Whatcha gonna do? rap is not afraid of you
So the number 1 single in the UK this week is "Nasty Girl" by the Notorious B.I.G. and featuring such luminaries as P.Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge and Avery Storm.
I know I shouldn't give a shit about this, but I really do. I wish that I could just shrug my shoulders, admire the glossy production values and tap my foot to the catchy tune, but I can't.
This is toss and it pisses me off.
Let's have a look at some of the lyrics:
---
I go, on and on and on and
Don't take them to the crib unless they bon'in
[I think this is some sort of reference to his own sexual prowess and longevity]
Easy, call em on the phone and
platinum Chanel cologne and
I stay, dressed, to impress
Spark these bitches interest
[Women are only interested in bling. Wear some bling and they'll forget you are the same size as a beached whale and will be magnetically drawn to them... or perhaps if they have a magnet on them, you're the one who is drawn to them]
Sex is all I expect
[expect away fatboy]
If they watch TV in the Lex, they know
They know, quarter past fo'
Left the club tipsy, say no mo'
Except how I'm gettin home, tomorrow
Caesar drop you off when he see his P.O.(hey)
[sorry - no idea]
Back of my mind, I hope she swallow
Man She spilt a drink on my cream wallows
[dreaming again fatboy - she'll never find it]
Reach the gate, hungry just ate
[hungry and you just ate? a tapeworm?]
Riffin, she got to be to work by eight
This must mean she ain't tryin to wait
[perhaps she's already working?]
Conversate, sex on the first date I state "You know what you do to me"
She starts off, "Well I don't usually"
[I don't blame her. Would you?]
Then I, whip it out, rubber no doubt
[well, I suppose we should give the guy some credit for that]
Step out, show me what you all about
Fingers in your mouth, open up your blouse
Pull your G-string down South, aoowww
[ah, because that's what all women wear, isn't it?]
Threw that back out, in the parking lot
By a Cherokee and a green drop-top
[presumably the cars are filled with bling and have that ridiculous suspension that bounces them up and down, right?]
And I don't stop, until I squirt
Jeans skirt butt-naked it all work
[it's a form of urban poetry, I think]
Gotta love ma little nasty girl
U know I love ma little nasty girl
I love ma little nasty girl
All the ladies if u hear me
Grab Ur titties for B.I.G
I love ma little nasty girl
All ma women from around the world
I love ma little nasty girl
All the ladies if u hear me
Grab Ur titties for B.I.G
[nice - but wait! here come P.Diddy to rescue us from this sexist tripe]
I need u to dance
I need u to strip
I need u to shake Ur little ass n hips
I need u to grind like Ur working for tips
[ah. My mistake.]
N give me what I need while we listen to prince
[cos prince is sexy music, innit?]
Coz miss U ain't seen the world yet
Rocked la pearl yet
Rocked them pearl sets
Flew in em pearl jets (ooooohhhhh)
[translates as "I may be an odious, tasteless little shit, but I do have money"]
In a style make a low profile girl smile
Throw a chick back like a blue print trial
Now u n me can drink some Hennessy
[right. cos that's classy, yeah?]
Then we get it on
Mad women wantin to bone Sean Combs
[This can't be true? Isn't this the same guy who used to be the butler in The Fresh Prince?]
Sippin on Patron
[cos that's expensive too, innit?]
Speeding we be leanin
Got em feeling
N when I give it to u throw it right back (right back)
Tell me Diddy 'Yeah I like it like that' (like that)
Lift your shirt
U know how I flirt
Heels and skirt
Let's take it off
Now lets work (lets work)
[what a horrible mental image, and would you really be able to call him "Diddy" in bed without cracking up?]
Gotta love ma little nasty girl
U know I love ma little nasty girl
I love ma little nasty girl
All the ladies if u hear me
Grab Ur titties for B.I.G
I love ma little nasty girl
All ma women from around the world
I love ma little nasty girl
All the ladies if u hear me
Grab Ur titties for B.I.G
Uh with JE and B.I.G (what, what)
Grab the keys from Diddy (Uh, uh)
The women look-in ... no stress
Meet us upstairs in Ur best .....Yes
Dressed to impress
Spark these bitches interest
Jazze on the beat so sweet
Ladies know u feel me
Grab Ur titties for the B.I.G
[blah blah blah - let's see if Nelly can raise the tone at all]
Ok ma what's Ur preference
Nice and slow
Or fast and breathless
Pull Ur hair girl, bite Ur necklace
Let me show u what a nigger from Lou blessed with
[that's a 'no' then?]
