People say that love will get you killed, but it’s more pride than anything. Pride is, after all, the deadliest sin. Maryland-based Ridge Long (who’s making an SOTB return after a bit) understands this well and presents his case against having unnecessary pride on his aptly-named track. It’s a beautiful thing, to show appreciation to yourself. However, when it gets in the way of your life, that’s when you’re really screwed, to put it bluntly.

On the booming “Pride,” Ridge discusses how pride has affected his love life. Specifically, he talk about ruining a long-term relationship because he felt slighted and decided to cheat multiple times. Ridge also goes into depth about how pride can cause you to veer down a dark path. That’s especially seen through lines about going back to trapping, doing so, and then suffering the consequences. However, while I don’t condone trapping, I still get the mindset behind the “why.” No one wants to be stuck in a middling job with people you don’t know (or like) while having little chance at a promotion. Some of us become entrepreneurs because of this, whether that be legally or, in the case of Long’s story, illegally.

But the constant between the stories is that pride gets in the way. That, and it causes you to lose more than what you want to gain. Ridge eventually gets frustrated with losing because of this and decides to change how he moves. The song is great because it’s not preachy about pride, instead acting as a conversation between the past and the present. He acts to serve as a mentor to those in similar situations as his previous ones. Long won’t be stopped by ego or hubris, and that’s how we all should move.

Check the visuals out above and remember to support dope music in all its forms.