Lyrics Of The Week: August 1-8

There's quite a bit of repetition in the game these days, and specific lyrics tend to get overlooked. This is an opportunity to take a closer listen and really consider what these artists have to say. We encourage your opinions.

Keep in mind, these are the most noteworthy lyrics of the week, not necessarily the best. Also, it's hard to get everything right - if you notice any errors, don't hesitate to let us know in the comments section. Lines we're not quite sure about will be bolded.

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"Went and bought some Alexander Wang after I heard 'New Slaves'."

An intense new cut from Ab-Soul named after Christopher Dorner, the dismissed US Reserve and LAPD officer who shot and killed several LAPD officers over a weeklong period in early February. After one of the largest manhunts in LAPD history and a lengthy standoff with police in the San Bernadino mountains, Dorner's charred remains were found in the burned-out cabin he'd taken refuge in. The fire was allegedly set by police. 

Not long after, the US started using surveillance drones on American soil.

The track serves as a commentary on the incident and the questions raised by it. Soul calls out the masses for being drone-like and complacent in the face of an invasive, suspect government, and expresses the paranoia brought on by his outspokenness. He also directly addresses Kanye's "New Slaves" theory of racism, defiantly vocalizing his free will and self awareness. He assures listeners he's neither a drone nor a slave, and encourages those still asleep to follow suit, however aggressively.

Thoughts? 

[Verse 1]
Out my window all I see is Babylon, grab your gun
You ain't a knight tonight, you won't live to see the mornin' sun
Yellow tape, pistols in your face, hold on, show no weakness
Money, murder, grab your burner, cabins burnin' where it's freezin'
Soulo, yeah I'm the one you heard about
Fuck's gotten into Herbert now? He's so foul there's birds around
Had it my way like it's Burger King
You don't want beef? Put that burger down
Don't go against my coalition, you can kiss my Colin Powell
Guess it's in my heritage, I double-cross snakes and go ape shit
Psychedelic, she left on her heels and I'm chewin' pills, I can't taste shit
My dick look like a spaceship, "Stairway to Heaven" on my playlist
On 9/11 I called 9-1-1 and the voice recording said this: 

[Hook]
Bunch of fuckin' drones
Bunch of drones, can't think for your own

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The words to Drake's latest track were by far the most popular of the week. "Hold On, We're Going Home" is allegedly the first official single from his upcoming album Nothing Was the Same, although this has left many wondering about the status of "Started From The Bottom" and "All Me". 

The vintage-sounding R&B cut features vocals from fellow Toronto natives and new OVO signees Majid Jordan, who also co-produced it with Nineteen85. Needless to say, the lyrical content is as basic as it gets, but they were going for a "timeless" feel. 

Drake discussed the song in a recent interview with MTV News. "It's me and 40 just channeling our Quincy Jones/Michael Jackson production duo," he said. "Obviously no offense to the greats, I know we're not anywhere near that - it's just us kinda doing our thing, humbly attempting... I was like 'man, it would be great if we had a record that was played at weddings in 10 years or that people that are away from their families in the army could listen to'. Something that just [has] timeless writing, timeless melody."

Think they pulled it off? 

[Hook: Drake]
'Cause you're a good girl and you know it
You act so different around me
'Cause you're a good girl and you know it
I know exactly who you could be
So just hold on we're going home
Just hold on we're going home
It's hard to do these things alone
Just hold on we're going home

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"Sour Diesel be the fuel for all my Brooklyn lords." -Issa 

A new track/visual from rising Flatbush emcees The Underachievers (Issa Dash x AK), which also serves as a look book for clothing company KidSuper’s ICONIC 2013 line. Brooklyn is the Land of the Lords, and both emcees rep their set, spitting dense, enlightened (if not faded) verses over a dusty, jazz-infused instrumental. Both the track and visual harken back to hip-hop's golden era. Can you dig it? 

[Excerpt: AK]

Bank rolls be my occupation for the moment
Elevated, overthrow the government, you know we on it
Higher minds, fire burnin'
I don't care what you're concerned with
LSD on the DV, check the KD floatin'
I know you peep the steez, golden like I'm chosen
Js left 'em Z way before the Barclay center opened
You hopin' I crash this plane, never man
I'm in a legendary lane, hitting Janes like Tarzan

[Excerpt: Issa]

Jah Jah knows, been out the matrix since like a snotty nose
Switchin' flows like a Brooklyn nigga, only supposed to, though
I count my pesos and let my brain grow
Watch out for my angels 'cause they stealin' halos
Know how to hate, though
It's 'cause we clean on the block, livin' dreams 'round the clock
Keep the weed 'round my team so we lean in the spot
The Beast Coast we better than most folks
And no hope for niggas that be testin' our brain growth, you'll get smoked

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The latest leak from Nipsey Hussle's TM3: Victory Lap, which is now an album as opposed to a mixtape. The LA emcee keeps it extremely real on the cut, vowing not to let money change him as he tells "the truth about these LA streets and all that they about". 

Who's looking forward to this project? 

"Bars hotter than the blocks we be at / Stunt on these niggas and they flop like Divac." -Earl

Earl Sweatshirt unabashedly bares his soul and insecurities on the latest leak from his upcoming "Doris" album. He addresses death, depression, fame, paranoia and expectations on the track, his father being the celebrated South African poet Keorapestse Kgositsile. 

Can you relate? 

