Knox Hill - BBL Drizzy Freestyle (Initial Thoughts & Lyrical "Breakdown" 1/2)

Initial Thoughts

I kinda was at the premiere and kinda wasn't, lol. This was a surprise drop and I was busy. So I just left the premiere open on my phone on mute so he'd get the views, finished what I was busy with and now I'm here (about two hours after the premiere).

Watched it "again" just now, left a like and a comment.

So, two views for the price of one, haha. (Price being a "thank you" here and there - I love the man, but not 100% unconditionally.) And a third one when I write down these lyrics from the video and see what bars I get or can google and which ones I can't.

I really need to stop calling these breakdowns, though, if I can't actually break down the bars... So I put quotes on it. When I get his bars, I really like them, that's why I'm here, writing this, at the end of the day. Because I truly like his music. But I do not get all of his bars. Part of it is the language barrier - I'd say I speak excellent English, but 1) 1.5 years I ago I didn't know what doubles were - the concept ain't hard, though, they're basically puns, and I had noticed them in some song lyrics before, mostly Finnish rap and Ashnikko, but didn't know what they're called or that they're this common in music, it's not just Mariska and Ash :D I had even put off translating some songs for my other blog because I didn't have the vocabulary to explain that the thing the rapper said can be taken two ways, 2) I don't know much of the slang he's using, or get the references. Me and Knox live very different lives, we don't have much in common.

He's American, grew up surrounded by hiphop music and the culture, in a poor neighborhood that had lots of crime and gangs and such (he's written about it in his lyricism), but was very good at soccer, which landed him an university scolarship and a career in sport, living in multiple different countries, until he hurt his leg multiple times and had to quit that, so he became an MC and a YouTuber as his second (and third) career path.

I'm Finnish, grew up working class or middle class (I'm not sure - the differences between socio-economical classes ain't as big here as in America), studied youth work as my first Bachelor's degree and when that didn't feel like my thing after all, I did my second Bachelor's in librarianship, and now I've worked on that field for a few years. I've only ever lived in Finland, in 5 different towns or cities, moved maybe ~15 times in total. Which is quite a lot in 32 years, but anyway, it's different from Knox's international moving background. Wasn't surrounded by hiphop that much - I remember it becoming mainstream in Finland, and starting to see it in tv and hear it on the radio. I'd say the biggest genres in the country to date are pop and rap, but it's common for genres like rock, metal and schlager to hit the charts as well. We have more metal bands per capita than any other country in the world. Finnish music scene is... well, not small per se, but small in comparison. All major artists have probably heard each other's music and been influenced by it, so all the genres borrow from each other all the time, and sort of start blending together, so much so that Finnish music has got a certain sound to it, no matter the language or the genre of the song - I can most often than not tell if an artist is Finnish. Didn't really grow up surrounded by hiphop either - our small town of 4500 people had, like, shitty graffiti here and there that'd get painted over quite soon, and maybe two immigrant boys who could b-boy, and three rappers. I've only heard one of their songs, which they collabed on, and it was a diss track about our home town, and funnily enough, was a small local hit among the youth, we could all relate to the love/hate relationship we shared for the town 😂 I got into music when I was like 8, my favorite group was this pop rock band called Tiktak. I had heard metal before, but it was stuff like Children of Bodom, etc. I liked the instrumentals, but not the vocals, couldn't get behind screaming just yet. When I was 11, I saw Nightwish's Nemo music video on tv, and that was love at first sight & listen. Metal instrumentals, clean vocals, etc. And then long story short, it escalated from there and now I'm 32 and into prog metal mostly, but also some doom metal, black metal, etc. About 10 years ago I stopped caring what other people think about my music taste and now I listen to whatever. I consume huge amounts of music, I was in the top 16% of the world last year of Spotify music listeners.

I've always been artistic but never considered it a valid career option - considered it a side hustle a couple of times, though. 

Me and Knox do have things in common as well, though. I'm pretty sure he's in his 30s - I've suspected it before, but have gotten some more concrete evidence lately - in one of the What's the Word podcast episodes he mentioned he's not in his 40s yet, and in the latest Ren interview Ren said they're about the same age (Ren was born 1990). My current guess is that Knox was born in 1991. He just has a 1991 vibe to him, idk 😂 So, we're around the same age anyway, I was born in 1992.

And I feel like we share a lot of core values and views on life as well, based on the conversations I've had with him. And that's another reason I'm this enthusiastic about supporting him. I feel like he's truly a good person, supporting the same things I support, and so, I want to support him. Putting in as much time and effort as I see fit ('cause, like I mentioned, it's not 100% unconditional). I think I said last time that I don't expect anything back, but I may have to correct that statement. I do expect to get some gratitude, in the form of words or actions, it doesn't really matter. If I don't feel appreciated, I'll match that energy instead and drift away a little bit. Just for my own mental health, no hard feelings or spite or anything like that.

