Dissect - S7E13 - Life: The Biggest Troll by Childish Gambino

Episode Date: February 25, 2021

Because The Internet concludes with a retrospective wherein Gambino and Glover look back at the world’s main narrative and provide insights with a newfound freedom and clarity. After expressing the inherent irony of life -- that we’re all dying from the day we are born -- Gambino’s plea at the end of the album expresses his ultimate call to action and leap of faith. Shop limited Season 7 merch: https://bit.ly/36ClxIV Dive deeper into the world of Because The Internet with our episodic visual guides (https://bit.ly/30EKbF1), where you can also read the BTI screenplay in full. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @dissectpodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Today we continue our serialized analysis of Because the Internet by Childish Gambino. On our last episode, we explored Earth the oldest computer, which saw the boy trapped in his mansion by crooked police, fantasized about drowning in his infinity pool, and face unavoidable gunfire when things went south. The scene ends with a man turning and shooting at the boy, but the script cuts off with the sound of breathing, and then silence. The final page of the script then instructs us to play the last song of the album. There's also a video to watch while we listen. It's a single shot of the boy scrolling through his phone while sitting in a brightly lit frozen yogurt shop as the credits, in a classic meme

font, flash on the screen. Seeing that it was implied that the boy died in the shootout, it's strange to see him here now, casually eating and scrolling through his phone. We're reminded of our newfound ability to casually swipe through all of humanity with technology at our fingertips. This technological development provides a glimpse of the freedom that Glover seems to employ throughout the final track, a sprawling, free-form feed of consciousness unbound by the constraints of a typical verse structure. Of course, we're talking about the retrospective world-spanning epilogue, the subject of our episode today, Life the Biggest Troll, Andrew Arunheimer. Man made the web, you don't need a name.

Man made a box, I ain't too ashamed. Every thought I had put it in a box. Life, The Biggest Troll, was produced by Childish Gambino and Ludwig Gorensen. The track is built around a chord progression played on a keyboard that sounds like it's processed through some kind of slow, warping pitch modulation, almost like an old record player. I'd like to hone in on this chord sequence, as there's something pretty interesting in the middle of it. It begins with an E-flat major, moves up to an F-minor, and now here's where things get interesting. This F-minor moves to an F-major, and then back down to a F-minor. This oscillation between an F minor and F major is pretty atypical,

and creates an underlying tension that permeates the track. Minor chords traditionally evoke a feeling of melancholy or darkness, while major chords are known for their bright, optimistic qualities. This kind of back-and-forth battle between minor and major we hear in this progression leaves the harmonic foundation a little bit unstable, and we never feel very emotionally grounded. As we'll see, this ambiguity and feeling of unresolved will tie perfectly into the song's themes of life being one-be big troll, never allowing us any kind of sustained clarity or certainty. It's also interesting

to note the song's instrumentation. As we'll hear, Gambino will lyrically cite several previous songs on Because the Internet, as Life the Biggest Troll, in part acts as a retrospective commentary on the narrative and themes addressed in the album. We find a similar kind of musical retrospection with the song's production elements. Specifically, the keys that play the main chord progression we just heard are strikingly similar to the main keys featured in Telegraph Avenue. Also, let's listen to the synth line that eventually comes in later in life the biggest troll. This is the same synth sound we heard in 2005. It's a pretty cool effect as the retrospective point of view of this song is reflected in both the music and the lyrics.

The same can be said of the song's themes. A main point Glover will make in the track is that life offers no resolution aside from death, that the conclusion is that there's no real conclusion. Similarly, the ambiguity and lack of harmonic foundation reflects this notion. We will not hear or feel any musical resolution or finality, just the constant battle between happiness and sadness, pessimism, and optimism. Amidst the slow-building instrumental, Gambino whispers his first words on the track, I'm Fly. Given the possible death from the script, it's another flight after a potential death, akin to flight of the navigator. This time, the idea of flying and looking over everything fits the song's epilogue or credits function,

and Gambino will use the format to reflect on the life and narrate. we've seen throughout BTI. I'm Fly also bonds this track with the previous song, as Gambino ended Earth the Oldest Computer, with an interpolation of his own song, So Fly. Now, instead of the lyrics being about someone else, Gambino's the one that's Fly. We also recognize that flying requires being high,

continuing the presence of drugs and altered states allowing for reflection and connection, something that we'll hear later in this track. Finally, in terms of the freedom we noted at the top of the episode, We connect the notions of flying with freedom, especially from earthly physical constraints, reinforcing the narrative perspective post-death. Man made the web, you don't need a name. Man made a thought I'm too ashamed.

Every thought I had put it in a box. Everybody see it just for the cops. a name. Gambino here plays off the opening stories of the Bible. While God may have made the world, man made the internet, a digital world, which is in line with Glover's comparison of the invention of the internet being a new Big Bang. In this digital world, you don't need a name, which cites the impact the internet has had on expression of identity, most clearly in the use of screen names obscuring our real name or identity when acting online. This idea has been highlighted throughout BTI, most potently in the protagonist's name, the boy,

a reflection of the obscured identities we can embody online. Even the boy has multiple screen names, illuminating the discharge of individual identity. We've created a personal web, a place where we construct even more identities than we can in reality. This has massive ramifications on life, such as the notion of lost morality, lack of empathy for others online, the freedom of anonymity, or the danger of getting caught up in our online constructions and personas. Gambino continues rapping, Man made of faults, I ain't too ashamed.

This again seems to allude to early biblical stories, specifically Adam and Eve. After the fault of succumbing to temptation, they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and became ashamed of their nakedness and made clothes for themselves. Adam and Eve's pursuit of knowledge had consequences, and humanity's pursuit of more and more knowledge and technology continues this theme. But Gambino here is embracing our inherent flaws,

calling for us to not be ashamed, to accept our imperfections. We're all made of faults, destined to make mistakes, and we ought to care for each other as we mess up. When we engage online, many of us attempt to create the illusion of perfection, and so when our imperfections inevitably show up online, they become magnified and we freeze each other in these imperfect moments. Gambino seems to be pushing for more honesty and true expression on the web to inject some humanity into this man-made digital world.

If honesty and truth is the most powerful means of real connection, then we need to build that into the web now before it's too late. This idea was conveyed most powerfully in Glover's vulnerable Instagram notes, a real-life example of Glover's push for more honesty and truth as a means of connection on the web. Gambino continues developing this idea, seemingly discussing our behavior online. Every thought I had put it in a box. The box in this case is the computer or technology, or perhaps even the text or caption box, where we type our ideas and publish them from the net.

