Get all 7 Sam Nabi releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
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1. |
Gaslight
03:40
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Has it really only been a year?
I’m going grey looking over my shoulder in fear
The goalposts keep moving as we draw near
Is this the new normal? Were you hoping to hear
A tidy solution for regaining sanity?
Not when every fresh outrage is out to break humanity
Family ties, thicker than water — we cried
For downed boats, drowned folks who tried to flee for their lives
That was so long ago when you measure in terms of scandal
Pushed into a footnote ‘cause my heart can’t handle
All this death and not collapse, depression on my back
There was a shooting in the mosque and we all lit candles
They turn that light down a little bit
They turn that light down a little bit
They turn that light down a little bit
I’m sick of it, let me flip a switch
I’m thinking, “What can I do?”
I’m just one person absorbing the morning’s bad news
I guess it boils down to what battles you choose
Like how do you lose sight of the overshadowing doom?
Once aware, you can’t put injustice back in the tube
No sriracha sauce will help you if they spat in your food
The cops now say that they’re starting to load tasers
That’s too little, too late to bring back Beau Baker
So trade words all you like but don’t hide behind lies
Ready for when the hate-speech grifters arrive
How’re you gonna entertain Fourteen Words and claim both sides?
Stay golden, we did right to kick Goldy out both times
They turn that light down a little bit
They turn that light down a little bit
They turn that light down a little bit
I’m sick of it, let me flip a switch
Enough of us disgusted by powerful people
Getting off scot-free, they don’t treat us as equal
We’re in the opening act, better prepare for the sequel
We’ve got a lot of time to make up for women in lead roles
To these bros crying foul: huddle a minute
Admit it, we got a lot of toxic influences
You’re told your whole life that life’s not fair
Did you ever stop to think what way the tables were tipped?
This is basic accountability, not a witch hunt
Don’t throw a tantrum for the cameras when you’re mentioned
Don’t start a sentence with, “I’m not misogynist, but...”
How difficult is it to just sit down and listen?
They turn that light down a little bit
They turn that light down a little bit
They turn that light down a little bit
I’m sick of it, let me flip a switch
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2. |
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Hometown pals keep leaving, got me grieving
Stop my heart from reeling, no need to be needy
When you touch back down, come around, no hard feelings
This town needs you back but we keep you from dreaming
How have you been in the last year?
Been a while since you’ve been here
Big city dreams but you know now
How hard it is to face fear
Go ahead and chase your passion
It isn’t easy I imagine
Feeling trapped in a chasm
Spread your wings, attract hazard
Hometown pals will come catch you
I come off jealous when I ask you
How’s the crew, what’s the fashion
You grew new shoots, surpassed us
You found a bigger pond to splash in
You’re so bright, much like past us
Naïveté lit the way
Just don’t you forget where you came from
Hometown pals keep leaving, got me grieving
Stop my heart from reeling, no need to be needy
When you touch back down, come around, no hard feelings
This town needs you back but we keep you from dreaming
Trying to keep this scene real
How hard the heart breaks still
I know your demons are hard to kill
You tried to leave them and flee to the hills
Selfish, I don’t ever want you to go
Every time another one leaves home
This little town’s doors close
I’m left wondering what broke
You’re no one-trick pony
I went from open arms to lonely
Downtown ain’t the same, homie
Don’t care how many drinks you owe me
Don’t say you miss home, show me
Don’t say you miss home, show me
Don’t say you miss home, show me
Don’t say you miss home, show me
Hometown pals keep leaving, got me grieving
Stop my heart from reeling, no need to be needy
When you touch back down, come around, no hard feelings
This town needs you back but we keep you from dreaming
Oh, Berlin, we’re back in the business
Long drought, an Irishman’s Guinness
Scorsese scripts, short trips
Steady medi, retort flips
Mending these Crises on Infinite Earths
Vices Spawn consecutive births
I Am Sam, Penn nominations
Man, a betterment verse
Twenty nineteen, three seventy-seven
Adolescent, divinity’s onset
Infinity gauntlet, Thanos snapped
Did we lose the critical wrong threat?
Steve Rogers, the grade-A mind
Of Captain America
Mass hysteria, you are blessed, sir
Be superior, not inferior
Hometown pals keep leaving, got me grieving
Stop my heart from reeling, no need to be needy
When you touch back down, come around, no hard feelings
This town needs you back but we keep you from dreaming
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3. |
Port City
04:13
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You and I will find paradise in a port city
Spent our whole lives feeling landlocked, bored
In the afternoon we will walk the pier, watch the waves
Count the clouds, draw me near, feel the heat, yeah, real pretty
We hugged the shore to get here and it loved us back
A couple of kids with a backpack and some cash stacks
Here in a lancha with people who’re dreaming of half that
Try to decipher the Spanish, like if we are really respectful
The damage from tourists will vanish
Yeah, I’m just being candid — There’s a chance we could wind up
On some random island abandoned
It could happen, but life doesn’t go just the way that you planned it
Forget why you’re falling and focus on landing
You and I will find paradise in a port city
Spent our whole lives feeling landlocked, bored
In the afternoon we will walk the pier, watch the waves
Count the clouds, draw me near, feel the heat, real pretty
Glassy seas conceal razor-sharp coral reefs
Drained of life they could rip our boat easily
I don’t second-guess it in the open water, leeward breeze
Read the leaves, tell me did I do right by the least of these?
