I'm surprised nobody's commented on this track. It's easily one of his finest!
I read this track as a fairly general introduction to the themes he is most interested in, although it does contain some of his most profound lines.
The opening verse comes across slightly arrogant (as many of his things do at times) but I think it's more of a statement about the way people need to be if we are to cure the world's ills, as well as a gentle threat to the 'fake niggas' who unfairly dominate hip hop. This verse tackles black rights and the (corresponding) hypocrisy of the materialistic side of mainstream hip-hop culture.
The second verse is about his more spiritual side, and I think the 'maker of drums' stuff is purely metaphorical. It's making a statement about the fundamental importance of music to the human race. The verse examines the effort our most distant ancestors would go to just to make music ('we scraped the inside of goat hides to seek the hollows where sound resides'). And that's because even then they recognised just how important music is on a level above most people's understanding.
I'm surprised nobody's commented on this track. It's easily one of his finest!
I read this track as a fairly general introduction to the themes he is most interested in, although it does contain some of his most profound lines.
The opening verse comes across slightly arrogant (as many of his things do at times) but I think it's more of a statement about the way people need to be if we are to cure the world's ills, as well as a gentle threat to the 'fake niggas' who unfairly dominate hip hop. This verse tackles black rights and the (corresponding) hypocrisy of the materialistic side of mainstream hip-hop culture.
The second verse is about his more spiritual side, and I think the 'maker of drums' stuff is purely metaphorical. It's making a statement about the fundamental importance of music to the human race. The verse examines the effort our most distant ancestors would go to just to make music ('we scraped the inside of goat hides to seek the hollows where sound resides'). And that's because even then they recognised just how important music is on a level above most people's understanding.