“5am in Toronto”, channel ORANGE half a year later and deciphering modern day lyrics

Around 8am in Morgantown and inside the twitterverse, Drake flooded the e-streets with “5am in Toronto”. I wasn’t geeked until I saw everyone (and by everyone, I mean the half of my timeline that was awake and not working) buzzing about it. So I gave it a listen. And listened again.

And listened again. And again. And again. I was impressed by Drake’s ferociousness and wordplay:

“I could load every gun with bullets that fire backwards
You probably wouldn’t lose a single rapper”

or

“All them boys (OVO gang) in my will, all them boys is my Wills
Anything happen to Pop, then I got you like Uncle Phil”

LAWD!!! But, the biggest drawback with the songs are the subliminals aimed toward The Weeknd. Subtle and unnoticeable to some at first, but he throws a few lyrical jabs at Weeknd for not signing to OVO and, instead, opting to sign with Universal Republic. I mean, taking shots at Pusha, Chris Brown and MTV’s Hottest MC List are all fair game. But a R&B dude? Faux pas Aubrey. 

After my 7th play of “5am…”, I was ready to start my day. I was scrolling through my iTunes library, and came across channel ORANGE. I’ve had the album since August but never gave it a try. Of course, I heard all the buzz, read the tumblr post, saw the SNL performance and knew he won the Grammy for it. But I’m really selective with music. I listened to nostalgia, ULTRA and only thought it was decent at best after 3 plays. Also, last summer, I was on that Weeknd wave. Thursday was the soundtrack of my summer 2012. I managed to sneak in other albums, but I wasn’t geeked to hear Ocean. And, boy, was I missing out!

(Between the time I first heard the ORANGE to now, it’s been 40 hours. I’ve listened to this album 11-12 times already. On some real crack rock, crack rock shit.)

Other than the musicality and phenomenal sound of the album, I was intrigued Ocean’s lyrics. Other than “Forrest Gump”, it was interesting listening to see what songs were about women and which ones were men (I count a total of 4, but that isn’t overly important). Deciphering subliminal messages, understanding double-meanings and enjoying the vividness of potent lyrics are gifts that hip-hop has blessed me (and generationSof hip-hop heads) with. For instance, Ocean raps in “Oldie”:

Rent a super car for a day
Drive around with your friends, smoke a gram of that haze
Bro, easy on the ounce; that’s a lot for a day
But just enough for a week; my nigga, what can I say? 
I’m hi and I’m bye. Wait, I mean, I’m straight

—————————————————————

The top half was written around March 8th; I should’ve finished it. When I started channelORANGE I was engulfed in it’s sound and mystique. A month later, I’m a fan. Listening to Frank put me onto the rest of OF (which I would’ve never thought was possible). Also, I’m tired of seeing it in my drafts a month later.

Rough draft shawty. Rough draft shawty.