Friday, November 19, 2010

Breakdown: "Don't Stop (The Apology)"
9:06 AM

Breakdown: "Don't Stop (The Apology)"

Late last night I let go a new freestyle "Don't Stop (The Apology)"...over the last few months, I've been inspired to let you guys inside the music. There's only so much you can fit in a line & keep rhythm, but the intent & meaning of what's said goes way beyond music. So I'm gonna breakdown the lyrics to Don't Stop & give you some insight as to what was going on in my head as I wrote it.

Click here to download "Don't Stop (The Apology)"


Backstory: I originally did a vlog on Monday where I announced that I was dropping two albums on the same day. I promised new music on Tuesday. As life happens, plans change & I was unable to finish the song I was going to leak. So I sat on it. Honestly I assumed people were so busy with their lives that I didn't put much emphasis on explaining the push back...then came the messages. Messages, emails, twitter DMs, from people asking "where's the song at? where's the new music?" Although I was convicted, I wasn't inspired. I got ahold of some beats on Wednesday, which included a lot of Kanye West- GOOD Friday tracks. I liked Don't Stop, a song that features Kanye, Lupe Fiasco & Pharrell (collectively known as Child Rebel Soldiers, or CRS); it's great "hurry up & get home" music. So I'm listening to the beat & driving home from work & the 1st line popped in my head "Rebel soldier, but I'm grown though"...in the 15 minutes it takes from me to drive from work to my house, I already had 8 bars. I write my best music in the car, so even after I parked, I stayed inside & wrote a good chunk of the verse there.

Rebel soldier but I'm grown though
Ease off 'em, Steve Austin stunner, Stone Cold
I'ma take a minute to tell you something you don't know
Reach em from the Twilight Zone down to Zone 4

the Twilight Zone symbolizes out of range...people with their heads in the clouds, the peculiar people, people that wouldn't get a 2nd glance in the street. Zone 4 is one of the rougher sections of Atlanta, GA. So from the heights of the twilight zone, to the lows of the inner city...aka everybody
Veterans Day, something I can't explain to rookies
514 Levis & Ranger Cookies

My favorite type of jeans & boots for the winter

Laces kinda like my mind, it ain't tied together
Satan brings an ink pen anytime he tests ya
With a scantron sheet

Remember the old scantrons you'd take multiple choice tests questions with? You needed a pencil to take the test, as the computer that graded them could only read led & not ink. Also if you wanted to change your answer, you were able to erase. With the enemy, he'll use an ink pen...the ink pen symbolizes being convicted for your mistakes. He'll make you believe you can't erase what you've done & you'll forever be held accountable for it. When actually, God (the computer who grades the tests) doesn't...or can't even read the ink...meaning He doesn't judge us in the same vein Satan does

A '90s Nas flow over Cam'ron beats
In the 90s Nas was considered one of the greatest MCs of all time, but his fans often complain of his beat selection. Cam'ron has always had incredible beats, but is generally considered to be a horrible lyricist. So imagine Nas over Dipset beats?
I hoist em over my shoulder if my man's all weak
I'm sorry, I've been lying to my fans all week

I'm sorry!!!
Been coming soon forever like that old Mercedes album cover
I kinda dissed myself with this line. Remember in the late 90s when Master P & No Limit Records would take out 3-4 page ads with all the CDs they had "coming soon". Well every teenage boy had this album cover hanging up in his locker

Her album was "coming soon" for at least 3 years...nobody had heard her on anybody else's songs, all we knew was she was bent over on the cover & that was enough to hold our attention.

Sick of these rapping suckas
Smashin on these ragamuffins
(Buku!! Buku!!! Lawd'a'mercy)
My Lord is worthy, He created beauty out of all that hurt me
Yeah I understand that He be in the sky
But His grace is the 1st thing that greets me when I rise

Lamentations 3:22-23- 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I search Him with my heart, most seek Him with their eyes
One thing I've been learning in this season is that God speaks to us everyday. I was talking to my pastor a few weeks ago; frustrated because I felt like God wasn't directly speaking to certain situations. As if He could only speak one way...as if He just floats over your bed at night & talks to you. While He COULD do that, it's not the only method He speaks. Isaiah 6:3 says "And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." Everything from seasons changing, to something we see on TV, there are endless ways that God can & does speak to us. Also, the world looks at things...the world continues to get worse & worse. "The good die young", things that we feel like God should stop, He doesn't. And as a result, people lose faith & belief in God because He doesn't do what WE want Him to, when it doesn't work that way"
I ain't spittin' no game baby, read between the lines
When a guy "spits game" at a woman, it mostly consists of smooth lines to entice her. But if you read between those lines, his intentions are clear. Because I just finished bragging on Christ, the stereotype of Christians is that we are wishy washy...we say one thing & do another. But I'm not "spitting game" about Jesus, I'm merely giving truth. All that I said can apply to everyone, this religious secret club that the church has become is not how God wants us to operate with the world. Read between what I said, I chose to boast on God because the true intention is to say that He's also available to you
It's scary how easy it is to ease between your thighs
She said you give her life, yet lead you to your demise
Caught Up In The Rapture, got Anita in the ride
I'm called to give 'em truth, hence the reason for the lies

People often say "if God was so good, why does bad happen"...peril creates an opportunity to showcase heroes. If everything was all good all the time, there wouldn't be a need for us to pray or have faith. What I'm saying would be irrelevant
Take a breath while I retrace my steps
I'm surprised ain't been asked to join the Masons yet
It's only a matter of time though, place ya bets
Before the uprise, we invading your station's set

I used freemasonry & the illuminati to kinda brag on my calling. Those in high degrees of freemasonry are very powerful, very influential. So I used them as an example to say "I'll soon be influential as well, with a message of salvation...to the point where they'll ask me to join"...the "uprising", I thought of V For Vendetta when V was essentially a rebel for the modern time. Which is something I believe you'll see more of in these last days.
Say they spit crack & it's laced with wet
Don't blame me, go at Damon's neck

My boy Damon Dugger was one of the people who put the battery in my back about putting out something new. So if you don't like what I'm doing, go talk to him about it
Shoutout Miss Thing, Christine
True DNA, that's a sick team
One statement & I had 'em in a rage
How is he gonna drop 2 albums in a day?
My only advice, keep grinding
I'm here to rid the game of these Fleece Johnson's
Pause...easy or the hard way


Fleece Johnson...one of the funniest & most disturbing videos I've ever seen...just used him as a metaphor for what men have become. "Easy or the hard way" refers to the Boondocks episode that mocked him, because he would say that before he tried to rape you
Say she got class, only see her in the hallway
My favorite line in the song...
At the very least, take heed to what Armond say
I ain't gotta explain it, just peep what the song say

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