"Old Man Traveling" and "Fly on the Wall" by Jay Rock
(Male response to emotions)
"Old Man Traveling"
The little hedge-row birds, That peck along the road, regard him not. He travels on, and in his face, his step, His gait, is one expression; every limb, His look and bending figure, all bespeak A man who does not move with pain, but moves With thought—He is insensibly subdued To settled quiet: he is one by whom All effort seems forgotten, one to whom Long patience has such mild composure given, That patience now doth seem a thing, of which He hath no need. He is by nature led To peace so perfect, that the young behold With envy, what the old man hardly feels. —I asked him whither he was bound, and what The object of his journey; he replied "Sir! I am going many miles to take "A last leave of my son, a mariner, "Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth, And there is dying in an hospital." |
"Fly on the Wall"
Fly away, sometimes I wish I could fly away There was a young ghetto child going wild after running 'round Who came from a happy home, then got lost in the jungle Hit a lick for like ten chicks Brought it back to the bricks then got everybody rich Started his own clique, recruited all piranhas His favorite phrase: that's on hundreds His niggas trained to go where ever he point you got shitted on Or smoked like a joint Here comes his line-up, first 48 people remain silent All his goons still remain violent Damn, there goes another body, oh shit, sirens Another bite the dust like Mickey Thompson tires Lights flashing, niggas stunt like the grammys No one’s exempt, they’ll sell a rock to your granny Now here's the part where jealousy comes out to play Hood politics official when they want you out of thee way Now back then we ain't never mention this word ‘Cause if you caught snitching consequences fo sho Niggas'll throw you out on the freeway with a shell in your dome And no feelings is shown Then look inside the eyes of these killers A blank stare, that's different than stones Got you wondering, where in life, where they went wrong? Don't wanna cross these types, if you do think twice It's life saving, don't get caught slipping when you ice skating When you stand still you can witness it all Picture the vision from a fly on the wall When you stand still you can witness it all Picture the vision from a fly on the wall Now when the sun rise, this young man sees money's a big deal New Chevelle, wipe in the morning do cross his windshield Killer's saturation while the smokers run through sanitation For the bags of hands, this young man, calculating for the long run Since ya homies been on one lately No one's safe, he keeping his chrome off safety Headed to the function, momma's gone, they children out cussin' See this young man hit this bitch for all them niggas she fuckin' Knowin' one man's been intimate touchin' Til the big homie found out, gave his ass concussion He don't want nothin' now, he walkin' on crutches now Couldn't see him from the shoulders He thinkin' how can he buck him down Hold up, the eyes is watchin' Gotta be more smart now, devise this option Watch how the plot thickens The clock tickin', his weak spot is a thot Just notice he can't stop trickin', got him Now this how it starts He take a bat when he know to go play with his heart Had his nose wide open while gettin' head at the park She set the GPS location like this where we park Now you know what's next It's crazy how life can end all through a text Got us wishin' we was all born with a vest I know you prolly witnessed it all But picture the vision from the fly on the walll When you stand still you can witness it all Picture the vision from a fly on the wall When you stand still you can witness it all Picture the vision from a fly on the wall Jay Rock what up though? I'm here with you Let's give 'em a classic, you know I'm here and prepared with you Keep niggas inspired, you know I'm comin' to share it with you And when the wheels fall off I'll get out and put on a spare with you Let me be real with you, mhmm It's been selected, let me give you my fly on the wall perspective Sometimes niggas don't listen, I'm hopin' this serves a purpose Cause that's some of the realest shit that you talked about in them verses Hopin' they feel this shit despite how the devils is workin' To avoid tellin' on myself, I try to speak in third person See we done been through some shit, throughout my lifeline We was flies on the wall too from the shit we seen in our lifetime And through these songs there were digressions Some stories we shared through music Question if we in our right mind Now I'm a new fuckin' fly on the wall I wanna see how many rappers really write rhymes And we've been rockin' for a long time, Jay Rock They ain't got a clue of the timing I heard about you from Slay when you started shinin' They ain't knowin' this our fourth collab from 2009 and Slay heard about you from my nigga Wack But they ain't know when Top Dog introduced you, nigga The way we out, we always give you crack Not knowin' that we had the raw just to split you, niggas To tell the truth there's no problem we can't solve So let me tell the truth, again I'm so proud of how you evolved Me and Jay Rock kill these niggas 'til they dissolve I hope you appreciate my view as the biggest fly on the wall |
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The Parallels:
In "Old Man Traveling," there is an old man seen walking, and all the young men admire him for his demeanor. He comes across as logical, resonable, and not given to passion. There is a distance to him. This is particularly interesting at the end when we discover that he's headed, in such a manner, to see his dying son for potentially the last time. Likewise, in "Fly on the Wall," Jay Rock tells us about distant emotionless killers. This is what's necessary to survive in world that is as harsh as the world that he lives in. The very concept of being a fly on the wall implies the ability to be distant, or safe. In this song, we see the fly as one that is safely capable of existing in the space; it can be present and absorb the information that is presented, or observe the events that occur. Although this fly is admirable because it's capable of escape, like the old man who can feel nothing, in order to survive pain. One interesting challenge faced when finding a song to make this connection, was finding a song dealing with grief. The way masculinity operates within hip-hop tends to make examples of male grieving harder to find. As well as this, I didn't find a song about the grief of a father in regards to a son, and this has to do with the well known concept of fatherlessness in black urban culture. The fact that these challenges exist in our research, also indicates the unique challenges that face the members (particularly men in this context) of urban black culture.
In "Old Man Traveling," there is an old man seen walking, and all the young men admire him for his demeanor. He comes across as logical, resonable, and not given to passion. There is a distance to him. This is particularly interesting at the end when we discover that he's headed, in such a manner, to see his dying son for potentially the last time. Likewise, in "Fly on the Wall," Jay Rock tells us about distant emotionless killers. This is what's necessary to survive in world that is as harsh as the world that he lives in. The very concept of being a fly on the wall implies the ability to be distant, or safe. In this song, we see the fly as one that is safely capable of existing in the space; it can be present and absorb the information that is presented, or observe the events that occur. Although this fly is admirable because it's capable of escape, like the old man who can feel nothing, in order to survive pain. One interesting challenge faced when finding a song to make this connection, was finding a song dealing with grief. The way masculinity operates within hip-hop tends to make examples of male grieving harder to find. As well as this, I didn't find a song about the grief of a father in regards to a son, and this has to do with the well known concept of fatherlessness in black urban culture. The fact that these challenges exist in our research, also indicates the unique challenges that face the members (particularly men in this context) of urban black culture.