We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

If You Ask Me, Yes (2013)

by Yoshi

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Download also includes PDF of 16 page full colour booklet, with full lyrics, warm thank you's, as well as artwork by Italian photographer/artist Nila Onda / / /
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7.33 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Standard CD-case, with full colour booklet. Clean, sheen & mainstream.

    Includes unlimited streaming of If You Ask Me, Yes (2013) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 1 day
    Purchasable with gift card

      $11.33 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Hand-stitched cover made of burlap / hessian & wool fibres. 33 stitches on each side /// Comes with CD and 16-page colour booklet, featuring liner notes, complete lyrics, beautiful photographs & paintings /// Highly limited edition. Each one slightly different.

    Includes unlimited streaming of If You Ask Me, Yes (2013) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $33.11 USD or more 

     

1.
Oh my life! It’s been so long / I got my health back and I still feel young / I wasted so much time on the gold shine / The ego trying, sweating, crying / Now I’m all about rivers and the woods I’m striding / Hiding, seek, with the munchkins sneaky / Kids with the homemade clothes and the smells of flowers / Free on the breeze wherever it goes (wherever it goes) / I got no needs, just to pray with soul / No such thing as a single still goal / No such thing as a rival MC / let my ego upstream, fighting, empty / All the way back to the stinking city / I’m so happy in my greenest field / My future babies feel the scenic wheel / Solar-God-Shine / Allah is yours and mine / Float downstream with the bells and chimes... [Chorus] Who’s a Afghan? I ain’t a Afghan / I’m a Universal, I’m a Yellow and Black man / My rainbow heart’s now open for business / New creation, the smell of is-ness / The feel of frog-spawn, the fire of my bodily form / I ain’t a body I’m a super soul / Mama come and see me as I turn to gold / Spin around, dust, like Michael Jackson / I’m a cloud, I’m a flower, I’m a water reaction / A pinball pingin’ in the sky of satisfaction / Everybody wanna be where I be / Do you want to sit next to me? / Dance with me? Go to France with me? Ting-a-ling-bells in the hills of Italy / I’ve had a secret all of these years / I’ve been been stroking it and keeping it with all of my tears / I can see it with my eyes and I can hear it with ears / My teeth tell you that it do exist / So when you ask me cynically, “Why are you always smiling?” I say, “Because I am not a dreamer,” my darling.... [Chorus] [...] (Freestyles)
2.
Get Great 02:12
Get set, get straight, get the rust out your heart, get Great! / Get the feeling, get the notion, first you gotta get the inkling, then the Ocean / Get yourself, into a cave, cut off from the , in a grave / Get preachy, have a belief! stop walking everywhere with the satisfied air of a thief / Be the opposite! You gotta give! You gotta make someone who’s not you feel positive / Get giddy, get grown, you need to invent some kinda wine of your own / We gotta get free, we gotta not be stone, we’re all stuck in plastic thrones. We’re all lazy with fancy phones / Get grungey, get good, say no to it ‘cos it’s convenient, make it out of wood! / Get carving, get clear, ‘n chisel it, tk-tk-tk-tk-tk! Don’t matter if it takes six years... / Integrity [...] 
3.
High on the balconies / Higher than my mother’s knees / High up on the blue trees / Where I dream in geography / I want u to think like me / But I want it in a pure way / I don’t want to force u to feel me / I want us to be each other’s shadows in the hallway, all day... [Chorus] I could give a hot damn/ About the ‘what’s hot now’ man / I just let my body sang / And me never think ‘how’ man / Maybe you can tap my veins / Fade into my eyes in the midnight hour Maybe you could see my stains / And dissolve ‘em in water with the liquid power of a ... [Chorus] Tryin’ not to get distracted / For every step there is a fall down / ‘Cos I love chocolate and I’m made of plastic / But falling down ain’t the same as a downfall / Our bodies are a funny thang / They get confused with our hearts and / When we listen to the ambition slang / We betray our spirits and our beautiful language [..?..] Higher than erections / More important than elections / No matter about the natural selection / It’s more important than any horizontal direction / Love and faith they make you round / They give you new realities / They put a spirit inside your sound / And I'm reminded of the beauty of Verticality... [Chorus] [...]
4.
