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Late Convert

by Sam Nabi

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1.
Side Hustle Shuffle 03:41
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I been running HAM all day People calling, like "Can I talk to Sam?" all day Walking down the street, getting stopped by randos "Hey, aren't you the guy who started Apartment Café?" Yeah that's me, people say they know my face You might say that I've attained some local fame Love the game, but I ain't getting paid yet Still, it makes for a good line on my resume Gone are the days when you could walk right up To the CEO's secretary and get picked up Didn't need LinkedIn or a thick skin Just show up with a full Windsor and a crew cut Used to be you only had one job 9-to-5, build a life, retire and golf but... Now instead of carving divots you're 57 and pivoting Laid off for efficiency, your loyalty was limiting Only one way to survive this struggle Gather 'round now, let's do the side hustle shuffle No way my generation's getting caught up Pouring blood, sweat and tears just so we can prop up Billionaire bosses that profit from sweatshops That make the cheap TVs and phones that we want Out of school, 21, and it's time for turning tables I don't owe the system shit after your housing market failed Fooled me in '06, thought my savings would be stable They be sellin' you a casket as soon as you out the cradle Voice of my generation, just like Valli and Sinatra But Frankly, this beat is hotter and the struggle that we're facing Is one that you hear a lot of: Living in our parents' basements Or burning right through our savings, trying to break free from the job hunt Create a new economy in our own image In the margins of a book that we didn't bother to finish You told us we were special and everyone was a winner So don't be surprised when we don't join your corporate pilgrimmage
2.
Classy 03:02
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I'll never ride with you, I seen how you roll All the swagger overcompensating for gold-plated Stainless steel, your rhymes are dull, and that's fine for some But don't you get tired shooting movies full of B-roll? You'll never see me on the court free-throwing I'm at the 18th hole, penciling zeroes in 'Cause guess what? Sports aren't really my thing No street cred, I inherited all of my bling I was raised in the suburbs, roaches and rats Were things that they only had downtown or in the past Or something that you learn about in Social Studies class Which all of my buddies passed, cause keeping somebody back Would never happen in Whitby — only in the inner city And really it's such a pity that they're all so disadvantaged And don't have opportunity but whatever Let's spend another $50 million on a hockey rink That's classy, in the Marxist sense of the word See, I'm a liberal-minded bourgeois, I follow the herd And because I'm self-aware I've got white guilt, it's absurd Cause I'm not white, I'm post-racial, or that's what I learned Earning my fancy degree, croissants and raspberry tea As I double down and study contemporary philosophy Enlightened now, I want to work with the poor I'll buy a fixer-upper in the steeltown core Let's get this gentrification party started, I'll bring the nachos Ain't it fun to romanticise a way of life that's not yours? It just feels so authentic, you know? Such character! Man, I love these century homes But we gotta do something bout that halfway house on the corner They shouldn't put them so close to where people live, it's not normal! So now we're pushing out the working class bars and diners To make way for high-rise glass dividers Cause when you can't afford Yorkville or Forest Hill The overspill comes creeping to the steel mills I feel chills now, thinking bout my purchasing power Pushing a burgeoning tower at $30 an hour And it would be great if we had a way to save those rates of pay For residents here today, so they could stay And grow with their communities instead of being pushed out Enjoy the opportunity, stop living hand-to-mouth The market is a heartless Grim Reaper, when he comes knocking Better pay up or you're a dead man walking So call me Keynesian if Marx makes you sweat Whatever, we're better together, you won't regret Promoting socioeconomic and racial diversity Cause all of this neighbourhood segregation hurts me to see Let's build resilience, not just lofts for millions Affordable alternatives for families and immigrants We got more than enough cream at the top of the crop To feed everyone, and we know that the need is imminent
3.
The Realest (feat. Will Power) 03:24
