Artist(s): 7Lock (solo)
Song: Grasshopper
Word Count: 411
Producer: Fingaz
Recorded: Area 12, Abbot Sounds
Album: Plague (Rescue rec. 1999)
Dirts favorite Line(s): ‘I scarpe you off like cream on the cookie/ 7 Lock on the spot runnin them vets like rookies’
No song came as cryptic and mysterious as 7Lock’s GRASSHOPPER track!
And it was a bit of a struggle to get it on the album. I have a fond memory of sitting down at a taco shop in downtown San Diego, pleading to my A and R. It was the old artist creativity against the corporations ideas saga! I have ideas on how things should be. One of those ideas consists of letting your boys get a piece too. It’s only right! The men that were with you for the ride the whole time. The men that supported you even back when you was in the cradle. That’s your people! Give em a chunk! 2 songs on this album became such a battle to get on because my representative wasn’t seeing it like that. One was ‘Good Medison’ and the other was this one.
“We only signed you, Dirt, not 7Lock!” said Rueben (by the way, I love Rueben! Don’t read too far into this story.)
“But I aint askin you to sign him too! This is just a solo track that he’s gonna rock. He’s my boy! C’mon, I’m just giving him his spot on my album.”
“But that’s the point. YOUR album. Not His. Why is he getting a solo track on your album!?”
“Because I want to show that we (Locust) are a team! How can I show that if I don’t let my man shine? I know it’s a little different the way I wanna do it, but trust me, it will be dope!”
I finally got Rueben to agree after I cried a bit and then promised that 7Lock wouldn’t ask for money.
7 and me went over to Fingaz, who showed us an extra track he had. I didn’t like it. To tell you the truth, I still don’t think I like it (the beat alone)! But Lock was all over it. So he staked his claim and wrote the lyrics. The ONLY reason I like the end track now is because 7Lock came ruff on it! I think if anyone else attacked it, I wouldn’t dig it. The dope vocal sample of Kane from ‘Kunf Fu’ leaving his master at the end of the song is a personal highlight too (I came to the table with that!).
When the album dropped, most people seemed to like it. And there was a year, at least, where 7 Lock and I got to perform a lot on stage and that would be his solo for the shows.
Nevertheless that song sparked the biggest ‘Locust’ mystery ever. Everyone liked it but didn’t know why. Especially since they didn’t know what the heck the chorus was about! I got tons of email (and still get an occasional question) asking what he was talking about.
So here’s an official explanation (I wont explain the song lyrics. You can get at Lock and ask him about those. But here’s the chorus explained):
You see, in the ‘Shadow of the Locust’ universe there are times when we create our own ‘language’ or slang words. This song utilized on such instance where we had been using a slang term within the crew (and still do).
A grasshopper and a locust are the same exact insect. The only differences is that a locust is when too many grasshoppers are born in one place and they start swarming. Their numbers make them ferocious because they are fighting harder for food and mates. So in a way a grasshopper is that insect you hear all solo in the field at night chirping away. A locust is that same exact insect with thousands of his friends coming to knock on your door! So in our slang terminology within the group, a ‘grasshopper’ is some dude that is either weakhearted or not saved. A ‘Locust’ is a warrior! A person who is tired of a mundane, mediocre existence and jumps up to join the plague! Although they are the same creature, locust tend to be much larger and vivacious because they get more exercise and build more strength through the fierceness of the extra competition.
So when 7lock says, “you be the grasshopper, I’ll be the weedhopper”. He is saying that you can settle for being the weak one, but he is gonna jump over lifes’ struggles.
Make sense? Good! I am glad we could clear this up.
7Lock recorded this track in a home studio in southtown Diego called ‘Abbot Sounds’. It was mixed a few times before the album version. You can actually email Lock at HYPERLINK "mailto:sevenlockthenazirite@juno.com"
sevenlockthenazirite@juno.com to give props and tell him Dirt sent you!