The box implies limitation, as in boxing something in, thinking inside the box, taking free thought and confining it to a singular, incomplete utterance. We do this all the time, taking ideas and situations that are massive and complex, and try to put them into boxes. Specifically on Twitter, character limitation is actually the entire structure of the platform, and yet we choose this platform to debate complex global issues and policies. But this idea of limiting expression expands beyond the structures of the web. Language itself defines and limits human expression, as do the labels we apply to ourselves using

such language. But again, we're imperfect, as is our language, and our attempts at boxing in the totality of experience are limiting. They freeze moments and people as incomplete articulations. And as Gambino wraps, this means everybody see it just before the cops. This makes slight allusion to the concerning practice of criminals who post-manifestant owes her plans online before committing atrocious acts. This could also nod to the policing we do online as we react to what others post within a system of web justice. There's also the presence

of police throughout the BTI narrative as a force wielding violence and imposing a threat. Gambino then makes what seems to be a specific nod to the boy, rapping, trolling, trolling these N-words, Rick rolling these N-words. They mad because they don't know any better. Before turning to drug dealing, the boy was consumed with trolling strangers online from his at the gold molar account. Rick rolling is the common internet troll of misleading people to click a link to the music video for Rick Astley's 1987 hit, Never Gonna Give You Up. The boy's online antics are frustrating to those who don't know any better, perhaps in reference to how they get caught up in internet tomfoolery. As life continues, Gambino makes another direct reference

to the boy. Yes, I can see it all with the clarity real deep. Hope they dig a nigger before they bury me. Even though we were told her go where they wouldn't go, hell as low. That's that dial up. Watch it pile up. Blah. Gambino voices bullies rapping,

Holdup, it's the kid, quick, tell him he can't sit with us. The holdup alludes to 2005, and the kid apparently refers to the boy. He's getting excluded in true mean girls fashion in a classic scene of being refused a seat at the school cafeteria. It's a reminder of the isolation the younger version of the boy experienced at the start of the script. Ostracized, the boy became an internet troll and decided to stunt on those who hurt him. He says, fuck it, got money, bought friends like I'm TBS. The joke here is that the Turner Broadcasting System, TBS, purchased the syndication rise to the popular 1990s sitcom Friends,

yet another nostalgic 90s reference in BTI. Beyond the joke, this line makes reference to the suspicion that the boy's friends are only around because of his money. tying into the hold-up refrain of 2005 cited here in this couplet, where reminded of 3005's lyric, My God, you pay for your friends in the song's first verse. Gambino then wraps, VVS, I can see it all with the clarity. VVS is a measure of the clarity of a diamond, and is technically the third highest reigning a diamond can receive.

This reference is both a continuation of the opulence that attracts his friends, as well as a description of his enlightened perspective on this final track, reflecting on everything that has happened. Gambino then wraps, Real Deep, hope they dig an N-word for they bury me. Here he uses double hominims to tie technology to artistic merit. Real Deep implies the double meanings and underlying messages in his art, while his delivery also sounds like Real D,

a projection system that allows audiences to see movies in 3D without glasses, a nod that makes sense given the previous VVS clarity. His hope that people will dig him before they bury him is a hope that they'll understand his work before he dies, with morbid humor in the tie between digging a grave for burial and digging what he's saying. This also likely refers to the news aggregator site dig.com, where users post posts post and liking a post was digging it, and posts that didn't get many likes were buried underneath others on the feed.

By tying art to technology with hominims, Gambino further intertwines these themes and the simultaneity of multiple perspectives, all while professing a hope for being understood, for making connections. Part of Gambino's concern over being misunderstood is the tension between the past and the future, as he wraps, even though we were told to go where they wouldn't go,

he'll as low, that's that dial up, watch it pile up, fly. He'll continue developing this idea throughout the track, but now it seems the conflict he faces is a struggle to connect the past with the future he's moving towards. This is a condition of time, that it keeps moving forward,

that we go where our ancestors could not. The past's inability to keep up is described as hell is slow, and Gambino connects this with Dial-Up, an early method of internet connection. It also adds to the growing list of references to previous songs, as Dial-Up was the title of the Loading Track that preludes the worst guys. Gambino describes the slowness of trying to uphold the standards of the past as watching it pile up, almost like a traffic jam, too slow for today's standards of quick connections. Thus, his inclination is to move forward, to fly,

connecting back to its opening words on the track, creating yet another microloop within BTI. In the song's only iteration of what might be considered a hook, Gambino's vocals are warped as he sings, Andrew Arnheimer, pulling on her weave, it's that Andrew Arnheimer. This makes a direct reference to the infamous American internet troll and hacker Andrew Arnheimer, who's also a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi white supremacist. His online alias is Weave, W-E-E-V, and he's used the web to spew hatred and vitriol to harass, to spread misinformation, and to docks women, such as programmer and tech figure Kathy Sierra. In 2010, Arnhimer was responsible for uncovering a flaw in AT&T security that unknowingly exposed the email address and private information of iPad users on its network.

It seems to Glover, Arnheimer represents the darkest potential of the internet, a hate-spewing truceing troll who uses technology to rip into the identities of real people, who spreads misinformation and hides behind screens to abdicate responsibility. He's a zenith of internet trolldom, and seems to represent the impossibility of evading or defeating trolls. But he and the ideas and situation he represents exist and must be dealt with, or we will destroy each other. The key to this entendre of the hook is that Arnheimer's screen name is Weave, a homonym for Weave, W-E-A-V-E. Pulling on her weave is to pull on a woman's weave or hair extensions. Glover connects this pulling to internet trolling and likens it to the nuisance of pulling on someone's hair. Given

all the callbacks to previous tracks, it's likely this line also means to cite the rampant virality of weave-pulling fight videos on World Star. The actions of trolls online have ramifications in real life, and this disproportionately affects those populations who face the most discrimination. Through the connotations of weave, Glover connects the idea of African-American women's weave being pulled by Arnheimer's internet menace. A hair weave is a construction of identity, an extension of natural hair. Gambino's hook suggests that trolling online, with deliberate disregard for life, rips the web identities we try to construct for ourselves, the connections we attempt to create. This reminds us of the constant threats faced by women of color on the web throughout

BTI, which seems to have reached its pinnacle of terror here. There was Abella Anderson's multiple appearances, Sweet Brown of Ain't Nobody Got Time for That, YouTuber Miss Aaron of I'm a Freaky Bitch, Kylo Kish, Azalea Banks, the boys' multiple exes, and Naomi. While we've already explored the particulars of their situations this season, when taken together as a holistic experience, there's a pattern of struggle experienced by women of color when faced with contemporary existential threats. They are, we are, all trying to create worlds for ourselves online, all trying to live forever by gaining enough attention, enough notoriety, to be remembered. It seems Glover is attempting to highlight the threats to these women, not glorify them, as evidence in the heinous nature of trolling

online being compared to pulling on someone's weave. It evokes the imagery of similar fights on world star hip-hop, and reminding us that while we may want to stare, laugh, and share these videos and images, there are real people, real consequences on the other side of the screens. As Glover explained, quote, people don't realize this cake has so many layers that we have to deal with. The difference is, some people have to take the good and the bad, and some people get to just take the cream. I just want people to understand we've got to eat the crust of this shit too.