Hey.... I'm exprained to leave
When I'm done I flip the mattress
Change the sheet (Gotta change them)
I'm like a radical one
I vibrate a little more than Ur mechanical one
[Parkinsons?]
(From Ur titties to you thong)
Either way mama I'm a make u do it or do it
(Girl I'm about to make u come)
Guaranteed when Ur fuckin with me
(Coz I go on and on and on...on and on and on....on and on and)
Ladies if u feel me
Grab them Thangs fo Biggie
[it's good this, isn't it?]
Gotta love ma little nasty girl
U know I love ma little nasty girl
I love ma little nasty girl (u Gotta love it baby)
All the ladies if u hear me
Grab ur titties for B.I.G
I love ma little nasty girl
All ma women from around the world
I love ma little nasty girl
All the ladies if u hear me
Grab ur titties for B.I.G
[I wonder if there's anything on the telly]
Ladies and Gentlemen you are now tuning into the very best
Diddy
Jazze Phizzle
Nelly now
Jagged edge (u no that u looovvveee)
The Notorious (notorious)
B. I. G
The Biggie duets
Notorious
Bad boys
Show enough (Show enough)
Notorious
Notorious
Ladies and gentlemen
Let's go [X4]
Hey hey hey... hey
[and that's it... thank Christ... of course you know exactly what the video is going to be like, don't you?]
---
Am I the only person in the world who finds this to tasteless, offensive shite? Why do so many rappers have to fall into such sexist doggerel and empty braggadocio about how much money they have, how good they are in bed and how the 'bitches' all love them?
Music doesn't have to be meaningful, but does it have to be quite so offensive?
Or should I just get over it?
---
Chapter 3 of my Nano novel is up, by the way.
---
I need pictures of the insides of your fridges please --- send your photos to the email address in my profile.
---
That's it.
posted by swisslet @ 20:45
17 Comments:
At 10:13 pm,
bytheseashore said…
It's the utter lack of anything new in such a well-established genre that I find depressing. Must dig the Credit To The Nation CDs out. I'm trying to find a photography course in Nottingham so a picture of my fridge is as good a place as any to start I suppose.
At 10:22 pm,
Aravis said…
Rough translation of the verse you had no idea on:
If they watched tv in the Lexus
They know that at quarter past four
left the bar drunk. Say no more
Except how he's going to get home tomorrow (meaning he assumes he's spending the night tonight). Caesar will drop you off on the way to see his parole officer (P.O.).
This sort of music leaves me cold and vaguely nauseous...
At 5:15 am,
Michael said…
I grew up listening to rap and hip hop. This song is an amazing example of why I don't listen to most of what the genre puts out nowadays.
I can't get into a song that is about "bitches and bling." There is no emotion to it, and I can't relate.
Artists and groups like Eminem, Tupac, Snoop, A Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Outkast didn't write the same tired lines about "bitches and bling" in every song. (not to say it was completely absent either.)
One example of that group was 2pac. Yeah, he did write songs about the aforementioned "b&b" (how do you want it), he also wrote songs about teen pregnancy (brenda's got a baby), friends and friendship changing (I ain't mad at ya), rape (baby don't cry [keep ya head up part II])...
Ack... long rant. You know me and music though. I go off on my tangents. The junk that mainstream radio and tv pushes at us is just disgusting. For that, I blame MTV. Without that invention, we'd be hearing much better music nowadays.
At 6:37 am,
Mark said…
it must just me who thinks it's necrophilac to hear a dead man talk about how he's going fuck to some imaginary woman. there's a reason it took about ten years to come out after he died... it's shit.
maybe someone should send these lyrics to Hannah Pool as an example of why white music isn't so bad after all. I should write some indie white boy parody of it.
At 6:55 am,
Flash said…
God work matey, that made me giggle a bit!
The worry for me isn't so much that this tripe gets made, it's that millions of people spend their hard earned cash on it. What's that all about? Is the world full of empty headed people?
At 2:39 pm,
Alecya G said…
I honestly don't see what the problem is. I mean, there's nothing wrong with a guy talking about T&A is there? Every man does.
This is modern poetry. Yearrs from now people will be studying this and learning about our generation. So he's fat? So he has less than "proper" language skills. Maybe he isn't a gentleman. Ladies are interested in more than that.
Like cars and money and how much sh*t he can buy them. And whether or not they can make it into his next music video.
Had you going for a second, didn't I?
I agree its disgusting, but I would like to set the record strait. As a resident of Nelly's home state, and having personal experience in this area, I can confirm that anyone [including n*ggas] "from Lou" are not "blessed" with anything out of the ordinary. At all.
