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https://renegade328.wordpress.com/ October 6, 2023 Analysis
a lyrical analysis by D.B. Myrrha
Ren’s recent offering, Down on the Beat, featuring the deep-voiced Brighton rapper with pretty cheekbones, Viktus, is a clever, bar-rich hip-hop offering over a driving, bass-heavy, EDM beat.
As I’m neither a musician nor a producer, I’ll be mostly focusing here on the poetic form and wordplay, only briefly pointing out things I’ve noticed musically. This should take me a lot less time than my last dissertation. It might also have fewer dick references, but it probably won’t.
I’ll also be concentrating on my own interpretation of the lyrics, which means they will likely not be as comprehensive. I have watched several reactors, although I thought I might die if I watched sixty this time, so I only watched the sexiest ones. I welcome comments adding other interpretations, or nicely telling me I know fuck-all.
Now, on to the meat.
The Lyrics
(Hook) When I put it down on the beat I’mma make it sound so sweet When you hear the sound of the gun That’s a cue to run
When I put it down on the beat I’mma make it sound so sweet When you hear the sound of the gun That’s a cue to run (bla)
Immediately, the EDM beat kicks in. The vocals are flattened and distorted. Ren seems to be electronic-ifying his voice to make it part of the EDM sound itself (I’m pretty sure I just made up a word, but fuck it.) The sound is pretty cool and, when played loud, makes me want to take a bunch of ecstasy and dance in an abandoned car park waving glow-sticks.
Ren struts in with a flex on his tongue. He’s gonna spit some bars. When he tells you to run when you hear the gun, it means you’d better be prepared to try to catch up with him. What exactly is he putting down on the beat? It it simply the vocal track? Could it be detractors? Is this some sort of foreshadowing?
This here is the starting gun, and he’s about to Usain Bolt out of here: good luck catching up. It’s a race, a competition, a challenge to match his skill.
He is also intimating that he is the starting gun. He’s the instigator of the art, but also the one who’s in control. He reiterates this by repeating what he said again.
The bla! at the end of the verse is only one of many vocalized sounds Ren uses in the song to blend with the instrumentation. That boy is certainly good with his mouth. His pretty, pretty mouth. (At least that’s what your mom told me.)
(Verse) When I put it down on the beat I’mma make it sound so sweet Likkle men love to speak I don’t lose sleep in the whispers of sheep
In this first section of verse 1, Ren uses near end rhymes (beat, sweet , speak, sheep) to create a steady rhythm. Internally, he uses two types of rhyme. Down and sound are both internal rhymes that echo one another, while sleep joins the end rhymes aurally (and also orally, as they come out of Ren’s mouth.)
Here comes Ren’s initial attempt to confuse Americans with the use of a British colloquialism. He’s given up trying to pander to us, and left us to struggle, as we often do, with the English language. The word likkle means “little” and it’s a word borrowed from Jamaican patois. We already know Ren has a great appreciation for the Jamaican sound. For what it’s worth, Amy Winehouse uses the word in her song I’m No Good (“likkle carpet burns”) and no one complained about that.
Ren doesn’t lose sleep in the whispers of sheep. While he found himself miscounting them in Suicide, he is sleeping soundly now while “sheep” (little men, detractors and nay-sayers) are baaaah-ing their nonsense. He feels no need to follow the herd, either. He has his own things to say, as he goes on to tell us.
When you hear the sound of the gun Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat, that’s my tongue Spit like thunder come Drums in Moria, boom, boom, rum-rum-tum
This verse is simply exploding with onomatopoeia. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat, boom, rum-rum-tum, all exploding sounds, warning of dangerous spitting to come (like thunder.) Simple end rhyme keeps the sounds contained. For now.
Ren’s giving us some more tongue-action in his rat-a-tat-tat-lickety-flickety rap style. He’s coming at us fast (I’m assuming “thunder come” isn’t another soup ingredient.) This thunder can be heard in the drums of Moria, the deep Dwarven realm in Lord of the Rings, the first film reference of many in this song.
Moria is the realm of the Balrog who, like Ren, is/spits fire. The competition needs to fuck right off: they shall not pass.
