I mean, and there’s more examples than just Lane Boy. Look at the bridge to Holding Onto You or the second half of HeavyDirtySoul, for example - he always uses hip hop and rap as the ‘bottom of the barrel’ for comparisons.

The other thing with Lane Boy that a friend and I came across is kinda the whole premise of the song. The title comes from the line 'they say stay in your lane, boy, but we go where we want to.’ He’s taking an AAVE phrase that’s been used to criticize him - i.e., black people pointing out the anti-blackness in his lyrics - and giving a big 'fuck you’ and saying he’s going to do whatever he wants.

THAT’S UNCOMFORTABLE AS FUCK.

That’s not just even shitting on hip-hop anymore, that’s shutting down black people who have criticized him using they’re fucking language in an almost mocking way.

Don’t get me wrong, twenty one pilots is my favorite band. But Lane Boy is messy and weird and we need to be able to examine our favorite media critically.