Anderson.Paak – I’m On Ft. Cordae

Anybody who has grown up around Nigerian slang will understand why a short phrase like this works. When someone says they are on, they mean they are ready, switched on, in the zone. It is how you announce that you have arrived at your own best moment. No long explanation is needed.

What makes the title interesting is how unfinished it feels. On what? On a roll, on a mission, on top, on the verge of something big? That open ending lets everybody fill in their own answer. A student before an exam, a trader opening shop at dawn and an artist waiting for a big release can all say it with the same energy.

The record appears on Heavy Is The Crown, and Cordae is on it with Anderson.Paak. I like that a collaboration between a singing drummer and a rapper carries a title this direct, because it suggests confidence without too much dressing up.

It is a good phrase for a morning when you wake up determined, put on your best outfit and decide that today belongs to you.

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