“This is why I thank God every day. I could have been dead from this accident. Thank you for all the prayers. All I can say is (GOD IS REAL GET WITH HIM) HE SAVES LIVES.” Migos affiliate rapper Offset posted this half-eerie, semi-poignant post on his Instagram page about supposed car crash he’s been involved in on May of 2018.
Throughout that month, Hip-Hop and Pop-culture media laser-focused on him purchasing a new car for the man who helped him to the hospital to him avoiding nuanced and minor charges relating to the incident. Through all the shimmering fame and bubbling glory, Migos are receiving right now, all I know is that Offset is a human being. Glimmering fame and an accrued net worth can only sustain the perfect media android for a certain amount of time.
There is infinite height separating between me and Rapper Offset. For starters, Offset has a net worth competing to that of an oil magnate. He has a fan base consisting of all creeds, races, and classes from both extremes of the American personality. Other than that he has different skill sets, genetic advantages, and environmental experiences.
I was raised in a comfortable Chicago suburb, currently balancing the fragile scheduling between school, work, and life, barely scratching the surface of assured defeat. I claim no fame or fortune, and definitely, hold no valuable assets.
So when someone like me gets into a car accident, there are entirely new outcomes, legalities, and perspectives that come into play.
So why does Offset’s new single, Red Room, seem so brazenly resonating? For starters, the single itself is narrated in such a manner that brings about surprise, especially from someone who isn’t such a heavy listener of Migos. Red Room is produced by Metro Boomin, which already assures positive expectations from fans of the current Rap genre.
Metro Boomin also helped Offset with the lyrics. It seems that the producer with long-standing notoriety within the genre would best understand the flow and libretto that fits his production.
Regarding the narrative itself, Offset tweaks his direction in a slightly different manner than usual. He isn’t boasting about his fortunes or displaying his typical bravado confidence. In this song, Offset reflects on his family history, his childhood neighborhood, and his craving for financial eminence.
The single is led by two verses, separated by the chorus. In the chorus, Offset depicts the crash with additive one-liners with straight-forward descriptions.
“I like to throw up when I think about the crash. Not playing, when I hit the tree, the smelled the gas. Looking at the sky, think about my past.” Around these specific lines does he talk about the color of his Lamborghini and his previous misdemeanors that relate to the scene of the crash, but these specific lines give lee way to the rest of the story.
In the first verse, Offset reminisces about his childhood home. He’d admit to the upbringing that led to his brother serving fifteen years in prison to his mother warning to him about “broken stop lights.”
“Momma said the streetlights ’bout to stop working. Looking at my momma in her eyes, Momma looking at me like a new person.”
The reiteration about his family life, especially his mother, is such touching pinpoint towards the subject matter. He especially touches brutally on the matter of death, reflecting on watching the hearse of his grandmother being pulled away, or his friend Pistol P being murdered as Migos were beginning to reach Rap supremacy.
In the second verse, Offset goes off into a tangent, interweaving the thoughts of his deceased grandmother and friend with issues prevalent in Black commercialism and irritation led by his fame. His mind is whirling in circles, constructing new perspectives of his life and the life that his ancestry laid the foundation for.
“Abomination on your paper, I got acres. Black man when you walking and you labeled. Beat the odds, they don’t wanna see you greater. Eat you alive like a lion or a ‘gator.”
If someone were to look at these lyrics and question the randomization of his thoughts, that is his point. A near-death experience may bring about thoughts of the past in relation to the present time. Offset had gone through struggles in his past life that wasn’t fully realized until his potentially-fatal car accident.
In the car accident I went through recently, my perceptive of my life shifted as well. I will never forget walking home to my parents with such immense guilt, only to find that their concern and understanding was the only thing present in the room.
I remembered sitting up all night, a young adult in his early 20s, vulnerable and guilt-stricken, conversing with my mother about my current life status. Listening to a single like Red Room lets me know that I’m not alone.
I’m glad to see Offset taking this sort of temporary direction. Migos will always be a staple of early-twentieth century Rap music, but it’s expressions like these that allow listeners know that these regal figures are first and foremost, human beings.
