5 ms·
>Do you have to be a neurological outlier to undertake this sort of project? Yes. >I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically th
by daodedickinson 7y ago
>Do you have to be a neurological outlier to undertake this sort of project?
Yes.
>I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge downside risk of being caught.
I would recommend the first seven or so Jay-Z albums.
"I had to hustle, my back to the wall, ashy knuckles
Pockets filled with a lot of lint, not a cent
Gotta vent, lot of innocent of lives lost on the project bench
Whatchu hollerin? Gotta pay rent, bring dollars in
By the bodega, iron under my coat, feelin braver
Doo-rag wrappin my waves up, pockets full of hope
Do not step to me - I'm awkward, I box leftier often
My pops left me an orphan, my momma wasn't home
Could not stress to me I wasn't grown; 'specially on nights
I brought somethin home to quiet the stomach rumblings
My demeanor - thirty years my senior
My childhood didn't mean much, only raisin green up
Raisin my fingers to critics; raisin my head to the sky
Big I did it - multi before I die (nigga)
No lie, just know I chose my own fate
I drove by the fork in the road and went straight"
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/renegade.html https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/renegade.html
"Now all the teachers couldn't reach me
And my momma couldn't beat me
Hard enough to match the pain of my pops not seeing me, SO
With that distain in my membrain
Got on my pimp game
Fuck the world my defense came
Then Dahaven introuced me to the game
Spanish Jose introduced me to cane
I'm a hustler now
My gear is in and i'm in the in crowd
And all the wavey light skinned girls is lovin me now
My self esteem went through the roof man i got my swag
Got a volvo from this girl when her man got bagged
Plus i hit my momma with cash from a show that i had
Supposedly knowin nobody paid Jaz wack ass
I'm geting ahead of myself, by the way, i could rap
That came second to me movin this crack
Gimme a second i swear
I will say about my rap career
Til 96 came niggas i'm here
Good-bye...
Good-bye to the game all the spoils, the adreneline rush
Your blood boils you in a spot knowing cops could rush
And you in a drop your so easy to touch
No two days are alike
Except the first and fifteenth pretty much
And "trust" is a word you seldom hear from us
Hustlers we don't sleep we rest one eye up
And the drought to find a man when the well dries up
You learn to work the water without workin thirst til die YUP
And niggas get tied up for product
And little brothers ring fingers get cut up
To show mothers they really got em
And this was the stress i live with til i decided
To try this rap shit for a livin
I Pray i'm forgiven
For every bad decision i made
Every sister i played
Cause i'm still paranoid to this day
And it's nobody fault i made the decisions i made
This is the life i chose or rather the life that chose me"
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/december4th.html https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jayz/december4th.html
- logicx24 7y agoListening to Illmatic also describes this experience really well. I hate commenting on the "authenticity" of gangster rap music, as my life is so incredibly far away from the things they discuss, but Nas gives some of the grittiest descriptions of a life spent in crime.
- selimthegrim 7y agoI think Freddie Gibbs and Vince Staples have played against type here and really engage in metacommentary rather than glorification. It's a heartening trend in rap.
- GreeniFi 7y agoGreat answer. Thank you. I’ve never read any Jay-Z lyrics and had always - I see wrongly - assumed they had little to tell. I see a night spent reading hip hop lyrics ahead of me!