NF gets very real in his latest single “When I Grow Up” released today along with a music video. He takes on the topic of it being extremely difficult to make it big as a rapper in the industry whilst being real and genuine.
“When I Grow Up” follows two other singles, “The Search” and “WHY” released from his upcoming fourth studio album titled ‘The Search.’ NF posted a snippet of the video on June 26th before releasing the track on June 27, 2019.
“When I Grow Up” is a track about NF’s childhood dream to make it big as a rapper. In the start of the music video, we see a circle of children confess what they want to be in the future. Among future doctors, engineers, ballet teachers, NF’s dream was to be a rapper. At least he achieved his childhood dream.
But the difficult part starts now! Being a rapper, genuine and real, gets you very few likes and streams on media. It’s not all spotlights and sold-out crowds every time. But NF is happy that he is doing what he does best. He even admits that his lyrics might not be as good as some other rappers out there. And he has hopes for being better.
NF also addresses the “normal” way of growing up–study well, get into college, get into massive debts and get a job that doesn’t pay the debt. In his logic, this patters doesn’t make a lot of sense. He would rather pursue his passion and live an “average” life, where he is able to make a meal on his own, and not resort to be buying dollar menu food at fast food restaurants.
In the music video for “When I Grow Up,” we see very little of the glory of being a rapper. For the most part we see NF being a garbage collector and a janitor to support his life. But towards the end of the video, we see the journey NF has come so far. He is selling out stadiums!
His final wish is: “Yeah, I might not be the best in my field/But I guarantee that I’ma die real.”