[SPOILERS] Chevalier Mal Fet and Marcopolothefraud lead a Soviet Down Under

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Illmatic is a 1994 rap classic that I could easily devote a whole post to. Hmm...come to think of it, I wouldn't be a CMF protegé unless I went on a long off-topic discussion about one of my passions. CMF, you seem to like history. What if I used these hip-hop albums to develop a full historical narrative, and embedded some Youtube music videos for you to watch? It's not like I have anything better to do during COVID-19.

I would love this, by the way. Please, please do! I'd read happily and with great interest! 

Turn 2

Nothing much to report on my end. I move a bit, find nothing of interest, swap from a builder to a warrior. We'll finish on the same turn. Per the almighty spreadsheet everyone is settled and happy in their new colonies - albeit mine is in the middle of a massive swamp (perhaps I should have gone with a Shrek naming theme?).




Could maybe see two potential cities here, IF the terrain to the west and south is good enough. I like to pack mine in densely, but I don't need to do that as Russia! That will take getting used to.

[marcopolothefraud]

There's some nice terrain to the northwest of Illmatic. Could use more hills though. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In my own words, hip-hop (or rap music) only requires two things:

1. A steady, flow-of-conscious, spoken word passage delivered to a rhythm.
   
2. An instrumental component alongside the spoken word passage that repeats on itself.
   
   

I haven’t checked any dictionaries to make this definition, because I’m not sure they would get it right. This definition covers a broad range of music - there are fast rap songs and slow rap songs. Melodic rap songs and non-melodic rap songs. Aggressive rap songs and mild rap songs. 


So, why don’t people listen to hip-hop? I thought of five reasons, and I’ll debunk each one in turn.

1. It’s too fast! I can’t understand any of the words!
   
   How much do lyrics matter to your listening experience, anyway? Instrumental music has been around forever, and you can listen to that just fine. Foreign-language music has also been around forever - there’s a lot of great foreign language music out there. Please don’t ignore it just because you can’t understand it.
   
   Even so, you could always read the lyrics as you listen to a song. After once or twice, you can pick up on most of the rapper’s words. Hell, I have to read the lyrics of pop songs too sometimes, especially when they go into their higher registers and belt something unintelligible. Lyrics aren’t too hard to learn.
   
   
   
2. They swear all the time. I understand how kids might love it, but it’s just vulgar to me.
   
   Would you say the same thing about swearing in films? What about swearing in literature? “Vulgar” language and “polite” language has existed forever, and swearing is a form of artistic expression for many rappers. Clean rap songs exist too, but they’re not as popular - maybe you could listen to them.
   
   Hmm...this isn’t a very strong argument. I can’t really convince someone to put aside their polite instincts and start listening to swear words, unfortunately.
   
   
   
3. They use the word “n*gga” too much. It’s a slur and it’s encouraging non-black people to say it.
   
   I’m not black, and I’m not the best person to discuss the meaning of the n-word. That being said, there’s an unfortunate history of white rappers using the n-word (example 1, example 2), and I stay away from them as much as possible.
   
   Ultimately, the word has paradoxically become a symbol of black oppression and black empowerment. Its place in rap music seems to celebrate black culture way more than putting it down (example 1, example 2, example 3) - but it's also used for shock value and aggression, which is perfectly okay too.
   
   
   
4. Hip-hop is inherently violent. Or sexist. Or homophobic. Or anti-Semitic. 
   
   Every "new" genre of music seems to receive these negative monikers. People accused rock and punk music of being Satanist when they were getting popular, for example. 
   
   Keep in mind there are pacifist rappers, female rappers, gay rappers, and Jewish rappers - and they make pretty good songs. Individual songs may be violent, sexist, homophobic or anti-Semitic - and if you disagree with their content, just don't listen to them. 
   
   
   
5. Hip-hop was better in the 90's or 2000's! I can't stand this modern crap!
   
   I will leave this one unanswered for now, and come back to it when we discuss modern-day rap music.
   

Ultimately, here's what I want you to know: Hip-hop is broad. Hip-hop is controversial. And hip-hop is very, very personal - there's a reason rappers rarely cover other people's songs, and why accusations of "ghostwriting" (not writing your own lyrics) are so damaging. Rappers are expected to share their personal lives through their music.