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[Sam] I'm the realest that there ever was Badder than Nicki Minaj, yeah you can hold the applause I got more gravitas than Barack on the teleprompt Cleaner than a gothic font, meaner than a junkyard dog Lyrics like an acid fog seeping through your bedroom wall Koffing and Weezing, you gotta catch 'em all My rhymes are so ethereal, more wholesome than your cereal I don't think you hear me bro, my ego is imperial [Sam] I get jiggy to Jagged Edge or Jagged Little Pill Or really any top 40 hit since Mandela left jail I'm a kid of the 90s if you couldn't tell Raised by Tamagochis and Saved By The Bell I could riff all day on pop culture references Are you impressed with this or have I lost the audience? Don't leave yet, stay for another sip I'll pass the hat around 'cause I don't get a lot of tips [Will Power] My flow's so lava it's addictive to pyros Yeah I spit fire like my name was Spyro Lookin' fly downtown while I'm chewing a gyro So gets your hands moving like this was a title Wave goodbye to the past like it's final When I strum the strings, every one of them is my note I am tough but I don't gotta fight yo Seeking the peace in the light is my plight though My lyrics are blissful and raw, like Nirvana I'm up in this game like clouds of marijuana This game is recess, I play how I wanna Tony Hawk Pro Skate over the track like I gotta It's a jolt to your system while I'm cleaning your chakras Hope it feels good and I hope I didn't shock ya Don't you know I got ya? Yeah yo, I got ya I'm in beast mode like mama named me Chewbacca [Sam] You best believe I get a lot of calls Parties are off of the wall, 'cardi and Kids in the Hall That's what I call living and having a ball I'm a part of this scene, on fleek in the heart of it Talk is cheap so I gotta bring a lot of it I flow from east to west like the Ottomans My flow's so fresh you should bottle it
4.
Ergo Ego 03:00
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Run hard with a headstrong start It's a cruel world, miracles are few and far between Go guard your hardened heart It's a fool's world, keep a short leash on hopes and dreams You don't know my story, all you know is I got mad skill So inflammatory like you ran out of Advil You're rusty like a bad drill, glass only half filled My cup is overflowing like an oil spill Natural disaster on the mic, I'm a hundred-year phenomenon Master of the fight, I'm a modern-day Obi-Wan Smashing crates like Donkey Kong, passionate and headstrong Pacifist in real life but I'm violent when I write these songs Gemini means I've got a double personality My friends and I are more than a posse, we're a family Posers try to channel me, hosers with your flannel jeans Don't you try to step to me, I'll decimate you handily I don't need utopia, I'm comfortable with anarchy You think you can show me up? Guess we'll have to wait and see I'm your final fantasy, can't nobody handle me Look at all these trophies scattered on my mantlepiece I cut my teeth in the folk singer circuit Wont he Whitby Idol competition with my first hit Celebrity, I earned it, yeah I got a firm grip Shake my hand, look me in the eye, you know I'm worth it What you say we go down to the docks and get to business You got beef with me, well then you're sleeping with the fishes My ego is my mistress, break it and I'm vicious Probably 'cause my mother never showered me with kisses Damn, I need to see a therapist Lost my moral compass and I can't find where it is I don't care for this, maybe I'm a terrorist Better lock me up like I'm a nobleman in Paris I'd like to see you try to put me in a cell Throw the key away, only feed me water from a tainted well Bring me out for show-and-tell, go condemn my soul to hell I won't move an inch in the face of this fear you're trying to sell I won't even try to force my way out of imprisonment I'll keep rhapsodising till the walls start caving in This temporary tenement will not make me reticent I'll keep rapping even if you fill my mouth with cinnamon
5.
Boomers for Breakfast 02:43
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Pay your artists and pay them on time Pay your interns working on the front line Pay your freelance contributors every last dime Don't be cutting us short and then pretend it's all fine You want to sit down all chummy and talk millennial things Discuss politics over coffee and tell me what you think? "It's technology gone amok and entitlement calling," That's why I'm absorbed in my phone when it rings That's a nice pet theory but it's not what I'm about I just replied to a client while you were running your mouth See I'm a hustler now, and I might ruffle some feathers But my rainy day fund ain't ready for this monsoon weather We make the most of our hand and play the cards that we're dealt And that means going in hard and that means shaking you down 'Cause we know we won't ever get a picket fence around our house And it's hard enough to keep up with the rents in this town So you wonder why I'm pushy with the invoice Like you forgot your generation gave me no choice? I'm swimming with piranhas and still trying to be nice These boomers from Toronto trying to talk me down on the price? No Something's gotta give, I hear precariat rising up We 'bout to take over this mess, your time is up And if you thought you were a good man, that you tried to give a hand up That you're on our side, vibing to Get Up Stand Up Your hippie revolution ain't no good here, fam Take your good intentions with you to the promised land We're here to undo corporate capital as best we can And until then, you can clean your own fuckin bedpan
