MySpace Exclusive: More Track Details & Lyrics Revealed in LIVING THINGS Preview

This is for the people on the block to/ back down and rock to
Give you whatcha need like Papa/Who shot ya?
Seperate the weak from the obsolete, the meek, I creep hard on imposters
Switch styles on the dime/Quick witted ya'll/Quit tripping
I don't have time for your crying
I grind tough so can you make your mind up,
Are you in the firing squad or are you in the line-up?
Bang bang/Little monkey man playing
With the big guns will only get you slayed I ain't playing
I'm just saying / You ain't gotta sliver of a chance
I get ill and I deliver/While you quiver in your pants,
So shake shake down/Money, here's the break down
You can play the bank/I'ma play the bank take down
And no mistakes now/I'm coming to getcha
I'm a Banksy/You're a Brainwash, get the picture?/
It's like that..


This is the best make out i've seen of the lyrics. I don't hear any "rastas" or "Holly Grey"

 

There's a thread for the first verse of Until It Breaks in the Living Things subforum. The most accurate transcription of the lyrics is there.

 

This clears up a lot of things! XD

 

I can see what you mean with those earlier songs, but those were so early and LP has made efforts to evolve their sound so much that I can't/won't ask for sounds similar to those heard so long ago. So I'll make the most recent possible comparison, Burn it Down. Mike's rap is short in that song, but I love it, completely love it. In fact I shake my head at those comments I've read that suggest the rap is out of place. Not only the lyrics, but the tone, the delivery, definitely not an over-abundance of slang and hip-hop delivery/tone.

Compare the Burn it Down rap lyrics with what the board is transcribing for Until it Breaks. Remember that LPTV episode where Shinoda joked "I'm going to go totally f***ing caucasian right now" before doing his rap in an overly-proper manner? It's almost like in Until it Breaks, he's too much on the spectrum of "totally African-American"...and again, I don't mean that in any negative, racist way, but I want Mike to keep that more for projects like Fort Minor and not LP, and to do more of the rap style of other LP songs. I know he has a hip hop influence, but it seems with each album he's bringing more of that into LP, and I'm not crazy about where that might be headed. I'm not just basing this off of lyrics read, but also in the live clip from the House of Blues where Until it Breaks led into Waiting for the End.

That's what I mean by tone, slang, etc. Every element is awesome of the rapping in Burn it Down. I hope the album version/final edit of Until it Breaks is at least close, in overall awesomeness, if not the same.

 

I agree, the rapping on until it breaks was not that impressive. Bring back the papercut raps, the bleed it out raps, the blackbirds rap, and even the wfte raps. I honestly (so far) like the BID rap way better than until it breaks. I will not judge until the final song obviously tho

 

This whole rap discussion is both embarrassing and full of "I don't mean to be racist but [insert racist comments here]". You really mean you don't want Mike to sound black. Stop trying to justify it by talking about slang or delivery.

 

Well 'unimpressive' isn't a word I'd use for the Until it Breaks rap...I've mentioned what I'm iffy about with it, but I do think it's intricate, quick, witty and thus talented. That's what I can say positively about it, it's not empty and it's got a good rhythm (from the live sound I heard) but as mentioned it's the tone of voice, the overuse of slang, the delivery, etc.

But yea, we agree that as of now the Burn it Down rap sounds better, and I too would like more rapping like that of Papercut, Bleed it Out, Blackbirds, In the End, etc. We also agree though, that no real judgments can or should be made until we hear the final edit on the album. I still have hope that I'll say "Oh ok..." because LP has never let me down (I guess that's why I get nervous, feel like I don't want to lose the streak lol)

 

Take it easy there, and remember it's a comment board. Not everything I say is going to sound the way I mean it in my head, and a lot of that would be easier if I was talking to people in person. I don't feel anything I've said has been racist, and my talking about slang and delivery not only makes sense in my discussion, but it's valid. I bought Fort Minor's album and enjoyed it, and all I said was I'd prefer that style to stay with Fort Minor and not make it's way to Linkin Park. Sorry if you don't see it that way, or if you don't see the difference.

 

Last I checked, anything LP creates is LP. Saying you don't want a certain rap-style in a song they make is like me saying "Oh fuck this folk bullshit, that's not what LP is about".

The rap style you're talking about is much like what Mike has talked about in interviews. It's him dumbing down his style to "fit" the music. And it stupidly simplifies the flow. Lemme take a look at some internal rhyming found in Until It Breaks:

Code:

block to
rock to
whatcha
Papa
shot ya?

                 weak
                 obsolete
                 the meek
                 I creep
imposters

Code:

Switch        dime
Quick                                  witted
Quit                                    tripping
                 time
                 crying
                 grind                                    tough
                 mind                                    up
                 firing
                 line                                      up?

Code:

Bang bang
playing
slayed
ain't
playing
saying
ain't            sliver                 chance
                  ill and
                  deliver
                  quiver                pants

Code:

shake down
break down
                   play the bank
                   I'ma play the bank
take down
mistakes now                                getcha
                   I'm a Bank(sy)
                                                  get the
                                                  picture?

