Richard Bachman

"Richard Bachman" is a song created by Mike Shinoda, released as one of four tracks on his Ziggurats (stylized as ZIGGURATS) "generative mixtape" on December 2021.

Background

After Mike's verse on this song, there is crowd noise featured on the track, similar to "The Battle" by Fort Minor.

Richard Bachman is a pen name of American horror fiction author Stephen King.

The main version of "Richard Bachman" samples at least one known Mike Twitch jam:

"Trail Mix" from July 30-31, 2020 (titled "7.31 Bhangra Zeppelin Boom Bap 2" by Mike). That day, Mike sampled the "Bhangra/Led Zeppelin/Boom Bap" jam from the previous day doing some scratches to create a new track in the style of the Beastie Boys. After he created a beat with the 808 sounds, he did a poll asking the fans if he had to continue with that style or not, and he did. The jam took different directions and Mike joked about the variety of sounds, so he decided to rename it "Trail Mix" as suggested in the chat by the fans, a nod to Mike often eating trail mix during the streams.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Richard Bachman	Ziggurats	1:23	2020-2021	December 3, 2021
Richard Bachman (Radio Edit)	Ziggurats (Radio Edit)	1:23	2020-2021	December 3, 2021	Censored.

Lyrics

Ah, look how they're acting
Might as well ask somebody to smack them
I don't need that I sit in the back and
Hide I'm a king like Richard Bachman
Me fold? Don't hold your breath
I can keep my mouth closed and they show respect
I'm the favorite of the fans like Boba Fett
Case closed, and it ain't even over yet
Cause yeah, I'm like rabies and no chain on a Rottweiler
You don't phase me there's no saving you not nada
I'm raw baby the Scorsese, the Godfather
The Chris Nolan, the Dark Knight of thе rock rhymers
I'm calling your bluff, I've had it, enough
You'rе talking but have to eventually be backing it up
Happily back in your trailer they'll be packing your stuff
You bastards are actually actors and we're wrapping you up

Let's go ya

Yeah
Ah, look how they're acting
Might as well ask somebody to smack them
I don't need that I sit in the back and
Hide I'm a king like Richard Bachman
Me fold? Don't hold your breath
I can keep my mouth closed and they show respect
I'm the favorite of the fans like Boba Fett
Case closed, and it ain't even over yet
Cause yeah, I'm like rabies and no chain on a Rottweiler
You don't phase me there's no saving you not nada
I'm raw baby the Scorsese, the Godfather
The Chris Nolan, the Dark Knight of the rock rhymers
I'm calling your bluff, I've had it, enough
You'r? talking but have to eventually be backing it up
Happily back in your trailer they'll be packing your stuff
You **** are actually actors and we're wrapping you up, yeah

Lyrical Annotations

Mike annotated the song on Genius on the evening of December 3, 2021. Mike's quotes are italicized, while others are links or descriptions.

"Hide I'm a king like Richard Bachman" - "King = Richard Bachman’s pseudonym. Remember this reference. Will come back in the next song."

"favorite of the fans like Boba Fett" - The Star Wars icon. "(ready for a whole bunch of favorite film references in this verse?)"

"not nada" - Spanish pronoun "nada"

"Scorsese, the Godfather" - Mafia Culture's Influence on Rap Music

"Dark Knight" - Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight

"in your trailer" - "double meaning" for movie trailers and an actual trailer to live inwra

"wrapping you up" - "(filmmaking)"