Hits 21 - Moments of Truth: One Day You're Here...

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

Moments of Truth, a Hits 21 spin-off show.

Well, I'm Guru. Hi, babe. It's Sharon calling. But as I call you to tell you, don't worry about nothing, baby. Keep your head up. Come see me soon. No matter where we face, we must face the moment of truth, baby. Hi there everybody and thank you for tuning in. This is Moments of Truth. My name is Rob. Hopefully I will be your trustworthy guide over the next series of episodes. your trustworthy guide over the next series of episodes. If you're joining me from Hits21,

thank you so much for coming over from the main show and thank you for trusting me to produce and run a podcast without Lizzie or Andy. If you're completely new here, then hi, welcome aboard. I'm really happy to be able to spend some time with you talking about something that I love. Just to explain a few things first, I wanted Moments of Truth to be a different kind of podcast from the ones I've done in the past. I normally listen to podcasts during the day. For that reason, I like to keep things light and breezy in my own shows, just to help listeners along when they might be looking after their house or trying to get along with their day. But I wanted Moments of Truth to be more suitable for late night listening. The reason for this change in atmosphere from my usual shows is that a lot of what this podcast is going to cover I encountered, understood and came to love in my late teens and early 20s,

late at night, sat up on my laptop, listening to music until the witching hour. Those of us who have been night owls at some stage in our lives will know how different night time feels in comparison to day time and how the world seems like a different place in the absence of daylight. daytime, and how the world seems like a different place in the absence of daylight. It's time that is ripe for learning something new in the stillness and the quiet. And hopefully this is what Moments of Truth becomes for those of you kind enough to sit with me for around the next hour. In a little more detail, Moments of Truth is a podcast about hip-hop and about rap music. More specifically, my love for the genre. Full disclosure, I am white and I'm from the northwest of England and my upbringing was comfortable and entirely ordinary and this means I could never be and would never

dream of being a voice of authority on hip-hop i'm not in an appropriate position to say what's good what's bad what's important what isn't so if you're like a hip-hop head and you take the genre really seriously i will admit straight away up front that you are not likely to hear anything over the next few episodes that you haven't heard before i'm not a teacher and i'm not a scholar however with that being said, hip-hop is something that hits me and it hits me somewhere very deep. But the truth is, it is something I have had to learn to love and this is what I hope to achieve with Moments of Truth. I wasn't raised on hip-hop. My family, they never banned it from the house but I wasn't

introduced to it from a young age either. It was something that I had to fall in love with on my own terms. I had to transport myself from the streets of Stockport where I grew up to the streets of South Central Los Angeles and back and to Brooklyn and back. I've learnt so much from hip hop about class, about racism, about corruption, about family, about violence and friendship and community, the list is just endless. But I think that what I have learnt more than anything is that a person can fall in love with hip hop at any time in their life and at any age and it's never too late like you might need a bit of help just to take those first kind of baby steps just to know where to look first but it is possible it doesn't matter where you're from what your background is or who

you are hip-hop can reach you and it's perfect for you and help help is the key word there. I fell in love with hip-hop on my own but at vital points there were people along the way who took my hand and helped me approach the genre and I hope if you want your experience with hip-hop to be deeper or stronger than it currently is that I can be that person for you. To that end I have devised nine different groups of five songs that I love with all my heart depending on their subject matter and how each of them relate to something I've only learned about because hip-hop artists were there to teach me and to tell me about their experiences and their truth and when I say, I don't mean to say that everything we'll be covering in these episodes is necessarily right or correct or to be recommended. You know, there is a

difference between facts and the truth. To me, facts are objective things like statistics, numbers, data, but the truth is something else, something less tangible, something greater. It's personal, you know, it is subjective based on feeling and experience and emotion. Across these episodes, we'll be exploring pride, optimism, defiance, family, romance, heartbreak, abuse, social decay, gangs, violence, women's rights, existentialism, religion and so many other subjects and how all of these things are the truth to whoever is living through them and telling us about them. And in this first episode which is titled One Day You're Here, I'll be introducing you to some hip- hop tracks I love that very explicitly deal with

