Ab soul the book of soul

Before I get into this, I just want to make it clear that some of the points I will make may seem like a bit of a stretch. This is somewhat intentional, as I would love for this to spark some discussion about this song. If you disagree with a point I make or think I'm reaching too far, say so in the comments! I would love to hear what you all have to say and really want to see some quality discussion on this song.

Intro

Ab Soul's song "The Book of Soul" is without a doubt one of his most well known and most acclaimed songs, dealing primarily with the sudden death of his longtime girlfriend, Alori Joh. The first two lines of the song,

Your momma told me read the Book of Job

They shoulda called it the Book of Soul

sets up the song as a sort of allegory for the Book of Job, using it to mirror his own life. Many have seen the song as mirroring the Book of Job simply in the fact that both Soulo and Job suffered needlessly, with Soulo losing his longtime girlfriend Alori Joh and Job losing his family and livelihood; however, the comparisons between the two appear to be much deeper and more complex than that.

The Book of Job: Quick Background

If you have already read the Book of Job or know the gist of it, you don't have to bother with the text below as this is just a summary of the Book of Job for those who do not know about it.

The Book of Job is a book in the Old Testament, describing the suffering of a righteous man named Job. In it, Satan tells God that Job is only faithful to God due to his good fortune. God then allows Satan to cause Job great suffering, seemingly as a test of his faith. Satan has bandits kill and steal Job's livestock, kill most of his servants, and then destroys the house in which his children were, killing them. After this, Satan covers Job's body with painful boils that cause him immense suffering. Job discusses his suffering with his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and they discuss the reasoning for his suffering as well as humans general lack of wisdom, while Job laments on the fact that he does not deserve to suffer since he has not sinned. Eventually God appears to Job and, while he does not actually explain any sort of reasoning behind Job's suffering, he expresses that Job will never be able to comprehend why he has made him suffer. After all this, God restores Job's good fortune and gives him a new family.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest pieces of poetry ever written, the Book of Job is a very influential and powerful tale that deals with the question of “Why do the righteous suffer?”, an issue known as theodicy.

Soulo's Early Life: "Boils and Blisters"

I came into this hurtful Earth in perfect health

Caught Stevens–Johnson syndrome when I was ten years old

Internal and external fever, 80%

Fatality rate at that time, ain't that some shit

Severe pink eye, my eyes swollen shut

For like two or three months, it's still bright as fuck

Oh, and I even lost my lip skin

Grew back darker than its original pigment

Skin disfigured from boils and blisters

Unidentifiable by my little sister

The Book of Soul kicks off with Ab-Soul describing his first case of serious suffering: his affliction with Steven-Johnson syndrome. Steven Johnson syndrome causes the epidermis to separate from the dermis, resulting in a very painful and life threatening condition. The most visible effect of this syndrome is the body being covered in "boils and blisters", which are very painful and can cause serious bodily damage.

This affliction is the first parallel we see between The Book of Soul and The Book of Job. In the Book of Job, Job's body becomes covered in painful boils that are unsightly and cause excruciating pain. The parallel between Ab-Soul's affliction and Job's is a very clear one, with both of them being disfigured due to boils on their body.

Another interesting thing of note is the usage of lips in both The Book of Job and The Book of Soul. In The Book of Soul, Soulo tells the listener that the skin on his lips came off and grew back even darker, as a result of SJS. In the Book of Job, it is expressed that he “did not sin with his lips”, implying that Job did not decry God at this point verbally but likely was in his thoughts. The fact that both use lip imagery is interesting due to the lips being representative of verbal action. With regards to Job, the lip imagery is used to show that Job did not speak, whereas with Ab-Soul, it seems to show the opposite; the damage to his lips led to his nickname of Black Lip Bastard, and likely influenced his music to an extent.

Survivor: “But I’m Alright”

Come to think of it, I could've got a crazy check

The shrink thought I'd be traumatized, but I'm alright

A less obvious connection between Job and Soul is seen with regards to how they each handled their respective illnesses. When describing what he went through with SJS, Ab-Soul explains that there was an 80% fatality rate at that time, in addition to the pain it caused. Despite this fact, he was able to persevere and not only recover, but he was mentally okay afterwards; such a traumatizing occurrence would surely have debilitating effects on most people. In a similar vein, Job persevered through his own affliction, refusing to die and refusing to (at this point in time) lose faith. His wife told him that he ought to “curse God, and die”, but Job refused to do so and instead explained that if he should receive good by God, it may also receive evil.

Both men refused to give up hope despite their terrible circumstances, showing an interesting parallel between their outlooks on their suffering.

Social Outcast: "No, Not a Nod"

My first years of Junior High School were not alright

Them dimes wouldn't give me no time, no, not a nod

This line is short and simple, but is another similarity we see between Soul and Job. During his earlier years, Ab-Soul was not an especially popular due to his skin disfigurement. The boils and blisters all over his body were very unsightly, leading to people not wanting to be around him as much. Likewise, Job ended up becoming a social outcast due to his disfigurements and the tragedies that befell him; during his suffering, only Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and later Elihu come to him. Prior to his affliction, Job was a very well respected man whom everyone liked; he was known to help all and people enjoyed his company. However, because he was covered in the hideous boils, people could not stand to be around him leading him to become a social outcast. The skin disfigurements both men experienced led to them becoming social outcasts, despite it being completely out of their control.

If people enjoyed this and want to hear more, or just want some more discussion, I’d be happy to continue onto part two. Part two would go into detail on the death of Alori Joh and ways in which Soul’s description of it mirrors occurrences in the Book of Job (I have two different perspectives on this topic, I’d probably go through both).

Hope you guys enjoy this, and I hope someone out there maybe learned something new today.