I’m a king, who’s the king? I’m a king, I’m the king of the ring, I’mma run this thing I’m a don, yan-ying on a ying-yang thing Jump upon that swing of the drum, vim-vim-vim
Continuing with the Lord of the Rings theme, Ren claims to be a king. In fact, he’s king of the ring (Sauron, the all-powerful?) It is also possible that the ring refers to his other two ring-based passions: the boxing ring (referred to in countless other songs) or the wrestling ring (Swanton bomb references are common, and Love Music, pt. 3 contains a juicy Hulk Hogan reference. –Apropos to nothing, Hulk Hogan and I share a birthday. Yay, Leos!) Technically, there could be another reference, to a ring he put his finger in like Frodo. I mean he seems to find joy in surprise anal penetration, which could definitely cause a competitor to lose focus. YOLO.
The repetition of the word king adds percussion to the flow, as well as punctuating the lines with internal rhyme. The beat also drops here (between “I’m the king” and “of the ring”) with a thumping bass that rises up from the basement.
He then calls himself a don again. If this were a boxing reference, he could be referring to Don King, the famous American boxing promoter. Maybe he is throwing us a Toblerone after all. Of course, a don is the “kingpin” of any mafia family, and Ren is definitely part of a close-knit “family.”
Here, though, Ren flips the switch into a new scheme with a verbal upset. Yan Ying was a Chinese philosopher, a contemporary of the better-known philosopher Confucius, described as “by far the most creative thinker of the Chunqiu age”. So, I guess it didn’t matter what Confucius said when Yan Ying was around. Ren flips the name into yin-yang, the Chinese concept of opposite but interconnected forces, Chinese concepts being Yan Ying’s “thing”. The idea of the yin-yang, of all things containing both dark and light, is a common refrain in Ren’s personal philosophy, as well as being one of the main themes of “Hi, Ren.” He seems to be saying that he is a master of both good and evil, dark and light, and he’s gonna jump on that rhythm like he jumped in the back seat with your girl on the back streets of Brighton.
Incidentally, there is also a hip-hop duo called the Yin-Yang Twins. Just a fact for funsies.
As Ren jumps on the vim-vim-vim of the drum, he swings us into the next quatrain.
Voom-voom, blat, come through like that I’m not new to rap on a Zulu cap And I do do tracks, and I do make stacks What do you do, lad? are you true to that?
Voom-voom, more onomatopoeia, drums down upon the beat of a verse containing a nice set of internal to external rhymes. In fact, this quatrain contains double internal rhymes because Ren’s just a king like that.
voom/ through, blat/ that new/ Zulu, rap/ cap do do/ do, tracks/ stacks you do/ you true, lad/ that
This is some fancy writing, lad, I’m not going to lie. Ren has laid down a challenge to all comers. He’s not new to rap, and he can kick your likkle bum back to wherever it is you came from. The Zulu may refer to the mastery of Black OG rappers in referring obliquely to Shaka, the king of the Zulu nation, known for his ass-kicking military prowess. By using the term cap which in slang refers to something fake or dishonest, it can be assumed he’s letting the likkle sheep know he’s not trying to be anything he’s not. He’s no wannabe.
After all, what has he been doing? He’s making tracks, one after the other, and he’s becoming more successful, and he’s (perhaps) exaggerating his income, because he’s a rapper and he’s gotta make stacks (And I’m sure he does have a stack of 34 common house potatoes somewhere. That counts, right?)
When he refers to the recipient of his flex, he calls him “lad,” as if he’s a kid. I know British youth refer to their mates as lads, but in this context, it seems as if he’s talking down to him. What do you do? Are you as devoted to it as I am? Are you as good as I am? I doubt it. He’s the king, and everyone else is a peasant.
On this beat I’m fat like a sumo My name’s Ren and I know my judo Candlestick killer, kill them like Cluedo Numero duo? Numero uno.
This song, which switches flow in this section, has a lot of fat beats, especially with the throbbing bass line. Ren is also “phat”, a ’90s rap slang term meaning “excellent” (when not referring to a woman, wherein it usually meant “hot as phuck”. ) A Japanese sumo wrestler, of course, is professionally fat and lauded for it, as they are also strong and can steamroll (literally, if they wanted) over their opponents.
Ren tells us what his name is in several songs: Hi Ren, What You Want, Sixteen Bar Challenge, and Love Music pt. 2. Perhaps he’s afraid we’ll forget, or perhaps he’s just asserting dominance, putting his name out there like an O.G. Yeah, you still know me.
