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An Offset release was all but demanded, as plunged into dark and personal topics, from his breakup with Cardi B to paying tribute to his deceased colleague Takeoff Migos. There was a lot going on in the radio studio of The Breakfast Club. It featured direct lyrical references to his breaking up with Cardi B, including a more or less explicit diss about post-split romance, with both parties naming names.
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There’s a track on the album titled “Never Let Go,” a tribute to the late Takeoff, who was slain in 2022, while “Moved On” deals with his breakup from Cardi B. During an interview on the Breakfast Club, the hosts played a snippet wherein Offset was rapping about taking the blame for the breakup in very thinly veiled references to their present situations.
One lyric that immediately attracted attention went: “You got your two, I got my fifty-two.” The implication,” the one host of the Breakfast Club said, as the other kept interjecting “50 to two is wild” during his comments. Another plausible interpretation for listeners was that: Offset claims of having 52 partners after the split, whereas Cardi B has only seen two.”
Instantly, a torrent of social media reactions was unleashed at the big life revelations. Many people were fixated on the number comparison of Offset and Cardi B‘s post-breakup activities. One commenter had said, “The thing is… is that one of her 2s your whole 50 don’t really compare to so it’s like yeaaaaaa,” which pretty much implies the quality of relationships matters more than quantity.
Another comment was: “Her 2 crushed his soul,” implying Cardi B’s 2 might have weighed more heavily on Offset than his big number ever could. Many others shared this sentiment in asking why Offset would ever “crash out” if the breakup didn’t even affect him.
The drama exhausted some fans. “Offset is a good musician but please let this be the last time he talks about Cardi. I’m tired of hearing about their drama,” stated one fan. This is the buildup to a sentiment from listeners who admire Offset’s musical ability, yet want to hear fewer personal dramas haunting the conversation.
Hence, this actually ended up benefitting the album in terms of the numerous musical commendations it garnered in addition to the personal details; several commentators emphasized that despite the personal shit, “Offset album is fire,” and that he is “a very talented musician.” This is a balanced view that puts the merit of art on par with that of personal disclosure wrapped in this project.
The Breakfast Club hosts could not resist chiming in: “Just don’t want to hear all that hippity hop in the morning when I wake up,” one said, preferring something zen to really start his day. That was a brief moment of levity in the heavy discussion about Offset’s life.
With this detailed album submission comes a great opportunity for the musician to pour out and express ‘real’ situations and relationships through hip-hop, as he has for quite some time. The concrete comparison-by-the-numbers has particularly gripped the audience’s attention, going instantly meme-worthy and spreading like wildfire on social media.
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As the album continues to come to grips with the audience, the discussion about Offset’s personal disclosures versus his artistry goes on. As such, this project is a double entendre: both an artistic statement and personal catharsis for the rapper-funerary intonations to his lost friend and outreach for expression of his own widely publicized window of relationship meltdown. The acknowledges of this album have shown how today’s hip-hop crowd is conversant with both the musical and personal aspects of an musician’s work, making for entangled discussions that go further than merely beat criticism.
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