#Algernon Cornelius

[senorboombastic]

This One Song… Algernon Cornelius on Portland Gap

Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write? Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our…

[affectionatecorpse]

Me: Oh hey, I actually really like this thing!

Autism: YEAH THIS IS BRILLIANT I'M GONNA MAKE IT EVERYTHING WE CARE ABOUT FOR LIKE A MONTH

Me: Sounds good! A new hyperfixation will mix things up a bit! Plus the main character is complicated enough to expand upon--

Autism: NO

Me: ?

Autism: NO MAIN CHARACTER

Me: But--

Autism: OUR FAVOURITE IS THIS CREATURE THAT'S ON SCREEN FOR LIKE 5 MINUTES THAT ONE IS PERFECT

Me: But they have no fan content

Autism:

Me:

Autism:

Me: ... I'll make my own--

Autism: DAMN RIGHT YOU'LL MAKE YOUR OWN

[itsyoung8]

The age of the students at Bullworth Academy (part V)

Ouais salut l'équipe! Sorry for this long time of absence but as I said, studies take up a lot of my time. Well, here is the part V which was very much awaited (it's not true, but please do it)! Sur ce, bonne lecture!

Details:

-> I'm going to assume that Bullworth Academy is a high school

-> Since it is a high school located in the United States, four years ago and not three as in Europe (ex: France). That's why I'm going to make the following cut:

1st year: 14-15 years old - Freshman

2nd year: 15-16 years old - Sophomore

3rd year: 16-17 years old - Junior

4th year: 17-18 years old - Senior

Nerds:

Earnest Jones:

as seen in the previous part (I know it's dated), I had hypothesized (although it is very likely) that Ted was a 17-18 year old senior. Since Earnest and Ted are competing for the class steward position (I think that's it lol), I came to the conclusion that Earnest was also a 17-18 year old senior.

Algernon Papadopoulos:

I couldn't find much about Algie. The only small element that can give rise to a hypothesis is that in a line of dialogue, he says that Ted nicknames him "little buddy". In this case, if the word "small" refers to his age, it would mean that Algie is younger than Ted so either a freshman, sophomore or junior. But if it's not his age, then I don't have anything to make a hypothesis about his age.

Beatrice Trudeau:

Without a doubt, Beatrice is a 17-18 year old senior. On several occasions she talks about medical school and even says in a line of dialogue "I already know the medical schools to which I'll apply". Those in their final year have to apply to the universities they want and wait for an answer (like us in France). That's why Beatrice does this. Add to that the fact that she's been applying to be a cheerleader for several years, but Mandy turns her down every year. This reinforces this idea that Beatrice is a 17-18 year old senior.

Bucky Pasteur:

"I don't think I'll ever be big enough to be a Jock but I want to try!". This is the only element that allows me to go on a lead concerning Bucky. This line of dialogue makes me say that Bucky is not a 17-18 year old senior because it would be ridiculous to want to join the Jocks in his final year. So Bucky is either a freshman, a sophomore, or a junior. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything else that would allow me to give him a precise age.

Cornelius Johnson:

If you listen closely, you can hear Miss Danvers making an announcement that Cornelius has the worst result on a sports aptitude test in the history of the academy. From that moment on, I told myself that he must be a 14-15 year old freshman. However, Cornelius says that Dan was hanging out with the Nerds last year so the idea of a freshman is wrong because otherwise he wouldn't have known Dan as a Nerd.

I came to think that Cornelius might be a 17-18 year old senior and that the aptitude test is the test for those in their final year, I don't really know.

Thad Carlson:

First of all, I went to look again at Dan's presentation sheet and I hadn't noticed that it was written that Dan could be one of the oldest students in the academy. So I'm going to assume he's a 17-18 year old senior.

As far as Thad is concerned, if he knew his big brother as a nerd, then he is either a 15-16 year old sophomore or a 16-17 year old junior.

Donald Anderson:

Donald is, in my opinion, either a 16-17 year old junior because he says "This is probably the worst year. Ever at Bullworth" and in this case the word "ever" refers to the fact that he is still at the academy for this year but that next year it may change, either he is a senior of 17-18 years old because he speaks college like all the final year students I have dealt with in the previous parts.

Melvin O'Connor:

As I said with Russell, the age to drive a car in New England is about 18. On the other hand, for a scooter, you must be at least 16 years old without restriction (tell me if I am wrong Americans) while in France, for example, you must be at least 14 years old.

When Melvin says "I thought delays were supposed to wear helmets", we can assume that he is lashing out at someone who is on a scooter because it would be illogical to wear a helmet in a car. As a result, we can understand from this line of dialogue that Melvin may not be of legal age to ride a scooter. So we can say that, maybe, Melvin is a 14-15 year old freshman.

Fatty Johnson:

I'm not going to lie to you, but I haven't found anything that would allow me to start with even the beginning of an answer. Really, I promise you, I searched his dialogues and his presentation sheet and there is nothing!! Fatty is one of the characters we'll never know exactly how old he is lol.

Here's the end of that part. Next time I will try to deal with students who are not in any group. It's going to take me a little bit of time but that part will be there. Thanks for reading! Bonne journée tout le monde!

[kuroarimiyazaki]

More Bully OC stuff! Bullworth has a ballet class mmkay? Edit: After literal months of having this up I just realized it's really hard to read on mobile so I posted close ups below the cut!

[urapunk]

okay FREAK. i inquire you about your headcanons for algernon papadopoulos

hhhhgggg im getting so tired and idk ehat to do with algie

ALGERNON PAPADAPOULOS!

Chronically online. He's awful! Loves games and whining on reddit, always complaining about bullworth and probably wrote a bit of fanfiction in his days, I dont doubt it.

Doesnt like water. To drink I mean, and he much prefers something sweet.