We can't just eat the stuff we love. We have to eat all of it and understand. Dreams of our parents lost in the future who hide the deepest desires and wear a mask like a lucha door open. We were smoking in the hotel. The vapors went through the hallway. The manager pissed as hell. I mean, where's the line between Donny G. and Gambino?

He hang with girls like Elina, but needed some time to re-up tequila in the canina. $30 I swallowed the salsa somalough. And then she said, you need to grow up. Gambino returns to rapping. We are the dreams of her parents lost in the future. Here he speaks to the common tension of a generation's dreams falling into the next. and the impossibility of that dynamic. The boy has struggled with the influence of his mother and father throughout BTI,

and his emphasis of their joint influence illuminates the simultaneity of our feminine and masculine qualities. The mother has been connected with natural and comforting ideas, while the father has been connected with fabrication and competitive ideas. Both exist within us, and we have to navigate these influences. To be the dreams of our parents or the past is to hold the weight of expectations, but those dreams could not be possibly equipped for, the future. Think of this in terms of the internet. Those born before its conception may have

had dreams for their children, but the world has gone in a way that many did not predict, and we have to adapt to these unforeseen circumstances. If we try to just maintain the ideas or dreams of the past, the future is going to destroy us for being ill-equipped and unable to adapt. Gambino then describes how we act in our lost state, rapping, who hide the deepest desires and wear a mask like a lucha. In response to the pressures of the past, we too often hide our desires, sleeping in tradition, instead of waking up to our present and future needs. Repressing our desires, we hide our inner selves, hence the simile, wear a mask like a lucha. Cleverly, the next phrase is door open, where door functions as its own word, but also completes the previous

word luchador, a masked professional wrestler in Mexico. This symbolism of wrestler masks has quite a few implications in the age of the internet, as Glover has explored the ways we fabricate identities for ourselves in different arenas. When Glover was asked about how he views Childish Gambino, he said, quote, rappers are all like wrestlers. That's the world now. Even kids are rappers. When you go on Vine and see a white kid and he's like, Thug Life, fuck you. That's not David. That's his rapper version. No one has a problem with Rick Ross, because that's what it is. So Childish Gambino, I'm not even going to put labels on it, unquote. Here the specific reference to Rick Ross in conversation about constructed identities, makes the boy's father's presence and symbolism

rather clear, as Glover uses the notion of a rapper as a model for a more universal phenomenon, that we all, especially in the age of the internet, are constructing different versions of ourselves for different contexts, trying to connect with different people and different parts of ourselves. Our identity is not fixed, which is evidenced by our ability to warp it for our needs and different locales, something the internet and social media has made abundantly clear. While this mask is a universal symbol, Gambino's phrasing of We Wear the Mask also alludes to one of the most famous American poems, We Wear the Mask by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. The poem begins, We Wear the Mask that grins and lies. It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.

It continues by further detailing the mask as a way to hide the effects of oppression from the outside world, and we wear the mask becomes a mantra, a method of perseverance. Through the context of Dunbar's existence that's a black man, in the post-Civil War America, this poem artistically presents the crisis of African-American identity, as it's torn in opposing directions by different needs and systemic oppression. Eight years after the poem was released, this would be described as the double consciousness of African-American identity by W.E.B. Duboy in his work The Souls of Black Folk. We Wear the Mask is an examination of the ways in which racial oppression warps the experience

of identity, and illuminates the simultaneous existence of multiple perspectives and experiences in one life. With this literary illusion, Glover furthers the notion moving beyond a double consciousness to expressing the idea of infinite identity manipulations as experienced today. To Glover, the contemporary experience of identity crisis is much more expansive and constant, even schizophrenic. That's the thing. People are like, because the internet seems schizophrenic, I'm like, yeah, being young and black in America is schizophrenic. You have to kind of change who you are a little bit all the time for people to even respect you. Like to people for even to understand who you are.

Like I have to hold myself a certain way and wear a certain thing to get a cab. And sometimes I may not get a cab. Like he's like I look like this and people are still afraid of me. The experience of constantly having to change behavior and identity to meet context and audience is of existential importance. In our unjust system, failing to properly navigate the fluid dynamics of identity and perception can result in discreet. discrimination, from not getting a cab or a job to stirring fear in others. For Glover, this experience

is an existential crisis for people of color, whose lives are threatened by the complex interplay between self, audience, and context. Gambino continues, door open, we were smoking in the hotel, the vapors went through the hallway, the manager pissed as hell. These drugs are connected to the mask worn as protection, as drugs offer relief from stress and anxiety of the schizophrenic existence just referenced. The manager of the hotel being pissed might serve as another authority figure on this track, in line with the past, our parents, and the police, who attempt to prevent freedom and exploration by sticking to outdated guidelines. This ongoing theme of identity hits a climax as Gambino continues, I mean, where is the line between Donnie G. and Gambino. It's a question

central to the album, reverberating since Gambino's first line, Who Am I, all the way back on crawl? Returning to this primary question, we note that while life the biggest troll is by artist Childish Gambino, the credits note that it features none other than Donald Glover. You know, I kind of decided, I was like, you know, that's me. Like, Childish Gambino is me. I'm never trying to make people not know that they're the same person. Like, I just like, that's the name I go by when I do this kind of endeavor. But, you know, like, you know, like the last track on the album features Donald Glover. So I was like, I, there, I don't know where that line is.

Like Clark Kent and Superman. Oh, I wish it was that simple. Like I wish I understood, like one of us at powers. But like it's just, they're just kind of like, I feel like they're speaking to each other. Like it's the way I handle stuff. Glover doesn't have an answer, and we don't either yet. But this exploration of the line between Donald Glover and Childish Gambino expands beyond any simple duality as Glover has incorporated the boy, multiple narratives,

online presence, social media, and more into the BTI world. He's trying to figure out who he is, and by extension, who we are. Gambino then indulges in comforting his identity crisis, rapping, he hang with girls like Lena, but needed some time to re-up. It's an insinuation of sexual promiscuity, but also a nod to the numerous relationships the boy has. The Lena here refers to Lena Dunham and her show Girls, which Glover appeared on for two episodes and a role dating Dunham's character.

Gambino continues, Tequila and the Cantina, $30 I swallowed, The Saza so Molo. Drinking becomes a way to cope with the stress, and Saza, which sounds like a slurred sauce or liquor, is also a particular brand of cheap house tequila. This means $30 is quite a lot to swallow, which is bad, or in Spanish, Molo.

This drunkenness then leads him to seeking more comfort as he wraps, A Nuzzled by Nila, but also sounds like Nala. Here, Nuzzled implies that Nala is a reference to the character of the same name from the Lion King. Aside from this prophet, Phyllic Lion King Nod, the name Nila also refers to the boy's ex living in Oakland, who he drove up to see back on Telegraph Avenue. If you remember, she told the boy that they didn't

know each other and begged him to grow up. In thinking about the good times that are now gone, Gambino is seeking comfort, from the cozy use of Nuzzle to his alcohol use, to the constant feminine symbolic presence as a source of comfort. As life continues, Gambino gets a reality check. You've been doing this for too long. That camp was a million years ago. Sing me a different song. Whether you're trolling or con trolling, just a reminder you think you get it, you don't. It's that Andrew and Armineheimer, I'm gone.

