Aphelion’s Traveling Circus
Namir Blade
2020
Aphelion’s Traveling Circus by Tennessee rapper Namir Blade takes place in Vertuni, a futuristic planet Blade created that-like Las Vegas or his native Nashville, aka “NashVegas” to some-thrives because of its entertainment district. In the album, a street seller offers Blade free tickets to a traveling circus created by a UniverSoul Circus descendant.
“In the specific world where Aphelion’s Traveling Circus takes place, the powers that be fucked up the earth so bad that it was irreparable.” Namir Blade says in an interview with NPR. “People have to move into domes and shit. And what the rich did was they manufactured a planet to orbit the Earth to essentially give them all the comforts of being on earth without actually having to be on the planet…”
“They left the quote unquote low-class citizens, the disenfranchised, on earth to essentially work in factories, to manufacture parts and components to keep this artificial planet afloat around the earth. They’re like, “Maybe if you work hard enough, you might be able to afford to come here and live with us.”
“A lot of people in this particular universe, they were just like, “Alright, fuck it. We’ll do that. And then other people went to distant galaxies and distant planets to figure out who they were, which is something that I think is hella beautiful. Because despite the shitty circumstances on Earth, who’s to say that there isn’t another planet and another galaxy that has a lot of beauty in it, that can essentially just reconnect you with the wonder that you felt once upon a time, when Earth was a place that filled people with wonder. So it’s a dark future, but a lot of light overtones – I don’t completely give up on humanity.”
Stand-Out Tracks
Space Ghost
The Head
Pace