He's cute sometimes I guess, he likes to give the girls he likes lilies and peonies, chocolate and all sorts of stuff. He's a little cheesy but he's really sweet when you ignore his fly always being open.

He's fascinated with online computer games. He's amazed when he goes into the library to find.. Well.. Computers. Even though they werent rare in 2006, he had never gotten the chance to use on before that. (World of warcraft lover)

He's not really piggish. He's tidy other than a few drinks or snacks on his desk. He's usually clean, and he showers often... Just sometimes forgets deoderant, but the nicer kids at bulkwotth remind him or offer him some.

Gets really red when he blushes. He has cold sweats and warm palms, (his hands are naturallly soft for some reason) and he has to push back his hair and wipe his forehead off alot.

Talented. He can draw amazingly, and he likes to draw the character sheets for the nerds. He's detailed too, but he's horrified to overline anyrhing in pen becaus ehe has shaky hands. He leaves that to cornelius.

<3

[pagib1g]

yeah ok jumped on the @jimothy-hopkins oc template bandwagon late but #BOOM mimi info! and misc doodles! plus some more stuff about xem under the cut

finally broke my years-long streak of making my sonas non-clique lol. xe's a part of the nerds now because i'd be clocked as a lame ass geek unfortunately. xe is usually the cleric during the gang's G&G sessions.

xe's very irresponsible for a nerd though. xe's the type to do their homework last minute and is easily tempted into giving up when xe doesn't immediately master something. most STEM disciplines are also lost on them, but they're excellent at humanities and art.

is mostly considered a nerd because xe is obsessed with computer games and knowledge no one cares about. will talk your ear off about fnaf sims 2 lore. the type of person to make their current irl crush in the sims and have their own sim marry them.

good friends with cornelius and beatrice, and on amicable terms with the rest of their clique (algernon has somewhat latched on to them as a guiding figure because xe is his senior and is very kind towards him). xe doesn't really respect earnest though (xe hides it to keep the peace).

mostly keeps their nose out of clique politics and is only enemies with the jocks (and the bullies) via association. they're so non-offensive that they're hardly registered as a viable target.

cares a lot about hygiene and appearance and tries to influence certain cliquemates to do the same. on that they actually do have to wear glasses, though they ditched that for a pair of contact lenses (they thought they looked better without them).

the most "normie" guy in the group. because of this (and their seniority), sometimes their cliquemates will turn to them for advice on typical teen stuff like dating. they really aren't THAT experienced (just observant), though they're a decent advisor and mediator.

[warrenwoodhouse]

Cliques - Bully Guide (Game Guides) (Guides)

List by @warrenwoodhouse #warrenwoodhouse

List of all of the cliques in Bully and in Bully: Scholarship Edition.

Main Game

Nerds

Boys

Algernon “Algie” Papadopoulos

Bucky Pasteur

Earnest Jones

Melvin O’Connor

Donald Anderson

Cornelius Johnson

Fatty Johnson

Thad Carlson

Girls

Beatrice Trudeau

Hangouts

The Library

The Observatory

Preppies

Boys

Chad Morris

Gord Vendome

Parker Ogilvie

Tad Spencer

Derby Harrington

Bif Taylor

Bryce Montrose

Justin Vandervelde

Girls

Pinky Gauthier

Hangouts

Harrington House

Old Bullworth Vale

Glass Jaw Gym

Greasers

Boys

Johnny Vincent

Ricky Pucino

Hal Esposito

Lefty Mancini

Norton Williams

Peanut Romano

Vance Medici

Girls

Lola Lombardi

Hangouts

Auto Shop

Add

Jocks

Boys

Kirby Olsen

Casey Harris

Bo Jackson

Damon West

Dan Wilson

Juri Karamazov

Luis Luna

Ted Thompson

Girls

Mandy Wiles

Hangouts

Football Field

Swimming Pool

Gym

None

Boys

Gary Smith

Peter “Petey” Kowalski

James “Jimmy” Hopkins

Constantinos Brakus

Ivan Alexander

Gordon Wakefield

Lance Jackson

Pedro De La Hoya

Ray Hughes

Sheldon Thompson

Trevor Moore

Girls

Angie Ng

Eunice Pound

Christy Martin

Gloria Jackson

Karen Johnson

Melody Adams

Zoe Taylor

Hangouts

Bullworth Academy

Bullies

Boys

Russell Northrop

Trent Northwick

Davis White

Ethan Robinson

Tom Gurney

Troy Miller

Wade Martin

Girls

None

Hangouts

Bullworth Academy

Carpark - Bullworth Academy

Townies

Boys

Duncan

Edgar Munsen

Clint (aka: Henry)

Gurney

Jerry

Leon

Omar Romero

Otto Tyler

Girls

Zoe Taylor (before re-attending Bullworth Academy)

Hangouts

Add

Townsfolk

Boys/Men

Mr. Doolin

Add

Girls/Women

Miss Abby

Add

Hangouts

Old Bullworth Vale

Add

Police

Boys/Men

Officer Williams

Girls/Women

None

Hangouts

Old Bullworth Vale

Bullworth Town

Add

Prefects

Boys/Men

Prefect 1

Prefect 2

Prefect 3

Girls/Women

None

Hangouts

Bullworth Academy

Orderlies

Boys/Men

Add

Add

Girls/Women

None

Hangouts

Add

Add

Carnival Folk

Boys/Men

Add

Add

Girls/Women

The Siamese Twins

Add

The Last Mermaid

Hangouts

Billie Crane’s Traveling Carnival

Faculty

Men

Dr. Crabblesnitch (Principal)

Mr. Burton (Gym Teacher)

Mr. Lionel Galloway (English Teacher)

Mr. Hattrick (Math Teacher) (Scholarship Edition)

Mr. Luntz (Janitor, Shop Attendant)

Mr. Matthews (Geography Teacher) (Scholarship Edition)

