Revisit: Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5
The ‘LIT’ Album Experience
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.
Day 6 – “True Friend”
🎥 Vlog #6 🎥
🎤 The Original Song 🎤
50 Cent ft. Olivia – “Best Friend”
***Warning Explicit Content***
Song Facts:
Release Date: 1/19/2006
Billboard Hot 100 Chart Peak: 35th
YouTube Streams: 60 million+
⬇️ My Lyrical Remix – “True Friend” ⬇️
✍ The Lyrics ✍
[Intro]
Yeah,
It’s a word we throw around a lot these days,
Sometimes, I’m not even sure we really know what it means,
Yeah, uh, uh, yeah, yo
[Verse 1]
928, that’s how many friends it says I got on my page,
They come around once in awhile, hit me up on my birthday,
HBD, they exclaim, cuz exclamation marks are how you indicate your love,
Without one, it feels like you don’t care bruh,
And if you type two or three, or four or five, hah, it’s a jubilee, blows your mind,
It makes you smile when they flash you a thumbs up,
Someone left a thoughtful comment, now you dumbstruck,
Eyes twinkling, feeling so special,
Size of your friends list, keep it growing, never settle,
Keep the pedal to the metal, request request, accept accept,
Obsessed obsessed, except the fact that friends are not something that you possess,
Just by clicking a button, that’s why you’re still feeling upset,
Cuz the feeling you get, when someone likes one of your pics, elated,
But then you see that it’s just a pixelated fantasy, colors on a screen,
Now you’re jaded, true friends, or am I playing pretend?
[Hook]
True friends are hard to find, sometimes I feel so alone,
When you have a true friend at your side, in your heart you know, you know,
It’s about aint about only laughing and having fun, a true friend wants to help you grow,
True friends always make you smile, and help you see that nothing’s impossible,
[Verse 2]
Maybe that was a little harsh,
I’m not trying to sound like your granny, smith, kinda tart,
Like kids these days, always staring at their phones,
Wish they’d leave the phones at home, can’t hold a conversation,
Only care about themselves, remember the good ole’ days,
Kiss those times farewell,
Well, there’s a little truth in that sentiment,
But I’m not saying there’s something inherently wrong with social networking,
I got love for my Facebook fam, and all my homies on Instagram,
But when you’d rather send a message to someone a hundred miles away
Than show love to the person right next to you,
You’ve gone as mad as the hatter, took the ladder down the rabbit hole,
Let me bring the focus back into view,
[Hook]
True friends are hard to find, sometimes I feel so alone,
When you have a true friend at your side, in your heart you know, you know,
It’s about aint about only laughing and having fun, a true friend wants to help you grow,
True friends always make you smile, and help you see that nothing’s impossible,
[Verse 3]
I hope I’m not sounding too critical,
Cuz truth be told, I’m trying to learn how to be a true friend to others too,
Don’t want to be hypocritical,
That’s a bugaboo buckaroo, see
The imperfect eye beholds imperfections
The I’m perfect lie, well that’s an infection
Caused by lack of self-reflection,
Your eyes are looking in the wrong direction,
So when you start to notice the faults in other people, just take a second,
And then remind where yourself where that human being came from,
The All Powerful, All Mighty, All Knowing Creator,
The God of Perfection, Clemency, and Mercy,
The All-Forgiving, All Generous, All Loving God,
We need spiritual nourishment, support, assistance, and encouragement,
True friends give us courage when we’re serving and our fears make us want to hide away like hermit then, your friends, they give you a hand, your fears start to melt away, you feel determined again, true friends they’re a godsend, cuz God is, a better friend, than I am to myself, can I get Amen!
[Hook]
True friends are hard to find, sometimes I feel so alone,
When you have a true friend at your side, in your heart you know, you know,
It’s about aint about only laughing and having fun, a true friend wants to help you grow,
True friends always make you smile, and help you see that nothing’s impossible
🎁 Bonus Content 🎁
Have you been enjoying the bonus tracks off of my dude Karim Rushdy’s ‘Wide Awake’ album?? If so, you’re in luck! Karim has been generous enough to share ONE MORE bonus track from his album!
Today’s bonus track is “TBH”, which also explores the theme of friendship within the digital sphere of social media. I felt like it really connected with “True Friend”, and so I persuaded Karim to let me share this song with you all as well :). Enjoy!
🤔 Elevated Conversation 🤔
Based on today’s lyrical remix, here are some questions for reflection:
1) What qualities do you admire most in a friend?
