I once knew a nigga whose real name was William
His primary concern, was making a million
Being the illest hustler, that the world ever seen
He used to fuck movie stars and sniff coke in his dreams
A corrupted young mind, at the age of thirteen
Nigga never had a father and his mom was a fiend
She put the pipe down, but every year she was sober
Her sons heart simultaneously grew colder
He started hanging out selling bags in the projects
Checking the young chicks, looking for hit and run prospects
He was fascinated by material objects
But he understood money never bought respect
He build a reputation 'cause he could hustle and steal
But got locked once and didn't hesitate to squeal
So criminals he chilled with didn't think he was real
You see me and niggas like this have never been equal
I don't project my insecurities at other people
He fiended for props like addicts with pipes and needles
So he felt he had to prove to everyone he was evil
A feeble-minded young man with infinite potential
The product of a ghetto breed capitalistic mental
Coincidentally dropped out of school to sell weed
Dancing with the devil, smoked until his eyes would bleed
But he was sick of selling trees and gave in to his greed

Everyone trying to be trife never face the consequences
You probably only did a month for minor offenses
Ask a nigga doing life if he had another chance
But then again there's always the wicked that knew in advance
Dance forever with the devil on a cold cell block
But that's what happens when you rape, murder and sell rock
Devils used to be gods, angels that fell from the top
There's no diversity because we're burning in the melting pot

So Billy started robbing niggas, anything he could do
To get his respect back, in the eyes of his crew
Starting fights over little shit, up on the block
Stepped up to selling mothers and brothers the crack rock
Working overtime for making money for the crack spot
Hit the jackpot and wanted to move up to cocaine
Fulfilling the Scarface fantasy stuck in his brain
Tired of the block niggas treating him the same
He wanted to be major like the cut throats and the thugs
But when he tried to step to 'em, niggas showed him no love
They told him any motherfucking coward can sell drugs
Any bitch nigga with a gun, can bust slugs
Any nigga with a red shirt can front like a blood
Even Puffy smoked a motherfucker up in a club
But only a real thug can stab someone till they die
Standing in front of them, starring straight into their eyes
Billy realized that these men were well guarded
And they wanted to test him, before business started
Suggested raping a bitch to prove he was cold hearted
So now he had a choice between going back to his life
Or making money with made men, up in the cyph'
His dreams about cars and ice, made him agree
A hardcore nigga is all he ever wanted to be
And so he met them Friday night at a quarter to three

Everyone trying to be trife never face the consequences
You probably only did a month for minor offenses
Ask a nigga doing life if he had another chance
But then again there's always the wicked that knew in advance
Dance forever with the devil on a cold cell block
But that's what happens when you rape, murder and sell rock
Devils used to be gods, angels that fell from the top
There's no diversity because we're burning in the melting pot

They drove around the projects slow while it was raining
Smoking blunts, drinking and joking for entertainment
Until they saw a woman on the street walking alone
Three in the morning, coming back from work, on her way home
And so they quietly got out the car and followed her
Walking through the projects, the darkness swallowed her
They wrapped her shirt around her head and knocked her onto the floor
This is it kid now you got your chance to be raw
So Billy yoked her up and grabbed the chick by the hair
And dragged her into a lobby that had nobody there
She struggled hard but they forced her to go up the stairs
They got to the roof and then held her down on the ground
Screaming shut the fuck up and stop moving around
The shirt covered her face, but she screamed and clawed
So Billy stomped on the bitch, until he had broken her jaw
The dirty bastards knew exactly what they were doing
They kicked her until they cracked her ribs and she stopped moving
Blood leaking through the cloth, she cried silently
And then they all proceeded to rape her violently
Billy was made to go first, but each of them took a turn
Ripping her up, and choking her until her throat burned
A broken jaw mumbled for God but they weren't concerned
When they were done and she was lying bloody, broken and bruised
One of them niggas pulled out a brand new twenty-two
They told him that she was a witness of what she'd gone through
And if he killed her he was guaranteed a spot in the crew
He thought about it for a minute, she was practically dead
And so he leaned over and put the gun right to her head