[...] Sails in the wind, gimme spoon for the mind / Make me the King and I show you the sign / I sing, sing over dubbed on the spine / Beat, boom-bap, bang hard, it's a crime / I, son of man, made me One of the kind / “Humans” is the label and a “MC” sub-species / Cry / Come see me live, internet PC’s / ”Fake MC’s” is outdated like TV’s / But shallow Hip-Hop got me feelin like faeces / Somethin fishy’s going on inside Hip-Hop / Something faeces going wrong with the people / Mos def Yes, my people’s sufferin from the bufferin’ of brains that’s too slow to say NO to the speedy-freak show that’s run by the insecure mabies with make-up [...] Harmonize with everyone you meet / Sympathize with everything you hate / You done nothing here to be so proud / Look inside your heart before you speak / Sing inside your head before you hate / Rebuild what you wrecked and then create / Your best friends stab you in the front / But honesty that stings ain’t the thing / Deep inside your self you find space / Stars, like the thoughts you soon face / Rising up above you find grace / Grace is all the thing you need to chase / If even just a trace is what you taste / Run for your perfection, it’s a race!
5.
6.
People! Put on your magical dresses! / Let your eyes go crossed and true / Arabian sheep are sleeping / And one of them is dreaming of you / You’ve had a hard time, yes I know this / You thought that nobody cared or knew / Life’s made of a mysterious substance / It likes to let you bleed in silence... / In biology, blood is not bad / And when you see it, it should make you feel glad / See how it spreads? That’s how you’re gonna spread your things / Be they wings, thoughts, or beautiful feelings / Seedlings scutter about the earth / Your true love is waiting to give birth / Your future home turf is waiting for you with a smile upon it’s head / It just know that you’re gonna make enough dough / Be happy! Be happy! / Be happy with the things you got, my people! / Be happy that you got eyes to see! / And if a blind person is listening to this, be happy that you got ears to hear.
7.
8.
It’s a world of a 2 ‘08, I walk softly through the Butterfly Gate / I hate myself when I feel my weight [I’m a] / Carbonic, symphonic electronic man / With a soul like a Celtic Onyx stone / Kate Bush’s brother on the Jig of Life Tonic-Tone: “Can’t you see where memories are kept bright? Trippin’ on the water like a laughing girl,” oh / Sea rhythm, when the sea’s my world / Blue horizon is the secret of civilization / I get civil when I lay under a tree too / Blue horizon is the birth of a seed who / Springs from the water to the bodily city / Wandering in New York, people with the New Talk / People going so fast / Ignoring the overcast / Skies, no eyes, just a drive to fly high / Artists and wannabe’s holding their hearts inside / Never try to be too clever / Allah, allow us to rock this forever! Soul this forever, it’s a free-time-movement / Intellectuals don’t need to wait for the proven / Take your clothes off and shower in the truth and let Turquoise babies run around your head / With little cupid bows and Blue Hearts instead of arrows. Wash your body for reality shows / I walk the streets in my raggedy clothes / I’m like Bruce Springsteen in the Philadelphia video I’m all about Souls, Fast Hearts and Riches / Never dream about ‘hoes, fast cars or ’ / I’m like a six year old girl with my logic connections -This is funny- when I look in your eyes and suddenly sneeze / I say, “congratulations,” and I hand you a flower... / Shower you with flowers, grab ahold of your hand / Press it to my chest so you feel my beat / Smile of gratitude, love and bad teeth / Yellow on the streets where my breath stank, good grief! [...] We’re all peasants in one way or another / Oh, my brother, when the night befalls us / Light the candle if the moon don’t call us / We stay talkin’ underneath the stars / Laughing at the simple things of this life / Listen to the midnight birds [...]
9.
Perfect 02:31
Insects singing songs Cut grass growing long Weak hearts feel it strong Nothing here is wrong. Birds are brewing secrets Flies are doing research Hearts are feeling weaker Nothing here says 'me first!' The Lord says Blue-Sky , Be! Makes clouds manifest with a dress of majesty Feel so honoured to be a one, unity A weightless atom of none, Participating in the beauty [Freestyle...] "My grown up son, my grown up son, what will you say when you look us in our eyes? My grown up son, my grown up son, what will you say when we look you in the eyes? My grown up son, my grown up son, what will we say when we look us in our eyes?"
10.
11.
[parts i, ii & iv are taken from a March 2010 piano improvisation / freestyle, Nefisa Studio, USA]  iii) Down [Rap spit by Mr. Mego Misdaq] .....down into: “I’m a stunna / I do it for the fun-a / White robes flow, I’m a regal brotha / And a lover, there never be another / I buy a mansion for my mother / Cash 4 Gold, cheap like bad presents / But your soul is gold you can’t sell your essence / Pawn your presence, you can’t redeem / Poo-poo brown (it could never be clean) / Yoshi tellin’ you the things to do / You can listen or keep goin missing on youtube / And you wonder where the time goes in the day? / You got a lotta nerve to be thinking that way (ha!) / I’m a preacher, always been a teacher, I don’t give a ‘cos I’m a spit like me sir / I wear robes, I walk in the thawb, I saw wise-things then I run in the globe / Keep travelling, keep unravell-ing / I dive in while you’re on the fence, straddling / (your balls hurt) / You’re still babbling / I break thru, I’m a gold-tipped javelin / Divine adrenaline, give my thoughts feelings, it’s kinda like a dance-floor that’s also a ceiling / Mix much, make it magic and magnificent / I don’t give a kiss if you see me as insignificant / Pink lips, can’t help but talk / Pink brain in a wasteland of weakness / Wackness is you saying, ‘it’s okay, I’ll keep this.’ / No greatness, a pond of pasty meekness / [Puffy] ego’s full of air, can’t stand the steepness / .... /
