"Man I Used to Be" is a song by Canadian alternative rapper

k-os Kevin Brereton (born February 20, 1972), better known by his stage name k-os (; "chaos"), is a Canadian alternative rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. His given name may also be cited as Kheaven, a spelling he later adopted. The alias "k ...

. It was released in January 2005 as the third single from his 2004 album ''

Joyful Rebellion ''Joyful Rebellion'' is the second album of alternative hip hop artist k-os. It was released 13 August 2004 in Canada by EMI and 21 September 2004 in the United States by Virgin Records. It debuted at number 7 on the Canadian Albums Chart, and we ...

''.

Content

The song tells the story of a man who has gone through rough times and wishes to be back the way he was originally. According to the ''Joyful Rebellion'' liner notes, the song is indeed about Michael Jackson in particular, as well as k-os himself (and people in general).

Music video

The video, directed by

Micah Meisner Micah Meisner is a former music video director who has won two Juno Awards on four nominations for his video work. Meisner and k-os were nominated for Video of the Year at the 2003 Juno Awards for "Superstarr Pt. Zero". Along with k-os and The Lov ...

, begins with breakdancers in the hallway of an apartment building and k-os is in his room packing to leave, taking a box of seemingly great importance. k-os hails a taxi outside of the

Hotel Waverly The Hotel Waverly was a four-storey low-rise hotel in downtown Toronto. Opened in 1900, the hotel was built for J.J. Powell. It was one of the oldest Toronto hotels in continuous operation. Location Hotel Waverly was at 484 Spadina Avenue on th ...

and two men fight a duel by dancing on the sidewalk. A bag man, pushing a cart with a neon light, sings the lyrics and k-os riding in the taxi, disappears by opening his box, which teleports him to the cockpit of a spacecraft in space. Footage of Maasai are seen on k-os's screen and the spacecraft enters warp drive.

Charts

References

2004 songs 2005 singles EMI Records singles K-os songs {{2000s-hiphop-song-stub