The Roots’ Frontman, rapper Black Thought recently tried to combine hip hop with high art with his “Streams of Thought” series. It seems like rapper Ankhlejohn has a similar vision. “Van Ghost”, only one of many critical acclaimed 2018 releases, covers the subject of the famous dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Every song is named after one of his paintings. In this review, I will go into every single song, and the particular references to van Gogh’s life. Enjoy.
1. The Night Café
Ankhlejohn describes the atmosphere of a café. Vincent van Gogh had the same goal with this painting. Ankhlejohn describes the daily life that takes its course. A rather sad place, where people come to get drunk and escape the harsh reality they have to face. He also references an important and therefore best-known event in van Gogh’s life. He raps: “I turned my idols to rivals in less than one year”. This may be refering to the visit of his friend Paul Gauguin, also a famous painter. He arrived at Arles in october 1888. After inititally getting along well with each other, they differed. Subsequently to the quarrel, van Gogh cut his ear off. Their quarrel was the reason why Paul Gauguin left Arles after less than one year.
2. The Yellow House
The yellow house that van Gogh intended, was a hotel in Arles. It had the bad reputation of a boozer. Ankhlejohn draws parallels to his life, mentioning Minnesota Avenue, refering to it as the yellow house. Minnesota Avenue is a metro-station in Ankhlejohn’s hometown Washington DC. He raps: “N*ggas got that soft jaw”. He is most likely intending that in this area a lot of whippings are happening, which corresponds to the reputation of Vincent’s yellow house as a boozer.
3. Sorrow
In this song, Ankhlejohn never really refers to this particular picture, but still mentions van Gogh’s life a lot. He portrays himself as a dominant personality and says that everyone wants to do what he does. He thinks he is admired. Van Gogh though, never gained much recognition during his lifetime. After his death, he went from a noone, to one of the most famous and most influential painters the world has ever seen. Ankhlejohn also is mentioning the topic of death, as he says: “I could die tomorrow”. Sadly , this was really true in van Goghs case, as he suffered from depression. Doctor Paul Gachet looked after him and deemed him healed, just before he attempted suicide.
4. Two Crabs
This painting is a still life. Ankhlejohn interpretes it in a way that corresponds more to his life than the one of Vincent van Gogh. He repeats “Two Crabs in the bucket”. If a crab is trapped in a bucket, it will try to escape. If there are two crabs in a bucket, one will try to hinder the other one from escaping, in conclusion, they both stay trapped. Ankhlejohn says that “his life is set up as survival of the fittest”, which means that on the streets you are a lone fighter. That’s where he has grown up, that is why he is promoting this mentality.
5. The Church at Auvers
Ankhlejohn’s references to van Gogh could hardly get more obvious. “I’m the modern-day van Gogh” he says. He is in many ways. He further explicates why: “All my life I tried to tell you I’m the one”. His intentions assort well with van Gogh’s. Van Gogh explicated them in one of his last letters to his brother Theo van Gogh:
“What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart.”
His whole lifetime, van Gogh struggled for the recognition he deserved and still does deserve. He was misunderstood, ahead of his time. Like van Gogh, also Ankhlejohn is not very well-known to a wider audience and so naturally he is struggling for recognition.
6. The Starry Night
The wavy instrumental fits our imagination of a “Starry Night” very well. Just as van Gogh himself, Ankhlejohn does not say anything about this painting, which is surprising, as it is one of his most popular paintings. Van Gogh himself wrote to his brother Theo: “All in all the only things I consider a little good (…) are the Wheatfield, the Mountain, the Orchard, the Olive trees with the blue hills and the Portrait and the Entrance to the quarry, and the rest says nothing to me”. “The Starry Night” also belongs to this rest.
7. Almond Blossoms
This is a picture with a rather beautiful back-story. Van Gogh painted it to celebrate the birth of his nephew Vincent, son of his brother Theo and his wife Johanna. While the painting had a cheerful to van Gogh, the situation Ankhlejohn describes with this song is quite unpleasant. He has money problems. Something, that also van Gogh had during his lifetime. He was rather poor. His brother Theo supported him financially and bought him paint for example. Over the years he invested a small fortune in Vincent and his art, hoping that he finally would have success. In the late fall of his life, he also was afraid to become too much of a burden for his brother.
8. The Pink Peach Tree
Also in this song, Ankhlejohn is struggling for recognition. He supposes how the people experience him, but he also shows us how he does. Both of these sides could not be more opposed to each other. The people picture him as arrogant and selfish. But he says: “Am I really that bad of a dude? I don’t think so”. He thinks he is doing everything right. Years after his death, van Gogh still had a bad image. That is what Ankhlejohn is refering to.
9. The Red Vineyard
On this track, Ankhlejohn is more reminiscent, compared to the other songs on “Van Ghost”. A line that particularly might be referencing van Gogh is: “My mind is conflicted, even though I know I’m gifted”. He knows that something is wrong with him, he is still ambitious though. Also van Gogh was very ambitious, but at the same time he suffered from depression. This very Depression, or, in Ankhlejohn’s case more of a certain, humbleness, is bringing him back to the ground. He declares this by rapping: “I ain’t Jay, I ain’t Biggie, I ain’t Tupac or Nas, I do it for my brother and my mums”. I guess it is/was important to know for both of them that if they fail, they have/had at least the family that is proud of them.
10. At Eternity’s Gate
This painting was painted two months before Vincent van Gogh attempted suicide. Ankhlejohn raps that “when he moves it’s with an urgency”. This seemingly miniscule line has a deep meaning that gets clear when we read once more a letter that van Gogh wrote to Theo: “Looking at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots representing towns and villages on a map. Why, I ask myself, shouldn’t the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take a train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star. We cannot get to a star while we are alive any more than we can take the train when we are dead. (…) To die quietly of old age would be to go there on foot.” Vincent van Gogh was really was in a hurry to reach his star. He commited suicide, he moved there with an urgency.
11. The Potato Eaters
Potato Eaters are usually poor people. Such as van Gogh. While Ankhlejohn mainly fires shots at various rappers (mainly at Logic), he still gives us this rather iritating line: “This pretty young thing was ultra valid. Pretty round body”. This could be a reference to Sien Hoornik (portrayed on the drawing “Sorrow”). It is not clear what kind of relationship she and Vincent van Gogh had. The only thing we know is that he picked her up from the street and cared for her. Her life ended as tragically as van Gogh’s. In 1904, she drowned herself.
Conclusion: With “Van Ghost” Ankhlejohn adapted van Gogh’s life in his own version and brilliantly reinterpreted it. At certain points though he slightly departs from the initial concept, but even the effort of it is laudable. The production is a reinterpretation of boom bap, and it fits perfectly with his gritty, raw delivery. It seems like the ghost of van Gogh is living on in him. Whether he will become the same artistic genius is questionable, but nevertheless he shows that he has a crazy amount of potential with this project.
Rating: 8.25/10