Backed by a female vocal, Gambino raps, then she said you need to grow up. You've been doing this for too long. That camp was a million years ago. Sing me a different song. Having just reflected on Nyla in Oakland, he now quotes her specifically, as her last words to the boy in the script are,

Please Grow Up. When she says that camp was a million years ago, the line cites the boys stay at camp at the beginning of the screenplay and Gambino's previous album Camp, a prelude to the BTI narrative. Sing me a different song is a call to action, a universal rally cry to grow up, to move beyond the insulating comforts of youth and toward growth and progress.

This is the call Glover is asking us to hear with him. Gambino then calls back to the hook, wrapping on his own now, whether you're trolling or controlling, just a reminder, you think you get it, you don't, it's that Andrew Arnhimer. Trolling and controlling are tied both in sound and the notions of trying to mess around or pull the strings. Both are manipulations of others trying to attempt to remove the other's agency. Those who engage in this kind of manipulation might think that they get it, as inherit in positions of power, especially self-appointed power,

is the belief that one has things figured out more than the rest. But Gambino reminds us all that we don't get it. Life is the biggest troll, that Andrew Arnhimer, and to get it is likely beyond anyone's comprehension. We are given life only to have it be taken away, and humanity, the universe, the natural world, is far too complex for anyone to really understand in our brief lifespan. As Gambino laid out on the previous track, progress is the only thing that will last. If we're acting purely in self-interest, whether by trolling or controlling the actions of others,

we're screwing ourselves over, not understanding what we need to do here together, that our aims are not individual, that we need to act for us to contribute to progress, plant the tree for the next generation. Fittingly, Gambino's next line is, I'm gone, and so are we. But like Gambino, we'll be back right after the break. Welcome back to Dissect. Before the break, we heard Gambino and Glover put forth the idea that life is the biggest troll before telling us he's gone. After a break in be, he unexpectedly returns, breaking free from a typical verse structure. I'm gone. Now I'm back.

Give a fuck or give him hell, just not a chance to react. Tyler Durden, this burden hurtin, they said it was curtain, certain demise, looking his eyes, the pain in the burden. I coulda stay where I was and had a life you'd be proud of. But I'd rather chase things never thought of. It was all love saying go hard, making dope, it's a trap, Akbar, backfire, panic dreams, so it seems. Gambino raps, give a fuck or give him hell, just not a chance to react.

Tyler Durden, this burden hurting, they said there was curtains, certain demise, look in his eyes, the pain and a Burton. The reference to Tyler Durden from the film and novel Fight Club is an interesting parallel, as Durden serves as a freer alternate identity of the protagonist named the narrator, a name similar to the boy. Both Fight Club and BTI use an alternate personality to grapple with the existential angst to deal with the burdened hurtin of the inevitable curtains, the certain demise of death. Look in his eyes might make reference to BTI's album cover, the Jaffi at Cotto trailer video,

the sweatpants music video, or more instances where Glover stares straight at us. With eye contact being symbolic of connection, the line foreshadows the closing moments of the album, when Glover will reach out to us for a direct connection. Speaking once more on the tension between the past and the future, Gambino raps, I could have stayed where I was and had a life you to be proud of, but I'd rather chase things never thought of. This is most likely in response to Glover leaving the show community to pursue his own artistic endeavors.

I just don't want to have a job anymore. I don't want to have a boss. I don't want to do that anymore. Like, I feel like, you know, if I stayed there, I'd be doing my life a disservice. Not because that show is bad. The community is like, I think one of the best shows on television. But it's not mine.

Gambino continues the verse reflecting on his time of prodigious output rapping, It was all love, saying go hard, making dope, It's a trap, Akbar backfired. He recounts the support and adoration he received in being part of so many projects, between his stand-up, music, television, and movie appearances. But he realizes now it was all a trap, making yet another Star Wars reference to General Akbar, who voices the infamous line, It's a Trap. The Star Wars reference and allusions to drug

dealing with dope and trap, also calls back to pink toes, which made reference to C3PO and saw Gambino interweave drugs and romance as futile attempts at escaping doom. In Glover's own life, realizing he was trapped by feeling like his productivity meant nothing, he raps, panic dreams, so it seems were meant to die. We remember Glover's description of the terror that took hold of him while working on community. He told Weiss, quote, The people I work with are great, the food was great, and people loved me for it. But like, I was waking up screaming sometimes because I knew I was going to die.

And if I knew that it was just like this guy from community died, I'd be really disappointed. I can't live like that. I'd feel guilty that I didn't do anything for us, for humans, unquote. This knowledge of assured death woke lover up to his purpose to do something for all of us

contribute to humanity. I had to figure it out it's the best, no, that's a lot. Had to get some stuff off my chest, I vaporized. I on my own. time to realize because the internet mistakes are forever but if we fuck up on this journey at least we're together man i wish i could go back and tell that cadence make believe make them believe in them self people who needed my help feelings i felt healing myself no one's ever been this lost i just

get the information between gamina raps i had to figure it out it's the best no that's a lie had to get some stuff off my chest i vaporized high on my own it took time to realize we first think of Glover's hotel notes where he explained, quote, I didn't leave community to rap. I don't want to rap. I wanted to be on my own. This is the first time I felt helpless, but I'm not on that. Kept looking for something to be in with, follows someone's blueprint, but you have to be on your own, unquote. In the verse, Gambino also references his use of drugs to handle stress and process his existential crisis. As we've seen in BTI, when used to create space for freedom of feeling, Drugs are a conduit for interconnectedness, a means of experiencing the knowledge of death while still staying alive.

The boy's evolution toward a drug dealer has been one of attempting to provide those same services to others. But what is the realization Gambino wants to pass on to us? Quote, because the internet, mistakes are forever, but if we fuck up on this journey, at least we're together. It's an earnest, straightforward assessment of our current situation. Everything uploaded to the web is recorded in the internet. exponentially expanding library of human information. This permanent record of our mistakes gives many of us pause. We see the ramifications and missteps online play out in real life. It's enough to drive us away from engaging with each other at a fear that will be torn apart for our inherent

and unavoidable imperfections. But if we're all here, all imperfect, we can take solace in the notion that we're not alone in our dilemma. The stakes and crisis we face are not singular. And in turn, this idea raises the stakes, we have to do better, to make space for our humanity, for all of us. When we lose sight of our interconnectedness, this seems impossible. But when we realize that we're all connected in this quandary, we know we have the ability to make it work. Gambino then reflects on this knowledge, rapping, Man, I wish I could go back and tell that kid it's make-believe, make him believe in himself. The make-believe here is a recognition of the fabricated and subjective nature of so many things,

which is perhaps most potently exemplified and are made-up identities and worlds we construct online. But these make-believe constructs extend into the real world, as the systems and standards we have in place are man-made, they're made up, and can be changed. Realizing this undermines their so-called objective authority. It's only because we agree to participate in these systems that they exist at all, but at their core, they are make-believe. This line of thinking is reflected in the world of because the internet clever constructed. It's It's made out of Glover's own beliefs, a product of him believing in himself and striking out on his own, and in turn, this is a reflection of our own ability to make belief systems

for ourselves. Gambino then turns to others, rapping, People who needed my help, feelings I felt, killing myself, no one's ever been this lost. He connects his own dilemma to others, realizing that if he needs help, other people need help too. The gravity of this situation is reflected in the suicide attempts of the boy and Glover, offering himself as someone who was as lost as anyone and found a way to carry on through the belief of himself and the realization that his self-worth wasn't defined by the make-belief system he's been placed in. No one's ever been this lost. I just get the information retweeted or say it sucks. I just got the motivation, your talents just bunch of luck. Hard work and dedication, but lately it's run amok.

