I can see that perhaps the narrative is from the perspective of a dealer who has started snorting his profits (and he's in deep guano now), which doubtless could bring on such paranoia. But then again there could be a million reasons a dealer/gangster/whatever would be paranoid and anxious. The Geto Boys don't say, and that's smart. The best way to ruin any character is to get too much into "the story behind it all."
While this whole song kicks fucking ass, the first and last verses stand out to me. Consider the first verse. It all takes place in the consciousness of the speaker while he's "staring at a woman on the corner." He's lying awake at night, all alone, and he's confronted with the gravity of his own being. Like whenever you're a child and you were put to bed early, and it was dark and you tried to make yourself go to sleep, but you can never do that. It is inescapable and horrible insomnia. That is what this character (as well as Richard III and Macbeth, I might add) experience.
More generally, this song isn't about addiction as such. It just isn't. That might play a part in it, but there is something far deeper at work. It's about a gangster (or three different ones - the fourth is a Geto Boy, I assume) who is coming to terms with his lifestyle. All the people he's beat the shit out of ("thought he had cane, but it was Gold Medal flour"), killed, or left (the woman who he realizes he loves). And the narrator knows he is more and more alone, with more and more enemies each day. I don't know much about this lifestyle. But the Geto Boys have, intentionally or otherwise, incorporated the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Henri Bergson, as well as the stunning psychological realism of Shakespearean tragedy.
So, to me, this song is the major esthetic achievement of rap, and indeed, songwriting in general. The beat is sick. The narrative is amazing. Nuff said.
I can see that perhaps the narrative is from the perspective of a dealer who has started snorting his profits (and he's in deep guano now), which doubtless could bring on such paranoia. But then again there could be a million reasons a dealer/gangster/whatever would be paranoid and anxious. The Geto Boys don't say, and that's smart. The best way to ruin any character is to get too much into "the story behind it all."
While this whole song kicks fucking ass, the first and last verses stand out to me. Consider the first verse. It all takes place in the consciousness of the speaker while he's "staring at a woman on the corner." He's lying awake at night, all alone, and he's confronted with the gravity of his own being. Like whenever you're a child and you were put to bed early, and it was dark and you tried to make yourself go to sleep, but you can never do that. It is inescapable and horrible insomnia. That is what this character (as well as Richard III and Macbeth, I might add) experience.
More generally, this song isn't about addiction as such. It just isn't. That might play a part in it, but there is something far deeper at work. It's about a gangster (or three different ones - the fourth is a Geto Boy, I assume) who is coming to terms with his lifestyle. All the people he's beat the shit out of ("thought he had cane, but it was Gold Medal flour"), killed, or left (the woman who he realizes he loves). And the narrator knows he is more and more alone, with more and more enemies each day. I don't know much about this lifestyle. But the Geto Boys have, intentionally or otherwise, incorporated the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Henri Bergson, as well as the stunning psychological realism of Shakespearean tragedy.
So, to me, this song is the major esthetic achievement of rap, and indeed, songwriting in general. The beat is sick. The narrative is amazing. Nuff said.