On June 21, 2018, Mac Lethal announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new song that night, later going on to reveal the title as “Turning Into My Father” and that an accompanying music video would also be released.
The song serves as a response to the recent, polarizing death of rapper XX...
[Intro]
Knock knock, open up
[Verse 1: Mac Lethal]
What's this music that you're listenin' to?
What's the name of it?
XXXTentacion? Fun
No no, you're not in trouble
Relax, I just wanna have a conversation with you 'cause you're my son
For the last hour I was in my room makin' a call
And I could hear this loud ass bass shakin' the wall
Then his lyrics?
He sounds like a psycho that's depressive
Why's there so much anger and violence in his message?
I just don't understand people your age
All you care about is sex, and drugs, and pure rage
My generation wasn't like that
You had to be a poet with talent in order to write raps
I just Googled this kid on my phone to read about him
My god, I'm reading lots'a scary things about him
Have you read about the terrible things he does to women?
And how he had to do time in prison?
Listen
I understand that you wanna be cool and you don't wanna be the dork when you walk around school
But listenin' to him is a terrible influence
And when I was your age, I swear I wouldn't do it
Smarten up, find therapy in music
It's even better if your parents can approve it
Trust me, I didn't have a dad that was cool enough to tell me when my music was bad
[Chorus: Mac Lethal]
Wait wait Dad, stop
My favorite rapper died today
You don't need to preach to me man, I'm okay
I get it, you think that I'm hostile and queer
I get it, you think that my culture is weird
I get it, you think that my music isn't smart
I get it, you think I'm depressed and I'm dark
I get it, you think it sucks, you hate the beats
Now let me listen to it in peace, please
Please
[Interlude]
I'm just saying that my music was, y'know
See this XXXTentacion guy, we didn't have—
We had like 2Pac and and actual talented, y'know
People with perspective, poets and stuff like that
[Verse 2: Mac Lethal]
What's this music that you're listenin' to?
What's the name of it?
2Pac Shakur? Okay, that's fun
No no, relax, you're not in trouble
I just wanna have a conversation with you right now 'cause you're my son
For the last hour I was in my room makin' a call
And I could hear this loud ass bass shakin' the wall
And his lyrics?
He sounds like a psycho that's depressive
Why's there so much anger and violence in his message?
I just don't understand people your age
All you care about is sex, and drugs, and pure rage
My generation wasn't stupid
You had to be a talented artist if you wanted to make music
I just opened the newspaper to read about him
My god, I'm readin' all these scary things about him
Have you read about the terrible things he does to women?
And how he had to do time in prison?
Listen
I understand that you wanna be cool and you don't wanna be the dork when you walk around school
But listenin' to him is a terrible influence
And when I was your age, I swear I wouldn't do it
Man, try to find therapy in music
And maybe I could play you what your parents used to groove with
Johnny Cash didn't sing about killin'
He didn't care about doin' drugs and screwin' women
[Chorus: Mac Lethal]
Wait Dad, stop
My favorite rapper died today
You don't need to preach to me now, I'm okay
I get it, you think that I'm hostile, it's clear
I get it, you think that my culture is weird
I get it, you think that my music isn't smart
I get it, you think that I'm depressed and dark
I get it, you don't understand rap beats
Now let me listen to it in peace, please
Turning Into My Father was written by Mac Lethal.
Turning Into My Father was produced by Seven.
Mac Lethal released Turning Into My Father on Thu Jun 21 2018.
Lethal says in a pinned comment on his music video for the song:
I wrote this song as a commentary on all the harsh judgments and criticisms [that] hypocritical parents and adults are hurling at him upon his death. Young people have confused, tortured, and sometimes even violent heroes. We had 2Pac...