Dissect - MX1E9 - "Walking" by Denzel Curry

Episode Date: May 30, 2023

Our "Lyrical Masters" mixtape series concludes with a line-by-line dissection of "Walkin" by Denzel Curry from Melt My Eyez, See Your Future. Follow @dissectpodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Host/Writer/EP: Cole Cuchna Audio Editing: Kevin Pooler Theme Music: Birocratic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Denzel Curry was working on his 2022 album, Melt My Eyes, See Your Future, he would play a YouTube video for all of his producers and other collaborators that came into a studio. Produced by the channel Every Frame of Painting, the video is titled Akira Kurosawa, and it analyzes how influential Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa uses visual movement to heighten the emotional resonance of his films. A Kurosawa film moves like no one else's. Each one is a master class in different types of motion, and also ways to combine them.

The video essay goes on to show how techniques like camera movement, editing, character movement, and natural elements like rain and wind are all expertly used to enhance scenes and help tell the story visually. Denzel showed this video to his collaborators because he wanted to capture that same kind of cinematic movement in his album. But the question is, how? The video essay shows how movement is captured visually. How does one capture movement sonically with sound alone? Well, as we'll hear in his song Walkin, Denzel and producer Cal Banks employ a number of techniques to great effect, from ambient noise to a cinematic beat switch. And like a Kurosawa film,

we'll hear how this deliberate use of sonic movement heightens the track's theme of movement as we follow Denzel Curry walking through time. From Spotify, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. For the eighth track in our Lyrical Master's mixtape series, we're dissecting Denzel Curry's 22 songs. walking i'm your host cole kushnan walkin is the second track from denzel currie's 22 album melt my eyes see your future produced by cal banks the song features a sample of keith manfield's nineteen seventy three track the loving touch as denzil told genius.com the sample reminded him of classic spaghetti western movies which inspired the song central concept of walking what really

inspired the concept for walking to be honest with you spaghetti western movies and you know like just seeing the intro of Django Unchained or seeing the intro to like fistful of dollars or good, bad and ugly or a few dollars more, you know. Denzel being reminded of spaghetti westerns and Quentin Tarantino films is spot on, as Keith Manfield's music has been used in a number of films from the 60s and 70s. Perhaps his most recognizable work is the score for the feature presentation title card that played before movies in the 70s and has recently been used in several Tarantino films. In the introduction to Wakan, the mansfield sample is paired with ambient sounds of birds chirping.

This choice of layering in natural environmental textures exhibits the first way movement is added to the track, seemingly inspired by Akira Kurosawa's use of nature in his films. And in Akira's Kurosawa films, they use the elements a lot. Because even if everybody stands still, the elements would keep it moving. The cinematic movement of walk-in is developed further just before the beat kicks in, as we also heard what appears to be the sound of feet walking in chains. Properly primed for the arduous walk ahead, the track then explodes with a boom-bat drumbeat, evoking classic hip-hop of the late 80s and 90s. Denzel plays into the sound by rapping in a bouncy cadence common for that time

period while also making direct references to a few hip-hop artists from that era. to the sky, me against the world is me myself and I like daylight, got in touch with my soul. Trade is awfully on the path down the rockiest road. Life isn't ice cream without monopoly dough. The property grows in value, and rightfully so. I gotta have it. I see the way the people get treated. It's problematic.

They ready to set us up for failure. It's systematic. Denzel begins the verse rapping, walking with my back to the sun, keep my head to the sky. The song title and central concept is established from the start. Walking with my back to the sun means he's walking toward darkness, which as we'll come to see, symbolizes confronting one's trauma and inner demons, one's internal darkness. The image of the sun beating down on his back implies this walk is difficult and laborious,

which seems to be the reason chains are attached to the feet we hear walking just before Denzel enters the track, evoking a prisoner or slave. This would make sense given Denzel specifically cited the opening scene for Tarantino's Django and Chain as one of the inspiration sources for the track, as that scene shows Django walking in a desert with chains on his feet and hands. The second half of the line, Keep My Head to the sky, alludes to the phrase, Keep Your Head Up, which is said when encouraging someone to remain proud and confident

despite a tough situation or recent defeat. Thus we recognize the dichotomy in this opening line, walking with my back to the sun, keep my head to the sky, which clearly communicates the song's central theme, persevering through the difficulties in our walk through life. Zelle continues, Me Against the World, It's Me, Myself, and the, like De La. There's two references to classic hip-hop tracks in this line. First is Tupac's

