Shorties blunted-eyed and everyone wanna rhyme
Bush pushing lies, killers immortalized
We got arms but won't reach for the skies
from Common – Be (Intro) Lyrics on Rap Genius
Meaning
Throughout these three lines Common cites the problems he sees with today’s society, mentioning:
- ignorant kids who think they can be like their favorite rappers by smoking blunts and writing about it
- President George W. Bush
- the glorifying of murder and firearm usage (by other hip hop artists and their ignorant fanboys he previously mentioned)
- complacency (in other words, people’s being satisfied with “enough” rather than striving to be all they can)
“Arms” serves a double meaning, referring to both guns and literal arms upon a human being. He also connects “blunted-eyed” with “lie”, a slang term for weed.
“Killers immortalized” is also a reference to the terrorists who carried out the 911 attacks, due to the fact that their acts are fingerprinted in history.
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