#and on the second read i'm gagging on how cheap and inconsequential it reads

[psalmsofpsychosis]

i'm obsessed with how much my first impression of things differs even from the second or third impressions, and by obsessed i mean it used to literally give me mental breakdowns

like, on first impression when something is still new to me, i can love it *so much*, so fucking much i think it's the most brilliant thing to have happened to humanity. we're talking "i find it almost holy i want to devour this thing" levels of love.

And then there's the second, or the third time i ho back for it, if i ever go back for it (i barely ever read the same thing or listen to the same song twice, you have to restrain me to make me go back into things, sometimes i dont even finish things i love because the first impression is already set and i'm terrified of the high wearing off). So like, the second or third read becomes not only about how good something is, but also how it ages. And oh boy, a solid 90% of stuff i find dont age well beyond the initial excitement. Something that was a perfect experience to go through the first time is now only an ordinary, lukewarm thing at best, outright terrible and meaningless at worst. Like, it means absolutely nothing on a second read. This used to give me such horrible wiplash that i'd never come back for things i supposedly loved on the first round– it'd be too disheartening to watch those things become meaningless to me on a closer look.

But i think that with age i've gotten better with it, i still mostly dont reread stuff and very much prefer to find new music rather than listening to the same songs, but i have found stuff that stayed relevant and beautiful to me on second and third and forth tries. The emotional high wears off more or less, but a different kind of discovery still exists within the things that keep me going.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Dear BPP, do you have a favorite moment in On The Street?

No matter how silly or inconsequential I'd love to hear it.

Love, an SME-group stan who has come to love your commentary.

***

Hi Anon,

Well, this is a surprise.

There are several moments in On The Street that I love. It's impossible to count my favourite moments (when I gave that song a 10/10 I meant it lol).

But I'll list two-ish.

I derive a sick sort of pleasure knowing that Hobi understood every syllable and every reference J. Cole was making in his verse, and that Hobi completely lost himself to the genius that is J. Cole's verse when dancing to it. Hobi is grooving the entire time and just basks in J. Cole's lyricism. He dramatizes J. Cole's verse, gives colour to it. But the moment it hit me that this is exactly what was happening, was 3:01 - 3:05.

When J. Cole called the Top 10 list his Golden Corral.

Do y'all know what the fuck that means?

Golden Corral is a restaurant chain in the US that does all-you-can-eat buffets of the greasiest most diner-style food you can get in America. It's the sort of place you roll up your sleeves to eat at on a budget.

Jermaine just said the Top 10 is where he goes to pick at shit to eat for cheap. Did you hear what I just said? Read it again. Like, if I were a rapper, at that point I'd just pack it up and give it to God. Time to go home and try a second career as a food critic. What is there to say at that point just shut the fuck up and go. And the way Hobi dramatized that bar in his dance, the way he moved, tells me he completely gets it. With his dancing, Hobi basically said "class dismissed."

"You see a top ten list, I see a Golden Corral, nigga"

When I heard this line I gagged. Stood up, went to stare out the window, and took out my bubblegum. Then I went back to my couch, rewound the video by 15 secs so I could actually watch it, and I saw how Hobi danced to that part. And like I said, he told everyone else to go home as J. Cole asserted his dominance, J. Cole who seconds later acknowledges j-hope as an equal.

It's beautiful.

My next favourite moment is the second chorus when J. Cole harmonizes with j-hope, Hobi rises to the top of the building and J. Cole welcomes him as an equal and brother.

Listen, J. Cole could've pulled a Snoop and phoned it in. He could've dropped the standard 16 bars and dipped. But no. He respects Hobi (and himself) too much to do that. J. Cole rapped 32 of the finest bars I've ever heard him rap in his entire career and still opened the pipes to harmonize that goosebumps-inducing beauty that is the second chorus of On The Street.

That shit fucks with my head and the pleasure I get from this is almost perverse.

I really love Jung Hoseok. The happiness I feel for him, that he has been able to give this gift before he enlists, the hope I have for him when he returns, is almost overwhelming sometimes. It's hard for me to talk about the rapline because I'm certain I sound a little unhinged already just talking about my favourite moments in their art, Hobi's this time. But I love Hobi and everything about On The Street feels perfectly made for me, by the truest and most capable form of himself. I feel so fucking lucky to be ARMY.