1995 song, Me Against the World. In Me Against the World, Tupac details the difficulties of life as a black man in America, which results in him feeling isolated with the weight of the world on his shoulders. At the end of the song, he gives those shouldering the same burden some words of encouragement. Stick your chest out, Keep Your Head Up, resembles Denzel's own Keep My Head to the Sky, which we now realize was another reference to Pock and his classic song Keep You Head Up. It's here that Pock also offers words of encouragement and perseverance, specifically to black women. It's clear Denzel had Tupac on his mind when creating Melt My Eyes to Your Future,

as he told quiet and loud, quote, I turned 25 while recording this album. This is the age Tupac died, reaching a quarter of a century is the primary focus and dealing with the past along the way, unquote. Even in this quote, we hear Denzo both pushing forward while also confronting the darkness of what's behind him, his past. Now the other reference in Waukin's second line, Me Against the World, It's Me Myself and I like De La, is a little more on the nose. Of course, citing classic hip-hop trio De La Sol's hit Me Myself and I. While much more playful than Poc, Me Myself and I is about staying true.

true to yourself when facing pressures of conformity, which tangentially aligns with the themes of walking. Cleverly, Denzel continues with the line, got in touch with my soul. Notice how the previous bar ended with like De La, and this line ends with soul, completing the full name of the group. The isolation of walking alone leads to deep introspection, reflection, and self-discovery. In conversation with bootleg Keb, Denzel explained how the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to confront himself and find out who he really is.

Before we all had to isolate, people were telling me, yo, you're the greatest rapper, or you're this, or you're that, or you're a great performer, or you're the best rapper all time, or you're this. But the moment quarantine happened, all that shit did not exist anymore. So when people wasn't telling me who Denzel Curry was, then who are you? Who the fuck am I? Exactly. So once I got to that point where I was like, who am I? It just took two years to figure out and do a little soul searching and self-discovery with the time I did have.

Denzel continues the verse, Treads softly on the path down the rockiest road. Here we realize that the previous use of soul is a triple entendre, referring to De La Sol, to one's spirit, and now to a shoe soul, as Tread and softly refers to walking, but also Tread is what's on the soul of a shoe. The path down the Rockiest Road signifies the many obstacles on the difficult, uncertain path of life. Coming off the Tupac references, it's quite possible saying the Rockiest Road refers specifically to being black, the most difficult path of life in America. Rocky Road is also an ice cream flavor with a chocolate ice cream base, which may play on chocolate or dark brown skin. This gives way to the next line, life isn't ice cream without monopoly dough. Here we get another triple entendre on the word dough, most directly referring to money,

but also alluding to chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Finally, dough is a homophone for though, as in life isn't ice cream without monopoly though. It appears Denzel is using ice cream to mean sweet and monopoly dough to mean wealth, specifically generational wealth, as he elaborates the property grows in value, and rightfully so, I gotta have it. Denzo keeps the triple entendre street going here, as I Gotta Have It quotes yet another classic song from the 90s. This time it's Naus's half time from Illmatic, where Nas raps raps, I Got a have it in the same cadence. I got to have it also continues the ice cream motif, as I gotta have it is the name of the largest

size offering at Coldstone Creamery. But the central meaning of the line is literal. Denzel is demanding his right to invest in property and build generational wealth in the black community. The fact he used the Monopoly game to illustrate his point carries with it a few ideas worth exploring. The goal of Monopoly is to acquire as much property and wealth as possible to create monopoly or exclusive control over the game board, bankrupting your opponents. The game was actually

developed in 1903 by Lizzie Maggi, an American anti-monopolis who created the game as an educational tool to illustrate the negative effects of concentrating land and private monopolies. The game originally had two sets of rules, a pro-monopolis set where the goal is to create monopolies, build individual wealth and crush opponents, and an anti-monopolis set where everyone is rewarded when wealth is created on the shared land. This latter set of rules was meant to illustrate the benefits of Georgism, also known as the single tax movement, an economic ideology that maintains that while people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land, including all natural resources on that land,

should belong equally to all members of society. The contrast between a single winner hoarding all the wealth and all the players benefiting when wealth is generated shows two very different outcomes of the same game played with different rules, with these rules being symbolic of the systems with which we construct and govern society. Ironically, the pro-monopoly rules would eventually develop into one of history's most popular and enduring board games in America, mirroring how our actual systems have resulted in drastic wealth disparity between the super-rich and average citizens, where currently just 400 of the country's richest people own more wealth than the bottom 214 million people.

There's also disparity along racial lines, where currently the net wealth of a typical black family is about one-tenth that of a white family, an inequality that can be attributed to the accumulative effects of four centuries of institutional and systemic racism. Bringing this all back to Wacken, Denzel's point that life isn't sweet without Monopoly dough feels like an appropriate and incredibly potent reference displaying the ways in which the rules of the game have been historically stacked against his community, with the old, monocle-wearing, white wealthy Monopoly guy, an accurate mascot for who the rules of the game were written by and who they were meant to benefit.

