Revisit: Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8
LIT is a ‘lyrical remix’ album where I take mainstream pop and hip hop songs that have an amazing sound and style (but leave a lot to be desired in terms of lyrical content), and I infuse them with my own original, spiritually-conscious lyrics.
Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrell – “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
***Warning Explicit Content**
Song Facts:
Release Date: 9/12/2004
Billboard Hot 100 Chart Peak: 1st
U.S. Record Sales: 2 million+
YouTube Streams: 80 million+
[Intro]
Ay, yo, check this out right here, ay yo,
It goes it E-G-O, yo,
E-G-O, yo, check this out right,
[Verse 1]
You do you, and imma do me,
Cuz I’m number one, that’s how it’s gotta be,
D to the T to the A what’s that mean?
Don’t trust anybody, hey,
My team is just M-E, I dropped the T-A,
I’m the star of the show, that’s just how I play,
Y to the O to the L to the O yeah you only live once,
Other suckas got to go, oh,
This is an E-G, of your E-G-O, K-O,
Man it’s knockin’ out your soul, whoa!
Keeps insisting, this thing’s persisting,
You try resisting, but it never quits see,
It’s your ego, A-K-A,
The insistent self, and it’s working all day,
But this is not your true I-D, see,
So drop it like it’s hot if you a true O-G, ay!
[Hook]
What is evil?
That’s that Ego, drop it, drop it,
Self deceitful,
That’s your ego, drop it, drop it,
Soul’s asleep oh,
Hey dawg, I think it’s time to wake up…
Prison of self that’s the greatest prison,
So stop and drop the ego, if you wanna be free yo!
[Verse 2]
You aint no good, aint no point in even trying,
D.I.Y? Hah, why you lying to yourself,
FYI, boy, think you really need some help,
You aint nothing but a big ole L-O-S to the E-R,
Should take you to the E-R,
I think you lost your mind, your life is sadder than Eeyore,
And you will never be more, than pitiful, pathetic,
You ain’t nothin but a failure, don’t you get it?
This is part of you E-G-O,
It’s your lower nature and it’s killing your soul,
D-I-E, ie, R-I-P, me vs. me, can’t you see?
That your ego is the enemy,
Take that energy flip it over to your inner me,
Let it shine reflecting divinity,
Give your soul up to the G-O-D, hey,
[Hook]
What is evil?
That’s that ego, drop it, drop it,
Self deceitful,
That’s your ego, drop it, drop it,
Soul’s asleep oh,
Check that ego, drop it,
Prison of self that’s the greatest prison,
So stop and drop the ego, if you wanna be free yo!
[Verse 3]
Listen up, K? N-O to the double you,
That’s how you K-N-O-W the true you,
That’s the answer to the puzzle you’ve been trying to solve that troubles you, ooo,
Human beings, physical plus spiritual,
When we subtract the spiritual we become egotistical,
And that is just despicable, a wayward individual,
But thank God it is fixable, that’s what I spit these lyrics for,
So, feed your S-O-U-L,
Without it U is left feeling S-O-L,
Not talking ‘bout the sun, spirit covered in veils,
When ego prevails, that’s the prison of self,
E-V-I-L, I’m not talking ‘bout Satan,
It’s when you drop your soul and your ego is awakened,
Keep the former, drop the latter, or you will be sorry kids,
Life without the soul is H-E-Double hockey sticks,
[Hook]
What is evil?
That’s that ego, drop it, drop it,
Self deceitful,
That’s your ego, drop it, drop it,
Soul’s asleep oh,
Check that ego, drop it,
Prison of self that’s the greatest prison,
So stop and drop the ego, if you wanna be free yo!
[Outro]
“Today, all the peoples of the world are indulging in self-interest and exert the utmost effort and endeavour to promote their own material interests. They are worshipping themselves and not the divine reality, nor the world of mankind…”
“…Today the confirmations of the Kingdom of Abha are with those who renounce themselves, forget their own opinions, cast aside personalities and are thinking of the welfare of others. Whosoever has lost himself has found the universe and the inhabitants thereof. Whosoever is occupied with himself is wandering in the desert of heedlessness and regret. The “master-key” to self-mastery is self-forgetting. The road to the palace of life is through the path of renunciation.”
