I'd encourage you to listen to the song and read through the lyrics before diving into the post.

Micah: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
Lauren: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
Both: You could be my boo thang
boo thang
Micah: Girl
Lauren: Boy
Both: Baby maybe we could try a new thang

Micah: I want a woke love
Lauren: A partner in hope love
Micah: A make ya feel rich when ya flat broke love
Lauren: A generous rather give than accept love
Micah: We livin’ on less even if we come up
Lauren: I want a bold love
Micah: A never conform love
Lauren: A white picket fence is never the goal love
Micah: A push ya to ya limits and helping ya grow love
Lauren: A do what we thought was impossible befo’ love
Micah: I want a real love
Lauren: A say how you feel love
Micah: Honest and patient no manipulation here love
Lauren: This ain’t a game love
Micah: No shifting the blame love
Both: I’m sorry please forgive me when I cause you pain love
Lauren: I want a young love
Micah: A silly and dumb love
Lauren: A never get too grown to have us some fun love
Both: A you get on my nerves
Micah: But you still the one love
Lauren: Never my fate
Micah: Choose you every single day love

Lauren: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
Micah: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang

Micah:
Ain’t nobody walkin’ round with half of a heart
If you ain’t got you a partner better love who you are
Steady mopin’ feelin’ lonely thinkin’ love is the fix
Guarantee you little homie you ain’t ready for it
If you sad independent, you gone be sad hitched
How you finna be in love if you don’t got it to give?
Fall in love with a deli
Fall in love with a park
Fall in love with a novel
Music poetry art
Fall in love with the God
Who created it all
So if you ever fall in love
You can share who you are
You’ll never find your other half in someone else’s arms
Completed in Jesus since I put my faith in the Lord
Romance is nice but life is much more
Single, married divorced keep loving and march forth
Romance is nice but life is much more
Single married divorced, keep lovin… keep livin’

Both: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
You could be my boo thang
boo thang
Micah: Girl
Lauren: Boy
Both: Baby maybe we could try a new thang

Micah:
If I ever find love
I been lettin’ it burn
So I ain’t no Don Juan but I’m eager to learn
Will you please let me know how I can please you
If at first we don’t succeed we can re-do
Baby you intellectual
I’m a sapiosexual
Eat you up like a vegetable ‘cause you healthy for me
This is pure matrimony
Even our nasty is holy
So ain’t no shame in the mornin’
You want two waffles or three?
Yo it’s lovely to dream
But if it never come true
Yeah I’ll be disappointed but I got livin’ to do
I got a bachelor savior who came to show me the way
Turn that water into wine
Lovin’ life every day

Micah: I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly girl
I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly girl
I been watchin’
I been scopin’
I been prayin’
I been hopin’
that one day
Mmm mmm mmm maybe you be my girl

Lauren: I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly guy
I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly guy
I been watchin’
I been scopin’
I been prayin’
I been hopin’
that one day
Mmm mmm mmm maybe you be my guy

Both: But If you ain’t about it

Ima be okay
Ima be okay

Micah: ‘Cause I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game

Lauren: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game

Micah: Romance
I don’t need it but I want it
Romance
I don’t need it but I want it
But if it never come my way

Lauren: Ima be okay
Ima be okay
Ima be okay

10 - Boo Thang (FT Lauren Nicole)

“I don’t need it but I want it.” That is my posture towards romance. It is a significant shift from my younger thinking. Humans are relational beings, we need community to be healthy. Romance however is not a need, it’s a desire. When I was younger I felt like it was a need, a human right. I thought, simply due to the fact that I was born, God, fate, or the universe owed me a romantic partner. This type of thinking is destructive and leads to perpetual discontent. A few years back, I had an incredible realization... I was happy! I felt complete and content as a non married person. As I’m writing this, I’m not even in a dating relationship. “I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang” and I’m loving it. Realizing I was content in life even when I was not in a relationship helped me shift my thinking about relationships. I no longer expect someone else to make me feel complete. My sense of fulfilment is a result of living a courageous life of faith, hope, love, and creativity. Romance has shifted from something I felt I needed to something I want. I would be glad to share my life and my love with someone else.

