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.
Whenever she's feeling empty
Whenever she's feeling insecure
Whenever her face is frozen
Unable to fake it anymore
Her shadow is always with her
Her shadow could always keep her small
So frightened that he won't love her
She builds up a wall
Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star
She's been in disguise forever
She's tried to disguise her stellar views
Much brighter than all this static
Now she's coming through
Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star
Don't tell her to turn down
Put on your shades if you can't see
Don't tell her to turn down
Turn up the flame
Did you get it?
Did you get it?
She's a star
She's a star
It's a long road
It's a good call
You've got it
You've got it
She's a star
Whenever she's feeling insecure
Whenever her face is frozen
Unable to fake it anymore
Her shadow is always with her
Her shadow could always keep her small
So frightened that he won't love her
She builds up a wall
Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star
She's been in disguise forever
She's tried to disguise her stellar views
Much brighter than all this static
Now she's coming through
Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star
Don't tell her to turn down
Put on your shades if you can't see
Don't tell her to turn down
Turn up the flame
Did you get it?
Did you get it?
She's a star
She's a star
It's a long road
It's a good call
You've got it
You've got it
She's a star
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This song, especially its second verse, has a special meaning for me, as if it's been written about what happened to me this year. A new colleague has arrived to my workplace in spring, who just happened to be a beautiful young girl (about the same as my age). We have become very good friends with each other - or at least I thought so. But she has had a boyfriend for about a year, who turned out to be a morbidly jealous dick (and a former colleague of mine, anyway). She complained about him many times to me. I listened to these complaints, but suddenly there came a time that I was fed up with that. I told her that this guy was no good for her, and his jealousy is madness, and wouldn't pass away but was going to be worse and worse and more frightening. Not to mention that the guy expects her to conform to him, but is unwilling to do the same to her. Guess what happened? She talked with me much, much less from then on. A few weeks later she told me that she did not want us to be friends any longer, because her boyfriend did not like if she made friends with colleagues - I don't know whether this was an excuse just to shake me off, or she really meant it. I guess she loves that guy very, very much, but he does not love her nearly the same as she loves him. So instead of listening to friends' warnings, she pushes off everyone who dares to say anything unfavourable of her boyfriend.
Sounds to me like the second verse is right about a story like this - for the matter of this girl, at least:
"Her shadow is always with her, / Her shadow could always keep her small" - she submits to her boyfriend's wishes and wills, and this follows her everywhere like a shadow, and keeps her small and overly cautious, and accepting his jealousy and every inconvenience he causes to her because of this.
"So frightened that he won't love her / She builds up a wall." - she's so frightened that the guy she loves will leave her (even though she hasn't got too much to lose with him) that - again, instead of kicking him out, which would be what he deserved - she pushes off everyone (including me, but I'm not the only one) who has even the faintest chance to make her boyfriend jealous ("builds up a wall").
Poor, poor girl - and I don't know how to help her.