death. How the artists feel about death and the role that mortality plays in their outlook on the world. Just to advise you, the versions of the songs I'm about to play will be uncensored. I think this is important. This isn't meant to be a difficult podcast to listen to by any means, but the word truth I think is crucial to it it's in the name and i feel like i would be diluting the truth of what these artists have to say for themselves if i was to tamper with their expressions in any way it's not my truth and it might not be yours but it's the truth to somebody the first track up this week comes from april 1996 this is a song that we covered in some form on hits 21 in a previous episode a lot of you will already

likely know it because the song we covered on hits 21 was a cover of this by british act blazing squad in august 2002 that version of this song reached number 1 on the UK charts, this original version did reach number 8. The first version of this song was written about this groups close friends who had all been killed or had passed on at a very young age, and then it was revamped and rewritten slightly after the death of the NWA's Eazy-E, who was a mentor to this group when they were first making their way in the industry. I'm always going to recommend that you pull up a lyric sheet for the song that I'm about

to play, just so you can let the words live through you for a bit. I'd really recommend the lyric site Genius as a place to start, because it's been a wonderful guide for me during my journeys of discovery in hip-hop and stuff. With this song I find it interesting that while this focuses on death, its keenest focus is actually sort of on the afterlife and the peace that they believe comes with the deep and dreamless sleep and I've always been endeared to this song because these guys are not the most tuneful vocalists in the world. But it means that they are singing straight from the heart with no frills and no polish.

And let me know if you pick up on anything else. If this song ends up meaning something to you, whether you've heard it for the first time or only a couple of times, just let me know. So without further ado, the first song to bring us in on this very first episode of Moments of Truth, it is The Crossroads by Bone Thugs and Harmony. Tell me what you're going to do when judgment comes for you. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom Now tell me what you're gonna do But it ain't nowhere to run When judgment comes for you

When judgment comes for you Now tell me what you're gonna do But it ain't nowhere to hide When judgment comes for you Cause it's gonna go for you Dance off, make it episodic Easy, see something childish Little boo, but God got it

And I'm gonna miss everybody Out of rolling clothes, my gang's looked at about like I'm playing to dust and they play too deep for me So, little ladies, I came to be Tell me if peace or decease would it please Marry me by my grand, grand new way You can't go far like this God bless you, work another plan to heaven

Father the Lord all 24-7 days God is who we pray Even though the devil's all up in my face, but he's keeping me safe and in my place. Say thanks to the gates, the race, what I've changed to face the judge, and I got my soul above. Crush me, there's just no mercy to do. Ooh, what can I do?

It's all about the family and how we grow. Can I get a witness, let it unfold? We're living our lives to return our soul. Yeah, yeah. And we're praying, we're praying, we're praying, we're praying. Every day, every day, every day, every day And we pray and we pray and we pray and we pray Still we're lazy

Now follow me, road stroll Weather is telling us to have income Let's go take a visit to the people that's long gone They rest while they're easy to reboot We're steady creeping up on their family Exactly how many days we can last While you're laughing, we're passing, passing'? We're passin', passin' the way We gon' rest our souls

Cause I know we'll meet you up at the crossroads Y'all know that forever got love in them both thugs, baby Let me leave this room, gone Really wish you could come home But when they try to die, gotta go bye-bye All the little thug could do was cry Why'd I kill my dog? Damn, man, I miss my Uncle Charles, y'all

And he should be gone in front of his home When they did the rule was wrong Rules are wrong, rules are wrong Gotta hold on, gotta stay strong When the day comes, better believe on Gotta show that you can lean on Lean on And we pray, and we pray, and we pray, and we pray

Every day, every day, every day, every day And we pray, and we pray, and we pray, and we pray Every day To see you at the crossroads To see you at the crossroads And we pray and we pray and we pray and we pray Every day See you at the crossroads See you at the crossroads See you at the crossroads See you at the crossroads

Crossroads And I'm gonna miss everybody And I'm gonna miss everybody And I'm gonna miss everybody And I'm gonna miss everybody And I'm gonna miss everybody Livin' in a hateful world, that's how we run And I'm askin' the good Lord why Yes, I, he told me we lived in time Well somebody money, y'all, see my big girl cousin was home Somebody really, everybody wanna test her stuff