Micah: I want a woke love
Lauren: A partner in hope love

Originally this song was titled “Woke Love”. The first verse in particular is heavy on the theme of woke love. A “woke” person is an individual who is aware, concerned and involved in issues related to social justice. When it comes to romance, I do not want an isolating selfish romance that is only about the two of us. As the opening line of verse one explains, “I want a woke love, a partner in hope love.” I desire a partner who cares about justice. I’d like to stand side by side with my partner as we use our gifts and resources to bring hope to the most vulnerable in the world.

Micah: A make ya feel rich when ya flat broke love
Lauren: A generous rather give than accept love
Micah: We livin’ on less even if we come up

I also desire a partner who is not attached to money or material possessions. I hope the strength of our bond creates a feeling of great blessing no matter how tight things are financially. I want a partner who believes and practices the principle of Jesus, “in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35). Even if my partner and I generate a handsome income, I desire someone who does not want to live on the edge of our means, but someone willing to live on significantly less than our means in order to make room for radical generosity.

Lauren: I want a bold love
Micah: A never conform love
Lauren: A white picket fence is never the goal love
Micah: A push ya to ya limits and helping ya grow love
Lauren: A do what we thought was impossible befo’ love

I desire a relationship that does not bow to social expectations. I do not believe a healthy relationship makes you feel butterflies and comfort all the time. When someone really loves you, they challenge you and motivate you to grow. They push you out of your comfort zone and help you reach your full potential. I do not want to be with anyone who aims for the standard american dream of suburban living in a prosperous and safe community. I’ve seen too many passionate people drown their fire in a pool of comfort.

Micah: I want a real love
Lauren: A say how you feel love
Micah: Honest and patient no manipulation here love
Lauren: This ain’t a game love
Micah: No shifting the blame love
Both: I’m sorry please forgive me when I cause you pain love

So many relationships end due to poor communication. I desire a partner that is willing to be direct and vulnerable. So often, due to fear, or an attempt to have an upper hand, people are not honest about their experiences and emotions in a relationship. People often manipulate each other through passive aggressive behavior, sarcasm, deceit etc. I desire a relationship in which there is open and honest communication along with humility. I hope my partner and I will both have the humility and courage to own up to our mistakes and forgive each other instead of trying to shift the blame.

Lauren: I want a young love
Micah: A silly and dumb love
Lauren: A never get too grown to have us some fun love
Both: A you get on my nerves
Micah: But you still the one love

There is something inherently child-like about romance. When people are in love, the most eloquent person can be at a loss for words. The most courageous person can feel nervous with a stomach full of butterflies. The most mature adults can transform into giggly children, addicted to tickle-wars and food fights. The most patient person can be annoyed by their partner’s silliness. As a poet and hopeful romantic, I celebrate the child-like aspects of romance. If I ever get married, I hope my partner and I enjoy child-like fun and innocence in each other’s love.

Lauren: Never my fate
Micah: Choose you every single day love

I do not believe there is one person specifically crafted by God for me. In fact, that seems to take away the romance. For me, the most romantic element of love is choice. Out of the 7 billion humans on planet earth, you and your partner choose each other, daily. What a gift. I want my partner to know that I was not drawn to them by fate. I was not powerless against some irresistible gravitational pull, but rather each day I wake up, I choose them, and I hope they do the same for me.

Lauren: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
Micah: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang

Micah:
Ain’t nobody walkin’ round with half of a heart
If you ain’t got you a partner better love who you are
Steady mopin’ feelin’ lonely thinkin’ love is the fix
Guarantee you little homie you ain’t ready for it
If you sad independent, you gone be sad hitched
How you finna be in love if you don’t got it to give?
Fall in love with a deli
Fall in love with a park
Fall in love with a novel
Music poetry art
Fall in love with the God
Who created it all
So if you ever fall in love
You can share who you are
You’ll never find your other half in someone else’s arms
Completed in Jesus since I put my faith in the Lord

When a person falls in love, there is an American idiom that says they have “found their other half.” This saying suggests that a single person is not a complete person. It suggests that a single person is bound to be in a constant state of lack until they find another half-person, fall in love, and the two half-persons complete each other. Some find this idea to be romantic, or even an accurate description of the emotions they experienced before and after finding their partner. Even if this concept feels true in your experience, it is not true, it is never true. No one is half a human. As the first line of verse two states, “Ain’t nobody walkin’ round with half of a heart”. This idea often sets people up for disappointment. They spend their whole life longing for a partner, expecting the partner to fulfill them, only to find someone and realize their partner is also an imperfect being with quirks and bad habits and shortcomings. Being in a relationship is not a cure for chronic loneliness or any other sense of deep spiritual void. Living a life of faith, community, generosity, creativity, risk, inquisitiveness, physical and mental health maintenance, and platonic love, among other things, will not only create a sense of fulfillment in a single person, but if they ever do meet someone, it will make them a better partner. Instead of waiting for someone to give you all the love, community, and passion you desire, you will be able to share the love, community and passion you’re already living. You will be able to give, and enhance another person’s life instead of depending on them to fill what is empty in yours. As a person of Christian faith, I believe I am “completed in Jesus.” I believe that God has created and blessed me with everything I need to live a purposeful, beautiful life, with or without a romantic relationship.

Romance is nice but life is much more
Single, married divorced keep loving and march forth
Romance is nice but life is much more
Single married divorced, keep lovin… keep livin’

Both: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game
I don’t need it but I want it
If you bout it let me know
and baby maybe I could be your boo thang
You could be my boo thang
boo thang
Micah: Girl
Lauren: Boy
Both: Baby maybe we could try a new thang

Micah:
If I ever find love
I been lettin’ it burn
So I ain’t no Don Juan but I’m eager to learn
Will you please let me know how I can please you
If at first we don’t succeed we can re-do
Baby you intellectual
I’m a sapiosexual
Eat you up like a vegetable ‘cause you healthy for me
This is pure matrimony
Even our nasty is holy
So ain’t no shame in the mornin’
You want two waffles or three?

In verse three I express my desire to experience sexual intimacy with my future spouse. I am a 29 year old virgin. I am not embarrassed by my lack of experience, quite the opposite, the possibility of discovering more about my sexuality with someone I’m committed to for life is an exciting thing. I am excited that my partner and I can discover each other in an environment free of shame or fear of abandonment. If the day ever comes, “ I ain’t no Don Juan, but I’m eager to learn.” We can be as free and curious and quirky as we want in a marriage that has chosen to honor God. In this context, “even our nasty is holy”. This line is also a reference to a poem titled “What The Back Of His T-Shirt Should Have Said”, which can be found on my first spoken word poetry album “The Man Without A Name”.

Yo it’s lovely to dream
But if it never come true
Yeah I’ll be disappointed but I got livin’ to do
I got a bachelor savior who came to show me the way
Turn that water into wine
Lovin’ life every day

Though I know I do not need it, I do want romance. I do want to be married, and I will definitely be disappointed if I never have that experience. But I’ll also be disappointed if I never get to go to South America. No one can experience everything this life has to offer, but we must keep living. And we cannot consider ourselves at a disadvantage simply because others might have things we desire. As a person of Christian faith, it is particularly foolish to believe a single person is completed by romance. It makes no sense to believe you are bound to be deficient or unfulfilled until marriage considering that the Christian life is to be modeled after Jesus Christ. Jesus was not married and yet lived the most complete, fulfilling and purposeful life one could imagine. And he lived it up in his singleness. He did important worked but he also knew how to have a good time, so much so that he was accused of being a party animal who rolled with a questionable crew. “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’” (Luke 7:34)! Jesus indeed knew how to enjoy life. His first documented miracle was turning water into wine so a wedding reception could continue late into the night (John 2:1-11). He celebrated marriage for his friends while living a full and beautiful life of singleness.

Micah: I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly girl
I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly girl
I been watchin’
I been scopin’
I been prayin’
I been hopin’
that one day
Mmm mmm mmm maybe you be my girl

Lauren: I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly guy
I been
I been
I been thinkin’ that you fly guy
I been watchin’
I been scopin’
I been prayin’
I been hopin’
that one day
Mmm mmm mmm maybe you be my guy

Both: But If you ain’t about it

Ima be okay
Ima be okay

Micah: ‘Cause I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game

Lauren: I been livin’ I been doin’ my thang
I been livin’ I been killin’ this game

Micah: Romance
I don’t need it but I want it
Romance
I don’t need it but I want it
But if it never come my way

Lauren: Ima be okay
Ima be okay
Ima be okay

Grace and Peace,

Micah

10 - Boo Thang (FT Lauren Nicole)

Chris Cambell