Bad Karma Lyrics
Have seen things most men would melt apart from
it's like, wait,wait,wait,wait,wait,
all my drunk destiny pushed was one radio flyer chock full of halo parts,
ringin' this crime,
like man, I could fix your broken shine,
We're all saint swept serpent tide 'round charcoal tomorrow,
bunk holiday debt, easy now brother, I'm here,
I'm now, then and there, I we us them it I'm sorry, I'm,
god, this final extension's beautiful, but friend, I don't deserve it,
I beg of you sweet father,
please detach my chest's swollen lining,
I can't handle asymmerty,
and if it means my grand finale,
don't tally the votes,
finish me dormant with,
torture machine silencer piece,
position where eyelids will reach
red well before I'm sure,
I've never asked for much,
never felt golden benefit worthy,
I gots, what I gots, and what I don't gots don't concern me,
I'm no model,
never aspired to be velociraptor fossil,
man, there wasn't rainment,
man, I never had a say in this,
I, wanna be the normalcy, that normalcy was jealous of,
no shimmer,
no celestial flight midwinter,
enter me now,
feet through greet and lowlife virus,
I'm not-I'm not ready for all this business,
that for some reason you all refer to as a privilege,
I mean, look at me,
my feathers drag, this harp plays out of tune,
I fly about as straight as a blind tugboat through my legacy,
accidentally killed cupid with his own weaponry,
and man, that was my homie,
talk about not cut out for these pristine pearly robings,
what could I possibly have done,
you really want me to steer child populace back on beaten path,
like teach em' morals,
I can't be a part of something I ain't searchin my feelings man,
I'm from the dungeon,
so from here on out,
it's hark the herald nothing,
listen, I quit.
That's it, but for the life of me,
one thing has plagued my being from the get-go,
why place the most blessed and sacred honors upon an alley cat like this,
I just don't get it, oh.. my god, it just dawned on me,
wait a second, oh, god...
you have seen the days when,
I apply lies in a billion different ways, and,
now I harbor bad karma,
doomed to cope with the fact I dodged the ring but gotta show these cats the ropes
please lead these little wings to a road,
please lead this little halo to a child with a lighter load,
I'ma hold this tight like a life vest and throw it to a mic
hi! this song was on one of aesop rock's very rare mixtapes, i just got lucky and found it on limewire a few days ago. you can also hear this song on youtube, simply search for 'aesop rock bad karma' and the video, along with the lyrics will pop up.
the last little hook he does is actually:
please leave these little wings to erode please leave this little halo to a child with a lighter load im'a hold this tight like a life lesson told through a mic
aes be takin the lower road
I think he's saying
"enter me now, see-through cretin lowlife virus..."
I've also seen different versions of "I'ma hold this tight like a life vest and throw it to a mic"
I always thought it was "I'ma hold this tight, like a lifeless doll through the night" but it seems to be the general conclusion that mic is the last word...
To correct the above, I had an epiphony: It's I'ma hold this tight like a life lesson told through a mic. I gurantee that if you listen to it close, youll hear it too.
This song hits home for me for multiple reasons. But imo, I believe this may not only be about Aesop being a great artist having to deal with the weight of leading other MC's to his "promised land," but perhaps dodging enlightenment to pursue the kind of life he's dreamed of. It goes without saying that Aesop is incredibly intelligent, it would make sense if he is an enlightened being that follows some of the fundamentals of Buddhism or Hinduism, even though he openly identifies as agnostic. It would make sense as to why he feels that he is harboring "bad karma..." by not opening people's minds in a spiritual sense, but only through word-play and music. There's a lot of spiritual imagery in here about saints, angels, his halo..."Teaching morals" stands out to me. When he can't decide whether to use "I, we, us" or whatever, it may be a reference to collective consciousness. He may be confused as to why an "alley cat" such as him, has been given tools of enlightenment and great insights. That's just my opinion because I've gone through something very similar in my own life. Other than that, there are some obvious things you can take away from this...that Aesop doesn't necessarily enjoy being idolized...that part of him feels he has to show other artists the way but part of him probably also feels tired and defeated. Amazing song regardless.