I’m with your girl tucked under the duvet

Heems takes this to extremes in the last verse. In our first example of what I like to call ‘the or rule’, this counts as two similes. Heron is of course a street name for heroin, which is why he’s pronouncing it this way, it’s not to force the rhyme. Each bottle has a fact printed on the inside of the lid. Heems has done his homework.įor the curious, Snapple is a brand of fruit drink. All the birds mentioned in the entire track are genuine by the way (even boat-tailed grackle).

I’m in the sky, I’m a boat-tailed grackleĪs with about 80% of hip-hop, Heems opens the track by emphasising his credentials. I’ve been to Hell and back and then Hell againīrown pelican, streets is where I dwell again I just want to believe this is simply a hip-hop track about birdwatching. I’m also ignoring the idea that the whole thing might be an elaborate metaphor for hitting on women. So at heart this post is really about the beauty of nature, and I’ve found lovely pictures of any birds mentioned in the similes. It’s quite hard to think of whimsical commentary for them all, especially when a herring gull’s given you a 4am wake up call. Nearly all these similes relate to species of birds. But this track stands out as an unapologetically silly diversion. Swet Shop Boys often take a revealing look at modern race politics from two different trans-Atlantic angles, and their stuff is well worth your time. In it, Heems and Riz wryly cover all sorts of themes in typically playful style. This little treat of an EP comes from 2017. But I don’t think Riz is on this track, unless he’s doing the bird noises, which wouldn’t surprise me. Ahmed’s one of those annoyingly talented people that can do anything they turn their hand to. Swet Shop Boys is a collaboration between American-Indian rapper Heems and English-Pakistani MC, writer and actor Riz Ahmed (AKA Riz MC). We’ll get to it eventually of course, maybe in time for Liverpool winning their next title. But unfortunately it has about as many similes as Arsenal have decent centre backs.

Also one of the fans of the blog who definitely exists has repeatedly suggested it. I also toyed with the idea of looking at similes in The Anfield Rap, given that Liverpool just won their first title in 30 years. It sounds like a toddler has remixed the EastEnders cliffhanger sound using a Fisher Price four-track. Until my neighbour starts up his daily assault on his tom-toms that is. But only one requires going outside, so I prefer to concentrate my efforts on the simile stuff. Both need patience, attention to detail and a weirdly-obsessive streak. There are several parallels between the gentle, harmless hobbies of twitching and hip-hop simile collecting. But they are really annoying.Īnyway, when I’m not analysing rap similes, I’m quite partial to grabbing my binoculars and heading out to the hills myself. I’m contractually obliged at this point to mention that gulls wouldn’t be living on my roof if it weren’t for over-fishing. And at least he doesn’t start at 4am like the gulls do. Still, I look forward to a time where he can at least keep a rhythm. He hasn’t improved in three months, and I’m wondering where he gets his unwavering optimism from. These antisocial, massive and fearless things are as annoying as living next to an amateur drummer. This is the time of year when herring gulls nest on my roof. This track is definitely in the top five hip-hop tracks about the joys of bird-watching.īirds are very much on my mind at the moment. After our last outing got very heavy pretty quickly, this time I wanted to consider a more wholesome side of hip-hop.

White rumped sandpiper