Shove It

Brooklyn we go hard We on the look for the advantage, we work hard And if we seem to rough it up a bit We broke but we rich at heart (A basic overview of the people and what life's like where she comes from.) Pull ourselves up now we won't choke It's our time, put the lights on us (Theyr're ready to speak/act/make a stand.)

War tactics they make me sick reel your heart in run away with it (Anti-war propoganda. Reeling us in by our heart strings only to "run away with it.") Smile in your face, undermine your back (The people who do this are being two faced and stabbing us in the back.) got guns for the strength they lack (The use of gun as a compensation for the weakness of not knowing a better method.) So if you know another way you can't look the other way if you know another way, tell them so right to their face (Speak up if you know how things could be better. Speak your mind and tell them-the gov.)

We think you're a joke Shove your hope where it don't shine (4x) (It's bassically a big F.U. to those who are bettering our society with all these crap programs and ideas that make problems better than worse, or that have little to no affect. She's sticking it to the man.)

I pay for what's called eccentricity and my will to evolve (She pays a price for being different and wanting to make personal/profesional achievements.) I hear them all say that I got heart but not everything that it takes (They tell her she's good but not good enough because she just doesn't cut it.)

Taint my mind but not my soul (Cloud my mind but don't touch what gives me life.) Tell you I got fire (I've got spirit.) I wont sell it for no payroll (Her spirit and what makes her HER isn't for sale no matter what they pay her.) Let 'em hold me down (They can try to keep me down for what I'm going. It's more of a threat. Like "try me") I know if I know another way I can't look the other way I know another way I'll tell them so right to their face (She's saying that if she knows a better way, she won't allow herself not to act upon it and let whoever needs to know her plan for salvation (not in a spiritual sense.)

We think you're a joke Shove your hope where it don't shine (4x)

"This song was written way before Obama's campaign, and I’m a supporter of Obama. It was about the current administration’s propagandist tactics (I can’t believe how much that shit still works on people, it’s ridiculous!), and about the power of people and the need for us to speak up. The “hope” I’m speaking of in this song is just a metaphor for all their bullshit talk." Santi White to Michael Roberts in a BackBeat interview for Denver Westword Blogs

I had a similar interpretation to Jamaican's, but with some subtle differences. There's a definite political message here, especially the "war tactics make me sick" lines. That part is about being tired of dirty political messages, trying to sell positive social change with hatred, war, and slandering others. JamaicanB totally taps into that part of the message. However, I think the song is relating this trend to other social problems. These issues are related or inseparable.

The first section of the song is about being from a rougher area. While not explicitly about race, I feel what she's saying as a non-black person of color. She's singing about pride in where you come from, even if most people don't consider it much. It's as if she's saying, "Despite where I come from, I've still got soul and you can't just run over me as a person." We might not be rich, but we've got soul. This ties into later lines when she says,

"I hear them all say that I got heart but not everything that it takes"

Your background, whether it's race or being poor or how you grew up, is often used to hold you down. Others make assumptions that you can't do as much because of this. Maybe I'm biased, but I'm the first of my family to graduate high school and I used to hear this (you got heart, but you gotta have more than THAT to make it) through high school and college all the time. The lyrics talk about the common experience of lots of people like me. You can't keep us down because of where we come from.

The second section is about the politics of keeping people down, as JamaicanB posted. Just because of who we are, we're not going to put up with power-hungry, war-mongering politics. We know better BECAUSE of where we come from. It's our duty to say that there's another way.

The last section is about being true to yourself despite "the man" keeping you down. While I personally connect with this section, I also think that the artist is talking about her own music. People might criticize her for being eccentric, but at least she's not selling out. She's willing to make what she feels inside and to hell with people who don't think she has what it takes.

The whole song weaves these three things together. It's about being true to yourself despite the oppression we face.

When she chants "We think you're a joke. Shove your hope where it don't shine," she's making two statements at once. The first is what some prejudiced person/dirty politician/hipster-wannabe music critic might say to you, "Look at who you are, all hopeful, but you're nobody. We think you're a joke. Shove your hope where it don't shine." However, these words themselves can be reclaimed. We don't have to be held down, "We know how you work and you use guns cause you don't have any other strength. We gain soul from where we come from and who we are. We think you're a joke. Shove your hope where it don't shine."

The chant can be heard both ways. I think she's asking us to decide which way we hear it, but that's just me.

best beat on the album.

she makes a reference to not liking mainstream rappers in 'l.e.s. artistes'. could this song possibly be directed toward the same group of people? my other thought is maybe it's directed to people she experienced throughtout her life in philadelphia.

hahah i thought it was we thikn ur a joke so u were a dunce hat hhaa

oops i didn't mean to put quotes around that whole post

She's black my fren'. ;)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_gold

I'm sure he knows that, but her name is Santi White. Unless you know that, too, and are making a joke.

Yeah that's what I think of when I hear this song.. that and Gossip Girl

i LOVE this song.

up there really high on this amazing album.

super summery. loves it.