This month’s Shit You Need is not a movie, or a book, or a song-- well, technically, it’s not a song. At least not an entire one. This month’s Shit You Need is a song’s verse. One verse. That’s one paragraph.

From which song? "If It Wasn’t For You", the second track on Handsome Boy Modeling School’s new album, White People. The lyrically responsible culprits? De La Soul. Specifically: Dave.

The song is pretty much a thank you/tribute to all the things they couldn’t have done it without. And at the 1:46 mark, Dave says the following:

Pen, you my motherfucker

I’m a hold you like piss

Even when the itchy burn make me wanna let go

There you go smudgin', see

Actin' mad funny

But you’re kissing loose leaf, so I can’t be mad

You were my confidant

When I couldn’t tell Pops

That report card came

You signed off with me

So when the checks come

You’ll be signin' off with me

But when I'm dead and gone, will you sign off?

Oh! Paper mate

You're light, like paper weight

What you're packin' could make tattoos turn pussy

And when it's mush time, you'll be there like a man

In my hand,

Spillin' my heart with your blood

That's right, he wrote a verse about his pen. And why not? If it weren’t for his pen, he might not have written half the rhymes he did. And then where would De La Soul be? And where would I be? De La Soul are three of my favorite artists ever. They're one of the main reasons I create. And someday, hopefully, I'll make something as real and brilliant as any one of their albums.

If you got the cash, buy the album. Trust me: it's worth it. But if you want the quick fix, hunt it down on iTunes. It’s continuing proof that De La Soul is on some future, original shit, and most everyone else is lagging far behind.