PLEASE, guys, what's GZA talking about in "Silverbacks"?
Is this GZA's most cryptic verse ever? How do you guys interpret it? It's bothered me for damn near 20 years and I really need to understand it. The verse, along with my interpretation is below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRsGD3m0qew
"I went from the slums of Hell to paradise in Heaven
From a slingshot to a wall of Mac-11's"
GZA's life has improved significantly since his upbringing.
"I drank with the Devil and ate with the Reverend
We talked numbers and I told 'em that mine was 7"
What does he mean about this? Is he quoting a famous poem or story I don't know about? I know 7 plays an important role in the NOI ("Seven's the center of your eight-point sun"), but I'm not sure what his line means.
"The total amount of hits behind the collapsed building
That had exploded in a frenzy of killings
Bodies lay near tons of twisted metal
Of a structure and atomic force, it leveled"
Is he talking about 9/11? He just randomly threw that in here? Or is he talking about something else?
"From the tale of the tape, the product failed in comparison
The weight, the height, the reach was not a year within sight
The significant difference was the ammo
Wrecking y'all individuals in the nano"
Is he talking about some imaginary rap group who released an album (a tape) that failed because their lyrics (their ammo) were weak? And there is a significant difference between their weak lyrics and GZA's lyrics (which wrecks other rappers in a nano second)? Or perhaps he's mentioning his failed debut album (Words From The Genius)? Saying his first album was a flop because his rhymes didn't have weight and now his rhymes do?
"Second by second, heat blazed through the night
Leaving a dazzling array of neon lights
The primary reason of mission for them spitting
The fire that kept hitting them ducks that kept sitting
Was an informant's x-rays gave off electrons
Within a few next days, entire sets gone
Clinical precision's used to remove the eyelids
Those responsible for my brothers with high bids"
I'm assuming he's not talking about actual guns when he says "heat", but instead he's talking about lyrics. (Or am I wrong?) This imaginary rap group from the previous lines was on a mission to keep spitting to sharpen their talent. The reason they were so focused on their mission was because a rival (the informant) could see right through their fake and weak rhymes (like an x-ray). But after a few days of spitting they became better at rapping and were able to remove other rap sets from the map. Their rapping caused those who were asleep to awaken (by removing their eyelids so they can't close their eyes). Or maybe he's talking about the Wu's early days?
Am I right? How do you guys interpret these GZA lines??
"Life in the hood is an award winning film
Lived out by savages who can't escape the realm
A place where the young meet and greet with guns
In the park they interrupt the pure innocent fun"
No interpretation needed. Just GZA Spitting hot shit.
So WTF is GZA saying in this verse?
