The DIVE Series: Torey D’Shaun, “CATFISH”

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Hello everyone! Thank you for tuning into the 21st installment of The DIVE Series*.

Firstly, I apologize for not posting on the 20th of last month. Moving forward, I will do my best to be more on top of these installments.

Today, I will DIVE into Torey D’Shaun’s 2022 single CATFISH, featuring nobigdyl.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ‭‭- Romans 12:1-2

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About the Track

Torey D’Shaun‘s single CATFISH featuring nobigdyl. has over 971,000 streams on Spotify, making it the 5th most popular track by Torey D’Shaun. The track was released on April 29th, 2022, and was produced by the music production duo WEARETHEGOOD made up of Wes Writer and Quinten Coblentz.

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Interpretation of the Track (Part 1)

The following is the Intro of the single:

“It’s been Boopie, y’hurr me?”

If you’re unaware of what this means, allow me to break it down. Boopie is an endearing slang term primarily used to describe a female significant other. Synonyms of this word include “shawty,” “honey,” and “baby.” “Y’hur me” is a short slang phrase meaning “You heard me.” This is essentially another way of saying “you feel me” after a sentence to emphasize what you’re saying.

Now, the widely-known slang meaning of “Boopie” itself actually has little meaning in the Intro of this track. As seen in Rapzilla’s July 2018 Q&A with Torey D’Shaun, his mother called him “Boopie” as a child. I think the woman on this track is trying to emphasize that he’s been “Boopie” since he was young.

Torey begins the meat of the track with the Chrous and Post-Chorus, respectively:

“Jesus’ peace in my heart, you can’t snatch this (Nah). Holy Spirit in my soul (Common cold?), you can’t catch this. Old me, is that you? I need glasses (Huh). I done looked up in the mirror, almost ended up gettin’ catfished.”

“Who is that? (Who is that? I don’t look like where I’ve been). Who is that? (It’s been way different since God been my friend). Who is that? I don’t know, but I’m attracted. Who is—who is—who is—catfished.”

In the Chorus, he speaks about the peace of Jesus being in his heart. This directly correlates with John 14:25-27, which states,

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

In these verses, Jesus informs his Disciples how the Father will send the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ Disciples no doubt received much comfort due to Jesus saying this. Whether they knew it or not, they could (as well as Christians can today) fully trust the Spirit and have peace in Jesus because they can fully rely on the Spirit to lead, guide, and teach them.

Jesus says that the Father will send the Holy Spirit in His name. Given this, the disciples could fully trust the Spirit as we can rely on the Spirit to lead, guide, and teach us in every situation.

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Interpretation of the Track (Part 2)

Torey then hits us with Verse 1 of the track:

I woke up with a mission. Solve the case ’cause the old me missin’. When I praise different, uh (Sheesh). Breakin’ through the ceilin’, uh (Okay). Devil make a killin’ (Yes, sir). I’ma make a livin’ (No way). For wakin’ up the children (Okay). Why they on that with me? (Okay). Oh, they mad ’cause now I’m groovin’. Keep it funky with me. Is my mirror lying to me? Almost faded away, but it weren’t Kobe. Time don’t stop when you wit’ your Rollies. I was in the state when You had to show me, yeah. Ankle monitor, holdin’ my day one. He was a heavy stepper wit’ a metal leg. We was extra, yoked up heavily. I was the deviled egg, tryna cook up whatever. The devil said, headed for the Feds. In the (Dead of night). Don’t look like what I’m supposed to (I don’t). Come close (I don’t), catfish, it send me social (Okay). In this, in this, in this, in this.

Torey “woke up” with a mission to share the love and grace of Jesus with people through the Gospel when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He mentions how different his old self was before the Holy Spirit transformed him into a new person.

He continues in this verse about how one of his goals is to make a living by waking up the children. In other words, Torey wants to work heartily unto the Lord by spreading the Gospel to people in a loving way, thus “waking them up” spiritually with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

One line in this verse I personally found quite interesting was, “Time don’t stop when you wit’ your Rollies.” I believe he’s conveying that Rolex watches (or Rollies) might be nice, but they don’t have any value in an eternal and spiritual sense. If you have another idea of what Torey is attempting to convey in this line, please comment below and let me know!

