Takeoff dead at 28. Only Migos song I'm really partial to is T-Shirt, but I really do like it.
That song was his, I love his prehook on that so much.
Young nigga poppin' with a pocket full of cottage,
Woah kemosabe! Chopper aimin' at your noggin,
Hadda cop the audi, then I had to chop it,
Niggas pocket watching so I gotta keep the rocket.
Forget how good it sounds in that flow (poppin/ pocket / chopper / noggin).... what the fuck is that wordplay about?
Pocket watching. I think he means they are envious, impatient. Poor, desperate.
But cmon. Pocket watching? ...like an old time piece? Well, old people do like Cottage cheese. You'd have to be pretty to have "Woah Kimosabe" as a reference, as well as ice cold to say it to an assailant... My dad would have said that. And he's Miles Davis generation. Elsewhere he's talking about Mocking Bird(s)... Yep, this is the south, and that Atticus Finch southern gent cliche image starts to form for some reason.... history never dies in the south.
Now, I know a Chopper here is a gun.... aimed at your what? Is Noggin a word used in commonly in Hip Hop? In Atlanta... Probably.
But... wait... he chopped the Audi! The rocket! Stuffed with cottage cheese, he chopped the rocket.
My head goes off in several directions at once. First the images of old time western gunfight setups, hungry desperate gringos with empty bellies eyeing his pockets, the coolest customer checks his pocket watch, drops a line, pulls back the trigger on the gun under the table... turns out our chap is Tonto and the Lone Ranger rolled into one.
What would you expect, at this point, from someone called Takeoff, except, "Hi Ho Silver, away!"?
But this getaway is an urban scene. GTA V, at night, four stars wanted.... fast car, flashing lights, and weapons....Cops, choppers, Audis, guns, rockets.
Yet somehow, it's almost all about healthy eating.... Cottage cheese and chopped Rocket. Skyr for desert. Beat that for high protein, low fat, zero sugar.
Cottage again in his full verse, this time with broccoli. So much fun all the time. And then he switches, drops the cool disguise, and creates a crescendo, increasing intensity with each word, just like Chuck D used to, as the topic shifts to the struggle, the beliefs and the violence that he - and "America" - represent, before ending by "representing" - and recapping - his art, his self, and his locale.
"Imma get that bag nigga
ain't no doubt about it
imma feed my family nigga
ain't no way around it
ain't gon' never let up nigga,
god said, show my talent
young nigga with the anna,
walking with the hammer
spitting country grammar nigga
straight out North Atlanta!"
Yeah, just the last n word. to have it serve as the first word of the final line.....it's a poetic device, the last of several to play with the meter of his verse. Ending on that last simple one, to deliver the most simple statement, in the plainest language, after all that wordplay and imagery... I reckon that's worthy of whoever the fuck you care to think of.
Genuinely, I'm sorry I won't get to hear another one like that. He was apparently not a flash or aggressive person. It's presumably just one of those things, like Jaco Pastorious getting killed in a bar fight.
