Okay so here are my thoughts on what they’re (Chester Bennington, Busta Rhymes and Mike Shinoda) saying
This is what I think Chester is saying. When I think of the image ‘back against the wall’, I feel like he’s been pushed there and he can’t get out of that position, like he’s been shoved back against it. But when he says he ‘made it’, I think he’s talking about his music. So even though music producers shoved his style of music and his lyrics to the backstage and picked the more commercial crap, Chester still made it, made it on his own but succeeded amazingly in the end.
That’s what I’m thinking for the opening of the song. With Busta, it’s a bit harder for me to understand but I gave it a try. Here goes. It sounds like Busta had a hard upbringing when he throws out lines like, “…I survived the worst…” and also he had a lot of problems come his way as he tried to make it to the music scene. I say this because the next line Busta says, “…I leaped every hurdle…” and was “victorious”.
Okay I have to admit the next few lines stumped me. I’m really not sure what Busta is saying when he says “…nigga morpheus…”. Morpheus isn’t even a word…what the heck Busta! Whatchoo saying man ? Sorry, okay no I did a research on this word and it MEANS : A son of Hypnos and the God of dreams, the Roman god of dreams…. Okay next line haha. Busta believes he is well known because he secured the win, he made it into the music business. And he is well known and he has made it into the music business.
K I’ve had difficulty with the last part of this song that Busta raps about. But here goes. Busta is saying yes so he was buying his bread and struggling for a bit, and even though he was looked down upon by higher up rappers, he was able to cover up his middle struggles.
This quote perplexes me, ‘A nigga paper long like we was on the trap and we bout ta take the hood choppin’
The chorus that Chester, Busta and Mike sing is pretty clear. They are singing about how they made it even though it was very difficult and took a lot of time. They sing about how people (producers?) told them they weren’t ever going to make it but still they ‘took it on the road’ and made it.
Now Mike sang. He sang about how at the beginning they were always getting rejected and nothing they were doing was getting them any respect. It stressed them out and they worried that they (Producers, record labels?) said they were pathetic. Mike says himself that he ‘was fighting through every rhyme tightening up every line’. He says he was going out of his mind, never resting and it came to the point to let their dream die or do it.
I find Busta’s rhymes (hahaha….) are the hardest to decipher. But HERE goesagain. He uh says tht he’s building stuff that he could leave for his children, I’m assuming money to live off of and be comfortable. Busta now is happy and wakes up and smiles, happy to see how far he has come from fighting for his rhymes to be heard. ‘Fighting for sales on a strop to get hustle from, from nights in jail on a bench using my muscles son’ is kind of confusing. Is he referring to selling drugs? I dunno. Wow. I’m such a great analytic hahaha. Nope but he mentions his friends, Dre, Jimmy and Russell Ones and then says ‘now I live what I dream’ and ‘you see me finally getting it’. The last line is a bit discerning because he says, ‘lets make a toast to the hustle regardless how we get it’. Eek. What did you do Busta, to get your hustle?
I love this song now! Seriously after you listen to a song a lot a lot, you really begin to love it and I dunno this one is a sweet and powerful song. I have a newfound appreciation for Busta. Peace. Tell me what you’re thinking on Busta’s thoughts especially cause uh I feel like I wasn’t really getting him at all. I got the general idea.
LD