2) What makes someone a TRUE friend?
As I wrote this song, I realized that I have so much to learn about friendship! I’m always striving to be a better friend to others, so I’m excited to hear how you all view friendship. Leave a comment below!👇🏽
I am truly enjoying the meaningful conversation about friendship. I, like David find friendship daunting for various reason. I am fascinated by human beings but don’t really feel a need to engage. Apparently, being quite introspective creates challenges to forging friendships.
1) Most of my friends are people who are joyful, positive, thoughtful, like to have deep conversations, open to or love having having spiritual conversations, funny, and reliable.
2) To me, a true friend doesn’t have to be a friend that is ALWAYS involved in your life. But whenever he or she IS in your life, you feel loved, supported, and valued. That friend should be an addition to your life and not taking away the things about yourself that your value.
Colby, your questions are having me search my books for what they say on each topic. Here is a verse from the Christian Science Hymnal which is so good, I couldn’t resist sharing:
Love, the Golden Rule of living,
Showeth forth the perfect Mind;
Love, our debt to God who gives it,
All compassion is, and kind;
Charity the law fulfilleth,
Mid the nations rancor stilleth;
Loving hearts in friendship blend,
One in Him, our heavenly Friend.
(Hymn. 178:2)
I really liked David’s last two sentences of his comment. So true that friendship really requires personal growth! If we can just get ourselves out of the way, letting ourselves be a vessel of Love, letting our light shine, everyone is blessed! Selfless service, unconditional love, ceaseless prayer = unending joy!!
How poetic and beautiful!! Thank you for sharing this! I love the analogy of thinking love as “our debt to God, who gives it”. Similar to how money makes the material side of humanity “flow”, love is what makes the spiritual side of humanity flow. So profound!
And yes, friendship really does give us such opportunity for growth, as David shared. And the odd thing about personal growth, is that it often requires “getting ourselves out of the way” as you said, or shedding our selves (the selfish part anyway). Fascinating… 🤯
This was one of my favorite songs on the album, very upbeat. Thanks for creating it.
Making of friends has not come with ease for me even since I was a kid. I’m not a ‘people person’ and for the most part haven’t placed a high value on friendship. The friends that I’ve made through the years were ones that had similar values whether those values were aligned with the higher or lower nature. I chose and still do. No one can force me to be friends.
I realize friendship takes work and maintenance, is a big deal, and that what I put in is what I get out. For me attainment of true friendship is a combination of ‘a God thing’, and a personal desire along with work. Do I really want it? Responsibility is a necessary component to maintaining one. Often I haven’t wanted the responsibility that comes along with true friendship. If you think about it you know what they are. It means practicing selflessness, generosity, committment, thoughtfulness, willingness, cooperation, compromise, consistency, honesty, as well as sacrifice. Wow what an opportunity friendship is for personal growth!
Such profound reflections!! And so honest, I really appreciate you diving deep into your soul and sharing with us! 🙂
I think for me, I really enjoy having positive relationships with everyone that I meet, and I really try to see a friend in everyone I come across in life. However, a struggle I have is, as you said, truly giving those friendships what they deserve. Which are the things you mentioned… selflessness, generosity, sacrifice, etc.
In terms of the types of friends I attract, I think I really value people that are encouraging, kind hearted, positive, deep, playful, and service oriented.
I’m really grateful for all the amazing souls this album experience (and my musical endeavors, in general) have allowed me to connect with on such a deep level – like yourself! It’s such a blessing to have “fans” that are actually your friends! 🙏🏽☺
I don’t have many friends but the couple I have are people I treasure. We are there for each other whenever we are needed. I am thoroughly enjoying this experience and am hoping that one of your bonus items will be the very first song that I saw you in, “Change The World.
Sharon – that was something I really wanted to emphasize in the song of today… that while it may seem that we have 100’s and 1000’s of friends when we analyze our social media apps, in reality, our “true friends” are likely a much smaller crowd. Not to say that the rest are “false” or “fake” friends, but that this word “friend” is still something we have so much to learn about.
That’s such a blessing that you have a few close friends that you treasure. I love that word you used… “treasure”, as that’s truly what a true friend is!!
“Change The World” wasn’t in the original list of bonus items… but we can change that!
Bonus Content Addition! Download “Change The World” in MP3 format using the link below:
http://bit.ly/change-the-world-mp3