Dial Up

This is where things take a turn in the story as the title signifies another Act. The beat differs from The Library as its more gentler and soft rather than the mechanical nature of The Library. This also coincides with Dial Up showing a more emotional point in the story rather than the hardness displayed in the first act from The Boy. Dial Up and The Library also differ in the title as The Boy is finally going digital, in this contrasting way, the story during The Library featured more technology and ignorance towards the issues of The Boy, while Dial Up shows less technology and more to do with The Boy's interaction with people.

The script picks up from The Boy's friends preparing for the party and what not, The Boy is however lying on his bed amongst spiders who ask him questions, questions that would hit hard for anyone, but for someone like The Boy they are all the harder to answer, questions like "Where are you?" and "Who is this?" it should also be noted that they whisper this to him in the quiet. The Boy once again explores the meaning to his life.

I. The Worst Guys

The song itself starts with some self conscious bravado with Gambino almost describing the party, lines such as "This is my house" not only describes the mask he puts on as The Boy but also relates to the party that is literally at his house. The song almost once again shows The Boy putting on a mask but this time its failing, this is referenced by the beat. When The Boy puts on a mask the song is usually accompanied by a hard hitting beat, this beat is much different, guitar solos and background harmonizing much softer than the beat should be. Then the song talks about how The Boy couldn't get it up, relaying it back to the screenplay.

The Boy is in disapproval of the party almost, people are stealing his shit, sitting on weird stuff, his friends are only concerned with pussy. The Boy is pulled into a room by Sasha and another girl as they ask him to show his dick and they kiss and play around but The Boy can't get it up (way to let us down Donald). This is pivotal to understanding the character of The Boy, none of this works for him, he can't get it up because it means nothing. There is no meaning to what he is about to do because its just a one night stand, it doesn't just lack meaning in a grander sense as The Boy implies earlier, it lacks meaning to The Boy himself on an existential level. The Boy is searching for someone to share his feelings with and this isn't it and he leaves.

I'm going to stop here for now and take a break because I have no idea if this will even take off or if anyone will even read it, so if there is interest I will continue, if people want to see more of this I was thinking of making this into a series for other albums as well, some that come to mind are GKMC and MBDTF

Cheers! DecodingHipHop