Wicking up in these places I don't remember. Text from people I never met. Doors left open. Gambino continues, I just get the information, retweet it, or say it sucks. I got the motivation. Your talent's just a bunch of luck. Hard work and dedication, but lately it's run amok. The reflective self-checking in these lines reflects the multiple personalities active on the track, as Glover himself seemingly critiques the meaninglessness of the boy's online trolling, and both Gambino and Glover's high rate of artistic output. Any talent or inherent skill is just luck, and while he may work hard, he's not special, and lobs these critiques at himself in a destructive, trolling manner, as if he's his own YouTube comment section.

Having broken himself down, he begins disassociating, rapping, waking up in these places I don't remember, texts from people I never met, doors left open. The array of images is disorienting, and it's reminiscent of the sort of meaningless, hedonistic life the boy and potentially Glover had been living. Once more, this leaves doors open, just like when he was smoking in the hotel earlier. As we saw in the first half of the script,

this kind of lifestyle just pulls the individual apart and leaves them open to crisis. As we hear voices whisper, Who is this? Don't do it. Where are you? Who is this? Who is this? These are the open doors or open-ended questions

that have dominated BTI, ever since Gambino's opening words, Who Am I? We also witnessed the brown recluse spiders in the screenplay posed similar questions to the boy before the first point. party at his mansion. Glover, Gambino, and or the boys' response here is, I don't know who I am anymore. The album's opening question, Who Am I, is answered quite plainly here. He doesn't know.

The complications of identity are exaggerated in the age of the internet. We may have some idea of who we are, but that isn't our whole identity, something Glover touched on in an interview with the Breakfast Club. You know, not having people label you and put you in those boxes, even though you are a blackmail, can't you just say to yourself, I'm just a human being? Oh, I'm just a human being. I say that to myself all the time. I definitely, I see myself that way, but like, it really isn't about who, I mean, about how I see myself. I mean, like, I know I'm very centered about that kind of thing, but like, I live in the world. Right.

And automatically people are going to look at you and. Judge. Anybody who's just being like, I am who I am and that's all that matters is like, man, then you can't be progressing. Can't leave the house. Yeah. You can be really, though, because you could be a multitude thing to different people. Everybody can look at you and see something. As Glover notes here, you can know who you are or think you know who you are,

but you still live in a world that will see you differently, and that's just the unavoidable reality. The impossibility of comprehending these infinite perspectives on our identity is overwhelming, which is reflected in Gambino's dejected delivery of I don't know who I am anymore. This crisis of identity and feeling lost led to the boy in Glover's suicide attempts previously, and as the beat fades out here, we wonder yet again if this is the end. doors left open I don't know who I am

Still on the beat though Still in the game But he moved with a cheat code It's lowest connection ever My life inside a computer Then bands that I make a dance Surprisingly The beat switches to triumphant sounding synths

And Gambino comes back re-energized proclaiming still on the beat though Still on the game But he moved with a cheat code It's a clear moment of triumph Glover seems to have learned to overcome Or live with these daunting feelings and still thrive Still on the beat nods to the change in instrumental and Gambino's new flow, as well as his ability to stay in the proverbial it while undergoing crisis.

He uses this crisis as a cheat code, a superpower enabling him to see the game of life for what it is. The game here could also be an allusion to the music industry, or public life in general, and the idea that he's still in the game is a boast that he could have chosen to leave, either by suicide or by letting the critics of his music convince them to stop making it, to stop making it. to stop pursuing its independent artistic endeavors. Interestingly, we notice this beat switch and change in Gambino's attitude comes directly after the whispering voices that allude to the brown recluse spiders that have appeared throughout BTI, most notably on the song No Exit, just before the boy's suicide attempt. Here in this epilogue or retrospective track,

we now realize this was likely a recap of that narrative, with that musical fade-out mirroring the boy fading out in the script after overdosing on an unnamed drug and connecting with a spider and his web on his bedroom wall. This beat switch occurs at 3 minutes and 11 seconds in a song that lasts 5 minutes and 42 seconds. That's precisely 55% of the way through the track. If we look at the track list for Because the Internet,

the song Death by Numbers plays for the 55th percentile of the length of the album, and it's the first thing we hear after the boy overdoses in an attempted suicide. Relative to the respective runtimes, it appears that Gambino has reflected this narrative turning point life is the biggest troll, at precisely the same moment it occurs in the album overall. Seeing that life is Gambino or the boy in death, looking back on life and the primary events of BTI's narrative, this timing seems incredibly intentional, similar to how World Star's musical and thematic shift occurred precisely halfway through the track, down to the second, and that Glover

said World Star represented what he was trying to do with the album overall. These are the patterns or loops we've observed throughout BTI's world, something Glover specifically called out in the internet version of clapping for the wrong reasons when we heard. Patterns. As life, the biggest troll continues, so too does Gambino's newfound enthusiasm. Still on the beat though, still in the game, but he moves with a cheat code, slowest connection ever my life inside a computer, then bands that I make a dance, my wallet's Lollapalooza, the violence, first person shooter, first person to move, first person to speak,

Gambino's on meat, they scream in the streets Losing my frame of reference These pieces of shit for breakfast Funny the day you're born That's really your death sentence Gambino raps Slowest Connection Ever My Life Inside a Computer

Given the title of life The Biggest Troll and Earth The Oldest Computer This could simply be a nod to those two tracks As well as a comment on the tragic state of life On Earth being a slow, torturous experience But given his reference of now having a cheat code We also get the sense that Gambino is now

able to recognize what's going on in life with greater skill, as if the flurry of the physical world is going by him in slow motion, allowing him to look around and make more keen observations. He does precisely this as he continues, then bands that'll make her dance, my wallet's Lollapalooza, the violence first-person shooter, first person to move, first person to speak, my mills aren't meek, they scream in the streets. Here he describes the content of his life in the computer, evoking images of the material that gets spread online. First, he makes reference to Juicy Jay's classic 2012 hit, Bands and Maker Dance. In Juicy Jay's track, Bands refers to the rubber bands keeping fat stacks of money together. And Gambino plays off this with the musical band

that would make music for people to dance to, fusing the two ideas to deem his wallet Lollapalooza, a massive yearly music festival in Chicago. This image captures art that spreads joy and sells sex, music festivals, and their booming prevalence on social media, and the wealth involved in this dynamic. Gambino then makes reference to the violence first-person shooter, referencing video games that provide players the virtual experience of acting out murder, gunplay, and warfare. This extends to the violence and gore that spreads online, as Glover told complex, quote, the internet is curated to feel real. I'm a victim of it too. It feels real. I saw this thing on CNN.