Thus Denzel's next lines become self-explanatory. I see the way the people get treated. It's problematic. They ready to set us up for failure. It's systematic. Say, for instance, a person like me, a person of color, if something happens to me, nobody cares. Like, everything is set-designed for people like me

or people of color too fail. Not saying I'm perpetuating, like, racism, but you got to call it what it is. America's racist as fuck. And I've been seeing that for years, even with my brother's death. And I've just been advocating for that ever. sense. Denzel here mentions his brother Trion Johnson, who died at age 27 in 2014 after being

tased by police officers. Denzel was 17 at the time. It just made me realize like, you know, I was already talking about injustices back in the day when Trayvon Martin happened because Trayvon Martin is also from Carroll City where I'm from. So just that happening so close to home with my own family, I just, I just knew like it was, it was, it was, it was, it was I was just lost at that point because I really couldn't believe that happened so close to home, you know, that happened to a family member that I would have never thought it would happen to somebody in my immediate family. And that was something that like pretty much hit all of us hard. My father, my mother, my brothers. And not on top of that, we had to bury my grandmother and him in the same week.

So my grandmother passed first and then we had to bury him a week later. While it's of course secondary to the subject matter, we should point out the way treated in the line, I see the way the people get treated, subtly continues the ice cream motif, as ice cream is a treat. This extends into the next lines, but when I felt it, my eyes melted, with melted alluding to melted ice cream, formerly ending the motif. As he says this line, there's a swampy filter applied to the sample, as if the bead itself melted. I constantly profit and off the helpless. I never do my team green, make the team green like the Celtics. The ones that ain't making it overzealous, they show and tell us.

Throughout history, earning cheddar, they form and break out nickel-plated chrome barretters. The same old story in the whole different era. I'm watching massacres turn and running mascara. In the line, but when I felt it, my eyes melted. Denzel eludes to the album title and its central concept of Melt My Eyes. While we'll discuss this concept in more detail later this episode, In short, the melting eyes motif symbolizes the destruction of one's erroneous perception of themselves in the world and seeing things as they truly are. But what I'd like to focus on here is the line,

but when I felt it, the emphasis being on feeling. While somewhat ambiguous, the revelation here is a distinction between knowing something in theory and really feeling or living the truth of that something. As we heard in the interview clip earlier, the pandemic forced Denzel to really feel and confront the truth of who he is, and he came out of that experience, continuing to emphasize feeling over all else. Yeah, I took my feelings first before I took me what I was going to think about rapping about. It was my feelings.

Like, whatever I felt, I know people have the same feelings. So I'm going to write what I feel instead of writing what I know. Denzel continues the verse, the selfish are constantly profanent off the helpless. I'll never do my team green, make the team green like the Celtics. He makes dual use of green here, first as slang for doing someone dirty, and then as slang for money. The reference to the Boston Celtics is clever. Not only are their uniforms green,

but they're also the most successful NBA franchise in history. In this same way, Denzel wants to model his team, his community, after the sustained generational success the Celtics represent in sports. As far as the line, The Selfish are constantly profited off the helpless. Denzel explained its meaning directly in conversation with Genius.com. The majority of the stuff that been advertised in commercials, and on your social media,

they're advertising all this stuff to poor people. It's either you're a buyer or you're a seller, and America sells this bullshit all the time. Zell continues the verse, The Onza ain't making it overzealous, they show and tell us. With overzealous meaning overly enthusiastic, sometimes to the point of embarrassment, we suspect he's referring to those who aren't making money for their team,

concerned only with themselves. These people show and tell us, a phrase that implies, childish behavior, likely calling out those who flaunt their wealth with excessive material goods. He then follows by saying, throughout history, earning cheddar, they form and break out nickel-plated chrome barretta's, the same old story in a whole different era. Here Denzel points out the repeating cycle of humans acquiring wealth and status and then protecting that wealth and status through the use of violent force, be it military or law enforcement. It links back to the previous

monopoly metaphor. History's monopoly men wrote the rules in their favor, and military and law enforcement are used to uphold those rules. Whether or not it was intentional, Denzel's citing Beretta's here to make this point is incredibly potent. Founded in the 16th century, Beretta is the oldest active manufacturer of firearm components in the world. They have literally supplied weapons to militaries and law enforcement longer than anyone else. Specifically in America, the Beretta M9 was the standard pistol used by the military in the 80s, making Beretta a household name in the U.S.

Considering its long history, Denzel citesyel cited. of Beretta is the perfect reference for his point about history repeating itself, and humans' tendencies to hoard wealth and then protect that wealth by any means necessary. Even though the times of changes, people do not change, unless they are willing to change. Most people aren't willing to see what's happening, so history is always going to repeat themselves. It's just a cycle. It's just people are going through the same cycles because they're not willing to change. Denzel continues the verse,

