Watch · Freestyle
Sep 2, 2021
Imagine getting pulled over and shot for no reason.
Behind the song
“Control” starts with something real: by that point in my life, I had already been arrested many times. In the song I say 16—not because that was the actual total, but because it worked better with the rhyme. The real number over the course of my life was around 36. Seeing police lights behind me could immediately put me on edge, even when I didn’t believe I had done anything wrong.
From there, the song takes that fear and turns it into an intentionally exaggerated, almost cinematic nightmare. A traffic stop spirals completely out of control into violence, a chase and an escape. It isn’t meant to describe something that literally happened—it’s taking the anxiety of that moment and imagining the most extreme version of where it could go.
The ending is what brings the song back to its real point. After everything that happens, I keep asking one question: what role does the color of my skin play in how I’m being treated?
At its core, “Control” is about racial profiling, distrust, and the feeling of losing control of a situation before you’ve even been told why you were stopped.
Story chapter
Lyrics & wordplay
Verse
i been arrested 16 different times
still got 16 different 9s
now i see lights behind mine
my hearts beats out of line
i start to wonder like if even a crimes been committed in the first place
but i park the V on the side
switch the gear to park and start to reach for my id
no idea im not leaving alive
at least thats what they thought its on me when i ride
the rearview's looking like its 2 ds and white shirt
im thinking to myself the boss wit em this is light work
so im all polite first ask em hows your night sir
the guy smirked before he pulled his gun then his pipe burst
i cant believe these niggas bucking for no reason
they done woke a god up and im hungry for some demon
put the gear back on d speed off now im speeding
but i think im hit tho yea dawg cuz im bleeding
left shoulder all corroded and i cant feel my hand
but my trigger finger itchin bitch i wish it doesnt jam
as i blam blam blam back then i blam once again
the squad car behind me slowed down then it crashed
i mustve caught his bitch ass
my drive side window explodes and shatters the glass
2 or 3 on my tail as a matter a fact
i see more and and swear they aint have to attack
its all good bitch why every mag is extended
30 shots blao! thats for acting aggressive
im bleeding bad though and wont last not unless this
situation here go from drastic to pleasant
still driving fast towards the exit
barricade ahead a small gap in a section
hit the gas hard duck down down and expect it
1000 bullets as i break past their defenses
yea i made it out clean
i aint tryna die young
so that thing is on me
and they say that im free
but im really not dumb
whats the color of my skin nigga?
yea we living extreme
i dont wanna die young
so i keep it on me
and they say that im free
but im really not dumb
whats the color of my skin nigga?
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