0:00 – 0:30 The video starts off with a home invasion. Someone breaks into Polo’s house and begins to shoot at him.
Polo G is from Chicago, and as we all know Chicago has a very high crime rate. I think this is a fitting way to start off the music video as it directly ties into his Chicago up bringing where gun violence is a very present. His first line being “Decorate your block with red tape, foenem’ slidin every day” is also referring to his Chicago up bringing. Foenem is a Chicago slang term meaning gang or crew.
0:31 -0:49 Polo G gets out of his room avoiding the shooter and continues walking in the halls of his house.
At around 0:44 we see Polo G dumping a pill bottle into the air. This is referring to his battle with addiction. Polo G was addicted to pills like Xanax and Percocet for a few years so him throwing them into the air is symbolizing letting go of that addiction.
“Can’t relapse off these drugs, man R.I.P. to Juice
We was tweakin’ off them Percs, I popped my last one with you”
Here Polo G is referring to the late rapper Juice Wrld. Juice Wrld was a fellow Chicago rapper and friends of Polo G. When Polo G says “I popped my last one with you” he literally means it. He remembers popping Percocet with Juice Wrld for the last time before Juice died in December of 2019. The death of his friend has actually helped Polo G with his battle in addiction.
0:50 – 1:20 Polo Continues walking through the poker room. The TV shows another image of Juice Wrld again paying his respects to him.
1:21 – 2:10 Polo walks into a jail, then into a cell joined by a masked man. Throughout the scene he is again dodging projectiles. Towards the end of this scene he leaves the cell but is then surrounded by guns.
Throughout this scene, Polo is rapping about the troubles he faced while growing up in Chicago; he says “where I’m from they turn death into a contest.” He then continues ” My niggas went to war but they ain’t get no Vietnam checks.” Here he is referring to the gang culture that surrounds Chicago. He grew up with gang culture and saw his friends killed from it. He compares death to being a contest because in gang culture it is common for people to try and show how tuff they are through violent means such as shootings. This leads to many deaths. The war he refers to again is gang culture. He says “they ain’t get no Vietnam check” meaning that this senseless gang violence ultimately leads to nothing. I think this scene is perfect for what he is rapping about. When in jail you are stuck there until you serve your sentence. He felt trapped growing up in Chicago, much like being in jail. He is dodging bullets in the video. The bullets could be referring to literal gun bullets or any other hardships of growing up in Chicago. He is then surrounded by guns after leaving the cell, which can refer to him facing one problem after the next.
2:11 – 2:50 The intruder that has been following Polo through out video has been unmasked. It is revealed that it is actually Polo G who was the intruder.
I think Polo G being the intruder that has been following him around symbolizes self conflict. He’s been trying to shoot himself from the beginning of the video, but he’s also been dodging every bullet. This could mean that he is overcoming his problems and growing as person.
I really enjoyed the depth of the story that Polo G is trying to convey. He begins the song about his life in “Chiraq” then proceeds to how addiction not only controlled him, but also his friends. I believe with the context surrounding the song we are better able to depict what daily life could be like in Southern Chicago, and how messed up situations really are. Furthermore, I totally agree with your point about the bullets and how dodging them throughout the video is another tribulation that he experienced which he then uses to develop himself and his music.
The story Polo G is trying to show is sadly a common story for many people from southside Chicago. The crime rate and level of violence there is destroying the community. One of the most prevalent things in the video are guns and bullets. This is a literal representation of all the guns and bullets in southside Chicago. Also, I believe him dodging all these bullets showing how lucky he is to have survived his childhood and even become successful. It is sad to think that there are parts of America where people are at risk of dying for just living in a certain neighborhood.
What Polo G is trying to interpret is that gang violence is a thing in Chicago and people there die on regular because of gun abuse and it seems like in the video him dodging the bullets shows how he is lucky to not been shot and not die to all the gangs and crime going on around him.
You have a really strong analysis of what happened in the video. I think that the bullets and the fact that he’s dodging them are meant to mean what is literally happening; that he’s been dodging bullets. Other than that, I think every point you made I completely agreed was the meaning behind it, and I think you noticed a lot of cool meanings that I never would have.