[Pressure]
Feeling good, in fact, I’m feeling mighty fine
Another year, another grind, another smile line
What a happy beginning! So many lessons begin with the hardship and then the advice of how to overcome it. Starting with the effect we want, to be happy, is a great way to approach a topic. The “grind” is a common phrase to describe the effort required to get things done. Small repetitive tasks that add up to a bigger, completed task. We can see all artist achievements as bursts of inspiration, a 3 minute song that makes us feel great, makes us smile and dance, probably was the culmination of many people’s efforts over weeks if not months. “Smile line” rhymes beautifully with “mighty fine” and is a wonderful way to refer to wrinkles that inevitably come with age but are also associated with a hard life.
Dead star type of light shine, why you taking up my time
If you ain’t of a like mind?
I looked up dead star: not sure why he used a dead star rather than a not dead star? Could be brighter, or it could simply be more dramatic and fit the line better? Dead stars, also known as white dwarfs, are imploded stars that they believe can “alter the fabric of time itself”! An idea proposed by Einstein in his Theory of Relativity. There’s some research starting points for you! I agree with the next line: don’t waste time with people who are never going to see the world the same as you. It’s great to have debates and arguments but there’s no point spending lots of time talking to people who’s opinions and values don’t line up in any way with your own.
Forget what you and who say
It’s the future that moves my mood today
Don’t let these interactions, whether in person, via “the socials”, or news media bring you down. Hope is such a powerful emotion. Focussing on goals and the potential in your future is always a positive place to move your mind to.
I could be toothless and grey, lose my toupee
And still feel bullet-proof like Luke Cage
Age isn’t everything! I’ve gone from feeling like a kid, to still feeling like everyone else was older and wiser to having grey hair and a sore body! Time seems to move a lot faster for the body than the mind! How we feel is not determined by our age. Luke Cage is a Marvel character whose skin is so strong that bullets can’t get through it.
I’ve never been concerned with a beef
Just learning to be the best version of me
One of the lines that really stuck the first few times I heard this song. When we have a “beef” with someone we hold a grudge. Something has happened in the past that causes disagreement and arguments where both parties would like something to change. I looked up the origin of this phrase and, as is all too common with google searches, I got two very different answers. One relating to rhyming slang “stop thief” and one about sheep farmers in the USA denigrating each other! Anyway… “Just learning to be the version of me” is a worthwhile motto for anyone. If this is our over-riding goal then we will be reminded to try and improve in every area of our life.
They say that we can learn from defeat
Why are they looking for adversity permanently?
They’re missing the mark, still in rut
There is a big difference between learning from defeat and focussing on the negative. It does feel that some people spend too much time thinking about all the things going wrong in their life. It is amazing how we can always find what we are looking for. People who say they are always late notice the times they are late more than people who don’t think about it. People who say “typical, bad stuff always happens to me,” bring on the bad stuff by looking for it. Whether it increases the “bad luck” or simply highlights the negatives doesn’t really matter. Don’t go looking for adversity: plenty comes along by itself, this is a natural part of life! The advice here is to be able to find the lesson in the adversity.
Need a little bit of dip in their strut, living it up
The enlightening feeling of not giving a fuck
While they’re putting me down I’ve been picking it up so
“Dip in the strut” refers to the “gangsta limp”! Walking with swagger is a state of mind, we can choose to drag our feet or to skip. Living will happen, living it up doesn’t have a financial restriction, it is a daily choice. Now, strong language warning! The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F@#K was a very popular self-help book (I bought a copy!) around 2018. The title is slightly, and intentionally, misleading. The key message was to choose where to put your energy and to not let everything else get you down (to not give a ____ about them!). So when someone says or does something that could upset you, the best thing we can do is to put that stuff aside and go about our own thing. We always have the choice to pick up ourselves up, even while others are trying to put us down.
[Chorus Ecca Vandal]
Don’t let no one tell you who you are, be yourself
Don’t let no one tell you who you are, be yourself
‘Cause they fill you with rage
You’re like ‘Why are you breaking my heart?’
It’s like they build you to break you
Just wanted to take you apart
It can feel the world is conspiring against us! If we take all our leads from big business advertising, consumerism or the myth that youthful beauty is the only kind of beauty, then we can never be truly happy. Finding our place in the world can be difficult when we are constantly trying to keep up with the images of what others tell us we should be. Advertising relies on providing a solution and often the companies selling to us first create the problem they say they can solve. They break us so that they can build us up again using their brands and products.
[Suffa]
Looking good, looking better than I ever have
Perfect tie in with the opening line!
Feeling good, feeling that ‘til I remember that
I have to interact with the world, game on
Feeling good until he remembers that he has to interact with the world! I have felt like this too. It is funny that our greatest joys come from interactions with others but also that our hardest challenges are caused by other people!
Put my human face on like Patrick Bateman
My game face, same face that my mum kiss
So, you don’t love this, it don’t mean bupkis
Patrick Bateman is a fictional serial killer. I couldn’t read the book, American Psycho, not because of themes but the writing style (total rubbish!). We play many roles in our life and it is usually a “nicer” version of ourselves that we use in our social life. It is likely that his public persona is closer to the way he acts around his Mum and that she is more important than the general public. Bupkis is a word from the Yiddish language that means worthless.
White boy rapper, frat boy man
He probably have a drug problem like a grown child actor
Fat boy, have to get in those reps, get an
App boy have to get in those steps
Talking about him self in third-person. Another great example of Suffa’s amazing rhyming skills. He’s bringing up some of the possible critisism the media and public might say about him. If we believe that the way we look isn’t good enough then we might also believe that an app on a watch is our only way to fix the problem.
Looking long in the tooth but the truth is
I’m strong and I’m stronger than you in the booth kid, c’mon
I’m so pretty, make ’em all stare at me
Blow my own horn, call me Ron Jeremey
He takes the advice from the first verse and doesn’t even counter the negative stuff. He just admits that he is old – long in the tooth is a phrase that originated when describing old sheep! – and focuses on his strengths. The “booth” is where the rapping is recorded. To blow your own horn is brag. Trumpets used to be played to announce the arrival of important people at ceremonies. Ron Jeremey isn’t worth mentioning!
How I take these hits, man I’m convinced
I deserve a purple heart like Prince, my god
A purple heart is a U.S. military award for bravery, specifically for people hurt in battle. He continues to blow his own trumpet! Maybe he was being self deprecating by making the reference to Prince who famously wore a lot of purple and had an album called Purple Rain? Most boasting by Hilltop is done in a light-hearted way, even though the message is always very big-hearted!
[Chorus Nyassa]
Don’t let no one tell you who you are, be yourself
Don’t let no one tell you who you are, be yourself
‘Cause they fill you with rage
You’re like ‘Why are you breaking my heart?’
It’s like they build you to break you
Just wanted to take you apart
[Chorus Ecca Vandal and Nyassa together]
Don’t let no one tell you who you are, be yourself
Don’t let no one tell you who you are, be yourself
‘Cause they fill you with rage
You’re like ‘Why are you breaking my heart?’
It’s like they build you to break you
Just wanted to take you apart
You know you scratch
You know you scratch
You know you scratch
You know you scratch
“You know you scratch just like a monkey” is a lyric from the song they sampled: The Harlem Shuffle, by Bob & Earl.
Be yourself