Next time, we will talk about Illmatic for real, using the framing device of "Forrest Gump". CMF, Cornflakes...have you guys seen Forrest Gump? What did you think of it?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 3

We have unwelcome houseguests:




No sign of the scout, so he's probably circling west or south. I will post up on that hill SE of camp for the terrain advantage (versus camping out in yet another swamp) and start to reduce this camp right away. It'll slow exploration but it's 50 gold and we DON'T need this to erupt. 

Gotta run to work, so I can't watch all the videos in your writeup yet, but I will when I get the chance and then have some thoughts and questions!

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 4



Nothing interesting. I'm worried the further west I go, the higher the chance that a barbarian from the east or south sees my capital, and I won't be able to chase it down until turn 8-9. Barbarians always spawn 7 tiles away from a major civilization's city, so I will scout that 7 tile radius and not one step farther. (Unless there's an indication of a natural wonder or city-state, of course. The Settler lens and Appeal lens showed that there's no indication of either.)

When it rolls around to your turn, please give me 25 gold. I should be able to buy the 2 food/2 production tile on turn 5.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 4

Nothing to report from my end, other than forgetting to run FRAPS when I took my screenshots, so no pictures. I moved the warrior SW to step next to the camp next turn, when I can start whaling on it. 

I do wonder if spending 50 gold to purchase the 2/2 tile earlier is the best way to manage our snowball - I sent the money - but doublecheck if the culture picker is going to grab the 2/2 stone south of your capital. 

My thinking is that 50 g is 5 turns' worth of combined income for us, and oftentimes monument or trader purchases are good ways to speed up the early game. 

I've pinned two tentative colonies, and I'll start thinking about lavra maps. 

Let's see, other things...I still need to decide between Oloram and DotA for my pantheon. Growth wise, I think I'll grow onto the sea turtles, then the rice, then the tundra hill. Production is better than food, but the tundra hill doesn't feed itself so I need to grab the rice first before that one. 

Otherwise, slow early turns. Plan is still to get out lavras and do a monumentality push.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 5

Main news of the turn is the discovery by China of a natural wonder. (+3 era score for Roland, +1 for suboptimal). That means he can beeline Astrology and get first dibs on the religion, but that was always a possibility with China in the game. There are sufficient good beliefs that being #2 won't be too much of a setback - and I might still win the race, anyway, if China doesn't rush Stonehenge. 




Assuming balanced starts, that means the NW for our team should be somewhere in a 4 turn's journey from our capitals. I've pinned some likely radiuses, so Marco's next warrior should head NE next and then start to turn and sweep around to the south and then west, meeting his warrior coming from the other direction.

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 6

Great. I hope Astrology is either on your tech path, right after Sailing, or right after my tech path to Writing - that way it won't be a big detour to reach. I really regret putting my first Warrior on this exploration path now, but I feel like I have to commit to it, or I'll miss a barbarian camp/ natural wonder in this direction that we would only find with a Galley.

[marcopolothefraud]

Doublecheck if the culture picker is going to grab the 2/2 stone south of your capital. 

My thinking is that 50 g is 5 turns' worth of combined income for us, and oftentimes monument or trader purchases are good ways to speed up the early game. 

I still need to decide between Oloram and DotA for my pantheon. 

1. Yes, the culture picker says it'll go for the 2/2 stone hill. I don't trust it, though - I've seen the culture picker lie to me multiple times.
2. Agree - we should spend money on crucial infrastructure items. I think that this 50 gold purchase was a good idea, though, because of how much potential that one tile gives (a 2/2 tile instead of a 1/2 would let me grow more population faster, which passively gives science/culture/production).
3. Wait until the last moment to decide your pantheon. It remains to be seen how much marsh is on this map, especially in your potential expansion locations. I think DotA gives more value, because once you hit the Classical Era, that's 2 faith + 2 production for every tundra tile your Lavra borders. However, Tundra will only be confined to the poles of the map, while Marsh can spawn everywhere.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yesterday I rushed to get the turn in before work - not today. Sub couldn't get to the save until the afternoon anyway, so I could have saved myself the bother. Today, I will do that thing.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Literally everyone except for me and Marco has grown now - I guess that means either they're all working 3/0 tiles or we're the only ones who didn't get a 3/1 tile in our capitals. Huh.