“College Girls” by NLE Choppa consumes itself heavily with themes focused on youth, freedom, escapism, ambition, and the snaking intersections between these notions.
From the outset, it’s clear that this song stands as an exploration of the bifurcated existence of young women in collegiate settings. The lyrics depict the college girl as a character suffering between two contrasting worlds: the demanding world of academia and the liberating world of youthful fun and social interactions. The repeated assertion “college girls have more fun” could be interpreted as NLE Choppa’s romanticized view of this demographic’s freedom and spontaneous behavior.
From a more critical perspective, the song seems to scrutinize the capitalist system, particularly its impact on education. One recurring theme is the implicit critique of the high cost of education, suggesting that despite college girls having ‘fun’, there’s also an underlying stress associated with finances. The protagonist offers to take care of their tuition fees, extending an invitation to such girls to escape from their educational constraints and daily responsibilities.
The song’s narrative presents NLE Choppa in the role of a successful artist who uses his resources to help college girls expunge financial constraints. His interactions with the girls are influenced not just by a desire for companionship but also by an understanding of their so-called ‘fun’ that sometimes stems from an urgency to escape academic stress and financial burdens.
Additionally, the song incorporates themes of self-reflective introspection, existential dread, and the constant pursuit of identity (“That’s when we forget just who we are…That’s when you remember who you are”). The lyrics express a universal human sentiment that, despite the carefree and fun-loving facade, one’s sense of identity is not fixed but constantly being forged and reevaluated in the crucible of lived experiences.
Emotionally, the song underscores feelings of youthful joy, debauchery, impudence, and the inherent rebellion that comes with youth’s resistance to burdensome expectations. Nonetheless, it doesn’t shy away from stating the darker side of this euphoria – how it possibly might be a form of escape, a way to momentarily forget about looming financial and academic pressures.
In essence, “College Girls” attempts to construct a dialectic between the rapper’s exterior vision of ‘fun’ and the internal struggles that make this ‘fun’ a necessity rather than a mere choice. It ends up using the veil of party-filled college life to cast a critical eye on socioeconomic structures, educational demands, and the complex negotiations between identity, aspiration, and reality.