12.
There’s a sacred text / In my heart / There’s a secret text / Invisible dart / It won’t make it into any bibliography / It won’t make it outside of my mind ‘til eternity / I eat li-chee fruits, I eat raisins, I eat colorful magical things that God has made them, God has raised them / / / I am a Gypsy Lover, Hu / I walk around modern Earth / I don’t have friends to tweet to / Remain on the edge of the surf / Foam-cliffside-edge of the Universe / Cloud-cover, cloud-dance, disperse / I eat mango fruits, I eat figs if I find them, I look close at all the sparkling specks, I see, God has signed them, He has timed them / / / I pray many times a day / I drape fabrics over my head / I take mystery steps into another way / I see people who we think that they’re ‘dead’ / I see them smiling and they moving their heads / I see them Yes-ing and they don’t leave me guessing / I take water, I take honey / I take air and it feel kinda funny / / / [...]
13.
[...] If I had a daughter and she bought home a puppy / And if that puppy looked like it had fleas and disease.... / And if my daughter asked me pleaseeee daddy can we keep him? I would say .... / If you wanna do something in the Springtime with me / And if you asked me whether or not I was free or too busy... / I won't pretend like I'm working every second of my day, If I can make 5 minutes to pray... Then I can say... / And if you asked me to put up flowers in the basement / And if you asked me to eat some tulips like they was food / If you asked me to put my heart out in the garden / I would say YES! / If you asked me to kiss your hand I would / I might go so far as to kiss your feet, I would / And if you thought that it would be good for me to hear hard words, then I would. / I would say yes... / If you ask me tentatively about those creative urges / If you ask me what I think about listening to the inner voice / I'd quote my beloved (s) and I would tell you that your heart knows / Right and wrong and more importantly you don't have long / So sing your song... / If you ask me if I thought the world was gonna end soon / If you ask me if I thought that Jesus was returning / If you ask me if I believe that what we do has meaning, or if I really believe in the phrase, ‘STRIKE WHILE THE IRON'S HOT!’ I will say yes! /
14.
I got chirpy chimes and pinewood forests, and melodies telling me ‘Yoshi is a florist’ / I make flowers, prune ’em and tune ‘em and turn ’em into the prettiest snowflake moons and / Fall on your ears so gentle and soothing, lyrics with love for ya self-improvement / Lick ya heart, Lord, gotta keep on moving / The magic of life is in the flow that you bring / Everybody’s got it like a song that you sing / Who’s in? Who’s on board? It’s choo-choo-ing! / The train of Now won’t wait for later, procrastinate, then it’s too late, you get vapour / Be the news, don’t read them papers, I’d rather be a bird than a staple or a stapler / I surely would / Get good, catapaulted, trampoline into my own scene for a while / Don’t watch CNN, I don’t like to be insulted, don’t watch Al-Jazeera ‘cos I like to smile / Everybody scared to be a non-conformer, and the others non-conform for the sake of non-conforming / They want you so badly plugged in, soul and attention decidedly all in / [They] got a mainstream hole just for you to fall in / Staying informed is now the golden calf, they want a mind that’s full and a empty heart / Fall off the radar, go step in the dark / Go take a walk in the park, talk to that guy who always waters the plants / Step off your self, take a ride to outside, sample the HD clarity of eyes / They were made to see sky, your heart, to feel high / Real human beings are spirit, they don’t die [...] Don’t talk, more think, wash my feet in the sink / I turn pink, so pretty when my eyes are glistening / I spit love even if you ain’t listening, I don’t care, I’m like air or glycerine / so you no-boys can keep on whispering / You fear what you don’t understand, you so bland, I forgive, ‘cos you don’t mean to hurt me / you corny, calling me ‘artsy’ and ‘quirky,’ small vocab, limited imagination / Small possibilities in a small nation / State of the art is downlow, cagey, everybody gettin’ laid, made and pasty / So titilated and so soon outdated / Come and see the pink flowers on blue boards [I’m] riding on a cloud in a Cadillac Eldorado / White leather seats, sun-kissed softly, white heartbeats, lovely, looping / ... I’m a lover of Truth and I will kiss the starlings, birds land on my hand ‘cos I got soul / Mama come and see me as I rub the coal, dusty dirty, diamond destiny / I won’t rest til you see the best in me / I won’t rest ‘til my forehead smiles, ‘til my soul rises out of my mouth like a sun / Showers on everyone, True-World-Unity / I wrote this song ’cos I love you, are you feeling me?
15.
[Try to figure them out...]
16.
Here 05:20