The real question people want to know, though, is, “Does Ren really know judo?” Taking into account his skills at basketball and boxing, we may have reason to doubt this claim, but since Ren is king, he can say anything he fucking wants to, and we’re intimidated. Judo, like Sumo, is a Japanese art, so it fits the theme as well as the scheme.
The game Cluedo is called Clue in the United States, which is why some reactors just thought it was a funny rhyme when it was really, again, just English. In the game of Clue/do, one of the potential murder weapons is a candlestick. There was also a real murderer who killed someone with a candlestick in 1958, but that was a gay hate crime, so I’m pretty sure Ren isn’t referring to that. He is getting back into that sexy Murderer vibe, though.
Clue was also a movie starring Tim Curry, who is English and took the role even though the title was spelled wrong. A true martyr for the Crown. Snake Venom V, one of the most awesome reactors out there, pointed out that a lot of Ren’s references are movies, and whether or not they were conscious (Ren does love movie references) it’s worth pointing them out.
Lastly, he queries, “Numero duo? Numero uno.” I’m not number two, I’m number one. And I’m extra sexy because I speak Spanish. If, as I suspect, Ren is directly or indirectly challenging someone, he has directly relegated them to the number two spot, and no one wants to be Number Two.
The verse starts a lovely repetitive lean on the vowels u-o, with sumo, judo, cluedo, numero, duo, uno. That last line is a doozy, with four u-os in a row. It leads us into the next quatrain, which could really just be seen as a continuation of the last one.
You know, speak so frank like Bruno Hey- Cera he loves Juno, Hugo Boss man drip with a new flow— true though Sharingan killer, they call me Naruto
Here go the u-os: you know/ Bruno/ Juno/ Hugo/ New flow/ true though/ Naruto. Not all of these are perfectly true to the u-o scheme in an exact sense, but they scan aurally, and everyone appreciates good aural.
On the superficial movie tip, Bruno, Juno, and Hugo are all films, and there are several anime movies in the Naruto series.
Digging a likkle deeper, though, there are a lot more obvious references to be found.
“Speak so frank like Bruno” is a good example. Lots of people immediately jumped to the movie Bruno (also known by the mock title Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt) , and its titular character played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Bruno is pretty frank, saying basically any outrageous shit he wants. However, the reference more likely points to Frank Bruno, a British boxer with a 95% knockout-to-win ratio. He lost to Mohammed Ali twice, and was a popular celebrity even after he retired. He was known for being very open about his battles with mental health.
We love how the next line opens with Hey– Cera which reminds us of “Que Sera”, which might be a coincidence, but its a nice mental resonance. Fans of Arrested Development (which we might say is a problem Ren battled in Love Music pt. 4), will know Michael Cera, who was, of course in the movie Juno with Eliot Page. Cera’s character plays Paulie, Juno’s BFF/ babydaddy/ boyfriend.
Hugo Boss is a fashion empire started by boss man Hugo Boss in Germany in 1923. His career really took off after he started producing sexy uniforms for the Nazis. Still, he’s dead now, and his house still creates some boss fashion and cologne. Ren is not a Nazi, but he is a boss, and his drip (cool and fashionable ) flow is undeniable. Ren is the boss man, dripping with a stylin’ new flow.
Ren may be the flow OG, but as he has shown us numerous times, even in this offering, he is a huge nerd. After the Lord of the Rings bars, he tops it with a dollop of anime. Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. Naruto was created as a one-shot manga in 1995, but soon became an important pop culture figure in the late ’90s and 2000s. There are 72 volumes of Naruto manga in the series. Enough to binge for at least two weeks, probably.
The Sharingan killer reference puts Ren back into the role of ruthless and inescapable murderer. In Naruto manga and anime, the Sharingan is an ability that allows a ninja to copy, by mere sight, their opponents’ techniques while gaining incredible reflexes and perceptive abilities. So Ren is flexing that he can learn anyone’s skill and reflect it back better and stronger. So, if you don’t think he’s the master rapper, he’s saying, fuck y’all. He’s Naruto.