I'm watching massacres turn to running mascara. It's a sobering image, effectively capturing the same the grief and sorrow endured by those who've lost loved ones to senseless violence. In America, modern massacres could refer to any number of gun-related mass deaths, including mass shooters, police brutality, gang-related violence, suicides, or even the numerous deaths from COVID-19. But again, within the verses theme of historical cycles, the word massacre in relationship to American history, is a potent choice, evoking the thousands of massacres that led to the genocide of Native Americans in the name of manifest destiny, or the hundreds of massacres

targeting African Americans after the Civil War. Like the infamous Tulsa Race Massacre, also known as the Black Wall Street Massacre, some of these fatal attacks were the result of white supremacists feeling threatened by the idea of prosperous and thriving black communities, displaying the very mentality of wealth hoarding and protection at all costs Denzel just outlined in the verse. Now, after the line, I'm watching massacres turn to running mascara. Denzel casually says, but any who, a cheeky, humorous way of saying anyway. The juxtaposition between deadly massacres and this nonchalant phrase is certainly calculated, reflecting the ways we simply resume our normal day-to-day life after hearing of tragedies in our country, either because

we're numb to them, we're not willing to truly confront them, or as we heard Denzel say in the interview clip, we lack the willingness to change. ...mastikers turn to run the mascara for any who, for the pain, see what this henny do, so we can see what lies beneath as we pull up as wig of truth. The sun sets as I zip a few, the sky turns a different hue. color blue, the night time has arrived, I recline for the evening. I'm walking down the next to go, the name's age steven. I started in a nightmare, so pinch me and dreaming. I'm killing all my demons because my soul's worth redeeming. Building off the previous, but anywho, Denzel continues,

for the pain, see what this henny do, so we can see what lies beneath as we pour up a swig of truth. The wording here is clever, built as it is on two pairs of opposites, up down, and lies truth. citing alcohol's ability to remove emotional filters, pouring up a drink of alcohol or truth serum reveals what lies beneath the surface and what lies we're telling ourselves. Even the act of drinking alcohol is dichotomous. We drink to numb the pain, but often drinking results in emotional outbursts, exposing what we suppress in our day-to-day lives. Denzel then says, the sun sets as I sip a few.

The sky turns a different hue farther from the color blue. The nighttime has arrived, a recline for the evening. I'm hawking down my next goal, the names ain't Stephen. As the day wanes and the sun sets, Denzel takes a respite from his walk to reflect and plan his route, to set goals. Cleverly, instead of saying, I'm jotting down the next goal, he says, I'm hawking down the next goal, evoking a hunting hawk descending from the sky to catch its prey, denoting Denzel's determined hawk-like focus.

The following, The Names Ain't Stephen, is a play on Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist who was paralyzed by motor neuron disease and spoke with a computer. If you listen carefully in the background, you can hear a Stephen Hawking-like computer voice double Denzel's line, The Name Ain't Stephen. Denzel closes out the verse, I started in a nightmare, so pinch me, I'm dreaming. The phrase pinch me I'm dreaming is used to express something happening that feels too good to be true. It appears Denzel is contrasting the nightmare of his upbringing and being black in America with the success he's created for himself today, a result of his hawk-like determination.

nation. Playing off the nightmare motif, he says, I'm killing off my demons because my soul's worth redeeming. It's an extremely powerful line, encapsulating spirit, faith, and empowerment. It also expresses one of the critical steps in healing past trauma or mental health issues such as depression, which is the belief in your own worthiness as a human being and that you're deserving of redemption, that you deserve to be happy. In his interview with Genius, Denzel talked specifically about this line, noting how both his connection with God and therapy allowed him to confront his past in ways he never could before. I think when I really just eliminated my distractions and started really taking therapy serious

and getting closer to God, I just felt like my soul was worth redeeming because I have a lot of demons that I did not face. Once I seen who I was on Front Street, I wasn't afraid to talk about it. I needed to have that time to myself. Dendell also spoke about this line in his interview with Ardok. generation music. I'm killing off my demons because my soul's work for demon. Yeah.

You feel me? And all of that stemmed from like just trauma like just, that was underlining trauma that I had to deal with as a child, you know? So when I, um, so I'm making this album, you know, I was doing therapy, I was doing martial arts, I was doing everything and I was just like taking those sessions that I would have and I would write them down. Yeah. So that was being my main thing of like really like breaking through and like journaling these things.

In both interviews, Denzel notes how pivotal therapy was to confronting his past trauma, his demons. Thus, it's very fitting that this line marks a pivotal turn in walking, both in its theme and its song structure. As we heard throughout this first half of the song, Denzel lays out the obstacles he's faced and continues to face on his walk through this life. In the second half, we'll hear the ways in which he's learned to grapple with these obstacles on his walk toward overcoming them. Specifically, when he says, redeeming, a word that signifies the transformative action of saving or being saved from sin, the 90s boombat drumbeat stops, replaced by modern high hats and digital handclaps.

