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The Rapture “It Takes Time To Be A Man”

I do not know the provenance of the piano and bass part that is cut and looped through this composition – it could be a sample, it could be original – but the sound is warm and calming, in part because of the fact that it’s DJ’d, produced, recontextualized. I can’t remember a time when this sort of sound wasn’t being reworked. I’m more attached to this sound in artistic quotation marks than in its original context. (This doesn’t have to be entirely about post-hip-hop music, by the way – I have a consistently powerful nostalgic/sensory response to hearing Barbara Acklin’s “Am I the Same Girl” entirely because it was used as bed music for a lot of ads on the talk radio I heard as a teenager.)

“It Takes Time To Be A Man” has a warm, generous sound that matches the kindness of its words. It’s a song of reassurance – you don’t grow up all at once; you get what you want and what you need if you work for it; patience is a great virtue. There’s a touch of religion in these lyrics – and most of the new Rapture album in general – but the idea of faith put forth in this song isn’t a matter of embracing Jesus or looking to God. It’s just about holding on to a positive vision of the future and moving toward it, letting it guide you every day toward enlightenment, maturity, success, genuine connection with other people and anything else that could enrich your life.

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