The controversial figure Lil Pump has divided the music world into two camps. The first being, Lil Pump is very dumb and makes terrible music and the latter understanding that both those facts are true but are also aware that this is entirely the point of Lil Pump. Throughout the hip-hop criticism world, the popularity of Lil Pump has also exposed an underlying elitism which praises more "lyrical" artists while denying the beauty of other art. However, the persona of Lil Pump established by his music and his online presences create an interesting dichotomy of honesty and excess. Furthermore, Lil Pump's directness sometimes creates a more cutting and interesting message. I believe the obvious lyrical poetry of people such as Kendrick Lamar exemplified in the song untitled 05 is not any more valuable than that of Drug Addicts by Lil Pump. The intricately woven beauty of Kendrick Lamar's word at time feel less like a true experience. Because this raw trueness is the main purpose of poetry as described in Sound and Sense: an Introduction to Poetry Pump's directness is at times more effective than Lamar's words.
For example, untitled 05's references to drug use and include:
Taaka vodka on the top of my binocular I'm drunk
How can I make them popular, pop em' when I want
See I'm livin' with anxiety, duckin' sobriety
Drove alone, with a bottle of his own grippin' the handle
Throughout the song, the beautiful lyrics paint a portrait of addiction. And while these lyrics do provide a portrait of a life, I cannot say that this makes me truly feel the intimate and raw experiences that Drug Addicts does. There is always a facade of cleverness which does not discredit its poetic qualities but dilutes it.
Lil Pump represents a poetic candor which is typically buried under layers of complex diction and techniques. He begins:
Whole gang full of drug addicts (ooh, chyeah)
Take a lot of shit, forgot what happened (forgot what happened)
I ain't gon' lie, I got a habit (ooh, I got a habit)
Swear to God, you can't be on my status (I swear to God!)
Start the day off with a pint (yeah, brr-brr!)
I'ma show you how to live life (yeah, ooh!)
Take a lot of drugs, don't think twice (wow)
I do this every day and all night (ooh, ooh!)
The first line "Whole gang full of drug addicts" brings light to communal spiral rather than the introspective nature of drug addictions. We are brought deeper into the darkness of Pump's affliction. He tells the tale of his affliction with a sense of direction and even pride which allows the listener to truly submerge themselves in the experience. His biting honesty is the closest I have felt to understanding the effects of addiction in a person's life and for that reason, it is true poetry.
