“Survival of the Fittest” is the second single from Mobb Deep‘s The Infamous album. The song was the duo’s second hit single from the album, following “Shook Ones Pt. II“. The track peaked at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and hit the Top 10 on the Hot Rap Singles chart. The song is similar to “Shook Ones Pt. II” in sound and content, featuring a dark piano loop and gritty street narratives, and also uses the chorus from that song in a verse (taken verbatim from Wikipedia).
There’s a war going on outside no man is safe from.
You could run, but you can’t hide forever
from these, streets that we done took.
You walking with your head downscared to look.
You shook ’cause ain’t no such things as halfway crooks.
By and Until
We living this ’til the day that we die.
Survival of the fit. Only the strong survive.
Until is a common preposition of time, and we use it to express actions that continue to a point in time and stop. Use “until” with the past, present and future.
- I am 27 years old. I lived with my parents until I was 18. Therefore, I moved out of my parents house nine years ago.
- He’s working until 9 pm tonight, so I imagine he’ll be very tired.
- My boss from work will be unavailable until next week, so I can’t ask her for a raise right now.
Many people shorten “until” into ’til or ’till.
A commonly confused preposition of time is by. This word means no later than or before.
- My professor wants my essay by 5pm today. It’s 2pm right now, so I only have three hours to write it. Can you drive me to the library?!
- The flight has been delayed a few hours, but we should be boarding by 9pm. It’s 6pm right now, so I don’t think we have enough time to leave the aiport to play golf.
Vocabulary
- go on (phrasal verb) – to happen; to occur; to take place. What is going on outside? I heard some screaming and shouting!
- no such thing as … (expression) – used to say that somebody/something does not exist. There‘s no such thing as Santa Claus. He doesn’t really exist, and it’s just a story for children.
- in many hip-hop/rap songs, ain’t no such things
- have thick skin / be thick-skinned (idiom) – not easily offended or hurt; insensitive. If you want to be a successful musician, you need to have thick skin. In the beginning, everybody will hate you!
- can’t turn back (expression) – used to say that somebody/something is unable to return where it came from. I’m sorry you’re feeling homesick, but you can’t turn back now. We are flying over the Pacific Ocean!
- watch somebody’s back (idiom) – to be careful about where you are and the people around you in order to avoid something bad. You have to watch your back in this neighborhood, especially at night. It gets dangerous!