I was having this discussion, well brief, with Pidgeon on FB. But do you think Kenji was poorly written?
I don't think so. He was able to convey the feelings of his relatives without being biased (explaining the Japanese-Americans' true intentions whilst not criticizing Americans). Yes, it might sound a little awkward, but we all know Mike wasn't that much of an amazing lyricist yet. "Petrified" was the one with the poorly written lyrics.
I think Mike could have written a better song. The thing is, the camps were as bad as living in a homeless shelter, which means that it wasn't THAT bad. The fucked up part was the reason why they were there and the aftermath once released. I think that's why I feel that the beginning/end of Kenji had more of an emotional pull. Do I think that it is poorly written? No, but it isn't great. IMO the most poorly written song from Mike is BTH
The whole album has these moments, like a line will come up and it just doesn't fit. Kenji is one of the worst culprits. You know? It just has some awkward lines
Kenji is a good song and what is important is the message. A friend of mine who have never heard of Linkin Park or Fort Minor teared up when I first played him the song, so I would say it's written wery well.
It's pretty good actually. Not bad, but it could've been much better. It's too simplistic for the type of song imo. Mike's best lyrics in fort minor was Where'd you go hands down.
Pretty much everything fits except for the flow. Some of the words aren't meshing together musically as well as they could be.
No way. This: "I guess I've had it with you and your career, When you come back I won't be here, And you can sing it." can't compare to this (Spraypain & Inkpens): "In the box was a bullet made of gold Melted down from the ring, recast with two rings and a band And he stared at it sitting in the palm of his hand And sat down next to a picture that sat on the nightstand It was his wife in the picture on his side With the ring on the finger on the week that she died As he looked in the reflection, at those eyes so red He put the bullet in a gun and put it right in his head" You can say it's your favourite, but definitely not his best lyrics. They're subpar, just like Coming Home, which also features Holly Brook.
I think Kenji is amazing. I actually did a project for History in 10th grade, based off of Japanese Internment and I used the lyrics to this song. I got an A. I think it's a deep, very personal song. The Militia exclusive version better helps to describe it though, IMO.
"Some days I feel like shit, some days I wanna quit, And just be normal for a bit, I find myself tryin' to stay by the phone, 'Cause your voice always helps me and I feel not so alone, But I feel like an idiot, working my day around a call, That when I pick up I don't have much to say, so" How about this? You can't tell me Spraypaint's lyrics aren't better. These are sub-par lyrics.
I just don't feel that the songs are comparable. They are trying to do two different things. One is telling narrating a story and the other is a regular person telling someone how they feel. They both get the job done pretty well. WYG makes people cry and SP&IP makes people go OH MY GOD. The SP&IP verse is a better comparison to Kenji.
I think Kenji is a great song, it illustrates an experience that was relatively close to him and his heritage. To me that song is like a story, as he points out in the beginning and I really like its buildup, it is one of the very few LP related songs that tear me up and continues to do so depending on my mood, especifically on the part from "Ken got out" and on, it brings up my emotions and my imagination starts flowing, picturing the scenes in my mind.