The Roots, "Break You Off"

The Roots’ “Break You Off” will always sound somber to me, yet it’s a song of pleasure, of satisfaction.

Though the song felt this way to me immediately, its intentions were later muddled. I first interpreted “Break You Off” as a sort of leaving. There’s another man. The one with no “future,” the one who can’t "grip," "flip," or "throw." He’s “playing his part” but can’t keep the kisses “like Hershey.” He’s gone stale, stagnant. “Break You Off” is a sidestory to this, the larger narrative: a separation. A break up. It’s a break up song clothed in silk.

It felt obvious. It’s how he calls himself the “Captain,” I think. It’s arrogance attached to a sloppy metaphor. He asks: “You ready for the freakiest things you done in your life?” which, it turns out, might be just a “heist.” It’s theft, and no title will turn the taste sweet.

Yet in college, a friend asked me if I knew what “Break You Off” meant. Naively, I said that it meant to break up; the song was about urging another person to separate. No, she insisted. It’s about sex, and pleasure. It’s about fulfilment. It’s about “deep appreciation” and a “physical fix.” The way the introduction lingers, and droops before “Uh”ing its introduction. It’s the plethora of voices, a chorus, surely, that hold your hand before the first verse lays you down. The other man, he’s all about “paper,” and, in contrast, we are given a being, of warmth, of comfort - You’ll break yourself a bit, won’t you?

Of course.

This is a moment we all need. When you realize that “workaholic” can have negative connotations. When you understand that “appreciate the company” is far from business-like.

Yet I can’t escape it.

It’s a taunt, the ending. He’s “coming to break you off” alongside a drum’s pitter patter and a beat’s fresh encouragement. There will be shatterings and refractions to follow. Among the revelry, I wonder: Who will stay whole?