I Feel Like Dying

"I Feel Like Dying" is a song by Lil' Wayne. The version I usually listen to is a remix by Flying Lotus. I had the impulse to play it on repeat when I first heard it, like I do with every new favorite song, but the bass was too overwhelming to hear for more than a few minutes.

Lil' Wayne's original isn't even really rapped, it's just three verses of wooziness over a hip-hop beat. The raps tour though a "marijuana street," a "sea of Codeine" and a prison with "Xanax bars," intercut with a female sample on the chorus: "Only once the drugs are done do I feel like dying." She sounds more like a voice in Wayne's head than a co-star, and after he admits defeat in the last verse it's like she's saying "I told you so." I can relate to the lyrics in a roundabout sort of way, even though I'm not much for downers.

But that stuff all gets submerged on the remix. The huge noise crashes down on the opening chorus, you involuntarily close your eyes, and suddenly the song barely has lyrics. The echoes and overlays obscure everything else, and the bass repeats loud and often enough that, when it ends after 2:40, you've had enough. For the first few listens, you might not notice that Flying Lotus has cut the third verse. You might not notice that, this way, the raps never admit defeat and the sample never sounds like a taunt. And, if you're like me, you especially might not notice that the song is now completely euphoric, that the bass drowns everything in such an opiate that not even the sample feels pain, and that now "I Feel Like Dying" is inflected like "I feel like another drink." That bass is what dying of an overdose must feel like, and it's great.

If I'd played the song on repeat, Lil' Wayne would never have come down. But sometimes, one play-through can be just the thing.