When I first heard that Imagine Dragons had made a remix of
Radioactive I was pretty stoked. For me Imagine Dragons is one of those
bands that you can never get tired of listening to. They are plain and
simply just that good.
If any of you don't have a clue what I'm going on about,
recently Imagine Dragons preformed a remix of Radioactive and m.A.A.d
city at the 2014 GRAMMY's featuring Kendrick Lamar singing or
more accurately, rapping a third verse.
Kendrick begins:
Bury me alive, bury me with pride
Bury me with berries, that forbidden fruit and cherry
wine
Thank you berry much, but tonight's my night and I'm
Barry Bonds
Swingin' for the fences, barbaric Kendrick in idle time
He begins with bury, to berry, to barbaric in a sort of
stanza. Then he likens himself to Barry Bonds, who was a famous
pro-baseball player.
Everything in life's subject to change, change whip,
change grind
Change clothes, change opinions, right before I change my
mind
I don't really know yah business, been in there since I
was bendin' Lego blocks
Now you tell the world about me, dry snitch
Kendrick tells about how everything is subject to change, be
it something as trivial as clothing, or a more significant alteration like
changing the world. "Dry snitch" refers to someone tattles on
another person, unintentionally or possibly for more shrewd means.
However, Kendrick does not mean it quite like that; he means that his
fans are publicizing his work for him.
Tater tots on my shotgun, now I gotta pop one at the
stars
Sky's the limit, I gotta finish as the first rapper on
Mars
Mark my word, I'mma make my mark, even when they start
their Martial Law
Even when these Martians alienate, my mental state is
still at heart
This line I found most hard to understand, but after reading
on Metro Lyrics, and a few YouTube videos, I learned that a makeshift silencer
can be made using a potato. He uses this analogy to say that he plans to
shoot down every other rapper (career-wise) and to ultimately become the best.
Look in my eyes, tell me I died, tell me I tried, to
compromise
Tell me you love me, tell me that I, don't give a f***
and can barely decide
Wishin' good luck on my enemies, all of my energy go to
the almighty God
I could drown in a bottle of Hennessy, f*** your
amenities, I'm gettin' better with time
Kendrick is literally telling you to look into his eyes and
tell him he's not the best. He wishes his competitors luck because he
claims to be unstoppable and is growing stronger "with time."
My first impression was that Kendricks part out of place, and
carelessly thrown in. So I listened to it a couple more times and my
feelings toward it began to change. I've come to the conclusion that my
first assumption was inaccurate because I was biased after loving the original so
much. Do not stumble into this pitfall as I did.
Before you listen to the performance, remove any previous expectations of
this song from your mind. Drop the window down to prevent the video from becoming a distraction from the audio. Sit and listen with an open mind.
I heard this version the day after it came out, but I never really liked it because I didn't understand the lyrics but now that I understand the lyrics it's somewhat better. I still don't really like it though because of how he raps it. I think there tends to be a few different ways people rap, one where the rapper actually sounds like he's having fun rapping (Magic by B.o.B., for example) then another type where the rapper sounds like he angry (like Eminem) and then in this version Kendrick sounds like he's in a panic. Like he is trying to tell someone something but they aren't understanding and he doesn't have much time. Idk rap is weird like that but I tend to be drawn towards the more uplifting type...
ReplyDeleteI love Radioactive but I think I will stick with the original version. Although if I could find a version exactly like this without the rap part I would love that because the background music right then is amazing. :D
Yes rap is weird. I only really enjoy rap when it is used as the bridge. Anything else just sounds wrong. However there are always exceptions. I don't limit myself by saying all rap is bad unless its used as a bridge. There are to many variables.
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