A note on where I find myself and this piece …
I grew my hair for 8+ years and then I cut it all off. This past weekend on April 12th, 2025, I let the hair that I had kept from that big chop, float off into the ocean. A ritual of cleansing and an offering to those souls in the deep. There is much more I can say about hair, growth, cutting it all off, and whats next but I’ll save that for another day. This piece is aligned with the times so I figured its best to drop it again, today, and hope it does the work it needs to do. Scroll to the end if you want to see me with long ass box braids hair.
This track, “Box Braided Jesus” was originally created on June 3rd, 2021 and is republishing here with prolog, lyrics, and footnotes.
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Prolog
An English paraphrasing of the intro from the audio track. The intro clip is from a Dominican comedy movie titled Perico Ripiao (click the link to see what point this scene takes place in the movie).
Two men are debating a moral dilemma. Should they let their Friend, who has his hands tied behind his back, kick the crap out of this poor military man who is hogtied on the grown?
This same military man slept with their Friend’s beloved. The Friend caught his lover in the act with the hogtied military man. Crimes of passion now have our Friend on the run because he and his boys--the two men debating--escaped jail.
The First Man debating was a former military man who did dirty work for the conservative regime in political power. He carried out assassinations ect. All in the name of holding up a traditionally strong man type regime. The First Man has now turned to Christ and renounced his evil ways. He does not want to allow the Friend to fall into the trap of seeking revenge. But, The Second Man who is a jokester type--a Socialist and a Communist--he is advocating for the Friend. The Second Man and the First Man are social enemies. But all three have been on the run after escaping jail and that predicate has made these three boon companions.
The dilemma this military man and communist find themselves having is around, What would Jesus do? Should they allow their tied up Friend to kick the crap out of the hogtied guy? Would Jesus take action and ever throw hands with the devil? These are the underpinnings of the conversation that follows.
“Didn’t Jesus teach us to forgive, we can’t allow our Friend to go down this dark path” says the First Man.
Referring to Mark 11:15-19, when Jesus Cleanses the Temple1, The Second Man said, “Remember! When Jesus came to the Temple he handed out ass whippings. He kicked over tables, chairs, and baskets of food man! He turned every thing over with a fury of kicks”
“Wow. But Jesus did all that?”
“Listen man Jesus didn’t play around. Lend me your Bible. Look what it says here.” The Second Man places his left fingertips on his tongue, turns the page, and begins to read:
A Box Braided Jesus (Lyric Poem Rap Bars)
I’m a box braided Jesus came to speak truth to power/
Made them cower whenever I came in them Kawasakis/
I’m a Rough Rider. They tried to talk tough proper/
To a Bum Rush rocker a number one Chief Rocker/2
With more heat than Chewbacca in the summer sun/
Don’t try to summon son with words you muttered dun/3
Or I’mma get ‘er done just like the super/4
You called to get your back or plumbing fixed/
I’m kinda like the chiropractor who cracked your back with/
The way he put his foot in them raps kid; I mean/
Sho'nuff you would have thought I was Bruce Leeroy/5
But I come graced with braids. Radiant smiles make the dark/
Side run wild6 I’m like Jesus kicking the darkness/
Out his temple. I cleans any soul with the bottom of/
My sole7. In other words that a chancletazo/8
For your asshole/9
Liner Notes
I wrote this in June 2021 before I cut my hair in 2023 (see photos below). I’m bringing this out again on Holy Monday (second day of Holy Week), the 14th of April 2025. Spring is in the air. Cleans the body and the home, but remember to stay wholly integrated. “No separation” as my Sensei reminds me. This divisive style in rap music is fun, entertaining, and motivating, but it is also steeped in delusion. I wanted to use the footnotes as a space to unpack that a bit while still providing that foolish motivational energy we need in order to embrace on the journey of life. The intro and outro clips are from a Dominican comedy movie titled Perico Ripiao. The conversation that these brothers are having is around, “What would Jesus do?” if you caught the person who your beloved cheated on you with, especially if that person is the reason you’ve been in jail and are now on the run. Some loose threads, but, all and all, it's just me having fun blending these ideas and having my cultural context represented within the genre(s). There is much more that can be said about the American empire, its influence on the Island of Quisqueya, and the Roman Empire. I invite you dear reader to engage with this piece and pray you find it fun but thought provoking.