Neil (Shop Teacher)

Dr. Slawter (Biology Teacher) (Scholarship Edition)

Dr. Watts (Chemistry Teacher)

Mr. Wiggins (History Teacher) (Scholarship Edition)

Women

Miss. Danvers (Secretary)

Mrs. Carvin (Librarian)

Edna (Cook)

Mrs. Danica McRae (Nurse)

Mrs. Peabody (Girls’ Dorm Hall Monitor)

Miss. Peters (Music Teacher) (Scholarship Edition)

Ms. Deidre Philips (Art Teacher, Photography Teacher)

Hangouts

Bullworth Academy

[thomasgurney]

the nerds react to porn bots following them

earnest: ladies, ladies, one at a time B) there is plenty of earnest to go around

algernon: woah, no way??? these pretty girls actually wanna follow and talk to me????

cornelius: oh dear, it appears that someone is spreading artifical intelligence accounts to scam unsuspecting people. i better report and block them all

melvin: i'm getting so many followers but none of them are responding to my grottos n gremlins invites :(

bucky: granny says to not talk to strangers, so i blocked them all

fatty: these ladies keep sending me funny links, and its making my internet slow. its really annoying :(

thad: thupid thots

beatrice: tumblr should really do something about these bots, if i owned social media, these bots would of been gone long ago :/

donald: *is the one who made the porn bots*

[jimothy-hopkins]

What Godly Parent/CHB Cabin I Think Bully Characters Would Be In.

Zeus

Zoe Taylor.

Bif Taylor.

Poseison

Gary Smith.

Hades

Pete Kowalski.

Ares

Russel Northrop.

Seth Kolbe.

Jimmy Hopkins.

Thad Carlson.

Dan Wilson.

Wade Martin.

Christy Martin.

Athena

Beatrice Trudeau.

Donald Anderson.

Parker Ogilvie.

Max MacTavish.

Peanut Romano.

Justin Vandervelde.

Aphrodite

Mandy Wiles.

Derby Harrington.

Pinky Gauthier.

Gord Vendome.

Edward Seymour II.

Lola Lombardi.

Kirby Olsen.

Apollo

Trent Northwick.

Cornelius Johnson.

Norton Williams.

Bryce Montrose.

Eunice Pound.

Vance Medici.

Demeter

Bucky Pasteur.

Tom Gurney.

Troy Miller.

Angie Ng.

Bryce Montrose.

Dionysus

Duncan.

Juri Karamazov.

Casey Harris.

Hal Esposito.

Karl Branting.

Hephaestus

Johnny Vincent.

Lucky De Luca.

Ricky Pucino.

Hermes

Lefty Mancini.

Melvin O’Connor.

Earnest Jones.

Ethan Robinson.

Algernon Papadopoulos.

Luis Luna.

Fatty Johnson.

Hypnos.

Ivan Alexander.

Nemesis

Damon West.

Constantinos Brakus.

Davis White.

Nike

Chad Morris.

Ted Thompson.

Bo Jackson.

Tad Spencer.

Staff bonus

Chiron

Ms Philips

Mr. D

Mr. Galloway

[impyssadobsessions]

Bully: Political Arsony

“Gary, we could get into some serious trouble for this.” Pete whined as they crept in the hallways, looking out for prefects.

“Stop being such a baby, Pete. Sheesh. I knew I should've asked that moron instead. He wouldn't have whined.” Gary hissed at the smaller teen, “Now keep it down. They're almost done patrolling.”

Pete huffed, but kept quiet. He didn't want to do this, but Gary never took “no” for an answer. His grip tightened on the stink bomb in his hands.

“Coast is clear, c'mon,” Gary waved Pete to follow as they walked up to the second floor where the front office was.

“Oh, this is going to be good. I bet that nerd Earnest is going to throw a fit when the Head refuses to do a re-vote.” Gary snorted a dorky laugh.

“Earnest is going to throw a fit anyway. There's no way he would have won.” Pete said as he followed Gary to the voting box that sat on Ms. Danvers' desk.

Gary rubbed his hands together, practically bouncing in his spot. “We should have picked up a dead rat too. That would really give off the patriotic spirit.”

“Uh-huh. Let's just do this and go-”

“Ahh!” A short scream came from out of the hall, as sound of sneakers squeaked on the floor.

“Shh! Algie! You're going to get us caught.” An awkward voice hissed in a not so quiet whisper.

“I can't help it! I-I tripped!” Algie's voice squeaked, “Aww, man. I think some went down my leg.”

“Shh, mighty warrior, Algernon. We must hurry with our quest, for behest our dearest leader.” That was definitely Melvin.

Gary and Pete locked eyes, for a moment. Gary grinned cheekily as Pete gave him a frown in return. He shoved the box to the table in the corner of the room and then dragged Pete to hide behind the counter.

Gary put a finger to his lips and whispered, “On three toss the stink bomb at those losers.”

“Gary-” Pete clasped his hands tight around the stink bomb. His palms were sweating.

“Shhush-and just do it.” Gary warned with a glare, before returning to his grin. His legs swaying back and forth as he tried to keep his excitement down.

Pete pressed his back to the counter and listened as the small group of nerds shuffled into the office. Biting his lip to hold back a whine.

“Box procured! What now?” Algie asked as he grabbed the box.

“Now I shall place my enchantment of deception. These fools have too low of intelligence to figure out my illusion.” Cornelius, Pete's thinks, said as the sound of paper shuffled.

Pete looked back at Gary who was mouthing the conversation, in a mocking way by making silly expressions. Pete shook his head at the boy's dramatics, but a smirk was plastered on his face. He was trying hard not to snicker.

“Wow, did you write all those yourself?” Algie asked.

“No, of course not. I just wrote a few and had them copied. As long as there is enough variants, Ms. Danvers won't know the difference!”

