"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
We so jiggy up in here (let's go Weezy)
Slim baby, I see you (yes)
The streets make the hustlas
Hustlas make the world go 'round
The world is made of keys, ounces and pounds (okay)
The keys, ounces and pounds is made from hustlas (yeah)
See how shit come back 'round for ya? (Yeah)
Gotta cop it, chop it and cook it
See how shit come back round for ya? (Yeah)
Gotta kick in the oven now watch it bubble
And you can knock on my door
But you can't knock the hustle (alright)
But I- it's like a game of twenty-one and I got nineteen
And my Jake but I put more D on me
Lil' Weezy Wee gon' eat that's how it is
Got insurance on the floor, man I'm that positive
And I'm shaggy in the saggy lens (ooh)
Me and my squad in the paddy wagon tally Benz (ooh)
And you know I put the mags on that (ooh)
.45 MAC with the flash on that
Who want it, yeah, yeah, yeah (ayy)
Everybody sing along
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that, people)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that)
And when I move, I move out with the raw (okay)
I move out with the squad (okay)
To his album we ride we so mob (okay, yeah)
I throw lives and lowest to live
For my loaf of bread the people's player
I did what the culture said (alright)
And I live by the coast of Nostra Cit' (yeah)
Fuck around I'll knock your shoulder from your head (nigga)
Get it right I'm a soldier 'til I'm dead (nigga)
This kid is white with buttonholes inside that bled
I'm pumpin' O's with lots of hay (oh)
I'm so high (yeah) and really I don't even know why (uh)
But oh I just go buy a whole house
And lay my mat down lay her back down
But I never put my mack down (yeah)
You see the thug in me (alright)
You know Weezy he the young son of Bubba-be (alright)
Buy my basketball shorts with a thunder be (oh)
If you want it then come to me
I'm right here (ayy)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that, people)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (ah, I hear that)
I'm G'd up (yeah)
Only follow the code of the streets (I know)
Live bad to die good
Know how to move when hustlin' by the days with no food
But just so I can eat (fuck)
And ain't it a bitch
And if you see me gettin' fat I'm probably gettin' rich (yeah)
And you probably can see me for some crack before six
And after that it's all bricks (you know)
A fake and my palm is wrapped around this eight
And my arm because the dirty south is straight Vietnam (yeah)
I skate with the bomb
I'm askin' you don't play with me at all (please)
Shots hit your ass and make three of y'all
It'll take three of y'all to fill one of my shoe prints
'Cause I did and do shit that's better than new shit (what)
Fit for two clips (what)
The kid is a nuisance (yeah)
Aw man, he's inspired by his own gangsta music (and)
And a Blueprint
Cruisin' through stoop with the ewe lit
Like ooh shit, this is more than weed, it's 500 Degreez (ayy, ayy, ayy, ayy)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that, people)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline (ayy, I hear that, man)
I bleed concrete (I hear that, man)
Yeah, we so jiggy up in here right now, people
I mean, if you was to spark a flame, this whole place might erupt
You know what I'm sayin'?
This right here is music, baby
This is music, Mannie Fresh at his best
Please believe, believe it, please
You gotta see me, baby (Slim the mentor)
You know what I'm sayin'?
Weezy the youngin', Baby get it right
Just the Birdman, you know
Kacy the OG
I see all y'all, man
Big G, Stone, Micky, Pooh
I mean, it's just a real thing around here
You know what I'm talking about, right?
Yeah
You gotta nod your head to this, yeah
Nod your head 'til that bitch fall off
You know what I'm sayin'?
TQ man, you're the most gangsta singer I know, dawg
Believe that
We jiggy like I said, baby
Nod your head 'til the motherfucka fall off
Fasho
Slim baby, I see you (yes)
The streets make the hustlas
Hustlas make the world go 'round
The world is made of keys, ounces and pounds (okay)
The keys, ounces and pounds is made from hustlas (yeah)
See how shit come back 'round for ya? (Yeah)
Gotta cop it, chop it and cook it
See how shit come back round for ya? (Yeah)
Gotta kick in the oven now watch it bubble
And you can knock on my door
But you can't knock the hustle (alright)
But I- it's like a game of twenty-one and I got nineteen
And my Jake but I put more D on me
Lil' Weezy Wee gon' eat that's how it is
Got insurance on the floor, man I'm that positive
And I'm shaggy in the saggy lens (ooh)
Me and my squad in the paddy wagon tally Benz (ooh)
And you know I put the mags on that (ooh)
.45 MAC with the flash on that
Who want it, yeah, yeah, yeah (ayy)
Everybody sing along
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that, people)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that)
And when I move, I move out with the raw (okay)
I move out with the squad (okay)
To his album we ride we so mob (okay, yeah)
I throw lives and lowest to live
For my loaf of bread the people's player
I did what the culture said (alright)
And I live by the coast of Nostra Cit' (yeah)
Fuck around I'll knock your shoulder from your head (nigga)
Get it right I'm a soldier 'til I'm dead (nigga)
This kid is white with buttonholes inside that bled
I'm pumpin' O's with lots of hay (oh)
I'm so high (yeah) and really I don't even know why (uh)
But oh I just go buy a whole house
And lay my mat down lay her back down
But I never put my mack down (yeah)
You see the thug in me (alright)
You know Weezy he the young son of Bubba-be (alright)
Buy my basketball shorts with a thunder be (oh)
If you want it then come to me
I'm right here (ayy)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that, people)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (ah, I hear that)
I'm G'd up (yeah)
Only follow the code of the streets (I know)
Live bad to die good
Know how to move when hustlin' by the days with no food
But just so I can eat (fuck)
And ain't it a bitch
And if you see me gettin' fat I'm probably gettin' rich (yeah)
And you probably can see me for some crack before six
And after that it's all bricks (you know)
A fake and my palm is wrapped around this eight
And my arm because the dirty south is straight Vietnam (yeah)
I skate with the bomb
I'm askin' you don't play with me at all (please)
Shots hit your ass and make three of y'all
It'll take three of y'all to fill one of my shoe prints
'Cause I did and do shit that's better than new shit (what)
Fit for two clips (what)
The kid is a nuisance (yeah)
Aw man, he's inspired by his own gangsta music (and)
And a Blueprint
Cruisin' through stoop with the ewe lit
Like ooh shit, this is more than weed, it's 500 Degreez (ayy, ayy, ayy, ayy)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline
I bleed concrete (I hear that, people)
Now I'ma ride 'cause I got ridin' in my bloodline
And I'ma shine 'cause I got shinin' in my bloodline
I get that dough 'cause I got hustle in my bloodline (ayy, I hear that, man)
I bleed concrete (I hear that, man)
Yeah, we so jiggy up in here right now, people
I mean, if you was to spark a flame, this whole place might erupt
You know what I'm sayin'?
This right here is music, baby
This is music, Mannie Fresh at his best
Please believe, believe it, please
You gotta see me, baby (Slim the mentor)
You know what I'm sayin'?
Weezy the youngin', Baby get it right
Just the Birdman, you know
Kacy the OG
I see all y'all, man
Big G, Stone, Micky, Pooh
I mean, it's just a real thing around here
You know what I'm talking about, right?
Yeah
You gotta nod your head to this, yeah
Nod your head 'til that bitch fall off
You know what I'm sayin'?
TQ man, you're the most gangsta singer I know, dawg
Believe that
We jiggy like I said, baby
Nod your head 'til the motherfucka fall off
Fasho
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Fast Car
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
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I Can't Go To Sleep
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
When We Were Young
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