Give me sleeves, it's still not easy to fall You know I've been standing in country and turning on And it didn't win any money, come again Again and again, now tell me what you gonna do Can somebody, anybody tell me why? Hey Can somebody, anybody tell me why? We die, we die died i don't wanna die

see you at the crossroads So you won't be lonely See you at the crossroads So you won't be lonely See you at the crossroads So you won't be lonely See you at the crossroads So you won't be lonely See you at the crossroads

So you won't be lonely Ah, how lovely. It was so great to hear the original version of that again. No disrespect to the Blazing Squad lads, but it's just not the same, is it? It's time to move on to our second song this week, which is from September 1994. And this is the first track on the only album ever to be released by this group. One of this group's more prominent members made a much bigger name for himself as a solo artist. I mean, someone you might have heard of. It's Tupac Shakur. This group formed in 1993, made one album that reached number 42 on the Billboard album chart and sold over 500,000 copies. They disbanded in 1995. While you're listening to this song, I would again encourage

you to read through the lyrics to get in touch with the story and I would really recommend paying attention to how each member of the group seems to feel about the prospect of death being very real almost every day, where they see their lives in five years time from the moment of recording, and maybe think about how your experience in life relates to theirs or is different to theirs. It's also worth remembering what happened to Tupac just two years after this song was released, and if you can, why not tune your ears to the sound of the beautiful Isley Brothers sample from the song For the Love of You Part 1 and 2, which provides a really lovely melodic tune in the back. Write in and let me know how you feel. This is Bury Me a G by Thug Life. Being a G, it ain't no easy thing,

because you can fuck around, get crossed, and get stuck in the game. What's up, buddy? What's up, buddy? What's up, buddy? Thinking back, reminiscing on my teens A young G, getting paid all the dope things Fucking off cash that I made Nigga, what's the sense of working hard If you never get to play? I'm hustling, staying out till it's dawn And coming home at six o'clock in the morning Hands on my clock, eyes on the prize

Finger on the trigger when the nigga ride Shooting craps, busting niggas off the door Pick my money off the floor, God bless the trade Fuck stuck on food, drunk again Sippin' on gin with a couple of friends Say them thug life niggas be like major picks Stickin' to the rules, was it made to say? And if I die, let it be But when they come for me, bury me up cheap I ain't got time for bitches Gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' riches Even when I die, they won't worry me Mama, don't cry, bury me in a cheek And I ain't got time for bitches Gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' riches

Even when I die, they won't worry me Mama, don't cry, bury me in a cheek More trouble than the average Just made 25 and I'm livin' like a savage Bein' a dude ain't no easy thing Cause you can walk around, get crossed, niggas stuck in the game And for the rest of your life you sit and reminisce Wonder why it had to end like this And to the G's you can feel my pain

Till the motherfuckers get spawned again You thought I was a gang kid I'm not the nigga for playin' games I let my books out swing But I put a trigger on my games I'm on the rap page making runs for the devil Ain't nothing on my mind but getting in some trouble I'm tired of buying double blokes from the homestead Fits to get a nigga for some bucks Or it's some jury story I get some fuck niggas out of luck when I bust

Put me to my death but I'm a G to the enemy for bury me I ain't got time for bitches Gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' riches Even when I die, they gon' worry me Mama, don't try, bury me in sheep I ain't got time for bitches Gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' riches Even when I die, they gon' worry me Mama, don't try, bury me in sheep I got nothin' to lose, so I choose to be a killer Went from banging to slanging, I'm a dope dealer All my life paid a price to be the boss

Backers court wrote the rules on getting tossed Popping rocks on the block was a pastime Pack a nine all the time, you want a test mine Don't cry, I'll die before they blame me From the cradle to the grave, bury me a cheap Kicking up with the homies in the hood Getting drunk, smoking blunts My bitch said I'm no good I give the fuck, bury me a G Kicking up with the homies in the hood, getting drunk, smoking blunts My bitch said I'm no good, I give the fuck, I spend my time in the ghost pot

Never had no time for no bitch, slaying rocks And buzzing caps on your punk ass walks Fake ass G's, bitch niggas with no heart I'm staying real till I'm six feet deep So when the nigga gone, just bury me a G Ain't got time for bitches, gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckers bitches Even when I die, they will worry, mama don't just bury me in shit Ain't got time for bitches Gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' bitches Even when I die, they will worry Mama, don't cry, but we'll be cheap

