“Swag & Hard Knocks” Lyrics and Context

Posted on June 1, 2012

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Mickey Boston – Swag & Hard Knocks (produced by XEptional)
 
 
Mickey Boston reached out to young prodigy producer XEptional to have the beat on “Swag & Hard Knocks” which was what inspired the writing of the track. In truth, had the beat not been produced by XEptional the track itself would have never been written.
 

Beat-making prodigy XEptional finds his inspiration from DJ Premier an avid lover of the boombap tradition.

 
Working alongside XEptional is an honour in itself, the essence of “Swag & Hard Knocks” is reality, the brutal reality that exists in our world, yet this reality in itself is juxtaposed with the “swag” that is oft-repeatedly present within the confines of current popular culture. So here we are, on one hand we have excessive “swag” and on the other extreme, the excessive poverty. Indeed juxtaposing two worlds and two realities has been done so many times before in all walks of art from photography to music and everything in between. Having said this, “Swag & Hard Knocks” was about bringing out the reality that so many phoney emcees neglect. In essence, Ive always been tired of “swag-hop” it just never was my reality, hence I never connected to it.
 
Swag & Hard Knocks is for the heads, the heads sick of the industry and sick of the Nicky Minaj and Drake sick. For the heads who got tired of Kanye’s rants and raves and for the heads who couldnt give a fuck about how much Wiz Khalifa toked.
 

Food for Thought, swag and hard knocks.

It would be nice to see Wiz Khalifa know what the true meaning of the Arabic word “Khalifa” is and then we can also see him spend a little less to feed the hungry. Was this the vision Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm-X) had for his generation? Shut the fuck up Wiz.

The track itself was recorded at Conn-Shawnery’s Studio Conn-Soul in Montreal’s Plateau district. All scratches, cuts and mixing done and executed by Conn-Shawnery.
 
 
 
Swag & Hard Knocks
 
let the rain role down my cheek
let it drip to my feet from the corner of the street
geez, let me breathe for a minute,
adjust my fitted Steve Jobs let me think different
over brains gifted when a b-boy get with it
it aint hard to tell when u got it goin on
and the body rock to the very same song
all night long
till the break of dawn
what you on?
 Kanye?
never that
Sanjay?
better that
wanna know if i storm hurricane winds?
yeah i weather that.
whirwind thru my city
windmill to the pilly
yeah i know it sound silly
but i love my J. Dilly
yeah we out of touch with reality
cuz we got it good.
and these kids never understood
life on the other side of the hood
your Macbook good?
the Bad?
the Ugly?
wallet really chubby?
chub Rock Gully? spoiled with some money?
now we laugh funny,
ha ha ha
turtle to the bunny
fill a kid’s tummy
Cadillac gas tank dummy
Oh u think it’s Lovely?
but the hungry HUNGRY
No clean food,
forget shampoo
TRUTH IS:
My cream useless
in a world of poverty the Glitz fool kids
yo i thought we knew this
yet it’s really foolish
Chanel number 5
Gucci man-purse just to match my other tie
my haters to the side
my private jet glide
my girl really fine
lierie 9
10…4
back to the LV store
Mr. Vuitton
Champagne to the floor
let the bubble soar
couvoisier pour,
back to the underground
favela shanty town:
where so many kids have to sleep on the ground
aziz ansari
back to the Otis
do we ever notice?
the drought?
the locusts?
the famine?
the bogus?
when we out of focus
all you see is Boulay
sweet to the kool aid
sip brand new yay
yeah you make it rain ever so looselay
another child soldier bleed ever so profuselay
and then his mother say:
“baby dont lose me”
excessive swag.
excessive poverty.
Bodega dreams for the lottery
yo I wanna make some money B…
Get a Queen for my Hive
so we can thrive
then i got a place for me to drive
put a lil’ meaning in my life
damn.
another day, another struggle
another hustle
tempest in a teapot
wanna hit the sweetspot
forced to live streetsmart
were my sweetheart?
cant find love when my stomach empty
and my father left me
so now my burden hefty
street gangs out to get me
on bealf of rich families
that want my organs
and these be my last words spoken
on the dirt of an earth broken
yeah i gotta fight like a Shogun
or maybe Wolverine barehanded as Logan
so let me say someting on this token
as i drown in my shirt soaking
while you facebook poking
take a pinch,
wake up awoken
another child soldier Birks smoking
Lungs and his brothers
in the same village choking
Take a step in the Real World
get up, get out and make something
get on top of this
my people whirlwind this metropolis
aint no stopping this
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Posted in: Africa, America, Arab people, Artists United Against Apartheid, Big Brosky, DJ Conn-Shawnery, Hip-hop, hiphop, kanye west, Mickey Boston, money, Montreal, political hiphop, Politics, underground, underground hiphop, urban squalor, US Dollar, XEptional