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Songs of the Day: Genesis Owusu - The Other Black Dog / Gold Chains

February 27, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Totally dental: Genesis Owusu

Totally dental: Genesis Owusu

With a vibrant, mischievous, refreshing delivery, a couple of fabulously catchy, clever hip hop/funk songs by the Ghanaian-Australian singer and rapper from Canberra, in advance of his debut album Smiling With No Teeth, out in March. More of his work can also be enjoyed via Soundcloud, also embedded below.

A tale of black dogs with golden leashes
Broken stories told facetious
Who's the pet and who's the teacher?
Hey, hey, hey, hey

All my friends are hurting, but we dance it off, laugh it off
Scars inside our shoes but we just tap it off, clap it off
Watch me coat in rainbow as I fade into the black
And see, I switched myself to plastic, don't know how to change it back
I'm being eaten on the inside, at least I look like a snack
I haven't come out of my shell but don't know how long 'til I crack, ooh
Do your dance right, pop a Xan right
Fake romance right, live the trance right
Smoke a plant right, miss a chance right
Pray your hands right, dodge the glance right
Doing whatever you do
To make sure that you don't get stuck in the truth
The green will not change what you're living from, blue
And when you come down that's a terrible view
Kill the thought that everyone you know
Could care about you slippin' from control
Embrace the blackness clouding on your soul
And make it pretty deep inside your hole

I want to be your number one
You'll hold me to the sky
I want to be your golden thorn
You'll love me 'til you die
I want to be your shield and sword
You'll never be the same
I want to be your flesh and bone
You'll take me to the grave

My chest empty, my brain on fire (Fire, fire, fire, fire)
I fight myself to pass the time (Time, time, time, time)
He looks at me with crimson eyes (Eye, eye, eye, eye)
Then hugs me with the greyest tide
I see the darkness creeping through the peephole
Felt the grip it had on all my people
Heard the screams from park to slum to steeple
Shining sugars dressed outside the evil
Watch yourself, watch your way
Life ain't shit but a theatre play
Learn your lines or get cut today
Smile, don't show no cavity
Won't you save my soul, save my soul? Let my body grow
Putting together two blades of a feather, then pulling apart just to put on a show (Ah)
That's how the story will go (Ah)
The dog with the blackest of bones (Ah)
It rides on the back of my clothes (Ah)
And flocks with a murder like crows (Ah)

I want to be your number one
You'll hold me to the sky
I want to be your golden thorn
You'll love me 'til you die
I want to be your shield and sword
You'll never be the same
I want to be your flesh and bone
You'll take me to the grave

Side by side by side by side by side …

I want to be your number one
You'll hold me to the sky
I want to be your golden thorn
You'll love me 'til you die
I want to be your shield and sword
You'll never be the same
I want to be your flesh and bone
You'll take me to the grave

Young nigga shit, nigga, we don't age
Young nigga shit, nigga, we don't age

When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains, yeah

I hope the stress don't kill me
They chip away my heart, expect a coin to fill me
Oh man, my joy so filthy
I pray to some, I'm still me
But boy these demons gleaming, scheming, preaching, leave them
We'll deceive him, he's believing, say we're on his team then
But I've been bleeding, wounds have deepened when I chained my freedom
Reason weakened, beaten, ripping curls like I'm fucking Keenan
They think I'm beaming, I'm the beacon of the young and decent
When I'm in this shell committing treason
You see the truth is that I'm often blue
So many cracks in the ceiling, I tried to mend them with glue
What a profession
Sleep in sessions, curse or blessings, need refreshing
See progression 'cause I beat depression
They throwing pills like M&M's and I'm hoping they don't relapse
On stage, the crowd yelling, don't get lost in feedback
My boo said I should take it slow, wish I could heed that
Without the burning of a fucking greenback

When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains, yeah
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains, yeah

I do this and I do that
On call from sun till moon crack
My phone can never go flat
Who knows where else my work at
I miss this and I miss that
Birthdays, first steps and gift wraps
Hope I don't miss my first dance
Somebody put me in the circus, I'm the world's best juggler
Only two hands, pretend that it don't fuck with my jugular, I'm a new man
While praying that my music will bubble up, this my Truman
Show will rock the boat, I'm still subtler, where's the movement?
I fight for my existence
Brick wall with my persistence
I hate to say I play Russian Roulette with my resistance
Play it void of all assistance
My life, my love, my business
A goon playing charades inside the face of corporate systems
I sanitised organic ties for my arise in modern times
I can't deny internal lies in hopes that I'd be televised
I sacrifice a gentle life for goals that leave me terrified
But pray this doesn't lead to my demise

[Chorus]
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains, yeah
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains
When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains, yeah

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In hip hop, funk, 2021 Tags Genesis Owusu, songs, song of the day, Australia
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