Tourettes Are So Silly Until You're Watching Me Spasm On The Bed Because The Muscles In My Right Arm

who are the Gorillaz?

June is Black Music Month!

so I wanted to highlight who has made the Gorillaz what they really are…

these are not the Gorillaz:

I would argue that even Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn are not the Gorillaz.

from their very inception, the Gorillaz have been made possible by those who Albarn and Hewlett collaborate with. their unique and interesting sound is the result of a multitude of musicians working together.

approximately two thirds of their collaborators have been black musicians

THESE are the Gorillaz that we love so dearly:

so Gorillaz fans, let’s spend some time this month listening to what else these artists have created!

below the cut I list all of these artists and the songs they’re featured in, find your favorite songs and give these collaborators a listen!

Keep reading

I wanna age like an old cowboy. Give me a southern squint with very exaggerated crows feet and a furrowed brow. Make me rough and tumbled. I won't smoke, but give me a scratchy voice. I want my grandkids to look at me and see coyote, wolf, dog, raccoon. I want them to see weathered and wild.

One thing ya gotta know about me? I'm gonna analyze a Gorillaz song. I'm gonna dissect it like a mad scientist. I'm going to play the same Gorillaz song over and over again until I have it SWIMMING in my brain. I'll listen to so much of it that my inner monalogue will turn British.

Are my takes on the songs gonna be what was intended??? PROBABLY NOT! BUT THATS OKAY. Because I'm having fun.

I will never shut up about Chalk Tablet Towers or Souk Eye or Fireflies. OR TO BINGE.

Mmm Gorillaz.

God the Gorillaz hyperfiixation coming back like a brick to the HEAD

Do your tics affect phantom limbs (if applicable)? /gen q. I get tics when I'm adapting to a new schedule (I do not have tourettes), and if my shoulders or back gets them, my wings also get them.

Hmmm I haven't ever thought to connect them before but looking back? Kinda? A majority of my tics are motor tics and sometimes when I do a full body shudder it feels like I'm shaking out my fur. Or sometimes when I move my head a lot while experiencing a phantom shift I can feel my ears move.

My tail or ears might twitch but I never thought of it as my tics more as just my body reacting to my environment. Could be a blend of both though!

I will say my vocal tics ARE affected when I'm shifted. I get all chittery and twitch a lot more. I usually try to suppress a lot of my vocal tics, so I think it's nice that when I'm shifted, I feel comfortable enough to just let my voice do whatever. Some of it is my own voluntary vocals, and some of it is just my tics doing what they do.

you are transgender because you want to live.

you are transgender because you want to live.

you are transgender because you want to live.

you are transgender because you want to live.

you are transgender because you want to live.

if you’re transgender you have to live no matter what.

Chalica falling on finals week is a sick joke. How am I to spread all my good will when I have to pull 2 all nighters in a row to get everything submitted in time 😔

I will simply celebrate this week.

This. Me desperately trying to figure out what a normal person looks like in a public setting

Do you ever feel like you are trapped in this body and your disguise has reached its limits and is becoming faulty and at any moment you're just gonna go *crack* and your body will shatter into pieces and melt away to reveal your true form

I always get very agitated when anyone other than a very select few people come into the kitchen when I'm making myself food. It makes me get all growly and defensive.

Sometimes, it's made worse if they ask me what I'm making. Which is crazy! Because if the select few were to ask, I'd happily offer up half to them. But the moment someone outside of that little group tries to reach for what I'm eating, I literally have to stop myself from swatting at their hand.

So I have this bit, right? It's been a while since I've done it, but if I bring it up with my friends, they can still easily understand or remember the joke.

It's called the Dan Rules. It's often comedically egotistical and vain and was made because out of our little group, it was a joke that I am (as an act) an eccetric (maybe enigmatic if I'm feeling fancy) person who does whatever the hell I want.

If people thought to question my behavior, it was often quickly followed with a "that's just Dan" from my friends and easily dismissed. Sure, some of my boldness was probably left over from my middle school years, where I felt I had to lean into my weirdness completely so people would see me more as a joke than a freak.

But then I found myself in a safe, accepting environment, one where the need to bite and snarl and run away never came. I waited a while for it to arrive for me to feel the need to play the part of the fool for my newfound companions entertainment. It shocked me when I was left with genuine love and compassion. I leaned out of self-deprecating humor and completely into the (very obviously joking and fake) role of an egotistical short and angry ruler. For fucks sake we still have the name of the group chat as "Dantopia". I still did the bit to entertain my friends, to keep them laughing at my antics. But this time, it was accompanied by my own laughter. I enjoyed a new sense of freedom it brought.

The Dan Rules came out of when we were messing around, and I'd lean into this foolish king role, and I would proclaim something insane or childish. A popular one was, "Dan is never wrong." Often followed by a warranted scoff.

But the second rule is a good one, I think, one that really shone through as a reminder that I am not now who I was before.

"I do what I want."

I hadn't had much freedom before I met my current group of friends. I was quiet and kept quiet at times. I felt muzzled and chained, and as if I was a dog because someone forced a collar around my throat and pulled me on a leash.

It wasn't only that I didn't have the choice of self-expression, though. I'd also seen what happened to people who gave too much into reckless. I grew up with the weight of their actions carried on my shoulders, and while I have always been bold in my identity and beliefs, I was quiet and still when presented the opportunities to escape from situations where people kicked me down for who I was. I feared what would happen if I left my old group. Ironically, this fear led me to be isolated.

I found myself almost completely alone in the pandemic, and my only saving grace was a new school with new people. New people who didn't tell me to shut up or that I was ugly or that I needed to stop acting like an animal or they'd treat me like one. Instead, I met friends who handled me gently and taught me it was okay to hug just as it's okay to bark, and they welcomed me. I felt at home. I felt as if I knew myself completely.

So, with the second rule, which I still follow to this day, I added a private note.

"I do what I want. Because I can trust myself to."

Know thyself

I can trust myself to bark or scowl or growl just as much as I can to love and kiss and hug. I can stay aware of what is and isn't good and how much or how little I can trust someone. I can be bold and loving all at once and welcome others with open arms and flashing fangs.

I am in complete control over myself, and even when I am doing something so I can see my friends laugh, I am also doing it because I can, and I do what I want.