Sinning and grinning and skimming the take, gimme a break
I'm joking honest, know I'm broke as promise
Living with minimum wage, venom and rage, sinning is straight
As straight as strays ablaze from Ks, give into the haze Dey/ Kon (Ft. JB (Producer) & Nick Buglione (Dey Bishop)) – TCBA
When I wrote this, I wanted to show the dichotomy of myself and my life style.
Beginning by saying that I have money and women through committing crimes and sinning, but its not true. In reality I’m broke, and at the time of writing this song, living off of minimum wage (as of then, I’m working for free under an internship), but I still sin anyway. Seeing my environment and the people in it, it seems like its a standard for people in the area, its okay, its ‘straight’.
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This is a track that I recorded in December.
Its a personal song, and I’ve been holding onto it for way too long, and I think its overdue for a release. It speaks on my hometown, as well as the influence my cousin Joey had toward my participation in the incredible art form that is hip-hop.
Shout out to my brother K$ for blessing me with the instrumentation.
Shout out to you for your listen.
And shout out to my cousin, Joey, may he rest in peace.
Be sure to share it if you enjoyed it.
Peace.
~DEY
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The first song released off of Dey Bishop’s forthcoming free album.
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What is this?
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This is an extension of the previous lyrics, another piece of imagery to give you the general consensus and view of Elzhi’s surroundings.
Being a black youth, growing up in Detroit, which is a city that holds some of the highest violent crime rates per 1,000 residents..:
.. there is a generalization that people like him will follow the same path that others around him have. In retrospect, society has labeled him, and his fate was already sealed as far as the world was concerned; he would ultimately be another statistic, another number on a piece of paper.
Also note the play on words of ‘counted’ and ‘number chart’.
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Elzhi was actually doing well financially for a little while, with the dropping of his critically acclaimed debut album, The Preface, in 2008.
Though, eventually, the money ran out. He was back to square one, as if he never even had money to begin with. His feet, in this lyric, symbolizing both financial stability and free will, and with his knees symbolizing poverty and labor.
My brother's the only reason why I'm not breathless eLZhi – The Recap
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Elzhi was having suicidal thoughts, similar in concept to the Notorious B.I.G song off of his debut album…;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4M8GjgfG9k
…after retracting back to being poor again, and after he stopped receiving checks from The Preface, his debut album.
Though, due to the mental and probably financial support of his brother, he was able to make it through the previously mentioned dark period in his life.
And from behind I make 'em curl like they hurled to earl eLZhi (Ft. Black Milk) – Like This
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Elzhi is bragging throughout this entire verse, its more so an open letter to rival artists and haters alike. Here, he is stating that while these people may in fact get the hoes that they claim to be pulling in their respective songs, Elzhi is getting more than them, and his music isn’t even circled around the glorification of sex.
Look at homie.
Afterword, he is saying that when he has sexual intercourse with the previously stated women, he hits them from behind, making the women form in the position similar to when one is throwing up.
Imagery.
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But I kept my head up, and everytime I failed I would get up
See I ain't need no nines and berettas Joey Bada$$ – Flow-ers
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As opposed to the popular views and actions of those around him, Joey does not succumb to the same mind state of his surroundings. He explains that if he wasn’t as smart and open as he is, he probably would have became a product of his environment.
Which is exemplified with the last annotated lyric, he doesn’t find the use of guns appealing nor necessary. Pictured below is a beretta, the pistol referenced in the lyric.
