Veeze Breaks Down His Best Bars

Veeze doesn’t do interviews often. The rapper prefers to save it for the studio, saying everything he has to say over a beat instead.

He doesn’t write anything in advance either, but rather goes into the booth equipped with his well-penned wit, deadpan Detroit demeanor, and an archive of lived experiences you simply can’t write. “All these bars are crazy because so much has got to happen for me to write these lyrics,” Veeze tells us.

“If the universe doesn’t go the right way, I can’t say certain things. That’s why I love rap, because of the timing.”

While his Ganger follow-up album still awaits a foram release date, Veeze sat down with Hypebeast to reflect on some of the most iconic lines in his catalog, from Taco Bell references to TED Talk dreams.

“I swear yo’ bitch think I’m all that, like I’m Kenan, Kel / I mixed his juice, now his stomach hurtin’ like he ate Taco Bell.” — From “Law N Order”

“I like that part, too. It’s funny. I used to watch ‘All That’ in my younger days. For those who don’t know, Kenan and Kel are two of the biggest characters on the show. The Taco Bell part is a joke about one of our vices. I feel like a lot of people hate on Taco Bell. I fuck with Taco Bell, though.”

“I always got one eye on the money, now I’m Cyclops / Imma seven mile dog, but I think I got nine lives left.” — From “Wrong Place, Wrong Time”

“‘Always having one eye on the money,’ is a little saying when you’re being a hustler coming from the street. Hustlers don’t sleep because they always have to keep one eye open. Cyclops, I don’t know the true definition of it, but I’m referencing a character from ‘Batman.’ And he only—damn, but he got two eyes! Damn, that one kind of don’t make sense. Nah, that’s fucked up. But Cyclops got one—he got two eyes, though, didn’t he? So is it Greek mythology? Y’all just taught me something. I’m sorry what I said makes no sense, I fucked up.”

“You know Ganger, like The Blueprint, I gave them the knowledge / My next album gon’ be Black, after that I retire.” — From “Listen to Me”

“JAŸ-Z is my favorite rapper. I’m always referencing him or throwing in bars that have something to do with him or Beyoncé. Jay’s just my fave. ‘The Blueprint’ was the album where he gave the game and passed the game down to all of us. It was literally a blueprint to succeed and move through the music industry, or any industry at that point. And then ‘The Black Album’ comes, which, at the time, was his retirement album. I’m saying that I want to give people knowledge before I retire. I really do want it to go that way in my next two albums.

“When I was a kid, wore True Religions on my robberies.” — From “GOMD”

“Yeah. It’s crazy, but it’s true. It’s just crazy, but it’s true. I know a lot of fools relate.”

“This that Kanye check, they sent it through the wire (Swear to God) / I think I might give TED Talks, so many I inspire.” — From “Broke phone”

“That’s hard right there! The first line is a reference to a bank wire and Kanye’s song ‘Through the Wire,’ about him crashing and rapping with his jaw wired. It’s deeper than it sounds, but it’s just wordplay on the bank wire and ‘Through the Wire.’ For those who don’t know what a TED Talk is, it’s like a seminar where people learn about different things. It can be anything — tech, the future of technology, finances. I think you can learn about stocks. But you gotta be special enough to do a TED Talk. Like Bill Gates or something. If I had a TED Talk it would be about just being you and creating something to follow instead of being a follower. Or… maybe fashion, or maybe punchlines.”

“My life a movie, bro crazy like it’s Jason’s Lyric.” — From “Heart Insurance”

“Y’all seen ‘Jason’s Lyric’? It’s a movie with two brothers in it. Allen Payne played one of the brothers, and when I made that song and my brother was still in jail when it came out. It’s just a play on kind of being more of a good kid growing up than my older brothers. So… Yeah, ‘My life a movie, bro crazy like it’s ‘Jason’s Lyric.” That’s tough!