And I ain't got time for bitches Gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' bitches Even when I die, they will worry Mama, don't cry, but we'll be cheap Stuck on fools, hang away, got a nigga high Lord knows I don't need another DUI I live a thug life, heartless, hustler It's cause I fuck, don't mean I trust her Now my pages vibrate and can't sleep So I'm mobbin' to the hoes house, bumpin' eyes lit

Is it cool to fuck? It's what I'm askin' Bitch recognize, game startin' last Now I'm all in the guts and shit Prayin' that a nigga don't nut too quick Cause I fuck a get up, I'll let you know I'll be a ten minute brother for a two dollar hole Lots of hoes get mad as shit I'll let a chick be a chick, you can have that bitch Cause I doubt if I change the game to motherfucker Real niggas turn to busters and bury me a G

I ain't got time for me Gotta keep my mind on the motherfucker riches Keep my mind top, take my word in This is bury me a G Say I ain't got time for bitches, gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' riches I'ma keep my mind on my motherfuckin' riches, mama don't cry, mama don't cry Say I ain't got time for bitches, gotta keep my mind on my motherfuckin' riches Make money, nigga, I don't wanna leave you, mama don't cry Cause I ain't got time for bitches I ain't got time for bitches I ain't got time for bitches Bitches Got time for bitches, bitches Ha ha ha Ha ha ha Okay, thank you to Thug Life for that If you have any thoughts about any of the songs

Featured in today's episode Feel free to get in touch on Twitter Of course, we're always at Hits21UK On there, just the same as the main podcast And feel free to send an email in To Hits21podcast at gmail.com. If you want to check out the songs in this episode that are being sampled by the artists that we're covering, I will leave a little link to each song in the description,

so enjoy the Isley Brothers. This next one is from 1993 and features someone we'll be coming back to later on in Moments of Truth. But for now, we're going to stick with the group he joined in 1989 and a song they recorded for their fourth studio album titled Till Death Do Us Part. The song we're about to cover was released as a single in the US where it actually did very well. It got to number 40 on the Billboard charts. This is a song very explicitly about losing a friend to violence the group were born and raised in the fifth ward which is a district of houston in texas back in the late 80s and early 90s it was a densely populated area compared to

the rest of houston and was written about in some really horrible ways, but is unfortunately a place neglected by anyone with any power, or any money, or the ability to really make any big social decisions and changes. While you're listening to this, I'd just like to say that what really drew me in was the use of Easy by the Commodores, and how Easy Like Sunday Morning means one thing to Lionel Richie and something very different in this song to Scarface, Bushwick Bill and Big Mike, better known as the Ghetto Boys. This is Six Feet Deep. Once I seen the casket closed, I knew that that was it. Thank you. June 28 was the date 38 to the chest plate Mommy Dears crying at the wake

And everybody's dressed up in black suits Going to pay their last respects to the black troop Why'd he have to die? Is the question that we're under But everyone knows that every day's a different number So when your time comes, just remember G You'll always have a place in this world as a memory Especially my boys who passed away back in 92

Best believe that all the boys in the hoods got love for you Wherever we go, wherever we be, we be thinking Of how we hung in the club, smoking and drinking Never missing out on a hood fight Cause every day back in the hood we had a good fight Everything has changed, and people are looking lonely It's gonna be strange spending New Year's Eve without your home But ain't much that we can do

Except pork brew throughout the day To make sure we all remember you Amber, maybe it hurts To see the boy you broke bread with six feet in the dirt Another homie got smoked, but it's no surprise Everybody's trippin' cause the boy was too young to die A sad sight to see my homie take his last breath Everybody's trippin' cause they can't accept my homie's death Another killin' was reported on the evening news

Somebody's brother got killed behind a pair of shoes In the midst of all this shit I think about myself Wondered when somebody's gonna try to take me off the shelf But I refuse to be another violent casualty So when I'm rolling I pack my pistol grip beside my knee Cause on the city streets today a brother just can't win When the people you think are your friends really ain't your friends And Bushwick can't sleep

When everybody around me keeps falling six feet deep The pain that's deep inside of everybody grows As they approach to see the body before the casket closed The person standing next to me had snapped a flick Once I seen the casket closed, I knew that that was it The whole entire family spoke on his defense The choir sung our songs to make us reminisce And during all the singing I broke down myself