We get so attracted to the things that are so shiny, we forget / We get to distracted from the roots of grimy truth, it's about happiness / I want you to feel free and to be me and to be you in Paradise / I want you to not want to be me and not want to feel jealous myself, for health / It’s so good to be sun-shining, lying in the sun-shine with no spots, on your face / It feels so good to know that you got all you need to go if you just stay / Nobody out there can give me anything I need more than You / But they still deceive me and I know it will relieve me when I'm back to You / You are the allower, make my pen move and my fingers write Your grooves / Cosmic is the kindness of your Highness, Majesterial Protection / I know that if I stop talking now I can just go inside Your Love / I don’t need nobodies heartbeat more than I need that Open Channel / I don’t need no shiny objects more than I survive on that cool water you put inside me / I can keep on swimming in my mind into the ocean of Your consciousness /The strokes I take are discipline, and holy law is needed as I steer / But love is what I need to keep me pushing through the waves and coming near / here...
17.
Are you a diamond-studded library? Are you a ruby studded star? Are you a universal theory? Are you a women who is far? / Are you a lover of the beaches? Are you a giver from inside? Are you a dream of rosey peaches? Are you a strong, unending ride? / Where is the tapestry of time? What does it look like when it’s complete? What kind of role will you play for me? What kind of cycle will you be? / Will you propose with yes-ing eyelids? Will you propose with your consent? Will you give in to me with beamers? Will you empower me with dents? / Will you consent to be an agitant? Will you not let me be smooth? Will you get all up in my face yo? Will you give me things to prove? / I don’t want no satisfaction. I don’t want no saline-drip. I just want some human action. I just want some cheeky lip. / Come sing a song, come sing it well for me. Don’t try hard just try to be / Come sing a song, come sing it beautif’ly. Come make my heart feel fully free. ///
18.
Put your human feet on the ground / Put your human hand on the ground / Put your human ear to the ground LISTEN TO THE SOUND / I don’t care what the news do say / I don’t care what the hipster say / I care what the feeling say, LISTEN TO THE SOUND / Mama been there – she was talking you / Papa been there, he was walkin through. / Dreams and air in the morning true / He know what we all been through / You gon[na] come to know it too / You already know it’s true / Remember when you laughed so hard it felt like you were poking through? / [CHORUS] LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF THE DIVINE / LISTEN, YOUR WHOLE BODY GLISTENS .... / Duck down into the secret passage / Arcs and arches whispers language / Birds fly down, alight on your crown, wisdom ain’t the same thing as knowledge / I want wisdom, I want wisdom, I want to be free from prison / I want to be young forever / I want to be old and happy / Swipe my card let me tell my story / Pay my bill, lemme spill my glory / Won’t waste my time on nobody, I’m sorry / Gotta get high NOW, good bye golly / Climb the mountain I climbed, if you wanna / Listen to my magic on the Fields of Honour / Christen and glisten, you got me kissin on the mission of my soul, not off, never cough, just fly, through the blue of the sky, so you, on a high, it’s a cloud of perfect white, fluff-nuff-bye-hi! ... / CHORUS ... / We are movement, we are atoms, we are vibing in vibration / We are human, we react and we don’t belong to no nation / We are servants, we are working, we are making Him our purpose / We are purple, we are blueple, we are galaxy-see-people / We are honest, we are open, we be eagles, we are smoking / We are dripping, we are hoping , we are tripping, we are sloping / We are dogs, we are fountains, racoons, coyote mountains / We are fountains AND absurd, we are green meem paradise birds / ...... / Orbiting the sun, swimming in a sphere, round and round we all run, always trying to get near / We all gotta revolve around someone / We all gotta revolve around someone, practice on your mum, practice on your lover one, practice on your baby, practice with the Saints who don’t ask you for no money, who never say ‘maybe’...
19.
Evolution 03:40
I believe in evolution. I used to pee my pants and now I don’t. I believe in evolution... But I don’t give a damn about a million years ago. I believe in my ability to learn from my mistakes.  I believe in my ability to mountain climb when I raise the stakes. I raise the stakes every single day I ain’t content with what my memories say I raise the stakes every single day I ain’t content with what these reveries say I wanna know what the future says In the black unknown jet-streams of tomorrow In history, I study the future and I kiss oxygen before I breathe it in And when that air, when that air comes to me I mix it with the water that’s inside my body Waterfalls, waterfalls, Amazon is inside me Run green river, run clear and free Waterfalls, waterfalls, amazon is inside me Run green river, run clear and freeNew falls, the new falls, majestically There’s a new man who’s being born inside me.  There’s a new man who’s being born inside me There’s a new man who’s being born inside of me

