A Critical Analysis of “My Minds Playing Tricks On Me” para 4 by Bushwick Bill

A Critical Analysis of “My Minds Playing Tricks On Me” para 4 by Bushwick Bill

This year Halloween fell on a weekend

(By starting the lyrics with “this year”, we’re informed that he penned this in the same year as the incident. Sometime after 31 Oct but before 31 Dec. Halloween falls on a weekend, we can assume that the sheer volume of trick-or-treaters is noticeably higher than if the holiday fell on a weekday. This may offer some context into where the writer is going with the story.

Me and Geto Boys are trick-or-treating

(Three generally normal-sized men and a little person are partaking in the tradition of visiting strangers’ houses and soliciting candy. This is generally considered an act reserved for children, and any adults present act as chaperones.)

Robbing little kids for bags

(Admission of a crime. Four grown men physically taking children’s property is an egregious act. By his admission, this is what is taking place. The “s” on kids makes it plural, indicating that this crime occurred more than once. )

Till an old man got behind our ass

So we speeded up the pace

Took a look back and he was right before our face

(By using the term “old man,” we can assume that he’s referencing a gentleman who’s up in age. Although, the age of the man is never fully revealed. This older gentleman was behind the 4 grown men, but paranoia caused them to quicken their pace to escape the pursuit of the older gentleman. He must have threatened them or their operation of “robbing little kids for bags.” Whatever it was, this older gentleman was fast enough to end up in the face of the four men.)

He'd be in for a squabble no doubt

(Without knowing the intentions of the older gentleman, these 4 men have already decided that a physical confrontation was to take place.)

So I swung and hit the nigga in his mouth

(Bushwick Bill, a little person with a height of 3 feet 8 inches, admits to assaulting this “old man.” We do not know the height of this old man, but for a man whose height is 3’8, we can assume that he had to jump into his punch or the old man was already bent over.)

He was going down we figured

But this wasn't no ordinary nigga

(The group’s arrogance has already assumed that the man would fall in defeat. Yet, something about him was beyond what we consider “normal.” No further context and clues are given regarding what makes him beyond ordinary.)

He stood about six or seven feet

(We now get an indication of his stature. He was a tall man, considerably taller than almost everyone in the group. Juxtapose this against the children’s height, and this figure looks pretty imposing.)

Now that's the nigga I'd be seeing in my sleep

(Apparently, Bushwick Bill suffers from some form of PTSD, allowing him to see this giant of an old man during his sleep patterns. The vividness of his dreams allows him to quickly identify the old man. He’s pretty sure of his claim that the man on the street and the man in his dreams are the same.)

So we triple-teamed on him

Dropping them motherfucking B's on him

(The assault has now progressed from a 1:1 fight to a full-on 3 of the 4 men assaulting him. There is no indication of which one of the men did not participate in the jumping. Using the vernacular “dropping them motherfucking B’s on him,” we’re left to assume that the men were striking him repeatedly.)

The more I swung, the more blood flew

(This assault has turned even more dangerous as the inflicting blows have now resulted in the skin breaking to the point where blood was flowing”.)

Then he disappeared and my boys disappeared too

(As did his cohorts in the crimes perpetrated, this old man suddenly vanished into thin air.)

Then I felt just like a fiend

It wasn't even close to Halloween

(This is the most telling moment from the writer. He’s expressing his dismay as he compares himself to a [dope] fiend, not from an addiction standpoint, but instead in the parallel comparison that he’s not in his right mind. He indicates that the date is nowhere near the date of Halloween. This stunning admission makes us question the entire ordeal up to this point for authenticity.)

It was dark as fuck on the streets

My hands were all bloody, from punching on the concrete

(By this time, the streets are void of light. We know that his boys are gone, and so is the old man they were assailing. He’s inflicting pain and damage to his hands by shifting the assault from a perceived old man to now, the concrete. His actions are not consistent with someone who’s in touch with reality.)

God damn homey

My mind is playing tricks on me

(This is the pivotal moment when he realizes that his conscious and subconscious are not on the same wavelength. His expression “God damn homey” is his admission of not being in control of his thoughts and is stunning as he admits in shame that his mind is playing tricks on him.)

SUMMARY:

Bushwick Bill was correct in that his mind had played a trick on it. Whether it was to shield and protect him from his thoughts turned actions or because he has a chemical imbalance to the point where his brain function is not operating with its standard capacity, he admits that he was not in his right mind. In hindsight, perhaps it was best that the writer be dreaming and not actually “robbing little kids for bags” and assaulting an “old man.” Perhaps this dream state resulting in self-destruction is a much better position to be in rather than crimes against children and the elderly. We may never know what triggers this state of psychosis, but we know that the results are manageable, and with some therapy, the writer could make a full recovery.