For today’s bonus content I’m sharing with you the FIRST time I performed a lyrical remix in front of a live crowd! “Drop It” was the first lyrical remix I wrote from the LIT album, and to see how people would respond to it, I performed it at a local open mic event in Phoenix called Infuse Open Mic (a dope event that I attended regularly in my early days of rapping. It helped me gain a lot of confidence!)
Based on today’s lyrical remix, here’s some questions for reflection:
1) What seems to trigger your “ego” in your day-to-day life?
2) What strategies have you found to be most effective in keeping your lower nature in check and living in your higher nature?
The “ego” is something I know we ALL struggle with! Even the kindest, most sweet people that you know have to deal with their lower nature every single day. It’s part of being human! Please take a few minutes to share your wisdom below! If someone else’s response stimulates more thoughts, don’t hesitate to respond to others as well. I’ll be sure to leave my reflections too!
Materialism!!! I sometimes think that the nicer stuff I have, the better my life will be. I am constantly chasing ‘things” n hopes that I’ll finally feel fulfilled and people will thing, “Wow, Mallory’s got her life together. She is so stylish and interesting.” But that fulfillment never comes and I am left wanting more.
I am still working towards strategies to overcome my materalism. However, I read something online recently that has stuck with me. Someone said, “who is benefitting from me feeling this way?” So to apply that to my constant desire to make purchases, the people there are countless department stores (Hobby Lobby, At Home, Target) that are benefitting from me feeling dissatisfied with the way my home looks and keep me wanting more.
I also hope to incorporate more meditation, prayer, and turning towards God, Baha’u’llah, Abdul’-Baha, and other people who I can look to that will help me shake the fleeting things of this world and focus more on my soul. Colby, your music helps me with this, too!
Yes, materialism is such a strong force to shake, and it can attack us in so many different forms. While for you, it may be in sometimes overvaluing material “things” that make you feel happy, for me it can be overvaluing how many “views” or “likes” I get on a new song or video and letting that be my validation. In both cases, something “material” is what we are prioritizing, rather than something spiritual (such as how virtuous we are being, or how we are serving/impacting others).
May we both continue to strive to shake the force of materialism and strengthen our higher natures! 🙏🏽
I love this song – and the others.
– My general “spiritual condition” has a lot to do with how quickly I revert to egotistical behaviors. One of, and perhaps the #1 answer for me is spiritual maintenance that involves daily self-assessment or inventory, prayer, service involvement, and meditation. Now as to whether I practice all that daily?… It’s my choice, but I suffer the consequences of neglecting. The longer I go without it, the more vile my behavior. Thanks for hosting this Colby.
DITTO to ALL of this!! Those are great practices for keeping the ego in check, and I agree, when I begin to neglect them, it becomes apparent very quickly…
Wow. This is a good topic sir. My ego kicks in whenever things aren’t going my way and I think I know a better way. I attempt to overcome this by trying to remain humble and remind myself that teamwork is what makes the dream work.
Another awesome reflection! Yeah, my ego can get real activated when I want to control things are make things go my way. It can be really difficult to practice detachment sometimes. But detachment is a quality of the soul, so it’s a beautiful virtue to develop and absolutely essential in order to have true team work! Thanks for sharing 🙏🏽
What triggers my ego is what you mentioned in your intro video, Colby– not living intentionally. If I plan part or most of each day to be involved in meaningful activities which directly or indirectly relate to service, my ego–lazy, self-absorbed, self centered–has no leeway to act out. I know there is such a thing as self-care, but it doesn’t have to rent space in my head and become a preoccupation.
Dwelling on my weaknesses is another way my ego tries to win out over my spiritual nature. It saps my energy to do good to think of all the ways I “can’t.” It takes conscious effort to overcome my ego’s messages, but when I do, it’s liberating!
Wow, you all are hitting on so many points that resonate with me!! I agree, if I plan out my day with meaningful, purposeful activities, it really helps to keep me in my “higher nature”, but if I don’t plan ahead, it’s easy for me to just spend my time doing selfish stuff.
Persevering through fear is also something that I’ve struggled to overcome for a long time, mainly since my early adolescence. I actually used to be a really shy person when I was a youth, and rarely sought out any spotlight, so it’s kind of surreal sometimes when I’m up on stage and I’ve got an audience rocking out with a song I’m performing. Most people don’t realize, but I often have to struggle with thoughts of fear and rejection before most performances, but thankfully, it’s become less daunting over time as I’ve built up some confidence. ☺🙏🏽