{"id":491761,"date":"2019-10-31T14:01:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T20:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=902886"},"modified":"2019-10-31T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T20:01:09","slug":"concept-songs-usually-suck-grips-he-is-i-am-does-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/concept-songs-usually-suck-grips-he-is-i-am-does-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Concept Songs Usually Suck. Grip\u2019s \u2018He Is \u2026 I Am\u2019 Does Not"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Everything about \u201cHe Is \u2026 I Am\u201d is a risky endeavor. The four-minute song is a two-part concept record about guns; its first half is an introduction to East Atlanta rapper Grip<\/a> and his formative years growing up with his first firearm, and the second, more daringly, is rapped from the perspective of the inanimate murder weapon. It\u2019s the sort of thing that great rappers can pull off, and imitators tend to fall flat on the attempt. Thankfully, Grip<\/a> is more than up to the challenge.<\/p>\n

Grip\u2019s dejected croak crashes against a warm sample. It\u2019s a battle of juxtaposition as the spiritual sample is undercut by Grip\u2019s various and vivid admissions of impending prepubescent doom. During the first verse, he\u2019ll transition from a masterful scene-setting moment of early childhood (\u201cBack when I was watching Goof Troops<\/em> and eating Fruit Loops \/ You sprayed at your target, but the strays ricocheted and struck a kid that used to shoot hoops) to an understated lyric about digestion that cleverly plays upon the cereal reference two bars prior (\u201cAnd as a kid myself, that was hard to digest, like will I die next?\u201d).<\/p>\n

Then halfway through the song, the bottom drops out. Grip\u2019s gruff voice transforms into the pitched-up growl of a gremlin and the perspective shifts to a gun \u2014 who raps. The gimmick is silly, but its implementation works. Over a sinister and dissonant beat, sounds of unknown vehicles speed by as the gun transforms into a devil on the shoulder figure trying to convince Grips that if he takes his advice that his adversaries will pay \u201cthe highest price.\u201d<\/p>\n

In less capable hands, the entire proceeding would come off as pretentious. Instead it\u2019s devastating. In the micro-universe of \u201cHe Is \u2026 I Am\u201d like life there are few easy answers and even fewer solutions. The song begins with the story of a boy and the only silver lining is that he became a man. If only the rest of the record\u2019s inhabitants were so lucky.<\/p>\n