Sermons With Curse Words

Ab-Soul “Threatening Nature”

Ab-Soul’s lyrics are about as densely crafted as they come, but his cadence and flow is loose and conversational, full of asides that deviate from meter without derailing the rhythm. “Threatening Nature” is too carefully written to feel improvised, but he does sound exceptionally casual as he picks at Christian theology, draws inspiration from Aleister Crowley’s philosophy of Thelema, and contrasts the oppression of black people with institutional sexism dating back to the dawn of time. It’s difficult to sum up exactly what he’s saying here – the point is that it’s all complicated and fucked up – but it’s fascinating to get inside this guy’s head and follow his connections. I’m particularly happy with how explicitly feminist this song gets, but I do wish it didn’t come immediately after he drops some homophobic language. It doesn’t wreck the song for me, but it does undermine its message, and fails to make the obvious connection that homophobia is rooted in misogyny.

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