Saturday, January 3, 2009

My Life’s Soundtrack - Crowd Mentality

Almost everyone’s feeling M.I. like craze right now but how many people actually knew the brother before he dropped his album? I remember listening to this track for the very first time and feeling “Men! This is the REAL ISH!” The beat, the smooth lyrical flow, the clarity of his rap lines and the deep message in the track, - the fine points of this song are just too numerous to enumerate.

It’s a New Year and what better time for each and every one of us to break free from our self-imposed societal shackles than now?

Before “Talk About It” there was “Crowd Mentality” and before that there was M.I.. Here’s presenting “Crowd Mentality…”


Crowd Mentality - M.I. feat Uche (from the Album “Talk About It”)
Transcribed by: Naughty Eyes


[Spoken Intro]
Now we’re gonna talk about something serious

Yo! M.I., Yo! Chocolate City, Yo! Rythchus Era

[Rap 1]
If you don’t have a mind of your own
Don’t be disappointed, this is fine, be a clone
Listen to me rhyme, I’m done trying to be mine all alone
And to make things connect like a spine to a bone
I’ve changed my mind I’d rather be the same as
All these fake ass entertainers
Make bad music just to rock in arenas
Use words like… (no bad language on radio)
‘Cos I tried hard to make the difference
Make the kind of music youse can use as reference
Everybody else say: let’s dance
Who am I to tell them otherwise?
That’s a job for Reverends
So I’m ready now to join the movement
Together press for negative improvement
Everybody or not
To forever end the search for life

[Hook]
So when I say jump (jump)
Everybody in the place dance (dance)
Everybody in the place move (move)
Everybody in the world just scream (scream! scream!!)
When I say jump (jump)
Everybody in the place dance (dance)
Everybody in the place move (move)
Everybody in the whole world stop (scream? Huh? Oh-uh?)

[Rap 2]
If you don’t have a mind for yourself
Don’t be disappointed, this is good for your health
It’s the road to riches and to diamonds and wealth
Redesigned it myself, to all Black people put your mind on your shelf
It’s Ok to be poor, be needy
Better yet still care for more, be greedy
Everybody get mis-educated
Be lazy, fat, stupid with your mind sedated
No matter how many songs I sing
About truth, honesty, it’ll never change a thing
I just wanna be rich and famous
The world is screaming out: Please entertain us!
Yo, the whole world is glass or plastic
It’s split like refraction, need action drastic
So forgive me I’m a tad sarcastic
These venomous lyrics on my lips like chopsticks

[Hook 2]
So when I say sit (sit)
Everybody in the place stand (stand)
Everybody in the place jump (jump)
Everybody in the place scream (scream! scream!!)
When I say sit (sit)
Everybody in the place stand (stand)
Everybody in the world just jump (jump)
Everybody in the world be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)

Yeah, break it down, break it down, break it down (x3)
Here we go!

[Rap 3]
So the moral of this song is
There are people walking around just like zombies
And it’s so strange, how people are afraid of change
Afraid of what would happen if we re-arrange
So most Black people are just doing what the crowd do
Doing what the system say, that we’re allowed to
So break free from the crowd mentality
And then we can start to build a new reality.

(Now you’ve got to know
Said you’ve got to know
And you’ve got to know
Who you are)

[Hook 3]
So come on, everybody in the place fly
Everybody in the place dream
Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)
When I say shine (shine)
Everybody in the place fly (fly)
Everybody in the place dream (dream)
Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)
When I say sing (sing)
Everybody in the place speak (speak)
Everybody in the place c’mon shout (shout)
Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)
When I say sing (sing)
Everybody in the place speak (speak)
Everybody in the place shout (shout)
Everybody in the place be yourself (be yourself, be yourself)

Be yourself

Yo! Be Black / Beautiful / Strong / Correct / Nice / Good / Right / Tight / Alright / Creative / Native / Real / Have Skills, Stand Tall
And be all you can be

(Now you’ve got to know
Said you’ve got to know
And you’ve got to know
Who you are)

And that’s all I have to say about that

Lyrics © 2008 M.I. & Chocolate City Music

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

cool.. any links to a youtube video.... That would be them final wow-factor... lol...

seye said...

I knew M.I before the album but i got disappointed listening to the album. I think it was too commercial! I mean, MI is talented. what he came out with IS NOT HIM! The talent display was not as rich as he really is!

doug said...

Frankly I had never heard of the dude till I went to Wapi around July/August last year. But for sure, he's tight.

@seye: the guy wan chop money now.

Sisem E. Naidem said...

@ DB: Sorry! Scoured YouTube and co for the vids and even the lyrics sites too but didn't see any. Had to tarnscribe them myself! Still looking to make the post more cool though!

@ Seye: I agree with you on the over-commercialization. He even used D' Banj's "Mo Gbono Feli Feli" beat on a new single just so he can appeal to people more (in my opinion). M. I.'s sure BETTER than that!

@ Doug: You went for Wapi? Men, that's why I'm clamouring for a job in Lag so I can go to all these cool literary forums. Remind me so we can hook up when next I storm Lasgidi.