u/Extension_Yak3898

The concept would be 'Nasty Nas raps offbeat about the prison system'

Whenever Soma comes on I'm like "whaaaat I thought Mayonnaise was later in the album"

Then I'm like "no, it's the other one" and take a minute to remember the name is Soma

So I woke up from this crazy dream last night (any really provide details without taking over the post) and immediately heard wood's line "we already fell from quite a height"

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I didn't know which song it was from so I googled, assuming it was after Haram, or maybe even part of the Earl assisted track Falling Out the Sky... But no! It's from Houthi which came out 2 years earlier

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The funny thing tho is, the verses to Houthi suggest that the song may have been written around the time of recording Haram. The evidence for this is that the line I woke up hearing is preceded by the word 'haram'.

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But more to the point, woods seems to use the first verse to reminisce about how he used to rhyme, and the second to elucidate how he rhymes now... Almost as if he's anticipated that the song he's recording/just recorded with Earl will lead to better things. "Pride before fall but he felt sure/both hands wrapped in gauze/stole fire from God, my Lord".

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I think he's talking about how he rhymes specifically due to the references to shadows in both verses. He starts off the whole song saying he 'cut my shadow off with a dull knife whispered in its ear, sent it off into the night'. I relate this to the psychological concept of the 'shadow', the dark parts of you that are largely out of your control. It comes back later with the candles in the second verse. Taken into account with the rest of the lyrics, it sets up a portrait of how woods' mind works with regard to inspiration & how disparate ideas connect through intuitive logic.

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Although, when I first read these verses, it seemed he was talking about the evolution of hiphop in general - things that are off limits (Haram) to most fans & artists, things that happen time and time again in hiphop scenes, whether to artists or fans, and his relationship to the music. So take this all with some grains of sand 🙃 this is just an early morning writing exercise for me

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And then there's the wives.

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There are 3 wives in this song - the one that says Haram (yours) and his ex wife who knows where the stash is hide and he's just wondering what she's thinking when she paused - and also wood's mom, who told him where they keep the passports hidden.

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The fact that woods used this chorus with this song indicates that he indeed sees things getting better in his career, but is also ready to leave it for Plan B if need be. Remember, this is off Hiding Places, which is what blew him up in the underground.

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But the wives... One emphasises the Haram, the ways billy rhymes that are off limits for hiphop purists. Note that it's not clear whether she says 'but we fell from quite a height' or woods does - and either way there's an excuse, followed by reminiscing about how 'the bag was light' ie times were tough despite some success.

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The second wife, the ex, doesnt say a word, yet sparks a long line of 'not the Haze' (something else?) induced rant refering books, the Shining (probably), candles at dinner, clowns, genocide with a 'loopy smile', and a line comparing his braids under his wave cap under his kufi to tea leaves. I see this verse as a picture of a PTSD laden mind, high on substances, pushing his creativity to the limits in order to contain the flashes of suspicion & memories that come to him over a visit to his ex wife. It seems times have improved, but they are also more complex, complete with a 'belt buckle' that 'whip you raw'.

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The fact that he put this chorus in this song - it almost feels like magic trick he's playing, 'a sigil in the noise' as Elucid once said. Like he's taking these verses full of acknowledgement of his own pain and suffering, and putting them with a chorus which, despite being sourced from a dark chapter of his life (possibly his darkest), signals that hes scared to get famous, scared to take off - but that's he's escaped worse fears before, and can do so again with a 'couple passports'