We also hear the word redeeming, echoing in such a way that it simultaneously sounds like demon, effectively capturing the duality of the soul, the push-pull of sin and salvation in the human spirit. As walking continues, the beat switch that began with the transitional passage we just heard will develop into an explosive modern trap-style drumbeat that accompanies the song's hook. We'll dissect that, along with the rest of walking second half, right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we heard the end of verse 1, which sent the song into a transitional bridge

where the boom-bat drums drop out and are replaced by modern trap-style highhats and handclaps. The song then explodes into its chorus. As you listen to this beat switch, take note of how the main sample doesn't change. Dendell begins the chorus, clear a path as I keep on walking. This triggers the full drum beat and rumbling bass to kick in. In contrast to the boombat drums that evokes the 90s, this style drumbeat is standard and contemporary hip-hop. Meanwhile, as I pointed out, the main sample stays the same, as does the song's tempo. This continuity allows the beat switch to not feel like it's simply two different songs spliced together,

but rather it feels like a continuous journey. it feels like progress, like the song is propelling forward. Recalling Akira Kurosawa's influence, it feels like movement. And for me, this beat progression has a number of symbolic implications. Most obvious is the central concept of walking. We can cinematically imagine Denzel walking forward when he says with resolve, clear a path as I keep on walking, with the music literally moving on his command. There's also the symbolism of the vocal sample, a human voice,

remaining the same while things change around it. For me, this musically captures the Me Against the World loneliness and isolation Denzel expressed, the feeling of being alone while things happen around you, the feeling like you're shouldering the world's problems on your own. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there's the deliberate shifts between hip-hop eras. In the Boombap-inspired beat of Part 1, Denzel sides both Tupac and De LaSoul using a flow that evokes classic 90s hip-hop. In part 2, the song switches to a deliberately modern beat that uses the most common drum kit in contemporary hip-hop.

and Denzel will utilize modern flow patterns like the triple flow in his upcoming verse. It's as if Denzel is walking through history, the history of hip-hop, but also history itself. As we'll see, this becomes the central theme in the opening of verse two. Walking with my back against the sun, I've been running all my life that's way before my life begun. Since my stack and recycle, making it stifle while I stunt, roll me your blood so I'll forget it. But in me the details look so vivid. Went through a lot of shit in the last year. Then I said, fuck it, I'm a ham to my brain.

I've been wearing it is raw and real. I'm on dark to feel. Denzel opened verse 2 rapping, walking with my back against the sun. It of course mirrors the opening line of verse 1. But the line gains dimension due to the context of the new instrumental. We've traveled through time, yet here Denzel is repeating himself,

expressing the same plight as if nothing's changed. From Tupac to Denzel Curry, from Boombap to Trap, black artists have been expressing the same plight for decades. This idea of generational plight is cemented in the following lines. I've been running all my life. That's way before my life begun. Since my birth and seconds on earth, I've been the first one to confront all these cycles that get recycled. Thenzel directly contrasts walking with running all my life, articulating his lifelong avoidance of the trauma and emotional

baggage he's inherited. The following line, that's way before my life begun, implies that not only as trauma passed down from generation to generation, the coping mechanisms or how to run are passed down to. What Zell is describing here is intergenerational trauma. It's estimated that we have over 25,000 genes present in our DNA. Some genes are dormant when we're born, but can activate based on our environment, which contributes to our ability to adapt to that environment and survive. According to clinical research, when someone experiences trauma, their DNA responds by activating genes to help them survive the stressful or endangering time.

This survival mode remains encoded and the genes are passed down for multiple generations in order to prepare them for potential traumatic experiences. Clinical psychologist Dr. Amy Marshall wrote that, quote, Our genetics do a great job of keeping us safe, even if this does not mean keeping us happy. The trade-off of being constantly prepared to keep us safe increases our body's stress levels and impacts our mental and physical health over time, unquote. According to Marshall,

intergenerational trauma can occur from parents who are abused as a child, and the cycle of trauma and abuse impacts their parenting, and can then be passed down to their children. Studies have also documented how intergenerational trauma can be the result of oppression, including racial trauma, which can impact entire populations for generations after a collective traumatic event has occurred. When we combine this knowledge with the context of Denzel and his community's life experience as outlined in verse 1,

we feel the full weight of the lines, I've been running all my life. That's way before my life begun. He's positioning himself as the continuation of a black communal experience of trauma in America dating back to the horrors of slavery. He then acknowledges that he's the first in his family lineage to grapple with this, saying, since my birth and seconds on earth, I've been the first one to confront all of these cycles that get recycled. This confrontation is the conscious recognition of his trauma-influenced behavior and his deliberate decision to stop running from this darkness and instead walked toward it. For Denzel, committing to therapy

was a huge step in breaking the cycle. When it came down to therapy, it was a lot. I was holding back a lot of grief, a lot of guilt, a lot of tears. A lot of things, I only seen anger and I've seen depression. And I was like, why am I this depressed? And why am I just angry? Like, I shouldn't be this angry. Why am I this angry? Why do I have all these random outbursts? Because it was just life hitting me. And I just didn't know how to deal with it. And the trauma that's in you. Yeah, because the body keeps the score. It keeps the score. Whatever you do, that body is keeping that score. you know so it's up to you to really overturn that and I just felt like if I do do therapy and I do do all this because trauma trickles down from something like hurt people hurt people

which is a true statement hurt people do hurt people I don't know who hurt my attacker you know what I'm saying but all I know is I don't want to hurt people and if I did hurt people I would want to apologize for that I would want to rectify that situation I would want to help people you know what I'm But you're trying to break the cycle. Yeah. Breaking the cycle is beating the odds. If I break the cycle, I beat the odds. You know, not many people beat the odds.