I'm falling and I can't turn back
I'm falling and I can't turn back

Right before he pulled the trigger, and ended her life
He thought about the cocaine with the platinum and ice
And he felt strong standing along with his new brothers
Cocked the gat to her head, and pulled back the shirt cover
But what he saw made him start to cringe and stutter
Cause he was starring into the eyes of his own mother
She looked back at him and cried, cause he had forsaken her
She cried more painfully, than when they were raping her
His whole world stopped, he couldn't even contemplate
His corruption had successfully changed his fate
And he remembered how his mom used to come home late
Working hard for nothing, cause now what was he worth
He turned away from the woman that had once given him birth
And crying out to the sky cause he was lonely and scared
But only the devil responded, cause God wasn't there
And right then he knew what it was to be empty and cold
And so he jumped off the roof and died with no soul
They say death takes you to a better place but I doubt it
After that they killed his mother, and never spoke about it
And listen cause the story that I'm telling is true
Cause I was there with Billy Jacobs and I raped his mom too
And now the devil follows me everywhere that I go
In fact I'm sure he's standing among one of you at my shows
And every street cypher listening to little thugs flow
He could be standing right next to you, and you wouldn't know
The devil grows inside the hearts of the selfish and wicked
White, brown, yellow and black colored is not restricted
You have a self destructive destiny when your inflicted
And you'll be one of Gods children and fell from the top
There's no diversity because we're burning in the melting pot
So when the devil wants to dance with you, you better say never
Because the dance with the devil might last you forever


Lyrics submitted by MrMojoRisin5552

Dance With the Devil Lyrics as written by Sean Edward George Felipe Andres Coronel

Lyrics © GREAT SOUTH BAY MUSIC GROUP INC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Dance With The Devil song meanings
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110 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    this song puts goosebumps down my spine, another song by tech that i like alot is "you never know" its a really sad story about his love life

    marky_markon December 28, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    The 4th verse just gave me a chill up my spine.

    Terabyteron March 19, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    this song is truly life-changing

    one time i was at this girl's house with about 6 or 7 people sitting in a room which happened to have a computer available...i asked them if they wanted to hear something fucked up and showed them this song. we all listened thoroughly and i actually heard a few people gasp throughout the song. some of them even told me to turn it off. when it was over everyone just kinda had their jaws halfway dropped and murmured "oh my goddd" in terror to themselves. no one really said much for like a half hour and we all just sat there depressed and down on life. it's crazy how big of an impact this song has on the listener.

    i think one of the coolest effects of the song is that the really allows you to envision the environment on the night of the incident. with the beat alone i could think of a dark, gloomy, cold, and rainy night. but when these terrible, descriptive lyrics are added, the impact of the song is phenomenal.

    mistercrowtheron January 21, 2007   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I really, really don't want to but I can't help but believe this is really a true story

    deathtotheweirdon October 29, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    such an intense story....

    nirvana4everon November 13, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    leaving the past is a good one too tech is very original showing you what underground artists are about

    Afterdark8on September 05, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song shocked the shit outta me, my friend kept tedlling me about Immortal Technique and I never checked him out, so he comes over one night and shows me this song and I'm like yeah this is sick, then that last verse hits and the story just twists, intense song

    heartheldcaptiveon April 12, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song honestly left me completely speachless and stunned... this is what rap should be about...this is what the scene should be about... this is amazing.

    juanette.on January 24, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i, like most ppl, had heard "stan" by eminem and thought there were no other rap songs that had that much emotion and intensity in it. i was wrong!

    this song literally left me speechless. i heard it in a friends car and when it was over i just sat there for 5 or so minutes. it has that much of an affect on u. ive easily listened to this song over a hundred times, and it still makes me sit back and think everytime i hear it.

    whenever i tell my friends i have an intense song for them they all have the same response: "u mean like stan"

    after they're done listening, they just kinda sit there in silence. yeah, it'll do that to ya

    coltsrockmysockson October 09, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I don't believe you're supposed to think that it was literally his mom who they raped. After all, it says "he remembers how she USED to come home late." It's psychological, he realized that it wasn't just a nameless victim, it was someone exactly like his mom back when he was younger. It happens all the time in movies, somebody's face will show up on a different body as a metaphor. When Tech says things like "I raped his mom too" he doesn't mean that person was literally his mom, he's including himself in Billy's personal downfall and acknowledging the rape victim as not being faceless. Maybe I'm wrong but I think it makes more sense that way.

    One of the best songs ever.

    WeedBelieveron July 24, 2008   Link

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Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in "There was a time you opened up every doorway you didn't mind if everything wasn't your way" then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else, "Don't pull away that goes against what you told me I look in your eyes I realize what you've sold me is love in a vacuum" so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it, "I think you've changed but you insist that that's not true" quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum", "You look so strange, so distant that you're hardly you Now I can see how you have been acting different You say it's me but I know that it isn't it's love in a vacuum" but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines "You will be lonely if you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have, "Love in a vacuum and that's not enough love in a vacuum You will be lonely you'll be the only one who feels this way You will be lonely if you leave me alone You will be lonely you'll be the only one who feels this way it's just not enough" you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment, "You will be lonely you'll be the only one who feels this way it's just not enough and just wait you will be lonely Love in a vacuum Love in a vacuum and that's not enough Love in a vacuum". 'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the coke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song. Quintessential Aimee Mann.