When I looked and seen the family that my partner left And then the choir broke into its final song Thinking to myself the worst is yet to come Everyone was headed for the final flight As we creeped along the gravel on the burial site The director said his words and there was not a sound as they lured my little pollen toast inside the ground everybody dropped their flowers on the coffin top and then the work alone with the concrete block A lot of homies died, a lot of mothers cried

I watched tears fall down from their eyes Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to take the chance They chose the music so they had to dance Couldn't tell them nothing was a play, I had to have it Got caught up in the game, now my boy's in the casket And everybody's looking for somebody else to blame Ashamed to let his mother know that he was in the game We used to kick it on the air that night

Coming up, trying to have the finer things in life but now my boy's gone i wish he was at home i wish he wouldn't have never fell victim to the clone so when i drink a brew for you i pull some on the block son you might be gone but you damn show ain't forgotten so um remember, whenever or wherever, dead or alive, real partners come together. And you know that. There's far too many of you down. Yeah.

There's far too many of you down. If you're listening to this on a Sunday, then i hope it's going okay for you feel free to get in touch let me know where you're listening how you're listening i want to know next up is one that really takes me back and means an awful lot to me personally 11 nearly 12 years ago when i was 18 i left my hometown of Stockport moved seven or eight miles up the road into Manchester which felt like a big city when I was 18 I kind of lived in the north of the city centre and I went to Salford University and every day I had lectures or classes or just band practice and I used to take the 35 to 40 minute walk over from Ancote's area over to Chapel Street in Salford in the Adelphi building and whenever I did that walk I had this next artist's album in

my ears all the time. I started university in September 2012 and I moved to Manchester the month that this song and the album it's from came out. I'd listen to the first half of the record on the way there and the second half on the way home. And whenever this song came on towards the end of the album, I used to stand there and think about how the city I lived in was a thousand miles away from the city of Compton that this artist had hailed from and many other artists before him. At the time, hip hop was something I was just beginning to get really serious about, and I credit this artist and this record, his major label debut, with encouraging me to keep coming back, to learn more, to read more lyrics, and to understand that my truth and their truth were two very different things, but still resonated with each other across the Atlantic.

This is a very long song, the full version hits 12 minutes but because time is sort of of the essence here I'll just play the first portion of the song which comes in at just over six minutes. Even in the shorter version of this song it still manages to observe death and react to death in ways I hadn't yet heard as a relatively ignorant teenager. This is track 10 from Good Kid Mad City by Kendrick Lamar and the song is Sing About Me, Dying of Thirst and we're just gonna play the sing about me section. Sometimes I look in a mirror and ask myself, am I really scared of passing away? When the lights shut off, and it's my turn to settle down

My main concern, promise that you will sing about me Promise that you will sing about me I said when the lights shut shut off and it's my turn to settle down my main concern promise that you will sing about me promise that you will sing about me i woke up this morning and figured i call you in case i'm not here tomorrow i'm hoping that i can borrow a piece of mind i'm behind on what's really important My mind is really distorted I find nothing but trouble in my life I'm fortunate you believe in a dream

This orphanage we call a ghetto is quite a routine And last night was just another distraction Or a reaction of what we consider madness I know exactly what happened You ran outside when you heard my brother cry for help Held him like a newborn baby and made him feel Like everything was alright in a fight he tried to put up But the type of bullet that stuck had went against his will

Last blood spill on your hands, my plan's rather vindictive Everybody's a victim in my eyes, when I ride it's a murderous rhythm And outside became pitch black, a demon glued to my back Whisper and get him, I got him and I ain't give a fuck That same mentality I told my brother not to duck in actuality it's a trip how we trip off of colors I wonder if I ever discover a passion like you and recover the life that I knew as a youngin in pajamas and thun-thul-uns

when thunder comes it rains cats and dogs dumb niggas like me never prosper prognosis of a problem child I'm proud and well devoted This Pyrus shit been in me forever So forever I'ma push it Wherever, whenever And I love you cause you love my brother like you did Just promise me you tell this story

When you make it big And if I die before your album drop I hope Promise that you will Sing about me Promise that you will Sing about me Promise that you will sing about me I said when the lights shut off Then it's my turn to settle down I ain't concerned Promise that you will sing about me

Promise that you will sing about me You wrote a song about my sister on your tape and called it Section 80 The message resembled Brenda's got a baby. What's crazy was I was hearing about it but doubted your ignorance. How could you ever just put her on blast and shit? Judging her past and shit. Well, it's completely my future. Her nigga behind me right now asking for ass and shit.

