“I HOPE YOU GROW UP TO BECOMING EVERYTHING YOU CAN BE (LIKE FATHER LIKE SON)/BUT IN THE END I HOPE YOU ONLY GROW UP BETTER THAN ME (LIKE FATHER LIKE SON)”
The appreciation of a parents’ love should be a daily occurrence because not all of us are fortunate enough to have that kind of love in our lives and those of us who are shouldn’t take that for granted…. but there are some days more than others when we take a bit longer out of our day to reflect on the luxury of having a loving parent (Christmas Day, Birthdays, etc).
I love both of my parents equally (you always gotta start off by saying that before you say some foulness), but if I have to pick what side of the fence I fall on… I am definitely a proud Mummy’s Boy (Mama *Quavo voice*). With that being said, the father-Son relationship is a much more complex one… in him you can see the man who you could become, the man who you don’t want to become and the man who you would do anything to become.
I am very close to my dad and with today being Father’s Day I decided to take a bit of time out to think about some of the influences that he’s had on me, like the football team I support (You’ll Never Walk Alone!) or the clothing brands that I refuse to wear (Tommy Hilfiger always gonna be trash). I always wanted to be like my dad, but he didn’t want me to be like him.
“NOSE, EARS, EYES, CHIN JUST LIKE YOUR DADDY/ I’D DIE BEFORE YOU GROW UP TO BE JUST LIKE YOUR DADDY”
When I hear that line on “Like Father Like Son” it reminds me of all of the times I used to tell my dad that I wanted to be like him and do everything that he did and he would shut it down. Sometimes he would just say “no” and other times he would say something philosophical to throw me off like “I should be the ground on which you should build on, not the ceiling that you can’t grow passed”… I was 5.
I never understood why my dad put so much stock in me liking him but not being like him… so much so that he didn’t want me to be named after him because he thought that I would grow up to take after him and become boring (don’t think it worked, I write blogs dad).
I didn’t get it then but I get it now.
Just like my dad didn’t want me to follow in his footsteps and become a postman, The Game didn’t want his sons to inherit his or his father’s worse qualities (gang banging, drug dealing, etc). This all comes full circle at the end of ‘Like Father Like Son 2’ when his son Harlem closes the song by talking about the straight A student that he has become in the 10 years since ‘Like Father Like Son’.
“ANYBODY CAN BE A DADDY JUST BUSS A NUT AND LEAVE/BUT IMMA BE A FATHER GIVE HIM EVERYTHING HE NEED”
Fatherhood might not be in my immediate future, but I do think about it when my headphones are plugged in…
Happy Father’s Day To The Fathers, Father Figures and Fathers Of The Future (We Gon’ Be Better!). A Poem I Wrote On Fatherhood:
In The Back The ‘Father And Son’ Beat Banging,
Spitting Image Of Me, Fruit Off The Tree Hanging,
I Want My Son To Inherit Every Talent I’ve Got,
The Smarter, Wiser, Improved Version Of His Pops,
Same Time I Want Him To Be Everything That I’m Not…
Less Introverted, Way More Assertive,
Less Likely To Give Up When ‘Plan A’ Isn’t Working,
I Want You To Be More Outgoing, More Likely To Mingle,
I’ll Pay For All Those Extra Lessons To Make Sure You’re Bilingual,
So That You Can Speak In 50 Different Languages,
Help Poor People In 50 Different Countries And Change Bandages,
Help To Make Sure That Every Child Is Clothed And Doesn’t Go To School Without Sandwiches,
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