Pete covered his face with his hand, as Gary started going off script. By Gary's gesturing and lip movement, Pete had guessed Gary was going something on the lines of: “Oh Fuck me Cornelius, I want something in my pants besides pee!”

Pete was starting to think he hung around Gary too much. Not that he chose to but still..

“Hold on, brave knight. We must open the sacred box before slipping the charms in. We can't have an amount more than what is in the box, otherwise the succubus will suspect tampering.” Melvin spoke.

“Oh-haha.. right.”

Pete looked back at Gary when he nudged him. The scarred teen raised a finger, signally one. Pete nodded, as he scooted closer to the edge of the counter. Carefully he peered around the corner.

He saw them all huddled around the box, trying to pry it open. How many nerds does it take to open a box? Apparently more than three. Gary would probably have a better punchline for that.

“Ugh, its no use. I should have brought my axe.” Algie whined.

“That dull thing would have crushed it. I do believe I have a lock-pick in my inventory.” Melvin patted his pockets.

“I can't believe you guys! You guys were suppose to figure out how to open it!” Cornelius huffed.

Trouble in paradise. Seriously, they were suppose to be smart.

Pete jolted as he felt hot breath on his neck. Gary was peaking over his shoulder, and snorted at the pink shirt boy's reaction.

“You hear that?” Melvin asked, turning behind him.

Pete and Gary leaning back behind the counter, before he could see them. Gary held two fingers in front of Pete's face, wiggling them.

“I didn't hear anything over Algie's grunting and wheezing.” Cornelius was agitated.

Pete fixed his grip on the stink bomb, shifting his stance. Knowing that they were probably going to run.

“I still scored higher than you on the physical test! So there-neh!” Algie stuck his tongue out at the dark-skin teen.

Cornelius and Algie started pushing and slapping at each other.

Pete felt a chill down his spin as he heard a flick and sizzle behind him.

“Gentlemen- please!” Melvin tried to pull them apart as they bumped into the table making the box fall off the table.

“Now, Pete! Fire in the hole!” Gary tossed a firecracker at the nerds, then jumped over the counter.

“You said on three!” Pete hurried to toss the stink bomb, blinding the three and covering them in stink. He scrambled across the counter, pulling his collar over his face.

“Three smee. I gotta keep you on your toes somehow.” Gary and Pete ran out of the office as they heard sounds of the three throwing up and screeching.

“Well, now that went unexpected. Nonetheless, I do believe we succeeded Pete.” Gary claimed as they made there way back to the dorm, taking a shortcut through the fence.

Pete coughed and wheezed, trying to get air back into his lungs, before climbing over. He was not cut out for running for long and the stink bomb didn't help.

“Uh-huh.. How so?” Pete asked as he hauled himself over the broken fence with a grunt.

Halfway over the wall, Pete whipped his head back at the sound of fire alarm. It rang loudly from the main building. The three nerds falling and stumbling down the main steps as they headed their way back to the dorm.

Pete looked back over to see Gary grinning, then shook his head with a sigh.

~

The next morning, Ms. Danvers' voice rang through out the school on the intercom.

“Attention little rugrats- Because of the little stunt last night, it took firefighters an hour before they came to assess the VERY REAL fire. Luckily, thanks to the sprinkler system the fire was put out before further damage could be done.”

“We have reason to believe the cause of the fire was politically motivated, as the damage was remotely done to the voting box. So, in turn, we have revoked your rights in choosing the school president this year. I need not remind you that as adolescents you have NO RIGHTS and voting was merely our way of encouraging you to make the RIGHT choices. Which you have time and again proven that you cannot.”

“That saying, our new school president is Ted Thompson. Let's celebrate with a polite and non-disruptive clap for Mr. Thompson.”

The class erupted into a roar, by mostly the four jocks attending it. Pete politely clapped with the rest, until he felt something bounce off his head. He turned to look back at Gary sat leaned back in his chair. His feet sat on the desk, his arm was behind his head, and he was playing with a pencil in his free hand.

Pete raised a brow, wondering what got Gary so wired now. Gary rolled his eyes and gestured with the tilt of his head down. Pete looked down, seeing the wad of paper that had hit him moments ago. He reached down to pick it up.

“And NO, Earnest, this is non-negotiable. We must honor all students successes, even if it was due to unfair circumstances. That's simply how the world works. Thank you.” The intercom screeched before shutting off for good.

He opened it up and immediately regret it. He glared back at Gary, who just snickered into his hand.

It was a drawing of last nights events, or at least a Gary retelling. Pete just shoved the paper into his bag, praying no one saw it as Mr. Hatterick tried to get everyone's attention again.

[caltropspress]

RAPS + CRAFTS #13: Algernon Cornelius

1. Introduce yourself. Past projects? Current projects?

I’m Algernon Cornelius, producer/rapper based in Manchester (UK). A lot of my early work consists of instrumental beat-tapes (which can be found on my bandcamp), along with collaborative works like Mortal Deck, as well as some side-projects like Philip K. Dickhead. I wrote my first rap in 1993 (co-written with my Dad tbf), but didn’t start writing properly until 2003. Around the same time I started producing by making pause tapes in a little cassette recorder and then by the same process but with cheap CD turntables into an Archos Gmini 402 mp4 player. I started using Cubase in 2005 and then moved on to Ableton in 2014. 

Somewhere along this path I briefly let go of rapping to focus more on beat-making, that is until about 2016 when I made the song “Zero Hour Contract” (the vocals were recorded on a dictaphone). That return to writing was most likely sparked by hearing ELUCID’s Valley Of Grace record. I followed that up with another single: “Witchita”.

