IKON was in a place of transcendence when he came up with the brass loop of this 2018 jam. I tweeted earlier that Pass You By was a special song and I’m just here to tell you why.
As most of us were raised as Bible reading kids and oldies Gospel; Panam Percy Paul, Sunny Okosun, Chris Okotie, The Good Women Choir, etc, already associate brass instruments with a higher authority. The brass instruments, when used properly, in sync, pitch-perfect, will always connect you to your soul and for that moment, you become vulnerable and see things as they are; no excuses, just hard truths. This was what IKON was able to achieve with that short loop that might not have taken a lot of production time to come up with, became an instrument to seat down, settle your mind, and have a conversation with your maker or a higher authority; depending on your faith.
From the moment you hit play, it seems God literally walks into your head and says, “You’ve been praying and wondering if I’m listening. Well, I’m here now. But first, sit back and listen to these young men.” Blackmagic and Oritsefemi took to the stage. The duo’s delivery on the track was magnificent. They rode the beat so well their voices practically became additional instruments to the beat. The beat is never complete without their voices and lyrics. It’s like DNA; only one of it exists. It can’t be repeated on that same beat. Maybe a sample of it, but no cover can top this.
As Blackmagic begins to count his blessings, you are humbled immediately. No guards up. Just you realising how you’ve been ungrateful to the father, for the things he hasn’t done, whilst ignoring the things he’s done thus far. Darn! “You ungrateful twat,” is how I go when Blackmagic begins to expand on the interesting lecture you briefly received from Oritsefemi in the opening chorus.
The man is counting his blessings. He ain’t where he wants to be, but he acknowledges that he has come a long way in his journey. He doesn’t belittle the work God has done and is still doing in his life. Yoruba will say “omo to dupe e teni lo ma ri to l’agba” and for context’s sake, I’ll translate it directly as “Only those who count their blessings will receive more.”
At this point, you sink into the song. The song is playing in the background of instances you are playing in your mind when God came through for you in the darkest of days. Those who will relate to this are those that have hit rock bottom and began to make the self-acknowledgment of being an arrogant failure or wallower of self-pity that you’ve been. You are done being angry at people (family members especially) for where your life is currently at. You are ready to take the hurt. Then the break down follows , enter a depression. Slowly, you begin to let go of the past and think of the next phase of your life. Work on a Business Idea? Enter the job hunt market? If latter, you begin to catch up on the latest terms of operation in your field. Putting yourself out there, sending out your CV and boldly advertising yourself on social media as an unemployed youth that needs a job; internship, remote, part or full-time role in a field. You are now confident about yourself and fully committed to the grind and hours you’ll have to sacrifice to climb up the career ladder or to develop your business before the real income starts coming in.
You are committed, you will strive, and then you thrive. Only because you now appreciate the journey. Results don’t really matter; if you fail, you pick lessons, when you win, you celebrate and give yourself a pat on the back. You are your hypeman, you motivate yourself to get shit done when procrastination is setting in. You are now goal-oriented, solution-oriented, and never blind to the resources the environment has to offer. The art of not giving a fuck sets in and people’s thoughts about you don’t matter again. Only a few people’s opinions about your choices makes sense to you. And these people don’t judge you, and you definitely look up to them in certain ways; not because they’re older or your parents, but you trust them and love them and they love you no matter what. They were with you when you hit rock bottom. They’re not going anywhere, since the only way from rock bottom is up.
This song will set you on that path and keep you on that path until you leave this earth. You appreciate your journey through life. It’s not easy, but you can make it happen if you give it your all. You have nothing to lose bruh.
Shoot your Shot!
They all understood the assignment of the song, they have lived the hard times, they have seen the worst and they overcame the hugh challenge. They acknowledge how far they’ve come, showed gratitude which doubled as reassurance that “come what may,” I know I’ll be alright. Baba God has got it covered. Its a fucking classic.
Shoutout to the entire production crew that contributed to the completion of this song; from the studio cleaner, the guy that made kush available, the ones that arranged chow, Babes, trips to bars/parties, fuel, the marketer that ran away with funds, heartbreaks, favours, and tough love they all received.
Check out more therapeutic songs on our Calm Nerves Playlist
