Since M.I. Abaga shifted Kelly Hansome’s nose on “Beef” (2010), he hasn’t had a formidable foe to spar with… until now. We’ve already seen how Mr. Abaga left more than enough rope on “Everything I Have Seen” for Milli to hang himself with and the young MC duly stuck his head out and wore that thing proudly like it was a neck tie on his 5 part parting shot to the label.
Now Milli has made a lyrical assault of his own. Unfortunately for those who like to see blood, the 2016 version of his song “Unlooking” is more prop, bob and weave than hook, jab and uppercut. In round 1, it seems like Milli used up most of his energy in composing that goodbye message than in making the follow-up music. The ironic thing is that after titling the song “uncensored”, the rapper censors every curse word after the 2:15 mark but left every single one before that to breathe.
I know, I don’t understand it myself.
There were a number of punches aimed at M.I., but did any of them connect? Let’s see.
Cash rules everything except me
Mentorship and creative control
On sobriety
Watch the throne
Love lost, art found
However, if you focus on only the music, you might miss the total message. Milli is big on symbols and surprisingly good at strategy. The artsy rapper unveiled a simple hexagon, with a mesh of internal triangles as his brand logo. He strategically positioned himself as the victim with his #SaveMilli and free art campaigns. He posted the tear-jerking parting shot that got the internet seeing things his way, then released this video of a masked man setting fire to a crown as an affront to M.I.’s claims of kingship, “Everything I Have Seen” “King James” etc.
On the single’s cover art, the crown was broken, possibly after being impacted by a big cat – possibly a lion – hence the red scratches. This ties into the whole king narrative, king of the jungle, king of the rap game. Please you can stop me anytime you think I’m reaching.
However, even more symbolic is the coup of having Chocolate City’s in-house producers Reinhard and CKay on a song that disses their boss. How on earth was this cleared at CC? The original version of the song was recorded and released when Milli was still signed to CC, perhaps Milli was given full rights to the song when he was released from the label. Perhaps Milli is still covertly signed to the label because it’s quite hard to explain how else this might have happened.
What about the quality of the song itself? I think it’s an improvement on the original. The booming beat and infectious chorus remain as-they-were for the most part, while Milli flourishes in his half-rapper, half-singer mode but with marginally smoother rap lines this time.
All you n!ggas shaking like a vibrator /
Serve anybody here, boy like a blind waiter /
Too bad that’s not what people will be focused on in the coming days.
*The ITK Analysis series is dedicated to giving you information you absolutely don’t need to know but we go ahead and give it to you anyway*