They could get out their situation, but they're still dealing with shit. Money doesn't change people. It only amplifies who you are. You know, I got money now. So it only was amplifying who I already was. Yeah. So if I know who I truly am, that's how I was able to, like, okay, I can move forward if I know who I truly am. Denzel's commitment to therapy is more formally.

stated in the verse's next lines, went through a lot of shit in the last year, then I said, fuck it, I'm a handle my business, pay 180 to talk to one lady, she'd been regulating on how I feel, describe it as raw and real. Denzel delivers these lines with a triplet flow, a rhythm that's dominated contemporary hip-hop over the last decade, further establishing this half of the song's modernness. Cleverly, he establishes a subtle motif with the business and handle my business, leading him to talk about paying an employee 180 to regulate how he feels, a play on business. regulations. He's of course talking about paying his therapist, with the specific number 180, perhaps indicating it costs him $180 an hour to see her. But 180 also symbolizes a 180-degree turn,

which directly contrasts the cycles just mentioned. If a cycle or circle is 360 degrees, denoting endless repetition, then 180 degrees signifies a complete about-face, a walk in a new direction. He then describes his therapy sessions, I'm dealing with all the ills, I'm tearing up like I'm on Dr. Phil. The nod to the Dr. Phil show is fitting, as its host Dr. Phil McGraw is a clinical psychologist and the show resembles a public therapy session with guests that often cry when discussing traumatic incidents or issues. Denzel has been transparent about his own issues that drove him to therapy, issues that culminated in 2016 with what he described as a nervous breakdown. He told quiet and loud, quote, I was having suicidal thoughts,

and I just didn't want to live. My girl is actually the reason I got into therapy. I didn't realize there's a lot of underlying trauma that I was dealing with, stuff with my previous life, childhood trauma. I didn't know that was affecting me as an adult, unquote. Denzel has also revealed that he was sexually abused as a child, which he believes is one of the reasons he objectified women and became a sex addict as an adult. Here he is on the Toray show making that connection. What's some of the abuse you're talking about? Sexual abuse. A person in your family or a person in your community? A person that I know. Close to family, but... who was touching you, fucked up ways.

Yes. And what impact did that have on you? Well, as an adult, it made me like, I didn't really, that was something I, like, buried. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't really thinking about it. But when I was seeing, like, how I was objectifying women, treatment of women, the way I was with them, you know what I'm seeing, like, treating them like objects, that's when I realized I was, you know, You could be an addict and you could be somebody that's a victim to your habits. You get what I'm saying?

And making bad choices. Because I know the difference between making mistakes and making bad choices. So me making bad choices stem from that because I didn't even get to deal with that properly because, let's face it, therapy isn't normalized in a black community. Understanding just some of Dandel's past traumas, which include sexual abuse and the death of his brother, We get a real sense of the emotional damage he was confronting, a real sense of just how arduous of a walk this has been. And this understanding makes what he says next resonate all the more deeply.

Ain't no use you got a ball. Ain't no you should got a ball. Who the fuck says stop the trap, bro. Let a real nigga talk. I walk from the bitches. I walk from the bishops. I walk from some ditches. Because lately my nigger, I'm feeling indifferent.

I wish y'all the best and believe that I meant it. Centist, rental sentience. Pray to God for repentance. Be the odds at all. calls so I won't share it with my infix way before you start crawling watch my scenes keep bawling i just got to stay focused i just got to keep on walking denzil interrupts the rapid triplet pattern to commandingly repeat ain't no use you got to walk ain't no use you got to walk it's an effective and abrupt change of pace both in its simplicity of phrasing and repetition but also his cadence and

determined delivery the phrase ain't no use means pointless or futile and we suspect denzel means there ain't no use running from the walk, running from the difficulties in life. As all that running only prolongs the pain, makes you vulnerable to vice, and will eventually turn you into a person you don't want to become. We get distracted here and there yet. It's life. But we have to keep moving.

What's the main objective with your life? What do you want to accomplish with your life? You know, you got to move with intention. And that's what my managers, my therapists, my martial arts teachers, they've been telling me this for years. My parents tell me this for years. My brothers told me this for years. And I didn't listen.

So I'm trying to tell the person who is listening to me right now, move with intention and keep walking no matter what happens. You know what I'm saying? Don't give up. Denzel continues the verse, Who the fuck said stop the track, bro? Let a real N-word talk. At this moment, the track literally stops.