There are multiple stories you can choose to follow when you explore my discography. Perhaps the easiest route is through the rap time-line, which is as follows…

Neither Gloaming Nor Argent: Both Before And After The Dark (2020)

The Miraculous Weapons of Clarkus_Dark (2021)

Me No Sen You No Come (2022)

SEGUNDO (2023) NGNA is a compilation of singles I recorded before, during and after the making of MWxxCD (think 13 Songs by Fugazi or The Sagas Of… by Klashnekoff). MWxxCD is my debut album. MNSYNC is an EP, and SEGUNDO is my 2nd album.

2. Where do you write? Do you have a routine time you write? Do you discipline yourself, or just let the words come when they will? Do you typically write on a daily basis?

I wish I did write on a daily basis, but most of the time I just ponder about living my life being busy or procrastinating, until something hits me. Usually it’s one line that sounds interesting or funny to me. There have been times when I’ve tried to be more disciplined and write something every day. These bursts typically happen in the new year and then eventually fade away, in that respect being undisciplined is my discipline. But when it comes to it I can be anywhere. For this album specifically I went back home to the house I grew up in while my parents were away and just wrote for 10 days straight (probably helped that I got covid and couldn’t leave). I set everything up in the dining room and had the mic in one hand to record demos as I wrote with the other. I’ve never really written in that way before, but it was definitely good for me. Being alone, and having a mission, and knowing exactly how my voice would sound as I was writing. I can’t do that in my current living situation because I live with other people and I’m very self-conscious. I think being in a space I knew well and felt comfortable in really helped too.

I don’t write everyday, but ideas are usually always kicking around. I like to leave room for experiences to write about.

3. What’s your medium—pen and paper, laptop, on your phone? Or do you compose a verse in your head and keep it there until it’s time to record?

It used to be a pen and sheets of A4 white paper. Then it became lined notebooks. Then it was my laptop. In the past five years or so it has been in the notes app on my phone, and then typed up in a Google doc where it can be edited and refined. I can’t keep new lyrics in my head for long because they tend to metamorphosise into something else very quickly, so they have to be preserved outside the brain. I’ll then rehearse over and over until I know it off-top and it becomes muscle memory, because I would rather not be reading off something in the booth (that isn’t always possible with last minute rewrites). The best way is if I can play it live a few times because then I really get a feel for it and know what the energy is like and I have more confidence behind the flow, I know what the pockets should feel like.

4. Do you write in bars, or is it more disorganized than that?

Oh it’s very disorganised. But then again that can depend on the beat. Some songs encourage more free-form structure.

5. How long into writing a verse or a song do you know it’s not working out the way you had in mind? Do you trash the material forever, or do you keep the discarded material to be reworked later?

I think when I feel uncomfortable or cringe is when I know it’s not working. I know you have to kill the part of you that cringes but that’s 100 gecs' job. You really have to feel genuine with what you’re saying, and that’s an integrity that keeps you grounded in who you are as an artist. That gets a lot easier as you get older and you don’t have to put on a voice or adopt certain language.

My line of thinking is that it begins with a jump-off, so the first line is the provocateur. The attention grabber. Often this may not have anything to do with the rest of the verse, but it’s integral to getting to the rest of it. The big bang. In this way my verses probably tend to make more sense towards the end.

I try to keep everything, and this is why I would like to move back to writing on paper. I kept everything on paper. In a Google Doc it’s very easy to erase history. With SEGUNDO I tried to not be scared of the rewrite. I can be very precious about my work, but I had to give the mic to the voice that says “you can do better”.

6. Have you engaged with any other type of writing, whether presently or in the past? Fiction? Poetry? Playwriting? If so, how has that mode influenced your songwriting?

I have loved writing since forever. I was always writing stories as a kid and got a lot of encouragement from my English teachers at school. I still somewhat regret not taking English Literature at 6th Form (age 16-18 in the UK). I’ve been writing a lot more poetry recently and have sketched out some ideas for short sci-fi stories, and at some point want to go into script writing and learn to make films. I used to write about music a lot, for a few blogs and some larger platforms that shall remain nameless. I don’t know if that’s influenced my songwriting because rap is what got me into playing with language, so that informs everything else.

7. How much editing do you do after initially writing a verse/song? Do you labor over verses, working on them over a long period of time, or do you start and finish a piece in a quick burst?

I am trying to edit more. That was a key thing in the making of these last two records. I take ages to start things but once I get going it’s very quick, so it’s more like a stream of consciousness ting. You can end up trying to cram in too many ideas that way, and with SEGUNDO specifically I wanted to introduce more space in my rhymes, so I would cut some things to make that happen. Songs like “...AND THE LIVING” happened very quickly, but with “WHERE WE ARE” and “PLAGUES” there were several different versions I made until it sounded right. When something happens quickly I often have no memory of how it happened, it feels like it comes from another place (manic brain memory loss).

8. Do you write to a beat, or do you adjust and tweak lyrics to fit a beat?

I go through different waves. When I’m not writing for a project I just stream a load of bars out and have them all in a document. Most of the time these can’t fit to any of the music that I write, but I can nick certain lines that fit. “I Am Not The Moon” from Miraculous Weapons used a lot of lyrics from a couple of verses I wrote over a loop of The Wanton Song by Led Zeppelin when I was 18. I carry several verses around in my head that can’t really squish into a typical song format. I keep them there in case there was ever a situation where I got into a cypher and needed to prove something. As yet this has never happened, and may never will, perhaps this only happens in movies. I will just keep reciting them in the shower until that day comes. But when it’s for a project the beats always come first, so I’m gonna sit down and go through in sequential order and write like that. Doing it that way you’re carving out a route so the listener can follow your path (that is of course if they listen to albums front to back in one sitting and not on shuffle).

9. What dictates the direction of your lyrics? Are you led by an idea or topic you have in mind beforehand? Is it stream-of-consciousness? Is what you come up with determined by the constraint of the rhymes?

