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Grippo Lyrics
I gave hip hop to white boys when nobody was looking. They found it locked in a basement when they gentrified Brooklyn. I left a list of instructions, an MPC and a mic, my sci-fi library, and utensils to write. Right or wrong, I think hip hop is where it belongs. Where it comes from is one, but, son, we wrote them songs. It was a ploy. Got fools tied up with mechanized toys. We are beings of breath, beyond the beings of boys. Now, you can break all you wanna. Scratch all you wanna. Graff all you wanna. Laugh all you wanna. But I want to show you what the stars are made of. I want to show you the stars. So substitute the anger and oppression with guilt and depression and it's yours.
White boys listen to white boys. Black boys listen to black boys. No one listens to no one. No one listens to no one. Alone on a mountain top, uprooted from the earth. Drifting beyond normalcy. A gold piece in God's purse is worthless here. We're Earthless here. God versus fear. Man versus fear. Fear not. I purse my lips and kiss like a glock. Violence is a metaphor for victory's plot. Change is inevitable, but our death is not. Now, you can break all you wanna. Scratch all you wanna. Graff all you wanna. Laugh all wanna. But I want to show you what the stars are made of. I want to show you the stars. So substitute the anger and oppression with guilt and depression and it's yours.
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This is the coolest song on the album. I can tell parts ofYear Zero was really inspired by Williams' work.
I think this song is talking about how ignorant people can be when a certain race tries to own a genre of music, when it just pushes us further apart.
It's about how true "stars" or people who are making a difference don't actually argue about stupid trivial shit
Anyone got something to say about "substitute the anger and oppression with guilt and depression"? I imagine it has something to do with "giving hip-hop to" people.
Would you say there's a sense of guilt that should be associated with making it big? Humility is kind of like feeling guilt over doing so much better than those who are no better than yourself. It's how I feel, anyway.
Is "a gold piece in God's purse" equivalent to religion?
Is "a gold piece in God's purse" equivalent to religion?
Is violence meant to be a metaphor for victory's plot? Are there those who rap about violence, actually taking stock in it and giving respect to such actions? Would you feel guilt over being one of said people, once understanding and giving respect to violence as a metaphor?
Is violence meant to be a metaphor for victory's plot? Are there those who rap about violence, actually taking stock in it and giving respect to such actions? Would you feel guilt over being one of said people, once understanding and giving respect to violence as a metaphor?
I think Saul's basically critiquing current hip-hop/rap music. I think the "substitute the anger and oppression....." part is saying that IF instead of glorifying anger and complaining about being oppressed so much in hip-hop/rap music they expressed guilt over having committed violence and talked about being depressed due to being oppressed they would get better results. Change may start to happen. They would be closer to heart, so to speak, about real issues and possible solutions, instead of just making it seem cool to tote a gun and just bitching about how hard it is growing up in the projects. I think the "violence is a metaphor...." part is referencing the metaphor in the previous sentence. "I purse my lips and kiss like a glock" is a metaphor that compares using words to fight to actual violence. I think the "Earthless" part is saying that the material world is worthless. It doesn't matter if you're god or man, you still have to deal with fear. I also always heard "change is inevitable, but object is not." Which would mean that, yes we do have to change, but what we change into or become is still determined by us. It also translates to whatever the world changes into is determined by us as well.
I think "substitute the anger and aggression with guilt and depression and it's yours" within the context of "white boys" participating in hiphop could be a statement about how mainstream hiphop may have started as something that in part gave voice to the frustrations of the Black experience at the time of its conception, where "guilt and depression" can be associated with the concepts of White guilt and anxieties perceivably pertinent to the [far more privileged] White experience.