(Hook)
Verse 2
Verse two opens up with a new voice (which somehow some reactors missed–I mean, Ren does change his voice a lot, but it’s a totally different accent, guys!) It’s Viktus, the Brighton lad with the rich deep tone and great cheekbones (as pointed out by outrageously flirtatious/ horny Canuck “The Wolf” Johnson.)
When I put it down on the beat I’mma keep the ground on my feet I don’t wear no crown on the street But you still know me
All of a sudden we realize that Ren’s posturing might not have just been for show to his general public, but focused on a more local target. Even if the bars weren’t pointed directly at Viktus, the younger rapper seems to have taken offense at Ren’s claim to superiority. There is a challenger to the king.
Viktus, then, would be the “lad” referred to by Ren in the previous verse; the one warned to “run” when Ren fires his thunderous tongue-gun.
Internal verse-by-verse flexing battles are no new thing. It’s a game played in character. Here, Ren is the boss man confronted by a cheeky newcomer who seems prepared to challenge Ren for the title of sovereign.
It’s Viktus’s turn to put it down on the beat, and by this perhaps he means to put his rival down to the beat of the verse (for isn’t that what he perceives Ren just did to him?) It’s also, of course, just his turn to master a verse and put the king/murderer in his place like in some Shakespearean tragedy.
However, Viktus claims he has no need to brag about his sovereignty. He keeps his feet on the ground and doesn’t need to parade around with a crown to show his status. Everyone, at least in Brighton, still knows who he is.
And here he dips into the Forgot About Dre reference that Ren used in Love Music pt. 4: scooping it up from right under him. “You still know me.”
Vik has his own command of internal/external rhyme with down/ beat, ground/ feet, crown/ street, not to mention the end word me, a near rhyme that segues into the next stanza with
Still the same old V Still the same old house on the same old street With a brand new flow on a same old beat And it turns to gold every time I speak
“Still the same old V ” echoing “Still the same O.G.” quoted by Ren in Love Music pt. 4. This suggests that he and Ren know one another. Vik proposes that Ren has changed, become inflated in his ego, while Vik has stayed down to earth; no less known or regarded, except by Ren, his rival.
Viktus is still a home boy in the literal sense. He still lives in his same house in his same street. He is a neighborhood fixture, and everyone knows him. His flow, though, is new, suggesting that he is fresh, ready to take on the self-proclaimed King and assimilate his territory. (Is resistance futile? Who knows what we will find out by the end of the song.) Viktus does proclaim that his words turn to gold with his new flows, so its obviously he is taking up/presenting a challenge.
The scheme is similar to some of Ren’s above with the repetition of the word old: old V, old house, old street, new flow (breaks up the monotony), old beat. Flow near-rhymes with old, and the “new flow” shows that not everything is exactly the same in the old neighborhood.
If the characters Vik and Ren espouse in the song grew up in the same estate (estate= British housing projects) then this plays out as a musical turf-war, like it might in any ‘hood in the U.S. Two rappers head-to-head, fighting for local, if not worldwide, supremacy. Vik seems determined to show himself equal to Ren.
Look me in the eye, bro, thriller like Michael Wait, delete that, I made a typo. Michael Myers, Halloween psycho Light them fires, arsonist, pyro
The freaking bass, man. It seems to be turned up to eleven here, just to underscore Vik’s deep tone, and it hits hard.
Viktus goes hard, jumping into a Michael Jackson bar, then spinning the Thriller into a new scheme.
Oops, he says, “I made a typo”, He referenced the wrong Michael, and the wrong type of thriller. He’s talking hardcore horror, man, not just MTV zombies. Michael Myers is the psychotic killer in thirteen Halloween movies (movie references are not just one sided in this battle, I guess.)
Vik is flexing that he is dangerous, insane, maybe a worse murderer than Ren because he’s a ruthless psycho. He’s an arsonist, compelled and ready to light fires: make things hot, fire up (initiate/instigate) a competition, cause controversy (hot topics) He’s a pyro, he can’t help setting things aflame.
The rhyme scheme here (eye bro/ mi-chael/ ty-po/ my-ers/ psy-cho/fi-res/ py-ro…leading into spy–ro and Frodo) depends on a two-syllable rhythm with an I-o emphasis. Vik’s accent allows the near rhyme of “Michael” blend in almost effortlessly. Myers and fires are a little farther outfield, but they mirror one another and with the I-uh scan, they can easily get caught up in the flow.
