Mainstream – English Lyrics

• By: Outkast

Lyrics & Translation

Explore the depths of Outkast's 'Mainstream,' a compelling critique of the music industry and society's obsession with superficial success. Through its lyrical complexity and unique sound, the song invites listeners to question what it truly means to thrive versus simply floating along with the current.

[English]

Uh, y'all know what it is

...

Uh, y'all know what it is

...

Uh, y'all know what it is

Revolutionary, scary

Thought provoking, spoken

Words of a change I don't feel, but I see

Visions from me at 23

Making it free in my community

One day is what I live fo'

Ain't thinking about no hope no mo'

I got my boots I kick it 'til I get with

Adapt and overcome, oh hum hum

Go get my gun, load up for fun, and put it down with the frown

What goes round comes round from M.L.K. to Cascade

I know it's through them plenty figures

Cocaine dealers walk the wrong side

Up in they rides

Looking cleaner then I seen 'em the last time

Then selling dimes, now its quarter ki's, stacking G's

In the South Indies

My nigga them folks riding bicycles among vehicles

Off in the hood

Knowing each and every nigga selling, but can you blame?

The fact the only way a brother can survive the game

The block hard to get by the dope dealing

Fatal killings, and fed time, to writing rhymes

It ain't just the police

We kill each other just lost another brother

Fast living will get you took

Thinking it can't happen to you and then it do

Off crooked schemes it's just a dream

Floating face down in the mainstream

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream

That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

...

They swan diving

As if they name be Gretchen von Ivan

Volkoff rushin' to finish their album then you find them

Lost dog paddling, backstroking, what done happened?

Be rhyming "Catch of the day" when the recipe calls for "Blackened"

Wrong ingredients

Maybe too much herbs and spices

Maybe you got hungry for the wrong dish

Of them greens and it's enticing how them Jones's sing

So I'm gonna sing just like them to get where they at

I'll even break my by back to touch their rim, if I gotta

My alta mater be that I follow

I bite whatever that's looking tasty, water it down and then swallow

I hope you vomit, won't call no names 'cause that's not my job

It just applies to whom it may concern, you know who you are

But if you don't you never will, you just receive the steel

But then it might get ugly 'cause trust me niggas do feel

The way that I felt when I wrote this, but we must stay in focus

We kings and queens up in this thing, get rid of all them jokers

Face down, face down, face down

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream

That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

I let you stay in my crib

Now you know where I live

When you was hungry, fed you a hot meal

Look at the hand you deal

Me crudball business, niggas giving inches, so here, take a foot

Luck only counts in rabbit's feet and horseshoes

Experience is sometimes the best teacher until we get our own plate

I hope you don't mind me eating off of yours

Process sm-m-moking like Jerry

Meanwhile, fairies up the street sprinkling pixie dust over greenery

Never to attain another level of conscience

Only to test, the potency

Why laying here, they scheme over one another mouth to feed

Deceased with a decision to make, now words shake your destiny

But one miss will take it all the way, just as quick as you can say

"I wish I never did what I did," now face this bid

It was the company you kept, the many places you slept

When you shouldn't have, geeking like a rat, jumping like a trap

Contributing to sin and yo' nigga bitch in the club showing pink for ten

They got you niggas where they want you again

Floating face down in the mainstream

That's why, that's why, that's why

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream

That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

Everybody's a player, wearing them Kangols on they heads

Thinking it's all about yo' clothes, nigga, it's all about yourself

The way you feel about yo' life (life), the times that you done shared with

Yo' friends and family, up and down like hoes give head

To dicks, oh, six, serving them in the mix, but ain't no mystery

You know the history about this clique, bitch

Oh, what, you want me to call you slut?

Then why you fucking all them niggas letting them all up in your guts

But see that AIDS I'm afraid that's why I play the quiet role

I lay in the cut, every month thinking I'll let that fire roll

Like chimneys, and smoke signals, maybe peace pipes even

My partners call me Big Boi and my first name is not Steven

In the mainstream, home team banging them with these hits

In the mix, flowing like some motherfucking swordfish

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream

That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream

That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream

That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

Think it is when it ain't all peaches and cream

That's why some are found floating face down in the mainstream

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
revolutionary /ˌrevəˈluːʃəneri/ B2	adjective - advocating or implementing major change
provoke /prəˈvoʊk/ B1	verb - to cause a reaction, especially a strong or angry one
vision /ˈvɪʒən/ A2	noun - the ability to think about or plan the future
adapt /əˈdæpt/ B1	verb - to adjust to new conditions
overcome /ˌoʊvərˈkʌm/ B1	verb - to succeed in dealing with a problem
fatal /ˈfeɪtl/ A2	adjective - causing death
scheme /skiːm/ B1	noun - a plan to achieve something, often secretly
mainstream /ˈmeɪnstriːm/ B2	noun - the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are shared by most people and regarded as normal
peach /piːtʃ/ A1	noun - a soft, juicy fruit with a stone inside
enticing /ɪnˈtaɪsɪŋ/ B2	adjective - attracting or tempting
vomit /ˈvɑmɪt/ A2	verb - to eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
conscience /ˈkɑnʃəns/ B2	noun - a person's moral sense of right and wrong
potency /ˈpoʊtənsi/ C1	noun - the power to influence or produce an effect
destiny /ˈdɛstɪni/ B1	noun - the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing
clique /klɪk/ B2	noun - a small, exclusive group of people
quiet /ˈkwaɪət/ A1	adjective - making very little noise