"Knock That Shit Down" (With Footnotes)

Here is the first in my series of lyrical examinations of the songs of my latest mixtape, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The 41-Year-Old Version."

As I say in the song Liquid Thunder, "My rhymes are so dense you're gonna need footnotes." Here they are...

This time, for the song "Knock That Shit Down." This song didn't really have an overall theme beyond being a typical "I'm a good rapper, you're a bad rapper" type of thing. My approach with these songs is to try to do them in ways that bring in references that aren't usually in such songs AND to avoid actual appeals to violence.

Drivin through the mall like I'ma Blues Brother

I frequently do exercises where I pick a theme and write a set number of metaphors/similies/rhymes related to that theme. This one came from such an exercise about my favorite movies. One of the best scenes in "The Blues Brothers" involves the titular characters driving inside a mall.

I'ma drop a hit for your brother and your mother

Grab the mic and become your sister's lover

Not doing that shit for revenge

These lines were specifically set up to flip around a common rap trope, "I'll take your woman," suggesting that my music alone can make women fall in love with me, BUT in a different vein than these references usually take, I wasn't doing it as a way to get back at the theoretical opponent in the song, but because I was interested in the woman. The lines inherently contradict each other, which was done on purpose, leading into...

Stackin up blocks like I was Stonehenge

This line, which has nothing to do with anything. It would be a good metaphor if "stacking up blocks" had any meaning outside of the literal. It sounds like it should, but it doesn't as far as I know. The idea was to continue the nonsense of the previous line, leading into...

I know that shit doesn't make sense

What you think I'm the fuckin Fresh Prince?

This part establishes that I'm different from a clean, straight-forward rapper like Fresh Prince. I love his work, but I don't write like he does.

This shit ain't literal, you ain't literate

From that it was natural to combine "literal" and "literate" and bring it to the main thrust of the song, the attack on the fictional whack rapper.

The crowd is indifferent, you are ignorant

In you I got no interest, like recipes on Pinterest

I really liked the repetition of the initial "I" sound here. Pinterest is a visual social network and people share a lot of recipes on the site, which is dominated by women. I like it for other reasons, but I have no interest, whatsoever, in recipes.

Can I get a witness, I got lyrical fitness

You ain't nothing but lyrically witless

The first line is a Marvin Gaye shout-out followed by a rhyme I really like "lyrical fitness" with "lyrically witless."

You wanna-be AK strappers, Paduan rappers

Followed by one of my favorite rhymes ever. I'm really clearly separating myself here as a nerdcore rapper who doesn't like the guns and violence of gangsta rap. Paduans are the apprentice jedis from Star Wars and I'm saying here that if all a rapper can talk about is guns and violence, they're not that advanced.

Little big men, weak old lady slappers

Another condemnation of violence and the fact that the guys who revel in it think they are big men, when, in reality, they're more likely to be filled with enough weakness they might even strike a relatively defenseless person.

You are not a rapper, more like a present wrapper

You ain't lookin dapper, your career's in the crapper (shitty)

There are two things I really like in this couplet. The contrast of "rapper" and "present wrapper," and the SHITTY that comes in after I say "crapper." The recording isn't altered, I was just able to do a really deep voice there and it worked on the first take.

Shut the fuck up, get the fuck out

Turn that shit off, take that shit down

Shut the fuck up, get the fuck out

Turn that shit off, knock that shit down

The hook came quickly and easily and was the first part I wrote to this song. It instantly gave me the title, too.

Never had a crowd not love me on stage

A little bit of exaggeration, but not a lot. Of all the times I've done original songs on stage, people have been really into them except for one or two. Even those two times were more indifferent than dislike.

Out of my book you need to take a page

Have something to say, say it well

Conjure an image, cast a spell

My theory on that crowd response phenomenon is that my lyrics are much more interesting than many performers, so I'm suggesting that others could do the same if they wrote better lyrics, with a message of some sort (ironic since this song doesn't have a message) and came up with better imagery.

Who only gets just one shot?

If I flop, you know I won't stop

This is an Eminem reference, to the song "Lose Yourself" and the movie "8 Mile." It's not at all a diss, though, it's just a rejection of the concept that someone with talent only gets one shot. I don't think it mattered how many times Eminem failed, he was still going to succeed. I'm suggesting I have the same future (of success despite failure, NOT of being as successful or as good at rap as Eminem).

There's a lyrical technician who came to flex

Number one b-boy, Professor Rex

I loved this line when I wrote it long before this song. I used to cover LL Cool J's "My Rhyme Ain't Done," but there were a couple of lines I felt I had to change when I did it live. This one was because I didn't want to call myself LL on stage. The original lines went: "There's a lyrical technician who came to play/Number one b-boy LL Cool J." "Flex" and "Rex" fit very well.

Man outta time, man outta place

Feel like I'm from fuckin outer space

There are two references here. The first is from "Edison's Medicine," by Tesla. I can't remember the second one, but there is a song, rap I think, where the artist talks about feeling like he's from outer space.

Crab rappers don't feel the words I'm sayin

They can't understand the jams I'm playin

Crab rapper was always my favorite old-school hip hop insult.

Y'all can't break me, you cant fake me

Y'all motherfuckers can't take me

Y'all better thank me, you better bank me

Y'all motherfuckers better rank me (number one)

This is one of my favorite passages in the song, I love this type of rapid-fire spitting.

Shut the fuck up, get the fuck out

Turn that shit off, take that shit down

Shut the fuck up, get the fuck out

Turn that shit off, knock that shit down

The hook comes back.

I come in like a lion

Go out like a bigger lion

The second I wrote this I was super happy about it. "I come in like a lion" came to me and then I took the standard rap construction "in like a bad thing, out like a bigger badder thing," and asked myself what's bigger and badder than a lion? A bigger lion.

You come across my path, I'ma leave your girl crying

I'ma leave your mama crying, gonna leave your kids crying

All of whom will be crying from embarrassment, NOT violence.

Sneakin in my lab and you're always spyin

The stuff of your dreams, you know I'm supplyin

You keep tryin and tryin, and dyin and dyin

Your universal lameness, is the fact underlyin

This one is a shout-out to rappers who have really strong references to their success on their FIRST song or album. It's a optimistic concept and I've always liked it, so I used it here and elsewhere.

Faster than a pussycat, kill, kill

A reference to the Russ Meyer film, the title of which I always loved, by way of a shoutout to the B-52's song "Funplex."

Don't touch my drink, no spill, spill

Stormin the club like it's the Bastille

This one only works if I mispronounce the word Bastille, which I do on purpose. Another ironic comment about bad rappers who have no worldly knowledge.

Invading the stage like Bunker Hill

A reference to the Revolutionary War battle. Not sure if that technically counts as an "invasion," but I liked the image.

You're a mouse, I can walk out my door

Protest the White House

This is true. My work office is a block or two away from the White House and I have walked out of my office to join in protests over there, most recently after Sandy Hook, making it a subtle call back to the anti-violence portion at the beginning of the song.

I make shit happen, my name was on wikipedia before you started rapping

This is also another true reference. I've been writing online since 1998, and early on I was cited in several articles. Since then, several jobs I've had and activities I've engaged in have gotten me minor references on the online encyclopedia.

I was the shit before you started crapping (oh no!!!)

The shit/crap reference worked so well in verse one, I brought it back, with an additional immaturity reference. That works on two levels since making shit references is ironic as an immaturity reference.

Shut the fuck up, get the fuck out

Turn that shit off, take that shit down

Shut the fuck up, get the fuck out

Turn that shit off, knock that shit down

One more hook for the road.