Probably posted this before but one bar in this compelled me to post a genius annotation earlier, with British rap being so...saturated with nothingness. Spoiler: paranoid phonetic ranting The intricacies of CAS' use of phonetics can often be seen as a reach, but that’s why CasisDead. “Birthday the same as Dorian Gray.” Immortal. “Both the same as Dorian Gray.” His art is a manifestation of his reality, only corrupting him internally and his work; mostly hidden upstairs…so infatuated with the brilliance of his own self-portrait. “Both disclaimers, dough in green.” Promoting a notion of ambiguity to his statements of illegality; ones potentially regarded literally by society. Similar to the duplicity employed by the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray. ‘Green dough’ can refer to the monetary sense of the phrase, or ‘In the same way that unripe fruit is described as green, the jargon of the craftsmen bakers applied the same expression to wheaten dough that had not developed fully and hence was considered unripe.’ In this you could take it as a reference to The Number 23, which was just ‘full of bangers CAS put together for the mandem.’ as Giggs stated, in the Charlie Sloth Rap Up interview featuring the two of them on 27th November 2015. “Both diss lamers, do we agree?” Overall, the Dorian Gray reference is relevant to how methodical and exhaustive CAS' lyricism is, as Oscar Wilde never wanted to write another novel following the only one he ever penned… Or maybe how people overlooked Dorian Gray’s internal dialogue/emotions based on appearances in the midst of his eternal youth. Also the constant Basquiat reference…. ‘SAMOISDEAD’, who was a famous black painter that joined the ‘27 club’….. Got carried away when the 'Arya Stark in a car that's dark' bar fully dawned on me in this, too. Spoiler: more paranoid phonetic fanboy ranting ‘Multifaceted’ This is a reference to his use of different masks to hide his identity. It is also his a continuation of the prior bars as he compares his layered lyrical content with the other artist’s output. In the popular TV series ‘Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark learns how to take the faces of dead people to wear as a mask. A faceless, undead one. He is like Arya Stark with her many faces and is considered by many to be the powerful underdog of the scene. The bar in itself is also a demonstration of CAS' multifaceted nature as an artist, with the reference to Arya Stark being open to multiple interpretations and the following rhyme being a straight-forward statement. It also could be interpreted as a wordplay, juxtaposed to the simplistic ‘car that’s dark’, which is the essence of the equilibrium CAS' spectrum of lyrical sophistication hopes to achieve. On a phonetic level, the bar could also be construed as: ‘Area stark in our car that’s dark.’ Which could reference the niche the Dead Team have accomplished….or some roadman shit. ‘Are you stuck in our car that’s dark?’ This one’s open to interpretation, maybe questioning whether people have the ability to decipher his bars on this level, or just about kidnapping. You know. CAS stuff. ‘Have you stark in our car, (that’s dark).’ This could be an absolute reach but this interpretation of the phonetics threatens to abduct someone and have them ‘stark’ in a dark car. ‘that’s dark’ could be taken as Cas breaking the fourth wall and giving affirmation to such an interpretation, going as far as suggesting “That’s dark!” to anyone picking up on this play upon words. Either way, this bar is demigod tier.
I'd like to be like you, A little dove with its feathers plucked Standing across the Symplegades And watch as they pass by, The world's fugitives.
I went to high school with Antonio, from All Souls. Was down to visit him and his wife (who plays bass in the band) not that long ago. Great people, and I love the new album.