credits

released September 14, 2013

Written & Produced by Yusuf 'Yoshi' Misdaq
Cover by Yusuf Misdaq
Photography in booklet by Nila Onda

REAL HUMANS:

"Today my baby girl was playing on my phone and somehow she opened soundcloud and scrolled down my feed to find track 04 "don't be sad ones" and she played it for ages (rare for her to leave anything for long) she pushed the phone in my face so i could listen to the lyrics and i did and they were a source of encouragement to me. Thanks Yoshi." - O, Copenhagen, Denmark

"I love the juxtaposition of the series of intricately woven sounds, a musical tapestry - its urban, folksy, free-spirited, honest, euphoric, alive, grateful, thought-provoking reflections" - Iesha, Pasadena, California

"I am only on song three, but I love this music! Bless you! What a gift to the universe..." - Laini, Culpepper, Virginia

"Its a little bowie a little doors and a little hendrix and lots of misdaq .. nice." - Christine, Brighton, UK

"Rivers of Peace is the song I [am] raving about.... Very
catchy rhythm, the female vocalist is nice in the background and the
lyrics are pure soul. LOVE it!!" - Farzana, McLean, Virginia

"I love the artwork. I love the title. I love everything about it.... The pure joy I heard infected me. Thank you." - MichL, Berlin, Germany

"This is hands down, my favorite album. Thank you for crafting and producing this art that breathes joy into souls and hearts." - Mona, Washington DC

license

tags

about

MASTAKAI Los Angeles, California

MASTAKAI, (previously Yoshi / Yusuf Misdaq) has lived many lives in many places. He was making beats, writing lyrics, producing music and singing songs long before he was born. He is from Afghanistan. He will die there, and be reborn again there.

contact / help

Contact MASTAKAI

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

MASTAKAI recommends:

If you like If You Ask Me, Yes (2013), you may also like: