6ix Rats 🐀 & 7even Snakes 🐍 | Playlist 🎧

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‘6ix Rats 🐀 & 7even Snakes 🐍’ features music courtesy of The Black Dahlia Murder, Ghost, G-Eazy, Miguel, Nicki Minaj and St. Vincent. 

Previously, two miniature lists of five songs (5ive Songs) were released.  The first of the two was entitled Rats… 🐀  – can you guess what it was about? The second of the lists was entitled Snakes… 🐍 – can you guess what it was about?  Put the two lists together, adding, say, three additional songs, and you have 6IX RATS 🐀 & 7EVEN SNAKES 🐍.

If you do the math, you’ll notice there is one additional rat- and two additional snake songs added in this full-fledged, animal-driven playlist. Appearing on this reptilian, rodent-infested affair is The Black Dahlia Murder, Ghost, G-Eazy, Miguel, Nicki Minaj, and St. Vincent among others.  Without further ado, jump right into a filthy pit of 🐀 and 🐍.

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1. The Acacia Strain, “Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat 🐀

D • Rise • 2020

“The whole planet is crawling / We have cut off our food supply / Teaming with vermin and blight / A mindless hive.” Wow… Rats 🐀 don’t have a positive connotation – understatement. Even Templeton is questionable in Charlotte’s Web.

The Acacia Strain certainly have nothing the slightest bit positive to say about the rodents, likening them to humans on “Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat” 🐀.  The vocals are coarse, shouted, and the exemplification of unclean.  The energy ‘is on 10,’ if not 11, as a sketchy picture of the state of humankind is masterfully conveyed.  “Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat” might be hellish AF, but this metalcore joint goes hard!

2. Miguel, “Python” 🐍

“Python” • RCA • 2018

On his 2018 single “Python” (written specifically for the Ascension tour), Grammy-winning R&B singer/songwriter Miguel delivers a funky groove that gives off throwback vibes all the day long.  Lyrically, Miguel references the python 🐍 sexually. On the first verse he sings: “I’ve been searching for somewhere safe and warm / Devour you like my prey ‘til you’re quivering / Don’t be afraid.” A bit far-fetched, but Miguel and sex usually work well together so…

On the second verse he delivers similar lyrics: “I’ve been searching for somewhere safe to explore / Devouring you like my prey till you’re shivering / Don’t be afraid.” Umm… If there was any doubt, the chorus confirms the SEXUAL aspect. That said, it’s kind of hard to see a python letting anything else reign over it, as Miguel suggests… just saying.

“Demonstrate, yeah, let’s drop it
Yeah, I need a cave to hide in
Educate, I'm with the logic
I’m feeling swell (swell)...
Summer rain on me, yeah
I’ll let you reign over me, me
Summer reign over me
Ooh baby, reign over me, yeah.”

“Python” previously appeared on 11 Songs About Pets, Well, Sort of, published back in 2018.

3. Ghost, “Rats” 🐀

Prequelle • Loma Vista • 2018

Grammy-winning Swedish metal collective Ghost returned amped-up on “Rats” 🐀, the promo single for their fourth studio album, Prequelle. Regarding “Rats,” Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge shared with Revolver,  “It’s actually not technically about rodents.  It’s about something spreading as wildfire and completely destroying things quicker than you know.”

“Rats” commences with a pummeling, hard-hitting groove from the start.  The rhythmic guitars sound athletic, while Cardinal Copia (Forge) delivers clear, commanding vocals. In addition to the compelling lead vocals, the vocal harmonies are quite impressive.  Harmonically, “Rats” has some truly distinct moments.  As for the chorus, Ghost keeps things short and simple: “Them rats!”  The heat is turned up on this hard-rocking gem.

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4. Nicki Minaj, “Anaconda” 🐍

The Pinkprint • Cash Money • 2014

“Oh my gosh, look at her butt!” Can you reference snakes 🐍 and omit the Nicki Minaj gem, “Anaconda” 🐍? No, you can’t!  Sex, and ample doses of it, are a big part of her persona. “Anaconda,” an absolutely filthy song, is the crème de la crème of the rapper’s 2014 album, The Pinkprint.  “My anaconda 🐍 don’t, my anaconda 🐍 don’t / My anaconda 🐍 don’t want none unless you got buns, hun!”

“Anaconda,” which samples the Sir-Mix-a-Lot classic “Baby Got Back”, explores animalistic tendencies in regard to sex. “Anaconda” is one of the horniest records you’ll ever hear. Minaj not only discusses her own ASSets and private parts, but she also discusses his ‘size’ and how the sex goes down… graphically.

“This dude named Michael used to ride motorcycles
Dick bigger than a tower, I ain’t talking about Eiffel’s
Real country-ass n***a, let me play with his rifle
Pussy put his ass to sleep, now he calling me Nyquil...
He can tell I ain’t missing no meals
Come through and fuck him in my automobile
Let him eat it with his grills and he tellin’ me to chill...”

“Anaconda” has appeared on numerous playlists, most of which associated with animals and of course, sex.

5. Hamilton Leithauser, “Stars & Rats” 🐀

The Loves of Your Life • Glassnote • 2020

“Stars are burning behind the clouds / Rats are running the sidewalks down.” Interestingly, that’s the only time that Hamilton Leithauser mentions rats on “Stars & Rats” 🐀 ,The Loves of Your Life. As usual, the rats are unloved because, honestly, who wants to see those rodents ‘running the sidewalks down’? Like ewwwwww! Otherwise, the record has nothing to do with rats, and honestly, Leithauser pays more mind to the ‘stars’ portion of the title (“I’m farther away now, but your star is bright” and “So, I stared past the star-filled morning”). Can’t say I don’t blame him. Rats are gross!

6. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Leviathan” 🐍

Ghosteen • Ghosteen Ltd. • 2019

“We talked it round and round again / Then drove the car down to the sea, the sea / We sat in the cark park for an hour or two / I love my baby and my baby loves me, loves me.” Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds shined brightly on Ghosteen, one of the most gorgeous, haunting, and intriguing albums of 2019.  One of many elite songs worth noting is the chilling, enigmatic “Leviathan.”

A leviathan, of course, is a sea serpent 🐍.  This monstrous sea creature referenced is referenced in The Bible. As you might expect, the Biblical connotation is negative. Interestingly, while Cave mentions the sea on “Leviathan,” he never names the serpent itself explicitly.

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7. Eric Church, “The Snake” 🐍

Desperate Man • EMI Nashville • 2018

“Lie by lie, cheat by cheat / Venom in smiling teeth / They just run those forked tongues / And the whole world’s burning down.” Following a three-year hiatus, seven-time, Grammy-nominated country artist Eric Church returned with his sixth studio album, Desperate Man in Autumn 2018. “The Snake” commences Desperate Man enigmatically, with Church portraying an entertaining, though troubling conversation between a rattlesnake and a copperhead.  Neither makes an ideal pet obviously… both are utterly sinful, which is reflected through the lyrics.

“Copperhead laughed, said, ‘Kiss my ass!’
You can bark but there ain’t much bite
You rattle that tail, but it’s fear I smell
I think you’re shaking out of fright...
Rattle snake said to the copperhead
‘Y’know we were the original sin
And I bet you my rattle against your copper
That the bitch takes the apple again.” 

Like Miguel’s “Python”, “The Snake” previously appeared on 11 Songs About Pets, Well, Sort of, published back in 2018.

8. Motionless in White, “Rats” 🐀

Graveyard Shift • Roadrunner • 2017 

“Sick to the bone / Slave to the flesh / Better put on my Sunday’s best / I’ve been a bad little boy…” Sounds like it! Just in case you were curious, “Rats” 🐀  by Motionless in White appears on the same album as the unapologetic “LOUD (Fuck It)”, Graveyard Shift (2017).  Once again, the rodents don’t stand a chance! “Roses are red, and my heart is black / We creep about the floor to indulge like rats.” Those poor, filthy creatures!

Chris Motionless describes the album opener as “So fucking dirty and filthy and, there’s something about it that really, like, sets a really interesting tone…” He describes the lyrics as being “Essentially about sexual liberation.”  The chorus builds on the ‘filth’: “So we feed ourselves to submit to the shadows / Cause we just dance under our pretty perfect halos.”

9. St. Vincent, “Rattlesnake” 🐍

St. Vincent • Seven Four Entertainment / Republic • 2014

St. Vincent delivers a unique, ear-catching experience at the onset of St. Vincent with “Rattlesnake” 🐍. The mix of distorted guitars, drums, and synths definitely highlight. The groove itself is utterly electrifying with a degree of pop sensibility – in an alternative sense.  Lyrically, “Rattlesnake” 🐍 is all ‘bread and butter’ with lyrics like, “I see the snake holes dotted in the sand / As if the Seurat painted the Rio Grande / Am I the only one in the only world?”  If that’s too ‘abstract’, perhaps repetitive lyrics like “Running, running, running, rattle behind me…” are more fun and lighthearted.  Of course, there’s nothing really fun and lighthearted about a slithering, poisonous, utterly evil reptile!