6.
Tapestry 04:00
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What's your background? Tell me where you're from It's awesome to see some colour in this white kingdom One thread in the tapestry shining in the sun I'm woven into this culture but I feel so othered Great Uncle John did the family genealogy Set me down upon his knee and told me 'bout the family tree My roots go back to Robert The Bruce King of the Scots, so that means I'm nobility too But recently I heard some news that left me mighty confused See, Robert conquered villages and kept the women to use He spread his seed through the sword and all of those youth Lived fatherless, these branches gave bitter fruit I got a lot of good men in my lineage Saw their tombstones and tried to picture how they lived One was the captain of a ship, riding the waves Then I realise he traded bottles of rum for slaves Thank Queen Victoria and British imperial greed For giving my Pakistani family the chance to succeed You see, they got protection for their loyalty My ancestors working as tools for their oppressors So when a future generation's opportunity Is shaped by days reciting God Save The Queen Of course my father's father joined the Royal Air Force Moved up to Manchester, starting having porters and pork The borders of war inflicted an unspeakable horror So he was grateful to escape and see the Liverpool port It was there he met a woman, an adventurous sort They sailed away and made a new life on Canadian shores Now let me double back and follow yet another path That thrill-seeking woman also had an immigrant past Russian Jews, persecuted, so they up and quit it Fled to Great Britain which was somewhat less antisemitic Thus two branches of my ancestry One fleeing from oppression, one loyal to royalty Joined hands and hearts, now grafted together A new land, a new start, a new family Well there was just one hitch when they arrived on Turtle Island They didn't know that this land had been home to utter violence Colonial advancement left the native voices silent My grandparents were immigrants and settlers, like I am
7.
Remember When 03:20
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Remember when we were kids Hanging off the monkey bars, fighting over trading cards Remember when we were kids Passing notes in science class, asking if you like me back Getting off my high horse for the hell of it Got my ego oh so delicate Realise that the game's so full of shit Saw the trap and I walked right into it We had to go and grow up like Manhattan did Settle in a slow rut like a masochist Living in corporate torture and I don't fit I want my childhood back so I up and quit Freedom isn't what you thought – white picket fence It's easy living till you lose your innocence No rest for the educated, implicated in systemic prejudice Makes me nauseated I thought I really made it, got a job and graduated Now that I'm here, I'm made aware of all the hatred And we just have to face it, we're getting back to basics Too many rape cases going uncorroborated Now wasn't life so simple in the olden days? No that's a trap, let me focus up your rosy gaze You thought I'd let you off the hook with a chorus break No, I just mentioned rape, yeah, we're going there okay? To every boy who calls his friend a little bitch You oughta know we've been co-opted into privilege We're taught to put down feminine characteristics Devalue women's work just to prove how big your dick is
8.
Sushi Society 03:28
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To be honest, I can't tell what umami tastes like You crinkle up your brow like now you know I wasn't raised right A subtle salty fullness that my palate just can't quite comprehend Like the Kanji script at the consulate Let's take a plane across the date line Race the rising sun past the horizon and you know we're making great time All I know's the war and not the hate crime Not the way the bomb resounded outward like a grape vine Hitting our shores like a mistake you can't erase, right 1942 was a disgrace, White Canada showing its face Still the master race, leaving a legacy of pain And sometimes I just don't know what to say We're much more than two solitudes Our history is what you call abuse It's time to own up to the truth Stop hiding our ugly past in the stories we tell our youth I was raised in modern ways in the suburban GTA Model minority mixie with the perfect grades My French Immersion teachers piled on the praise Saying I would feel at home in Quebec someday But that was wishful thinking, this is 1998 And no, that 49% didn't just dissipate We like to think of this mosaic as a blank slate Colour-by-numbers they box you in 'cause they don't want you to escape Like back in BC, they were loading folks in crates Mothers and daughters, sons and fathers separated I didn't know we had our own homegrown fascist state Whose freedom were we fighting for anyway? So if Canadians are so well-known for always saying sorry Why did it take 47 years for an apology? We'll gladly take your VCRs and Gameboys and Ataris And spent our childhoods playing Mario Party And I'm digging the aesthetic watching Princess Mononoke And the new place down the block makes some amazing bento boxes I consume what I receive because it's cool and kinda breezy And I don't think how an immigrant might not have it so easy
