Instrumental for a track in B.I.'s solo project, "When Hot Blood Runs Cold".
bi legion of heroes dj st
Story behind the song
This track was completed some time in the summer of 1999. Pardon the DJ Premier-ish sound that you'll find on all of these tracks; as any hip-hop head will tell you, in 1999, Premier was pushing more beats out of the cookie cutter on wax with consistent quality than any other producer on the market. This one was one of the very first actual "beats", with programmed drums, hi-hats, snares, etc. that I created.
This song is an instrumental for a track on B.I.'s solo project, "When Hot Blood Runs Cold". The entire album has B.I. telling a narrative of his life from the day his mother was kidnapped to the present day (set around 2000, but no definite year). This particular song is B.I.'s view on romantic love in general, following a track in which he got burned for the third time in less than 3 months. Expect cynicism!
Lyrics
Intro (B.I. speaks):
You know, after all that I've gone through, all this mess about love... people wonder why I come down so hard on it, so, yo...
...I'm gonna break it down, and talk about this romance shit.
Why do fools fall in love? Jackass, because they're fools!
Why else would so many people not care about being screwed
over, livin' for romance but end up in misery
Because they're all a pack of jackasses, this isn't a mystery
I see it everyday in the eyes, the voices and actions
Of people who don't see romantic love as a distraction
A half-myth, a one in a billion a chance of happenin'
Built for a minority, who'll just sit back and laugh atcha!
February 14th's the biggest joke on the calendar
And March the 14th is its one and only challenger
That's Valentine's and White Day, or as I call it the Powdered Haze
My condolences if you're born on either one of those days
It's a plot by corporations to drain your wallet
Spendin' money on candy, and other gifts of love of whatever you call it
I call it emotional crack, and anyone can be an addict
Remain platonic, because too many people take love for granted
(That's why I'm anti-romantic... know what I'm sayin'?)
Chorus (Strider's Scratch):
"That word love is a very serious thing..."
(KRS-ONE, Boogie Down Productions' "Love's Gonna Get Cha")
"Like you're addicted to it"
(KRS-ONE, Boogie Down Productions' "Love's Gonna Get Cha")
"Anti-Love!"
(Billy Danzenie, MOP's "Handle Ur Bizness (Remix)")
"Just remember... it's gonna getcha!"
(KRS-ONE, Boogie Down Productions' "Love's Gonna Get Cha")
"How could a brother be so nice"
(Parrish Smith, EPMD's "Rampage")
"Nobody's safe chump"
(Parrish Smith, EPMD's "Nobody's Safe Chump")
To call romantic love crack, some would say it's harsh
But that statement's distance from the truth really isn't far
In fact it's rather close, don't let those dramas and novels decieve you
People claim love and don't mean it, and they marry outta convenience
Just take the case of a woman, whose mate is abusive
She won't leave her man outta love yet she's covered in bruises
Lured by the notion of feeling wanted, and she thinks that she's useless
Without a man that mistreats her, that's nothin' but bullshit
Or maybe it's the man who courted his sweetheart from high school
Married her, happy as hell cause he don't know he's being lied to
But word gets around she's seein' some other guy
He acts tough and dismisses it, but he really wants to cry
When he finally catches them together, in the search for the truth
He shoots the guy, climbs a building, tosses his ring and jumps off the roof
All of this because he was in love and his partner tricked him
So-called romantic love just claimed another god damn victim
(Fuck it! I'm gonna be anti-romantic...know what I'm sayin?)
Chorus (Strider's Scratch)
Some of y'all might say that I'm speakin' from personal prejudice
That it's my sour experiences that has me so negative
I'll be honest, all I get from women is shortchanged
The only real scores I see are on the sports page
A lot of you might say stating that fact makes me a misogynist
But that's a crock of shit, the truth is really the opposite
I love women, and I wish one other than my mother understood me
But it's that instinct in some of them that causes them to overlook me
Cause I'm a nice guy, but you know that they finish last
So I started actin' out in protest, and told people to kiss my ass
And it's funny because as soon as I rebelled against the bullshit
I ended up with more women after me than I knew what to do with
So I push 'em all away, hopin' they'll stay but they don't
They pressure me to be a romantic, change my ways, but I won't
Some people claim I'm afraid, and diggin' my own grave
EH EH!! I've been there before, and I'm sick of bein' played
(So FUCK YOU! I'm gonna be anti-romantic... know what I'm sayin'?)
Chorus (Strider's Scratch) x 2