Matt Walsh tries to understand Tekashi 6ix9ine
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
174.15848
Summary
Tekashi 69 is one of the most misunderstood rappers of all time. He s a gang member who sold out his crew to avoid 40 years in prison. And yet, he s also a poet, a singer, and a humanitarian.
Transcript
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Hey guys, this is Matt. What you're about to listen to is from my rap review series where I try to find the deeper meaning in the genre.
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You can subscribe to my YouTube page at youtube.com slash The Matt Wall Show so you can watch the entire series.
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Okay, I'm very excited today for the chance to listen to and experience a joint from my man, Tekashi69.
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He is, for my money, one of the most transcendent artists in the history of Western civilization.
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As a poet, I put him on the level of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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As a singer, he's Pavarotti. As a humanitarian, he's Mother Teresa.
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And to think he achieved all of that despite suffering that horrific accident where he fell into a giant tie-dye machine.
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He actually, well, he actually looks a little bit like a bowl of Fruity Pebbles come to life.
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Or maybe he looks like something out of a Skittles commercial in hell.
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But I say all of that in a positive way. It's all part of his genius, really.
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Now, the song we're going to be experiencing today is a classic.
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It's an oldie, one of the Tekashi69 songs that my dad was listening to back in the day.
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It's not from Tekashi's newest album, which, by the way, is available now for purchase.
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Tattletale being a little reference to the fact that he's a gang member who sold out his crew to avoid 40 years in prison.
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Lots of people think that, you know, he lost street cred for that because he's a snitch and all that.
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But personally, I think it makes him more relatable.
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Because I can tell you, I would totally flip on my crew to avoid 40 years in prison.
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If I'm going down, I'm taking a whole lot of people with me.
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If I had a crew, I mean, at all, I would flip on them.
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And I'm never going to get one if I keep talking like this.
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But if I had a crew, I would dime them out in a second.
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And 12 seconds later, I will have told them everything.
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I don't think I've ever had a friendship that I wouldn't ruin to avoid a lifetime in prison.
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But in any case, that's just the background on the artist.
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See, can I just say here, you know, I appreciate this dichotomy.
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And already we're seeing the nuances of Tekashi 6ix9ine.
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In the next moment, though, he's pointing a gun at your face.
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But I can also shoot you in the head for no reason.
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Now, a therapist might say that that's a symptom of a psychopathic personality disorder.
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But I say, no, this is just what it means to be human, really.
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Okay, now let's take a second to reflect on these lyrics.
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Now, this is the kind of moment in a Tekashi song where I know that he gets me.
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You know, he understands where I'm coming from.
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And I feel a little bit less alone in the universe.
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Because so often I walk through life feeling, frankly, booted.
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And often my wife will say to me, honey, you're not booted, are you?
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And I'll say, okay, well, if you don't want me to be booted, then get this sucker up out
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So just a normal marital spat that couples have while walking through Bed Bath & Beyond on
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She a skis, uh, really don't need her, uh, busting a lever, uh, she a lil' eater, uh,
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get back, kick back, blow your sh** back, uh, rip that, take that, flip that, send that,
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uh, two, two, three, hit, where you hold that, uh, skim gang, buck that, spendy for that.
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Probably you don't want to take a job as a cameraman on a Tekashi 6ix9ine music video,
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because you're going to have a lot of people pointing probably loaded guns right at you.
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I mean, there are a lot of basic gun safety protocols that are being disregarded here.
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If you don't know how to handle one of these things, you got no business carrying one.
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You know, I just wonder how many cameramen perished during the making of this video.
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Everybody's dancing, jumping up and down, drinking God knows what, probably high,
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and they're literally singing about killing people.
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And meanwhile, they all have loaded guns, and they're pointing it at the camera that you're holding.
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I just, it seems like a hazardous combination of factors.
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I hope they have workman's comp, is all I'm, it's really all I'm saying.
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However many cameramen died, they didn't die in vain.
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Okay, N-words running out their mouth, but they never pop out.
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I got the drop on your spot, everybody watch out.
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I think what Takashi is saying here is, what he's saying is that man is a creature which reaches beyond himself,
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which cries out for something greater than himself, running out their mouth, right?
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Meaning the words, as you are deep in prayer, spring forth from your mouth, running, streaming.
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Takashi is saying, you as a person, on the other hand, you are bound by physical laws.
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You are attached to your mortal coil, and you cannot pop out.
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I got that drop on your spot, Takashi observes.
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And it's so true, because we are all, as it were, dropped onto our spots.
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We are all plucked out of eternity, dropped into this physical frame, and we can but obey its limitations.
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But Takashi 6.9 is really asking us to reflect on this fundamental tension between man's desire and man's limitation.
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Honestly, when I listen to a Takashi 6.9 song, and when I look at him, I'm reminded, you know, a lot of C.S. Lewis, the mid-20th century Christian apologist.
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And something C.S. Lewis once said was, if I find in myself a desire which nothing in this world can satisfy,
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the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.
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And I imagine Takashi 6.9 had that passage in mind when he wrote those lyrics, because very similar themes are at work here.
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Tie her up, drive that s**t off a bridge, little boy!
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Tie her up, drive that s**t off a bridge, little boy!
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that's um oh okay that's just him threatening to kidnap your mother and
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drive her off a bridge i think that's all that is there
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so that's that's that was the point of that line i guess um let's just let's just keep let's keep
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let's collect ourselves here and and and focus in on that final line of the song
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he says we post up we don't do the race you go and die today stunning it takes my breath away
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just this line alone is poetic and biting and rebellious and and satirical what he's saying
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here is that we post up like fence posts you know we erect fence posts walling ourselves in hiding
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from the reality of our own mortality we don't want to enter into the race of human existence
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because we know where that race ends and indeed that it ends to enter the race is to approach
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every moment near the finish line but the kashi says you go and die today he says today maybe
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not today literally but but one day on a day someday you will die so he says embrace the
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finitude confront your life in its brevity and live it with fervor and honesty paint your hair
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in rainbow colors and your teeth and get together with your homies and dance dance
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takashi 6 9 a scriptural scholar in his own right he's pulling you can tell directly from the book
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of isaiah which says and behold joy and gladness slaying oxen killing sheep eating flesh and drinking
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wine let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die that's exactly the truth so live now for tomorrow
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you shall die or in fact today you might die especially if you're high on crack and dancing
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with a loaded gun and i think that's the lesson we really take away from this something for us all
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to think about as we go about the rest of our day which may be our final day thanks for watching