remember that, the stock market now is 2,500, maybe even more than that, points higher than it was when we -- it's pretty amazing.
Um, disagreements about one thing, that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, never, ever, ever. The rest of it's irrelevant, frankly.
Question: Senator Graham also said that an eventual agreement with Iran should be sent to Congress for review. Would you do that?
Trump: I never thought of it, but I would. I wouldn't mind. I mean, you know, the Democrats -- you know, we call them Dumocrats because they're dumb people. The Dumocrats are -- well, what I'd like to do is send it to Congress, saying, you shouldn't approve it, and I'll get it approved. They do -- whatever I say, they want to do the opposite.
Uh, it's not working too well for them, by the way. But yeah, I never thought about sending -- I never even thought about it, but I will. I will send it to Congress. I like the idea.
Question: On another topic –
Trump: I mean, who wouldn't approve it? Let's let them have a nuclear weapon. The Dumocrats will say, oh, they should have a nuclear weapon. They'll go crazy. I like the idea. Send it to Congress, please. All right?
Question: Mr. President, were you briefed on the attack -- the attack plans for the UFC event at the White House? There was -- the FBI [Inaudible] an attack.
Trump: I haven't heard about it, no. But I watched -- the attack that I watched were the fighters. And he saw it, too, by the way. He was sitting back home in his beautiful palace and he was watching that. And they were as good a fights as I've ever seen, right?
Al Nahyan: The best fight.
Trump: The best. They were. That last fight was brutal. And the two last -- all of the fights.
Al Nahyan: Two fights.
Trump: It was all good. It was a great evening. It was a very different for the White House, but I wish you could have been there. They -- we built an incredible arena. Dana did a great job.
Al Nahyan: Is there going to be another fight next year, Mr. President?
Trump: Well, I don't know -- I got away with it because 250 years. Maybe in another 50, maybe at 300.
Question: Are you considering an increase on sanctions on Russia and whether it's illegal --
Trump: Well, soon we'll be able to do that because the oil is now flowing. So we put -- we took sanctions off because, obviously, we're not looking to impede the oil. So we're in a position to do that soon.
Question: Let them lapse and --
Trump: Yeah, at some point.
Question: Mr. President, I have a question.
Trump: Yes.
Question: Regarding this --
Trump: What a nice looking person. Is he from your country? Is he from your country?
Al Nahyan: Absolutely.
Trump: No, he's got such a nice way about him. My people are so -- they're so mean. Look at him, handsome guy.
Al Nahyan: Be careful.
Trump: No, I can put him in a movie right now. Go ahead.
Question: Mr. President, how can we make sure that Strait of Hormuz is lasting for -- open for lasting and navigation in the future?
Trump: Have a United States with a strong president. It's the only way you can do it, I guess, when you think. we have all the agreements you want. The agreements for bad people don't mean anything. Um, look, we were the ones that blockaded -- they blockaded it, and we then said, well, we blockaded it for them, so they didn't get any oil.
You're going to need to have, and this is true with a lot of things, if you have a strong president of the United States, a lot of good things can happen. You know? You know that better than anybody, right?
Al Nahyan: Absolutely.
Trump: You know it better than anybody.
Al Nahyan: Stability of the --
Question: Can you talk a little bit more about the plan for the enriched uranium that is in the mountains?
Trump: Yeah, we do. We'll take it --
Question: Has Iran -- has Iran said they would welcome the US coming in? But how specifically –
Trump: Iran will be just fine. What's happening is that at an appropriate time -- there's no rush at all. We have cameras from space on it. We know everybody that goes there, which is like nobody. The B-2 bombers hit it. The entire mountain collapsed inside it. It's a very tough excavation. Nobody else can do it but us and probably China.
They have the equipment, we have the equipment. We're in no rush but we get it and when we get it, we'll destroy it. We're not looking to take it, we're looking to destroy it. We have plenty of it.
Question: [Inaudible] dinner tomorrow night, what prompted you to go to that? The dinner tomorrow night --
Trump: So -- well, I'm a fan of beautiful places. And I was leaving in the afternoon and then the French president, who happens to be a very nice man, invited me to dinner at Versailles. And Versailles is not a gold leaf. Versailles is the real deal. And I said, I'd like to do it. I mean, you know, all it means is that I get home later in the evening, meaning early in the morning.
And I'm not a big sleeper anyway. I'll be in the Oval Office very -- I won't -- I won't lose any time in the Oval Office. So I have to say this, our country is doing really well. We're doing better than we've ever done as a country. The stock market's the highest. Everything's the highest. 401-Ks are the highest they've ever been by 25 percent.
And we're doing really well. And now you're going to see prices coming down. You know, when I took over, prices were very high. We had the worst inflation in the history of our country. Prices were high. Eggs were high. Bacon was high. Everything was high. And the first question I got asked, what about affordability?
I did a news conference one day after I took over, and these people said, what about affordability? I said, I didn't cause it, but I'm bringing it down. And now with the fuel going way down, you saw it yesterday, it went down $6, $7. With fuel going down, as goes fuel, so goes everything. I've always seen that, right, fuel.
You're in a very good business because as goes fuel, so goes everything. Fuel is dropping. It's now in the 70s per barrel. And I think we'll get it down. When I say -- I was in Iowa and we had great victories in Iowa. And when I left, I noticed that a gas station, $1.85 a gallon. That's where we were. It was a little bit higher generally, but I saw two stations, $1.85, one had $1.91. And, you know, we're going to get around those levels.
So very honored. Thank you very much, everybody.
Transcript courtesy of Roll Call

The biggest and most consequential Decision issued by the Court, by far, is the Slaughter Case, which overturned the very famous Humphrey’s Executor Rule. This whole concept of “Power” has been fought over for nearly 100 years, going all the way back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, where a large slice of his Power was taken away. He fought to regain it, even wanting to “pack the Court,” but was unsuccessful in doing so. This Decision gives tremendous additional Power back to the Presidency, where it belongs. It is an Honor to be the sitting President who, after all these years, WON this very important, and hard fought, Case. We had other good Victories, too, and we also had the Birthright Citizenship loss, which we will work to correct in Congress, but the big SLAUGHTER, was SLAUGHTER. The Republican Party was treated very fairly by the United States Supreme Court. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP