Demrick Asks Fans to ‘Pray for Me,’ Doesn’t Take Success for Granted
Demrick describes the state of mind behind his song “Pray for Me” as the halfway house for success. He’s accomplished many of the things on his wish list, but he is keeping his ego in check.
“Pray for Me” sets Demrick apart from his contemporaries for chronicling his plight in real time.
So in the song’s first verse, he explains that just because he’s friends with Cypress Hill and has “rapped with Dr. Dre” and “shut down the whole room,” he isn’t just focusing on the stereotypical hip-hop “hoes, money, shows [and] a bunch of weed” lifestyle.
Demrick, who has also worked with the likes of Xzibit and Kurupt, is grounded enough to realize that one bad decision could forfeit all of his hard work. “There are so many ways for you to slip and throw it all away ‘cause I’ve seen it so many times,” he tells Yahoo! Music. “So shoot up a prayer for me so that doesn’t happen to me.”
On the chorus he raps, “God in a world where n-ggas play for keeps, in a city that don’t sleep, and everything’s in your reach, Imma need you to pray for me,” over Mike One’s pacing, thematic track that actually feels a little mysterious.
In one lyric, Demrick describes the pressures of competition, rhyming, “Everybody gunning for my spot, would have thought I already made it. Wait, have I already made it? But I don’t know ‘cause I’m already jaded.”
In the second verse, he talks more about his background growing up in Philly before coming to L.A., and having old friends accuse him of changing. But he won’t apologize for being focused. “Got a different point of view, now I’m pointing to the top, only got one shot,” he proudly raps.
Though he admits his weakness for Hennessey, Old English and promethazine, he maintains that he’s got it under control just before another “pray for me, pray for me” chorus comes in.
Demrick says he wanted to make the song for his new and old fans. “I thought a record kinda explaining a little bit about my life would be an important record,” he says.
“Pray for Me” is just one of the thought-provoking storylines on Demrick’s All The Wrong Things 2 mixtape (though it’s more like an actual album) that features production from Jim Jonsin, Finatik & Zac, Danny Morris, and Leroy Sanchez.