I love blurrykate's interpretation of the song and I would fully agree with it.
However, I think there is one more thing that is worthy of note.
Considering how TOP writes their music, there is frequently discontinuity on certain lyrics between different websites. Because of this, it would be fair to say that the canon source for what the lyrics actually are would be the official lyrics in the booklet for the album.
I just bought Blurryface, and in the booklet, the lyrics go "please use discretion when you're messing with the message, man"
Notice the comma?
I don't think Tyler is referring to himself as the 'message man' but is referring to a message and using 'man' to indicate that he is referring to the listener. Hene the separation between message and man. "Message man" was never meant to go together as a single term, but as a call to the listener to hear the message, not the singer (Tyler).
I love blurrykate's interpretation of the song and I would fully agree with it. However, I think there is one more thing that is worthy of note. Considering how TOP writes their music, there is frequently discontinuity on certain lyrics between different websites. Because of this, it would be fair to say that the canon source for what the lyrics actually are would be the official lyrics in the booklet for the album. I just bought Blurryface, and in the booklet, the lyrics go "please use discretion when you're messing with the message, man" Notice the comma? I don't think Tyler is referring to himself as the 'message man' but is referring to a message and using 'man' to indicate that he is referring to the listener. Hene the separation between message and man. "Message man" was never meant to go together as a single term, but as a call to the listener to hear the message, not the singer (Tyler).