Spyro dragon, I’m Frodo baggin’ All the shit you’re chatting, your teeth get smashed in Extracting like dentist grafting Nitrous oxide gas, no laughing
While Spyro and Frodo mirror the rhymes in the previous quatrain, the scheme changes to the second word in each phrase, ending with -in. Internal/external rhymes include dragon/baggin‘ and grafting/laughing (which rhyme perfectly when accent is taken into account.)
Spyro dragon is a video game reference to a late 90’s Playstation game. Spyro is cute and purple, he looks harmless, but he has fire for breath, so once again, Spyro Vik is the arsonist coming from the sky. Don’t underestimate the newcomer.
Viktus spins Ren’s LOTR reference into a diss. “I’ll be ‘Frodo Baggin’ the teeth I’ve just smashed out of your shit-talking mouth. The teeth right out your mouth, bitch.” Apparently someone has heard Life is Funny.
“After your mouth meets my fist,” he claims, “you’ll need oral surgery, and even with laughing gas, it’s gonna seriously hurt.” (Guess life’s not that funny, after all.)
Vik is making it clear he’s no joke.
When I put it down on the beat I’mma lay her down in the sheets Take her to the circus, she’s a freak Vegan girl, she still likes my meat
Now Vik really starts talking shit right back at Ren. Ren starts into the chorus, but Vik interrupts. He’s upping the ante here by taking it to a personal level. He’s gonna put his rhymes down on the beat, and what’s more, he’s laying a girl down in the sheets where they are gonna make a new beat together.
Apparently this young lady is quite a freak in these sheets, willing to do whatever Vik, and now we, to be honest, are vividly imagining. She’s likely gonna both condone the bone and eat it like Toblerone.
Apparently, Viktus’ penis is not triangular, however, as he refers to it as some type of “meat” which happens to be appetizing even to a vegan girl. Perhaps it looks like a veggie sausage? Regardless, they are obviously going to grind something, and it’s not impossible burger.
Feed the girl ’cause it’s time to eat Toes curl when I’m in too deep Fucked your girl, and now you really wanna beef Oh, shit! He’s knocking on the front door, leave!
Oh, it ‘s time to eat? We now have an inkling how this is going down, so to speak. Apparently Vik is good at laying down the beat as her toes are curling, which is a positive sign. And he didn’t even have to lock her in the basement. But what? It’s Ren’s girl? (We didn’t see this coming, did we?) Of course, now he’s rubbing it in Ren’s face (the facts, not his proverbial meat stick) that he got his woman freaking down in his sheets. Now Ren wants beef? More like Viktus is the one calling for war.
And who’s that at the door? Better get out of here, girl!
Interestingly, this scene brings to mind the possible response Screech might have had to Patrick if only he had known…
This is also a karmic twist to Ren’s actions in Right Here, Right Now where he banged his friend’s girl, then had to go Usain Bolt when her brother showed up at the door. Interestingly, Ren handed Vik a Stella and gave him some brotherly love in that same video; the last person he interacted with before saying he’s gonna go undercover with someone’s lover. Maybe this is some sort of payback? That Ren. He’s a naughty boy.
Viktus just played him a dirty hand, nonetheless. The rhyming continues in a similar internal/external scheme with girl/eat, curl/deep, girl/beef and then the final “Leave!”
Ahhh, what the fuck?
Ren doesn’t sound pleased. He probably just saw his half-dressed girlfriend fleeing the scene. This little fuck-boi just crossed the line. It’s time for Ren to go beast-mode.
Verse 3
Step back, sucker, fuck up the scene Tuck my socks up, chop chop I’m a millipede on my feet Mohammed Ali with my reach Biting double D’s in my teeth
Uh oh, Ren’s back, pissed and ready to fight, with his Adidas socks tucked up (over his tracksuit bottoms? I swear, he’s the only human in the world who can make that look cool.)
Internal rhymes are once again used to figuratively “punch up” the stanza: sucke fuck up, socks up/ chop chop. Then there’s the Ali/ double Ds , and the end rhymes -pede/ feet/ reach/ teeth (ee/ea sound.)
A millipede has hundreds of feet (most species have about 300 legs), so Ren is both stable and steady. It’s not easy to knock him off kilter, even if you’ve just Tobler-boned his girl. Chop, chop, better run, boy.
