Quinn Olney has always been experimental with fashion and his physical appearance, but during the summer he went so far as to shave his head and bleach his hair simply to embody the concept of his SoundCloud song.
He explained that the title, “Goku,” comes from an anime character in the Dragonball Z TV series. Goku is the protagonist whose hair, just like Quinn’s, goes from black to blonde when he powers up. “I work on music to a point where it supersedes, levels up,” Olney said. “At this point, I was having a Goku super-Saiyan moment.”
Olney, who goes by “Q-Friendly”, is a junior at U-32 and the featured artist in this lyrical deconstruction of his most listened-to track.
Chorus lyrics:
Yeah this off the top, just like a toupee
Got me on the rocks, thinking it’s too late
I don’t want the box, I got that package too late
Sunday morning, and I’m sipping on the kool-aid
Cut this beat up, yeah you can call me sensei
Didn’t give a f*ck no that’s such a past-tense man
Cutting me off now please stay in your own lane
Dye my hair blonde kinda looking Goku man
Here is a line-by-line breakdown of Olney’s lyrics:
Yeah this off the top, just like a toupee
Olney said that he freestyles at the beginning of his songs, so “off the top” meant that he is coming up with lyrics on the spot.
Got me on the rocks, thinking it’s too late
I don’t want the box, I got that package too late
“When I moved here [from Montana], I was a freaking loser,” Olney said. “And also in eighth grade, I kind of got dunked on a lot… in a figurative and actual literal term when I played on the eighth-grade basketball team. And I got bullied.”
Olney gained popularity and suddenly people were nicer to him. But the “package” that he references – friendship – came “too late”.
“It’s like, come on, where were you when I was just picking my boogers?” he said. “Like, come on.”
Sunday morning, and I’m sipping on the kool-aid
Olney said that the line had no relevance and just “feels good to end off the bar.” So the fact that it’s Sunday has nothing to do with it or anything.”
Cut this beat up, yeah you can call me sensei
Olney compared his rapping skills to the sword skills of a sensei. “I don’t know if this genius poetry flew over your head,” he said. “Actually I should have said Samurai or something like that. Forgive me.” This also references a cut in the beat right before the bar.
Didn’t give a f*ck no that’s such a past-tense man
“So at the beginning of quarantine, I was kind of this insecure little sophomore, right. At this point, I just kind of learned to let things go,” he explained. “But also I used to just do everything for other people.”
Cutting me off now please stay in your own lane
Olney didn’t want to name names, but he said that people had cut him off in the past. “Well, people that are friends that weren’t really friends with me for the reason that I hoped for. I mean, if we’re going to try to go into that deeper, that’s probably what I meant by that,” he said. “But then again, I wrote all these in like the span of like, 30 minutes, so I don’t think it has too deep of meaning.”
Dye my hair blonde kinda looking Goku man
“It’s the song title. It was my hair color. Just leveling up.”
Verse:
Yeah this sh*t organic-only shop at Whole Foods
Wanna own a planet while you’re stuck local
Talking trash please can it, making hella opals
Like you’re origami the way you fold through
Something something something is like I’m a walking tsunami
Not first you are last like I’m talking Ricky Bobby
Swear you get your chains straight from Hobby Lobby
Walk up and smell the flowers talking Murakami
In his verse, Olney continued to address the haters while injecting some obscure puns to keep things interesting.
Yeah this sh*t organic-only shop at Whole Foods
Wanna own a planet while you’re stuck local
Talking trash please can it, making hella opals
Like you’re origami the way you fold through
Olney uses a double rhyme scheme, rhyming ‘organic’, ‘planet’, and ‘can it’, along with ‘Whole Foods’, ‘local’, and ‘opals’. What’s an opal? “Either it’s a video game currency. Or it’s India’s currency,” he explained. The origami line “is kind of sticking to the same theme of like, people that come and go to you know, fake friends that would fold like origami.”
Something something something is like I’m a walking tsunami
“I genuinely cannot understand the first part of this but it’s like something something something. I’m like a tsunami. I’m assuming I’m talking about clothes. I like clothes a lot,” he said.
Not first you are last like I’m talking Ricky Bobby
The bar about Ricky Bobby was “a little Talladega Nights reference right there.”
Swear you get your chains straight from Hobby Lobby
Olney’s passion for fashion is evident in this bar. “I don’t even understand how you can be rich and famous and dress like just garbage,” he said. “Because like 90% of them have stylists. But like most of the artists, I look at their outfits, take inspiration from them.”
Walk up and smell the flowers, talking Murakami
Olney’s 4th reference to Japanese culture is about the flowers drawn by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Olney’s musical goals are modest and he acknowledges his slim chances of success in the industry, but he will continue his attempts to prove people wrong.
“Just making something out of this is something that no one really expects.”