Put our faith in this kid revving the engine, he’s seventeen
I guess you grow up fast at the coast but I’ve never seen
A choppier ocean to hop across and I’m feeling green
We’ve got to make some peace with these border guards
Try to find some sleep
You and I will find paradise in a port city
Spent our whole lives feeling landlocked, bored
In the afternoon we will walk the pier, watch the waves
Count the clouds, draw me near, feel the heat, real pretty
We didn’t know this beach would be
So rough when we set out
But we got a table and played with the labels on bottles
The shade is amazing for now
The port is a lifeline
Hundreds of people a day making the trip of a lifetime
No papers, see what the day brings
Got to rely on the grapevine
So we make time to just listen
Arepas con queso and rum, that’s good living
Jose was there with us since the beginning
He don’t talk much but he’s good at convincing
I hope he finds what he’s after
Travelling this hard and this far he has to believe in some magic
I want to see him relaxing
When he settles down, I hope it’s all he imagined
You and I will find paradise in a port city
Spent our whole lives feeling landlocked, bored
In the afternoon we will walk the pier, watch the waves
Count the clouds, draw me near, feel the heat, real pretty
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4. |
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Started out Rum Running, now they serve benedicts
Props to Darryl and Liz, really running shit
Piinpoint the disruptors who force down bitter medicine
Evict the grittiness that made Kitchener in again
Out on the town in my peacoat
Buying rounds and doing shots of Crown with my people
Down to earth but I still feel elite, so
Why is this guy out here trying to start beef though?
He looks me down, says, “What the hell is that?”
I’m no denim-leather-plaid, he’s smoking a Camel pack
I’m not really a fan of that, I just try to shoulder past
Up the stairs and chuckle-laugh, another night at One-Eyed Jack’s
Too many silos in this here town
We’ve got to get to know each other, spread that love around
Don’t come here as conquerors or saviours, keep your head down
New money’s suspect, you haven’t earned our trust yet
We’ve got to find a way to live together
And I believe that we will live forever
We’ve got to find a way to live for better
And I believe that we will live forever
Tent City taking over like, “Did you miss me?”
We’ve got a history of leaving people up shit creek
This week, the paper sings the praises of the Litts
Bulldoze over the bits that fall out from the slipstream
No amount of cheerleading the split-screen
Can make certain that they’re listening to the missed dreams
Of rubber workers grappling with cancer because they mistreat
Our folks getting priced out of their homes again this week
We’ve got to find a way to live together
And I believe that we will live forever
We’ve got to find a way to live for better
And I believe that we will live forever
[STEVEDAVE]
Some people, man, you know what they say
They think they know it all so they stand at the gate
Knowing damn well that difference is the thing that they hate
Because it scares them just to think they could get similar fates
As the ones they stand on top of to get where they are at
Even though those are the ones who are breaking their backs
Metaphorically speaking they are swinging the axe
Chopping down the things you think and replacing them with facts
It’s a fucked up world and I’m telling the truth
You know I always gotta do that when I step in the booth
When I get behind the microphone is what I should say
Because if I’m not being honest, then I’m wasting my day
But back to the point, ain’t no half steppin’
No affiliations, no crew that I’m repping
STEVEDAVE4LYFE and life is with a Y
4 is like a number if you have to ask me why
We’ve got to find a way to live together
And I believe that we will live forever
We’ve got to find a way to live for better
And I believe that we will live forever
Coming up among the ghosts of Breithaupt and Lang
Out of my way, creative ‘cause I’m writing for days
Right up the laneway, we’re getting tainted with grey
Who’s to say who made it and who’s faded away?
This boom-bap reverberates from oceans away
Respect to the MCs from Jamaica to UK
Cambridge, St. Jacob’s, grime to dub
Slam, trap, I bring it back to DTK love
We get shoved under the rug when a rapper comes up
See, T-Dot is feeding off talent that we’ve got
From CKMS to C-Block we’ve got that Street Hop
Spinning at Wax or in the backyard at Steve Mock’s
Tight-knit so we take care of our own
The right fit for bringing someone into the fold
Young and old, respect the hustle you show
It’s tough work revealing what’s inside of your soul
We’ve got to find a way to live together
And I believe that we will live forever
We’ve got to find a way to live for better
And I believe that we will live forever
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5. |
Faking It
03:56
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The angels are scared of me
Diego Rivera, we’re painting the town red
This is therapy
If you care to see heresy, share in my frequency
Recently it has been hard to breathe easily
Cards that you’re dealing me
Flip up my hand to reveal them, I read and weep
Back in the day, you know Jesus would speak to me
I found relief and the words came so easily
Worry released at the feet of a deity
Greeting me like a believer
The key to salvation was free to me — So why did I leave?