You can see the sniper turned to the camera, then point his gun and shoot. And I saw that. And it's like, I'm kind of dead now. I saw that guy who died. I experienced that too. That's crazy. No human beings have ever felt that before, unquote. Given all the callbacks to previous tracks and narrative points in BTI,

we also suspect this refers to the shootout at the boys' mansion when he was held hostage. And this gets us to the next line. First person to move. first person to speak. Beyond the likely nod to the script, this also highlights the fear of voicing our real opinions or emotions online, as we've become hostage to the persecution of making a mistake, tying back to the first-person shooter bar. Gambino's next line, My Mills aren't meek, they scream in the streets, makes reference to rapper Meek Mill, but also contains a few other interpretations. Mills could refer to millions, Gambino and the

boy's money, and thus nod to the stunting and boasting of those who show off their wealth, the screaming in the streets. While stunting money happens all the time online, the mills could also refer to people, the working class. Mills are buildings or machines for processing raw material with labor and technology. Combined with the idea of millions of people who scream in the streets, this evokes the image of uprising and social unrest, which also captivates social media's attention. Thus Gambino has painted a picture of his life inside a computer. The mess of art, sex, money, festivals, stunting, shooting, violence, games, terror, vulnerability, volume, unrest, and energy that spreads like wildfire online. Out of the flurry of images competing in the attention economy of the web, Gambino wraps, losing my frame of reference, these pieces of shit for breakfast, funny the day you're born, that's really your death sentence.

The influence of the web, it's pushed for us to create consumable content, to live in fabricated fantasy, makes Gambino lose his frame of reference. It seems he's indicating that the systems causing this loss of stability are the pieces of shit for breakfast. This line seems to be in reference to at least two sources. First, the 90s comedy, Happy Gilmore. You're in big trouble though, pal. I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast.

You eat pieces of shit for breakfast? No. This line also appears famously in Kanye West's song, Jesus Walks. ass and arrest us, saying we eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast, huh? Y'all eat piece of shit. What's the basis? Whether it be those with money, like in Happy Gilmore, or the police, like in Jesus walks, in both sources, the joke tears down establishment figures by pointing out their illogical, overdone attempts at asserting power. Similarly, Gambino points out that what we serve ourselves through the media is also shit. The real joke is on us, that the day you're born is really

your death sentence. Playing off phrasing from capital punishment. This points out the incontrovertible truth, from the moment we are born, we are dying. It's life's biggest troll job, the final punchline delivered just before the curtains closed on our brief time on Earth. Funny the day you're born, that's really your death sentence. Met this girl at a dinner and we conversating,

she beautiful in the face, but her voice is truly amazing. Plus she write her own shit, becoming so close-knit, smoke up and talking the evening, she's helping me focus. No, and Nicole Smith, she's getting hers. Niggas take her props like a musical live and learn. She said she feel alone all the time. I'm similar. I meet her in my dreams on the moon.

I visit her. Every night I text her. I want to solve the world. I think I need your help. She text me. How you gonna trust somebody when you don't trust yourself? We get yet another mood shift as Gambino turns his attention to Jena Aiko and Naomi. He raps,

I met this girl out of dinner. We conversating. She beautiful in the face, but her voice is truly amazing. plus she write her own shit, becoming so close-knit. Once again, Glover purposely blurs the lines between reality and fiction, describing the character Naomi, who is based on Jenei. Specifically, this details how the two met in real life. We didn't really know each other.

We've just met at dinner, and she had just done this Jimmy Kim alive. And I just, I don't know, we just started talking, and she just got the jokes that I was making, and she was being, like, weird. And it felt comfortable. Like, she feels very comfortable. It's like I've known her forever, whatever planet she's from. Recall that this is also the exact way the boy met Naomi, who, like Jenae, is also a poet, a writer. Gambino then details their relationship rapping, smoke up and talk in the evening,

she helping me focus. No, Anna Nicole Smith, she get in hers, N-Words take her props, like a musical, Live and Learn. Their love or relationship is tied to smoking weed, which is in line with Glover's use of drugs for opening up to connection. Anna Nicole Smith was a playboy model who at age 27 married an 89-year-old oil tycoon. She was accused of gold digging, but Gambino claims this isn't the case with Naomi or Jene, since she's getting hers or pursuing her own money and her career. The mention of someone taking her props calls back to Naomi claiming a rapper stole her poem in the script. Gambino then wraps,

She says she feel alone all the time, I'm similar, I meet her in my dreams, on the moon, I visit her. Just like in the script, he's finding solace in their connection, and her inspiration is evident in the dream and moon symbolism that appear, reminding us of their threads running throughout BTI. The moon shows up time and time again to convey its traditional feminine symbolism and as a guiding light in times of darkness, providing the comfort and love the boy needs in his existential crisis. As the beat begins to swell back up, Gambino raps,

Every night I text her, I want to solve the world, I think I need your help. She texts me, how are you going to trust somebody when you don't trust yourself? While it might seem overly ambitious, Gambino here is clear about his intentions, to solve the world. By grappling with the existential and identity foundations of our lives, Glover's world building provides a basis of theory of knowledge, a philosophy of action, a basis on which we can live our lives. Interestingly, having falling into a love with this woman, when he asked for her help, she asks him how that's possible when he doesn't even trust himself. This is reminiscent of Naomi telling the boy that he shouldn't trust her in the script.

This trust keeps coming up as an issue for Gambino. All of my vices come from not trusting myself. I think like all of them is just like I don't trust myself. I trust myself. Lately it's been better, but in general it's just like, you know, it's weird. Like I don't trust myself because I'm always wanting to know more. I'm always like like yeah, I'll smoke, I'll do that. I'll do try that. Like yeah, because I'm always, I and I don't trust like the outcomes or myself. Like I don't, I feel like I don't know me well enough to be like, that's a bad idea for me. Again, we find a tie here between love and drugs.

