I've said it a number of times, including in an interview with The Bee Shine that we did on Saturday - I think that, pound for pound, this is the best song we've ever made.  

First off, it's one of my favorite beats that M. Stine has ever made.  So intricate.  The car noise you hear at the beginning of Sentence's verse is a real-life binaural recording that Stine made himself.  When the sound cuts out it gives me goosebumps every time.  PUSH PLAY.

Sentence and I discussed this song at length in our car ride to my parent's empty house for our "album writing night", so by the time we got started we were both primed and ready to go.  I remember writing a full verse and scrapping it and starting again.  We wanted to make sure we didn't get over-explainy.  It's tough though, right?  The desire to make sure that everyone understands what you're going for vs. your desire to let paint a picture and let people inject their own meaning.  

The complexity in being in a group, as opposed to just one writer, is that there has to be a tremendous amount of trust when you're attempting a concept that's on the subtle side.  The verse that I was happy with was open ended.  So the success or failure of the song was / is completely dependent on Sentence.  I think his verse is the most impressive bit of writing he's done since we became Metermaids.  The thing with Sentence is, before I even knew him (he moved to New York in 2006?), I had heard about him.  And how dope he was.  His solo stuff was really, really fucking good.  And even with the songs that we did with friends back in the day, Sentence was also like the varsity dude playing on the JV team.  And I lump myself in with the JV team here.

Go find (I don't know how) the Business Casual project we did with our homeys Broke, Domer, and Kats - you will hear it.  When Sentence jumps on the track it just sounds different.  He's really fucking good, is my point here.  And sometimes I still can't believe that he was OK linking up with me to do this.  He would have been succesful in any format he wanted to move in.  He's also a really good producer - he produced this for Sage and Slug waaaaaaay back in the day.

Regardless - he brought everything full circle in Profiteer, and he did it in the most subtle and artful way I could have imagined.  

The song is inspired by real people we know and some real life shit.  Sometimes the act of remembering a lost icon, or keeping their memory alive, or whatever, can feel preeeeeeeeeeetty exploitative.  Especially with musicians.  Or maybe I just think that because musicians are the group I run in.  Sometimes people get sharp elbows when it comes to shaping the legacy of the deceased.  I have so many issues with death, so maybe I'm sensitive to it.  Whatever.  It's all in Sentence's verse.  Remember when I talked about how artfully he laid everything out?  Now I'm trying to undo that.  Ha.

A hundred dollars plus tax to make them feel me yo.  Typewriter font.  Right arm.  Written clearly so you can't misread.  She told me it'd be healing slow.  I told her that I lost somebody near me.  You don't hear me though.  Your room is still just like you left it.  Bookmark in the book.  Sixty pages til the ending.  I read the last page once.  I was sitting on your bed.  The woman leaves her husband for his friend.  The end.

In the sixth grade they packed us up and took us to the zoo.  I don't remember much.  Cold wind.  Sky was blue.  Winter's over so the outside world gets reaquainted.  Plain probably just happy that I wasn't at the school.  So we talked shit to the lions.  Tried to lure the bear out.  Ate lunch in the sun.  Mad fun.  Tried to make the cheetah run but it didn't seem to care now.  Screamed so loud the teacher almost pulled her hair out.

Amped for the section with the snakes.  Diamond back.  Feel the shiver when you hear the rattle shake.  I saw a great albino python in a cage.  Glass walls.  Didn't move when I pressed up with my face.  The plaque said it's too unique for the field.  Pretty markings only make it a predator's meal.  The snake could only ever survive in the zoo.  It's bugged out because that snake is you.  You couldn't watch TV.  Couldn't sit still in the car. Keep quiet in class.  Work a job and kiss someone's ass.  So they had to let you out.  I'm still trying to figure out what it's about.

Got your name tatted on my flesh.  Yeah, we're bout it bout it.  Story written in my heart.  Yeah, we love it love it.  I'm never going to let you die.  I'm never going to let you die.

I wrote this song about things that I thought were cool and I sang it to you sitting in traffic one afternoon.  When I was done the car started moving and we were silent.  I never asked until this day.  I still don't know if you liked it.  Push play.  Iggy sang Lust for Life.  And everyone in Attica got tucked in at night.  Man on the moon.  To live is to die.  An angel in harlem.  American pie.

You remember that summer when Jimmy found a dead body?  You said to leave it alone.  They said it was shot to death probably.  And when the deputy finally pulled him out of the lake you looked at me seriously and said when I'm gone remember my face.  I'll build a monument.  I'll clear a forest.  I'll change a river's direction.  I'll build a fortress.  I'll drop my courses.  I'll build an army of soldiers.  I'll invade a country.  I'll build warships.

I'm a mindreader.  I'll finish your thoughts.  Give me a number to guess.  I'm the boss.  I'm a mindreader.  Tell your mom to call me.  I became a shaman.  You became a zombie.  Because I'm the only friend that you got.  Sit still.  I'm going to finish your thoughts.  I'm the only friend that you need.  Don't you dare mess with me.