"The Grandpappy of Xeno-political Rap," Kya Vega is known for writing about complex political and historical topics, tracing the through-line of human emigration as it interacts with myriad different civilizations, nations, species, and cultures. Recently, he has been fascinated with Ee’ezzo, and the history of ethnic conflict between E’dolo and Bazi, being both proud of our human ability to bond with other peoples, and yet also critical of our tendency to get pulled, almost inevitably it seems, into wars.
Knick Knack Silverback
Kya's song title refers to E'dolo's highest-ranking infantry soldiers, Silverbacks, who wear heavy armor systems that shoot poison gas pellets onto the battlefield. In this song, Kya explores the terrors of war and the experience of humans as they continue to fight across different planets and campaigns. This is most exemplified by the line:
"The nay-sayers play the same games that they
Know that we know, that we know no ends, Lord"
Kya includes two of humanities most infamous post-Diaspora military catastrophes -- Bynari and Gamma Pyree -- both of which claimed casualties in the millions. He also ties these ideas back deep into human history, citing ancient cultural references such as ET, Darth Vader, and Macbeth. These signal the cyclical nature of conflict and its frustratingly common presence in the trajectory of our species.
Ol' Y'ov (Jawohl)
The madman Y’ov was a pivotal part of the last war between E’dolo and Bazi (on Planet Ee'ezzo), creating such devastating chemical weapons and releasing them with such indiscriminate abandon that the rival countries had to join forces to take him down. The tragedy of Y’ov’s weapons have left a clear psychological mark on both societies, so much so that Kya Vega sought to explore this phenomenon in this track. Of particular note are the closing lines:
"Faster on, they floored him
Til caskets of two corps adorned him"
Kya refers here to the notorious "Wo'nezzin Incident" in which Y'ov slaughtered thousands of kizee and cubai soldiers in a single afternoon. Such was the death toll among both Baziban and E'dolan troops, that the two countries effectively ended the war that day, garnering a tenuous truce to bring Y'ov to justice.
The Bells of Blazer Fell-gone
For years, Kya's own personal history was shrouded in mystery. No one knew his real name or where he came from, though there were rumors that he was one of the "Fell-gone Children" -- i.e. a survivor of the civil war that had decimated the human colony of Blazer Fell-gone.
These rumors proved true in this legendary, break-through track by Kya. In it he discusses the tragedy of the civil war, which was waged between two factions of Blazer's major family, the Fell-gones. The war was meant to secure property and manufacturing rights, but quickly devolved into unmitigated violence, leading to the complete destruction of the colony.
The principle instigators of the conflict were, as Kya notes, "Halbert and Halbach" -- two brothers of the Fell-gone family. But Kya's big reveal in this track is that he is also one of the Fell-gone siblings, having escaped and changed his name. It is suspected that Kya is the youngest brother of the family -- Nascentelle -- but he has not confirmed this, saying in interviews that he, "only answers to Kya now."