Meaning of Both Eyes Closed (From “Highest 2 Lowest”)

by A$AP Rocky · 2024

The song Both Eyes Closed by A$AP Rocky is about feeling lost and numb while navigating life’s struggles, pain, and loneliness, coping through substances, questioning purpose and justice, and searching for meaning or redemption amidst hardship and despair.

This song has been Shazamed over 31,922 times. As of this writing, Both Eyes Closed (From “Highest 2 Lowest”) is ranked 198

‘Both Eyes Closed (From “Highest 2 Lowest”)’ by A$AP Rocky is a song about feeling lost, facing hard times, and searching for answers in a world that doesn’t always make sense. We’ll break down the lyrics and see what makes this track so powerful. ⬇️

The atmosphere of the song is heavy and dreamlike, almost like wandering down a dark street with nothing but your thoughts for company. Rocky paints a world where danger, sadness, and numbness swirl together under neon lights.

The chorus repeats like a haunted mantra: “Goin’ one way down a wide road, both eyes closed.” We feel the tug between reckless abandon and desperate hope—moving forward blindly, hoping not to drown even as the tide pulls low. There’s something deeply human in that wish for escape, that urge to keep going even when your senses are overwhelmed and you can barely see what’s ahead.

In the verses, Rocky lays his soul bare, asking burning questions: “God, tell me why my kind gotta suffer, bro, why?” and “Mama, tell me why you slangin’ pies just to make it by?” These aren’t just rhetorical cries—they’re snapshots of generational pain, systemic struggle, and a relentless loneliness that seeps into everything, from family scars to the empty high of success (“Just bought a new whip, but what’s it worth? / Can’t help me escape this hell on earth”).

The story gets more tangled as he admits, “Move my seat back and take my hands off the wheel…Suicidal tendencies, I don’t know what’s real.” There’s an honesty here that’s unsettling—a mix of bravado and vulnerability, the sort of thing you confess at 3 a.m. when the party’s over and no one’s left but your own reflection. Despite the bravado, the Maybach and sold-out shows, Rocky circles back to the raw truth: “Gotta close my eyes, gotta go to God.”

At its core, this song is a prayer wrapped in pain—a confession that even at the height of fame, we can still be alone, lost, and desperately searching for meaning in the dark.

Writer(s) of Both Eyes Closed (From “Highest 2 Lowest”):