You will notice that these lyrics are not written as typical “16s” – that’s because this was the first rap song I wrote back in 2011, before I really knew that verses should be written as 16 line stanzas.

So I thought I would preserve my original line breaks for nostalgia’s sake!

And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them

This last stanza bears Judas and Satan’s name because Scripture speaks, cryptically, of Satan entering into Judas during his betrayal of Christ; thus, Satan is here, at the end of the verse, speaking from within Judas.

Three meanings here:

• I’m rushing up on the rulers of the rap game to get my own championship jewelry

• Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov purchased the Nets franchise – in effect becoming their ruler – and dumped tons of money into fielding a competitive team and moving the entire operation from Jersey to Brooklyn (cf. next annotation)

• Russian President Putin was accused in 2013 of bizarrely stealing a Super Bowl ring:
  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/vladimir-putin-super-bowl-ring-russian-leader-accused-19418335

The elusive triple entendre?

• So as in “so what?” If rappers want to sell themselves for money, well, it’s hard to blame them

• Sow as in: when said rappers do sell their souls for the dollar, they will end up reaping what they “sow” – namely slavery (an especially apt word considering that African American slaves historically worked the fields sowing and harvesting crops)

• Sew as in “sewing” a garment: the new suits for the new slaves. As Kanye makes clear, the trappings may appear different, but their plight is slavery nonetheless

An allusion to Luda’s verse on “Georgia”:

YEAH! Dirty words, dirty birds, it’s MEAN in the Dirty South / If you ever disrespect it, then we’ll CLEAN out ya dirty mouth

I’m the only true model for an aspiring rapper, the exact opposite of Chuck, who once emphatically insisted that he WAS NOT a role model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gqk4WPnrpM

A boast of my prowess that shouts out one of Boston’s most famous schools: Berklee College of Music.

Fun Fact:

My esteemed executive producer, Justin Gorun (who helped record most of this tape), is a Berklee graduate and dope producer/musician himself. Peep his Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/justin-gorun/world-blues

One of rapper Childish Gambino’s first breakout tracks was “Freaks and Geeks.”

Verse 1 of this track was written as my entry to the 2013 BET Hot 16 contest, which begins in late July. The winner gets to be part of one of the BET awards show rap cyphers.

It has become tradition that I not only enter this contest each year but that I also play my verse to unsuspecting students on their first day of school.