As Glover mentions, it seems drugs or any experience that can open himself up to connection, like the love felt in this relationship, helps him to trust himself more. As life continues, Gambino concedes to Naomi's insight and again ramps up his energy. 45 like a light bulb and I could have died like my iPhone but I kept going like a psycho and I took chance like a dice roll dropping jewels like his puberty wrote a note on the glass you see what these labels do to me tech said I'm wet I said hold up wait a minute h2 o plus my d that's my hood I'm living in it never forget this feeling never gonna reach a million eventually on my followers gambina wraps I mean she write though 45 like a light bulb and I could have died like my iPhone but I kept

going like a psycho. Naomi's call for self-trust illuminates Glover's need for confidence to move forward, with 45 referring to a 45-watt light bulb, but also a 45-calibre handgun, the same gun the boy is shot with at his mansion. In this way, the double entendre illuminates both connection and the threat of death as our call to action. Gambino then calls the multiple deaths of BTI into question with, I could have died like my iPhone. While this might refer to the suicide attempts, it also questions the potential death scene at the end of the script, as it cuts out before any confirmation of the boy dying, and his appearance afterward on his phone in the yogurt shop has led some to believe that the whole story was a troll, a narrative fiction written by the boy for online consumption.

Gambino then wraps, and I took a chance like a dice roll, dropping jewels like its puberty. There's a few levels to this line, as the gamble of rowing the dice, representative of giving life a shot, seems to pay off in the form of jewels. The dropping jewels like its puberty sims also humorously plays on the notion of testicles dropping during puberty, and likely refers to the boy growing up on BTI. These references all become encased in a level of male braggadocio or healthy competition, with the mention of Chance at the start of the line, of course, evoking the presence of Chance the rapper, who played Marcus in the screenplay. We recall that Marcus represents masculine competition and sexual hedonism across the mediums he appeared on, so the reference

to a man's genitalia here is fitting. Gambino then raps, wrote a note on the glass, you see what these labels do to me. Here we get another rejection of labels, something Glover has refused in his own life by pursuing a suite of creative outlets like acting, stand-up, writing, music, and more. In the world of BTI, he portrays multiple identities to the point you can't label him simply the boy, childish Gambino, or Donald Glover. He's blurred those lines even to himself. But the note on the glass here also refers to Glass Note, the record label that Glover was signed to at the time. Hence, you see what these labels do to me, comments on his frustrations with his record label, which were quite public at this time. This hit a climax when

Gambino, upset about a botched release of his music and video for sweatpants, tweeted that he wanted to be bought out of his record contract. Finally, the note on the glass could also refer to the Instagram notes that provided context to the world of BTI, and confess Glover's fears of limitations, of labels, and his desire to make space for us to grow up safely. Gambino then looks at more writing on glass, rapping, Tech said, I'm wet. I said, hold up, wait a minute. H2O plus my D, that's my hood, I'm living in it.

On the surface, this seems to be an extended metaphor for Gambino and an unidentified woman sexting. I'm wet alludes to the woman being turned on, and Gambino responds by citing the refrain from 2005, hold up. H20 plus my D, that's my hood, I'm living in it, is clever wordplay to refer to the woman's hood or clitoris, and boasts that he's living in that wet vagina like it's his hood or neighborhood. But the water symbolism that runs throughout BTI demands that we read these lines with a deeper significance. Recall that Glover has used water to represent humans' intuition to connect.

Quote, everything we do, sex, art, all that shit, is us trying to feel how we feel inside someone else, how someone else feels like. We're all connected. We're like water droplets. Every drop of water on earth, the spit in my mouth, is trying to go find all the other water. Like we are all trying to be connected

and the internet kind of made this thing happen where we could either use this for good, like us growing, or for worse, unquote. And so while these lines could be read as simply two horny people looking to hook up, Glover's use of the water metaphor to express this desire points to our deeper, fluid, dynamic search for human connection, like droplets of water trying to find and bond with each other.

It's a succinct lyrical couplet that ties together the development of the water metaphor throughout BTI. Gambino then wraps, Never forget this feeling, never going to reach a million. This seems to lament that the wonderful feeling of connection, of sex, of water, will not reach the millions that he had hoped for,

that he won't be able to achieve the infinite connections he senses exist. The verse's next line, eventually all my followers realized that they don't need a leader, has an interesting backstory, one that will take a moment to dig into here. Because the internet leaked online

a week before the album's release date. Glover himself tweeted a link to this leak with a simple caption, Enjoy. To any discerning fans, this self-leak smelled a little fishy. Glover had been discussing leaks in the rollout process, commonly saying that asking people to pay for music was like asking people to pay for the smell of a bakery as they walked by. That music was free, could not be contained, packaged, and sold, essentially rejecting the traditional industry model of release at that time.

Glover's tweet seemed almost pleased that the music had been released for free, and a couple of days later, he tweeted a script of a scene that depicts two kids walking through LA talking about the album's leak. The kids make reference to pieces of content that appear in BTI, and when they see a Roscoe's wetsuit billboard, they start wondering what it means and why Childers Scambino keeps saying it. One kid says,

he's trying to troll everyone. Miles said he cut off the end of the album to try to troll endwards. What the kid is referring to here is the end of the leaked version of the album. In this version, Life the Biggest Troll is cut off abruptly as follows. The kids or followers in this script wonder why this leaked version cuts off when the CD version doesn't. One kid says, maybe he made two versions and leaked one version and gave his record company the other. They then decide that no one cares and flip off the Roscoe's wetsuit sign, taking a picture to post online.

This tweeted script was the release mechanism for because the inter.net, the online screenplay for BTI. And by discussing the end at a point of release, Glover ties another beginning to an end, creating yet another looping pattern in the BTI world. The performance art aspect of the leak version of the track, combined with the script's portrayal of apathy, conversation, and appreciation in the social media age,

conveys Glover's understanding of the tragic reality of the situation. The world of BTI he created would not reach everyone. It wouldn't even reach any tangible majority of people, and the ideas and messages he tries to communicate to others wouldn't make it, that his connections would never reach a million. By cutting off the leaked version at the end, he trolled his listeners, but in a way that encouraged revisiting the track after a proper release. By tweeting a script and suggesting that he leaked the album himself,

he also trolls the record label that he just mentioned, in the verse. Luckily, the album version of the song doesn't end here, and we can hear exactly what Glover wants us to realize. Never gonna reach a million eventually all my followers realize they don't need a leader. Stay on your own shit. Fuck what these clones think. Just remember you to shit but act like it don't stink. We were childish but had to grow up. When you spit in real shit eventually you grow up. Realties like allergies, I'm afraid to go nuts. Like the biggest troll but the joke is on us. Yeah, the jokes you showed up. Gambino reps, eventually all my followers realize they don't need a leader.

This is a call to action that recognizes mass unity and equality. That power and influence lies not in one individual, but in the mass of individuals. It's a belief in every independent person's ability to exercise agency and freedom. This equity also highlights the shared conversation of all things, that art is a back and forth between artist and audience, not some fixed intentional creation that has any inherent meaning. There is no individual leader that determines right or wrong. The creation of ethics lies in the people.

