Denzel Curry on "P.A.T." (May 31, 2019)

"Think it’s fireworks but I assume it’s a chopper"

• Denzel Curry, P.A.T. (Released: May 31, 2019)

Genius Annotation:

This line indicates that Denzel remains haunted by the traumas of his rough upbringing. Even though he’s made it out of the ‘hood and is probably living somewhere safer, when he hears loud noises like fireworks, his mind immediately reacts as though it was a gunshot (chopper being a reference to a machine gun). This is a common symptom of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). According to CAMH (The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health):

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a natural emotional response to frightening or dangerous experiences that involve actual or threatened serious harm to oneself or others. However, for some people, the thoughts or memories of these events seriously affect their lives, long after any real danger has passed. These types of experiences are called “traumatic.” … Common symptoms include re-experiencing the traumatic event over and over [or] acting or feeling as if the event is happening again.

This post was generated by the Truth2Power bot, a project for MIT's CMS.614 created to archive and discuss hip-hop lyrics that speak truth to power.