It’s about drive, it’s about power - Sophia Shao - Week #2

 The Rock. Dwayne the Rock Johnson. He’s a driven bodybuilder and actor who has found great success in life. In an iconic rap he wrote, he dropped these two bars: “It’s about drive, it’s about power, we stay hungry, we devour.”

The last two lines confused me for a long time. I never gave it some serious thought, but I just remember being very, very confused. How do you stay hungry and then devour?? That doesn’t make sense at all. It’s a contradiction! A paradox! Or even a juxtaposition! Was the Rock hungry when he wrote that line? That makes sense because I can’t think when I’m hungry. I love food; food is so good. 

Anyway, I had the pleasure of getting the quote explained to me a while back. I think it goes something along the lines of staying hungry to devour later. My initial reaction was “why? for what? just eat.” I soon realized, though, that he’s talking about discipline and restraint to better enjoy a reward. I thought it was a pretty good idea, I guess. Very fitting with my image of the Rock. 

Also, the first part of the quote is also quite philosophically intriguing. Is it really about drive and power? What is it? Is it life? Is life about drive and power only? I’d say that many would disagree with that claim; a life only about trying hard sounds really boring and dull. I guess drive and power are both important for finding success. Oh well. I'll put in the work and put in the hours for my POAS essay now. Good luck to you guys!



Comments

  1. Tegbir KaurFebruary 3, 2025 at 3:56 PM

    Hi, Sophia! It was nice to read another one of your works; I really enjoy your style which is very humorous! I have heard the rap many times before and have never really noticed the obvious contradiction that you mentioned, but when you explained your thought purpose I understood exactly what you meant. I agree that sometimes good things come to those who wait, and patience and restraint is necessary to create a more disciplined lifestyle. While it is important to enjoy each second of life individually, it is still necessary to think about the future. If that means more discipline for a reward later on, people must evaluate what they are more willing to dedicate time to: the present or the future. Personally, I believe both are incredibly important to a healthy and balanced life. Yes, it is necessary to work hard in school and have a plan for your livelihood in the future, but as you mentioned, a life solely about “drive and power” seems unhealthy because it is always about moving forward rather than enjoying the present moment. This is a crucial balance that I think teenage years help us work out because school gets more difficult and we must learn to balance work with life, especially so that they do not become synonymous with each other as we move into adulthood. I enjoyed your conclusion because I appreciated how you connected it back to the lyrics! Thanks for sharing and making me laugh! :)

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  2. Aditya DasFebruary 3, 2025 at 10:30 PM

    Hi, Sophia. I have been a huge fan of the rock for a long time now. My fandom predates his movie making days going as far back as the time when he was a WWE wrestler. I have watched many of his movies beginning from his appearance in the Fast and Furious franchise, which includes his Jumanji series as well. The moment I read the title of your blog I had to read it. I really liked how you were open to your true voice and self in your blog, while also analyzing the crux behind his rhetoric in his meme worthy song, Face off. I like how you threw away all the formal writing conventions in favor of freedom and will to write as it flows in your thoughts. Your narrative was a refreshing one that I believe was a great break from all the mundane structured monotony of writing a rubric based essay or assignment. I liked how you questioned the various intentions that the rock might have had during the writing of the song and then decided to infer possible reasons behind it, as a result explaining your thought process. Finally you mentioned the answer and wrote more about what it meant to you and connected to power. Overall a great piece of writing.

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  3. Anushree NavaneethakrishnanFebruary 5, 2025 at 7:21 PM

    As soon as I read the title of this blog, there was this little voice in my head that was playing the audio, based on your title, that reigned TikTok during finals week. The humorous nature of your blogs has always been such a pleasure to read, setting you apart from the analytical tone of many, which gets a bit tiring after a point. As much as I have heard this phrase all over conversations, I have never taken time out of my day to really think about the message it is trying to convey, especially the contradiction between being hungry and then devouring. But your explanation behind it made so much sense. It is this kind of intrinsic motivation: when you are so hungry, you start to dream and understand the value of food and when you finally receive it you treat it as if it is a God-given gift. That is the mindset behind many of the work ethics today. Working with discipline and patiently nurturing all the effort and time you put into anything you do will reward you with an award that gives you a sense of triumph, which you cannot experience anywhere else. The blog was also such a nice reminder of balancing school and life, because a schedule based on drive and power will lead to an unhealthy lifestyle that forgets about the smaller pleasures of life.

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM

    Hi Sophia! I really liked the humorous tone of your piece, it was a breath of fresh air in the wake of all the serious blog posts. Unlike you, I never quite thought about the lines from the Rock, although I have heard them. For the most part, I only thought of him in the context of the "bing qi ling" meme. Your analysis of the line was very insightful. Psychologically, it is more rewarding to delay rewards, and doing so allows you to savor in the moment. In our day and age where everyone is looking for instant gratification, I find that this idea holds even more ground. Your post is a great mix of funny and thoughtful, I really enjoyed reading it!

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  5. Yash SinhaFebruary 5, 2025 at 10:05 PM

    Hi Sophia! I saw the title of your blog and the cover image that you used and just had to see what it was about. I love the humorous nature of this post and the way you explained the importance of the lyrics in Dwayne Johnson’s song. When this song was trending, I would hear these lines in particular, everywhere but I never took the time to understand what it means. I always joked about these words since I too did not understand what it could possibly mean. This blog post helped me understand what Johnson meant when writing the song and these specific words. I really like the way you incorporated humor into a story that happened in your life in which you discovered the meaning of Dwayne Johnson’s words. Overall, this is a great blog, thank you very much for sharing it.

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