Obviously, with 300 feet, Ren can get where he needs to go and move swiftly back and forth, which will aid in his Muhammad Ali “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” act (Ali and/or boxing are referenced in nearly a dozen songs as I pointed out in the last analysis.) Not only was Ali known for his quick reflexes and ability to dodge O.P.P. (other people’s punches), but for his awesome reach when he, in turn, punched people. Also reach could easily be a reference to the fact that Ren is getting recognition everywhere; his reach extends worldwide, while Vik is still local. It’s a little tap in the face.
As a woman, the line about biting double D’s in his teeth is a bit terrifying and seems a bit extreme. I made a desperate attempt to discern an alternate meaning for this line and sadly, found little help on the interwibbles. Perhaps this is why his girlfriend was looking for another option. Of course, if she’s a freak in the sheets, who knows what she likes. A “double D” is also, apparently, a Pilates exercise, but even though Ren claims to be a “P.T.” in the next stanza, I don’t think these two are exchanging workout tips.
I’m a freak, I’m a goated PT on the beat You’re a neek, you’re a little fuckboy, you’re a geek Let me speak, I’mma cut like Troy when I preach I’m a beast, I’mma come Loch Ness, unleashed, preach!
Oh, see? He admits he’s also a freak, so that biting thing makes sense. Maybe he and his girl met on FetLife?
We know Ren is the G.O.A.T., and of course he has to remind this little upstart of his standing. The meaning of P.T., however, is not really clear in this context.
According to my academic resources, P.T. can refer to: physical therapist, a popular but discontinued Japanese psychological Horror Game (published in 2014 by Konami for Playstation), play time (sex), post text, public thot, pussy twitch (a guy so hot he makes girls twitch), Pacific Time, a pint of codeine and promethazine with a seal on top, P.T. Barnum (the famous circus dude and purveyor of “freaks”), public transport, “penis twerk”, or “pound town”. Several of these might fit Ren’s repeated themes, but I like to think he means “pussy twitch” because he is reasserting his sexual dominance. Either that or the Murderous video game or the Freak Master. He’s the king of both fucking and killing, so watch out.
He goes on to call Viktus a mere fuckboy: an easy, callous lay, a jerk, or a worthless weak-ass wonton worth nothing. For what it’s worth, fuckboy has over 300 definitions in the Urban Dictionary, but “cheap lay,” is the basic gist. Vik might of fucked his girl, but it doesn’t make him anything better than a quick trick.
Not only is Vik a sexual empty set, he is also a neek. Neek is a word that blends the words nerd and geek. I know where Ren is trying to go with this, but isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black, considering Ren’s multiple reference to certain movies and video games? Never mind. He’s the murderer, he gets to say whatever he wants.
The word geek implies a weak, harmless, boring person with no social skills who is low on the popularity totem pole. Once again, Ren is telling Vik that he is nothing in comparison to Ren’s swagger and popularity. A geek was also originally a term referring to a type of circus performer who entertained the audience with gross acts like biting off and swallowing chicken heads. I guess we’re all freaks here, only some are apparently sexier than others.
Ren is certainly a wordsmith with a tongue like a weapon (as mentioned in Genesis, as well as in the first verse of this song.) In this case, it’s a knife and it’s about to slice Viktus to shreds. Troy is another movie reference. This movie is about the battle of Troy, a city in ancient Greece. The Trojan war was waged over a devastating decade of massive bloodshed. It was also a battle over a woman.
Speaking of ruthless women, Ren now invokes Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. Ren is a monster rising from the depths…he’s huge and will easily overwhelm any geeky little fuckboy.
Ren is here to preach. He’s about to tell the truth, lay it down for reals, blud.
Personally, this might be my favorite part of the song. Not only are the rhymes skillfully syncopated, but they are actually sung if you listen closely. It’s rare, though not impossible, for a rap cadence to have a melody. Here it feels almost incidental, as if Ren can’t help it because the bars lend themselves to a certain musicality.
The repeated assonance using the ee sound is slithery as an eel. freak/ P.T. (that’s two!)/ beat/ neek/ geek/ speak/ preach/ beast/ unleashed/ preach! Both the first and last lines have three rhyming words, while the middle two have two ee rhymes and an oy rhyme. This secondary rhyme, fuckboy/ Troy is mirrored visually by goated and Loch, even though they don’t rhyme aurally.