He continues advising those listening, rapping, Stay on your own shit, fuck what these clones think. Just remember that you the shit, but act like it don't stink. It's a call to believe in yourself in the age of influencers, when more and more sources are trying to tell us what to do and how to think. Gambino then raps, we were childish, but had to grow up. Here he uses the royal we, and the double entendre of the childish part of his name is a call for us to move forward and grow.

Then with some childish metaphors, he affirms the need for change, rapping, when you spit in real shit, eventually you throw up. Realities like allergies, I'm afraid to go nuts. The spitting refers to speaking, rapping, and the acts of communication, connected to the extended water metaphor. Throwup expels poison from the body, indicating that connection is the means to getting rid of toxins, of elevating the self.

realities like allergies I'm afraid to go nuts has a few possible interpretations. The first extends the thinking of the previous line, that expressing too much real shit in this world and people will think you crazy, as this label has been applied to many figures that have expressed non-traditional or progressive ideas. Likewise, the reality of the world as it is might drive Glover or anyone to go nuts or crazy, especially after discovering the flaws of our systems and how they are perpetrated by our power structures. Also, given the theme of multiple narratives and identities that run throughout BTI, we might wonder if realities is a plural expression of reality,

that there are infinite realities, multiple dimensions, and our attempts to comprehend the complexity of the universe is enough to make anyone go nuts. This idea then brings us to the final couplet of the album, Life, the biggest troll, but the joke is on us. Yeah, the jokes you showed up. As Gambino's final wrapped lines, these parting words are the album's ultimate punchline and express the definitive irony. Life is a joke played on all of us. We're given life, but it and everything we experience is taken away in death. We can laugh or cry at this reality,

or maybe both, but we're undeniably trapped in this joke. Many philosophers and thinkers have come to similar conclusions, and what to do in the face of this reality has been at the center of countless books and religions throughout human history. One of the more well-known examples is that of Russian author Leo Tolstoy, who famously wrote both War in Peace and Anna Karenina, two of the most influential books of all time. Despite his success, both critically and financially, Tolstoy struggled to find a meaning to it all and grew suicidal. He wrote, quote, this spiritual condition presented itself to me in the following manner. My life is some kind of stupid and evil joke that someone is playing on me, unquote. But Tolstoy would eventually

combat this bleak sense of meaninglessness. His antidote came by way of a deeply personal and well-thought-out faith, separate from traditional religion, but one that emphasized living for God and for each other. Quote, man's purpose in life is to save his soul. In order to save his soul, he must live according to God. In order to live according to God, he must renounce all the comforts of life, work, be humble, suffer, and be merciful. In the liturgy, the most significant words for me were, love one another in unity unquote in the face of being trolled by life Tolstoy built a world for himself one grounded in love and dedicated to living for each other we're all facing the same existential crisis

inherently life is hard enough why make it any harder for each other than it already is having detailed the extent of the irony of life throughout BTI having detailed the extent of the irony of life throughout BTI Glover still emerges here with sincerity in its final moments, calling for connection as a means of progress, growth, and help. Gambino cries out as he fades into the void. You're here now. You have to help me. I need you. You have to help me. Please help me. Please. This is a humble, sincere plea to action, for connection, for helping the fellow man. For as Tolstoy said, loving one another in unity. Glover calls to each listener individually in the same way he makes eye contact with us on the album's cover and in other parts of the BTI world. Assuming the universal applicator status, he's reaching out his hand in hopes that we reach back,

that we make connections for ourselves before we two fade away. In these final moments, the question the album forces you to answer for yourself is, will you reach back? In the face of life's cruel joke, are you going to cynically troll the world, or are you going to help it? As the song and album conclude, there's a heavily distorted echoing vocal, uttering many potential phrases such as, When you see, you die, you see me die, when you die, you see, and more. This leaves us with a number of possible interpretations,

the literal death of the boy in the script, or a more metaphoric death the boy needed to undergo to mature, to move on, to finally grow up and face life's next cycle. The final sounds of the album are the same as the very beginning track, the library, creating yet another loop, this time a sonic loop that encloses around the entire album. Motivocally, this fits in with the infinite patterns we've identified throughout BTI, reinforcing notions of infinity, reincarnation, and simultaneity. The album becomes a sort of auraboris, a repetitive cycle.

As we've discussed, the boy is a kind of universal symbol, and his story being enclosed in a repeating loop is perhaps an expression of humanity's constant need to move on, to grow up, to progress and evolve closer and closer toward the unified utopia Glover described as becoming God. Every error will need to detach itself from the limits of the past and evolve beyond dated systems and traditions. This emphasis on hyper-repetition is also indicative of the internet, with constantly refreshing feeds, the looping clips of Vine or TikTok, and our news cycles regurgitation of scandals

and viral information. The album's looping structure joins a number of loops and cycles we've identified throughout the season, including the looping structure of clapping for the wrong reasons, the cyclical music videos such as sweatpants in 2005, the boy and Naomi's discussion of reincarnation, elements of Buddhism, the infinity pool, and much more. We're stuck in these loops, there is no exit, but we can connect and make space for growth while we're here. Conclusions. Life the biggest troll finds Gambino and her Glover at his freest, reflecting back on the world of Because the Internet with newfound insight, clarity, and inspiration, only to reach out with vulnerable sincerity at the

album's end. Similarly, Glover concluded his Deep Web blog, which ran concurrently with the BTIR rollout and Deep Web tour, with what feels like an epitaph for Because the Internet, discussing what he wanted to come from our experience of the world, quote, I want to talk about us, I want us to solve ourselves. I want us to save ourselves. No one's better or worse than anyone. And anyone who thinks that we don't need each other to get through this is being short-sighted, because we are them. People should understand you don't have to be perfect. You can just learn. I'm trying to find slash make a safe place for that. I need you to be aware. The thing that will set us apart is our human reasoning and empathy for each other, unquote. Like Life the Biggest Troll's conclusion,

this is the universal call for help, a recognition of our connection, and an assertion of equality among all people. And for all being trolled by life, if it's all one big arbitrary joke, then we can work to make the punchline sting a little bit less by honoring the connections between us and find meaning and alleviating suffering as much as we can while we're here. As a conscious species, we have the unique ability to think beyond ourselves, to empathize, to recognize how our actions affects others, how they affect the future. And we can use this knowledge to work today for a better tomorrow, to advance humanity toward progress and not destruction.

Glover's plea for help is asking us to do our part, to chip in. We'll talk more about this concept, as well as recap the narratives of BTI, appraised the world building, explore the patterns, evaluate our human reasoning and empathy, and maybe even finally figure out what the fuck to do with Ross Wetsuit. All of that and more in our season 7 finale next time on Dysect. Today's episode of Dysect was written by Camden Ostrander and me. Remember, you can dive deeper into the world of Because the Internet with our episodic guides

on our website, Dysectpodcast.com. While you're there, be sure to check out our season 7 merchandise, and be sure to follow us on social media at Dysect Podcast. Today's episode was edited by Eric Bass and me, song recreations by Andrew Atwood, theme music by Bureaucratic. All right, thanks everyone. Talk to you next week.