It was 1998. The radio was a chaotic mess of bubblegum pop and fading grunge. Then, out of nowhere, came this weird, acoustic guitar riff paired with a hip-hop beat and a voice that sounded like it had been cured in a smokehouse. Erik Schrody—the guy you probably knew better as the front man for House of Pain—had ditched the "Jump Around" energy for something darker.
Honestly, nobody expected Everlast what it's like to become a definitive anthem of the decade. It shouldn't have worked. A white rapper from a hardcore Irish-inflected group singing the blues?
Yet, it hit number one on both the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. It crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 13. You couldn't pump gas or buy groceries without hearing about "Mary" or the man at the liquor store.
The Stories Behind the Lyrics
The track is basically a triptych of American misery. It’s not subtle, but it’s brutally honest. You've got three distinct characters, each facing a different brand of societal judgment.
First, there’s the homeless man. He’s outside a liquor store, begging for change, his hair "full of mange." The response he gets? "Get a job, you f***in' slob." It’s a gut-punch of a line because it captures that specific brand of callousness we see every day on city street corners. Everlast is pointing out that we see these people, but we don't see them.
Then we meet Mary. Her story is about a woman abandoned by her boyfriend after getting pregnant. She heads to a clinic and is met by protesters calling her a killer, a sinner, and a whore. In the late 90s, putting a narrative about abortion into a hit rock song was a massive risk. It’s still a lightning-rod topic today, which is why the song hasn't aged a day in terms of its cultural weight.
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Lastly, there’s the drug dealer, Tom. He gets shot in front of his family. It’s a grim look at the cycle of violence. Everlast isn't necessarily glorifying these people; he's asking for empathy. He’s saying, "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes."
Why the Genre-Bending Mattered
Before this, music was pretty segregated. You were either a "rock kid" or a "hip-hop kid." Everlast bridged that gap with Whitey Ford Sings the Blues.
He used a rhythmic, finger-picking style on the acoustic guitar that felt like old-school Delta blues. But the drum programming was pure hip-hop. This "hick-hop" or "blues-rap" style paved the way for artists like Kid Rock, but Everlast did it with a lot more soul and a lot less ego.
Interestingly, the song was born out of a literal life-or-death moment. Around the time he was making the album, Everlast suffered a massive cardiac arrest. He had a prosthetic heart valve fitted. You can hear that mortality in his voice. It's not just a performance; it’s a guy who realized he almost lost everything.
The Music Video's Silent Suffering
Directed by Frank Sacramento, the video is haunting. It uses water as a central metaphor. You see the characters—the homeless man, Mary, the grieving family—underwater. They are literally drowning in their circumstances.
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Meanwhile, Everlast is singing in a room that slowly fills with water. It’s a visual representation of the "silent struggle." People are dying in plain sight, but the world keeps spinning. The video ends with a shot of an idyllic family eating dinner behind a glass window, completely oblivious to the suffering just inches away.
A Dark Irony in 2015
The song’s legacy took a tragic and bizarre turn years later. In April 2015, a dashcam recorded the killing of Walter Scott by a police officer in South Carolina. In the background of that horrific video, you can hear "What It's Like" playing on the car radio.
Everlast himself called it "ironic" and "f***ed up." A song dedicated to empathy and seeing the human being behind the struggle became the soundtrack to a moment where empathy was completely absent. It’s a heavy piece of trivia that cements the song's place in the American social fabric.
What People Often Get Wrong
A lot of people think this was a band. It wasn't. It was just Erik Schrody. After House of Pain broke up in 1996, he went solo and reinvented himself.
Others think the song is purely political. It’s actually more spiritual. Everlast had recently converted to Islam around that time, and the themes of non-judgment and human dignity are central to his lyrics. He wasn't trying to change laws; he was trying to change how you look at the person standing on the corner.
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Practical Takeaways from the Song's Message
If you’re looking to apply the "What It's Like" philosophy to your own life, start with these shifts in perspective:
- Practice Active Empathy: Next time you find yourself judging someone's "bad" life choices, stop. Remind yourself that you don't have the full map of their history.
- Listen to the "Outliers": The song succeeded because it blended genres that didn't belong together. In your own creative or professional life, look for the "hick-hop" combinations—the things that shouldn't work but do.
- Acknowledge Your Own Fragility: Everlast wrote this after a heart attack. Sometimes a brush with the end is what it takes to start being real. Don't wait for a crisis to find your authentic voice.
The song holds a mirror up to society. It’s uncomfortable, it’s gritty, and it’s unapologetic. That’s exactly why it stayed on the charts for nearly a year. It reminded us that every "sinner" or "slob" has a story that would break your heart if you actually took the time to listen.
Next Steps for You
Listen to the original 5-minute album version of the track rather than the radio edit. Pay close attention to the bridge where he says, "I've seen the good side of bad and the down side of up." That nuance is where the real wisdom lives. You might also want to check out his collaboration with Carlos Santana on "Put Your Lights On" to see how he carried this soulful, spiritual energy into his later work.