Last week, Dreamville’s Bas released his third studio album, Milky Way. Many Bas fans know that the Too High to Riot rhymeslinger has a clever way of offering moral instructions on wax. But who knew that the Queens-raised MC was into Greek Mythology? The first record on the 14-song effort is “Icarus,” taken from the Greek story Deadalus and Icarus.
In this Greek tale, Daedalus, who wanted to flee his island, made wings out of wax for him and his soIcarus. Daedalus warns Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, because the heat would melt the wings. Initially, Icarus heeds his father’s words, however, Icarus grew cocky. As Icarus flies closer to the sun, his wings melt and he falls to his death.
Some years ago, Redman had a MC in his crew who went by the name Icarus. Many of us first heard Icarus on Funk Doc Spot’s, “Real Niggaz,” (featuring Scarface, Treach, and Jamal), a song from Red’s Malpractice album. There wasn’t much known about the rapper Icarus back then, but he introduced many of hip-hop heads to Greek myth when XXL Magazine asked about the origins of his name.
Thanks to Icarus, many of hip-hop lovers–including myself–became avid readers of Greek Mythology. Since then, rappers and singers have name-dropped Icarus in their songs. Deadalus and Icarus is a story of humbleness, trust, and applying the lessons learned from those wiser than us. With this,VIBE unearthed 6 artists lyrics that reference Icarus.
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1: Vic Mensa “Codeine Crazy (Icarus Story)”
Lyrics: Icarus flew too high to the sun/I could be guilty of being too high to die.
2: Jaden Smith-“B”
Lyrics: Cause I fell for you/See, I’m the living Icarus, relationships they suck/I’m lookin’ around, and girl what happened to me.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4stH39loeKJFBMBUKVvBrk
3: Ryan Leslie-“The Black Flag”
Lyrics: Success is bittersweet like liquorish/I fly with the wings of Icarus.
4: Andra Day-“Burn”
Lyrics: What you’d done/You have married an Icarus/He has flown too close to the sun
5: Phonte-“Sweet Home”
Lyrics: It took me awhile but now, I’m getting my swing on/Icarus, in increments, sometimes I put wings on/Every hero ain’t a hero ’til there’s a theme song.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CpPX0mW81Mk
6: Wiki-“Icarus”
Lyrics: I ain’t crying but I’m piloting the man/This is Icarus, I’m sick of it/I’m done trying to get to the sun/So I’m flying in and I am in/Before I start rioting within
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uyYtsY3_4dA