And I'ma need that $40 even if I gotta fuck, suck, and swallow. In the parking lot, Gonzales Park, I'm followed by a merry man and father of three My titties bounce on the cadence of his tingling keys Matter of fact, he my favorite cause he tip me with ease He got a cousin named David and I seen him last week This is the life of another girl damaged by the system These foster homes, I run away and never do miss them See my hormones just run away and if I can get them back to where they used to be

Then I'll probably be in the denim of a family gene that show women how to be woman or better yet a leader. You need to learn something then you probably need to beat her. That's how I was taught. Three niggas in one room. First time I was tossed and I'm exhausted. But fuck that sorry for your lost shit. My sister died in vain but what point are you trying to gain if you can't fit the pumps? I walk in.

I wait. Your rebuttal a little too late, and if you have an album date, just make sure I'm not in the zone, cause I don't need the attention, bring enough of that on my own, and matter of fact did I mention that I physically feel great, a doctor's approval, it's a waste of time, I know I'm straight, I probably live longer than you, and never fade away, I'll never fade away, I'll never fade away, I know my fate, and I'm on the ground for this cake, I'ma get it or die trying, I'm straight, I probably live longer than you and never fade away I'll never fade away, I'll never fade away, I know my fate And I'm on the ground for this cake, I'ma get it or die trying I'm eyeing every male gender with intentions, I'm buying you lying To these motherfuckers talking about you can't help me with my story You can help me if you sell this pussy for me, nigga don't ignore me, nigga fuck your mom, you're bullshit

When the lights shut off, and it's my turn to settle down My main concern, promise that you will see about me Promise that you will see about me I said when the lights shut off and it's my turn to settle down My main concern, promise that you will see about me Promise that you will sing about me I promise that you will sing about me Sometimes I look in the mirror and ask myself Am I really scared of passing away?

If it's today, I hope I hear a cry from heaven so loud It can water down a demon with the Holy Ghost Till it drown in the blood of Jesus I wrote some raps that make sure that my lifeline Reek in the scent of a reaper Ensuring that my allegiance with the other side may come soon. And if I'm doomed, may the wound of my mother be blessed for many moons. I suffer a lot.

And every day that glass mirror get tougher to watch. I tie my stomach in knots. And I'm not sure why I'm infatuated with death. My imagination is surely an aggravation of threats that can come about. Cause the tongue is mighty powerful. And I can name a list of your favorites that probably vouch Maybe cause I'm a dreamer and sleep is the cousin of death Really stuck in the schema of wondering when I'm arrest

And you're right, your brother was a brother to me And your sister's situation was the one that put me In a direction to speak on something that's realer than the TV screen By any means, wasn't trying to hold Finn to come between Her personal life I was like it need to be told cursing the life of 20 generations after her soul exactly what'll happen

if I ain't continue rapping or steady being distracted by money drugs and four fives I count lives all on these songs look at the weekend cry pray one day you be strong fighting for your rights even when you're wrong and hope that at least one of you think about me, fighting for your rights, even when you're wrong And hope that at least one of you think about me when I'm gone

Am I worth it? Did I put enough work in? Promise that you will sing about me Promise that you will sing about me I said when the lights shut off and it's my turn to settle down I ain't concerned Promise that you will sing about me Promise that you will sing about me Promise that you'll sing about me

Promise that you'll sing about me That was such a nice trip down memory lane for me, and I hope that if you are completely new to this, that in 11 or 12 years' time you look back on this moment and remember where you found Good Kid, Mad City, or Sing About Me, or Kendrick Lamar, or a love of hip-hop that was just waiting to be released. Last up on this first episode is a song that gave this first episode its title of One Day You're Here.

