Quotable of the Week: Eyedea & Abilities “Smile”
This week’s hip-hop quotable is Smile from Eyedea & Abilities’ new album “By The Throat.” I heard a lot of people hating on this album before I picked it up, but I think it’s crazy dope. I’m digging E&A’s new style and movement towards rock-ish hip-hop. Smile is a track about finding beauty and peace in a world of pain and agony. Click below to listen to Eyedea & Abilities’ Smile:
And be sure to follow along with the lyrics after the break.
[Verse 1]
A prince can practice moans for the attention that he wants/
But most this town won’t even dignify his ignorance with a response/
Left to a crowded foster home by a fifteen year old mom/
Never been held in any one’s arms/
When you’ve never been moved, it’s really hard to move on/
A young saleswoman sets up shop on the sunset/
She’ll make your wildest dreams come true at a price you won’t forget/
But sadly Mary’d setup alibis, no harm no regret/
Hoping they’d meet an angel in bed that could wrestle the devil right out of their heads/
The city burns fast, no one has time to sit with themselves/
Time to look into our pain or see the same despair in everyone else/
It’s here, it’s there, it’s everywhere – tears soak each card the dealer’s dealt/
Time taught me how to see every second as heaven even though they’re perfectly disguised as hell/
And I refuse to let past bruises cover the light/
It ain’t all good, but it’s all good enough, so I know I’m alright/
Agony is truth, it’s our connection to the living/
And I accept it as perfection and keep on existing in the …/
[Chorus]
Now/
I can only build if I tear the walls down/
Even if it breaks me I won’t let it make me frown/
I’m falling but no matter how hard I hit the ground/
I’ll still smile/
I can only build if I tear the walls down/
Even if it breaks me I won’t let it make me frown/
I’m falling but no matter how hard I hit the ground/
I’ll still smile/
[Verse 2]
Ear to ear as if that’s all I’m here for/
Despite the wars founded by the rich funded by the poor/
Kids barely eighteen are dying so billionaires can make more/
Elsewhere hungry mothers watch their babies starve to death in a beat up shack on a dirt floor/
The aged professor quotes freedoms without a path/
Now he dresses like a widow and preaches love is dead in every class/
Curiosity killed the cat and taught the dog and them how to act/
It burned it’s bridge to Jill so he tries to drown the guilt with a bottle of Jack/
Self-proclaimed rebels say we must oppose the system/
You gotta take a stand – if you’re not against them, you’re with them/
Signs read support the troops, bring ‘em home, no more innocent victims/
But when a homeless veteran asks for spare change, you’re too busy protesting to even listen/
And I’m no different I live in conflict and contradiction/
It can be so beautiful when I don’t reject what lies within/
It’s beautiful the way agony connects us to the living/
I think of the world when I hurt and keep on existing in the …
[Chorus]
Now/
I can only build if I tear the walls down/
Even if it breaks me I won’t let it make me frown/
I’m falling but no matter how hard I hit the ground/
I’ll still smile/
I can only build if I tear the walls down/
Even if it breaks me I won’t let it make me frown/
I’m falling but no matter how hard I hit the ground/
I’ll still smile/
Jacob Broesder wrote:
I love this album, and this song. You gotta review it!
Posted on 29-Jul-09 at 10:40 am | Permalink
Jay-Izzle wrote:
yeah, i’m feelin this album too
Posted on 29-Jul-09 at 10:53 am | Permalink
303 b-boy wrote:
E&A rock! Fuck the haters!
Posted on 29-Jul-09 at 10:53 am | Permalink
Lars wrote:
I actually really disliked this song when i first heard it, but now, listening a second time, I’m really enjoying it. The meld between rock and rap is done well and sounds great. Plus the lyrics are pretty good.
Posted on 04-Aug-09 at 2:17 pm | Permalink
dmac wrote:
this song and album fucking rool
Posted on 10-Aug-09 at 2:16 am | Permalink
Gold Lemons wrote:
I have a sad confession to make… Even as an E&A fan, I hated on this album at first because I passed judgment after only listening once. I thought Burn Fetish was the only song on the album worth a damn.
It just takes more than one listen, everyone I know likes this album more and more every time listen. Burn Fetish is still the dopest track on the album, and possibly their career, if you ask me. However, this song is definitely #2 on this album.
Posted on 13-Aug-09 at 12:38 pm | Permalink
Sad Clown wrote:
Song is wonderful. I actually felt the same way as Gold Lemons did initially. The album rocks and speaks and speaks and rocks, except for “Time flies when you have a gun.” Maybe I just don’t get it.
Posted on 15-Aug-09 at 11:54 pm | Permalink
Katie Truelove wrote:
Really, Fuck the haters! I love their new album. Always a fan. This track is dope.
Posted on 19-Aug-09 at 8:07 pm | Permalink
Alex wrote:
i think the initial riff makes people skeptical, but then u listen to the chill parts n its all good. E&A lives!!!
Posted on 14-Oct-09 at 1:14 pm | Permalink
Video: Eyedea & Abilities – Smile | The Find Magazine wrote:
[...] Video: Eyedea & Abilities – Smile Posted by Danny on November 16th, 2009 No Comments Printer-Friendly Latest video by Eyedea & Abilities of their album ‘By The Throat‘. Very good track with an unique style by E&A. Lyrics can be found here. [...]
Posted on 16-Nov-09 at 4:51 pm | Permalink
ryan wrote:
love it, so bitter sweet
Posted on 26-Nov-09 at 5:55 pm | Permalink
Overcast! wrote:
Sickest album and i go with Burn Fetish as its number one track on there perefectly brought together….E & A!
Posted on 11-Dec-09 at 5:40 pm | Permalink
Dakota wrote:
I think its funny when people claim there fans than hate on this album. Any true E&A fan loves Eyedea for more than just his battle emcee days but for his lyrics, and abilities for his still rockin beats. These guys are more than an emcee n a dj, there artists, philosophers and genius’. Eyedea’s lyrics still continue to BLOW my mind away. E&A has changhed my life, and im more than sure im not the only one who can say that.
Posted on 02-Jan-10 at 6:44 am | Permalink
Dakota wrote:
Eyedea would KILL ANY rapper in a battle, and if there was a writin’ battle, heh. Eyedea would kill anyone lyrically too.
Posted on 02-Jan-10 at 6:48 am | Permalink
Finn wrote:
FYI — “but sadly Mary’d” should be “the sadly married.”
Posted on 03-Jan-10 at 1:04 am | Permalink
sky diver wrote:
it amazes me that people don’t like this album just because “they’re becoming a rock band.”
what?
listen to the lyrics and tell me this isn’t the most genuine thing they’ve ever put out. eyedea and abilities heart and soul on the line here and some people are hating on it just because it’s using distorted guitars?
Posted on 07-Jan-10 at 2:17 am | Permalink