It's a clever moment for a number of reasons. Track, of course, refers to the song itself. But a track is also defined as, quote, a rough path or road, typically one beaten by use rather than constructed. Thus, Denzel is continuing to encourage himself and his listeners to keep walking, to not stop the track. In this way, we realize that track also sounds a lot like Trek, the word that describes a long arduous journey, typically made on foot. Finally, Denzel asking, who said stop the track is ironic and that he's the one that actually said it.

This is Ricky from his 2019 album Zoo, and the track is all about his upbringing, detailing the experiences and lessons of his youth before he found success with music. While quoting Ricky may just be a witty reference, the subject matter of the song certainly fits the theme of walking, evoking the time in which his arduous walk began. After Denzel asks who stopped the track, he says, Let a real N-word talk.

It's an interesting line given the context of the verse. As we've detailed a few times in this mixtape series, the idea of a real N-word in hip-hop can be traced back to NWA. At its core, it refers to a stand-up or trustworthy man. But in hip-hop specifically, it's also been historically used to refer to someone who is unsympathetic, unfeeling, and indulgent in their aggressive pursuit of money and women. In recent years, though, a handful of rappers have been challenging this definition and working in their own way to redefine what makes them real. On Kendrick Lamar's recent album, Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers, which was a lot of

released just a few months after Melt My Eyes See Your Future. The song Father Time opens with Kendrick's fiancé encouraging him to go to therapy and responds this way. You really, no, no, he sounds stupid as shit. As Kendrick explained to Spotify's Carl Cherry, this was one of his favorite lines on the entire album. One of my favorite lines in the album is where we say, you really need to go to therapy. And I said, real niggas don't go to therapy. Because that's how niggas feel. You know what I'm saying? We grow up where our parents don't know about that. Our grandparents don't know about that.

You live and you experience this shit that you go through and you deal with it right then and there, or you don't never deal with it. We learn to hold all that shit in. Shit, we keep a hundred with you. That wasn't my forte when people mention it to me. You know, I'm still stuck. My pop's thing fucking therapy for it to challenge myself to go to therapy.

Shit, that's like a whole new step in the whole new generation. There's a growth. the message behind Denzel's line, I've been the first one to confront all these cycles that get recycled. Kendrick here explains how he overcame both the societal and internalized ideal of a real N-word he inherited from his father. By seeking therapy himself, he was able to break the cycle and provide generational growth for the sake of his entire family lineage. Thus we find a parallel idea in Denzel's let a real N-word talk, as talk within the context of the verse is talking about talking to a therapist. He's talking about walking or progressive. He's talking about walking or progressive,

beyond the limitations of masculine ideals by confronting the trauma he inherited. Thus Denzel redefines a real N-word as someone who has the real strength to truly face their demons, rather than run from them through vice and disguise that run with machismo. This idea extends into the following lines, where he returns to the rapid triplet flow to say, I walk from the bitches, I walk from the friendship, I walk from the digits, because lately my N-word, I'm feeling indifferent. I wish y'all the best and believe that I meant it. Some digits here seem to, to refer to some money or business opportunities. So Denzel is turning 180 and walking away from bad influences, from women or sex, his biggest vice, from exploitative or harmful friends,

whom he still loves but can't be around anymore, and from business opportunities that might be lucrative but put his mental health at risk. He then stops the fast triplets and slowly says sentence, run-on sentence. It appears to be commentary about the run-on or extended sentence he just delivered with the non-stop triplet flow. We also recognized the run-on, in the run-on sentence continuing the walking running motif. But the line also alludes to something like a prison sentence, which he might be likening to our life sentence here on earth. A marathon of existence were forced to endure.

He then evokes who ordained this sentence saying, pray to God for repentance. In his conversation with genius, Denzel explained how reconnecting with God was critical in his mental rehabilitation. In this game, I was indulgent in sin. Like a lot of sin. So my relationship with God, my mom is the main one. who be preaching to me like, yo, you got to keep God on your side. You got to keep God on your side.

So God has always been in my life, you feel me? And then there was ways I strayed away from God because I wasn't ready to like, you know what I'm saying, be the good boy. You know what I'm saying? Because girls like the bad boys, so you do bad things just to get somebody to like you. But it's not even in your character. So I was indulging and sin throughout all these years of becoming a rapper and being the guy and thinking like, this is the lifestyle, this is lit, this is what it is, it ended up damaging me as a person and going against my morals and just being the opposite and just realigning myself with God, you know, God is always going to be there for you. Denzel continues by reiterating the intergenerational motif, rapping, beat the odds at all

costs so I won't share it with my infant way before he start crawling. While Denzel previously focused on the cycle he inherited from the past, here near the end of the verse, he appropriately focused on how breaking the cycle will positively affect the future for generations to come. Cleverly, he plays with the walking motif to add, crawling, which is of course what babies do before they learn to walk. In this way, Denzel emphasizes just how important his individual walk is, as he positions himself as the intersection between the past and future, the position we all occupy, and acknowledges the exponential effects the work he puts in today, will have on the contentment and opportunities of the collective tomorrow.

