Something for Junkies by Killer Mike
**Please note: This song has explicit language**
Reflection
When I was a freshman in college, I flew to LA with a couple friends to attend an urban ministry conference. We arrived a few days beforehand and our host gave us a map of the public transit system. He encouraged us to explore a few places in LA including skid row on our own. I grew up on a farm in Iowa and had very little exposure to poverty, homelessness, or really anything outside of a fairly comfortable rural middle class lifestyle. Walking down skid row was a shocking experience. Hundreds of people living in tents or in makeshift cardboard box structures on the sidewalk just outside of downtown Los Angeles. Look up and you see skyscrapers, wealth, and power around you. Look ahead and you see brokenness, addiction, poverty and mental illness.
Out of nowhere, a woman who looks strung out, walks up to me and yells, “What are yooouuu looking at?” I don’t remember exactly how I reacted, but I imagine I laughed nervously and tried to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.
The next moment, she took a hit
She zoned out, came back, took a spit
Looked at me and said, "All of you got the same s—"
She said, "Michael, you say you love me, I know you mean it
'Cause you still treat your junkie auntie like a human being"
That woman on skid row had a point. What was I looking at? Was I seeing the humanity in her and the other people on skid row? Or was I there treating them like I would looking at animals in a zoo? I was a young naive farm kid at the time, so I can chalk my reaction up to that. Though, I’m not sure my reaction now would be that much different. I would tell myself that it isn’t a safe situation or that I had to get to my next destination instead of pausing to look her in the eye, ask her name, and treat her like she is - a child of God.
I would recommend listening to the YouTube performance of this song below. It is really powerful with a small choir, and Mike adds some extra commentary about the song.
Links
Lyrics
[Verse 1: Killer Mike]
Somethin' for the addicts, somethin' for the users
Somethin' for the junkies and the substance abusers
Somethin' for the car washers, somethin' for the shade tree
Somethin' for my uncle Jeff, he died and they paid me
Somethin' for kinfolks in front of my storefront
Shoutout to Terrence' dad, I never hit your blunts
'Cause that was them blow blunts, that wasn't them 'dro blunts
That was them geek joints and I got slipped one
Man, I was geeked once, man, that was no fun
I had to call mom 'cause I am Denise' son
Shе said, "Stay calm, chill out, and eat somethin'"
Laughed at mе later on, said, "You were just geeked, son"
This is for geek monsters, this is for junkies too
What Ready Ron did to DMX did somebody do to you
Ayy, this is for the J's working hard to get paid
Pay 'em fair wage and do not treat your people like slaves
[Chorus: Killer Mike]
Something for junkies, something for losers
Addicts and users, substance abusers
This is something for junkies, something for losers
Addicts and users, substance abusers
Something for junkies
[Interlude: Fabo & Louis Farrakhan]
When you see men fall, don't laugh
Learn, learn because you're on your way up
And the things that tempt people to fall, you and I are not free from that temptation nor from the weakness that will cause us to stumble and fall
When you laugh at somebody else's fall, white or Black, rich or poor, your enemy or your friend, you are laughing and opening a way for your own demise when you do that
Because to laugh and not learn, to make mockery and not to understand is to make the same mistake yourself
Did you hear me? (This another world I think the world need to see)
[Verse 2: Killer Mike]
Woke up straight, travel great, counting my money
Had a quick convo' with my auntie the junkie
I tell her, "Baby, you've been going too hard lately
See, you like sixty, baby, but you've been looking eighty"
She said, "S—, Michael, I've been smoking since '80
Before the shooters, back when we still called it freebasing"
She closed her eyes, fantasized 'bout better times
When she was beautiful, fine, and still snorting lines
She told me stories of glory, the club saying, "Suzy"
Atlanta night life was glamor, rich, Black, bougie
"A damn movie," she says, puffin' a damn loosie
Trigger warning, the next moment, she took a hit
She zoned out, came back, took a spit
Looked at me and said, "All of you got the same s—"
She said, "Michael, you say you love me, I know you mean it
'Cause you still treat your junkie auntie like a human being"
[Chorus: Killer Mike & Fabo]
Something for junkies, something for losers (Something for the junkies, something for the users)
Addicts and users, substance abusers (Something for the world all around us that abuse us)
This is something for junkies, something for losers (Something for the lifestyle, don't never let it do you)
Addicts and users, substance abusers (That's another world I think the world need to see)
Something for junkies
[Bridge: Fabo]
Something for the junkies, something for the user
Something for the world all around us that abuse us
[Verse 3: Fabo]
Tina went to school with me, that was baby Jordan's sister (Something for the lifestyle, don't never let it do you)
She was bustin' 380 when I was down in Florida with her (That's another world I think the world need to see)
I was young Paco, Dominican, a starter pistol
She used to tell me she loved the hell out of this Georgia nigga
Never take for granted what you love the most
I cried when I lost her to an overdose
The streets, they don't tell you about the ghosts
And you just can't ignore all of the junkies you see
Ayy, buddy only want one, but he bring back five
He get the whole pack off so you can get fly
It's your uncle, it's your cousin, it's your partner on the sly
Know somebody somewhere praying, "I hope my mama don't die"
[Outro: Fabo]
Oh
I know somebody praying that my mama don't die
Oh
Something for the junkies and users
Oh (Oh)
Something for the junkies and users and abusers
Somebody out here praying that my mama don't— my mama don't— my mama don't
Hey, and I hope my mama don't, don't die
Know somebody somewhere praying, "I hope my mama don't die"