I also found it interesting how he raps about being a “deviled egg,” explaining that he was doing what Satan preferred him to do before Jesus saved him. As a potential metaphor, he said he was headed for the Feds, meaning he was sinning habitually.

This first verse is essentially about Torey’s perspective on his old self and how his old self is unrecognizable to him now. This difference was caused by his accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior and being transformed by the Holy Spirit.

The Chorus and Post-Chorus run a second time before nobigdyl.’s verse…

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Interpretation of the Track (Part 3)

nobigdyl. finally comes in Verse 2:

If God don’t like ugly, how you explain me and my buddies, huh? Did so much dirt right after church, my slacks muddy, huh (Wow). She was lookin’ real lovely, never mind that it’s Bible study (Whew). I was huntin’, lookin’ for Boo like Mike and Sully, then I heard suddenly (Yeah, okay, ayy, ayy). God say “Stop, what is you doin’?. Like look what I taught, wearin’ that crucifix” (“What is you doin’?”). “Made you My image and what did you do with it?” (“What did you do?”). “Used it to cheat when I asked you to steward it” (Still the truth). “You went and Judas’d this, so now I’m mercy. I’m gonna move and I’m comin’ like Ludacris” (“You fool”). “You act a fool with the words in your mouth. And I still didn’t roll out, now let’s get to the root of it” (Yeah). Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is that? “That’s the new you” (Who’s that?). “Sword of the Spirit, I’ll put it right through you” (Ooh). Holy water stream, hop in it like Hulu (Okay, alright). Now you Mushu, holy fire through the Bluetooth title (Whew). YouTube idol, SuWu, child of God (Whew, whew, whew). Defiled, redeemed, eternity in my smile. In this, in this, in this, in this.

nobigdyl. brilliantly begins his verse by emphasizing that God loves us despite us being sinners (explained in this verse as being spiritually ugly). I like how he mentioned a problem every Christian has dealt with: Going to church on Sunday and sinning habitually during the week.

nobigdyl. continues the verse by rapping about how he struggled with trying to find a significant other too quickly, and he ended up cheating. He references Genesis 1:26-28:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’.”

In this passage of Scripture, God creates humans, making them in His image. Since we were made in his image, we were made to be stewards of the Earth and our bodies (temples). Being told to be fruitful and multiply by God had stewardship implications that consist of doing so in a way that honors and glorifies God (such as not participating in sexual immorality like cheating on your significant other with another person).

So according to this verse, God told nobigdyl., “[You were] made in My image and used it to cheat when I asked you to steward it.” nobigdyl. ends the verse by rapping about how God saving him changed him spiritually beyond belief and how the Sword of the Spirit (God’s Word/The Bible) allowed his eyes to be opened to Jesus’ grace and love.

Now, just like Torey D’Shaun and other Jesus-believing folks, nobigdyl. is unrecognizable spiritually when compared to when he was not saved.

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DIVE Conclusion

CATFISH by nobigdyl. and Torey D’Shaun, produced by music production duo WEARETHEGOOD, is a track with nearly 1 million streams on Spotify.

It is important to remember the Bible passage of the day of this installment and the themed Bible verse of this single we talked about today:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ‭‭- Romans 12:1-2

This CHH (Christian Hip Hop) single is about being transformed spiritually by the Holy Spirit as a result of accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The song’s general theme conveys that many spiritually mature Christians in their relationship with Jesus feel like they can’t recognize their old selves before being saved or earlier on in their faith walk with God.

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Thank You for Reading DIVE!

Thank you for reading this far into the article! I hope you all enjoyed this installment of The DIVE Series* on FiveTwenty Collective. Again, my apologies for not posting on the last scheduled day for The DIVE Series*, but be sure to tune in for the next installment dropping on the 5th of next month (September 2023)!

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About The DIVE Series*

In this series, I DIVE into the precise and potential meanings of Christian Hip Hop singles, albums, and EPs.

In Special Edition installments of the series, I interview the artist(s) involved for the whole meaning of their art.

Thanks for checking out today’s edition of FiveTwenty Collective’s DIVE series! I drop a new installment of this series on the 5th and 20th of every month (except on Sundays).

God Bless,

DJ Expander

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**Listen to the full CATFISH single at the end of the article!**

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Want more content from The DIVE Series? Check out the previous article now!