Rhyming-wise, it's a huge step above what Mike usually does. For comparison, here's Burn It Down:

Code:

me
me               high
believed        lie
                               king
                               ring
                   right                 crown
                                          down
                                                         turn
                                                         burn

Not that complex and pretty damn boring in my opinion. Nothing "more African American" about it. And if we had to do a literary analysis, I'd say Until It Breaks wins the battle. And I don't wanna hear any length bullshit.

So you'd RATHER have horrible writing on lyrics? Well then.

 

That's your opinion to say Burn it Down's rap lyrics are dumbed down, boring, and especially horrible. I find them far from horrible. Linkin Park proves consistently that their writing, their lyrics, are a cut above, so I don't see the problem with one song having a somewhat "simplified" rap line. If you read one of my more recent posts, I referred to the rap in Until it Breaks as quick, clever, witty, talented. But none of that means, in my opinion, that the rap in Burn it Down is bad, not even close.

I've also mentioned songs like Papercut, In the End, Bleed it Out...do you think the rap lyrics in those songs are dumbed down? Cut significantly just to "fit the sound"? I don't for a second, but listen to his voice, and yes, delivery, use of slang (I will continue to use that whether or not you think it's crap, because I think it's valid). It's a different style, but like I've also said a few times, I'm not judging Until it Breaks until I hear the album version, as this was just a live performance where maybe he added some elements for the performance, I don't really know, nobody does.

I talked about the sound being better to me (as of now) in Burn it Down. When I first heard that rap, the lyrics boomed out at me and his entire part in the song sounded great, especially the intertwining fade-out with Chester. I didn't mention the quality of writing in the lyrics, that wasn't the point I was making. I've also said LP hasn't let me down, that I only get nervous because for me they hold a streak I never want to see broken. In my opinion they've never made a bad song. So don't make me sound closed-minded to new sounds, because if I wasn't open to them I wouldn't be able to make that statement seeing as their first four albums have varying sounds and styles.

And by the way, I would say this is more effort to fully achieve the hybrid of sound that they've been going for, as also mentioned in interviews, to incorporate all six members favourite styles of music, much more than I would say this is Mike's attempt to "break free from dumbing down his style". He must really hate playing old songs in live shows then, by that mindset.

 

They've never made a bad song? Have you HEARD Meteora?

 

I don't remember saying I expected everyone to understand what I meant, in fact, I expected many wouldn't. Sorry that I'm not awesome at explaining things in nothing but typing where all people get to read is text. You don't see the differences in sound of Mike's voice and style from In the End, Papercut, etc to the live clip of Until it Breaks from the House of Blues show? That part, yea, I thought people would get what I meant...but I guess not.

 

Yea, I have heard Meteora, and I love it. It produced four songs I deem amazing, surrounded by eight other good, solid tracks. Which songs did you find bad? I obviously like some more than others, but I like that I can unbiasedly say none have ever been bad.

Faint, Breaking the Habit, Numb, Figure.09, Easier to Run, Lying from You, Session, From the Inside > Somewhere I Belong, Hit the Floor, Foreword/Don't Stay, Nobody's Listening....but I still liked the latter four.

 

He's meaning the swagger. He doesn't like how the Until It Breaks swagger feels like a Jay-Z song in terms of delivery and "slang". He's stated that he feels UIB feels like Mike going "too much on the spectrum of "totally African-American"" (BUT NOT IN A RACIST WAY LOLOL).

EDIT: What's wrong with Meteora? Let me count the ways.

Unoriginal guitar. Horrible lyrics (find all the songs that have the word lie in them).

I wanna heal. I wanna feel.
Don't stay.
Getting dirty with the people spreading the dirt.
Numb is Pushing Me Away with different words.
Hit The Floor is a pointless song.
Oh wait, how many songs say ignore?

 

Yea, "totally African-American", right after mentioning the part in the LPTV episode where Mike joked about going "totally f***ing caucasian" before singing his rap for Burn it Down as if he was at an English tea party. So I guess Mike's racist too by your logic.

 

Other than 'I wanna heal, I wanna feel' sounding on paper to be a little weak (though it's acceptable to me because it fits with the song, it's not just "I wanna feel," it's "I wanna feel like I'm close to something real", just broken up over two lines) I don't agree with anything else being weak, problematic, horrible, or anything like that.

Pushing Me Away and Numb are two of my favourite LP songs ever written, and I see differences in them. They're not the same song just because they may have a very similar structure.

Linkin Park has continued to use the word "lie" across all their albums, so why don't you knock Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns as well while you're at it, since just like Meteora they all followed Hybrid Theory and I'm guessing for you it was only acceptable on one album, and after that they "need to get original" by removing the word 'lie'.

 

So you disagree with the band that Meteora was Hybrid Theory Part 2? I'll make sure to tell them that they're wrong.

 

Making things up now to try to make your points stronger? I didn't say that I disagree that Meteora was like a sequel to Hybrid Theory. What I was driving at, is that I didn't mind that. Why the hell would I have a problem with similar music when I loved Hybrid Theory? For the same reason though, I welcomed the changes in Minutes to Midnight, because I agreed that going at the same formula three times in a row probably wasn't a good idea.

From my count, I've agreed with the band on all fronts so far.