The winding synth goes on and on over the flatline beep that can be heard from the beginning, and I think that's an important part to take into consideration. As artists, they talk about liberation expressed in their music, and their music is very dark because they come from a place of freeing themselves from deep negativity (learn you how to dead right, bounce w no downside). Death grips is ever-changing, advancing their sound, and that desire to settle or loss of inspiration can pose a dilemma.
One thing I think is interesting is the noise at the end of Dilemma transitions perfectly into the noise in the beginning of the Fear. So I interpret that as a flag to interpret Dilemma in terms of the Fear. That's what I love about this album, it feels so connected. Sure you can play it straight through but it's also the best album to put on shuffle. Each song has an intro and outro that contrasts against the previous track in an attractive way. Anyway, their dilemma leads straight into their fear, which is basically what I interpret as dementia. Following your gut feelings can reinforce some bad habits surely, since no one is born perfect. But I think Ride is such a hard dude that he does whatever the fuck he wants and actually wants to become a better person after setting himself up in a raging sea of flames. At some point he became enslaved by his work, despairing. Like, what are any of us actually doing in life? He's doing music with the boys, which is fine, but I do relate to him how disappointed he is and trapped by his fear. No matter what socioeconomic status, race, religion, creed, profession, you can't escape being human. We really try our hardest not to feel certain things, particular things. We create our realities in ironic ways, and I guess death grips is psycho punk rebelling against status quo or subconscious extrusions of our faults. He doesn't want to be like you. He really doesn't want to, you can hear in all the music how much they are trying to set themselves apart from you. Why? He doesn't trust people, he doesn't like the way they became who they are.
From steroids:
It's not what you think Fuck you want from us? We're the same as you But we know we're fucked But we came as you, like you know it's us And your mind, not you
I honestly love Steroids so much, it's so raw and honest. Maybe Ride is so schizophrenic that his reaction is not to be like anyone else (maybe I belong to you, im sure you want me to, my shadows on to you) and this reaction is like a vehicle for his thoughts, transporting him through time and space. What kind of windows are on that vehicle? Murdered-out windows, tainted dirty glass from a sycophant in chains of prolific desire, torn between his current loves and his love of love, which in fact inspires him through discontent, disappointment. WHy am I mentioning all of this? I'm kinda just rambling at this point but I think listening to No Love Deep Web will help you understand their dilemma more. I mean, NLDW was the most raw thing they had released before NOTM and JD. It's so stripped down and bare, you really get a feel for who Ride is personally. Interestingly enough, the color schema and mouths compliment Zach's dick really well. Like these mouths they made are wet fuck holes for their existential angst. Death grips made YOTS to appease their hard-on for desire or whatever the fuck they want in life. So, what is YOTS? I'd say it's like a shrine, or a manual. It's more instructive than any of their other works, it's like a chaotic nuclear map to a wasteland mind. How to get around, how to think about things, how to make music like them. Eat it like the devil's cunt, think you've got the will to jump? You know you're fucking yourself over in the future, but it's not like you really care enough anyway. He's always shifting, cheating, changing his smoke form, but this does come at a price to see the variety of hallucinatory and liberating states he must achieve (all I do is lose my form I'm warping).
Little Richard is like the center point between their dilemma and their fear. I think Little Richard is NLDW as a person, who is learning how to overcome himself (he took a picture and got triggered by the clicka/ he's gonna bomb and look good when he bombs) and is portrayed as a college student to convey that he is at death grips university. His paranoia leaks into his analogy I think, because he mentions Maria Sharapova, who is a Russian tennis player. I can't really interpret that any other way than him trying not to overthink the tennis game of warfare between the US and Russia. As if Russia is returning the ball to our side of the court with spy warfare, definitely being in kahoots with our president in many unknown ways, but this is a bet of a stretch for me anyway. So he feels sabotaged, he doesn't want to blame it on the world or external affairs, seeks to internalize his oppression, but is disappointed with the results he makes. Phaedra hind the cam, put us in her van, shot in outerspace, only thing I'll taste. I'm noided too Ride, but I just don't know how fucked we are either. As good as anyone's guess. He's telling us not to get caught on our Z's, that we just need to A, B, C, then D. What can we do now, where can we start, rather than focusing on our end. How do we do that? The horn section. The horn section is an embodiment of Zach's raw talent and death grips' talent of making really good music. Just listen to that track, it's inspiring. Those are our weapons, the things we are really good at. But what if you're really good at destroying your mind, body, and spirit? That's a dilemma. Thanks for reading, hope any of this could become meaningful.