You're a connoisseur ST. thanks for the laugh.
At 4:56 pm,
Pynchon said…
How much do singles have to sell these days to get to Number 1? Hardly any.
At 5:04 pm,
Anonymous said…
You're thinking of titling your NaNo book "Narcissist?" Ha. I have to go back and read chpt. 1 before I can say more. As for the music issue, it makes for okay atmospheric music in a bar or a club, but if I listen to the words, you're right... I want to puke. I don't watch MTV and rarely listen to the radio, so this shit rarely impacts my life...
:)
H
At 5:11 pm,
Alecya G said…
Hyde- I think he is joking, meaning, he keeps trying to get us over to RMA to read it. [Which I love you for, BTW, ST]
At 5:31 pm,
HistoryGeek said…
I grew up with rap and hip hop, too, but this is shite of the first order. Personally, I like the group Flypside (that I keep mentioning) which has a political bent and seems to blend the genres. It's not pure hip hop, but it has strong themes of it.
At 6:34 pm,
Ali said…
I'll show them what a f'ing nasty girl is. I'll rip their nuts off and feed them to them.
I bet Chuck D cries at night.
At 8:35 pm,
Mark said…
Rap is not afraid of you.
I like Cypress Hill, PE, GLC and the Beastie Boys. This is just well, the work of an idiotic urban Barry White zombie.
At 10:30 pm,
Mark said…
it's certainly not a race issue, and I would be scathing about the music irrespective of teh colour of the person who amde it, otherwise I'd be Hannah Pool.
At 11:24 pm,
swisslet said…
I take the point foxy, but mainly I was just taking the piss out of this song in particular, not the genre in general. I'm sure you noted the choice of lyric. You are quite right about Keane, of course, and there are heaps of brilliant rap acts. I just happen to think that the P.Diddy variety is bollocks. I know I'm not from that culture, but then again, who are the main buyers of rap music? That's right, middle-class white kids.
A more interesting point, perhaps, as Alecya mentioned to me today, is why it's somehow different when a female rapper like L'il Kim goes off in a similar vein.
ST
At 9:19 am,
LB said…
I don't like any of this type of music much, but I have to say I thought it was an OK record, as they go.
I like the bit at the beginning where they yell their names. There's one called Shizzle Frizzle or Jagged Drizzle or Billy Whizzle or something. Hysterical.
At 4:36 pm,
Alecya G said…
Swiss, I am glad you bring that up, because I was reading Foxy's post and I will be happy to elaborate on the small conversation we did have.
First, I will say, I like rap. I do. I am not mocking it for the sake of mocking it. I even like some of the "bitches and glocks" rappers, as you put it, Foxy. among rappers I do like fall artists [yes, I call them that] like Eminem, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliot, and even Snoop Dog [or whatever he goes by now]
Women rappers fascinate me, because I think they turn the culture on its head. There's a lyric from a song on the "Notorious KIM" album that goes something like "If I was a dude I would tell you to suck my d*ick" Its this type of lyric I think I enjoy, because she is not only unafraid of her own femininity, which she amply demonstrates in the rest of the album [see, "How Many Licks"] but is unafraid to act out with the men, whom she was marginalized by before her success. There are also women like Missy Elliot, who outside of her "5'2, wanna dance with you" bullcrap when she remixes with pop-tarts like Ciara, actually has a very firm understanding of club atmosphere, and the feeling of a woman when she's out partying, especially a woman who is confident. I love her songs "4 my People" and "Lick shots" because she demonstrates she is out for her own pleasure, and not a man's.
I like Eminem becuase I think he is a perfect reflection of the ugliness of my generation, of my society, and he is aware of it. He in essence throw a mirror to all the things that go on around us, and is unashamed of pointing out that there are a lot of assholes, just like him.
Both Eminem and Lil Kim use their music to speak out about issues that are important to them be it the pressures of celebrity "Stan, eminem" or police brutality "Little Drummer Boy, Lil Kim"
I think the point Swiss is trying to make, and I completely agree with, is there is a lot more to this culture and "bitches and glocks" and its sad that this is the type of hip hop that makes #1. For me, some of these people, despite their lack of education, are brilliant. They are visionaries, and I think they better see our society than a lot of other artists do.
I think it is a sad waste when their best work is ignored because the main audience for it would rather hear about the B/g lifestyle than try and comprehend the genius of people who've clawed tehir way out the gutter and want to share their experience.
But in Swiss's defence, song slike this are what we see more of. And I agree with him. Its crap.
At 5:09 pm,
adem said…
la la la *does some body popping*
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