So, yeah, I'm gonna try to think of a new term for these posts, 'cause they aren't really lyrical breakdowns, they're just me rambling about whatever the lyrics make me think about. The ones I write about Ashnikko's songs, those are lyrical breakdowns. Her bars I get, as me and her have a lot more in common compared to me and Knox. I may have listed these before, but: me & Ash are around the same age, we grew up watching the same media, both mainly listened to music from records/mp3 and not so much live (me because that's what was available in my home town, she snuck behind her strictly religious parents' backs), both grew up around in a religious area of our home countries, both are introverts, both are queer, both are geeks, and she's lived in Northern Europe (Entonia and Latvia), I live in Northern Europe. We do have our differences as well, but she really feels like an estranged cousin or something, that much I relate to her music because of the similarities in our backgrounds.

If I get into the actual song at hand now 😅

The song had an unusual beat, latin rhythms. I think that's part of the assignment, though, the title says "Prod. Metro Booming". If I understood this correctly, there's some kind of competition and this song is Knox's entry. But that's all I know. (If I get overly critical about it, it's because I'm unintentionally cosplaying as a hiphop song competition judge. I apologize in advance for my lack of cultural knowledge. Now, let me have my fun.)

He's name dropping like crazy, and I caught some of the names - I'll get to the lyrics in a bit - and apparently these are rappers from PG County, where Knox is from as well. The area is big on hiphop. Idk if one or many of the judges are from PG as well, or if Knox is just name dropping them to show that 1) he appreciates the hiphop culture, seems to be a very important thing for white American rappers to emphasize that every time they talk to black American rappers (African Americans) - which I sort of understand, I think it's a bit similar to the goth culture in that sense, despite the different circumstances that led to them.

(Side tangent about why I think they're similar: Hiphop started as a political movement, goth stemmed from punk into a counterculture of it's own, so they both kinda went against what was considered the norm in their time. Goth and hiphop are both very much music focused subcultures, with other stuff attached to it as well, but music being the most important element. If you don't listen to goth music, you're not a goth. You're just into a darker aesthetic or your style is goth-y, and that's why you'd like to use the term "goth" to describe yourself. If you're not into rap, but like another aspect of the hiphop culture, I wouldn't say you're a hiphop head. You just like graffiti or hiphop dance or whatever else. If someone pretends they're about the subculture but is just doing cause it's trendy or to seem different or something, they're considered ignorant and it annoys and offends those who are truly about the subculture/lifestyle.)

So, like, I sort of get why a white rapper feels like they need to constantly prove to a black rapper or hiphop head that they're not just an exploitative culture vulture, that they really grew up in this culture and just happen to be white. And why there are some black hiphop heads that expect that from the white person.

But on the other hand, I don't get it. Why can't they just prove it in a more subtle way, like being a decent fucking person and showing through action instead of words that they side with the hiphop community's values and know it's history? Like, I'm queer, right? If a straight cis person (especially a rich, able-bodied, allistic straight white cis man, who may have never experienced any kind of oppression in their lives) says they support the LGBTQ+ community. Great, love it. Say it loud and proud that you support us and that hating on us on your platform isn't ok. But. Actions speak so much louder than words. You can say you support all the colors of the rainbow all you want, but if you don't show it through your actions - check a person's pronouns before you talk about them or feature LGBTQ+ people on your platform, etc - the "support" does start to look fake over time. You're not a true ally. Any person who's ever been oppressed for any reason they cannot control, be it skin color, sexuality, socio-economical class, etc, will probably get it. Like, I will never understand what it's like being black in a country where most people are white. But because of being assigned female at birth (and men still being the dominant gender in pretty much everything) and being queer (in a cisnormative, heteronormative world) makes me believe the experience is somewhat comparable. The world is designed for and mostly run by the fore-mentioned rich, able-bodied, allistic, straight white cis men. And anyone who differs from that norm in any way, experiences some form of oppression, in varying degrees. And can hopefully therefore imagine even a little bit what it's like being part of another one of these oppressed groups, let alone multiple.

Another thing I've wondered at times is that are these white male rappers so apologetic about being white, and constantly trying to prove they're really in the hiphop culture because there's really that many black hiphop heads who doubt their validity, or is this the first time they've experienced any kind of doubt about it and a few backward individuals (the Benzinos of the world) are causing this constant need to prove themselves? I don't see white female rappers having the same need, so... It's a similar concept to how "pain is relative". If you've lived a very comfortable and loving and trauma-free life and then your cat dies, you're gonna be devastated. But if you've experienced a lot of loss and trauma in your life, you're not thrown into the deep end of the emotional pool over the cat. Sure, it hurts. But not as much as it hurts the person who has not been desensitized to it. Similarly, if you've never experienced oppression, the first time you do it's gonna sting.

I changed my mind and I'm too lazy/tired to go back and edit the text, but: I'm tired. It's 11pm, been writing for hours already. I'm not breaking down the bars / rambling about them after all. Not today. I'll just fix the headline - adding a "1/2" in the end, and hopefully do a 2/2 tomorrow or something. 

I think, in the future, if I'm just rambling about a song, I'll just leave out the description or call it s General Rambling. For this post, I won't change the headline, that'll just confuse resders.

I did have other thoughts about the song as well, but oh well... I can barely stay up, I need to go sleep.