Who’s that boy who moves like a raver Oi, oi, oi, a new tasty flavour Anakin flow, I glow like a saber No sweat, bro, I’m loving the labour
Back to a simpler rhyme scheme, Ren’s obviously referring to himself as the raver, waving his glow sticks in the air, and as a tasty treat.
A hot young chav yelling “Oi” is yes, a new tasty flavor. A mating call for all the freaks, for sure. Personally, I’d happily take a bite of that house potato. He knows he’s hot. There’s always another girl ready and waiting. It’s no longer about his (likely) ex- anyway, it’s just the insult/challenge Viktus laid down that’s the problem now.
Anakin flow is an obvious reference to Star Wars (who were you calling a neek, again?) Anakin, as we all know, is evil, so Ren’s (not surprisingly) channeling the Dark Side, (Murderer) and glowing like a lightsaber. Thanks again to Snake Venom for pointing out that a light saber is really just a giant (yet lethal) glow stick. We must not forget, either, that Ren glows with energy, radiance, and fame. Of course everyone sees him and wants to bask in his light. Vik is obviously one of those.
No lie, he loves this work: all he has to do is be who he is and look how far he’s come. He’s the king.
Work, work, work, a work workaholic She twerk, twerk, twerk, she’s twerking right on it One on the backseat, one on the bonnet Grabbing my William, this is my sonnet.
Is Ren the workaholic referred to here, “loving the labour” as seen in the last stanza (aside: my American keyboard does not love the flavour of the English language) or does this line refer to the twerker who is putting all of her focus on “twerking right on it” (obviously a play on “working on it.”)
Obviously girls are aplenty around here, as Ren has one in the backseat and Vik has one on the bonnet (“hood” for you hapless U.S.ers) of the car. Obviously, while they may be beefing, it’s not so bad that they can’t be “beefing” in/on the same car simultaneously.
Geez, Ren, all this automobile intercourse is giving me flashbacks. I can’t see how that can be comfortable, bruv. However, if it comes down to it, I’d rather be in the backseat than on the bonnet, at least in public… I’ll have to think about it. A lot. Alone. Late at night.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter since you had to bring William Shakespeare into the mix. I’m pretty sure he’s be amused at your ribald willie joke, after all, he’d totally get it on with your mum if he could. Your (presumably new) girl’s grabbing of your William has become your new love poem. You, sick boi, are the height of romance.
Mirroring the repetition of “oi, oi, oi” in the previous stanza, Ren keeps chopping the beat up with “work, work, work, a work workaholic” and “twerk, twerk, twerk, she’s twerking right on it.” I think we can assume what “it” is.) Following up –aholic and on it with bonnet and sonnet completes the scheme. Backseat and bonnet (two syllables, b-t, b-t) offer a nice mirror-image between them, especially since Ren and Vik each take one part of the line.
I’m that fella sipping Stella we call that an in-ter-stellar I’m a rapping Cinderella, serve it like its mozzarella Acapella, say it better, bend a beat like Uri Gellar Go getter, trend setter , on your feet like David Guetta
Stella Artois is a delicious and popular beer in the U.K. (As I pointed out earlier, Ren hands Vik a Stella before going off to bone some other guy’s girl in Right Here, Right Now.) So does interstellar just refer to a Stella in the belly? Interstellar also means “in between the stars”, perhaps referring to the fact that he’s a rising star, or up among the stars. (Interstellar is also a movie, for those counting up the film titles.)
Cinderella happens to be cockney rhyming slang for fella (thank you, English person whose name I’ve forgotten who mentioned this. ) It is, of course, also a fairy tale (he sure does love his children’s literature!) The question is: does he turn into a pumpkin at midnight? (Shout out to Ray Vibes for the inquiry.) Or is it simply that his success is like a fairy tale, magical and coming out of nowhere? (Never mind that Cinderella only succeeded through the help of others. I don’t see Ren naming his fairy godmother. Rude!)
He’s about to serve his rhyme now like it’s mozzarella. Cheese will be referred to again several times, as it’s a slang reference to money, but here it could be a different type of cheese, as mozzarella could refer to anything fine, pleasant, attractive, or sexy, like his phat bars.
