Beautiful Struggle

Dreams shattered like broken glass
Press ignore it and your hopes get broken fast
You complain for the life you supposed to have
But when you try to make plans, God is known to laugh
Throw a song on the phonograph, and Lucy start wilin
The trick start smiling, watch the loot start flying
The Gucci start pilling up, she live designer plush
Start lining up the coke so she could find a rush

Any time I see broken glass it reminds me of the “Broken glass, everywhere!” hook in Talib Kweli’s song, Broken Glass on Beautiful Struggle.

The song tells the all-too-common and very sad story of a “small-town girl with big city dreams” who moves to New York, only for her entire life to completely fall apart as she falls victim to not-so-great influences.

“Broken glass everywhere” is a reference to the opening line of The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, which is one of the earlier “conscious rap” songs that describes the “jungle” of the inner city’s underbelly.

It’s like a jungle sometimes
It makes me wonder how I keep from going under

These references would probably fit the photo better if the reflection was of some big city, but this was just some broken glass I happened upon in the woods while I was walking. It’ll have to do.