[Verse 1]
My grandma's passin'
But I'm too busy tryin' to get this fuckin' album crackin' too see her
So I apologize in advance if anything should happen
And my priorities fucked up, I know it, I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it
And all them expectations raising because daddy was a poet, right?
Talk all you want I'm takin' no advice
Nigga, I'm about to relish in this anguish
I'm stressin' over payment, so don't tell me that I made it
Only relatively famous in the midst of a tornado
Misfitted, I'm Clark Gable, I'm not stable
Abrasive as fuck and they all pay me
I'm chucklin', cross-faded in public
Heart racin' so blood is leaked
(Like he don't give a fuck again, right?)

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"They ain't God, but their ways is pompous / Thinkin' they can stomp us with troops and contras." -Del

The latest leak from Deltron 3030 (Dan the Automator, Del the Funky Homosapien and DJ Kid Koala)'s sophomore album is a prophetic vision of a post-apocalyptic future, as the project as a whole will surely be. Del resumes the character of Deltron Zero, a "disillusioned mech soldier and interplanetary computer prodigy rebelling against a [future] New World Order", and his words are foreboding. 

Event II is slated to drop on September 17th. Who's looking forward to it? 

[Verse 2: Del the Funky Homosapien]
Everybody, call it a scramble
Full scale chaos, reckless abandon
Cats will sell they, hand for a handgun
Follow your commander, though you can't stand him
No plannin', wild and dangerous
Anger just permeate, so we learn to take
Hostility with a grain of salt
And step out the way, cause it ain't our fault
Bank vaults blown to smithereens
Whatever's left is left for the fiends
But you'd better not mess with the team
Deltron and Dan, we melt foes to ash
There in a flash, and not in the pan
It's all in the plan in a lawless land
Just so y'all can understand
I got a legacy to chase, live up the fam'

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A standout cut from Stalley's new Honest Cowboy mixtape. The MMG rookie's wordplay only continues to evolve, and he paints vivid images of 'hood experiences in these dense verses. ScHoolboy Q holds down a dope if not slightly disjointed hook. 

Thoughts? Cop the full project in our mixtape section. 

[Verse 1: Stalley]
Midwest nigga in the West
Red Corvette's speedin' down sunset
Ski mask, black TEK pullin' through the set
Gang signs and palm trees, bomb weed and a Beck's
Mentality complex, conscious but get vexed
Over gangster instrumentals, instrumental to the rap game
Yeah the aim simple, target the lame and stay in the lane
As I dip through the ghetto where metal rings and coke gets peddled
The sun gon' shine tomorrow after the smoke settles
My mom's blood level is high
Her son high, ridin' 'round with the devils so she pray to Allah
Hopin' the demons gon' let go
I hustle for these C-notes, tuck drugs in my pea coat
Dipping from the RICO watchin' people through the peep hole
A wolf in sheep's clothes, hear no evil and I speak no
Word to dangerous minds, spend no time with a weak soul
Spiritual and lethal - a deadly combination
Pullin' on a joint, trying not to break my concentration
They say the game's locked, I'm tryna bust the combination
They want me to tell the story, but I ain't for the conversation
So I'm contemplatin', quit this rap ish or be blatant
And they all hatin' so I might just well stop fakin'
Like I'm like them or I like them
While I'm ridin' 'round with it, I guess I'mma pipe 'em
Murder one, man down, I'm the man, hands down
Ain't nobody like him, thats why I'm this way
It's me against the world and I'm down for the play

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Lupe Fiasco followed one of Jay Z's new rules this week, leaking the words to this song without dropping any music. It's apparently the title track from a new project of his that will be dropping on September 13th. 

The track is lyrically dense, as we've come to expect from the eccentric Chicagoan emcee, and exists as more of a poem without musical accompaniment. Who's looking forward to hearing it? 

[Excerpt]
Sometimes dreams, peace of paper, I've got reams
Where'd the D go?
Put that on a rose and now you pronounce it hero, you see?
Lu see like La Brea & Pico, with binoculars on my peephole
I feel my best work was album zero
Now with Deniro, its Boo Boo in my backyard 
And Ben burnt down my gazebo, that Deniro's, ah, Casino
Wit spit in the sandwich of the police though
They ain't see the steel plate up under my seat though
Still play it like Shaquille but I can free throw
I ain't playing but I compete, I ain't a player but I'm complete
Win winner, the mason mind can't sign if the pen's Templar
Night vision on white linen is still green
Peace of Paper I've got reams, make it rain
To make 'em smile, now rake it into piles
And buy yourself some style, prom night, cat walk
Prepare the suit for weeks, or effortless as a Parisian
Just walking down the street, I ain't in it
I'm just walkin' round some beats
Some teeth neighborhood watchin'
Made of good options, Mastermind X
Neighborhood hoodie, take the hood shoppin'
Back track to stolen plates
What's a closed wallet to an open safe? 
Peace of Paper, Cup of Jayzus, what we writin'?

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We're unable to comment on the latest from Sosa Almighty, unsurprisingly. We'll leave the job up to all of you.

Stay tuned for next Friday’s Lyrics of the Week, folks. Thanks for joining the discussion.

[Excerpt]

Coolin' with the stars, I ain't talkin' famous
I'mma break down this cigar - puff, puff, no passin'
They say I'm gettin' fat, bitch, that's what them bands did
They ain't see me, they see my car, and they say I'm handsome
I've got too much guap fallin' out my pants
These bitches in my hair, I'm too rich for some dandruff  

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