I don’t have a good answer
Somewhere between speaking tongues
And leaving the spirit behind like a phantom
At some point I knew
I had left God in the pew
Faking it felt fine
‘Til my faith faded
I figure I’ll take my chances
Save your answers
I remember the night I got saved
At a prayer circle in the basement
They said, “Close your eyes — if you died tonight
Would you make it to heaven?”
Breath caught in my chest, I confessed
And they sent me away with a new Bible
Wrote the date on the first page: In the beginning
Signed it and sealed my fate
Conversion complete, some of the boys and I
Snuck a peek at nude models in magazines
Peer pressure up against purity
Pre-teen masculinity was new to me
Consuming fire, fan into shame
In the secret, in the quiet I wait
How will my fate play out?
None but the power of grace remains
So I pull a Pascal, playing it safe
Faking it felt fine
‘Til my faith faded
I figure I’ll take my chances
Save your answers
I came of age in a church at the top of a hill
So we could look down on the city
The key to salvation was a bigger building
So said the fundraising committee
They put a cellphone tower in the steeple
I’d say that’s a higher calling
Open the door and here are the people
Saying, “I call on Jesus to heal the deceitful!”
Money’s the root of all evil
So lay down your burden, now you can sleep well
Always felt uneasy around those deep pockets
But the music was good so I swallowed my awkward
That’s how I got my start singing
Ringing in altar calls to redeem the sinning
I threw away all of my secular CDs
To keep my mind pure for the blessings God’s bringing
If all of the point of this sacrifice
Is to elbow your way to the afterlife
And one little unrepented sin does you in
So you won’t pass your last rites
Well, that’s a little much for me
I’ma do right while I have life, but don’t hustle me
I don’t recall the last time I prayed
But I think I’m done trying to ask nice
This year for lent, I gave up trying to repent
Rather than cut off my hand
I’m done with pruning my branches
We’re all fallen, can’t you leave it at that?
I’m lukewarm, can’t get deeper than that
It’ll take a long time to make peace with my past
I’m done with disciples conspiring to save me
I’ll throw out the bathwater and the baby
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6. |
Happy Place
04:48
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I’m feeling that high hopes happy place
No time for haters when the right folks take the reins
Make no mistake, worry can wait
I take a heel to any snake who would rattle me out of my mood today
So what you talkin’ ‘bout, “nothing matters anymore”?
Why d’you keep breathing for?
On a visceral level you know there’s reason to leave the floor
Let’s find the bits of peace amid the war
I’m thinking ‘bout people that I love that I’ll see today
Maybe we’ll break bread and watch some TV today
Oh, you feel that freedom, eh?
You wake up and you only see the cage, well I see the key
I see linear time stretched to the nth degree
I see back when the earth was green
And we first developed lungs to breathe
Summertime and the living was easy
Summertime and the living was easy
Well I don’t mean to get esoteric
When there’s fresh wounds
We as a people need to take care of
But taste a little possible
Brace for the onslaught
And it’s not your fault
If you need to process anger to get to love
The happy place ain’t a drive-through
The happy place can’t find you
Until the time is true
But when it hits, boy, you know just as well as I do
Shout that shit from the rooftops
Joy is a viral kind of mood
So if you can’t stand the heat, open the freezer door
And if you land in hot water make it a cannonball
We can hold all these emotions at once, it’s incredible
When the world tosses you lemons, pretend that they’re edible
I’m feeling that high hopes happy place
No time for haters when the right folks take the reins
Make no mistake, worry can wait
I take a heel to any snake who would rattle me out of my mood today
It could hit you on your walk home
It could hit you like heat hits popcorn – Bam!
Out of your shell, don’t repress the rest of your show-and-tell
Be yourself, don’t worry how long you should talk for
I know I’ve hit my happy place when I feel like
Making conversation with everyone in the elevator
Get the moment while it feels right
Tell your doubt that you’re busy, call back later
It’s a different flavour of life, I play with that savoury spice
Catch the wave as it rises as long as I can stay upright
Happy ain’t transactional, I’m not paying a price
Sometimes it’s nice just to lean into lightness
When I’m in I can be more decisive
Lead with my eyes wide open with love for the lifeless
I’m not always like this, I make my share of tight fists
Crinkle my eyelids, society’s not where I’d like it to be
All the hurt in the world’s piped right to my screen
And all the victories seem so tiny to me
And I remind myself to breathe through the grief
It’s okay to go through sadness to feel free
So if you can’t stand the heat, open the freezer door
And if you land in hot water make it a cannonball
We can hold all these emotions at once, it’s incredible
When the world tosses you lemons, pretend that they’re edible
I’m feeling that high hopes happy place
No time for haters when the right folks take the reins
Make no mistake, worry can wait
I take a heel to any snake who would rattle me out of my mood today
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