The music, first and foremost. That’s always the mood setter. That’s why the stuff I write without music tends to be more random and glitchy. In fact I have a load of stuff like this which I’m planning to release as a poetry book later this year called The Glitch and the Goof. But when I’m working on a record I make all the beats first and then sequence the album because it has to make sense musically, the instrumentals dictate the journey you’re gonna go on. Also whatever I name the instrumental when I export it, that usually informs the direction. I should probably be more careful with that. Although “Stress” was originally called “Night Goat” (after the Melvins song) and there was no mention of goats in that. There aren’t many of my songs that stick to one subject (Kool Moe Dee definitely would’ve scored me low for sticking to themes). On “DUNKEL” I do and that’s because of the sample, which is literally saying “dark” so that was the direction I gave Val and myself. “DECEMBER 25” is obviously one of the most focused theme-wise because I’m trying to tell a very specific story and it’s perhaps the most clear and personal I’ve been on a track. Funnily enough that song came about because I was working a temp job at a University and my fellow temp comrade (the only other black guy who worked there, it’s actually incredible they allowed 2 of us to work on the front desk at the same time now that I think about it), anyway we were chatting about white English reactions to diaspora foods, like having rice with your Sunday roast and how kids in school thought that was weird, but it was normal for us. We laughed about it and then I thought about it for a minute and wrote down “rice in my roast, what the whites will never know”. That’s the jump-off line right there. And as I already had the loop I wanted to sample for it in my head on rotation (it had been stuck in my head for almost 2 years), by the time I was on the bus home I just continued writing on my phone. The mood was already set and I just started thinking about this story I wanted to tell. I got home and immediately looped that shit up and then worked more lyrics around it, following the bassline. 

In terms of being constrained by the rhymes, I think yes this can happen, but then it’s all about vocab and finding ways back home if you go too far out. The patterns you weave doing that can be beautiful. That’s like looking at a brain-scan create an Etch-a-Sketch. Having that constraint can pull out some wild juxtapositions and create a really interesting image.

10. Do you like to experiment with different forms and rhyme schemes, or do you keep your bars free and flexible?

Absolutely. I always think about Method Man, especially on his earlier records, where he basically switches up the flow almost every line. That’s the stuff that got me so excited as a kid. As a rapper you are just an instrument, so as you would with drums or a bassline or a keyboard, you can switch it up to take the song somewhere. It’s always about what’s best for the song for me. I don’t like to get too self-indulgent as an emcee. I am no better than the beat really, I’m part of an ensemble cast, and we’re all working for the song. I don’t tend to think about my rhyme schemes as methodically as I used to, perhaps because it comes more naturally to me now, but I remember for a while I was experimenting with reverse compound structures where the 2nd line would be close enough to a  phonetic reverse of the previous line. I have a crude example from an unreleased song where I say: “High-hitting hats when I relapse into narcosis / Whenever I’m focused you can tell where I have been at with my hidden eye” Maybe I will go back to getting more scientific with ideas like this.

11. What’s a verse you’re particularly proud of, one where you met the vision for what you desire to do with your lyrics?

On SEGUNDO I think “DECEMBER 25” obviously because it took a lot for me to get there. I mean really that’s one of the reasons why it’s the last track on the album. I don’t think there’s been a time where I’ve listened back to that song and I haven’t cried, so it did what it was supposed to do. That was a similar case with “Adieu” from NGNA. “CLOY ROYSTER” because that’s probably the closest I’ll ever get to a true freestyle (I can’t freestyle for shit). The 2nd verse of “Tentative”, which originally I left open for a guest but then I ended up surpassing my own expectations (I originally gave the beat to R.A.P. Ferreira but then ended up using it on my album, then he came back with “No Word For Wack” which ended up on the Ruby Yacht album). ”Lightning Bolt” as well, that was a real one. I wrote the lyrics, made the beat, recorded it  and then posted it on bandcamp maybe all within 2 hours. Extremely raw shit. (It’s called "Lightning Bolt" because that’s who I was going to see play a gig that night). That’s actually an example of where I wrote it all out on a piece of paper first and then made it fit to the beat, and I mean it helps that the beat doesn’t have any drums, it’s just six pads of noise. “Notes On A Native Sound” was written from a dream I had the same night I made the beat and I feel that’s maybe one of the most synergetic songs in terms of the music and lyrics. It all came out of two sides of the same trip.

12. Can you pick a favorite bar of yours and describe the genesis of it?

“Flexi disc under the x-ray / Mexican death day / Haters wanna flex I slip their disc and press play (…AND THE LIVING)

Like I don’t care if anyone rates that or not, for me it always makes me feel like this and that’s all I ever wanna do for myself. I had that line in my head for time, just a silly little boast innit? But with some very niche deep Wikipedia level references. Also me and my peers have very serious concerns about back pain. “Become a man before the onus is on the shoulders of the taurus / And the horns begin to grow again, blow through them / The tone of brass bones does not atone for intonation" (The Flood)

Men go a bit weird in their late 20’s, you ever notice that? This was sort of a way of saying check yourself before you wreck yourself. I used 3 zodiac signs for Miraculous Weapons; the Bull (Taurus), Snake and Crab (Cancer), and they all work as points of reference across the album. A lot of it is to do with ideas of fate, determinism and essentialism and trying to escape that (which actually I've just realised that’s at the core of most of my work). The titular Clarkus_Dark is basically the bad character (as Lord Quas might say). My dad used to have this Shofar in the house which I used to play with (he was a religious studies teacher) so that’s probably where I got that imagery. I also used to play trombone so there’s your brass bones, and you can hear some trombone at the end of “How Good’s The Funeral?”. It’s all tied together. Now that I think of it this was also one where I wrote the lyrics before the music and then made it fit afterwards too. Cat, who is the first person you hear whisper “SEGUNDO” at the start of the album, I wrote that in her living room in the middle of a crisis.

