“So, hell has presented itself in America, has it not?”
And so it has. mynameisblueskye is joined by Robin Jax, Pedro Fierro Jr., and Chris B. on keys and production in bringing to life the exasperation many of us living in the US feel as our country implodes. It’s not often that I get a chance to review rap, and the aggressive yet upbeat flow displayed by mynameisblueskye captivates me to the point where I feel compelled to drop everything and listen —Just as intended, surely. Making use of brilliant wordplay:
“Here we go again rising down/Because the people born backward want to turn us around” “These Freddy Kreugers all want you asleep”
anaphora:
“Because nobody asks, nobody cares/And nobody answers ’cause nobody’s there” and alliteration:
“But it doesn’t affect you/So, you won’t protest to/Do what can protect you/That’s how they possess you”
this track is a multilayered critique of the exact ways in which American society has gone careening downhill.
To give my Genius-esque interpretation of a few of mynameisblueskye’s lyrics, I must first establish a bit of background to any viewers unfamiliar with the current political state in the US: With the election of Donald Trump for a second non-consecutive presidential term, many extremely far-right political plans have been set into motion, including regression of the National Health Service under the shut-tight eyes of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., leader of the group “Children’s Health Defense” which spreads misinformation regarding COVID-19 vaccines as well as an outspoken believer in debunked theories that the MMR vaccine “causes” autism (source). This agency is only one of many, however, that bear the scars of Trump’s wrath; others had either equally unfit leaders installed, and agencies that held firm against the whims of the current president have been raided and overtaken or shut down by the extrajudicial group known as DOGE, or “Department of Government Efficiency” (despite not having full department status) led by South African Elon Musk boasting 30 specifically selected employees as old as 67 years and as young as 19 years of age (source). As such, the artist’s claim that the state of the country feels as if “the world turned upside down” is one many American citizens share, especially considering the amount of anger many constituents have clearly demonstrated to their elected officials calling out a lack of action, capitulation, or acting as outright co-conspirators (source:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/02/politics/video/kansas-senator-roger-marshall-town-hall-contd digvid). The response from these elected officials strikes many citizens as active practices of DARVO (Deny, Accuse, Reverse Victim and Offender), and in a climate that has emboldened American Neo Nazis (source: https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/lincoln-heights/what happened-during-the-neo-nazi-demonstration-near-lincoln-heights-heres-what-police-say-body-cam shows), many citizens have felt nothing but frustration under an increasingly destructive administration that seems to encourage the alienation of any deemed “other” than the accepted norms. Many feel powerless as if their talents could not contribute to meaningful change—But they most certainly can, as mynameisblueskye and their superbly talented features demonstrate.
Now that we’ve established context, let us delve a little deeper into these verses:
“Because the people born backward want to turn us around/They all want us dead because of who we are/I guess it’s hard to find demons with the worst PR”
This likely refers to not only the social murder caused by RFK Jr.’s anti-autistic conspiracy-fueled recall of the MMR vaccine, which has led to outbreaks of measles in Texas that RFK Jr. responded to in a puzzling manner by encouraging the administration of dangerous amounts of Vitamin A and cod liver oil (source), but to the agenda of the Trump administration to walk back major Civil Rights progress with “anti-DEI” (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) measures that have seen erasure or attempted erasure of Queer (especially transgender) and BIPOC American history (source). The third line may refer to the mealy-mouthed representatives of this agenda, known to say strange or even confusing things at live events that would be almost comical if they were not based on hatred (such as the baffling term “illegal DEI discrimination”, itself).
“Because nobody asks, nobody cares/And nobody answers ’cause nobody’s there/Cause somebody fired everybody that was present”
This might refer to the passive actions of many elected representatives, leaving their constituents outraged and unheard with “nobody there” to listen, much less to act; the final line may be in reference to panicked beneficiaries of government programs such as USAID or even Social Security (source) trying to reach out to agencies that have either been dissolved or severely downsized due to the actions of Musk’s rabid DOGE.
“HAPPY OPPOSITE DAY!/WE’RE GONNA LIVE FOREVER!(x2)”
This chorus is much easier to understand at only a glance. “Opposite Day” is less an established holiday than it is a game in which one communicates through the use of reverse psychology or antonyms, or saying the “opposite” of what they mean. Therefore, the opposite of “living forever” would be…
Again, that one is simple enough to not require an in-depth explanation.
“These Freddy Kreugers all want you asleep/Then, snipe you when it’s obvious you’re in too deep”
mynameisblueskye refers here to Freddy Kreuger, the antagonist of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” films, who prey on unsuspecting victims by visiting their dreams to torment and eventually kill them. This may refer to the right wing’s co-opting and subsequent demonization of the term “woke”, originally used by Black activists to refer to being socially conscientious and aware of systemic racism, classism, and similar injustices in the US (now used by the far right to refer to any media, entity, or organization that centers or even features a nonwhite, non-male, and/or non-cisgender/heterosexual person or character; see, “gone woke”).
“Low empathy and sky-high violence/That’s why they call intelligence a mind virus”
These lines likely refer to a de facto advisor to Trump and leader of DOGE Elon Musk’s comments, which include “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy” (source), or his repeated references to the “woke mind virus” (source).
“But it doesn’t affect you/So, you won’t protest to/Do what can protect you/That’s how they possess you”
This quadruplet refers to the spirit of a commonly invoked lesson from Timothy Snyder’s book, On Tyranny: “Do not obey in advance”. To obey a tyrant, authoritarian, or fascist leader is to be functionally complicit with their whims and evils, thus making it imperative to disobey tyrannical orders from the moment they are issued by any means necessary. How tyrants thrive is taking a lack of protest as permission to enact their will, and many do not shy away from shocking their public into an emotional paralysis that leaves the most marginalized in a society defenseless.
On a sonic level, this track is marvelously rendered with just the right amount of compression and distortion reminiscent of old-school techno, while the cathartic chorus hits just the right frequencies of an exhausted punk’s sarcastic cries to the heavens. I must disclose here that while the current track on Bandcamp only has a metronome in place of drums, I did send a drum track to the artist to complete the song per their request; to avoid a conflict of interest, I will not comment on how my drums sound on the track. Instead, I highly recommend our readers to give the published track a listen and feel free to sing along whenever it feels as if your only other option would be to explode in an enraged, strung-out mess.
Written by Alexei Lee