9.
Dante 03:10
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It hasn't been summer in a long time Keep my teeth from chattering, I'm standing on a land mine Grass between my toes has turned to dust, I can't find a sign Of any human being from a past life Maybe I'm dead – maybe this is purgatory Maybe someone else is serving that sentence for murder for me Maybe this is the seventh circle of hell Where I'm constantly fearing death and nobody can hear me yell Get out of my head, Dante! I'm a sentient self At the very least, I'm a brain in a vat on a shelf And if I step off this bomb will I be somebody else Will the continuous me even be able to tell I'm rigid now, can't move a muscle, the air is frigid now I need a cool head to try and figure all of this out I know that if I find peace with the Earth I'll be able to breathe and be at ease with the worst My feelings are hurt, there ain't another soul in this town My cries for help don't even make an echoing sound It's desolate, I feel the pressure of my feet on the ground No people around, this is where the demons come out Now the tick, tick, tick of my heart goes on As the dawn breaks and the lawn shakes, it's an earthquake Tick, tick goes the bomb, I breathe heavy But I'm still standing Mountain pose, hands to heart centre Deep breath, set my intention, try to remember Now the ground is resonating with a curious timbre And the soles of my feet feel as if they're burning on embers It's early November and I know nothing grows in the cold I can feel roots burrowing from under my soles Pulling all the moisture up and out of the dirt My tears falling down now and I'm salting the earth
10.
Goethe 03:04
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I got what you call a lot of skill More than a mockingbird you want to kill I'm untouchable, my flow's unreal So if you're content reinventing the wheel That's fine, but don't pretend that you can feel me I'm a real G-O-E-T-H-E So come at me, where's your ghat, B? I'll even leave you 10 Gs in my will That's how confident I am, that's raw I put a bounty on my own head, brah Stepping out my carriage at the opera You keep sucking your teeth hanging out at the cinema I'll be in my box seat hearing arias And I'm sorry 'cause I'm on safari bud Pickin' off MCs like it's Noah's flood And we only need the best of the species Bon, j'en ai marre de la langue anglaise Crains pas, j'peut toujours t'apporter trop d'malaise J'suis connu partout de Montparnasse à Barbès Expatrié, non immigré, écoutez ma thèse Paris est une ville construit pour moi Roi du monde, chef des ondes, sais-tu pourquoi J'ai un certain cachet comme les apparts dans l'Marais La valeur de mes rimes ne cessera de monter Coming back across the channel now How you like my intercontinental style? This ain't grime, ain't rap, ain't hip-hop It's pure aesthetic, it's how I get off I'm like your friend with the tribal tattoo It's a gap year experiment, the world is my zoo My parents they showed me love from the age of two Said I could become anything so I chose a few I got a handful of the life trajectories And I don't know if there's one that's best for me Whatever the scene I just keep living the dream Not the American one, the millennial cut-scene Where I'm hopping from place to place and it don't stop The New Years' Eve ball drop, watching the shot clock Ain't rocket science being in two places at once That's what the internet's for, go ahead and check out my blog I bob and weave with the rhyme and rhythm Float like a butterfly high on nihilism 'Bino says rap is dead, I guess I'm a vulture Appropriator of culture dancing around all this tribalism And I don't really care what time it isn't You gotta live in the present not fret the rest that you're missing Pull it together until like nuclear fission You explode in stardust so the world can keep wishin'

about

Proudly millennial, Late Convert pushes back against the gaslighting of our generation. Tracks like Side Hustle Shuffle and Boomers for Breakfast are a rallying cry against precarious underemployment and accusations of entitlement. It's an exploration of identity, class, culture, and privilege at a time when these distinctions are becoming hyper-visible.

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released October 25, 2016

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Sam Nabi Kitchener, Ontario

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