13. Do you feel strongly one way or another about punch-ins? Will you whittle a bar down in order to account for breath control, or are you comfortable punching-in so you don’t have to sacrifice any words?

Punching-in I have no qualms about. Like I said before it’s about what’s best for the song. There are cases when a punch-in can fuck up the flow, there are cases where cutting out a breath can make it sound too clinical. Just depends on what you want out of the recording. I’m getting better at editing stuff down in the writing so it’s about clarity and rhythm. I’ll preface this with the fact that I’m old enough where I’m going to use Big Daddy Kane as an example…but you know when you’re starting out you just wanna show off and fit as many syllables in a line as possible (yeah, like Big Daddy Kane)? Well when you play live you come to the compromise, because I have so much energy I need to get off I can’t be running about and do all that, especially as I get older. No matter how much I push I have to understand my body has limits, so then it becomes a choice of what you’re trying to give. Is it lyrical-miracle virtuosity? Or clarity? What is going to connect with your audience? Because at the end of the day that’s what you’re trying to do, you have to make a connection otherwise there’s no point.

14. What non-hiphop material do you turn to for inspiration? What non-music has influenced your work recently?

Definitely films. For SEGUNDO there were things about Spike Lee joints that informed the feeling in songs like “PLAGUES” and “CURRY MILE”, in particular his use of the double dolly technique. I wanted to do that with music. When I was writing I rinsed seasons 3 and 4 of Top Boy, the Andy Warhol documentary on Netflix, The Power of the Dog, Call My Agent! and Fast & the Furious 9. Obviously I’m not sure how that last one had any effect on me, but the hook in SEGUNDO was inspired by Basquiat in the Warhol doc. 

I’d never really dipped that heavily into the work of David Lynch before, and I had wondered if it was just too late for me. Like is all the weirdo shit I already like just jacked from Uncle DL? But I saw Mulholland Drive for the first time and it shook me pretty deep, like really got right inside me in a very particular way that I don’t know how to put into words, and there’s not that many films that have done that. That kind of made me think differently about the structure of SEGUNDO and what it meant, because to be honest the meaning was missing for me for a long time and it felt like the process of making this album was almost in search of that, and then towards the end it started to make sense, but as if the answer had always been there. The lyrics to “SLOW WOUND” are mostly inspired by Mulholland Drive if you look closely enough. 

I’m always inspired by food, I’m always thinking about that. It’s so tied to memory. Sometimes I can’t remember the details of a certain trip somewhere but I can tell you exactly what I ate and what it tasted like and how it made me feel.

A lot of SEGUNDO was inspired by nature. Again it’s about space but in many forms. The pandemic is what set that off, everything became still and empty, internally and externally. I was locked down in Manchester so I ended up taking huge walks out to anything that remotely resembled a bit of countryside, a park or a bit of woodland surrounded by a highway. I grew up right in the middle of the North Yorkshire Dales and Moors, there was so much expansive space there, your mind could just wander off into the distance. Can’t see shit for terrace houses here in Old Trafford, it’s like being trapped on the set of Coronation Street (I wrote this and then afterwards took a walk to the shop for some caraway seeds and the sun was beaming and the red bricks look so gorgeous in the light, so it’s not always so gloomy to be fair)

When some of the lockdown restrictions were lifted, me and my girlfriend’s first trip was to a remote converted farmhouse on the side of a mountain in North Wales. Some days you’d be trapped indoors because a huge rain cloud had engulfed everything, but on sunny days you could see as far as the Lake District and the Isle of Man. You’d set off on a walk and you’d maybe meet 1 or 2 people all day, unless you walked 5 miles to the nearest village pub. There were more wild ponies and sheep than people. That was a really important time for me where I could have the space to think while the music of SEGUNDO circled in my head.

Another trip like that was when we went up to the Scottish highlands (to stay with my girlfriend’s friend (Sarah Bernstein who is also a writer), again very remote. You’d wake up one morning and see a pod of dolphins making their way across the bay. It was in September so all the purple heather was in bloom. I was getting high just looking at all that purple, it looked like them Richard Mosse photographs of The Congo. That’s what inspired the autotuned part in CURRY MILE. It may have been born in south Manchester, and then settled in Snowdonia, but it grew wings in the highlands. I think there’s more of a nature sound on this record, it’s like halfway between the concrete streets and nature. Like there’s earth, air, ice, water, moss and a small fire trying to stay alight under it all.

15. Writers are often saddled with self-doubt. Do you struggle to like your own shit, or does it all sound dope to you?

I constantly have self-doubt. I’d argue that’s what keeps me in check, but if there’s too much of it it becomes a real hindrance. I love my own shit but I have had to work for it. I always think of myself as someone to whom rapping does not come naturally. First off I’m from this cursed island of britain, and not even the happening part. There was no culture where I grew up, you had to get it all from television and radio, or movies and magazines. I was the only person I knew who wrote raps or was even into Hip-Hop (apart from Joanne from school who also liked Dizzee Rascal). If I ever came across another rapper it’d be the white kids who were into spitting over Makina and New Monkey type beats. So what I'm saying is I’ve taken many years to find my voice, and being quite isolated from any sort of rap scene has been both a good thing and a bad thing. Maybe my sword would be sharper if I was dueling on the daily. Maybe it’s ok to be a quirked-up country boy curry goated with the sauce busting it down Supreme Clientele style (we’ll get to that later). Either way I've put myself out there on the line and learnt a lot. 

When I was 15 I sent my first demo to DJ Excalibah who was doing the late night slot for underground and UK rap on BBC radio 1Xtra (he’s now an acclaimed theatre director), he gave me very honest constructive feedback. Something to the effect of the recording quality was bad (which it was) and I needed to work on my flow and my voice (tell me about it), but that my writing was up there with the best of them. That last part was enough for me to keep going. Meeting people like Moor Mother who was one of the first people to tell me she liked my voice really gave me encouragement to not doubt myself. I try to remember moments like this and do the same for others when they’re out here. 