This song comes from July 1996. Shortly before his death, Tupac Shakur was handed a copy of the album that this song is from, which is called Riding Dirty, and was hugely impressed by this next song in particular. The group performing it were from Port Arthur in Texas and they were a huge part of the southern hip hop scene in the 90s. The group consists of two members who are Pimp C and Bun B. It was around 2012, when I was 18 actually, that I was introduced to Bun B via Killer Mike's album from that year, which was R.A.P. music. This song is up last because I think it's the emotional core of the episode and it sums up a lot of what we've explored today. This feeling that death is always sudden and unexpected, even when you are taught and raised to anticipate it's coming from the

moment you're born and it also proves that no amount of preparation can be done to cope with grief but it's not just about grief through death this song it's also about grief that comes from watching your friends go to prison and knowing that you're not going to see them for years and years you grieve the space that they leave behind, whether they're still in this world or not. The backing is yet another Isley Brothers track. This time it's Ain't I Been Good To You, parts one and two. And I would highly encourage you to seek that track out, not just because it's, you know, so wonderful, but also to compare how the phrase, day you're here baby and then you're

gone is used so differently in both tracks in the Isley Brothers track and this track which is One Day by UGK known as The Underground Kings. My mama's only son but I'm living every day like it's my last one. And then you're gone Yeah, yeah, yeah I know Yeah, well, well I know, I know, I know, yeah Mama put me out at only 14 So I start selling crack cocaine and codeine

Time to stack some paper, I gotta do it quick Thinking I'm a juvenile But they don't know who they messin' with, yeah My mama's only son, but I live every day Like it's my motherfuckin' last one Every nigga and they mama askin' why But I'm in the game, live by the game And in the game, I'ma die

And if I die, or should I say, if I go Bury me in Horn Clock next to the coming goat Cause tomorrow ain't promised to me The only thing promised to a player is the penitentiary So I'ma take care of my business on the smooth tip Watch my back selling crack and pack two clips And when you think about that, you say It'll be on

it's a trip to here today but the next day you're here, baby, and then you're gone One day you're here, baby, and then you're gone This world we livin' in, man, it ain't nothin' but drama Everyone wanna harm ya, and New York niggas gettin' shot for bombers Now they got your life in a bomber, they ain't like California Niggas with dubs of hydroponic Marijuana, gang banging, got the ghetto hotter than a sauna Found an orange, my nigga box died on the corner Behind a funky-ass dice game I saw him once before we died, wish it was twice, man

I remember being eight deep off a chuggy crib letting us act bad not giving a fuck what we did when we lost him I knew the world was coming to the end and I had to quit letting that devil push me to ascend my brother being in a pen for damn near 10 but now it look like when he come out man I'm going in so shit I walk around with my mind blown in my own fucking zone Cause one day you're here, the next day you're gone One day you're here, baby, and then you're gone The next day you're gone One day you're here, baby, and then you're gone

I'm up early cause ain't enough light in the daytime Smoked two sweets and sold these chickens for the clock like nine Big nut holder, my boulder smolder on the PA pipes AK loader as I get squalid under city lights Niggas be looking shy, so I look shy back Can't show no weakness with these bitches, get your life jacked Man, it's a trip where I stay, especially for me Them bitches tryna lock me up for the whole century

They gave my nigga Donnie 40, Dante 19 I wish that we could smoke again and take a tight lean My world a trip, you can ask Bambi, bitch, I ain't no liar My man Bobo just lost his baby in a house fire And when I got on my knees that night to pray I asked God, why you let these killers live and take my home? What's on the way? Man, if you got kids, you love them because God just might call them home.

Because one day they're here and maybe the next day they gone. I know, you know, yeah I know, yeah, yeah Then they go, come on And then you go, I know, you know I know, yeah If you oh oh oh oh oh I don't care Oh la la la la La la la Mmm Mmm No no no no no

Come on no no no Come on baby La la la la One day you're here baby And then you're gone Oh one day you're here baby One day you're gone One way And then you're gone Gone

Don't leave me Don't leave me Baby Thank you so much for joining me for this first episode. There are going to be a handful more in the future where we will be covering different topics by different artists. This podcast was born because I found myself listening to hip-hop tracks that made me feel a certain way. Melancholic, wistful, sad, nostalgic,

and I realised that I had compiled enough to make the show, and I hope it's a great journey for you. That's it for now, and I'll hopefully see you soon, so bye bye. Thank you.