FAYRO’S fifth single from his most recent album, Memphis. On the surface, this track may seem like just another banger, repeating the line, “Don’t come around here with that bullshit.” Breaking it down though, it seems like it gets much deeper than that.
Kumbaya, or kum ba yah, is Gullah for “come by here.” The language of Gullah was spoken by slaves in the south: South Carolina and Georgia specifically. At the start of the video, you see FAYRO attacked by a figure who looks like the rapper but is wearing a mask. After a brief altercation, the figure pulls him in, and the battle of man vs. self begins.
The song seems to be a fight between FAYRO and the person he used to be. The past is trying to get him to “come by here,” but FAYRO isn’t having any of it. The song shows a constant battle back and forth between the two, with the ultimate winner not being definitively determined. FAYRO seems to have won, but in the last few seconds of the video, we see him don the black mask of past FAYRO once again as the song closes out.
I think personally that FAYRO won at the end, but the last part where he is masked once again is a reminder that the past isn’t something we get rid of, it’s something we live with and grow from. Potential for lapses are always going to be there though. It’s a constant battle to be someone you’re proud of.
-Seth