Friends and Neighbors Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Let me tell you 'bout this nigga named Franz
He had lots of plans
Involving pots and pans
With fiends for fans, he was a real mean one
Traded all his fingers in for a green thumb
'Posable
All weight was unloadable
Despite his deformity, all guns are holdable
Had his boys on some soldier bull
They were risking they lives, saying they actions are notable
Torn apart for a Purple Heart
This brother had a strong start
But the kid lacked street smarts
Hey, meet James
He works at Ames
To get a discount on M&M's and video games
He said his co-workers were lames without brains
'Cause he had struck a couple goals for which he had aimed
This nigga used to buy grams from Franz uptown
Before he was bucked down
Connection is fucked now
Six years pass and he still there
Helping this old lady with the mean stare
Shopping in a wheelchair
Her name was Claire, but she changed it to Greta
To help avoid a stalker with a vendetta
The cat sent her ten letters
Saying she was a hag to be bagged in leather
And very soon, in her living room, he met her
Well-dressed nightmare in a cashmere sweater
Blue-collar guy with some death in his eye
Tattoo of Satan high, right leg, inner thigh
He just wanna see how you respond
When he give thrust to a knife from his powerful arm
And finally police chief
Officer Grief
Who received a phone call from the nearly deceased
He lost his gentle side at the homicide attempt scene
Now every single thought of murder is tempting
He couldn't ask for a bigger day
The following week, he spent his time staring at exhibit A
A bloody knife that bore flesh and bone marrow
And just before he headed home to his wife Carroll
Reported suicide on the other side of town
Frantic mother claims little girl had fallen down
He's on the scene seeing paramedics on the ground
Mom and daddy ain't moving
Boy hiding in his room and
His fellow officers are all trying to subdue him
Heads shake in disbelief, saying, "He ain't human"
Next, I'm assuming that the media is clued in
Displayed on the tube in
The room you're now glued in
Your spirit's absorbed in generators and tanks
Data banks
You're retracing your steps and drew blanks
Look at all these lives to waste
It's a dark space
Adrenaline starts to pump
Increasing your heart pace
You're caught now
Imagination has gone wild
You look into the mirror, then you tell me, "Who art thou?"
You got to be determined like Ken when he fought Ryu
Your brains may bust open, 'cause this is a hard trial
No answer, just a mental cancer
Before you choke, I hope you get a chance to
Feel fear
'Cause this is a real scare
I'm giving you three seconds to tell us how we got here
[Scratches]

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About

Genius Annotation

Following “The Now,” which widened the narrative scope of the album by focusing on both the main character and his children, “Friends and Neighbors” takes it even further, being a full-blown human panorama. On the song, Mr. Lif raps about several interconnected people.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Mr. Lif say about "Friends and Neighbors"?
Genius Answer

In the album’s liner notes, Mr. Lif compares the song to the 1999 film Magnolia, which was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Mr. Lif has addressed this in a 2003 interview with Pitchfork:

Pitchfork: You mentioned Magnolia in the liner notes to I, Phantom. Is the scope and structure of that film an influence on your albums, which have always had concepts?

Lif: Using Magnolia was the only way I could make sense of that song. It wasn’t really inspired by Magnolia. I was just working on the jam and I realized that, after I turned in the album, no one really understood it.

Pitchfork: This is the song “Friends and Neighbors”, which is very close to the title of a Neil LaBute film. This is the really panoramic one with all the people’s interweaved histories?

Lif: Yeah. I submitted the album to my management and my publicist and there was just this silence that ensued. I was just like, “Okay, people just don’t even get the record.” So I was like, “I have to write the fucking storyline.” And referencing Magnolia was one of the easiest ways to nutshell and make it clear the approach that the song took.

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