“Jesus' attack on the money changers and bird sellers [in the Cleansing of The Temple] was much more than an attack on simple tradesman. It was less about defiling the Temple with needed and commonly accepted money transactions and more about attacking the power structure ... Jesus' teachings were mostly and consistently about social justice. They strongly opposed the domination system of the time and thereby probably any system that creates an elite and powerful class that keeps the masses poor and powerless—for whatever reason. Jesus was a social revolutionary, a radical. He wanted to change the status quo, and that of course ended up getting him into a heck of a lot of trouble—not because he was, you know, "God," but because he was a mischief-maker who happened to have a small local following.” shoutout to
for sharing this article titled, “Cleansing the Temple: Jesus' Act of Social Protest."
Vocals performed by and now Miguel.
Lyrics poem written by and now Miguel.
Track mix and mastered by Hear No Evil (and now Miguel).
Instrumental from Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine & The Alchemist’s song, “F**k & Get High” which was produced by The Alchemist.
Picture of my Box Braids prior to cutting of my hair. Enjoy!
Dear Listener-Reader,
Thank you for engaging with my work. If you are interested in learning more about me, check out my previous post On The Doc, A Man Became Boyish, Found/Lost Connection, or Page Made Magus.
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With warm and loving gratitude,
and now Miguel
Also known as, Christ's Prophetic Action in the Temple. This event is commemorated during Holy Week and is titled Holy Monday. It is the day after Palm Sunday, when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. The symbolism and intention in referring to this scripture is explicitly referring to a sort of cleaning or purification that occurs in the physical world (spring cleaning) as well as in the psychological realm (the third space is nothingness). However, using this comedy piece as and opening, points to. The last words of this prologue are an embodiment of the trickster who attempts to turn the religious into irony in order to navigate the impermanent state of text/words within the living world. In other words, life is situational baby. Go with the flow.
Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987) by Public Enemy, and “Chief Rocka” (1993) by Lords Of The Underground. Sonically and traditionally sitting the speaker.
Dun means man but other layers of meaning point to other people talking sh*t, and referring to those sh*t talkers as dung. "It isn't what the man comes but it is what comes out" see Matthew 15:11.
er is the word her, mimicking vernacular from Lary The Cable Guy’s Getrdone. What is this fixation with the hard er sound? The dropping of the softness in the sound of selected words or phrases. The word of Super and the following line are a reference to the song, “One Beer.”
Reference to The Last Dragon (1985). My first time watching this was with my wife in undergrad. One our very first date nights in the dorm room.
Monday of Holy Week is Jesus cleansing the temple. And so, the inner temple is cleansed by the true self that is within all of us. That radiant energy that often creates insecurities for the shadowy parts within us. But, how do we balance these two? How do we create self compassion and allow the shadowy hungry ghost feed from the radiance within?
“... bottom of my sole” can be read in many ways. But one way of looking at this is fighting fire with fire. Fighting darkness with darkness. And could allude to the narrator’s false sense of bravado around cleansing “his” temple. Also points to a line from a song that is forthcoming; “These are under belly bars like 9 tail demons, thats why I got keep breathing.”
In Caribbean Spanish dialects refers to a slap with a flip-flop (chancleta), often used as a form of discipline or playful correction. The chancleta and the threat of a shock from a chancletazo to shoo annoying people is a legit fear. It also speaks to the divine feminine warrior energy, you see that video of an indonesian woman single handedly beating about 10+ riot police with a slipper? There is a playfulness that comes across with this line too. Attempting to poke fun at sorta Biblical and self help themes of higher selves shooing away unwholesome things. We need to embrace the totality of the self, doing otherwise is foolish, and can make good comedy but can also turn tragic. You ever read Don Quixote?
What a profane ending. But, in order to cleanse dear Sancho, you have to get dirty eh?
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