“Slick Talk” by J.I.D
“Slick Talk” is a song by the Atlanta-based rap artist J.I.D. The track has two main themes – his extraordinary lyrical skills and the criminal element of his close associates.
Intro
Slick Talk begins with the repeating of the word “activate”, insinuating that J.I.D. is about to get busy. The intro concludes with a shoutout to Kenny Beats, who produced the track.
Verse 1
The lyrics at the beginning of J.I.D’s first verse hark back to a time when continuity between bars wasn’t a top priority of rappers. In other words it’s obvious his primary concern in putting together an interesting verse as opposed to a cohesive one that tries to stick to one subject. Thus he jumps from a line questioning the legitimacy of other rappers in the game to one about having an intimate relationship with someone else’s girlfriend. He then starts talking about the crew of gangsters that he rolls with. Later the verse starts to become more consistent, as he recounts his rise to professional success and how one of his main goals is to share his accomplishments with not only his natural family but also his professional “fam”, i.e. his label mates.
Verse 2
J.I.D begins the second verse by warning potential opponents that he has guns that he isn’t afraid to use. He then goes into a diatribe expressing his overall angst and his belief that he’s one of the best rappers around. Later he insinuates that his rise to fame has been an arduous one, like “the hare and the tortoise”.
During the next few bars of the verse, J.I.D once again gets into gun talk, even telling how one of his homeys shot somebody in the face yet “beat the court case”. What J.I.D is basically saying that despite one of his friends shooting someone, he didn’t serve jail time for the offense. He then concludes the verse along the same vein of how he began it, by detailing that he’s frustrated and “fighting… demons”. Indeed he goes on to say that he’s not actually looking for trouble but “just heated” or in other words angry. However, at the same time he’s not overly concerned about offending anyone in the process.
Chorus
The chorus is somewhat similar to the middle of the second verse. Here too, interestingly enough, J.I.D is bragging about the criminal activities of his friends. He says that opponents don’t need to fear his crew unless “the rent (is) due”, meaning when they need money. In other words, when J.I.D.’s homeys are strapped for cash they resort to robbery, and as such the listener is advised to “pray to God” that he/she won’t be one of their targets.
Verse 3
The third verse sort of picks up from the end of the chorus where the line “better pray to God” is repeated numerous times. The verse begins by J.I.D actually applauding his success by giving “thanks to the Maker” and reminiscing on the challenging background he came from. In fact he narrates that one of his friends is serving 17 years in prison. According to him, that has been his inspiration to instead choose the path of becoming a professional rapper. The rest of the verse is basically dedicated to him using a metaphor of being married to the rap industry and the financial success he has achieved as a result.
