I Blog It Like It's Hot

Old habits die hard

So, I got my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, which as you can imagine involved a lot of reading as well as writing. We would analyze poems, short stories, and even passages from novels, and I did this for four years of my life. I know I talk about how Drake isn’t as street as, say, Weezy, and I think the epitome of my beliefs is centered around Drake’s lyrics in one of my favorite songs of 2009, “Forever.” I bolded the actual lyrics with my insightful analysis in the parentheses.

Last name ever,

first name greatest, (quite possibly my favorite line ever)

like a sprained ankle boy I ain’t nuttin to play with, (actually I sprained my ankle in softball one time and my mom didn’t believe me until I went to the doctor’s office two months later. the moral of that story is that yes, you can play with a sprained ankle)

it started off local but thanks to all the haters, (here Drake is giving me some insight – I need HATERS to establish my blog!!! It all makes sense now)

i know G4 pilots on a first name basis, (I don’t even know what a G4 is, probably something that I will never fly on)

and your city faded off to brown, Nino, (I think this is a double reference – Hov’s “Fade to Black” as well as the Wesley Snipes character Nino Brown in New Jack City; Drake is comparing himself to a rising drug dealer (who gets shot by someone he humiliated) and to Jay-Z)

she insists she got more class, we know! (I’ve definitely got more class than this ambiguous “she” you refer to)

swimming in the money come and find me, Nemo, (good Pixar reference here, although I think the cutesy movie reference masks the life of having money)

if i was at the club you know I ball’d, chemo, (Gotta hand it to you, excellent play on words, although I’m not sure how chemo has anything to do with being a baller…and it is a little tasteless to me)

drop the mixtape that sh-t sounded like an album (yes it did, and it still mystifies me)

who’d have thought a country wide tour would be the outcome (no one, but thanks for pointing out the obvious)

labels want my name beside the X like Malcolm (comparing yourself, in all your endeavors and what little you have accomplished in your blossoming career, to Malcolm X; in other words, a perfect comparison)

everybody got a deal, I did it without one, (yeah, God bless the internet. For you and me!)

yeah n-gga i’m about my business, (apparently you are, but I still think you shouldn’t have signed with Cash Money/Young Money)

killing all these rappers you would swear I had a hit list, (who, exactly, have you killed? So far as I know, the only beef you have had is with Kia Shine, who actually sent Weezy the Best I Ever Had song, owned 25% of the song, and who did indeed deserve the credit you tried to take away from him)

everyone who doubted me is asking for forgiveness, (really Drake, really? I find it hard to believe that your parents and family, coming from a musical background themselves, would doubt you or want you to fail)

if you aint been a part of it at least you got to witness, (I don’t really want to be a part of it and I haven’t had much choice but to witness)

b-tches, (trying to make himself look “hard” and give himself some street cred…didn’t work)

From this verse, I’m guessing that Drake is trying to establish himself as someone who somehow succeeded against all odds, but I still don’t buy that.

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