10. The Black Dahlia Murder, “Dawn of Rats” 🐀

Verminous • Metal Blade • 2020 

“Dawn of Rats” 🐀 is as energetic, intense, and unholy as anything else gracing Verminous, the ninth studio album by the death metal collective The Black Dahlia Murder.  TBDM, led by aggressive vocalist Trevor Strnad have been going strong since their formation in 2001.  Listening to the hard-hitting “Dawn of Rats,” it’s clear this is band that’s flexing as it approaches two decades of existence. “Dawn of Rats” is definitely a fitting way to close Verminous. Add to it the disgusting rat sound effects that appear at the end of the song… ewww!

“When the silken robes of sodomy
Fell vacant at your feet
Did your God cough into his sleeve?
Did he toast with you?
To their innocence
So, fleeting and so sweet?
The dawn has come of your defeat
We the rats must have our feast.”

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11. Against Me! “Dead Rats” 🐀

Shape Shift with Me • Total Treble • 2016

“Shallow graves for all the dead rats, I like the dark clouds the best.” Again, those poor, filthy rats 🐀 don’t get the least bit of love, not even from Laura Jane Grace.  “Dead Rats” 🐀 appears as the eighth track on the band’s 2016 album, Shape Shift with Me.  Lyrically, Laura Jane Grace is quite dark.  I mean, “Running barefoot through the graveyard / Drawing pentagrams on tombstones / Her bloodbath visions are for him, not me” isn’t positive in the least.

Of course, we get more insight as “Dead Rats” progresses.  There’s reference to a “naïve fucking fantasy,” which literally seems to be the case as Grace later adds, “Dear succubus, I miss you more than the rest / But there’s a little bit less divide each time I look back…” Yeah, shit is twisted for sure on “Dead Rats.” The music is similarly aggressive, dark – rat-infested! 🐀

12. G-Eazy, “Leviathan” 🐍

Ft. Sam Martin

The Beautiful & Damned • RCA • 2017 

“I play no games ‘ve got many names / Wanna swim in the fire, don’t take all day,” Sam Martin sings on the chorus of “Leviathan” 🐍. “Leviathan” ranks among the elite cuts from The Beautiful & Damned, the third studio album by G-Eazy. It actually appears on the second disc. Martin, who begins the record with the marvelous chorus, later adds: “Lucifer, Leviathan / He is I, girl, and II am him.” The record is a bop from the jump.  As rock-solid as the flow and rhymes are by G-Eazy (“It’s a monster, it’s not safe here / Run for the hills, but not these hills”), arguably, Martin, as well as the sensational production (Michael Keenan), steals this slithering 🐍 show.

13. Behemoth, “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel”

The Satanist • Metal Blade • 2014

“I saw the virgin’s c**t spawning forth the snake 🐍 / …I watched disciples twelve, dissolved by flame / Looked down on Son ov God, snuffed in vain…” If you are familiar with Behemoth, it should come as no surprise that “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” atheistic… worse, satanic. This is the loud, unsettling, hellish opener to the metal collective’s 2014 album, The Satanist. 

“Blow your trumpets Gabriel! /… Break the bread, and crumb by crumb into the Leviathan’s den…” Just in case you really needed a reminder, the Leviathan 🐍 certainly doesn’t represent celestial things… Behemoth, known for their blasphemy and reversals of things associated with Christianity, show a prime example of reversal in the lyrical excerpt. Biblical references run rampantly on “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel,” but there’s nothing ‘redeeming,’ particularly when Nergal sings:

“Hosanna! (hosanna)
Let wine ov Sodom fill our mouths
Hosanna! (hosanna)
May Sin ov Gomorrah grace our hearts.”

Biblically, Sodom and Gomorrah aren’t considered the holiest of places you might say…  Previously, “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” appeared on the playlists 11 Songs That Totally Blow (In the Most Awesome Way Possible), 13 Entertaining Songs That Reference Musical Instruments, and 13 Songs That Are Biblical – Sort of.  

[Photo Credits: Brent Faulkner, Cash Money, Ghosteen Ltd., Glassnote, Loma Vista, Metal Blade, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, RCA, Rise, Roadrunner, Total Treble]

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