I ain’t no expert on hip hop, but I know something good when I hear it, something that can resonate with my rock ‘n’ roll heart, something that rings with truth in the midst of the raps, flow, and beats. That’s the case with Sims on Bad Time Zoo, especially the single, “Burn It Down.”

“Burn It Down” struts and swaggers like something from El-P with the hooks of Just Jack. Sims shows great chops, and the track comes handwagging on some nice horn work.

What’s intriguing about the rap is the final line: “Welcome to the veldt.” That line could mean interpreting the whole song through a short story by Ray Bradbury called “The Veldt.” The story of a “smart house” whose nursery puts the children in a virtual African landscape complete with lions on the prowl who seem far too real, it questions the use of technology and its psychological effects on children and parenting.

In a way, Sims’ “Burn It Down” brings out those same tensions wondering:
What will you call your home?
What will you call your own?
Where will you lay them bones,
lay them greedy bones?

I see Sims questioning our greedy landscape that grabs for everything but leaves precious little thought to what we really need—like a home built around love.
Everyone stepping sideways to the cheapest sleight of hand
Play to your weakness, see the darkest side of man.

That’s what Sims is calling on us to burn down. Let’s set aside all of these things we cling, too, and burn them down. “Burn it black/Down to the ash, start from the scratch/
Build it all back.”

I would chime in at this point and say this is a spiritual call to new birth, to burn down the sin and watch new life emerge. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us; this is what happens through Baptism; this is what we experience in Christ.

Sims’ question, “What will you call your home?” seems to point in a spiritual direction, too. It’s a question of where we’ll put our hope, where we’ll hang our dreams, where we’ll place our trust. Sims himself even hints at the spiritual dimension of the question when he says:
Which one will save your soul with your sight on solid gold?
Oh, hell no, can’t feel that hallowed ghost
with his hands wrapped around your throat.

I’d interpret that last piece as the choice between heaven and hell, between Jesus and the devil (“Which one will save your soul” with your greedy vision?). It’s hard to feel the Holy Spirit while the devil is clamoring for your attention (“Can’t feel that [Holy Spirit] with [the devil’s] hands wrapped around your throat.”).

The song ends saying, “Welcome to the veldt.” Welcome to the smart house, welcome to the house that let lions into the nursery, welcome to the world that allowed us to be devoured by lions, devoured by the devil. Welcome to the veldt, but the song’s message is clear: burn it down. Burn down this veldt. Burn down this dark reality. Burn down this place that would devour us. Feel that hallowed ghost (Holy Spirit) and shake off the devil whose hands are wrapped around your throat.

So, then, I hear a prayer here: Burn it down, Holy Spirit. Burn down this evil world. Bring this world to an end, Jesus. Bring us all to heaven. That’ll be our home. A far better home than we could ever invent by ourselves, because it won’t be the veldt of our own design. It’ll be the true world of peace that God intended for us to experience.

Bad Time Zoo will be released on February 15. Check out the video for “Burn It Down”.

Sims
Doomtree