Understanding the magnitude of our individual contribution to the greater good, the stakes of the verses simple but determined final lines are clear. I just got to stay focused. I just got to keep walking. In his interview with Loud and Quiet, Denzel said he felt Walken contains the sentient. Walkin contains the central message of Melt My Eyes, See Your Future, in a snapshot, a microcosm of what the album is trying to say as a whole. Mirroring Walking's two-part song structure, the title Melt My Eyes, See Your Future, contains two distinct halves, representing two interrelated themes. The first half, Melt My Eyes, represents the destruction of a flawed perception of yourself in the world and seeing things how they truly are.

When I wrote Melt My Eyes as a name, I just thought it was like a really good title. And then as I kept working on the project, it became more and more so about being aware of things. Just yourself, your actions, things that are around you, your environment, what's happening in the world and the system, and how it is. You know, just exposing the truth about oneself and the things that created you around you. So that's the point of melt. The melt is the truth. Once you melt your eyes, you know, there's nothing else you see. is, that's what it is, it's the truth.

We observe such truthful observations throughout the first half of walking, as Denzel detailed the harsh realities of being black in America and the coping mechanisms and learn behavior that's been passed down as a result of intergenerational trauma. Confronting the truth of this magnitude is undoubtedly daunting and extremely difficult. But as Denzel so insightfully articulated, the avoidance of the truth is what perpetuates the cycle,

both individually and as a society. If we can't see, we can't truly know where we're going. going, and so we end up blindly walking in circles. Thus, the second half of the album title, See Your Future, is meant to inspire, symbolizing as it does the immense potential and progress that's possible when the truth is realized and confronted. It's the divine light that eventually greets you after the long, difficult, reflective walk through the dark of your demons. To see your future is how you navigate. It's like the self-realization. Once you realize that about yourself, then you could be able to navigate through whatever obstacle you have in your

life because life is hard, but God is not going to give you what you can't handle. As we heard, See Your Future is reflected in walking second half. It's here Denzel describes the transformational growth of confronting the truth through therapy, as well as the critical realization that the rewards of this process are not only personal, they're generational. This revelation of the communal impact of our individual actions explains the genius detail in the full album title, Melt My Eyes, See Your Future. That subtle shift from my to yours reflects the interdependent harmony amongst all of us as we share this moment and time together, a collective result of the past and the present that determines our future.

And for me, this is what's so brilliantly captured in Walking's two-part song structure, with the musical movement from Bumbap to trap, from past to present, a perfect cinematic score for Denzel's thematic intergenerational walk-through time. Like a great director, using all the cinematic tools at their disposal to enhance. hence the story being told, Denzel perfectly marries music and message, sound and theme, expert production, and expert lyricism to capture a snapshot of history and the communal progress that can be made in a lifetime. Indeed, throughout this mixtape series, we've heard from a number of rappers expressing a similar message. In Jay Cole's The Climback, Cole vulnerably shared the PTSD-like symptoms caused by intergenerational trauma and expressed his desire to end cycles of retaliatory violence. And Pusha T and Kendrick Lamar's no-stop,

The song ends with Kendrick celebrating how he broke the cycle of drug dealing and using in his family's history, providing him with the opportunity to build generational wealth for his family. In Jay Z's The Story of OJ, Jay uses his decades-long experience as a drug dealer turned black billionaire to provide transparent financial instructions to his community on how to escape generational poverty and create sustainable wealth. In Little Sims' introvert, Sims expresses communal unity as the only way to overcome historically racist power structure. In Lupe Fiasco's mural, Lupe offers the codes to defeat the cycle represented by Samsara, stressing the self-discipline and commitment required to transcend the circumstances his community inherited. And now here on Walkin, Denzel focuses the emotional evolution that occurred when he quit blindly running in circles from the truth of his circumstances and instead turned 180

and confronted them head on. It's no coincidence these lyrical masters of our time are all writing variations of the same theme, different shades of the same color. That's because this is what great artists do. They tap into the communal frequency of our era. They're the spokespeople of who we are in this moment in time. That's why when they talk, we should listen. As their words articulate universal feeling, they vocalize collective struggle and celebration. They communicate our shared generational challenges so that we might more effectively work toward overcoming them, so that we might give our children a world that's a little bit better than the one given to us.

In this way, the words of our poets, our lyrical masters, are immortalized documents of our collective journey as a species, navigating our arduous, complicated, beautiful walk on earth. Today's episode was written by me, Cole Kushna. If you enjoyed this mixtape series, please share it with a friend or post on social media tagging at Dysect podcast. That really goes a long way in the sustainability of this show. Thanks to Kevin Pooler for audio editing this series

and a bureaucratic for another killer theme. Also thanks to Justin Sales at the Ringer for all the help putting this series together. I'll be back in a few months with another season of Dissect. In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok at Dissect Podcast where I'll be posting many video dissections

as well as keeping you updated on all things Dissect. All right, thank you so much for listening to this series. I'll talk to you soon.