I've always considered this song one of my favorites because of the way it sounds and how that clashes with its meaning (which is not saying much cuz a lot of MSI songs do this lmao).
It doesn't commit to one emotion. It's simultaneously arrogant and self-hating, sexual and self-destructive, serious and playing around. It's also non-linear, obviously, because of all the repetition, and it's hard to even know what's happening.
I'd say this song focuses more in explaining a particular feeling, vibe or state, but if I had to extract a story I'd say it's about a guy with an unstable sense of self who constantly swings between feeling special and feeling completely worthless.
Sex is one of the few things that gives him a sense of purpose or value. Through sex, he can temporarily feel powerful, desirable, and important. But once the excitement fades, his intrusive thoughts return, though he exagerates these and turns them into a performance as a way to hide their seriousness in plain sight.
At the same time, there's some gender fuckery (because of course there is some gender fuckery in a MSI song lol), but I wanna explain that in more detail later.
I'll proceed to analyse some of the lines that support this narrative:
So Genius let me know the title of the song could possibly be a reference to the James Bond film Goldeneye, which had been released five years prior to the song (and it wouldn't be that strange, since Planet of the Apes is also a movie reference). To which point this movie is relevant to the meaning of the song I don't know because I haven't watched it lmao, but knowing MSI it probably doesn't have that big of an impact idk I also haven't watched Planet of the Apes (1968) so idk how much that one impacts the song.
In any case, changing Goldeneye to Golden I is a deliberate choice. He choses to describe himself as golden, valuable, special, perfect, unique, etc. He's placing himself at the center of everything.
And this is important because, even at the center of everything, he doesn't feel like any of those "golden" descriptors are true for him. The song immediately tears the divine image apart by saying:
"[...] it don't mean nothing / 'cause I ain't shit".
"And that's okay 'cause / I brought the rope, so you can watch me hang myself."
The tone of the song lets the listener know this is said with bitterness and sarcasm, because MC doesn't actually want to kill himself.
"So you can watch me" is key to understand his feelings aren't completely genuine and he's just looking for attention. But it also carries the implication that he thinks others have already regarded him as worthless, and that they'd enjoy his suffering, so he "might as well do it".
"Burning deep inside of you" has obvious erotic implications. And, rather than emotional intimacy, the image feels crude and almost invasive. Sex becomes another mean through which he leaves his (exaggerated to the point of being cartoonish) mark on others.
It's another tool to feel important, even if just momentarily. MC becomes a hypersexual animal ("cock") looking for prey "in a jungle" (which could mean a place where there's many people... with their respective bushes... you get the joke lol (I actually don't know if this is the exact joke, probably not, but it's MY interpretention of the song and if you don't like it GET OUT /j)).
MC clearly struggles with experimenting gender in a way that's truly his. Of course, he doesn't see himself as the hypermasculine "normal" man, but his also mid performance, with many eyes watching him at all times, so he doesn't have time to unpack all of that. Instead, he experiments roles and identities exclusively through sex. Because, if it's kink, it's another layer of not-him, a joke, something he only and exclusively did to please others and not because he wanted to feel feminine pfft that'd be craazzyy.
I be a good girl but I make a terrible boy
I be a good boy but I make a terrible girl
I be a good boy, good girl
Terrible girl, terrible girl, terrible girl
He can be a "good boy." He can be a "good girl." He can receive approval and affection. But immediately afterwards he calls himself terrible. No matter which role he's playing, he still thinks he's failing. But being a terrible girl is an especially sensitive topic for MC, as that's the one that keeps repeating.
Of fucking course I am biased and chose to think this is the MC telling us they're transfem (either an egg or just super repressed).
But with the context of the song it may just be them trying to come to terms with the fact they're a feminine fag, since this is something Jimmy does in other songs (making gender and sexuality interchangeable, connected, fucking [around with] both).
Either way, MC thinks these negative feelings are validated by society. They know society would be even more harsh to them if they were a woman or seen as a woman. Maybe, just maybe, the reason why he got so far, so much attention in the industry in the first place, was because of his cis male status. And he cannot handle losing those last bits of support.
They'd rather it all started-
MC started talking about passion, desire, penetration, leaving part of themselves inside someone else. But it's repeated over and over again. It becomes compulsive, consuming. The fire that warmed them is now eating them alive.
It's become a form of self-destruction.
And they're STILL performing in the background.
MC has reached the point where they doesn't really care how people look at them anymore. They just wants to be seen. If they desire MC, that's fine. If they watch them destroy themselves, that's fine too.
At the beginning, the lyrics go:
I be that golden I
Now I rock steady but it don't mean nothing 'cause
[Chorus]
I be the golden I
And now I rock steady cause I don't know nothing but
[Chorus]
I don't have much to say about these lines. Earlier, MC dismissed everything around them as empty. By the end, even their own certainty has collapsed. I think this is very significant, but I'm struggling a bit to explain why, so if you have a more in-depth interpretation please share it, I'd love to read it !!