Acapella means no music, so, when rhyming acapella, what one says really stands out. One has to “say it better,” as they can’t hide behind the music. Ren also bends a beat like Uri Gellar, a magician and mesmerist who claimed he could bend spoons with his mind. (Probably still does, as he’s still alive and commented on the video, grateful for the shout-out.)
David Guetta, for those who aren’t aware, is a famous French D.J. and music producer; he makes the audience “get on their feet” to dance.
Once again Ren plays it up with the machine-gun rhymes, the rat-a-tat-tat tongue he bragged about in verse one. (fella/ Stella/ stella Cinderella/ mozzarella/acapella/ betteGellagettesetteGuetta.) If you include some of the preceding words, too, you will see he is also utilizing syllabic quadruplets in the first three lines (and in the last with “David Guetta”), which carry the flow along at a staccato pace. He then alters the central syllables in the last line to smoothly carry the rhythm into the following stanza.
Better and better, I serve it letter for letter The alphabet upsetter, I make the cheese, I make cheddar I got the berrrrrrrrrrrrrrretta vendetta , I’m spitting pepper When I skrrrrrrrt impeccable rhythms, the rap Mecca on the beat.
Ren claims that he is is getting better with every word/bar he spits. Each letter counts; he is serving it up and it is supreme.
–etta is the main rhyme ending used in this stanza (bette lette alphabet(ta)/ upsette chedda Beretta/ vendetta/ peppe …pecca…/ Mecca.) Ren’s accent leans into this scheme which wouldn’t work the same without it. Note how he adds an extra -uh syllable on to the end of alphabet just like he does in Illest of Our Time with “alphabetti spaghetti” (Although “Alphabetti Spaghetti” is a real thing in the U.K., so it really chaps my buttocks that the printed lyrics just say “alphabet.”) Once again, his tongue takes on the role of weapon, trilling the R on berrrrrrretta (which is a gun, as all Americans would obviously know.)
The architect of alphabet, Ren again scatters the letters and reconstructs them into mozzarella. And also cheddar. He makes money. Lots of money and even more money. This bitch could buy a lifetime supply of wonton soup if he had to.
Deep into his Berretta vendetta, he’s obviously not done with Vik, despite banging girls simultaneously on the same motor vehicle. Can’t let sleeping chicks lie, apparently. Ren wants to make it clear that what he’s spitting (pepper) is as hot as anything Vik can put out.
Skrrrrrt is a sound used in EDM and trap. It indicates a hard turn or drift with an automobile, getting to a place fast, so here he is referring to his ability to rap fast, change schemes and flows on a dime. A flex.
Mecca is a holy place where Muslims make pilgrimage (Muhammad Ali performed haaj in 1972.) Of course, Ren is the creator of bars others can only pay homage to with reverence.
He wouldn’t be the first king who thought he was God.
Hook/Outro
The song concludes with several repetitions of the hook flowing into the outro. These vary in style, with sounds replacing more and more of the words as the outro progresses, leaving the rap behind as it melds into the electric dance beat to lead us out.
Final Thoughts:
This song is catchy and ultimately danceable. I could easily hear it bumping on a dance floor in a club I could not get into.
Viktus’s interplay with Ren is delightful, and he definitely holds his own. Although his style of rap is not the same as Ren’s, it’s good stuff (go check it out and give Vik some love at @Itsviktus on YouTube and @its_viktus on Instagram.) I have no doubt he’s going to go far.
Who knew Brighton would be the upcoming rap center of Britain, and maybe the world? At the very least, it will be the center of rappers battling out in the backseat and on the bonnet.
Until next time, Oi, Renegades!
c. 2023 D.B. Myrrha.
Blog at WordPress.com. Rendezvous
A Renegade Journal
According to basketball-reference our boy's nicknames are "spiderman" and "the disruptor". I've had a think about it and I feel like we need to give him a more simple and apt nickname. Here is my proposition.
Mattise 'The Thief' Thybulle
It has the alliterative impact of the Th-Th and assonance/rhyme in Tisse and Thief. Additionally, he is both a thief on and off the court. He steal balls and he has also stolen our hearts.
Matisse "The Thief" Thybulle!
What do you guys think?