It’s also having good honest mates around you, like Claudia (featured on the final reprise of MAKE THE SUN tagged on the end of CLOY ROYSTER), she suffers from a rare disease where she cannot lie to people, so that’s helpful in knowing what’s good. When James from the band Yard Act started demoing stuff with me for Miraculous Weapons he made a few suggestions to change a couple of lyrics because they were too on the nose, and usually I’m really stubborn and defensive about stuff like that but I trusted his opinion and he was right to be fair. Trust the people that know you.

16. Who’s a rapper you listen to with such a distinguishable style that you need to resist the urge to imitate them?

Ghostface is my anchor. My all time favourite rapper. He gave me the blueprint for my style of free-association. I even did an art project in school based on his verse on "Daytona 500." Him and DOOM (and probably Pos from De La Soul) basically show up in my life when I’m 14/15 and show me how beautiful and fun language can be. So while I may not imitate them per se, they gave me a key to unlock something in myself to put my own spin on how I see the world. Another key rapper I would say is Danny Brown, and that’s mainly because he’s such an anglophile. He bridges the gap between Grime and American rap. He could do a whole album spitting over 140 bpm beats (I mean he does this so effortlessly over Benga’s "26 Basslines"). You can hear that influence on “WHERE WE ARE” for sure. I love Mos Def so much and that’s probably why I gravitated towards Mach-Hommy, it’s the tone and melody they bring. I’m one of those rappers who secretly wishes they were a singer. I’ve always been really big on Dancehall emcees with really gruff voices too. I started doing this growl which I mostly do live, which is partly inspired by more doomy sludgey bands, but you listen to BackRoad Gee and he’s doing something really interesting with it. I played with Sons of Kemet one time and while I was backstage I could hear Shabaka practicing his horn coming through the vent in the next room, and he was listening to drill music and playing along to it. That’s what it is, the voice is an instrument and he shows you that through his music, he’s playing certain lines and I’m immediately thrown back to my living room after school watching emcees on Channel U, he makes very specific references to certain grime flows.

I’d like to think that I have so many influences that they all get mangled together to form something different, or that my bad impressions become a new voice altogether, at least I hope.

17. Do you have an agenda as an artist? Are there overarching concerns you want to communicate to the listener?

At the most basic level I just need something to rap over. I feel something and I wanna say something, so I make something, and then I try to make you feel what I felt. Now with that comes connection, but also unintended misinterpretation. And really the latter is what keeps this whole ting spinning. Evolution is just endless mistakes. Failure upon failure until it works for the moment and then until it doesn’t again. Hip-Hop is all about the flip, not just in terms of flipping samples but shifting perspective, I hope I can do that in my own way to some degree. I also want to just show people how connected they are, bring people together that wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It’s mad when I think of all the people I know and how most of them don’t know each other. You just gotta be a node and keep vibrating higher innit.

RAPS + CRAFTS is a series of questions posed to rappers about their craft and process. It is designed to give respect and credit to their engagement with the art of songwriting. The format is inspired, in part, by Rob McLennan’s 12 or 20 interview series.

[senorboombastic]

Release Rundown - Algernon Cornelius, Big Break and Colossal Squid

Words: Ben Forrester Algernon Cornelius – SEGUNDO(Self Released) It’s been great to see Manchester based artist Algernon Cornelius travel around the UK with his explosive one man show over the last few years. Mostly in support of his debut rap record, ’The Miraculous Weapons of Clarkus_Dark’, which was a deeply encompassing and effecting record that encapsulated the mind of its creator…

[boitedeconcert]

Algernon Cornelius

The Cluny, Brave Exhibitions Festival, Newcastle, England. 20/11/21.

[olympeparpaing]

Something malicious is brewing ….🤨

[tossedeggs]

[warrenwoodhouse]

Yearbook - Bully Guide (Game Guides) (Guides)

The entire yearbook of Bullworth Academy.

Nerds

Boys

Algernon “Algie” Papadopoulos

Bucky Pasteur

Earnest Jones

Melvin O’Connor

Donald Anderson

Cornelius Johnson

Fatty Johnson

Thad Carlson

Girls

Beatrice Trudeau

Hangouts

The Library

The Observatory

Preppies

Boys

Chad Morris

Gord Vendome

Parker Ogilvie

Tad Spencer

Derby Harrington

Bif Taylor

Bryce Montrose

Justin Vandervelde

Girls

Pinky Gauthier

Hangouts

Harrington House

Old Bullworth Vale

Glass Jaw Gym

Greasers

Boys

Johnny Vincent

Ricky Pucino

Hal Esposito

Lefty Mancini

Norton Williams

Peanut Romano

Vance Medici

Lucky De Luca

Girls

Lola Lombardi

Hangouts

Auto Shop

New Coventry

Jocks

Boys

Kirby Olsen

Casey Harris

Bo Jackson

Damon West

Dan Wilson

Juri Karamazov

Luis Luna

Ted Thompson

Girls

Mandy Wiles

Hangouts

Football Field

Swimming Pool

Gym

None

Boys

Gary Smith

Peter “Petey” Kowalski

James “Jimmy” Hopkins

Constantinos Brakus

Ivan Alexander

Gordon Wakefield

Lance Jackson

Pedro De La Hoya

Ray Hughes

Sheldon Thompson

Trevor Moore

Girls

Angie Ng

Eunice Pound

Christy Martin

Gloria Jackson

Karen Johnson

Melody Adams

Zoe Taylor

Hangouts

Bullworth Academy

Bullies

Boys

Russell Northrop

Trent Northwick

Davis White

Ethan Robinson

Tom Gurney

Troy Miller

Wade Martin

Girls

None

Hangouts

Bullworth Academy

Carpark - Bullworth Academy